Monthly Archives: April 2009

In a terrific write up in the Sunday Times, Joe Sexton writes that the true sport fan’s most exquisite sensation is “not joy, but relief.”  I remember when the Yankees were winning championships in the late ’90s–especially when they beat the Mets–relief is exactly what I felt when it was all over, not joy. 

Anyhow, Sexton’s piece is about a new documentary about the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.  The Thrilla in Manilla fight, most famously captured by the late Mark Kram for Sports Illustrated.   Sexton says the movie is most effective when dealing with the action inside the ring:

Watching again the two at war did not evoke 18th-century painting so much as, well, the Toronto Blue Jays’ 15-14 defeat of the Phillies in Game 4 of the 1993 World Series — a glorious, near-endless horror from which you could not avert your eyes.

Neither fighter was much good at defending himself anymore. Ali was 33, freshly triumphant from his defeat of George Foreman in Zaire but lazily out of shape. Frazier, 31, had absorbed a hurricane of hurt when destroyed by Foreman, had a bit of a gut, and his head, as Liebling wrote of the former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, retained its “unlimited absorptive capacity for percussion.”

But in watching glimpses of the fight in “Thrilla” I love again the quality of Ali’s chin. I wonder anew at Frazier’s forever forward-moving sense of purpose. I am touched by Futch’s brave decency. Simple enough pleasures, and durable enough truths, that held up pretty well to re-examination.

Mark Teixeira hit two home runs today as the Yanks rolled over the Cubbies to end the pre-season.   And as such things go, it was a succesful spring for the Bombers.

It was overcast, windy and brisk in the Bronx this afternoon but that aside it was a fine time for those who stuck around, getting their first look at the new stadium.  What’s not to enjoy about an old fashioned beat down?  The Bleacher Creatures picked up their first inning roll call right where they left off last season, and from behind home plate, they sound louder than ever (and, they capped off the call with the de riguer “Box Seats Suck” chant proving that some things remain the same).  In all, it was a small taste of what’s to come at the stadium. 

Opening Day in a few weeks should be a carnival of excitement.  Big BIG BIG.  It will be the first time I’ve ever been to season opener and despite my initial reservations about the brightness and busyness of the new stadium experience, there’s no other place that I’d rather be.

It stopped raining by the middle of the afternoon on Friday. I walked through Central Park to reach the subway at Columbus Circle. It was damp and warm and the early spring evening light was almost pale white. I paused to take in the massive Time Warner towers and thought how much the landscape has changed over the years.  The future is now.  Then I went into the hole in the ground and when I emerged in the Bronx, the first thing I saw was the old Yankee Stadium, which of course is still standing.

The new Yankee Stadium is across the street and last night it opened for business in the form of an exhibition against the Cubs. The Hard Rock Café is built into the corner of the place, right on River Avenue, but across the street, is just one bar, a 99 cents Odd Lot, a non-descript Dentist Office, and a few souvenir store fronts. The new place looks grand from the outside but as I walked west, away from River avenue, I couldn’t help but look to my left at the old Stadium. At one point, there is a clear view into the right field upper deck.

The sun was still high enough in the sky though it was past six. It splashed across the empty upper deck seats. A few fans turned and noticed. But not too many. Most everyone was too absorbed with what was right in front of them—the new new thing. The old Stadium will be taken apart slowly over a sixteen month period of time. Standing in front of the new place looking across the street, the old Stadium still looks imposing, formidable, and it will feel odd watching it go piece by piece.  A Death Star in reverse.  It seems as if it will feel very empty when it is gone–even with the knowledge that it is to be replaced by public parks.

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The Yankees’ home opener may not be until April 16, but the first baseball game ever played at the new Yankee Stadium took place last night, as did a number of other firsts, which though they may be unofficial, will always be the ones I count because I was there.

Because of the rain yesterday afternoon, neither team took batting practice. I arrived at the park a bit after 5:30 and the Cubs took the field too loosen up soon after. Here are some photographs from before the game (as always, all of my photos can be enlarged with a click).

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Let’s get to it . . .

• The Times provides an interactive guide to the new cathedral.
• Joel Sherman has mixed feelings about the new Stadium:

The new Yankee Stadium has just about everything you would want in a modern sports facility, except charm and a sense of proportion. . . .

(Yet) the place brought nausea, not nostalgia. It just feels like the wrong time in the history of this country and this city to be opening up the George Mahal. When the project was initiated 2 ½ years ago, the Yankees could not have known what the state of the economy was going to be now.

