Two Mets (Angel Pagan, Mike Piazza), a Yankee (Nick Swisher), a Net (Devin Harris) — and a champion figure skater (Evan Lysacek) — were today named winners of the Thurman Munson Award, to be presented at the 31st annual dinner on Feb. 1 in New York. I’ll be there and will get some photos, quotes, etc.
The LoHud Yankees Blog and many others have the details…
A few weeks back I stumbled upon a Mets Yearbook film on SNY. It was from the late 70s, chronicling one mediocre-or-worse Mets squad, but with an optimism and hopefulness that the coming year would be better.
I immediately went to the search function on my DVR and programmed in dates and times for future airings of other years’ films.
I don’t remember these in their original run — and though I’m more a Mets hater than fan, I just love these films. The 1963 film has great footage of the last breaths of the Polo Grounds, and ‘64 touted the opening of the marvelous Shea Stadium, universally hailed as the great modern multi-purpose park.
The films are a treasure trove of footage, from stars like Seaver and Mays all the way to “the next big things” like Mike Vail, Steve Henderson and John Milner.
Opening Day always got a disproportionate amount of screen time devoted to it, probably because even in their worst years, the Mets managed to win their lid-lifter. Events like Banner Day, Helmet Day and Old Timer’s Day — yes, the Mets had them then, and there were even Yankees (gasp!) invited
The films were always forward-looking, even though they recounted the title year — so guys who didn’t figure in the 1979 plans were nowhere to be found in the ‘78 video.
I particularly enjoyed a featurette in one of the shows on Dave Kingman, trying to humanize the famously surly slugger, showing him talking to camp kids in addition to his prodigious homers.
It’s not really fair to have BaseballReference.com open, clicking on players as they are mentioned in the series, but it certainly is fun to look back 40+ years in some cases and see what happened to those guys.
If the Yankees did such a video series, I’ve seen only a ‘77 season recap and a WPIX feature called “It Don’t Come Easy” reviewing 1978. I think films of those mediocre and poor CBS Yanks teams would be great as well, and I hope that if YES Network has those somewhere, and rights to use them, that they’d consider putting them on.
But that might be a bit to ask for the Undefeated Yankees Classics network.
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
Growing up, it seemed like the Yankees never won on my birthday. My memory fails me a little bit there, as they did manage to win twice on May 17 from 1977, when I became a fan, through 1982. Worse, when I looked up players born on my birthday, I’m sure I’d see some famous stars like Billy Martin (nope, May 16) or Reggie Jackson (sorry, May 18). Best I could do with the 17th was Carlos May, and that wasn’t really going to cut it, even if by having worn #17 with the White Sox he proudly proclaimed our shared birth month and year on his back.
In fact, a team of Major League players born on my birthday is a mediocre lot at best:
C – Wiki Gonzalez (b. 1974, .239 avg., 17 HR, 103 RBI from 1999-06)
1B – Carlos Pena (b. 1978, .245, 207, 590 from 2001 to present)
2B – Lou Chiozza (b. 1910, .277, 14, 197 from 1934-39)
SS – Harry Riconda (b. 1897, .247, 4, 70 from 1923-30)
3B – Ozzie Virgil (b. 1932, .231, 14-73 from 1956-69)
LF – May (b. 1948, .274, 90, 536 from 1968-77)
CF – Dick Smith (b. 1939, .218, 0, 7 from 1963-65)
RF – Jose Guillen (b. 1976, .271, 203, 835 from 1997 to present)
DH – Jack Voigt (b. 1966, .235, 20, 83 from 1992-98)
SP – Hal Carlson (b. 1892, 114-120, 3.97 ERA from 1917-30)
RP – Billy Hoeft (b. 1932, 97-101, 33 saves, 3.94 ERA from 1952-66)
Let’s just say that, in my adulthood, the Yankees have more than made up for it.
First came David Wells‘ perfect game on May 17, 1998, which I missed because my friends and I were celebrating something even more important than my birthday – our college friend’s ordination as a Catholic priest. Then four years later, Jason Giambi had his “welcome to the Yankees” moment, a 14th-inning Grand Slam between the raindrops to beat the Twins. I was at that game, thought not the 14th inning, having left after 13 to catch the last train to Newark.
Carl Pavano actually pitched a complete-game, five-hit shutout with no walks and seven strikeouts on May 17, 2005, in Seattle, in what must have been his finest performance as a Yankee. I don’t recall that one at all, and since it was a late-night West Coast game I doubt I saw the finish.
Three straight walkoff wins in a three-game series with the Twins last year culminated in Johnny Damon’s game-winner on May 17. And on Monday night, Alex Rodriguez and Marcus Thames brought a finish to an exciting win over the Red Sox with two-run home runs in the ninth.
