Category: The Yankees

The Convert

May 11, 1997
Yankees 3, Royals 2 

One of my best friends in college was a guy named Jon, who was a teammate on the speech team.  Jon was a year younger than me and hailed from the state of Wisconsin.  As much as a Yankee fan as I was/am, Jon is a cheesehead (with the foam wedge to boot).

On the night the Yankees won the ‘96 World Series, the team was at an away tournamet in Long Island.  The team was staying in a seedy hotel in Hempstead (underneath the Fukudaya Sushi bar) and we gathered in one of our rooms to watch game six.  Everyone cheered on the Yankees victory–that is everyone except Jon.

Fast-forward seven months to May 11 ’97.  The defending World Champion Yankees were scheduled to host Kansas City and also hold ‘Ring Day’ ceremonies on a windy Sunday afternoon. My father had tickets as part of the Sunday plan, but for some reason which has been lost to time, neither King Classic nor Pete could attend.  My father offered me our four tickets, and after asking Jon, he, myself and a girl named Gail took the train into the city and then the subway to the stadium.

Like me, Gail was a Yankee fan and had been to the stadium many times before.  But this was Jon’s first time. We got to the stadium an hour or so before the ring ceremony was scheduled to begin and walked around some, showing Jon around. As we walked around, maybe it was because of the sales job that Gail and I did, or maybe because it was because it was Yankee Stadium, but Jon started to develop an appreciation for the team.

We took our seats and watched video after video of the ’96 team, followed by the ring ceremony.  As fun as that was, the game was even better.  The offensive highlight was Bernie Williams hitting a solo shot in the third, helping the Yankees cement their 3-2 victory.  David Wells posted eight-plus strong innings and Mariano Rivera, who was in his first full season as Yankees closer walked one and struck out one to end the game.  As the game progressed, Jon got more and more into cheering for the Yankees- a big change from his demeanor that night seven months prior. 

As we walked back to the subway, the three of us all got a chance to bang on Freddy’s pan.  We headed back to school, two of us longtime Yankees fans with another notch under our belts, and the third, a (at first) reluctant convert to Yankees fandom.

King Tom3 Comments

Tenure? Rickey's Got 16, 17 Years

August 24, 1988
Yankees 7, A’s 6

Growing up, I spent many a summer week enrolled in different YMCA camps in New York (Camp Pouch, Staten Island) and New Jersey (the Metuchen Y).  A few times each summer, the camp would organize a field trip to a Yankees game.  Our parents would pay for a cheap ticket to a day game, and the camp would bus us to the stadium with the counselors trying to watch over a group of kids in the stands.  Pretty much every time, the seats were way up in the upper deck, in fair territory.  (What a difference 20 years makes–today it seems impossible that there would be that many cheap tickets available to a Yankees game, even if it were a daytime game in the middle of the week).

We weren’t overly rambunctious- most of us would follow the games and cheer for the Yankees.  Our favorite [collective] player would be whichever Yankee would acknowledge us.  When we were seated in the left field stands, we’d scream Rickey Henderson‘s name until he waved.  The other times we went, when we were in right field, we’d try shouting at Dave Winfield. Needless to say, Rickey had much more fans just because he had a better track record of acknowledging the kids.

Anyway, this particular game, on August 24 1988, was during the last week of camp.  Our bus was somewhat late leaving the camp- and our driver actually hopped the median right before the George Washington Bridge to get us to the stadium in time.  Before the long trek up to our seats, our counselors took us to the gift shop.  I used what little money I had on me to buy an ’88 Yankees yearbook.  A friend (whose name has long since escaped my memory) used his to buy a portable radio pre-tuned to the AM station which had the Yankees broadcast rights (this minor purchase will come into play later on).

So us camp kids spent the game screaming for Dave Winfield and going unacknowledged. The game was slow, and Oakland scored the first three runs of the game before the Yankees scored on a Claudell Washington groundout (with Rickey scoring the run after stealing second).  The A’s scored another run and the score remained at 4-1 until the eighth.  

After what looked like a comeback started by two singles, Don Slaught hit a sacrifice tie to bring in one run, but the rally was soon killed.  When the eighth ended, the counselors decided it was time to head home. We filed out of the stadium–my group was the first to arrive at the buses right outside, but we had to wait for a few other groups.  

As we left, the Yankees gave up two runs in the top of the ninth, meaning the score was 6-2 going into the Yankees’ last frame.  

We stood outside the bus, getting updates from my friend who had the foresight to buy that little radio.  Suddenly, the fans smart enough to stay were cheering–a Ken Phelps home run tied up the game and Rickey singled in the winning run. Yet most of the kids of the YMCA Camp Pouch were waiting outside the stadium.  It was a good thing there was only one day of camp left that year, because the counselors who made the decision to leave early made the list.  