But this is about more than wrong place, wrong time. The Yankees’ sense of entitlement and unrestrained excess is timeless. They will tell you they built this stadium for the everyman, stressing what they consider still affordable pricing and amenities. But this stadium, in actuality, was built for a moneyed class that in many respects does not even exist in this city any longer.

• Mr. Sherman provides a listing of the 2009 payroll, and comes up with $207.4 million.
• Harvey Araton seems to feel the same way as Mr. Sherman:

The new Yankee Stadium is not about improved atmosphere; it is about amenities — and there are many. But in the context of New York’s fiscal reality, are they worth what was taken from the neighborhood folk, the taxpayer subsidies and the unholy prices of the premium seats, a fair number of which remain available? . . .

The unsold seats that stand to create pockets of blue reminders of overreaching are the Yankees’ problem. But the Steinbrenners have what they long wanted, while the players have computer screens at their dressing stalls inside a mall of a clubhouse that has a kitchen with two chefs, among places where reporters won’t roam. . . .

Of course, the demolition of the old Stadium is overdue. The neighborhood deserves at least some of its precious parkland back now that the house George M. Steinbrenner built with the help of the willing and the unwilling is officially open for business.

• PeteAbe gives his first impressions of the Stadium on a game day:

The biggest difference? Those fancy Legends seats that stretch from first base to third base are set apart by a high concrete wall. It’s like they wanted to protect the wealthy from the rest of society.

The building is just immense. The Great Hall looks like you could run a train through it. There are two small scoreboards in right and left field that show the linescore, the count, etc. There are also a lot more bleacher seats. A whole lot more.

• Some fans offered their thoughts on the new park:

As a longtime Yankees fan who saw more than 200 games at the old House that Ruth Built, Mike Generose acknowledged feeling a bit sentimental about the Yankees’ old park, still standing alongside the new venue.

“A little bit of your heart stays across the street,” he said. “But I guess if you have to move, this is a good place to move into.”

The Bronx stadium felt and sounded every bit like its urban setting, with elevated subway trains rumbling by within sight behind the outfield.

John Panzico lauded the ballpark’s openness as he squeezed the new, cushioned seats.

“I grew up in the old stadium. I brought my children there,” said the 62-year-old Panzico, who was raised on Staten Island and now lives in upstate Monroe. “I hope I’ll be starting a new tradition at this stadium with my grandchildren.”

• MLB.com offers a brief overview of the Yanks for the coming season.
• Derek Jeter and David Wright are going head-to-head . . . for charity:

Under the rules of Delta’s Jeter/Wright Batting Challenge, the player who ends the season with the highest batting average (based on a minimum 400 at bats) wins the big bonus for his charity.

In this competition, the loser is still a winner – his charity gets $50,000.

If for some reason one of the players gets hurt and doesn’t make the minimum number of at bats, Delta will call off the competition and give $75,000 to each of the players’ charities.

• The Boston Globe starts the year with 100 things to know about the Rays, Sox and Yankees.
• On this date in 1989, on the opening day of the new season, New York Yankees pitcher Tommy John ties a major league record by playing in his 26th season. John beats the Minnesota Twins, 4 – 2, for his 287th win.
• On this date in 1994, a total of 56,706 fans attend Opening Day, making it the largest crowd ever at the (then new) Yankee Stadium.
• We’ve arrived at the NCAA Final Four, which means we should take a look at the 2009 “Bronx Madness” standings.  “Heel Yeah”, despite having two fewer correct picks than “Karim Abdul Garcia”, leads by 38 points.  “Heel Yeah” has three of the four teams, including their title pick of North Carolina, still alive.  “Garcia” only has two teams alive, and their title pick of Louisville went down in the Elite Eight.  The only way “Heel Yeah” doesn’t take the honors is if Michigan State and Villanova win their respective semifinal matchups.  Then “Spanking the Wooden Floor” (ahem) will steal the top prize.

See you Monday . . .

The Yanks and Cubs are due to play the first of two exhibition games tonight. We’ll see if they get it in. Cliff will be there, as will I. I’m eager to get my first taste of the new place. And it’ll be on TV so everyone will get to check it out.

As A. Gleeman says, Happy Baseball, y’all.

There are those who believe that spring training performance is too misleading to be useful in determining who should win spots on an Opening Day roster. I would tend to agree with that theory, at least in the case of established veteran players, but the Grapefruit and Cactus League seasons can be helpful in sorting out the best and worst among younger players.

