This is not meant to be morbid. Unfortunately, people give thanks to family, friends, and other people after they have passed away.
Not knowing how ill, or how much time he has left, here is a message to The Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
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George -
Thank you for purchasing The Yankees. We do not know you personally, but , we Yankee Fans, appreciate everything you have done for us.
You took an average team in the 1970’s and brought it back to greatness. You put your heart and money into the organization. You brought us Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Joe Torre, and other elite, big name stars. Of course there were free agent flops along the way but we appreciate that you were always willing to spend the money and “go for it”.
There is not much more a sports fan can ask of an owner.
Regarding team sports such as baseball, football, hockey, soccer — only:
As fans, we have been pushed to say
Who cares about Barry Bonds, or Hank Aaron having the most home runs
Who cares about Roger Clemens having 350 wins and over 4,000 strikeouts
Who cares that Mark McGuire beat out Sammy Sosa in the 1998 Roger Maris home run chase
So what — Alex Rodriguez has 500 plus home runs and counting…..
Cheating has taken place and will always take place.
Focusing on team records is, at least, an equal playing field (no pun intended). Think about it.
A-Rod recently admitted using steroids from 2001 – 2003. Let’s assume that at least 104 players used performance enhancing drugs during that era. Who won the World Series from 2001 – 2003 (Arizona Diamondbacks, Anaheim Angels, Florida Marlins). Fine.
So we can assume that at LEAST 100 of the 700 major league players “cheated” using performance enhancing drugs. For round numbers, that’s 14% of the players. Let’s assume there is an equal distribution of “cheaters”. 14% of the Diamondbacks cheated. 14% of the Angels cheated. And 14% of the Marlins cheated.
Continuing, 14% of the NY Yankees, NY Mets, and Boston Red Sox also cheated, and did NOT win the World Series.
As a fan, I have no problem with it. Those seasons were entertaining and fun to watch. It is an equal playing field because all the teams and players probably had access to the same performance enhancing drugs. Teams made decisions. Individuals made decisions. That was THAT era.
When the rules were set outlawing steriods, the number probably went from 14% to 2% (a guess). Again, the cheaters were probably evenly distributed amongst the league.
So all the teams and players probably had a representative sample of cheaters.
As new drugs come on the scene, everyone will have access to them. New masking agents come on the scene, everyone will have access to them. It’s illegal but fair.
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The same holds true for football. As time as gone on, steriods/HGH testing has gotten tougher. People still use then and there is probably an equal distribution amongst the teams and players.
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This may seem like bizarre logic, but it makes sense for the “team results”. Of course it does not help the individual records that are affected by this cheating.
I know it’s not realistic, but perhaps we should come up with an alternative to “individual records”. Perhaps we should discuss using a word like “highlights”.
One of the “highlights” of the 1998 season was McGuire and Sosa competing to hit the most home runs… I know,I know, it’s weak…
CitiCorp / CitiBank was just bailed out with billions of taxpayers dollars. They have a $400 billion deal to pay the NY Mets for naming rights on their new stadium. (BTW, the stadium supposedly is costing $800 million, so in effect, Citi is paying for half the stadium without any equity.) Should CitiCorp and the NY Mets undo the deal?
fyi… to see what other similar deals have cost corporations, see the chart in this earlier post on stadium naming rights.
This is still one of my favorite sports videos. Randy Johnson, major league pitcher, throws a 95 mph fastball that hits a seagull crossing in front of home plate. I believe the batter is the NY Mets’ Robin Ventura.
The seagull disintegrates – Nothing but feathers! (Talk about timing is everything… Dave Winfield eat your heart out!)
I agree on is angle that strikeout-to-walk ratio is important in judging a pitcher. Besides a a pitcher throwing a strike and a ball, every other event relies on a teammate. ERA is a better stat to judge a pitcher than wins and losses but that also involves the fielding of teammates. Exceptional fielders with better range can help a pitcher decrease his ERA. Or the fielder with exceptional range but then commits errors, can also affect the ERA.
Interesting. Yes. Has no one else brought this up?
Bill James’ take and statistics on baseball is definitely something to consider, but not taken as gospel.
There are many examples in his numbers where the “old time” thinking of baseball affect the numbers and theories he presents.
A perfect example is righties and lefties hitters in Fenway Park with the Green Monster. On the 60 Minutes show it was stated that while the general thought is righties hit better at Fenway because of the short left field fence, lefties actually hit batter at Fenway. James’ statistics are probably true because visiting teams choose to pitch righties at Fenway (because of the Green Monster). Nothing earth shattering here for the average baseball fan.
Again, interesting work by Bill James but it was not created in a in a vacuum. No Nobel Prize here.
You hear about Jim Brown. Long Island’s greatest athlete of all time. Manhasset High School, Syracuse University. Often considered both the best football player and lacrosse player of all time.
