I had previously slammed Marty Appel’s book Thurman Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain for being just another Munson bio. This is probably because I didn’t get past the first three pages. After sitting down and actually taking the time to read the book, I have to say that this is THE Munson bio. Pretty much as deep as one would want to delve into the private life of one of New York’s most hallowed legends. Great for anyone who grew up in that time, but also for someone trying to turn back the clock and learn a good deal of Yankee history. This book isn’t just about Thurman, but about the Yankees too.
Take some time to check this book out.
With ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball winding down for another season, their announcing team of Joe Morgan, Jon Miller and Steve Phillips took some time to analyze the New York baseball scene for Hot Stove New York.
Joe Morgan: The Yankees are looking pretty good, having the best record in baseball, and they just clinched a spot in the postseason with last night’s win. But you really can’t compare them to the teams of old. I mean, do they have Johnny Bench on their team? [laughs] Derek Jeter does a decent job but give me Dave Concepcion any day of the week. You can throw any stat at me you want about the Yankees – you know I don’t believe in stats [laughs]. When I played we didn’t have stats. We didn’t know what batting averages were let alone WARP and whatever else these kids are talking about nowadays [laughs]. In fact, we didn’t even keep score, but the Reds still won every game we played and were the World …
When we last saw the Jets, the comedy team of Eric Mangini and Brett Favre were sabotaging the season. Favre confessed that he had a torn biceps tendon, but he’s just covering up for his arm – it wasn’t torn, it was drunk. The team was even fined for the subterfuge. New and improved coach Rex Ryan gave a pregame speech to remember; it basically boiled down to this: Win on for Richard Todd. And win they did. The rookie coach even shed a tear after the game – it wasn’t because his team won, though, but instead the reason behind the crying was that he just found out that NBC cancelled My Name Is Earl to make room for Parks and Recreation. And when Ryan was about to present owner Woody Johnson with the game ball, Kanye West appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the ball and yelled out, “Weeb Ewbank is the greatest Jets coach in the world! In the world!”
Meanwhile, the Giants …
Derek Jeter started feeling the pressure to overtake Lou Gehrig as the Yankees’ all-time hits leader, but he came through as always (well, was he really never going to get a hit again?). Tonight he’ll attempt to pass the Hall-of-Fame first baseman and stand alone at the top of the heap. Here’s a list of other lesser-known Yankee records that will most likely never be broken:
Highest number of floozies and alcoholic beverages consumed in one night: 29, Babe Ruth (it’s unclear how many were drinks and how many were floozies).
Most times teammates swapped wives: once, Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich
Most hits by a Yankee backup catcher in 1966: 47, Jake Gibbs (this is one record that will never be broken)
Most times a player sat in a cake while pantless: 11, Sparky Lyle
Most times a Yankee manager was referred to as “Stump”: 1,342, oddly enough it wasn’t Stump Merrill but Ralph Houk
Most times a player had to clean George Steinbrenner’s pool to stay on his good side: seven, Steve Howe
In other …
The Yankees have instituted a new set of Joba Rules. Joba Chamberlain will now pitch every fifth day but his innings will be limited. That may help his arm, but it won’t help him learn how to pitch (or help the bullpen). They scrapped their previous plans of having him pitch every day but only throwing one pitch, having him pitch once a year, and having him pitch every fifth day with no pitch count but he’d be loaned out to another team. There are some other, little-known sets of rules around town that we just learned about.
The Ollie Rules: Right before Oliver Perez went on the DL, the Mets were about to install some new guidelines for the erratic lefty. The team was going to make him pitch every single day (even if no game was scheduled) in the hopes he would suffer a career-ending injury, which would free them from his contract.
The A-Rod Rules: The Yankees had no choice but to limit Alex Rodriguez’s time in front …
It was Boston vs. New York all week long. On the field, the Yankees took care of business, winning their series with the Red Sox, which included a 20-8 stomping. Off the field, new Hall-of-Famer Jim Rice called out Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter for “setting a bad example for the young guys.” Sure, what he said makes sense about Manny and A-Rod. Is Manny a steroid-riddled clown? You bet. Is A-Rod a steroid-filled, marketing-obsessed automaton? Of course. But Jeter? Isn’t he everything that’s good and wholesome about baseball? In fact, isn’t he everything that’s good about our country? Isn’t Rice then condemning all of American society? I, for one, am not going to stand here and listen to Jim Rice bad mouth the United States of America. And in another NY/Boston war, the bashful, thoughtful duo of Crazy Jon Papelbon and Billy Wagner reenacted the Lincoln-Douglas debates this week. New York got the last laugh, though, by foisting Wagner on the city of Boston. …
I turned on the Mets game on Friday night, and they were playing in Ebbets Field and wearing New York Giants uniforms. The Mets can’t even get any respect from their own organization. What’s next? Donning tribute uniforms to the 1996 Yankees? Those circa-1905 unis did grow on me, though. Maybe they should play a throwback game instead of just sporting the uniforms (which should be made of wool, with the old itchy socks and collars that the Giants wore), with dirty baseballs, spitballs, big-handled bats, little gloves, no helmets . . . well, on second thought, maybe not. All week was like one big throwback party, what with beanballs, the Mets unis, the Mets scoring eight runs in one inning (a throwback to when they were good), the Yankees having the best record in baseball, Gary Sheffield being unhappy with his contract, the 1969 Mets celebration tomorrow and the 40th anniversary of Woodstock all over the news. The most poignant moment of the rock festival came when the …
Ok let’s cut the crap. Some one’s not in the Hall of Fame and I wanna know why…….