Amidst the Yankees’ terrific start — wins of all but one series and a 16-8 mark with 15 road games (including six against Boston and Tampa Bay) and one West Coast swing in the books — comes the first panic move of the year. Javier Vazquez, it was announced today, will be held back three days, pitching at Detroit next Monday instead of in Boston this Friday. With an off day this Thursday following a three-game home series with Baltimore, the move keeps Phil Hughes, C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett on regular four-day rest for the games at Fenway.
I still hate the move.
Vazquez is a 13-year veteran, having thrown 200 or more innings in the past 10, except for 2004, when he threw 198. He’s coming off his best year (15-10, 2.87 ERA, 238 K, 181 H in 219.1 IP). He’s had five starts, all of them mediocre or worse, and has incurred the wrath of fans and talking heads who remember that 2004 season in Pinstripes, which was among his worst as a pro.
Vazquez is even getting the label as someone who can’t “handle the pressure” in New York, and some feel that pitching in the cauldron of Fenway Park on Friday would do more harm than good.
Not that Detroit on Monday will be a picnic; the Tigers are fourth in the league in runs scored (averaging about a run per game more than the Sox). But Yanks-Red Sox is a different animal, and along with Yankees-Mets is the closest thing to a playoff atmosphere there is.
Which is exactly why I think Vazquez should pitch Friday.
The Yankees’ starting staff is shaping up to be as good as anyone’s in baseball, top to bottom, if Vazquez can veer back towards his 2009 numbers. But he’s going to have to pitch in big games somewhere along the line; he’s one of the team’s five starters, he should go in regular rotation, particularly after just five appearances. A great outing on Friday at Fenway would do more for his confidence — and that of the team and fans in him — than the same in Detroit.
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.
Apr 19
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.
Apr 11
The Yankees and Mets have each played six games to date, which equates to roughly 3.7 percent of the season. That’s the equivalent of:
Which basically means, no one in their right mind would base an entire season outlook on that small a sample size.
But we’re not talking about people in their right mind, we’re talking about baseball fans. Worse, New York baseball fans and media, who Brian Cashman colorfully described as “forensic scientists” in their dissection of every decision in every game.
I had to listen as Seth Everett complained on 1050 ESPN Radio that Marcus Thames played left field instead of Brett Gardner or Randy Winn against Jon Lester.
Just imagine the uproar if C.C. Sabathia had entered the ninth inning yesterday with a no-hitter intact and Joe Girardi had taken him out. Some have already questioned Javier Vazquez’s ability to pitch in New York (never mind that the game was in Tampa) and don’t even visit any Mets forums or comment pages, it’s not a pretty sight.
Here are my takeaways from the first week of the New York baseball season.
* Winning four of six on the road against your biggest division rivals is a great start, but more important is that Curtis Granderson and Nick Johnson have made contributions right away. Granderson is going to be a huge fan favorite, and even though Johnson doesn’t have the hitting stroke down yet, he’s been keeping the line moving with walks.
Jack Chesbro
“You always get a special kick on opening day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.” - Joe DiMaggio
For most of the 30+ years that I have been a baseball fan, I’ve looked forward to Yankees Opening Day almost from the last game of the previous season. Because the Red Sox have been the Yankees’ Opening Day opponent only four times in the past 36 years, it seems like the matchup is a rare one. The Yanks have opened on the West Coast, in Tokyo, and against Central and Western Division teams, but only in 1985, 1992 and 2005, and now tonight, have the Yanks and Sox gone at it in game one, since 1973.
But the teams have actually met 29 times in the opener, with New York holding an 18-10-1 advantage. Just about every other year from 1917 through the 1930s, the rivals squared off for the first game, though not with the same anticipation as the 2005 game presented. That, of course, was the first meeting between the teams after Boston’s first World Championship in 86 years (when they also opened the following season against the Yanks), and of course the Red Sox’ historic comeback from 0-3 in the ALCS. That day, Randy Johnson beat David Wells as the Yanks won, 9-2.
The first time the two franchises met in the season opener was 1904, when the Highlanders’ Jack Chesbro won the first of his A.L.-record 41 games, beating none other than Cy Young, at the old Huntington Avenue Grounds, the team then known as the “Americans” coming off the first World Series title in 1903. The Yankees won 14 of the 16 Opening Day matchups with Boston from 1923-1960, when expansion and increased air travel made it less likely that the teams would meet in the opener. Indeed, they have played just seven times since then, the Sox winning five.
Some have argued that the Cincinnati Reds should host he first game of the year, as they did for more than 100 years because of their status as the first recognized major league team. I think this former tradition, while nice, is easily usurped by a showcase of one of the two or three biggest rivalries in the game in prime time on ESPN on Sunday night.
Some news and updates from around the world of baseball from Thursday, April 1, 2010.