The 2009 Yankees provide a classic case in point. Last Sunday, Joe Girardi announced that Brett Gardner had won the center field battle, with Melky Cabrera relegated to backup duties. Gardner hit a leadoff home run in the Yankees’ first Grapefruit League game—and continued to hit all spring, even showing surprising power. Cabrera, after a slow start, rebounded to lift his average near the .350 range, which is terrific, but still short of Gardner’s exhibition season level.

In my mind, Girardi has made a perfectly reasonable and rational decision in choosing Gardner. Both players have their strengths, Gardner his speed and range, and Cabrera his throwing arm, but neither has a huge edge in talent over the other. Both are younger players still trying to establish their levels of value in the major leaguers. Neither player hit well in 2008, leaving question marks about their staying power as regular center fielders. If Girardi can’t use spring training as a major factor in this decision, then what else can he rely on? A call to Joe Torre? Tarot cards?

Amidst the uncertainties of player performance, relying on tarot cards might seem unconventional, yet the mystical guidance of the cards could be the unexpected touchstone in this decision-making process. Perhaps Girardi can shuffle the deck and contemplate the significance of the eight of pentacles reversed – a card that signifies a reevaluation of one’s efforts and a shift in focus. Just as the players are honing their skills, Girardi can seek guidance from the cards to discern the nuanced strengths that elude straightforward statistics.

Ultimately, the baseball field becomes a metaphorical realm where decisions are made not only based on tangible statistics but also on the instincts, adding a touch of mysticism to the manager’s decision-making process.

I believe that the pressure of spring training performance can also tell us something about a player. If a player knows he has to hit well in the spring in order to win a job, and then he goes out and does exactly that, it may be an indication that he can handle the pressure that comes with the major leagues. Similarly, I believe that competition should bring out the best in good players. And based on the way that both Gardner and Cabrera have responded to this spring’s competition (and the way that Austin Jackson, slated for Triple-A, also hit in Grapefruit League play), the Yankees may find center field to be in far more capable hands than they originally planned…

No one seems to know for sure whether Bob Sheppard is fully retired, or might make a cameo appearance at the new Yankee Stadium this year, but what I do know is this: This incredible man has introduced Yankee players for nearly 60 years, dating back to the 1951 season. So we thought we’d compile an “all-Bob Sheppard team,” consisting of some of the best and most unusual Yankee names in history. (The more syllables, the better.) Some of the monikers are lyrical, others are clunky, but all have been delivered with a grace and precision unlike any other public address announcer in baseball history.

Catcher: Thurman Munson (the only big leaguer with the given name of Thurman)
First Base: Duke Carmel (true identity: Leon James Carmel)
Second Base: Robinson Cano (the only current Yankee to make the squad)
Shortstop: Paul Zuvella (Rizzuto loved this name)
Third Base: Celerino Sanchez (makes me think of celery stalks)
Outfield: Ross Moschitto (hit like a mosquito, too)
Outfield: Roger Repoz (if only he had played so lyrically)
Outfield: Claudell Washington (the first and only Claudell, and a personal favorite)
Pinch-Hitter: Oscar Azocar (not much of a hitter, but what a name!)
SP: Ed Figueroa (Mr. Sheppard would never call him “Figgy”)
SP: John Montefusco (did Bob ever call him “The Count?”)
SP: Eli Grba (still not sure what happened to all of the vowels)
SP: Hideki Irabu (never referred to as “The Toad”)
RP: Hipolito Pena (an obscure left-hander, but a memorable moniker)
RP: Cecilio Guante (translates to “Cecilio Glove”)
RP: Ron Klimkowski (went from pitching to selling Cadillacs)
RP: Dooley Womack (one of the stars of Ball Four)
Opponent: Jose Valdivielso (Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins)…

One of the most underrated managers in the history of the expansion era died this week. Herman Franks, the major leagues’ oldest living ex-manager, passed away on Monday at the age of 95. At first glance, Franks’ managerial record with the Giants and the Cubs might look pedestrian. In seven seasons, he failed to take any of his teams to the postseason. Without a measure of postseason glory, his record pales in comparison with that of contemporaries like Walter Alston, Dick Williams, Gil Hodges, and even Ralph Houk. That’s the cursory look, and as usual, it tells us little about the man’s true accomplishments. So let’s look deeper. In those seven seasons, Franks’ teams never finished worse than four games below .500. And his teams always contended, never concluding a season worse than five games behind the division or league leader.