Even though this one should probably go under the ‘When I Wasn’t There’ category, it was still a fun game.  And I was there for eight innings of it.

Remedy used to work as a vendor at the Stadium- and every now and then he’d get me a shirt or a cap. One of my favorites was a Henderson t-shirt (Interlocking NY on front, name and number on the back)- and I’d get made fun of whenever I wore it to school. Of course, growing up in New York in the mid 80s, I was one of maybe four kids in my school who was a Yankee fan.  I’m just glad YMCA management didn’t send us to Shea.

*The titular line of this entry comes from one of the many great Rickey stories, some of which are available here.

King Tom

Broadcasters Need To Eat Too

You can blame the Morning Toast for this one.  

In the comments to yesterday’s post about Yankee Satdium’s final game, tMT said I should start a series about the times I’ve been to Yankee Stadium.  

I don’t mind if I do.  

I wrote a rather lengthy, but somewhat general post about my memories of Yankee Stadium.  While it was a nice look back, there are more to the stories than what I wrote. At least I hope they are.  So in an effort to expand the blog content, I give you the very first post in an ongoing series called When I Was There.

Memorial Day, 1997
Orioles  8, Yankees 6

While my father took my brother and I to Yankees games numerous times growing up, our most prolific attendance came during the ’97 and ’98 seasons, when we had the “Sunday Plan,” which gave us tickets to every Sunday home game, as well as a number of other games throughout the season.  The three of us had a routine every gameday from the time we left our house, to what tollbooth to use on the GWB to what food stand to hit first.

It was a great two-year run for the team, and we had pretty damn good seats- the third row back in the second level in Section 22.  Here’s an attempt at showing you what it was like (keep in mind these two pictures were taken more than ten years ago, and had I known I would’ve needed to make a photo montage, I would have taken better pictures.):

Memorial Day was one of those bonus days we got as part of the plan.  The third-place Yankees were taking on the first-place Orioles, and the game was scheduled to be on ESPN, so there was something in the air that day.

Before the game started, the three of us went to Sausages, Etc., the sausage stand right behind the Yankee offices and stadium pressbox.  While it served as lunch for my brother and my father, for me, it was typically the first of many food stops on any given game day.  We liked to start off at Sausages, Etc., because the lines were usually short and the staff more friendly than other stadium locations.

The line this Memorial Day was actually a bit long.  The three of us were standing behind a short guy in a suit.  I whispered to my father “I think that’s Joe Morgan,” when without skipping a beat, the guy turned around and said “Yes, I’m Joe Morgan–and don’t be afraid to say hello…I don’t know why people never want to talk to me here!” 

Joe was actually pretty gracious. He shook my hand and we talked about the season as the line progressed.  While he placed his order, he turned around and said that of the three sausages he ordered, two were for [broadcast partner] Jon Miller.  Before he headed back to the booth, I got an autograph (which I think my brother is in possession of).  Throughout the whole few minutes, neither my father nor my brother said a word.  When I asked my father why he didn’t say anything, he said simply “I hate Joe Morgan.”  (Of course, this was back before everyone else had the same opinion of Morgan as my father and way before he said Billy Beane shouldn’t have written that book).

The game itself wasn’t that memorable (and I’m probably saying that because the Yankees lost) outside of a Tim Raines triple, Bernie Williams home run and Derek Jeter driving in two with a bases-loaded single.

Last night, when talking with my father about the TV coverage of the Stadium’s final game, my father said he was disappointed that when asked his favorite stadium memory, Morgan didn’t mention his sausage stand run-in with the King, and a silent King Classic and t-shirt boy.

You know what Dad? Me too.

King Tom4 Comments

One Final Game

 

Yankee Stadium

I’m sure that at the beginning of this year’s baseball season, most people were fine with the Yankees closing out the season on the road. They’ve made the postseason every year since 1993, and if that streak continued, the stadium’s final game would be in the postseason, not on the first day of fall.

 

Well, it’s safe to say this season has been disappointing and rather than heading off to the postseason, the Yankees will finish the season on the road and the stadium’s last game will be a game of little consequence against Baltimore.

I remember the last time the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs- the Yankees finished out the season against Detroit (at home) and there was an optimistic “wait ’till next year” feeling around the team.  This year, that feeling is still there, but there’s a lot of introspection over not how the team fell short this year, but also about the lifetime of Yankee Stadium.

It’s unfortunate but necessary that the building will be torn down and the Yankees are moving across the street.  While my last time at the Stadium was in aught-two, I’ve been there more times than I can count, and I will miss the stadium.  

