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Mark McLemore

Archive for category History

Memorial Day Caps An Improvement Over ‘09

Jun 1

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

In recent years, Major League Baseball has ventured further into its “look” in support of marketing and charitable initiatives as well as historic celebrations.  Some, like the pink bats for Mother’s Day and universal wearing of 42 on Jackie Robinson Day, have met with mostly favorable response.  Spiderman on the bases?  Not quite.

Which brings me to the commemorative Memorial Day caps teams sported in yesterday’s games.  Last year, the Yankees were forced to wear hideous red caps which looked terrible against their road grays and home pinstripes.

Yesterday’s white caps fit the uniform quite a bit better (even if Brett Gardner, as noted in today’s Star-Ledger, noted that it was worse than his Little League cap).  I suppose I had put the red cap disaster out of my mind, forgetting about the new Memorial Day “tradition,” but of course immediately noticed the white lids when the team began stretching.  To me, it recalled the look of some of the very early Yankees teams.  To others, it might have recalled the Good Humor man, an apt connection on such a hot day in the Bronx.

I like that the Yankees don’t have alternate jerseys, Sunday jerseys, or other alterations to their uniforms, even though I enjoy seeing teams wearing “throwback” or Negro Leagues jerseys from time to time.  I recall only one game that the Yankees wore Negro League jerseys, I believe it was at Detroit in 1996 when they donned N.Y. Black Yankees uniforms.  I think once a year, maybe Old Timer’s Day or another weekend game, or even a road game against a classic rival, I wouldn’t mind seeing them in a Highlanders jersey (say, 1911 next year) or revive the Black Yankees, since they played at the Stadium on occasion.

My three favorite on-field alterations:
- Jackie Robinson 42’s (but one day only, please)
- pink bats, sweatbands for Memorial Day
- occasional throwback jerseys

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“We’re gonna shout when ya powder the ball.”

Apr 26

Posted by Jerry Milani in History, New York Mets, New York Yankees | No Comments

The excellent New York Times BATS blog has a piece today intended to be interactive regarding the Yankees and Mets “signature songs,” following up on a story in the paper by Richard Sandomir on Sunday.  “Meet the Mets,” the more popular (and in the opinion of most the better) of the two, helped introduce the nascent franchise to the city.  “Here Come the Yankees,” which is still used on Yankees radio broadcasts, but in instrumental form, was, in effect, an “answer” to the catchy Mets tune.

Sandomir’s light-hearted piece gives a bit of the history of both and catches up with the original writers, and the BATS post asks fans to submit their own, updated lyrics in the comments.

Written out, the original lyrics — especially those of the Bombers’ song — seem a bit comical nearly a half-century later.  (“We’re gonna scream, ‘Put it over the wall,’” “Oh, the butcher and the baker and the people on the streets, Where did they go?”).  They probably seemed a bit comical in the 1960s as well…

But, then, so do college fight song lyrics written in the early 1900s.  Like fight songs, the Yankees tune is more timeless than the lyrics.   The “Meet the Mets” lyrics have proven to be more enduring, even if “…step right up and BEAT the Mets” probably followed minutes after the first Yankees fan heard the famed first line.

When I used to hear the Yankees tune before and after broadcasts in the 1970s, they were already using the instrumental version.  I just assumed that the song had been around for many years, and it wasn’t until years later that I found out that it had lyrics and that it was actually written during the team’s dry spell, which lasted more than a decade from the mid-60s through the mid-70s.

I have the full version of “Here Come the Yankees” on my iPod, and it shuffles in every so often.  For both songs, their corniness is part of the charm.  They don’t need updated lyrics or new versions, as “unofficial anthems” like Sinatra’s “New York, New York” or Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind” finding their own place in Yankees lore, the latter helping the team keep up with the times.

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The Last Time

Apr 19

Posted by Jerry Milani in History, New York Yankees | 1 Comment

1926 Yankees

Sports are full of things that seem meaningful but really are not:  bold, profound-sounding statements that by giving some slice of the past are supposed to predict the future or place certain players or teams into categories, like Hall of Fame or Best Team Ever.  Tidbits like “teams that win the first two games win the series x percent of the time,” (of course they do, they’re usually the better team in the first place), or “Only five players in MLB history had x number of hits, y stolen bases and z hit by pitches,” with the reasoning that one who is otherwise not in the class of the other four should be considered as such.

But applied properly, items like “the last time such-and-such happened” speaks to how true the idea is that you can see something new just about every time you watch a game.  Who would have thought, for example, that the last time the Yankees won the first four series of the season — just four series! — was 1926.  They still weren’t a dominant force in the league, having won just one title (1923).  It was the first year that Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were teammates together at the start of the season, and that team went on to win “only” 91 games, a nice total but one of the lowest ever for a Yankees pennant winner.