Player A(Hall of Famer)
In 1211 Games: .322 Avg / 1491 Hits / 812 R/ 42Hr / 523 Rbi
His Bio:
**** ****** was a stocky, hard-hitting, fierce-running and tough-sliding right fielder for the champion Giants of the 1920s. Aggressive and consistent, he was called “the greatest outfielder I ever saw,” by manager John McGraw. ****** hit over .300 for seven straight seasons and compiled a career average of .322. He led National League outfielders in assists on three occasions. A kidney disorder ended his career in 1926 and resulted in his premature death at the age of 30.
Player B (Snubbed)
In 1423 Games: .292 Avg / 1558 Hits / 696 Runs / 113 Hr / 701 Rbi
1st Yankee captain since Gehrig. 7-time All-Star in 10 years, ***** was one of game’s greatest clutch hitters. Stats & awards don’t do his career justice. Still loved decades after his death. Many Yanks achieved more but …
Last night I had a dream that the Mets were trying to win a game with this lineup: Cory Sullivan, Luis Castillo, Fernando Tatis, Daniel Murphy, Jeff Francoeur, Jeremy Reed, Alex Cora and Brian Schneider, and Murphy, who’s the first baseman, didn’t cover first on a play, the offense couldn’t score any runs, the pitchers couldn’t get anybody out, their All-Star closer was blowing saves by giving up grand slams, the defense was making errors left and right, the players were making mental mistakes and starting to mail the season in, Anderson Hernandez was back on the team and starting at shortstop replacing guys named Wilson Valdez and Angel Berroa, they went 2-5 on their road trip, just about every good starter and backup they could scrounge up was on the DL and even some of those guys were having setbacks. What, you mean that wasn’t all a dream? That was just a typical week for the Mets these days? Ay caramba! Our friends at GlobalSportsFraternity.com have come up with …
The Yankees-Red Sox war resumed last night in the Bronx. Of course, one of the great players in this rivalry was Thurman Munson, who tragically died 30 years ago Sunday, and Jorge Posada paid tribute to the former Yankee captain by wearing a #15 decal on his mask. Besides winning the Rookie of the Year, an MVP award, three Gold Gloves and two World Series, Munson absolutely hated the Red Sox and Carlton Fisk. In a game in 1973, he barreled into Fisk at home plate, and a 10-minute bench-clearing brawl ensued. That’s what Yankees-Red Sox baseball is all about. Even though Munson is dead, he’s still healthier than the Mets, though. Jon Niese, Luis Castillo and Gary Sheffield threw themselves on the Mets’ injury pile this week. A Met official stated: “All our injured players should be back by December, so if we can stay within 20 games of the lead, we should be able to make a run.” Meanwhile, David Ortiz has recently been in …
Monday was the 40th anniversary of mankind’s greatest feat: The moon landing. This week the Mets couldn’t achieve mankind’s easiest feat: Winning a series against the Washington Nationals. The whole organization is dysfunctional and a complete mess. We should give them a one-way ticket to the moon. Things couldn’t be better over in the Bronx, though. The Yankees have won seven straight since the All-Star break. And they celebrated the team’s history on Sunday. Who else could put on an Old-Timers’ Day like the Yanks? Is there any other team that could draw such past greats as Homer Bush, Jerry Narron, Charlie Hayes, Chad Curtis, Pat Kelly, Aaron Small, Dave Eiland and Jim Coates? Ok, ok, Yogi, Whitey, Reggie and Goose were there, too.
Winner
CC Sabathia: The Yankee ace threw seven shutout innings vs. Detroit on Saturday, and after struggling early last night, finished with seven innings pitched while allowing three runs, and picked up his second win of the week. The whole Yankee rotation was the main reason …
The National League lost the All-Star Game yet again, and you can’t even blame the Mets for it. David Wright went 1 for 2 and scored a run, and Frankie Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth. The AL now has the home-field advantage in the World Series once more. How dumb is that rule? What’s next? The Home Run Derby winner gets to host Thanksgiving dinner for the World Champion? The Mets, of course, did not have a representative in the Derby, but they did come out on top in the Dropped Pop-up Showdown and the Base-running Blunder Regatta. It was also oldies week around here, as the Devils try to reclaim past glory with the hiring of Jacques Lemaire. Sure, he won eight Stanley Cups and was elected to the Hall of Fame as a player and won a Cup and two Jack Adams Awards as a coach, but he brought hockey to a standstill with the trap and made the game as exciting as watching paint dry (though sometimes …