Some of Long Island’s all time athletes, that your hear about, are Boomer Esiason, Ron Heller, Sue Bird, Willie Smith,…
You never hear about Kings Park’s Craig Biggio.
What about Craig Biggio?
Craig Biggio, the baseball player, is eligible to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2013. He will be a first ballot inductee with 3,059 hits as a Houston Astro player and community leader.
He switched positions having played catcher, 2nd base, and outfield. He stole bases and is one of the all-time leaders having been hit by pitches. He was a 7 time all star, 4 time Gold Glove winner, and a Roberto Clemente Award winner.
Not just a professional and collegiate baseball player (All American at Seton Hall) New Yorkers may remember Craig as a great football player. He was the Hansen Award winner given to the best high school football player in Suffolk County. While attending Kings Park High School, he turned down many football scholarships to attend Seton Hall on a baseball scholarship.
There are still great athletes who are good citizens. Let’s remember and honor Long Island’s Craig Biggio.
In the same game, Austin Jackson went 4-for-5, hit his fourth homer in as many games [his se
(8:00:18 AM) Friend_of_TopOfTheThread:
and look up mark melancon-the next joba-is being moved to scranton
(8:00:57 AM) TopOfTheThread:
looks good
(8:01:02 AM) TopOfTheThread:
but what about 2008?
(8:01:26 AM) Friend_of_TopOfTheThread:
he’ll be up in 2008 melancon is the closer of the future
(8:03:14 AM) TopOfTheThread:
the yanks are only 5 out of 1st and 3.5 out of the wildcard. Make the playoffs and you never know
(8:05:03 AM) Friend_of_TopOfTheThread:
I don’t think the season could have worked out better to this point-the infusion of youth, conversion of joba, adversity of monstrous injuries, and now this close.
(8:06:37 AM) TopOfTheThread:
Agreed. And now Chien-Ming Wang goes down. Forces them to look harder at their youth. Psyched.
The NY Mets are in a horrendous place as a major league baseball team.
Lots of talent. Poor effort. Bad attitudes.
Unfortunately, Willie Randolph is not a “fit” for this team. He is a good baseball man, it is just the dynamic of the personalities of the players and Willie, does not work. He must go. Done.
Contributing to the problems is their oh-so-physically-talented shortstop Jose Reyes. He does not hustle and has a bad attitude. He is a cancer. He theoretically is their lead-off hitter, leader, and should be setting the tone of the game. He must go. The Mets can get some talent for him.
Carlos Delgado’s contributions to the team have declined dramatically. He has also exhibited a less than positive attitude. He must go. The Mets can get something for him. An American League team can use him.
These are the first steps to the Mets getting back on track. They will still have good talent and pitching. New fresh leadership. And less problems with attitudes.
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Note: Willie Randolph was fired between the time this was written and posted. Best of luck Willie. The Mets were not a good fit for you.
I just put on the NY Yankees game against the Kansas City Royals. It was the 5th inning and the score was tied at 0-0. Within 5 minutes of my putting the game on, KC scored. I immediately thought to change the channel because I was bringing bad luck.Rasner (NYY) had been pitching well up until that point, so I changed from the YES Network to TNT where Cast Away (Tom Hanks) was on.
Sounds crazy? Irrational? In one way or another, most sports fans do it!
********************* Does this sound familiar, or similar, to you, or your favorite sports fan?
When we were in SUNY Albany, during football season, we watched the Jets every Sunday. Without fail, if they started to play well, no one was allowed to move, switch seats, go get a beer (yes, believe it) or go to the bathroom. Did it work? Sometimes. But it definitely would not have worked if we didn’t follow the ritual.
Duirng one Yankees season, I always sat on the floor at the foot of of my bed. Every game. The Yankees finished in 1st place and won the World Series. (I also wore out the carpet in the bedroom and had to pay to replace it.)
During Jets season, the Wayne Chrebet Bobble Head had to be on the mantle during the Jets game. (Obviously this only works so well in that the Jets haven’t won the Super Bowl since 1969.)
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Another good one was, at school, we always drank Coors Light during football games.
There are more seemly sill superstitions or patterns, but that’s enough for now.
If you are a real sports fan, I am sure you have plenty of your own.
********************* BTW – I still have Cast Away on the TV and the Yankees lost 2-1… They would have probably lost 5-1 if I watched the game…
Followup to previous post — See post of May 22, 2008
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Hopefully this (experiment, move, transition) works out better than Joba’s first start.
Now, Joba is shaky and the bullpen is shaky. The starting rotation is no better. The pen is worse.
If you move him back, you show you have lost confidence in him. He loses confidence in himself as a starter and then has additional pressure as a reliever.
The Yankees have hurt themselves and have painted Joba in a corner. Exactly what they did not want to do.
decisions. Individuals made decisions. That was THAT era.
Minutes rerun on Bill James (The Red Sox Stats Man) 8.3.08
gue baseball team.
tied at 0-0. Within 5 minutes of my putting the game on, KC scored. 
