Enberg lauded radio immortals in his acceptance news conference today, but saved the greatest show of respect and gratitude to the man he called “The Redhead up north."
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
“The Redhead Up North” congratulates fellow Frick Award winner
How cool is this? Ford C. Frick Award winner Dick Enberg taking a congratulatory phonev call from Vin Scully! Two of classiest acts in our universe! (Picture by Hall of Fame).y and
Velvet prose, velvet voice earn Enberg, Gage HOF berths
Lovely start to the third day of Winter Meetings as Hall of Fame announced that the great Dick Enberg is the recipient of the 2015 Ford C. Frick Award for outstanding announcing. Said an emotional Enberg: "When I think of this honor today … ‘Enberg, you hit a grand slam.’”
Indeed! Congratulations, Mr. Enberg. To use your signature line, “Oh, my!”
Enberg, who will turn 80 on Jan. 9, was a long-time tennis play-by-play announcer for ESPN, calling the majors, such as Wimbleton, the US, French and Australian opens.
He has 22 years of experience broadcasting Major League Baseball, the last five as the television play-by-play voice of the Padres.
He has 22 years of experience broadcasting Major League Baseball, the last five as the television play-by-play voice of the Padres.
He will be joined in the spotlight by Tom Gage of the Detroit News, the BBWAA’s recipient of the 2015 JG Taylor Spink Award for outstanding contributions to baseball writing/reporting.
Tom could not be at the meetings. The paper he’s graced wrote the following:
Gage, The Detroit News' Tigers beat writer since 1979, has covered countless Hall of Famers in his career, and next summer in Cooperstown, New York, Gage will be joining them on stage as the winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award.
"We're thrilled for Tom to win this honor," said Jonathan Wolman, publisher and editor of The Detroit News. "He's been a master storyteller from the ballparks of America and he's made the Tigers come alive for our readers. We tip our Olde English D to his terrific coverage, and to the others who were on the ballot. Tom was in strong company from the day of his nomination to the day of his election."
"It has been a great ride, which has included literally years of shared life in Lakeland during spring training," said Detroit News baseball writer Lynn Henning, who first met Gage at Tigertown in 1979, when Gage was a rookie on the beat, and Henning was at the Lansing State Journal. They were colleagues at The News months later.
"I've seen through the years how Tom's steady passion for his work has kept him fresh and galvanized to his beat."
Gage, known in press boxes for wearing his baseball caps and his creative leads, figures he's covered games in 54 ballparks, and written more than 11 million words and covered more than 5,000 games — including five no-hitters — plus one night game in Boston, after undergoing a root canal in the morning.
In 1989, he famously wrote only an act of God could save the San Francisco Giants in the World Series against the Oakland A's. The next day, an earthquake suspended play for 10 days.
"Extremely happy for Tom," said Dave Dombrowski, Tigers president and general manager. "Cannot think of a more deserving individual. Tom is a true professional in every aspect."
Next July, Gage will become the first Detroit News writer to enter the Hall since the late Joe Falls in 2001.
Monday, December 08, 2014
Kevin Cash, Welcome To the Winter Meetings' Mgr. Scrums
Kevin Cash, new manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, led off the annual roundup and interview scrum for the men on the dugout's hottest seat. He appears to the right of Rays Baseball Ops President Matt Silverman.
The only news made here: Cash said all the right things, and he appears to be 15 years old. I feel rather ancient today!
No Room for Dick Allen, Tony Oliva As Both Fall Short
Only one percent of the professionals who played in the Major Leagues are in the Hall of Fame. It is a tough road, as well it should be. It is the Hall of the greatest, not the Hall of the Very Good, as Jim Kaat once said.
Well, today, the Hall's 16-member Golden Era Committee considered more than a handful of their
contemporaries and decided that none rose to the category of Hall of Famer. No nominee reached the required 12 votes (75 percent). Still, the announcement drew emotions as it was announced that Dick Allen and Tony Oliva each received 11 votes from the panel.
So, so close. Allen's son, Richard; on hand and hoping, showed the human side of such decisions, valiantly answering questions about his father's near-miss.
