Bats:Both

Howard Johnson

Archive for January, 2010

MLB.TV is Back!

Jan 28

Posted by Jerry Milani in Announcers/Broadcasting, Sports on TV | No Comments

MLB.TV is one of the five best inventions I’ve caught on to in the last few years (I’d put Netflix, XM Radio, the DVR and the iPod Shuffle there for me as well).  Any baseball game being played (well, except the Yankees and Mets), home or away broadcasts, split screens, archives, highlights, radio calls, etc. etc., all on my computer?!?!?  For $120 bucks for the whole year!?!?

Today MLB.TV announced that the 2010 version of its awesome service is now available.  For those of you with fancy iPhones and iPads and iWhatevers, you can get your MLB.TV to go; I’ll have to settle for the Dell XPS screen or monitor (I can connect it to my TV too but it doesn’t look quite as clear)…

Just getting to listen to Vin Scully do games makes it worth it enough, but I like putting 3-4 games on at once and checking out the different broadcasts (some better than others).  It’s nice after a Yankees game to put on a few innings of Scully and check out the other West Coast games at my leisure, or maybe watch Zack Greinke or Tim Lincicum throw.

Pitchers and catchers in 20 days!

Tags: , , ,

A look at Old, Old Yankee Stadium

Jan 26

Posted by Jerry Milani in Logos, Movies, New York Yankees | No Comments

Alex Bleith over at BronxBanterBlog has a link to video from a 1928 Buster Keaton Movie, The Cameraman, which has a great look all around the then-five-year old Yankee Stadium.  Keaton’s trip around the bases is great because the wide shot gives a nice panorama of the Stadium in its very early days.

The thing that strikes me the most is how utterly massive the place looks.  The outfield fence looks a mile away, and even the distance from home plate to the backstop is huge.

And check out the subway car running above the batters’ eye in dead center field.  Great stuff.

Tags: , , , , ,

Loss of Matsui Unprecedented on Yankee Championship Teams

Jan 22

Posted by Jerry Milani in History, New York Yankees, free agency, trades | No Comments

I decided to take a look back at the Yankees World Series championship teams of the past 50 years and see who were the prominent players (i.e., starters or key reserves) who the Yanks didn’t bring back the following year.  I couldn’t remember a more important position player than Hideki Matsui – and, as of this writing, Johnny Damon as well – who wasn’t with the team the following year.

That’s because there isn’t one.  And unless Damon does an about face, there will be two in 2010.  You could say three if you include Melky Cabrera, but as he was the centerpiece in a trade for Javier Vazquez, it’s not like the Yankees gave up on Cabrera (much in the same way they traded David Wells for Roger Clemens after the 1998 title and Moose Skowron for Stan Williams after 1962).

Now, that hasn’t always translated to returns to the World Series, although only once in the last half-century (1979) has a Yankees team coming off a World Series win failed to advance to the postseason.

Here are the top players the Yankees didn’t bring back from a championship squad, since 1960:

  • 2009 – Matsui (FA, to Angels); Damon (current FA); Cabrera (traded, to Braves for Vazquez)
  • 2000 – David Cone (FA, to Red Sox); Jason Grimsley (released); Jeff Nelson (FA, to Mariners)
  • 1999 – Chili Davis (released); Chad Curtis (traded, to Rangers for Brandon Knight and Sam Marsonek)
  • 1998 – Tim Raines (released); Wells (trade, to Blue Jays for Clemens)
  • 1996 – Jim Leyritz (traded, to Angels for two minor leaguers); Jimmy Key (FA, to Orioles); John Wetteland (FA, to Rangers)
  • 1978 – Sparky Lyle (traded, to Rangers for Dave Righetti and Juan Beniquez as part of 10-player deal)
  • 1977 – Mike Torrez (FA, to Red Sox)
  • 1962 – Skowron (traded, to Dodgers for Williams)
  • 1961 – none

There are two ways to look at this. One, anyone the Yankees “gave up” on in this period was basically done.  Key had one more good year with the Orioles, Wetteland went on to pitch decently for four years with Texas and Torrez won 32 games the next two years for Boston and pitched in the bigs through 1984, though with less success.

The natural tendency is to want to keep as much of a team together as possible, with the reasoning that one year shouldn’t make that much difference in players’ abilities, and the formula and combination have proven to be a winner. In the pre-free agent days, prominent players would rarely move, and unless they were at the very end of careers, players on champions almost always returned.

Since free agency, though, there have been more opportunities for player movement. The Yankees have elected to keep their champions as intact as possible, with no major offensive pieces, and only a few important pitchers, not retained.  And the results have mostly been good – the encores have mostly produced World Series participants or winners.

But more than ever, teams are put together one year at a time, with an eye to a bigger picture but with general managers preferring to get rid of a guy one year early rather than one year too late.  If Damon, as seems likely, signs elsewhere, it will mean that the two most prominent players to leave a Yankee champion will have come in the same off-season.