The greatness of the stadium isn’t in the building, but what’s happened there.  The stadium bears no resemblance to the original structure, and it started falling apart ten years ago (right in front of my every Sunday seat, no less).  While it has a lot of charm and character, it has little in the way of modern anemities, and can be uncomfortable at times (especially if you’re 6’4″ and trying to watch a game with no leg room).   There’s been a lot of back and forth between the city and the team on who foots the bill, but one thing that both parties have to do is improve the neighborhood around the stadium.  While it’s a big change, the new stadium means a great opportunity for change, not only for the team and its fans, but more importantly, the people who live in the area year-round.

So I’ll be checking out the coverage throughout the day, tune in for the game and I will follow the team for the remaining week or so of the season.  I’m lucky that I have the memories I have of the place.  And hopefully, I can get out to NY next year to check out the new digs.

King Tom

Drunken Irabu Beats Up Bartender and I Reap the Rewards

I know I’m a day late with this, but former Yankee hurler Hideki Irabu has been arrested in Japan for drunkenly beating up a bartender.  Or beating up a bartender drunkenly.  The key points of this story: he was drunk, and he beat up a bartender (not to mention downing 20 mugs of beer and afterwards, paying for the damage).  From Yankee Blogger Pete Abraham:

Former New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was arrested Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a bartender after drinking 20 mugs of beer, a police official said.Irabu, 39, became angered after his credit card was rejected. He then allegedly pushed the bartender against the wall, pulled his hair and smashed at least nine liquor bottles at a bar in Osaka, western Japan, a police official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

The bartender sustained no injuries. Irabu paid the bill with another credit card. The police official said Irabu admitted the assault.

I feel compelled to report this because I sponsor Irabu’s Baseball Reference page, and have noticed a slight uptick in the number of visitors in the past day. 

As noted on the page, I still have two Irabu t-shirts (but I don’t remember the last time I wore either). The New York Times tried to check in with Irabu a few months ago, and I wrote about it here.

King Tom

Where's Hideki?

For the past six seasons, the Yankees have had a dependable, professional and productive Japanese import–Hideki Matsui, an outfielder who has been a steady contributor to the team.

Ten years ago, the Yankees had another Japanese import, their first (if you’re not counting Kats Maeda), also named Hideki, but he wasn’t really dependable, professional, and was only productive in short spurts.

Hideki Irabu made his first appearance as a MLB player in July of ’97 after the Yankees acquired his rights (Along with Homer Bush) from the Padres. There was a lot of build-up and media frenzy during the acquisition and Irabu’s stint in the minors. While he impressed in his first game against the Tigers, he quickly fell apart and went back and forth between the minors and the big leagues.  A lot of news stories around the time focused on the fact that Irabu was rude, couldn’t cover first base and had a straight fastball.

Believe it or not, in the early months of the ’98 season, Irabu was the teams’ most dependable starter. In a year where injuries threatened the team early on, he kept a sub-3.00 ERA through July, and didn’t lose his first start until May 30.

Starting in late ’98, Hideki turned back into a pumpkin and floundered throughout ’99 before being dealt away to Montreal, in a deal where Expos management must have thought they were getting Cy Young.

The New York Times recently checked in on Irabu, who still lives in the U.S. and is in the restaurant business in California:

Irabu, who was out of the country and could not be reached for comment, now enjoys relative anonymity. He lives with his wife, Kyonsu, and two children in a three-bedroom home in the hills of Rancho Palos Verdes, about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. In his current hometown, the difference from Manhattan or Tokyo is as easy to spot as the horse trails that run alongside many of the streets. His main chore is checking in on a pair of Japanese restaurants he has invested in. “He has a good life,” Nomura said.

As for the restaurant business, “one day he called me and said he was buying a udon shop,” Nomura said of the Japanese term for noodle. The fast-food shop was open for about a year, but closed late last year despite what neighbors in the industrial neighborhood of Gardena said was a brisk lunch-time business. Nomura said Irabu sold the business, but has two other restaurants, although he is not involved in their day-to-day operations.

One thing about that article- in the picture, Irabu is wearing a long Yankees jacket- in the middle of July. And that summer was hot, and now that I think about it, he was always wearing long sleeves.  Thing is, that summer, in New York, Irabu t-shirts were everywhere.

And as mentioned on his baseball-reference page, I still own two of them.

King Tom

The More Things Change, Yada, Yada, Yada…

Being an obnixous Yankee fan in a city where most baseball fans follow one of two so-called “medium market” teams, I often get asked to defend the charge that the Yankees’ (read: George Steinbrenner’s) spending habits have ruined the great sport of baseball.

My standard reponse is that yes, the Yankees do spend more than other teams, but that’s because they wisely (well, mostly wise) reinvest their money into the team. That money pays for a team that fans turn out to see, in turn, leading fans to buy the team’s merchandise and follow the team from around the world. What’s more, the Yankees pay millions of dollars to other teams in the form of revenue sharing, and a number of those teams take that money and put it back into the pockets of their owners, rather than putting that money into a team (for that team’s fans) worth cheering for. 