Jane Forbes Clark, CEO of the Hall, fielded questions on the Veterans Committee procedures in light of another shutout of candidates. She said the staff ad board continuously examine the procedure. She said "it's not a matter of a trigger, it's matter of our general operating procedure."
Well, today, the Hall's 16-member Golden Era Committee considered more than a handful of their
So, so close. Allen's son, Richard; on hand and hoping, showed the human side of such decisions, valiantly answering questions about his father's near-miss.
Jane Forbes Clark, CEO of the Hall, fielded questions on the Veterans Committee procedures in light of another shutout of candidates. She said the staff ad board continuously examine the procedure. She said "it's not a matter of a trigger, it's matter of our general operating procedure."
Veterans Committee Decision Looms
The list of candidates:
Dick Allen
Ken Boyer
Maury Wills
Gil Hodges
Jim Kaat
Billy Pierce
Tony Oliva
Minnie Minoso
Luis Tiant
Monday, December 01, 2014
Career Or A Limp?
One of my favorite stories as told by Don Baylor was about the dueling suitors he had in his senior year of high school: The University of Texas football team and the Baltimore Orioles.
Don, born and raised in the Austin, Texas, area, always wanted to play for the Longhorns. But the bird-dog baseball scout sent by the Orioles won out after he asked Don a simple question: did he want a career or a limp?
I wonder what the 2014 version of that question is?
I can only pray that health is still in the equation, and that in this day and age, it is the athlete and his or her family pushing the issue, demanding to know, precisely, what institutions pledge to do to prevent head injuries. Because limps have got nothing on concussions.
The death this weekend of Ohio State University football player Kosta Karageorge brought that into clear focus as never before. The 22-year-old’s body was found in a dumpster near campus, police said Sunday. The player, who was reported missing Wednesday, appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities.
Last week, Karageorge’s family told police that the young man had suffered multiple concussions and was being plagued by periods of confusion. Wednesday morning, he’d texted his mother, cited the head injuries and wrote: "I am sorry if I am an embarrassment.’'
The real embarrassment here is that organized sports at the highest levels had to be dragged into this fight against arguably preventable injuries by lawyers rather than doctors. Sadly, no matter how many millions in damages will be won by the walking wounded or their survivors going forward, there is not enough money in the world to right the lives of athletes already permanently damaged.
We've read the stories, seen the interviews, heard the eulogies. The human toll is stamped on the world-weary faces, reflected in the frightened, lost eyes of broken gladiators, buried with haunting murder-suicides. Heartbreakingly, the well-documented sagas continue to mount. How many other under-reported results -- nerve and brain damage, concussion-related Alzeimer’s and Parkinson’s -- we may never know.
Players, be they in Pee Wee football, Little League baseball or the highest professional tiers in the world, should be assured by their sporting bodies that every precaution is being taken to protect what is arguably the body’s most precious organ.
Parents -- remember the dance? -- should ask the toughest of questions. Equipment manufacturers should be made by law to make the toughest, not the cheapest, protective gear. The medical profession, even the portion represented in the team-doctor class, should always vow that “do no harm” will always trump “win at all costs.”
Protocols need not only be written on paper. They should be chiseled in stone, in every clubhouse, locker room and stadium. And those protocols should drive policy with an authority a thousand times stronger than that of the most prestigious coach in the land.
Lastly, any team, university or professional league that knowingly cuts corners or plays loose and free with an athlete's health should face the harshest penalties. If that means criminal as well as civil litigation, so be it. Because the victims of neglect, deceit or, most ominously, medical malpractice, need the ability, and deserve the right, to hit back as hard as they were hit playing mere games.
Don, born and raised in the Austin, Texas, area, always wanted to play for the Longhorns. But the bird-dog baseball scout sent by the Orioles won out after he asked Don a simple question: did he want a career or a limp?
I wonder what the 2014 version of that question is?
I can only pray that health is still in the equation, and that in this day and age, it is the athlete and his or her family pushing the issue, demanding to know, precisely, what institutions pledge to do to prevent head injuries. Because limps have got nothing on concussions.
 |
| Kosta Karageorge |
The death this weekend of Ohio State University football player Kosta Karageorge brought that into clear focus as never before. The 22-year-old’s body was found in a dumpster near campus, police said Sunday. The player, who was reported missing Wednesday, appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities.
