Monthly Archives: June 2003

JETER ISN’T YANKS’ 11TH CAPTAIN

Here is an curious yet informative article that I obtained by a writer named Howard W. Rosenberg regarding the history of Yankee captains. Rosenberg has an odd penchant for referring to himself in the third person, but the article is interesting all the same.

The “Uncorked 11:” Yankees Bungle their Past; Snub, Among Others, Hall of Famers Clark Griffith and Frank Chance in Detailing Just 11 Captains Including Derek Jeter; Lou Gehrig Takes a Hit Too

Don Mattingly was definitely not the tenth captain of the New York Yankees, a decade of media reporting on Yankee baseball notwithstanding, and the newly named Derek Jeter is therefore not the 11th. The grand total of Yankee captains to date seems like 15, says Howard W. Rosenberg, biographer of Cap Anson, the 19th-century Hall of Famer and longtime captain-manager whose nickname derived from the word “captain.”

When Jeter was named captain on June 3, the Yankees issued a news release that could be read on the Yankees’ Web site on mlb.com (and was still there as of June 9). The precise ring exuded by the release may help explain why media outlets did not bother attributing the data to the Yankees. The Yankees supplied full start and end dates (month, day and year) for many of the captaincies, starting with Babe Ruth’s in 1922.

Yet the Yankees bungled Lou Gehrig’s start date as April 21, 1935, and apparently have been doing so since at least 1991 (when the error appeared that way in the New York Times). That date should be April 12, 1935, as validated by the Times of April 13, 1935. Rosenberg surmises that today, while hardly anyone is sentimental that the Yankees overlooked perhaps four of their captains (whose names are not of the likes of DiMaggio or Mantle), an error on Gehrig’s milestone will be deemed a sacrilege.

A back-to-back view of the Yankees’ “uncorked 11” and Rosenberg’s “gang of 15” captains chronologies appears at the bottom of this analysis.

Rosenberg does appreciate that the Yankees addressed an historical subject that hardly any baseball media (let alone fans) know anything about. He would welcome the opportunity to tell Yankee officials and players all about captains, captain-managers and bench managers in the old days (or if they want, they can read his July 2003 release: Cap Anson 1: When Captaining a Team Meant Something: Leadership in Baseball’s Early Years). Rosenberg adds, “As penance, I invite those hoodwinked New York and national media not overly tied to ratings points or perceived focus-group sensibilities to serve up a few features that relate the first decades of U.S. team sport to today. As captain-manager of Chicago for 19 years, 3,000-hitsman Anson won several pennants, and his relations with famous Hall of Fame club presidents William Hulbert and Albert Spalding would make for an insightful comparison to George Steinbrenner-Joe Torre-Derek Jeter relations on the Yankees today.”

Rosenberg continues: “Anson was great friends with the Yankees’ first captain, Clark Griffith, who had been his star pitcher in Chicago in the 1890s. Also relevant to New York, Anson had the stomach to withstand criticism (especially about his advanced age; he was playing at age 45). He was the first professional ball player to have star billing in a vaudeville play (playwright Charles Hoyt’s 1895 `A Runaway Colt’), and it had a run in New York City. By the way, it was out of the storied Chicago tradition of funny coverage (with Anson a major target) that baseball humorist Ring Lardner blossomed in the early 20th century. In the mid-1910s, Lardner wrote vaudeville material for Anson.”

Jeter’s elevation as captain will appear in the Anson 1 foreword, which is written by Clark C. Griffith, great-nephew of the Yankees’ first captain and Hall of Famer Clark Griffith. The foreword writer is a former chairman of Major League Properties, former part-owner of the Minnesota Twins and current chairman of the sports law forum of the American Bar Association Section on Entertainment and Sports Law.

With the help of online databases, plus hands-on knowledge of the captain’s historic role in baseball, Rosenberg has dissected the Yankees’ June 3 press release. He estimates at 14 the number of Yankees captains prior to Jeter who served at least a month (a captain being a player on the active roster, and he did not necessarily have to play much). Rosenberg’s “gang of 15” list, which assumes that Jeter will last at least a month, additionally contains Hall of Famer Griffith (1903 to 1905), Kid Elberfeld (1906 to 1909), Hall of Famer Frank Chance (1913) and a mystery sleeper: Roy Hartzell, on the team from 1911 to 1916. On Dec. 27, 1916, the New York Times stated that the following person had signed a minor league contract: “Roy Hartzell, former Captain of the New York Americans.” Rosenberg could not tell, from a basic search, when Hartzell may have been captain. Perhaps to reward readers who find missing captains, the New York Daily News, which printed splendid pictures of the “uncorked 11,” can offer a meal or rap session with noted columnist Mike Lupica.

The Daily News was the only major newspaper printing the names of the “uncorked 11” that Rosenberg has seen; the others are Newsday, the New York Post, the Bergen County [N.J.] Record, the Hartford Courant, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and several papers associated with the Scripps Howard News Service. Not readily apparent is whether any of the above noted the Yankees as the source of the information; the Daily News spread (pretty enough to post on a wall) apparently did not attribute the data.

ESPN, before one of Jeter’s three strikeouts during last night’s Yankees-Cubs game, posted the “uncorked 11” on the screen.

In handling the “uncorked 11,” the New York Times, under fire in recent weeks, deserves just a mild censure: it was one of the few New York-area papers with big sports sections not to print it, limiting its error to calling Jeter the 11th captain.

Rosenberg has seen mentions of Jeter as the 11th captain in dozens of newspapers online and several major wire services extending as far as abroad to the Voice of America. In no case has he seen an attribution to the Yankees as the source for Jeter as the 11th captain.

Unlike most subjects that gain wide airing in today’s sports media, captains may seem obscure and lend themselves to large historical blunders. While the Yankees’ list seems to reflect a reasonable mastery of the subject since the 1920s (having a captain evolved into a matter of taste), it snubs early decades of that century when having a captain was a necessity (as the rule books singled out a captain who was an active player, and not the manager, as the one with the right to argue with the umpire).

That changed around 1930 (when the rules for some time singled out the captain or the manager as being able to argue). The decline in the captain’s importance can be seen after 1925 in the “uncorked 11” and “gang of 15” dueling chronologies at the bottom of this note, when there is a gap between Yankee captains until Lou Gehrig in 1935.

Today, the rules let the manager hand off to a coach or player the role of top arguer in each game; a hypothetical question, incidentally, is what would happen if a manager who was not in uniform tried to come on the field and act as designated arguer. The rules today state that to be on the field, coaches must be in uniform. They do not address whether a bench manager must be as well to come on the field and argue with the umpire.