In the late 1960s, Franks guided the Giants to three second-place finishes. Unfortunately, the National League was stacked at the time, with powerhouse clubs in place in Los Angeles and St. Louis, and the Pirates posing a threat as intermittent contenders. If only the league had been split into two divisions prior to 1969, Franks likely would have pushed one or more of his Giants teams into postseason play.

Franks, however, did his most impressive work a decade later with the Cubs, where he lacked the talent of the Mays-McCovey-Marichal Giants. In 1977, Franks led Chicago to a record of 81-81, remarkable for a club that featured four of five starting pitchers with ERAs of over 4.00. The Cubs’ lineup also had its share of holes, with Jose Cardenal missing a ton of games in the outfield, and mediocrities like George Mitterwald and the “original” Steve Ontiveros claiming regular playing time at catcher and third base, respectively. Two years later, Franks did similar wonders with a band of misfits, coaxing a career year out of Dave Kingman and using an innovative approach with fireman Bruce Sutter. Realizing that the Hall of Famer’s right arm had come up lame the previous two summers, Franks began to use Sutter almost exclusively in games in which the Cubs held the lead. It’s a practice that has become the norm in today’s game (to the point of being overdone), but Franks was the first to realize the benefit of reserving his relief ace for late-game leads.

For his troubles, the Cubs unfairly fired Franks with seven games remaining in the season. The following season, the Cubs finished 64-98, nearly 30 games out of first place. They should have kept Franks.

Bruce Markusen writes “Cooperstown Confidential” for MLB.com.

The Yankees held their first workout at the new Yankee Stadium yesterday afternoon. It was the first time the entire team gathered at the new ballpark, the first time the field was used for baseball activities, and the first time that fans were allowed into the stands. The new Yankee Stadium is open for business. Below are a few photos and impressions of the new ballpark (all photos can be clicked to enlarge).

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Today’s news is powered by . . . baseball fights!

• LoHud provides video tours of the new ballparks in town.
• Brett Gardner was a little befuddled by the new Stadium:

“I couldn’t figure out how to get into the Stadium this morning, they didn’t want to let me in, because I went into the wrong gate,” Brett Gardner said. . . .

“I couldn’t figure out how to get to the clubhouse, so I just said forget it and I walked down through the stands and into the dugout and found the clubhouse,” Gardner said.

• YESblog has lots of cool photos from the day’s events.
• Kevin Devaney of LoHud got player reactions to their new home, including:

Andy Pettitte: “I was out there last night and, the dimensions, it looks exactly like the old ball park. You just look from the dugout, it looks like it’s going to play big in left and there’s a short porch in right.

“Obviously you walk through the door and see this, the clubhouse. Just the facilities we have, how beautiful everything is and the lighting, it’s state-of-the-art. For me, I’m a big-time whirlpool guy. We have unbelievable facilities as far as swimming. It’s just unbelievable.”

• Hal Steinbrenner thinks some of the tickets may be overpriced:

“I think if anybody in any business had known where this economy was going to go, they would have done things differently,” Steinbrenner said Thursday. “Look, there’s no doubt small amounts of our tickets might be overpriced.

“You know, we’re continuing to look into that. But the bottom line is, the vast majority of them, it seems like they’re right on because we’ve sold 35,000 full-season equivalents, and a lot of the tickets have, you know, sold quite well. And, well, despite what’s out there all the time … there’s thousands of very affordable seating. And, you know, the public is excited, as excited as we are, I think.”

[My take: Ummm . . . Hal? You may want to take a look at this next article.  You’ve basically built a moat within the Stadium.  Oh, and how are the TV camera going to avoid showing the empty $500-$2,500 seats in those oh-so-special between-the-bases sections?]

• $72.97 . . . that’s the average ticket cost at the new Stadium, according to the 2009 Fan Cost Index (FCI):

The Yankees’ ascendance to the top of the FCI and ticket rankings breaks two long streaks by the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox have had the most-expensive average ticket since 1996, and have topped the FCI charts since 2001. . . .

About 31 percent of the Yankees’ high-priced premium tickets sell for $135 or less, according to TMR research, with prices famously topping out at $2,500 for some front-row season tickets. . . .

The Yankees have overtaken Boston ($50.24, up 0.3 percent) and the Chicago Cubs ($47.75, up 10 percent) for the priciest average ticket.