Last week, Karageorge’s family told police that the young man had suffered multiple concussions and was being plagued by periods of confusion. Wednesday morning, he’d texted his mother, cited the head injuries and wrote: "I am sorry if I am an embarrassment.’'
The real embarrassment here is that organized sports at the highest levels had to be dragged into this fight against arguably preventable injuries by lawyers rather than doctors. Sadly, no matter how many millions in damages will be won by the walking wounded or their survivors going forward, there is not enough money in the world to right the lives of athletes already permanently damaged.
We've read the stories, seen the interviews, heard the eulogies. The human toll is stamped on the world-weary faces, reflected in the frightened, lost eyes of broken gladiators, buried with haunting murder-suicides. Heartbreakingly, the well-documented sagas continue to mount. How many other under-reported results -- nerve and brain damage, concussion-related Alzeimer’s and Parkinson’s -- we may never know.
Players, be they in Pee Wee football, Little League baseball or the highest professional tiers in the world, should be assured by their sporting bodies that every precaution is being taken to protect what is arguably the body’s most precious organ.
Parents -- remember the dance? -- should ask the toughest of questions. Equipment manufacturers should be made by law to make the toughest, not the cheapest, protective gear. The medical profession, even the portion represented in the team-doctor class, should always vow that “do no harm” will always trump “win at all costs.”
Protocols need not only be written on paper. They should be chiseled in stone, in every clubhouse, locker room and stadium. And those protocols should drive policy with an authority a thousand times stronger than that of the most prestigious coach in the land.
Lastly, any team, university or professional league that knowingly cuts corners or plays loose and free with an athlete's health should face the harshest penalties. If that means criminal as well as civil litigation, so be it. Because the victims of neglect, deceit or, most ominously, medical malpractice, need the ability, and deserve the right, to hit back as hard as they were hit playing mere games.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Hello, it’s been a long time.
Thanks to Blogger.com, I can identify just how long my period of hibernation has lasted. My previous post was in 2010. That’s a minute. That’s a writer’s block. That’s over.
So much has occurred since I tucked away to abilities to put words together, abilities that defined me for much of my career. Very much included in those events were life-altering scenarios, some I can proudly say made me stronger, some not so much. But there are constants that I am convinced will never change, no matter how long the dormancy. I suppose that the love of baseball -- one of those constants -- will follow me to the grave.
So what do you say that I come back to one of my loves. If there is something to say, bear with me as I attempt to regain my voice and say it.
Missed you. God bless. Play ball.
So much has occurred since I tucked away to abilities to put words together, abilities that defined me for much of my career. Very much included in those events were life-altering scenarios, some I can proudly say made me stronger, some not so much. But there are constants that I am convinced will never change, no matter how long the dormancy. I suppose that the love of baseball -- one of those constants -- will follow me to the grave.
So what do you say that I come back to one of my loves. If there is something to say, bear with me as I attempt to regain my voice and say it.
Missed you. God bless. Play ball.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Slick: A Good and Noble Man, By Fay Vincent
The following is an essay penned by Fay Vincent, the former commissioner of baseball, as he salutes his good friend, Slick Surratt, the Kansas City Monarch who passed away Tuesday at age 87.
Slick: A Good and Noble Man
By Fay Vincent
Alfred "Slick" Surratt died the other day and I am saddened to the core. He was my friend and it is no hyperbole for me to admit I truly loved him. Slick had played baseball in the old Negro Leagues, helped clear the airfield at Guadalcanal as an Army bulldozer operator, and came home from war hoping to play baseball. But he was the wrong color and so he spent some 50 years working on the line at the Ford Motor plant in Kansas City. The first time we met I asked him how he had come to be called "Slick". He looked at me with a broad smile and replied, "Commissioner, I don't know you well enough to answer that question." I still laugh when I think of that line.
