A nearly fallen hero

Life magazine's superb photo archive has unveiled a previously unseen set of color photographs of Babe Ruth's last appearance at Yankee Stadium. The sight of the mighty Sultan of Swat, not long for this world and looking so frail, is something of a shock to the system, especially for those of us who have lost loved ones to cancer. But the pictures are beautiful as well as heartbreaking. Please, take a look.

Notes from New Yankee Stadium

The moment I say that's my only major league game for the year, what happens? I am given free tickets for another two days later. So, off to the Yankees' glorious monument to excess to see A-Rod take a shot, or rather five shots, at hitting his 600th home run. He went 0 for 5 on the night, however, extending his major league record drought between numbers 599 and 600. For the record, Babe Ruth hit number 600 in the next at-bat after 599.

We did see an American League record, though. The Blue Jays rapped out six doubles in the fifth inning, five of those off Burnett, along with a home run to score 7 runs and take a game winning lead, as jeers cascaded around the stadium. New stadium, same old Yankee fans - arrogant and entitled when winning, outraged and betrayed when losing.

As to the stadium itself, it's an odd duck. Really, it's a bigger, more aggressive version of the previous one, with better traffic movement. It feels like they did the 70s thing again, tearing down most of the old stadium and building the new one over it. Except this time they did it across the street. Now, I do appreciate being able to get around the stadium more easily, and see the game while doing so, but was that worth upwards of a billion dollars and the sacrifice of a beloved public park? Not even close. New Yankee Stadium - the Big Unnecessary.

RIP George Steinbrenner

I am no fan of the Yankees, no fan of the way the Yankees were smuggled away from CBS at a knockdown price, no fan of refusing to pay rent to the city for a stadium where you draw all the profit, no fan of destroying public parks for even bigger stadia, and certainly no fan of tailing your own players with private detectives in the hope of getting dirt to void a contract. But I will say this about George Steinbrenner: he wanted to win and keep winning. If certain owners of (say) the Marlins and Twins, who found themselves some very good young teams over the years, had taken a similar attitude, we may have seen some dynasties from outside of New York for a change.

RIP Bob Sheppard

Bob Sheppard is best remembered by this author as the first baseman on the 1927 St. John's Prep midget squad, who squeeze bunted against Johnny Dollard, a pitcher who had lost both feet in a railway accident, and won a game in the tenth inning. Sheppard never forgave himself for this act, finally apologizing in the New York Times in 1980.

It is just and fair that Dollard learned from the experience, too, and went on to great things as a pitcher for the senior team at Brooklyn Prep. Sheppard, later the quarterback for St. John's University, took his own path to immortality, as everyone knows.

In the spirit of an Irish wake, one funny story about Bob Sheppard. I was at a Yankee game in 2000, I believe, when Michael Bolton was set to sing the national anthem, and represent his charity of choice, Child Abuse Awareness Week. Bob Sheppard announced him thus:

Now, to honor Child Abuse...

...

...

Awareness Week, Michael Bolton will sing the national anthem.

Now we know

Spike Lee is to blame for baseball caps in the wrong colors. I have no objection to caps in abstract colors, or variations on team colors which don't exactly match the on-field version. That's fine. It's things like a black Yankees logo (and isn't it always a Yankees logo?) on a yellow cap with black hoops and a black peak, exactly the same as the 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates wore. That is a total joke.

Quid pro quo

The NY Times has more details on the city's egregious demands for a luxury suite in the stadium we didn't need in the first place. That's a lot of money being spent on horse trading parking spots for a view of a ballgame when we could, for instance, be helping out the MTA.

Oh, and let's not forget there's still no timetable for replacing the public ballfields and parkland we lost to build this fortress.

This makes me sick.

Bad news for the Yankees

Theo Epstein has signed a new contract as Red Sox GM. Neither he nor the team is revealing the terms, but he's the best and brightest product of the sabermetrics era, with a bunch of wins to show for it. And many more to come, I'll bet.

I wish Paul dePodesta had worked out so well...

Count your blessings

The holiday weekend might be over, but here are a few fun things to celebrate in sports this week:

The Yankees are looking more and more certain to miss the postseason.

The I-AA Southeast Missouri State Redhawks get their first ever shot at the Silver Ball.

The New Orleans Saints still have a home.

We have one more week of grand slam tennis to enjoy this season.

The US men's soccer team is going to play in Cuba for the first time since 1947.

Pitcher Cliff Lee is currently 20-2 on the 66-70 Cleveland Indians, a feat looking a little like Steve Carlton's ridiculous 1972 season with the Phillies.

Two players hit for the cycle on the same day for the first time since 1920.

Baseball roundup

Again with the lazy after the fact posting. So, here's how I spent my weekend:


The Gotham Base Ball Club traveled to the McLaughlin Vineyard in CT, to take on the Newtown Sandy Hook Club. We lost at 1867 rules, but got our revenge at 1864 rules - the significant difference being that in 1864, you could catch the ball on the bound in fair territory. Congratulations to Andrew, who broke my single game club record for walks, going 0 for 0 with 5 free passes in the second game.


Then I went with Beth and Ken to see Yankee Stadium II, probably for the last time before it is replaced by Yankee Stadium III. Naturally, we wanted to see Monument Park, so we got there super early. At the end of a very long day, the Yankees scored 4 in the 8th to squeak by the sorry Mariners.


Finally, kudos to the Columbia Lions, 2008 IVY LEAGUE BASEBALL CHAMPIONS! They'll be at Coastal Carolina for the regional round of the NCAA tournament.