In researching Anson 1, Rosenberg posed that question to Tom Lepperd, director of umpire administration of Major League Baseball (and the following is taken from Anson 1). When given the hypothetical of a manager not in uniform coming out on the field and arguing, Lepperd replied that such a practice “is archaic in that all modern-day professional leagues implicitly require the manager to be in uniform.”

Starting with 1903, the first season of the New York AL club, here is a chronological look at years of Yankee captains Rosenberg found to expand the “uncorked 11” to a “gang of 15:”

A. Clark Griffith (1903 to 1905)

According to New York Times contemporaneous reporting (which the Times in effect has undercut over two decades by accepting modern-day chronologies presumably always supplied by the Yankees), Griffith was the first captain (when the club had prior nicknames, especially the Highlanders):

1. The New York Times of Dec. 10, 1902, states, “Clark Griffith will be the Manager-Captain of the New York American League team. . .”

2. On the eve of opening day of the club’s first season, on April 20, 1903, when New York was in Washington, the Washington Evening Star stated, “The New York aggregation is made up of several stars, among whom are Keeler, Fultz and Pitchers Tannehill, Chesbro and Griffith, the latter acting as captain-manager.”

Griffith’s reign as captain continued into 1904, and probably into 1905. The New York Times of Oct. 16, 1904, reviewed the season of the New York NL and AL clubs and ran individual pictures of everyone, including larger elegant ones of John McGraw of the Giants and Griffith of the AL club, with the caption “Manager and Captain” under each.

B. Kid Elberfeld (1906 to 1909)

Proof that Elberfeld was a Yankees captain can be found in the Times of May 15, 1906, which called him manager “Griffith’s first assistant in directing the team on the field.” If that sounds like a reference to Elberfeld as captain, it probably is, as on August 19, 1906, the Times referred to him as “Elberfeld, Captain of the Greater New Yorks.”

On Oct. 10, 1907, the Washington Post said that if Washington acquired Elberfeld from New York, he would undoubtedly be named captain. Elberfeld played with the Yankees through 1909, and he likely remained captain throughout.

C. Hal Chase (1910 to 1911, in addition to 1912)

On April 3, 1910, the Times said, “With Hal Chase as Captain, and with more confidence than has been exhibited in several seasons, the New York Americans show more promise than last season.” Times coverage in 1911 also points to Chase as captain (on Feb. 18 and April 29).

D. Frank Chance (1913)

After casting Chase as captain in 1912 only, the “uncorked 11” list jumps to Roger Peckinpaugh, for 1914-21. For 1913, Rosenberg opines that Chance was circumstantially the Yankee captain (news reports show Chance in uniform on the coaching lines into late in the season, playing in a few games. They also show him arguing with the umpire over captain-like issues including the legality of the pitcher’s motion).

The “uncorked 11” contains a large gap from 1926 to 1935 and in case you are now understandably suspicious, the Times and the Associated Press, contemporaneously, validated at least some of the gap. In their 1935 coverage, both news outlets pointed wrongly to Babe Ruth as the last captain before 1935 (Ruth was captain briefly in 1922, while Everett Scott was captain from 1922 to 1925). However, Scott does appear among the “uncorked 11,” so the Yankees can be praised for helping reporters improve on coverage from 68 years ago. The Times of April 13, 1935, does allude to Scott’s tenure in stating, “Not for ten years has the Yankee club had a captain;” however, it then gives an explanation that makes it sound like Ruth was captain until 1925. In reality, any suppressing of the title by the Yankees was done not after Ruth’s tenure (which was in 1922) but after Scott’s (which according to the Yankees ended with 1925).

It is unfair to single out the Times for erroneous claims because it is one of the few newspapers available for full-text searching on a computer. With that in mind, the oldest report Rosenberg found in the Times of a long, bogus chain of Yankee captains was on Jan. 31, 1982. A Times column stated, “In their history, the Yankees have had only six captains (dash symbol appears here) Roger Peckinpaugh, Babe Ruth (for six days in 1922 before he was defrocked by American League President Ban Johnson and suspended after a fight with a fan) [sic, meaning that’s what’s in the 1982 report], Everett Scott, Lou Gehrig, Thurman Munson and now Graig Nettles.”

That 1982 list is interesting (as far as figuring out the chain of custody of erroneous lineage) because Peckinpaugh was a captain only in seasons when Yankees was the official nickname. It became the nickname in 1913, and Peckinpaugh was captain from 1914 to 1921. Perhaps the original list was compiled with an eye toward years in which Yankees was the official nickname; however, even by that score, the Yankees had to have had a captain in 1913 (even if the title was not bandied about explicitly), and he is most likely the strong-willed Frank Chance (of Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance poetic fame) known in 1913 as “P. L.” or the Peerless Leader; Hal Chase, the 1910-12 captain, was traded in June 1913. In 1986, a Times article noting the then-naming of co-captains Ron Guidry and Willie Randolph similarly named Peckinpaugh as the first Yankee captain.

It may seem amazing that for two decades, uncorrected lists have been published about the names of Yankee captains, given the club’s treasured history (and seemingly plentiful male fans of an advanced age in the highly intelligent New York area). Maybe it was earlier manifestations of the Jayson Blair phenomenon, where members of the public often did not complain because they had no expectation that corrections would be made.

For reference, here is the Yankees’ “uncorked 11”:

Hal Chase 1912

Roger Peckinpaugh 1914-1921

Babe Ruth 5/20/22-5/25/22

Everett Scott 1922-1925

Lou Gehrig 4/21/35-6/2/41

Thurman Munson 4/17/76-8/2/79

Graig Nettles 1/29/82-3/30/84

Ron Guidry 3/4/86-7/12/89

Willie Randolph 3/4/86-7/12/89

Don Mattingly 2/28/91-1995

Derek Jeter 6/3/03-

Here is the “gang of 15” based on additional research by Cap Anson biographer Howard W. Rosenberg:

Clark Griffith 1903-05 (first addition)

Kid Elberfeld 1906-09 (second addition)

Hal Chase 1910-12 (two years added)

(Roy Hartzell, somewhere within 1911-16) (third addition)

Frank Chance 1913 (fourth addition)

Roger Peckinpaugh 1914-1921

Babe Ruth 5/20/22-5/25/22

Everett Scott 5/30/22 or later-1925 (the 5/30 date being taken from a Times article that day noting that manager Miller Huggins was expected to name Scott in the future)

Lou Gehrig 4/12/35-6/2/41 (note the correction to Gehrig’s date of naming)

Thurman Munson 4/17/76-8/2/79

Graig Nettles 1/29/82-3/30/84

Ron Guidry 3/4/86-7/12/89

Willie Randolph 3/4/86-7/12/89

Don Mattingly 2/28/91-1995

Derek Jeter 6/3/03-

Howard Rosenberg has written a book on Cap Anson that is due to be released later this year. For more information, and to contact Howard, go to www.capanson.com.

WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK…

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, and the Yanks were a little bit of both last night as they took the opening game from Houston, 5-3. Mike Mussina and Wade Miller looked sharp for the first four innings, but were hit hard in the fifth. (Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano predictably turned a few tough outs into hits.) Jeff Kent couldn’t turn a double play on a sharply hit grounder off the bat of Derek Jeter in the bottom of the inning, which led three Yankee runs–an RBI single by Giambi, followed by a two-run dinger from Jorge Posada. The Astros stormed back against Mussia in the top of the sixth, rapping four consecutive hits, including a two-run homer which hit off the top of the left field fence, by Craig Biggio.

But then, Lady Luck stepped in again. According to Tyler Kepner in The Times:

As Mike Mussina finished his follow-through, he saw and heard Richard Hidalgo hammer a line drive toward third base, and he crouched while he awaited the outcome. If the smash found a hole, the Houston Astros would grab the lead. If the liner settled in someone’s glove, the Yankees would still be ahead by a run and Mussina could exhale.

Robin Ventura slid a step to his left to spear Hidalgo’s shot and whipped the ball to first for a double play that ended a sticky sixth inning. Mussina was still crouching after the Yankees saved him. Perhaps Mussina decided to sneak in a prayer of thanks since his knees were already close to the grass. It would have been appropriate.

The funniest play of the night for the Bombers came in the bottom of the sixth. Godzilla led off the frame with a double to right and then moved to third on Ruben Sierra’s ground out to first (Joe Torre was up of the bench to congradulate Ruben Ruben for advancing the runner). Raul Mondesi then smacked a grounder sharply to the third baseman Morgan Ensberg, who stepped to his right to tag Matsui. David Pinto says that Matsui looks like Moe, Steve Keane says he looks like Shemp, but Godzilla did his impression of the Curly Shuffle to avoid the tag. Ensberg then threw to first to complete the strange double play. But wait, it appeared that he missed the tag, and Matsui scampered home with an extra run. Matsui continues to hit well, and he had three hits last night. He is going with the pitch a lot better and the balls he had been weakly dribbling to second base are now solid singles to left.

The Yanks would need all the insurance they could get because after seven innings, Mussina was relieved by Antonio Osuna, who did his best Juan ‘Gone’ Acevedo by giving up a bomb on his very first pitch. After recording a hard-hit out, Chris Hammonds came in and got out of the inning, striking out Lance Berkman with his inimitable Bugs Bunny change up. Mariano Rivera worked a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two.

One thing I’ve noticed about Rivera this year is that when he comes set, he taps his left foot repeatedly, and gingerly as if he’s trying to find his footing. I don’t think I’ve seen him do this in previous years. It almost looks like when a cat is about to step on a ledge, and it feels the new surface for a minute before it makes a move. I don’t know if Mariano is just trying to get comfortable or if it is a new timing mechanism.

It was a satisfying win for the Yankees, who have squandered a good deal of games like this during the first part of this season. The Cardinals tipped the Sox 9-7 in Boston last night, so the Bombers move back into first.

Be sure and check out Redbird Nation and Bambino’s Curse for all the lowdown on the historic serious at the Fens. Redbird Nation has a particularly interesting post on Red Sox fans. Just scroll down and peep the article on Clemens vs. Pedro.

Weather permitting, the Yanks get Houston’s ace, Roy Oswalt tonight. Jeff Weaver gets another shot for the Yanks.

EEWWW

The New York Post has been reporting for several days that the Yankees are very interested in the Texas Rangers’ closer, Ugie Urbina. He’s expensive, he’s a headcase, and he’s a showboat—the ideal Yankee. But at least he’s better than Juan Acevedo, right George? Hey, what’s one more gavone at this point?

Here is what Bronx Banter reader Will thinks:

Depending on what we give up, this transaction could be a trade that will add more bloat to the roster without adding any quality, and if Brandon Claussen is the one being sent to Texas, John Hart needs to be arrested for commiting sodomy on the Yankees front office without proper lubrication. Promoting Al Reyes and Jason Anderson is a step in the right direction, but it seems a futile move since Manager Joe wil only use a relief pitcher only if he has been in the majors for ten years, quality and effectiveness be damned. I guess like all managers, he is more worried about winning now than about building a foundation for the short-term or long-term future. And you feel more comfortable with someone who has had experience in the “Big Spot.” But if I’m not mistaken, Urbina was placed in that “Big Spot” position last year with the Red Sox and managed to help his team lose two of three to the Yanks at the Stadium and eventually the AL East when he walked Posada in with the bases loaded walk. I will not and can’t ever understand the allure a veteran player holds for a manager. Urbina is not the answer, but youngsters like Anderson and Claussen can definitely be part of a bright future. This patchwork approach has never worked in the past and chasing this line of strategy will eventually bring them full circle back to the Dallas Green/Bucky Dent/Stump Merrill days.

According to his secondary sources, Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus reports:

I am hearing a lot more Urbina news – he may not want to go to NY due to last year’s bad blood and his desire to get saves in a contract year. The Pirates may be
listening to offers for Mike Williams and the Yanks might be getting serious about grabbing Mike Lowell back in a deal that could include Braden Looper and everyone’s favorite, Drew Henson.

Mike Lowell, Brian Giles, Carlos Beltran. The Yankee wish list is starting to grow. It’s that time of year again, folks. Why just not throw in Vlad Guerrero and Miggy Tejada in there too? Just cause you can.

WINDS OF CHANGE

George Steinbrenner held meetings yesterday with his round table of merry men, once again to discuss the state of his slumping team. Juan Acevedo and Charles Gipson still have jobs, but that may not last long. Without naming them directly general manager Brian Cashman told the Times:

“If you can’t perform at a high level consistently, you’re not going to be here too long. Anybody that falls into that category needs to step up.

“Over all, there are a lot of things right now that are not clicking. You definitely wouldn’t want to blame it on one or two individual players. But generally, that’s one thing I can say. I know people put forth their best effort, but you’re judged at a high standard here. It’s my job to decide when it’s time to make a change and to move someone on. That’s not a warning, just a general fact of life as a Yankee.”

…Cashman has been exploring deals for relievers, with no success. He is, he said, content to wait.

“There’s always pressure,” Cashman said. “But if we make a move, we want to make a move that makes sense right now. We don’t want to burn a prospect and make the wrong move. The players being offered to me now don’t significantly improve us.”