We met at a weekend event Joe Garagiola and I organized to honor the alumni of the Negro Leagues who had been so badly treated by their country and by baseball. In 1991 we arranged to bring some 75 former players and their wives or significant others or family members to Cooperstown to the site of the baseball Hall of Fame to celebrate their contribution to baseball by continuing to play the game in a professional setting during the years when they were precluded from playing in the major leagues.
We were reminding them that by keeping the game alive in the black community they made possible the big league careers of such super stars as Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Bob Gibson, Frank Robinson and Ernie Banks, along with the hundreds of other players of color who have graced the game.
The weekend was a total joy and one of the many benefits was my friendship with Slick. Even at that time, long after his playing days, he looked like he could still out run a rabbit When I asked if he could bunt, his anser was, "Commissioner, if it hops twice, ain't no point in you picking it up 'cause I'm already there." He was as slim as a pencil, and the build of a greyhound. But it was his smile that set the tone. He was always smiling and he always seemed happy. He always seemed to be having fun and he was fun to be with.
Over the first few years after we met, I made sure he and some of his baseball colleagues were included at all star and world series games and after several such occasions, when I knew he had been having a wonderful time, I would approach and ask him if I were getting to the point where he would explain where he got the name Slick. "Oh you gettin' very close Commissioner. Very close." But of course I never got there.
One night Larry Doby, the first black to play in the American League, and a dear pal of both Slick and mine, explained to me. "Commissioner, if you are as smart as you are supposed to be , you should have figured it all out by now."
I think I had.
We had kept in touch by telephone so I knew things had turned bad but whenever we spoke, he always sounded upbeat and that smile came through. He was not one to complain.The thing I never will forget about him was his total lack of bitterness. The travails of growing up in the severe segregation of his native Arkansas were dismissed . He pointed out the licence plate of Arkansas has the slogan on it--Land of Opportunity. "Well', explained Slick, " at the first opportunity, I left." Similarly, he never complained at the denial of any chance just to try out for a big league team.
He was thrilled for Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby but he accepted the restrictions Fate had imposed. When I reminded him of those tough days at Guadalcanal when he had to lift the front of his bulldozer to ward off Japanese bullets, his only comment was a regret his all black engineering unit had never received any recognition for their work. But that was it. The sense of anguish he had to have felt when he came home as a member of the victorious citizen Army but was not able to play baseball in the major leagues was never expressed.
"I see no point in being bitter, Commissioner. It won't do no good for no one." I will not forget the lessons I learned from this good and noble man. I will miss him, but I will never forget the joy of being in his company. If there are reserved seats where he is, I hope he keeps me in mind.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A great and good man passed today
Slick Surratt died today.
It is likely a name you're not familiar with, so it is my great privilege and pleasure to introduce you to this brave, kind man who epitomized The Greatest Generation.
Slick, born in Arkansas in 1922, served his country without fail, on the battlefields of Guadalcanal, on the assembly lines of Ford Motors for over 60 years.
Slick also played pro ball, teaming with some of the greatest players to ever toe a mound or swing a bat.
Slick was a member of the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro Leagues player who called Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson teammates, and Buck O'Neil "Skip."
Slick, like most African Americans of his era, bore the pride of having survived in the Jim Crow south, but never hid the scars caused by that spirit-rending segregation. He lost a brother because no hospital in rural Arkansas would treat a black child with a burst appendix. Slick apologized to no one for his limited education. You see, unless you could attend the one high school dedicated to African Americans in the Arkansas of the 30s and 40s, your schooling came to an end after sixth grade.
It was the law. It was a way of life best left in the dregs of history. Yet, as Slick said, these slights did not break him. As he liked to say, the license plates in Arkansas proclaimed that start "The Land of Opportunity and the first opportunity I had, I got out."
Slick became a member of an all-black unit within the Army'c Corps of Engineers, drove a bulldozer that helped build an airfield while under bombardment on The Canal.
Slick survived the war, and the indiginities of a segregated military. Then he came back to a country that once again tried to pigeonhole him as a second-class citizen. It failed.
Instead he proceded to carve out a career at Ford that lasted over 60 years. He played ball with a passion and joy in the leagues that would have him.
He could bunt, run, hit. If a grounder hit by him bounced more than once, he joked, you might has well put it in your hip pocket. It was a hit, pure and simple.
