Daily Archives: September 11, 2008

Hitting coach Kevin Long has promised to follow Robinson Cano home to the Dominican this winter and rebuild his swing. He has the technology:

The work there will be extensive and represents a complete overhaul of the infielder’s swing.

The promise is of a completely revamped player in advance of Spring Training. Long outlined pieces of his blueprint for Cano by eliminating excess action, while putting him in a better position to hit, squaring up more with the pitcher. Addressing Cano’s strike-zone discipline is also high on the to-do list.

“You’re going to see a huge difference visually,” Long said. “You’ll see less movement, an explosive, compact swing, and you’ll probably see more home runs. I think his average will go way up and I think his walks will go way up.”

MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch as the story.

This is pretty good. Via Pete Abe:

“I’m going to be reviewing the entire organization,” Hank Steinbrenner told the AP in Tampa today. “We’re going to do everything we can to win next year. We’re not going to wait. Do everything we can that makes sense. We’re going to fix what we have to fix. We’re going to have to look at what has been done wrong over the last five years, which I’ve had one year to try and figure out. Clearly, a lot of mistakes were made.”

At least he didn’t apologize to the city of New York.

Equal parts Frank Thomas, Dick Allen and Babe Herman, Manny Ramirez is profiled today by Jay Jaffe over at Baseball Prospectus.

By Ed Randall

Though I grew up only three-and-a-half miles away, I was never a Yankee fan. Still, I anticipate a profound sadness that the stadium I grew up in is soon to exist never more.

Yet, I might have more of a connection, a predisposition, to the franchise than I ever care to admit. My father’s birthday was September 10th, the same as Roger Maris’; mine is October 20th, the same as Mickey Mantle’s.

The stadium cast a long and continuing shadow on my life.

I went to grammar and high school for 12 years in the same building at All Hallows just three blocks away and took the subway behind the center field fence. I threw snowballs from the platform near pedestrians below while waiting for the northbound train (in making that stark admission, I trust the statute of limitations has expired).

I saw my first game there and have very vague memories of being fascinated by the TV cameras in the outdoor photo box.

Perhaps another sign foreshadowing my career calling.

I recall standing near a ramp leading to the box seats as a child when a door swung open and there stood Johnny Blanchard in all his Yankee pinstriped splendor and his shiny black spikes that clicked when he took a step. It was breathtaking. Today, ironically, Johnny Blanchard, fellow prostate cancer survivor, sits on the Advisory Board of my charity, Ed Randall’s Bat for the Cure.

Back then, patrons in the lower level–which we could rarely afford–exited the park by walking on the field! Imagine slowly making your way along the warning track up the left field line, turning right past the visiting bullpen and auxiliary scoreboard and then, the best part, past the monuments. More than once did I walk out onto River Avenue through the Yankee bullpen where countless home runs came to rest and where everyone from Joe Page onward warmed up. Somehow, even then I knew the importance of what I was experiencing.

That ritual made me want to do one thing: genuflect.

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Over at WFAN’s website, the intrepid Sweeny Murti gives us his list of the 25 top Yankee Stadium Moments.  Excellent job by Murti here, as he combines research and reporting to provide a lively and entertaining list.  Part of the fun is seeing if you agree with his take.  Personally, I would have the Louis-Schmeling fight in the top Five, if not top Three.  What do you think?  This is oodles of fun from Murti.  Check it out:

25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 5-1. 

During the Seventies and Eighties parts of the Upper West Side were tough.  My grandparents lived between Columbus and Central Park West and you had to know which blocks were cool when walking from their place over to Broadway.  Columbus avenue became gentrified first, then, slowly Amsterdam avenue followed.  My old man worked at a hardware store on Amsterdam avenue for a bunch of years in the Eighties (you can see it in a shot from the Pacino movie Sea of Love).  More than anything, I remember hearing music on Amsterdam avenue.  There was always something playing.  Something like this maybe:

Speaking of Willie Bobo, remember this from Pete Nice (I really dug the re-mix):

Serch gets kicked in the grill.