However, Newsday is reporting that the Yankees will cut Acevedo today, and place Jose Contreras on the 15-day dl with “an ailing right shoulder.” They will apparently call up pitchers Al Reyes and Jason Anderson. I will put in a call to Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus to see what’s what with the Contreras injury.

Meanwhile, the first-place Houston Astros—the team most likely to be mistaken for a State Troopers convention—come to town tonight to start a three-game series. Gordon Edes had a good piece on the Astros manager Jimy Williams in the Globe on Sunday. Williams’ no-nonsense approach seems to be working well with the veteran Houston team:

Astros star first baseman Jeff Bagwell, like Ausmus a Sox fan who grew up in Connecticut, heard about all the controversy that swirled around Williams during his tenure in Boston, especially his battles with Carl Everett and deposed GM Dan Duquette. Did he have any reservations upon hearing that Williams was coming to Houston?

”No,” Bagwell said, ”because I’m cognizant of what Boston is about. I know how the media can be, and I know Jimy is a no-nonsense guy. There were some things that went on, I think, in Boston that would upset him. I know the Carl Everett thing obviously was a big thing up there.

”Jimy is about playing baseball — what goes on out on the field and his team. That’s all he cares about. The other stuff he does because he has to do it. Boston is a tough town. They’re going to get in there and ask questions, the tough ones. I remember Ellis Burks when I was up there, when I was a kid. He was a great thing, but they called him the `MVP that never was.’ They buried him. I felt bad but I understand that’s the way it is.

”So you have to give somebody the benefit of the doubt about that. That’s why it didn’t come into my mind.”

Is Williams, then, a good fit for the Astros?

”Great,” Bagwell said. ”He treats you like a man. He expects you to play hard, he expects you to be on time, and that’s it. He backs you 100 percent, but if you’re not doing the right things, he’s going to tell you.

”He’s going to treat you like a man, and sometimes guys don’t want to be treated like a man. They want to be coddled. Jimy is going to tell you you’re not playing because of this or that. To me, that’s fair, you know where you stand all the time. Some people can’t handle that.”

The Yankee players got a real charge out of playing in Chicago this past weekend, and the Astros are equally juiced up about coming to the Bronx.

“This is going to be great for us,” [Billy] Wagner said. “You always grow up wanting to beat the Yankees in the World Series. That’s the ultimate. It’s a great environment to see because we might face them in the World Series.”

Wagner has played in two All-Star Games and has a franchise record 200 saves, but he admits it will be special if he gets an opportunity to collect a save at the home of one of the most respected closers in baseball.

“I want to go out there and get a save in Mariano Rivera’s backyard,” Wagner said. “It won’t be easy, but it will be awesome.”

Mike Mussina will face off against Wade Miler tonight. This should prove to be another exciting game. It should be interesting to see which Mussina shows up.

One question: Will Lance Berkman park one in the upper deck before he hits one in the bleachers?

Let’s hope that Matsui and Giambi can stay hot, baby.

THE BOSS

Guest Columnist

It’s easy to lose perspective on the antics of George Steinbrenner as a Yankee fan, but Christian Ruzich, The Cub Reporter has a clear view of Steinbrenner’s strengths, as he details in this article customed-fit for Bronx Banter.

I wish George Steinbrenner owned the Cubs.
Over the last few months, baseball fans have seen what appears to be a throwback to the old days of George Steinbrenner, back when he was Boss George, the firin’est owner in baseball. When I was a kid, it seemed like Steinbrenner was in the news almost every day. There he was hiring a guy to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield; there he was firing Billy Martin, and hiring him again, and re-firing him; there he was in a Miller Lite commercial with Billy, making fun of the situation; there’s he was, feuding with Jerry Reinsdorf (“How do you know when Steinbrenner is lying? His lips are moving”). Steinbrenner had been a constant presence in the New York tabloids for years. During the Joe Torre era, he seemed to recede a bit — maybe winning shuts him up — but recently he’s come out with both barrels blazing. So now we get to hear that he isn’t happy about the way Katy Feeney drew up the interleague schedule, and that he wants Jose Contreras in the starting rotation instead of Jeff Weaver, and that he thinks Derek Jeter spends too much time partying and not enough time concentrating on baseball but still thinks he’d make a good captain.
You know what? Good. I wish that stuff was showing up on the back page of the Chicago Sun-Times instead of the New York Post. I look at the Yankees and I see what the Cubs could have been: a team whose owner has deep pockets and isn’t afraid to spend that money on the team, who actually gets excited about the team, and who does things that he thinks will make them better. He’s not always right, but he’s always trying, which is a lot more than can be said for Cubs ownership for the last, oh, seventy years.
A few years ago, George Castle wrote a book called The Million-to-One Team: Why the Chicago Cubs Haven’t Won a Pennant Since 1945. Obviously, there’s no one reason why the Cubs are pushing a century without a World Championship, but Castle posited that one of the main reasons was that ownership that didn’t care. When Bill Wrigley died in 1932, his son P.K. promised him he would never sell the team. But, that didn’t mean he wanted to run it. He was much more concerned about the gum company, and saw the Cubs as a good way to advertise his gum. Still, he ran the team from 1934 until his death in 1977. During those 43 years, he:
* Dragged his feet on setting up a farm system
* Waited until six years after Jackie Robinson’s debut to integrate
* Turned down numerous offers to sell the team, including at least one attempt by Bill Veeck, son of Bill Wrigley’s long-time friend, citing his deathbed promise to his father.
* Came up with the College of Coaches “innovation”
* OK’ed the trade of Lou Brock to the Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, et. al.
He did do a couple of things right over the years — in the ’50s, he encouraged radio and television broadcasts of games at a time when most owners were fighting them, and in 1966 he hired Leo Durocher, who promptly put an end to 20 straight losing seasons. But I would ascribe those successes to the “blind squirrel” theory rather than to any sort of baseball acumen. Besides, Leo didn’t actually win anything, proving that just because nice guys finish last doesn’t mean that bad guys finish first. By the time P.K. died the Cubs had gone 31 years without a pennant. Four years later, his son, unhampered by any sort of deathbed promise, sold the team to The Tribune Company.
The Cubs were not the first team to be owned by a large corporation (even the Yankees spent some time owned by CBS before Steinbrenner rescued them), but their purchase by TribCo certainly foreshadowed the current wave of corporate ownership. Tribune looked at the Cubs as cheap content for their WGN TV station, which was showing up on cable systems all over the country. They talked up the team on WGN Radio and in the pages of the Chicago Tribune. With the exception of the hiring of Dallas Green, however, they did very little to improve the team.
They did lots of things to improve the amount of money the team brought in, though, like installing lights and skyboxes. After the ’84 division title, they ended the decades-old practice of selling bleacher seats on the day of the game. This was how I became a Cubs fan, by the way; back in the ’70s, when the Cubs sucked, the adults in my life would head downtown about 2 o’clock, pick up a $5 bleacher ticket, and we would spend the rest of the afternoon happily watching the Cubs lose under the sun at the Friendly Confines. Now, in order to get a bleacher seat, you have to hang out on Waveland and buy one from a scalper for five times face value. Recently, they’ve done such charming things as putting up screens to block the view from the rooftops across the street and setting up a shell company to scalp their own tickets and pocket the proceeds.
And yet, not much of this extra money ended up on the field. Or, when it did, it went to people like Larry Bowa and Dave Smith, and (famously) not to people like Greg Maddux. Yes, they signed Andre Dawson, but only after he presented them with a blank check which they filled out for less than he had made the year before. They were pretty quiet on the free agent front through the ’80s and ’90s, and with the exception of Maddux, they weren’t cranking out many prospects, either. Net result for the Trib Era: Two division championships, one wildcard, five winning seasons. It wasn’t until lifelong baseball man Andy MacPhail came on the scene, and TribCo actually threw some money at the scouting and farm systems, that the Cubs started acting like what they are: one of the most popular franchises in baseball, playing in one of the most revered stadiums in sports, owned by one of the largest media conglomerates in the world.
Steinbrenner, on the other hand, has spent the last thirty years dishing out money like he was Montgomery Brewster. Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Rickey, Dave Winfield — Steinbrenner opened his wallet for all of them. Later years saw the arrival of Wade Boggs, Paul O’Neill, David Cone, David Wells, Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, and Jason Giambi. Plus, they were able to outbid everyone else for Orlando Hernandez, Alfonso Soriano and Hideki Matsui from the far-flung countries of the East (Hideki Irabu and Jose Contreras too, of course, but we’re accentuating the positive here). But at the same time, they developed homegrown players like Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada. Net result for the Steinbrenner Era: six World Championships, three AL pennants, and only five losing seasons.
All of this spending and winning has made the Yankees the poster children for What Is Wrong With Baseball, of course. According to Bud Selig, the Yankees are why there is no competitive balance in baseball. The fact that George Steinbrenner has all this money, and isn’t afraid to spend it, is held up by the nattering nabobs as proof that baseball is broken, and can’t be fixed without revenue sharing/luxury tax/the Yankees giving Mariano Rivera to the Brewers. I don’t buy it for a second. Yes, Steinbrenner has a lot of money. TribCo has as much money as Steinbrenner, if not more. So does Fox, and Peter Angelos, and look how well their teams have done. Steinbrenner not only has the money, he isn’t afraid to spend it, and he is smart enough to hire smart people to run his team. For some reason, those last two things get lost when The End of Baseball As We Know It gets discussed.
Steinbrenner wants to win, and he does what it takes to do so. Plus, he brings all the excitement of a loaded pistol with a hair trigger being passed around by a bunch of speed freaks. Admit it, Yankee fans: weren’t you just a little bit pleased when he started showing up in the papers again? I know I was, although my pleasure was dampened by a sense that I may never see this sort of stuff in Chicago (and maybe, with writers like Jay Mariotti and Rick Telander around, that’s a good thing). But I’d gladly deal with all that uncertainty and day-to-day craziness if it meant I have the privilege of following a team that gave itself every opportunity to win.