Slick's fondest memories involved his two-man barnstorming tours with Paige, the "money" player teams would bring in to boost the gates across America. Slick often drove the back roads of the nation as Satchel's chauffeur and companion.
Oh, the stories that emerged from those trips. Slick's fear at being pulled over by a country sheriff only to see that lawman step back in wonder as Satchel won him over with one of the autographed baseballs the pitcher kept in the glove compartment. the sheriff got the ball and Satch and Slick got a police escort all the way to their destination as sheriff after sheriff cleared traffic for these baseball VIPs.
Paige's love of speed - and Surratt's reluctance to temp fate, again - often led to Paige relentlessly teasing Slick as he asked again and again why wheel barrels kept passing them by.
Speaking about Satchel always made Slick laugh. Those who had the privilege of having heard their telling no doubt are smiling at their memories today.
I met Slick when we became members of the Fay Vincent Fellows, a merry group that included Joe Black and Larry Doby. The former commissioner and his band traveled from college campus to campus, speaking to students about The great contributions black America made to the Greatest Generation. Today, Fay and I comforted each other in that our trio of friends are now all gone. Then came the laughter, the gratitude and the love of our friends as we remembered the memories left us.
Slick's lessons were models of grace, tolerance and love of a country that often didn't love him back, but could not shake him in his belief that things would always get better.
Slick often spoke about working in the Ford plant when the news of Jackie signing with the Dodgers broke. Slick cheered as loudly as his fellow workers. It was like a holiday, he said.
Slick would never get that call. But he never let go of that day, because, in his heart, Jackie's victory was always his victory, as well.
In the end, how Slick lived, how this most patriotic, optimistic society within a society lived, was their gift to us all. What Slick, what Larry, what Joe Black, what my parents and my parents' parents taught me was this: The burdens borne, the wrongs suffered do never relieve one of his or her duties to country, family, self.
Thank you for reminding me of that each and every day spent together, Slick. Thanks for the opportunity to know you, to be your friend. I will miss you. Travel well ... and let not one wheel barrel ever pass you again.
It is likely a name you're not familiar with, so it is my great privilege and pleasure to introduce you to this brave, kind man who epitomized The Greatest Generation.
Slick, born in Arkansas in 1922, served his country without fail, on the battlefields of Guadalcanal, on the assembly lines of Ford Motors for over 60 years.
Slick also played pro ball, teaming with some of the greatest players to ever toe a mound or swing a bat.
Slick was a member of the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro Leagues player who called Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson teammates, and Buck O'Neil "Skip."
Slick, like most African Americans of his era, bore the pride of having survived in the Jim Crow south, but never hid the scars caused by that spirit-rending segregation. He lost a brother because no hospital in rural Arkansas would treat a black child with a burst appendix. Slick apologized to no one for his limited education. You see, unless you could attend the one high school dedicated to African Americans in the Arkansas of the 30s and 40s, your schooling came to an end after sixth grade.
It was the law. It was a way of life best left in the dregs of history. Yet, as Slick said, these slights did not break him. As he liked to say, the license plates in Arkansas proclaimed that start "The Land of Opportunity and the first opportunity I had, I got out."
Slick became a member of an all-black unit within the Army'c Corps of Engineers, drove a bulldozer that helped build an airfield while under bombardment on The Canal.
Slick survived the war, and the indiginities of a segregated military. Then he came back to a country that once again tried to pigeonhole him as a second-class citizen. It failed.
Instead he proceded to carve out a career at Ford that lasted over 60 years. He played ball with a passion and joy in the leagues that would have him.
He could bunt, run, hit. If a grounder hit by him bounced more than once, he joked, you might has well put it in your hip pocket. It was a hit, pure and simple.
Slick's fondest memories involved his two-man barnstorming tours with Paige, the "money" player teams would bring in to boost the gates across America. Slick often drove the back roads of the nation as Satchel's chauffeur and companion.
Oh, the stories that emerged from those trips. Slick's fear at being pulled over by a country sheriff only to see that lawman step back in wonder as Satchel won him over with one of the autographed baseballs the pitcher kept in the glove compartment. the sheriff got the ball and Satch and Slick got a police escort all the way to their destination as sheriff after sheriff cleared traffic for these baseball VIPs.