While on paper, even without Matsui and potentially Damon, the 2010 Yankees look as strong, it will be in two key areas a different team.  More different than any Yankees champion before.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Yankees World Series Trophy at Fordham Saturday

Jan 21

Posted by Jerry Milani in New York Yankees | No Comments

It hasn’t been a great year decade generation for Fordham basketball fans.  I know, because I’m one of them.  This year’s squad is 2-15, including a current 10-game losing streak, and with Temple next up on the schedule, it would take quite an upset to break that string.

But Saturday will be special at Fordham, home of Frankie Frisch, as it’s Athletics Hall of Fame Day, with noted alum Michael Kay presiding over the ceremony.  Another Bronx institution, the Yankees, will have another connection as the team’s 2009 World Series Trophy will be on display for alums and fans to view and take photos with during the ceremony and the Rams vs. Owls at the Rose Hill Gym (1 p.m).

From the Rams:

Yankees World Championship Trophy Pays Visit To Fordham University Rose Hill Campus This Sat., Jan., 23

***27th World Series Hardware treks up the Deegan to be displayed at Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame ceremonies, and during Rams vs. Temple Men’s Basketball Game***

New York, January 21, 2010—The New York Yankees 2009 World Championship Trophy will depart from Yankee Stadium, travel north on the Major Deegan Expressway, across Fordham Road, and arrive at another venerable Bronx institution – Fordham University –  this Saturday, January 23, from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm for a special visit to the Rose Hill Campus.

Fordham will play host to the World Series hardware – the Bronx Bombers 27th championship trophy – will be on display during Fordham Athletics’ Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in the McGinley Center , and later at the Rams vs. Temple men’s basketball game at the Rose Hill Gymnasium. The public is welcomed (tickets for the Hall of Fame brunch are priced at $50 adults/$25 students and children, while game tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for children).

An astounding number of Fordham connections helped the visit the visit to materialize. Recent Fordham/WFUV alum Ryan Ruocco (’08) tipped off executive athletic director Frank McLaughlin (‘69) with the brainchild. The idea was hatched because Michael Kay (’82), YES Network’s Yankees play by play voice and 1050 ESPN Radio host is Master of Ceremonies for the Hall of Fame proceedings. Ruocco works with Kay at both YES and ESPN. McLaughlin went into action, contacting a pair of Fordham grads now with the Yankees, Assistant Director of Corporate/Community Relations Rocky Halsey (’98) and Director of Stadium Tours Tony Morante (’79), who will escort the trophy to his alma mater.

Men’s swimming record holder Akira Kosugi (CBA ‘96), football Patriot League champions   and 2004 graduates Kirwin Watson (FCRH), wide receiver Javarus Dudley (CBA) and quarterback Kevin Eakin (FCRH), Ioana Dragan (CBA ‘02, Women’s Tennis), and Sophie Namy (FCRH ‘00 Rowing) – champions all – will be inducted into the hallowed Fordham halls, where they join the likes of Frankie Frisch, Vince Lombardi, Wellington Mara and Vin Scully in the Fordham pantheon, with the Yankees championship trophy present and accounted for.

Tags: , , ,

‘Cobb Field’ a Good Last Look at an old Ballpark

Jan 18

Posted by Jerry Milani in Movies | No Comments

I watched the documentary ‘Cobb Field: A Day at the Ballpark“ today on MLB Network. The theme of “if these walls could talk” is made even more literal, as the narrator is the “voice” of the park.  It’s a cutesy way to make the field the star, and for the most part I’d say it works.

I love old ballparks, and didn’t know anything about the old stadium in Billings, Montana, named not for the first Cobb you think of in baseball circles, Ty, but for Robert H. Cobb, whose name has mostly endured from his namesake salad.  But Cobb was also a baseball maven, owning the famed Hollywood Stars PCL team and hobnobbing with movie stars of the mid-20th century.

Cobb Field gives a quick history of the park and some of the great players who made their way through Billings over the years.  Interviews with Jim Kaat, who played for Missoula when the Pioneer League was classified “C” and Gary Redus, who hit a whopping .462 in his only season in Billings in 1978 on the way to the Reds and behind-the-scenes looks at the clubhouse, press box and other antiquated areas help make the connection with the past.

The documentary also notes that the field was a throwback in every way — eschewing the many on-field gimmicks and promotions and loud, obtrusive music that are universal throughout the minors today. Cobb Field was demolished in 2007 to make way for a modern park on the same site, which from the condition of Cobb, which opened in 1948, looked necessary, nostalgia buffs and longtime Billings fans’ wishes notwithstanding.

Sounds like a place I would have like to have visited.

While Cobb Field talks to the players, coaches and attendants working at the field at the time of the filming and updates their respective statuses at the end, the filmmakers understand that the stadium is the star, and treat it appropriately.

Tags: , , , , , ,

I’m Just a Living Legacy…

Jan 12

Posted by Jerry Milani in Awards, Negro Leagues | No Comments

Buck Leonard

Yesterday the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (hello, Bucket List…) announced its Legacy Award Winners for the 2009 season.  I like that they name each award for an appropriate Negro League star (Buck Leonard for the batting champion, ‘Cool Papa’ Bell for the stolen base king, etc.).