WICK, WICK WACK

The Yankees looked better this weekend against the Cubs than they did against the Reds of the Tigers, but they couldn’t outplay their mistakes and they dropped two of three in Chicago. In what proved to be a memorable series, the most egregious error came on Saturday afternoon when Joe Torre lifted Roger Clemens in the 7th inning of a 1-0 game, and replaced him with Juan Acevado, who promptly served up a three-run dinger to Eric Karros. Clemens bid for 300 was lost again, and although the Yankees had their chances late, they couldn’t mount a rally to win.

I watched the game with my girlfriend Emily, and after Acevado gave up the dinger, it was as if someone had punched us in the stomach. (We were already quesy after the freak injury sustained by Cubbie first baseman Hee Seo Choi.) I’m not big on second-guessing, but it was unavoidable here. Joe Torre and Mel Stottlemyre gave a lot of lip service to a respitory infection that Clemens struggling with, but as far as I’m concerned Clemens was still effective, and Rocket at 65%-70% is prefereable to Acevado at 110%.

According to the Times:

“Roger never wants to come out of a game, but when you see him every time he pitches, you pretty much make an evaluation on what you see,” Torre said.

Torre saw a pitcher who was wavering. The walk to Alou was Clemens’s first of the game, but Torre said, “It just looked like he was forcing it.” So Torre pulled him for Acevedo, a pitcher whose 7.83 earned run average was about to get worse.

Clemens did not speak to reporters after the game, issuing a brief statement that said: “Everything considered, I felt good. I went long and hard the whole way. It just didn’t work out.”

Some of the Cubs were surprised to see Clemens leave. “I was,” third baseman Lenny Harris said, “especially for a guy who was going for 300 and shutting us down the way he was. He got it past Sammy at 98, and his breaking ball was great. He just dominated us.”

Em and I were dumbstuck, and we weren’t alone. Here is an e-mail I received from Harley, a loyal Bronx Banter reader:

I don’t get it. Given that every Yankee fan in the known universe knew that Acevedo was going to give it up — maybe not that quickly, or that definitively — how did this escape Joe Torre’s attention? Clemens hadn’t even hit 85 pitches yet, he’s throwing 94 mph fastballs, and the rookie umpire might’ve cost him the walk….and Acevedo is the best option? (Conspiracy theory: Joe sends a message to Steinbrenner for dropping Jason Anderson in order to stick Sierra on the bench.) Why not Weaver? Why not Hammond? (Despite Buck’s inane suggestion that the Yanks don’t have a match-up lefty who can pitch to right handers like Remlinger.) Or — and Bill James just threw his
beer at the TV set — why not break with inexplicable tradition and bring in your best reliever when it matters most (that would be Rivera, and I know no one does that, but if there was ever a situation that made James’ argument, that was it).

Medical alert: Yes, Clemens was coughing, and he’s been sick, and maybe he asked out — this would be the second infamous ‘ask-out’ for Roger — but I just don’t buy it.

Oh well. At least when Steinbrenner fires Joe, we’ll know why.

Cheers in anger….HARLEY

Acevado was the goat again last night, as he made a throwing error which lead to two Cub runs—Alfonso Soriano made an error on the play as well–and hurt the Yankees come-from-behind charge. If you told me that the Yanks were going to score seven runs in a game which Mark Prior started, I would think they would have a good chance at coming away with a “w.” Pinch runner Chales Gipson—representing the tying run—was picked off of first to end the game, and the Yankees lost 8-7. The Bombers are now 0-20 when trailing after six innings, and they ended the nine-game road trip 4-5. The Yanks were a half a game out of first when the trip began, and they trail the Red Sox by a half a game this morning.