Paige's love of speed - and Surratt's reluctance to temp fate, again - often led to Paige relentlessly teasing Slick as he asked again and again why wheel barrels kept passing them by.
Speaking about Satchel always made Slick laugh. Those who had the privilege of having heard their telling no doubt are smiling at their memories today.
I met Slick when we became members of the Fay Vincent Fellows, a merry group that included Joe Black and Larry Doby. The former commissioner and his band traveled from college campus to campus, speaking to students about The great contributions black America made to the Greatest Generation. Today, Fay and I comforted each other in that our trio of friends are now all gone. Then came the laughter, the gratitude and the love of our friends as we remembered the memories left us.
Slick's lessons were models of grace, tolerance and love of a country that often didn't love him back, but could not shake him in his belief that things would always get better.
Slick often spoke about working in the Ford plant when the news of Jackie signing with the Dodgers broke. Slick cheered as loudly as his fellow workers. It was like a holiday, he said.
Slick would never get that call. But he never let go of that day, because, in his heart, Jackie's victory was always his victory, as well.
In the end, how Slick lived, how this most patriotic, optimistic society within a society lived, was their gift to us all. What Slick, what Larry, what Joe Black, what my parents and my parents' parents taught me was this: The burdens borne, the wrongs suffered do never relieve one of his or her duties to country, family, self.
Thank you for reminding me of that each and every day spent together, Slick. Thanks for the opportunity to know you, to be your friend. I will miss you. Travel well ... and let not one wheel barrel ever pass you again.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Viva C. Viv
Can't think of a better reason to revive this puppy than C. Vivian Stringer.
Vivian was there when my writing career began - my first beats, in the early 1980s, included her dynamo Cheyney State basketball teams, including the squad that played in the first-ever NCAA women's title game.
Tonight, the careers intersect once more. I will serve as News Editor on ESPN's broadcast of the Jimmy V. Classic featuring Stringer's Rutgers team against visiting Florida. This time around, I will be observing the Hall of Fame coach Stringer has become. I just got a lot older. Her induction proves that all she did was get better and better until she simply became one of the best all-time.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Twisting In The Wind In The Bronx
NEW YORK _ Let the fallout begin.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman knew it had already begun before the ink even dried on the obituaries being written today about the American League wild-card winner's quick demise in the 2007 postseason.
So, too, did Joe Torre, whose quivering voice and request for privacy around his home spoke volumes about the death-row vigil that is now officially under way when it comes to his 12-year run in the most thankless managerial job in baseball.
Torre and Cashman may not want change. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will insist on it, though, especially since he so publicly and humiliatingly tied Torre's future to the success of the American League Division Series now since lost to the Cleveland Indians.
This time around, though, so, too, may some of Steinbrenner's veteran players will have a say in that change. A-Rod can opt out. Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada can test the free agent market.
And as Rivera said dispassionately in the quiet of the Yankees' clubhouse following the team's 6-4 loss, "this is business." And if it is the business of the Yankees to do things such as dismiss a Torre, the all-star reliever and future Hall of Famer said, then it will be his business to explore his options, too.
"They had a chance and they didn't do nothing with me," Rivera said of his failed efforts to enter negotiations with the team on a new contract during the season. "So let's see what's out there."
Nothing personal, Rivera insisted. And yet ... just ask him about the team's decision on Torre and what that might do to his own thought process.
"Like I said before, I'd have to sit down and think about that," Rivera said. "I'm proud of my teammates. I'm proud of my manager. I thank God for the opportunities I've had here. But we will see. Nothing against the organization. Nothing against the New York Yankees. But this is a business."
Yes it is. It is also a business Steinbrenner obviously feels has stopped giving him worthwhile return on his billion-dollar investment over the last half-dozen years. For while the Yankees kept their playoff run alive for a dozen years on Torre's watch, the team has not won a world championship since 2003, a lifetime in Yankees years.
Winning but one game in the best-of-five series against the Indians won't salve the owner's angry mood. Cashman's dour mood suggested as much.