Interesting that none of the awards is named for Satchel Paige, and the MVP is named for Oscar Charleston rather than Josh Gibson.  I think it’s good that someone like Rogan, who has kind of been lost in the shuffle, gets his due — would anyone pick him if you asked them to name the top five, or even top 10 Negro Leaguers, off the top of their head?

I’m also interested to hear feedback from Strat-o-Matic players who have used the new Negro League card set, produced through exhaustive and extensive research by Scott Simkus, who has worked on the project for over a decade.  Looking at the rosters, there are many players I’m not familiar with.  Here is an interesting interview with Simkus on WGN TV in Chicago on the project.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

A Cur Dog and a Curmudgeon

Jan 7

Posted by Jerry Milani in Announcers/Broadcasting, Awards, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, books | No Comments

Here are a couple of links to stories I posted in the last couple of days at Baseball Digest… One is a review of the fine book Happiness is Like a Cur Dog, by former Pirates player and broadcaster Nellie King.  King is a guy that I must admit I had never heard of before seeing a notice a few weeks back about his book.  There were some great stories — the best ones were about guys King encountered in his minor league days — and a great slice of what it was like in the bushes in the 40s and 50s.  An easy and highly recommended read.

The other is a quick news piece on the Thurman Munson Awards dinner on Feb. 2, which I will be working and covering for B:B.  I’ll try to get a pic with Sweet Lou at least.  Piniella was my first favorite player — I remember my dad taking me to a game in 1977, when we lived in upstate N.Y. and going to a game was a rare treat and an all-day commitment.  We spend the morning with a roll of some kind of cardboard paper and brown paint, printing out LOOOOOOOOOOOOOU, which I dutifully held up each time he came to bat.  I liked how he hit, but I think I liked more how Frank Messer or Phil Rizzuto would always have to say, “They’re not saying BOOOO, they’re saying LOOOO” every time the crowd would serenade him.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Cohen, Hernandez, Darling Team Up for ‘Pitch In’ Foundation

Jan 6

Posted by Jerry Milani in New York Mets, Sports on TV | No Comments

I did a charity event with Ron Darling this summer at Gallagher’s Steak House in N.Y., which was quite well received.  Darling and Bobby Ojeda had great stories to tell and were in good spirits despite the Mets’ struggles.

So it’s not surprising to read that Darling and his broadcast teammates Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez have formed the Pitch in for a Good Cause Foundation, which according to its Website is a non-profit organization that sells tickets to special Mets events, T-shirts, baseball caps, bears and mugs with one objective in mind: to give back to those who are less fortunate.  Cohen’s wife Lynn spearheaded the efforts to get the Foundation started and has been integral in its success.

This week, the Foundation announced that its 2010 recipient would be The Nourishing Kitchen of New York City, which provides free meals and cooking classes for low income families in East Harlem.

Congratulations to the SNY team on their efforts — along with the Yankees Hope Week program, it’s good to read about the New York teams and their personnel giving back.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Bloggers vs. Writers: Hall of Fame style

Jan 5

Posted by Jerry Milani in Cooperstown, History | No Comments

My last Hall of Fame thoughts.  I was trying to research as many ‘online ballots’ by writers and bloggers as I could find, but the work done by others is better so I’ll reference it instead.

Baseball Think Factory has been tallying Hall of Fame voting among 89 full ballots.   Their numbers to date:

Alomar 88.8%
Blyleven 82.0%
Dawson 79.8%
Larkin 57.0%
Morris 51.7%
Raines 42.7%
Martinez 41.6%
Smith 38.2%
McGwire 32.6%
Trammell 25.8%

SB Nation ran a poll of its own bloggers, with the following top 12:

Blyleven 92.3%
Alomar 73.1%
Larkin 63.5%
Raines 53.8%
McGwire 51.9%
Martinez 48.1%
Trammell 40.4%
Dawson 32.7%
Smith 26.9%
McGriff 25.0%
Murphy 17.3%
Morris 13.5%

It’s interesting that Andre Dawson and Jack Morris get so much more support from writers, and Tim Raines and Alan Trammell are pushed more by the bloggers.  But the Dawson/Morris disparities are huge: Dawson get in on the writers’ exit poll, while earning less than 1/3 of the bloggers vote.  And Morris doesn’t even make the bloggers’ top 10.

Why the huge variance? I think the positives for Dawson (438 home runs, great all-around player) and Morris (most wins in the 80s, ‘big game pitcher’) resonate better with the writers, who tend to have been involved in the game longer and are more set in their criteria.  The bloggers, less experienced in covering the game, have tended to latch onto newer stats and newer thinking – and Dawson’s low OBP and Morris’ high ERA have counted against them.

I’m not surprised that a selection of bloggers, even if loosely associated through SB Nation, would only agree on one candidate, since they come from a wider background and more varied experience level than the BBWAA members.

Tags: , , , , , , ,