It doesn’t get easier this week, as the Yanks host the first-place Astros (and get Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller), and then the St. Louis Cardinals at the Stadium. My friend Mindy is taking me to Friday night’s game, as part of a birthday present. We are going to honor the return of Tino Martinez, but if everything goes according to plan, Clemens is scheduled to start that night, which could be a treat indeed. Rocket needs four strikeouts to reach 4,000 for his career.

Boss Steinbrenner will be in the house. Expect Charles Gipson and Juan Acevado to be relieved of their pinstripes sometimes soon.

David Wells pitched a good game on Friday afternoon, and Mariano Rivera escaped a ninth inning jam to give the Yanks a 5-3 win. Jason Giambi continued his hot hitting over the weekend, though Derek Jeter struggled.

Excuse me if I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but the Yankees have simply not been able to out-run their weakness: the bullpen and their defense.

BONZAI!

Joe Torre bumped his struggling slugger, Hideki Matsui to the seventh spot in the batting order, and Godzilla responded, going 4-5, with three doubles as well as a monstrous home run to straight away center. Guess Godzilla took his meds yesterday. The Yankees other big import, Jose Contreras somehow averted early disaster—escaping a first inning, bases-loaded, no-out jam without letting in a run–and pitched well enough to get the win. He was erratic, but the free-swinging Reds helped him out plenty.

The Yanks broke out the whooping stick, stomped on the Reds, 10-2, and there was much rejoicing in Yankee land as they avoided getting swept in Cincy. Joe Torre added to the pleasure, by getting tossed by the home plate umpire after arguing a called strike three on Jason Giambi. It was a bad call, and since the game was in hand at that point, it was great to see Torre let off a little steam. Robin Ventura added 3 RBI, and Lil’ Sori had 3 hits, including a homer. (It’s a good thing Sori is such a marvel as a hitter, because he continues to regress defensively.)

The Red Sox and the Pirates, who faced off in the first World Serious back in 1903, wore throw-back uniforms last night, and the Pirates nipped the Sox, 5-4. The Yanks go into the weekend series at Wrigley Field a half a game up on Boston. The first game will be played this afternoon at 3, followed by the Rocket Clemens-Kerry Woods Game-of-the-Week tomorrow afternoon, and then the finale, which will be televised on Sunday Night baseball.

There could be a ruling on Sammy Sosa today, but I would doubt that MLB will make him miss the marquee match up this weekend.

According to the tabloids former Yankee Ruben Sierra will be joining the Yankees in Chicago. The Yanks will apparently send minor league outfielder Marcus Thames to Texas. Does this move have George written all over it, or what? This was the same Sierra who had some parting shots for Joe Torre when he was traded for Big Daddy Fielder in the middle of the 1996 season:

“All they care about is winning.” The next spring in Plant City, Fla., as a member of the Reds, Sierra said, “Joe Torre [bleeped] up my career.”

Torre was critical of Sierra in a book following the ’96 season, but Sierra later apologized to the Yankee manager. Torre has admitted he admires how Sierra has rebuilt his career after stints in Mexico and Atlantic City.

The 38-year old Sierra makes the Yanks more muscular, that’s for sure. I always liked Ruben, Ruben because he was such an ass. But the Yanks are maxin out on the ass cap here. At least Raul Mondesi has another buddy. Perhaps he’ll be a good bat off the bench, but this is another move that makes the Yanks look more like the Rangers and less like the old Yanks (currently being played by the Seattle Mariners).

Hey, maybe King Leyritz is available too.

FALLOUT

Rob Neyer has a great column on the Sammy Sosa fiasco. Neyer doesn’t think the corked bat incident should change the way we look at Sosa as a ballplayer:

With that out of the way, should this change our opinion of Sammy Sosa, the man? Well, sure. Maybe a little. After all, he did cheat. So if anybody out there thought that Sammy Sosa was perfect, now they know better. But do we think Graig Nettles was a bad guy because he put rubber balls in his bat? No, we don’t. Do we think Billy Hatcher was a bad guy because he put cork in his bat? No, we don’t. Do we think Albert Belle was a bad guy because he put cork in his bat? No, we don’t (we think Albert Belle was a bad guy for a lot of other reasons).

Nobody’s perfect, and a significant percentage of players would cheat if they thought they could get away with it. In fact, there’s a famous saying in baseball, “It ain’t cheatin’ if you don’t get caught.” Which reminds me, what’s with the double standard in baseball? Gaylord Perry, who was famous for throwing a greaseball, sailed into the Hall of Fame. Mike Scott won the Cy Young Award in 1986, even though everybody knew he was scuffing the ball. In the later years of his career, Whitey Ford knew every trick in the book and he used all of them.

When pitchers cheat, it’s “colorful.” When hitters cheat, it’s “cheating.”

To me, it’s all cheating. But let’s not hold Sammy Sosa to a different standard than we hold Gaylord Perry and Whitey Ford.

In my mind, Sammy Sosa’s still a Hall of Famer. And as for what kind of man he is, I can’t say I know much more today than I did yesterday.

Amen to that.

Players around the league had mixed reactions to the incident, but most of them seemed supportive of Sosa. Heck, even Manny Ramirez broke his code of silence to speak up for Sammy.

A FINE MESS

Call em’ what you like: listless, careless (nice tag, Soriano), even hapless (Godzilla). One thing is for sure, the Yankees are a slumping mess. My girlfriend Emily has been saying for over a month now that Hideki Matsui looks depressed. Maybe it’s an epidemic.

Mike Mussina was cruising for the first four innings against the Reds, but then they tagged him for four homers, and the Yanks fell to the Reds, 6-2. The Bombers offense didn’t put up much of a fight, and made Paul Wilson look like the ace he’s not. In fact Wilson is the first Reds starter in 17 games to notch a victory. How do you think they are going to look against the likes of Kerry Woods?

Oy fuggin vey.

The Red Sox took two from the Pirates yesterday, and the Yanks find themselves in second place this morning.

But wait, it gets worse. The Yankees are now 0-18 when trailing after six innings this year. This is not your older brother’s Yankees.

According to The Daily News:

Torre felt that the Yanks looked listless once the Reds’ barrage was over.

“We certainly look that way,” he said. “That shouldn’t happen. We should be professional enough to go out and play nine innings. Not that we’re not working hard. We’re pressing.

“It just doesn’t look like we’re comfortable right now.”