Rather, I counter, it isn’t the Yankees ruining baseball, but those owners taking that money to enrich themselves, rather than their team.

Even though free agency has only existed over the last 30-40 years of baseball’s lifespan, the concepts I’ve been talking about have been around a lot more.  In reading a recent interview at Baseball Analysts with Dan Levitt, who wrote a book about Ed Barrow, the Yankees’ first GM, it’s easy to see that my argument is not a new one:

Rich: Using newly available material from the New York Yankee financial records and previously unexplored financial data from 1951 Congressional hearings, you delved into the economic environment of baseball over the first half of the twentieth century. What was the most enlightening thing you learned about the Yankees?

Dan: Two things stand out. First, the Yankees reinvested their profits in the team while other franchises often distributed theirs out to the team’s owners, and second, the Yankees consistently paid the highest salaries.

I’d rather be a fan of a team that spends prodigiously than one run by a bunch of penny pinchers.  Sure, the Yankees are a .500 team at this point in the season, but their ownership has at least given them a chance.  I’d like for someone to honestly tell me that you can say the same about Pittsburgh or Florida. Those cities should have their teams taken away.

King Tom

The Leg That Launched A Thousand Pitches

Former Yankees hurler Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, who has one of the most distinct wind-up/deliveries in baseball today, will have to drastically alter his wind-up for medical reasons. According to the New York Post:

Hernandez has multiple problems with his right foot, notably a bunion issue that causes significant pain on his instep near his big toe. When he brings his right knee toward his face in his standard delivery, Hernandez is forced to take his heel off the ground, which places greater strain on the instep and toe areas. So Hernandez needs to modify his delivery to allow him to keep his heel flat as a way to alleviate pain.

Watching him pitch for the Yankees from 1998-2001 and again in aught-four, I always thought he’d develop hip issues from his delivery. But this is a real shame. It seems like today, 90% of pitchers have the same kind of wind-up/delivery. Hernandez wasn’t a power pitcher, and helped use his delivery to deceive opposing batters, something that helps when the eephus is in your repertiore.

Back in ’98, Hernandez was a sort of folk hero for the Yankees. Escaping from Cuba (regardless of the details of the story), this guy with a different delivery helped the Yankees win championships. His delivery was the even the subject of a commercial (the true stars of which are King Tom favorites David Cone and Luis Sojo):

Actually, there were quite a few of these commercials for the Yankees that summer. Possibly the most awesome of which starred George Steinbrenner (who chose not to use a body-double):

Body Suit Man must have had the day off.

King Tom

The path is clear

I have to admit, I watched part of the Super Bowl last night.

The Civee and I caught the last 10-15 minutes, but that was mostly because we were waiting for the new episode of House to start. As you may have guessed, the King is not a football fan.

But I suppose as people who aren’t practicing the religion in which they were raised say “oh, I was raised a Jedi,” I could say I was raised a Giants fan, so it was nice to see them come back and win. Even for a non football fan such as myself, it was an exciting few minutes, and I’m happy for those back home who are still celebrating the Giants win.

Now that that’s all over with, pitchers and catchers report in 10 days. Winter is almost over.

King Tom

The city that never stops talking about baseball

I moved to Columbus from the NY-NJ area almost eight years ago. While I like Columbus, there are some things I miss about my native land, to wit:

  • Good Chinese food
  • Edible Pizza
  • Restaurants open past 10 p.m.
  • The Yankees
  • Year-round baseball coverage in the media

That last one has hit home over the past few weeks. Here in Columbus, people are abuzz about the local college football team, but my level of interest in college football is nil.

While the baseball playing season has been over for more than a month, plenty has happened, epecially for the Yankees. They let Joe Torre walk and hired Joe Girardi. Alex Rodriguez left the Yankees then came back. The talk over the last week has been about which team the Twins would trade Johan Santana to. And this week, team executives met in Nashville for the winter meetings.

But it’s being ignored here.

Actually, Peter Abraham, a Yankees beat writer with an excellent blog, summed up the situation in NY last week:

Nobody talks football once the games are over. We know nothing much about 85 percent of the players and not even the best fan could name all of the GMs. But even a casual baseball fan can list four prospects his team could trade for Santana. Or has an opinion on A-Rod.

It must drive the NFL, NBA and NHL people nuts to flip on the radio at 4 p.m. on a late November day and hear nothing but talk about whether Minnesota will trade the lefty. But that is what makes our sport the best. It never goes out of season. They just stop the games for a few months.

Well, at least I have the Internet.

King Tom