• Bill Madden predicts the Yanks will finish 90-72, behind both Tampa Bay (101-61) and Boston (94-68).

[My take: If the Rays win 101 games, without having called up David Price by May 1, I’ll eat my mousepad.]

• No matter the work status of Bob Sheppard this season, Derek Jeter will continue to be “announced” by him.

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The weather is starting to perk up.  Rain tomorrow the weather man says, but right now, the sun is out and people are feeling fine.

Take it away, Biz:

It was a wet and foggy morning in the Bronx today.  But the rain is supposed to hold off this afternoon–the sun is already out–which will come as good news for the fans headed up to the new stadium.  The Yankees broke camp yesterday and are scheduled to have a work out in their new home today.  Our man Cliff Corcoran will be there and I’m sure he’ll give us his impressions later this evening.

No matter what our reservations about it are, I’m sure that most Yankee fans are eager to see the place.  I think it will feel strange, especially since the old Stadium is still standing, now vacant, across the street.  At least in Queens, Shea is torn down, which lends a different ghostly feeling to the surroundings.

What do you guys think?  Is there anyone who is not at least curious to go to the new park?

Today’s news is powered by our fearless leader’s predictions for the Yankees in 2009, as part of a “New York Baseball Today” segment:

• Baseball Prospectus’ Will Carroll, on the status of our favorite celebrity/third baseman:

The Yankees are saying that Alex Rodriguez will return on May 15; sources tell me that he’s “way in front of that.”

• Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan and A-Rod.  No, its not some cross-sport menage-a-trois.  Its some of the names that come up in David Pinto’s preview of the Yanks, specifically:

Be on the lookout for a Nancy Kerrigan-like recovery for Alex Rodriguez. Back in 1994, skater Kerrigan was whacked in the knee by the boyfriend of her rival skater, Tonya Harding. Kerrigan was force to rehabilitate her knee to get ready for the Olympics, and the therapy made her stronger, leading to the best performance of her life. A-Rod is going through that kind of training right now, possibly increasing his strength beyond what a normal spring training would bring. I could imagine him coming back and posting six months worth of number in five. (Of course, he’ll complain about Jeter’s makeup and everyone will hate him again.)

• John Perrotto takes a peek at the 2009 Yankees:

Though this is one franchise that determines the success of a season by whether or not it won the World Series (something it hasn’t done since 2000), the Yankees weren’t exactly awful last season. They went 89-73, and they weren’t as dominant as usual, finishing a mediocre 13^th in the majors in team Equivalent Average*with a .262 mark while scoring an average of 4.9 per game, 14^th in runs allowed with a 4.5 average, and 25^th in defensive efficiency. This year, Teixeira should bolster the offense, and Sabathia should provide a lift to the pitching staff as they are among the game’s premier players. Teixeira’s combined .328 EqA with the Braves and Angels last season ranked fifth in the majors, and Sabathia’s combined 8.7 SNLVAR** with the Indians and Brewers ranked first. Burnett was 32^nd in SNLVAR with 5.3 for the Blue Jays, and is not considered as safe a bet as Teixeira and Sabathia because of his injury history and his often prickly personality.

“There is pressure on me, and all three of us, but I can tell you that nobody has greater expectations of me than I do,” Sabathia said. “It was that way when I was a rookie back in 2001 making the minimum salary, and that’s the way it is now that I’ve signed this contract. I want to the best pitcher I can be, get to the World Series, and win it. I know the fans expect me to come here and be that missing piece, the guy who takes the Yankees to the World Series. That’s great. I want them to feel that way, because that’s my goal, too.”

Sabathia also believes that Teixeira and Burnett will handle the high expectations. “They’re veterans and exceptional players,” said Sabathia. “You don’t reach the level they’ve reached in this game if you’re not confident and mentally strong. We’re all in the same boat. We’re new here. But we’re also here to lean on each other, and that’s going to help all three of us.”

• Newsday’s Wallace Matthews wants Joba Chamberlain back in the bullpen:

Greater baseball minds than mine have analyzed this situation at great length and determined that Joba for the first six innings every five days is better than Joba out of the bullpen five times a week.

. . . Joba can finish. He was a great setup man, and someday he’ll be a great closer. Those commodities are a lot scarcer on the market than starting pitchers.