“This is more than a stretch now,” Mussina said, referring to the Yanks’ 10-19 stumble since May 3. “We just haven’t played consistently good since we got out of April. We haven’t gotten hot offensively or pitched consistently well.

“We’re just not the same team. It’s in there somewhere.”

…”We’re putting a lot of pressure on Contreras,” Torre said. “Welcome to the starting rotation, right?”

It won’t be long now before the Yanks go out and get some reinforcements. The Post reports that they have their eyes on Kenny Lofton. I’ve never been a Kenny Lofton fan, but I’d welcome him in place of a hacker like Juan Rivera in a New York minute.

I wish I had something wise or even funny to say (I’ll leave the comedy to Boomski Wells). But I’m afraid I’ve been lulled into a depressed state myself. OK, I do have one positive piece of news to report: Jason Giambi appears to be coming around. He hit another homer last night (his fourth of the road trip), and has put together some very solid at bats recently. They need him now more than ever.

PUT A CORK IN IT

For the lowdown on the Sammy Sosa situation, look no further than Christain Ruzich’s great blog, The Cub Reporter.

YOUR AVERAGE JOE

David Pinto, over at Baseball Musings has some interesting comments about Yankee manager Joe Torre:

I remember a few years ago asking a fan who they thought was the best manager in the game. They said Joe Torre. (At the time, Davey Johnson was still in the game.) I asked why, and this fan said because he had won big with the Yankees. I then asked if he thought this before Torre was with the Yankees, and the answer was no. And I think that’s the right answer.

Joe Torre has managerial skills that work great when he has talented, intelligent, self motivated players. In that case, all he has to manage is their personalities. But when he has players who actually need to be coached, who need strategy laid out for them, who need a field general, he’s not very good. So Steinbrenner is calling him on it. Good for Steinbrenner for not being fooled by the reasons for success. As usual, George isn’t going about it very nicely and he’s going to alienate all the Torre fans, but in the end, Torre has to keep the Yankees winning to keep his job. He’s lasted longer than anyone else, but it very well might be time for a change.

Torre sure looked like a better manager when he had guys Paul O’Neill, Rock Raines, Chili Davis and Mike Stanton running his clubhouse, that’s for sure. Who is running the Kangaroo court for the Yanks these days anyhow? Captain Jeter? Robin Ventura? Giambi? How much money in fines have Lil’ Sori and Mondesi forked over lately?

CORKY

Sammy Sosa’s bat split in the first inning of the Cubs-D-Rays game last night, and it turns out the bat was corked. Let the scandal begin. I don’t have much of a negative reaction to this sort of thing. In fact, my first instinct is to feel badly that Sosa’s reputation will take a a big hit here, even if it’s deserved. I have one question: Is a batter corking a bat any worse than a pitcher scuffing a baseball? I have already read that Sosa corking his bat is worse than when Graig Nettles or Albert Belle corked theirs, because he is a greater player. But have Gaylord Perry or Whitey Ford’s reputations been sullied significantly by the fact that they threw illegal pitches? And will this hurt Sosa more because he is a Black Latin player?

BIG CRUD MACHINE

Derek Jeter was named the 11th captain in Yankees history before the game last night. Jeter who is famous for his heady play, is looking a lot dumber these days because of the sloppy play of his teammates.

Watching the Yankees play another careless game last night, it occured to me that they simply aren’t a very smart team right now. Baseball smart that is. It doesn’t mean they aren’t likable, or that they aren’t talented—or that they won’t eventaully be able to cover their mistakes—it just means they don’t play smart, sound baseball. The Reds were less than bright as well, but they had enough to notch another 9th inning victory, beating the Yanks 4-3. Anotonio Osuna-or-later took the loss.

The game is what Whitey Herzog would call horseshit baseball, and there was plenty to go around. Both teams made mistakes on the bases and in the field. Felipe Lopez couldn’t lay down a sacrifice bunt, and then down 0-2 took 3 straight balls before swinging and missing at ball 4; Junior Griffey forgot to advance a base on a wild pitch. The Reds scored their first run because Alfonso Soriano could not turn a double play; they tied the game with two more runs due to two wild pitches and a throwing error from Andy Pettitte, who otherwise pitched a good game.

The most frustrating inning for the Yankees was the 6th. After Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada walked to open the inning, Robin Ventura swung at a 3-0 pitch and popped out to the catcher. Horseshit. Raul Mondesi followed with a single to center, scoring Giambi. Juan Rivera was walked to load the bases for Andy Pettite, who remarkably slapped a breaking pitch into shallow center for a single. Posada scored, but Mondesi inexplicably over ran third base and was picked off for the second out (he had his head down all the way and didn’t even look at third base coach Willie Randolph). Horseshit. Derek Jeter grounded out to end the frame. Pettitte gave both runs back in the bottom of the inning.

Yankee fans have been spoiled by a series of championship teams who always seemed to do ‘the little things.’ It was the other teams that made stupid mistakes, and it was the Yankees who made them pay for it. This is not the same Yankee team. They are more talented—and they may even be more likable, depending on your taste—but they are dumber too. No wonder Boss George is pulling out all the PR stunts he can muster to make the Yankees still look like their old selves. If they don’t smarten up soon, the bellowing from the Boss could threaten to sap out all the fun from the 2003 Yankee season.

The best part of watching the game last night was getting to hear part-time YES announcer Paul O’Neill bust Michael Kay’s chops all night. Keep em coming Paul.

CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

According to ESPN news, the Yankees will hold a press conference today at 4 pm to announce that Derek Jeter will be named team captain. He will be the 11th captain in Yankee history, the first since Don Mattingly. I guess the next logical question is: Do captains play third? (Of course they do, just ask Craig Nettles.)

This is classic George, trying everything he can do to boost the spirit of his sluggish Bombers. Jeter deserves it too. (It would have been nice for Bernie to be named as co-captain, but I don’t think Williams really cares for that kind of thing.) As much as I’ve harped on Jeter’s fielding this year, I’d hate to give the impression that I don’t love the guy. (I just don’t love Yankee fans’ misconceptions about his talents.) He’s been the leader of the Yanks for several years so this announcement has been a long time coming. Of course being captain of the Yankees comes with added pressure, but that won’t phase Jeter. Especially now that he and George star in commercials together.

MR. GAMMONS, I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP

The irrepressible Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus will be featured on ESPN’s “Outside The Lines Nightly” tonight (check local listings). This is most likely the begining of a beautiful career for Will, and I’d like to wish him all the best. As hard as he’s worked, he deserves the spotlight. Kudos, baby.

JETER IS GOOD, BUT HE’S NO TANNER

With the highest payroll in the sport, it’s no wonder the Yankees owner, the New York media, and Yankee fans act like Chicken Little everytime something doesn’t break their way. But one thing has been obvious all season: the Yanks have a lousy bullpen, and lousy team defense, particularly up the middle.