Same old Yankees

The NY Times reports that the Yankees, or whoever represents them, have failed to give a single dollar of a promised $1.2 million per year to the Bronx community. Having destroyed a major public park to build their not so little playhouse, you'd think it wouldn't be too difficult to push this through.

Mind you, a good chunk of that money is earmarked for free Yankees tickets somewhere in the ionosphere. That's a real community benefit.

I'd also like to know when the city will have that extra park space restored. That was part of the original agreement, by law, but I haven't heard anything since. This would have made a lot more sense if the community money and park space and everything else was put in place before the Yankees got to turn a single sod of our land. Otherwise we end up in the same kind of situation we had for three decades in the previous stadium, when the Yankees simply didn't bother to pay the rent.

I can't wait till my #22 jersey arrives...

The rumors are true

As first reported by Beth at BKNY 2.0, I did indeed order a #22 Yankees jersey with the name TAINTED on the back. So far, so good- the order is confirmed and in the system, and no-one has sent me a polite email to let me know the jersey violates their rules. I bet that wouldn't be the case if I'd tried for STEROIDS.

Next up: can I get thrown out of Yankee Stadium for creating a nuisance solely by wearing a Yankees jersey?

LA-Rod?

There's been a lot said in newspapers the last couple of days about A-Rod and why you shouldn't go after him. Here's a representative quote from NYT's Selena Roberts:

He isn’t worth the angst. A-Rod is almost a winning addition to any team like a three-leaf clover is almost lucky.

I don't know about that. The Yankees took the wild card this season by six games after looking dead and buried at one point. That was after a truly monstrous season from Alex Rodriguez, one that no other third baseman could hope to match. In terms of win shares, we estimate the Yankees squeak in by a single game if they replace A-Rod with David Wright, and miss out altogether with anyone else.

What's that? Chemistry? Clubhouse magic? Right. Tell the 1972-74 A's and 1977-78 Yankees all about that. Those less than tight knit groups won more than a few games. If A-Rod hadn't been there, I don't think Hideki Matsui would have magically turned into Ted Williams.

What else? Postseason dud? Sure. People said that about Randy Johnson and Barry Bonds at one time, too.

Anyway, my point is this: come to the Dodgers, Alex. We'll take care of you. And Torre can take care of the chemistry.

Pattern perception

After the 2000 World Series, when the Yankees had won three in a row (and four of five), Joe Torre was universally hailed as an October genius. His astute management of the pitching staff, both starters and bullpen, was praised. His brilliant pinch hitting wisdom, so often forcing disadvantageous bullpen calls by the opposition, was marvelled at. Above all others, Torre was seen to be the consummate manager for the short series.

Even the best team in baseball can be upset over 5 or 7 games- but with Joe Torre at the helm, it's wildly unlikely. So went the prevailing wisdom.

Seven seasons (and no World Series wins) later, the standard analysis looks a little different. The papers tell us that the postseason is a crapshoot, a lottery, a free for all. How can poor Joe Torre, whose smarts have guided the Yankees to the playoffs in twelve straight years, be expected to consistently navigate such treacherous October waters? Wang's floating sinker, A-Rod's untimely slumps, Jeter's ugly hitting with runners on base- these are to blame. The players play the games.

So which is it? Is Joe Torre a fine manager with a fine ballclub whose luck was better than expected for a few years, then about right after that? Remember, if you're one chance in eight to win it all, a seven year losing streak is hardly out of the ordinary. Or is Joe Torre a former genius who is now no longer worthy of his job?

If it was me, I'd look at blind luck, and the player acquisition side. It was hardly Torre's fault that he was left with a badly broken Kevin Brown to pitch ALCS game 7 in 2004. But neither was it his brilliance that caused Jason Giambi to screw up on the bases in ALDS game 3 in 2000 and let the Yankees stay alive when the A's should have buried them.

Overrated then, underrated now. That's my guess.

In any case, I'm enjoying the ride. If the Yankees and Giants don't win the World Series, it's been a good year for me.

Baseball day in New York

Monday's visit to Ebbets Field, it turns out, was merely a curtain raiser.

Today, on the 50th anniversary of the final games of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, famed ballpark afficionado Ken "Trolley Car" Schlapp and I took to the streets of the city. Our focus was on professional baseball, but a few extra parks lay in our path, too.

We began at Lou Gehrig's birthplace, on E 94th Street, and went from there to: the original Polo Grounds; the more famous Polo Grounds; Hilltop Park; the Long Island Grounds; the Queens County Grounds (aka Feldman's Atlantic Park); Suydam Oval; Meyerrose Park; Grauer's Ridgewood Park; Wallace's Ridgewood Grounds; the Union Grounds; the Capitoline Grounds; Eastern Park; Ebbets Field; the Parade Ground; Keyspan Park; the original Washington Park; and the later Washington Park.

I make that 17 distinct ballparks. Oh, and we took pictures of Yankee Stadium from the Polo Grounds site, too. You can see lots of photos here.

Meantime, as we journeyed around three boroughs, strange events were unfolding at Shea Stadium...

Every time we heard the radio, John Maine had a bigger lead to work with, and was a little further into a potential no-hitter. After a bench clearing brawl, we heard about "the incident at third base" as if it was a UFO sighting in Nevada. Each Mets run was celebrated as if it was a World Series win. Suddenly the Great Collapse of 2007 had turned into the Mighty Recovery of 2007. When it was all over, Maine had struck out 14, given up just one measly infield hit after getting 23 outs, and the bullpen had helped him to a 13-0 romp over the Marlins.

By now, The Phillies have duly lost, and the NL East is again dead level with a game to go. Fun? This race couldn't be better if it was being contested by ninja monkeys and pirate pandas.

History remembered, and history made. Today was a day for baseball.