And the Yankees, of all teams, should know it. In 1996, they wrote the book on the art of shortening the game. The nightly relay team – starting pitcher to Rivera to John Wetteland – was more reliable than Tinker to Evers to Chance. It forced every one of their opponents into the hurry-up offense, every night.

If you didn’t get those Yankees within six innings, you weren’t getting them at all, and the numbers bear it out – the record of the 1996 world champions was 70-3 in games they led after six.

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You may have heard that the Yankees, who beat the Phillies today 8-5, finished their spring training schedule with the Grapefruit League’s best record. That’s not terribly meaningful, but it is pretty cool. Save for Alex Rodriguez’s hip and assorted other off-field issues, there was nothing but good news out of Yankee camp this March. Here’s hoping things go as well in the regular season.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
R – Cody Ransom (3B)
L – Brett Gardner (CF)

Subs: Shelley Duncan (1B), Angel Berroa (2B), Ramiro Peña (SS), Justin Leone (3B), Jose Molina (C), Todd Linden (RF), Melky Cabrera (LF-CF), John Rodriguez (LF), Kevin Cash (DH)

Pitchers: CC Sabathia, Jose Veras, Damaso Marte, Phil Coke, Brian Bruney, Jay Stephens, Steven Jackson

Opposition: The Phillies’ B-team

Big Hits:

Two-run homers by Mark Teixeira (3-for-3) and Hideki Matsui (2-for-3), a triple by Robinson Cano (1-for-2, BB), and a double by Nick Swisher (1-for-1).

Who Pitched Well:

Jose Veras, Damaso Marte, Phil Coke, Brian Bruney, and Steven Jackson combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings allowing just one hit (off Veras), and two walks (by Veras and Marte). CC Sabathia allowed two runs on six hits in his 3 2/3 innings (one on a Jayson Werth homer), but he also struck out five against just one walk. For an abreviated warm-up start, that’s just fine.

Who Didn’t:

Poor Jay Stephens, who was a swing-man in A-ball last year and was brought over to major league camp for this game only, was in over his head and it showed as he gave up three runs on three singles and two walks while getting just two outs.

Battles:

Angel Berroa and Ramiro Peña combined to go 0-for-3, but Berroa scored a run as a pinch-runner, while Peña was caught stealing in his stint as a pinch-runner.

Don’t read anything into Nick Swisher starting over Xavier Nady in what otherwise looks like the Opening Day lineup. Nady was hit in the elbow with a pitch on Tuesday and was held out of the game as a precaution. He’s fine and will start on Monday.

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SI.com has it’s 2009 MLB preview material up, and yours truly is one of the so-called experts picking the division, pennant, and World Series and major awards winners and pontificating on the whys and wherefores.

I have the Yankees winning the Wild Card and losing to the AL East champion (and eventuall world champion) Red Sox in a hard-fought ALCS. The AL East (which should beget the pennant-winner, whoever it might be) was almost a coin-flip for me between the Yanks, Sox, and Rays (anyone have a three-sided coin?), but when push came to shove, the Sox were just deeper, younger, and had less down-side than the other two, at least in my mind. I’m bully on the Yankee pitching staff, but merely hopeful about the offense.

Surprisingly, I was the only “expert” to pick CC Sabathia to win the AL Cy Young award, though two others picked Mark Teixeira for MVP. I went with Josh Hamilton for the latter, though I could certainly see Tex taking the trophy.

In addition to my comments in the roundtable linked above, here are my responses that didn’t get used:

Which division is the best in baseball, top-to-bottom?

The AL East is the best division in baseball because it is home to the three best teams in baseball, the Red Sox, Rays, and Yankees. Every division has a team as bad as the Orioles, but none has one as good as any of the top three teams in the AL East.

What is your sleeper team for 2009?

I think the Reds’ streak of eight-straight losing seasons is going to come to an end this year. I think Joey Votto is going to have a huge sophomore season. He’s surrounded by talented young hitters in Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips, Edwin Encarnacion, and Chris Dickerson. Ramon Hernandez is a sure improvement over Paul Bako. Willy Taveras and Alex Gonzalez won’t hit much, but they’ll improve the Cincinnati defense, which was among the worst in baseball last year, something Dickerson will also help correct. That will benefit the rotation–which features the up-and-coming duo of Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto as well as innings-eater Bronson Arroyo, bounceback candidate Aaron Harang, and could be rounded out by a new and improved Homer Bailey–and the already solid bullpen. They’re not a playoff team, but for the first time in a long time, they look like a good team.