Here is Mike C’s take on Sunday’s meltdown inning:

Jeter and Soriano had consecutive errors. Soriano had another on the day and Jeter could have been called for a ball he missed to re-start the Tigers’ rally in the fifth. This was a ball maybe two steps to Jeter’s right that even Tanner from The Bad News Bears could have gotten to but was scored a hit by a liberal, homer scorer. Maybe the Yankees don’t need relief pitchers but rather relief middle infielders to cover for Jeter and Soriano. In fact on the Eric Munson ball that Soriano threw away in the fifth it appeared that Clemens (correctly) dove for the ball as it went by him rather than allow his infielders to touch the ball.

David Pinto had an interesting post over at Baseball Musings regarding the Yankees defense:

As I’ve spent a lot of time listening to Yankee games with my dad over the last few weeks, I’m more convinced than ever that the Yankees can’t win with the defense they have in the middle of the infield. I don’t know how many times I heard, “Slow roller up the middle, through for a base hit.”

What’s the solution? You certainly don’t want to lose Jeter’s bat. And I don’t think you can move both Jeter and Soriano. I think the best solution would be to find a defensive wizard at SS, and move Jeter to third. Ventura is good, but he’s old. It’s possible that he could be traded to a contender for such a SS, or a three way deal with Cleveland where the Yankees end up with Vizquel. I really think Jeter’s future is at third, not a SS.

Makes sense to me. Perhaps they could even keep Ventura and use him as the extra lefty-bat they are seeking. But do you really think Joe Torre is going to up and move Derek Jeter to third in the middle of the season? That is highly unlikely.

Here is what reader Dan Mulvihill thinks:

I’d love to see it happen, if only to see how Jeter would react to it. He always comes across as a “team first” guy, but that would be a real test of his sincerity. Plus, he’d probably be insulted. He likes to think of himself as a great defensive guy – remember that puff piece in the Times last summer about his fielding?
Jeter can’t move to his right anymore, so the sooner he gets to third the better. They’re not gonna win the Series (or get there) with this defense, so I’d do that trade to get Vizquel. And yeah, I think Ventura would make a great PH/DH.

I too, am interested in how Jeter would handle such a move. After all, he is famous for being a team player, who will do anything it takes to win. When will the Yankees see what has already become painfully clear to many observers? And what will it take for them to change their minds? A terrible post-season error? I don’t think Jeter will lose any star appeal or sex appeal shifting to third. Part of me thinks the only reason Jeter is at short is because he ‘looks’ good as a shortstop. Hey Jete, are you really a shortstop? “No,” he might say. “But I play one on TV.”

RIGHT ON

Allen Barra had an excellent column on two of New York’s best—yet somehow underappreciated—players, Mike Piazza and Bernie Williams, in the Times on Sunday. I’ve argued with Yankee fans for years about the merits of Bernie Williams, the team’s quiet star. If Derek Jeter is overrated by the casual fan, then Bernie Williams is clearly underrated:

The strongest argument for Williams’s value, though, might not be found in his personal statistics. “How many guys,” said David Cone, who owes several of his victories to Williams’s bat and glove, “have made so substantial a contribution to a dynasty as Bernie Williams and not made it to the Hall of Fame?”

Certainly not many. If Derek Jeter is considered on track for Cooperstown, why not Williams, whose contributions to seven consecutive Yankees playoff teams and five World Series teams have been neck and neck with those of Jeter?

The Yankees’ rise to prominence in 1995 coincided with Williams’s emergence as a star; the dynasty began to sputter a few weeks ago, close to when Williams hurt his knee. If the Yankees’ rise and fall with Williams is a coincidence, it’s the kind of coincidence Yankees fans will be hoping for again when, with luck, Williams returns in July and picks up his Hall of Fame bid.

Some Mets fans seem to want to blame all of the teams problems on their catcher’s weak throwing arm. As if his lousy arm outweighs his tremendous offensive contributions, and completely obscures his other talents as a reciever (calling a good game, blocking the plate). Hey, when was the last time you didn’t see Piazza bust his tail down the first base line?

This is the greatest offensive player at his position in the history of the game, but many Mets fans ask: what have you done for me lately? Again, I think this is a product of their overall frustration, but it is a shame, because although Piazza didn’t have his peak years in New York, he did lead them to a World Serious, and has been the best hitter in team history:

The only question is how far Piazza is ahead of everyone else. Most baseball analysts agree that what a player hits on the road is much more indicative of his overall ability than what he hits in his home park. In Piazza’s case, he has had the spectacular misfortune of spending most of his career playing his home games in perhaps the two worst hitters’ parks in the National League – or for that matter, in all of baseball – Dodger Stadium (1992-98) and Shea Stadium (1998-present) with a five-game stint in Florida before coming to the Mets. The difference is almost heartbreaking. While most players tend to have slightly better numbers playing at home, Piazza’s career batting average in his home parks (including this season) is .302 and his career average in other parks is .338, according to Stats Inc.

The gaps between home and road in his other stats are equally eye-opening. His career on-base percentage on the road is .405, 34 points higher than his home mark, and his career road slugging percentage is 72 points higher.

WHAT ME WORRY?

The Yankees played poorly in Detriot over the weekend, but escaped with two wins. Still, the New York media is all over the team, and George Steinbrenner has chosen the opportunity to take center stage (a shocker, huh?). When not bitching about the inter-league schedule his team has been handed, George is telling his team to hurry up and relax (or else).

Jeff Weaver, who has looked about as lively as Lurch of late, has been yanked from the starting rotation in favor of Jose Contreras. Weaver committed the cardinal sin of calling out his teammates on Saturday afternoon, after another frustrating performance, making it easy for manager Joe Torre to make the switch.

The Yanks play three against the Reds tonight before they move to Chicago for three against the Cubbies this weekend (Christian Ruzich gets his wish as Clemens will go for win number 300 this weekend vs. Kerry Wood). Quite frankly, I don’t know how the Yankees will fare this week. I’m not down on them, but realistically, they haven’t played crisp ball lately. They seem to play up or down to the competition. Will they bust out the whooping stick against the Reds in their homer-happy stadium, or will the Reds pound them?

We shall soon see.

VACAY DAY

I took the day off from work today, on the count of it was my 32nd birthday yesterday, and hell, I just needed one more day to celebrate. The Yanks looked sketchy taking two of three from the Tigers over the weekend, but Toronto pounded the Sox, and the Bombers find themselves a game and a half up on Boston.

The sun is shinning today, and I’m off to Van Cortlandt park to chill. I’ll be back to blogging tomorrow. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Alex