That team, of course was just one year away from being the outfit that some still consider the greatest in baseball history, and the starting eight and five regular pitchers were part of both squads.  The ‘26 Yanks actually won the first five series, then promptly lost three straight to the Philadelphia A’s, who would finish third, just six games out.

Further, 52 Yankees teams have won more than 91 games, 48 of them after 1923.  Yet none of them were able to win the first four series outright.  That’s almost 90 years ago.  Some of the best teams ever, the aforementioned ‘27 squad, 1939, 1953, 1961 and 1998 teams among them, never did that.  Fans may recall that the ‘98 Yanks lost four of their first five games and were 3.5 games out of first (!) before ripping off 25 of the next 29 and never looked back.

It doesn’t guarantee anything, but I like the tie to history that “the last time” notes suggest.  And the more basic and apples-to-apples the fact — “won the first four series,” as opposed to “won 10 games started by lefties in day games,” the better the connection.

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Around the Horn: Wednesday, 4/14/10

Apr 14

Posted by Tom Biro in Around the Horn, History, Uniforms | No Comments

Links of interest from around the baseball world on Wednesday, April 14, for your clicking-and-reading pleasure.

  • Our own Jerry Milani shares some news at Baseball Digest about Thursday being declared as “Jackie Robinson Day” across MLB, with all players wearing Robinson’s #42.
  • Yankee fans aren’t exactly ecstatic about Javier Vazquez being back in his old-time Yankees form, to say the least.
  • Bill Ivie points to the preseason predictions of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, who apparently have netted out on the Yankees and Phillies making it to the Fall Classic again this year.
  • The NYT’s Fred Bierman has the lowdown on those basketball-shoes-that-are-really-baseball-cleats (or something like that) that Yankees hurler CC Sabathia has been rocking.

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R.I.P. Mike Cuellar

Apr 3

Posted by Jerry Milani in Baltimore Orioles, History | No Comments

I read this excellent piece by George Diaz at the Baltimore Sun the other day about Mike Cuellar, a four-time 20-game winner for the Orioles, who had been in the last days of terminal stomach cancer.  Cuellar died Friday at 72, the cancer finally taking him after a series of other health issues over the past year.

After a 15-year Major League career, Cuellar pitched his last game in May 1977, just as I was becoming a fan, so I never got to see him play.  But I recall, even early on in discovering the game, a certain connection I felt towards Cuellar.  I remember reading a lot about the four 20-game winners on the Orioles staff, and seeing the highlights of those early 70’s World Series that the Orioles were in, and seeing Jim Palmer and Dave McNally and, to a degree, Pat Dobson, getting more attention.  Then I’d look at Cuellar’s numbers in the Baseball Encyclopedia and wonder why he didn’t get more acclaim.

I think it’s exactly because he wasn’t like Palmer that Cuellar fascinated me.  He didn’t have the dominating fastball or the underwear ads or the TV persona that Palmer had.  Plus, Palmer was still going strong in the late 70s, and Cuellar was already retired, which made him a little more of a mythic figure to me.  Cuellar wasn’t famous outside of Baltimore — certainly not in New York — and he wasn’t even a Yankee (!).  Yet I remember connecting with him.

Diaz’s piece drove another point home to me, one that I think is lost on today’s young fans.  Cuellar, though clearly one of the best pitchers in the game for a solid six years right in the middle of Baltimore’s championship run, never made enough money in the game (max salary: $45,000) to take care of his family.  Cuellar just missed out on free agency, and had he put that 67-win, three-year stretch together today — as a lefty, to boot — he’d be a $10-million-plus player.  Cuellar gave his whole life to the game; it was all he knew.  He’d been pitching so long that he had played for Havana when it was still in the International League, pre-Castro.  And he ended up working part time as a starter and ranger at a country club after he retired.

The point of Diaz’s column is that Cuellar didn’t let that define him, just as his recent illnesses couldn’t break his bond with family an ex-ballplayer friends like Felix Millan.  It was a life well lived, and to be celebrated, even by a Yankees fan who never saw him play.  R.I.P. Mike.

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All-Time N.Y. Baseball Team (Part 1)

Mar 31

Posted by Jerry Milani in History, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Sports on TV | 1 Comment

MSG Network is selecting its All-Time New York Baseball Lineup with an online game and on-air panel show discussing their choices, one position per week, through May.

The panelists on the show are Fran Healy, Gary Carter, Sparky Lyle, Will Leitch and Steve Hirdt.

I just caught on to this today, so I missed out on voting on the catchers and first basemen.  The game has a complicated points system based on which players contestants select vs. those of the panel (you’re supposed to pick a top five).  The prizes include signed baseballs from legendary players, and Ford sponsors the contest.