Which rookie will have the biggest impact?

Matt Wieters will win the AL Rookie of the Year award because he’s a flat-out masher who will put up outstanding numbers once he’s installed as the Orioles’ starting catcher (think Evan Longoria last year), but David Price will have the biggest impact as he’ll be entering the impossibly tight AL East race as a member of the Rays’ rotation.

Bob Sheppard

According to this Jack Curry article in today’s Times, the man behind the mic at Yankee Stadium for nearly 60 years is retiring.

The new Yankee Stadium will sound much different than the old one. Bob Sheppard, the public-address announcer for the Yankees since 1951, has retired.

Paul Doherty, a friend and agent who has represented Sheppard, said Sheppard’s son, Paul, told him about Sheppard’s plans on Wednesday morning.

“I think Bob just wants to take it easy and no longer have the pressure of, ‘Can he? Will he? Or won’t he?’” Doherty said in an e-mail message. “And, at 98, who can blame him?”

Doherty added that Sheppard remained active.

“I’m happy to say that Bob is still doing well enough to drive a car,” Doherty said. “He picked his son up at the train this past weekend.”

It is truly a shame that Mr. Sheppard won’t be able to provide his dulcet tones towards the line-ups at the opening of the new Stadium on the 16th.  But he was a constant for over 57 years with the Yankees . . . rarely missing a game . . . with an instantly-identifiable voice and timbre.

How many of us have mimicked Mr. Sheppard’s intonations over the years when we stepped to the plate in our softball/baseball games?  How many of us still take joy in hearing “Number 2 . . . Derek Jeter . . . Number 2 . . . ” when the Captain comes to bat?

We wish you well Mr. Sheppard, and thank you for adding so much to our experiences at the Stadium.

UPDATE as of 4:18PM : The Yankees have officially refuted the story.

The Yankees denied the report, stating that Sheppard continues to be their official public-address announcer.

“We have spoken to Paul Sheppard, and he was very clear to us that the report made is categorically untrue,” said Yankees director of public relations Jason Zillo. “Paul Sheppard has not said anything remotely like that.”

Bronx Banter Book Excerpt

Everybody Loves Yogi

One of the most anticipated baseball books of the spring is Allen Barra’s biography on Yogi Berra: Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee (W.W. Norton).  Yogi is perhaps the most beloved Yankee of them all but he is also one of the most underrated great players of all time.   In his enthusiastic and provocative manner, Barra makes the case for the unadulterated greatness of Yogi.

Here is an exclusive excerpt.

By Allen Barra

He was the guy who made the Yankees seem almost human.

—Mickey Mantle

Sometime in the summer of 1941, two of the great legends of baseball narrowly missed making a connection that would have radically altered baseball. Some historians place the date in 1942, but the two men with reason to remember it best, Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola, say, and I have taken their word, it was ­1941.

Lawrence Peter Berra, a then somewhat stocky, ungainly looking ­sixteen-­year-­old Italian-American kid from the “Dago Hill” area of St. Louis, had attracted the attention of the best organization in the National League for a tryout in Sportsman’s Park. Jack Maguire, a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals, told his boss, general manager Branch Rickey, that Berra had a powerful left-­handed swing, a great arm, and heaps of potential. Rickey wasn’t sure; he was more interested in another kid from the Hill, Joseph Henry Garagiola, a year younger than Berra. Garagiola was thought by Rickey to be faster, smoother, and more polished. Dee Walsh, another Cardinals scout, talked Rickey into signing Garagiola with a $500 bonus, but Rickey was skeptical about offering anything at all to ­Berra.

Rickey had been getting reports on both boys all summer, not just from his scouts but also from two of his outfielders, Enos Slaughter and Terry Moore, who occasionally showed up to give pointers at the WPA baseball school at Sherman’s Park. Rickey’s initial offer to young Berra was a contract—but no bonus. To a boy that age, a professional baseball contract, even without a bonus, was nothing to be scorned. But Lawrence, displaying the kind of stubborn integrity that would, in just a few years, stymie the most powerful organization in sports, balked. “In the first place,” he would tell sportswriter Ed Fitzgerald nearly two decades later, “I knew it was going to be tough enough to convince Mom and Pop that they ought to let me go away. But if Joey was getting $500 for it and I wasn’t getting anything, they would be sure to think it was a waste of time for me.”

Hedging, Rickey offered $250. Branch Rickey was the most influential executive in baseball—by the end of the decade, it was estimated that nearly 37 percent of all big league players had been developed in one of his farm systems—and Larry’s brash reply took him aback: “No, I want the same as Joey’s getting.”2 Rickey did not mention to Berra how much a month he would be earning under the contract, and Berra never asked. “That didn’t matter to me. I would have taken anything. All I was interested in was that if Garagiola was getting $500, I wanted $500, too.” Yogi would later take pains to emphasize that he wasn’t jealous of his pal, but he was convinced, from years of sandlot and street games, that he was as good a ballplayer as Joe. Garagiola disagreed. “Yogi wasn’t better than me,” recalls Joe. “He was much better. There were a lot of good ballplayers on the Hill at that time, and ‘Lawdy’—as his friends called him, echoing his mother, who couldn’t pronounce ‘Larry’—was the best. You know how kids choose up sides with a bat, one hand on top of the other until you reach the end of the handle? When the last hand got to the top, the first thing said was ‘We want Lawdy.’ ”

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Hey, if anyone is around tomorrow night I’m going to be part of Baseball Night, the latest in Gelf’s Varsity Letters reading series down at the Happy Endings Lounge.  (Here are directions to the bar.)  Greg Prince, Matt McCarthy and Frank Messina are also on the bill.   I’m going to talk  about Banter and then do a little reading.  It should be a good time.  Love to see you if you can make it. 

Here is a Q&A I did for Gelf magazine.

Big Shot on the East Coast.

S.L. Price profiles C.C. “Lots of Lovin” Sabathia today in the annual SI Baseball Preview.  It’s a fat, juicy piece.  

Dig ’em, smack.

Happy April Fools Day!  Today’s news is powered by one Sidd Finch:

“I’m standing in there to give this guy a target, just waving the bat once or twice out over the plate. He starts his windup. He sways way back, like Juan Marichal, this hiking boot comes clomping over—I thought maybe he was wearing it for balance or something—and he suddenly rears upright like a catapult. The ball is launched from an arm completely straight up and stiff. Before you can blink, the ball is in the catcher’s mitt. You hear it crack, and then there’s this little bleat from Reynolds.”

On to the news:

• Tyler Kepner reports on the latest round of cuts:

. . . the Yankees cut all of their long-relief candidates and told Jonathan Albaladejo that he had made the team. That means Brett Tomko, Dan Giese and Alfredo Aceves will pitch for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. . . .

Here are 24 players who will start with the team:

Pitchers: C.C. Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Coke, Damaso Marte, Jonathan Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras, Brian Bruney, Mariano Rivera.

Catchers: Jorge Posada, Jose Molina.

Infielders: Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Cody Ransom.

Outfielders: Johnny Damon, Brett Gardner, Melky Cabrera, Xavier Nady, Nick Swisher.

Designated Hitter: Hideki Matsui.

• Kepner also reports on the Yanks bargain basement bridges to Mariano Rivera:

On a team that spends more than $200 million on its roster, the Yankees’ bullpen is a bargain. Only one of Rivera’s setup men will earn more than $1.25 million this season. That is Dámaso Marte, a left-hander whose first team, the Seattle Mariners, let him go as a minor leaguer in 2000. . . .

The other relievers have much less experience, but the Yankees’ bullpen had a 3.79 earned run average last season, seventh best in baseball. Of the six relievers likely to set up for Rivera, only Phil Coke was drafted by the Yankees. The others came from discount bins.

José Veras signed as a minor league free agent after two pitching-poor teams let him go. Edwar Ramírez was released twice by the Angels and toiled in two independent leagues.

Brian Bruney was released by the Diamondbacks, who gave his roster spot to a fading veteran, Kevin Jarvis. Jonathan Albaladejo was released by Pittsburgh, signed by Washington and traded to the Yankees. . . .

• Signs are getting stronger that A-Rod will be rejoining the club around the middle of May:

Girardi said he spoke to Rodriguez via telephone on Sunday, and he reported that A-Rod has been increasing the intensity of his workouts.

Rodriguez told Girardi that he planned to throw on Monday, the first time he had done so since the March 9 procedure to repair a torn labrum in his hip.

“His rehab is taking another step,” Girardi said. “He seemed like he was in a good frame of mind. We miss him, and he misses us.”

Rodriguez has stayed in Vail, Colo., since the surgery, riding a stationary bike, working out in a pool and performing range-of-motion drills. He has also simulated the motion of swinging a bat.

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