They list the catchers, first basemen and second basemen that are considered, but not the other positions, I suppose to get users to have to come back each week, which I think most will forget to do.  So I’ll do those positions for now — and the ones the panel has picked so far.

CATCHER
Nominees: Mike Piazza, Gary Carter, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Jorge Posada, Bill Dickey, Thurman Munson, Al Lopez, Elston Howard and Roger Bresnahan.

My Picks: Berra, Piazza, Carter, Dickey, Campanella
Note: It’s tough to compare eras, and as important as defense is to the position, it’s difficult to rate.  Berra has all those World Series titles, Piazza is the best offensive catcher of all time and Carter and Dickey combined both.  I went with Berra and the championships.
MSG Picks: Berra, Campanella, Piazza, Posada, Carter

FIRST BASE
Nominees: Lou Gehrig, Bill Terry, Keith Hernandez, Don Mattingly, Johnny Mize, Hal Chase, Gil Hodges, George Kelly, Ed Kranepool, Tino Martinez
My Picks: Gehrig, Mattingly, Hernandez, Terry, Hodges
Note: Surprisingly not as strong a field as you would think for such an offensive position.  Gehrig is so far and away ahead of this field that first place has no debate — he’s probably the most accomplished 1B in MLB history.  The rest are kind of a toss-up, but the fact that Kranepool and Chase are even on this list speak to the strange lack of 1B depth in NY.
MSG Picks: Gehrig, Hernandez, Mattingly, Mize, Terry

Frankie Frisch

SECOND BASE
Nominees: Tony Lazzeri, Joe Gordon, Jackie Robinson, Bobby Richardson, Frankie Frisch, Willie Randolph, Billy Martin, Jeff Kent, Felix Millan, Billy Herman
My Picks:  Robinson, Frisch, Gordon, Lazzeri, Richardson
Note:  Not much debate here.  Robinson is pretty clearly ahead of this field, which is kind of light (Felix Millan?  Jeff Kent?).

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Baseball Bracketing

Mar 21

Posted by Jerry Milani in Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, History, New York Yankees | No Comments

It seems this time of year there’s a “bracket” for everything, modeled after the NCAA basketball tournament.  Some work well (SI.com’s “Best in Swimsuit”), some not as well (The Big Lead’s “Culture Bracket”).

Two baseball “bracket” setups are coming this week, as Was Watching is preparing a “Greatest/Favorite” Yankees tournament.  I hope that site proprietor Steve Lombardi decides on one of the two, because they are quite different questions.  I look forward to participating.

The other is on Baseball Daily Digest, which is teaming with Strat-O-Matic for a comprehensive, bracket-type elimination tournament with the 64 best teams of all time.  I’d be interested to see if they seed by record, or a subjective perceived greatness, or weighing teams against their own competition, rather than against teams all time.  I don’t know if those generally accepted superteams like the ‘27, ‘61 and ‘98 Yankees, ‘75 Reds, ‘84 Tigers and late-80s A’s teams translate to Strat.  And will the deadball era Cubs, Pirates and Red Sox be included?  “Selection Show” coming soon.

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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.

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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.

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Luis, Luis

Dec 29

Posted by Jerry Milani in Boston Red Sox, History, Movies, New York Yankees | No Comments

I really only got to see Luis Tiant pitch near the end of his career… a little bit when he was with Boston in the late 70’s and his two semi-serviceable years with the Yankees in ‘79 and ‘80.  I knew a little about his story, that he was born in Cuba and had been one of the top pitchers before reviving his career with the Sox (after being traded or released by three teams, I later learned).  And I vaguely remember the hot dog commercial he made when he came to New York, in which he declared “It’s good to be with a winner” in his exaggerated Spanish accent.  He seemed like a fun, cheery guy off the mound and a determined pitcher on it.

But I didn’t know much else until watching Lost Son of Havana, the excellent documentary which made the film festival circuit this year and was featured across some of the ESPN networks, including Deportes.  It’s well worth a look, available on Netflix, or you can get it online here.

If you are so inclined, check out my interview with the film’s director and writer, Jonathan Hock, on BaseballDigest.com.

What I like so much about the film is how much it humanizes Tiant.  We think of players as spots on a roster or numbers on a page or athletes performing on the field.  The movie captures the sense of loss that Tiant felt not being able to see his parents for more than a decade while he made a run at the Majors in the 60’s and early 70’s, then the near-diplomatic miracle it took to get them to the U.S. to see him pitch in Boston in 1975.

The hook is his return to Havana more than 40 years after he left, to see his remaining family.  It’s compelling stuff, a must-see for Sox fans and pretty much all fans of the human race.

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