"Cleveland earned the right to go forward," said Cashman said. "At the same time, we earned the right to go home," he said of the team that proved so potent during the regular season but hit only .228 in four games in the series.
Now the rebuilding not only will begin, but, in many cases, must.
Will that begin with Torre's ouster?
"I don't know why they would [dismiss Torre]," Rivera said quietly, obviously a man too young to remember the bad old days prior to the Torre era when Steinbrenner changed managers like other owners changed socks.
Torre, for one, tried to put the best face on his thankless situation.
"I'm not going there," Torre said when asked to speculate on his fate. "This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I mean, I'll look back on with great, great pleasure."
Cashman was non-commital, befitting his place in an organization where the real power resides in the Boss's Tampa headquarters.
"All decisions about next season we're going to have to focus on a lot sooner than we'd hoped," Cashman conceded. But as to whether any have been made he would not say. "I've not started ... we've not started on '08."
Not with the wounds of a disappointing end to 2007 still so fresh.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman knew it had already begun before the ink even dried on the obituaries being written today about the American League wild-card winner's quick demise in the 2007 postseason.
So, too, did Joe Torre, whose quivering voice and request for privacy around his home spoke volumes about the death-row vigil that is now officially under way when it comes to his 12-year run in the most thankless managerial job in baseball.
Torre and Cashman may not want change. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will insist on it, though, especially since he so publicly and humiliatingly tied Torre's future to the success of the American League Division Series now since lost to the Cleveland Indians.
This time around, though, so, too, may some of Steinbrenner's veteran players will have a say in that change. A-Rod can opt out. Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada can test the free agent market.
And as Rivera said dispassionately in the quiet of the Yankees' clubhouse following the team's 6-4 loss, "this is business." And if it is the business of the Yankees to do things such as dismiss a Torre, the all-star reliever and future Hall of Famer said, then it will be his business to explore his options, too.
"They had a chance and they didn't do nothing with me," Rivera said of his failed efforts to enter negotiations with the team on a new contract during the season. "So let's see what's out there."
Nothing personal, Rivera insisted. And yet ... just ask him about the team's decision on Torre and what that might do to his own thought process.
"Like I said before, I'd have to sit down and think about that," Rivera said. "I'm proud of my teammates. I'm proud of my manager. I thank God for the opportunities I've had here. But we will see. Nothing against the organization. Nothing against the New York Yankees. But this is a business."
Yes it is. It is also a business Steinbrenner obviously feels has stopped giving him worthwhile return on his billion-dollar investment over the last half-dozen years. For while the Yankees kept their playoff run alive for a dozen years on Torre's watch, the team has not won a world championship since 2003, a lifetime in Yankees years.
Winning but one game in the best-of-five series against the Indians won't salve the owner's angry mood. Cashman's dour mood suggested as much.
"Cleveland earned the right to go forward," said Cashman said. "At the same time, we earned the right to go home," he said of the team that proved so potent during the regular season but hit only .228 in four games in the series.
Now the rebuilding not only will begin, but, in many cases, must.
Will that begin with Torre's ouster?
"I don't know why they would [dismiss Torre]," Rivera said quietly, obviously a man too young to remember the bad old days prior to the Torre era when Steinbrenner changed managers like other owners changed socks.
Torre, for one, tried to put the best face on his thankless situation.
"I'm not going there," Torre said when asked to speculate on his fate. "This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I mean, I'll look back on with great, great pleasure."
Cashman was non-commital, befitting his place in an organization where the real power resides in the Boss's Tampa headquarters.
"All decisions about next season we're going to have to focus on a lot sooner than we'd hoped," Cashman conceded. But as to whether any have been made he would not say. "I've not started ... we've not started on '08."
Not with the wounds of a disappointing end to 2007 still so fresh.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Rocket Exits, Perhaps For Good
NEW YORK - It took the Yankees only four brief paragraphs to bring to an end the latest, and perhaps final chapter, of Roger Clemens' baseball career.
The 45-year-old future Hall of Famer, betrayed by Father Time and a troublesome, lingering hamstring injury, was removed from Game 3 of the American League Division Series after allowing Cleveland three runs on 2 1/3 tortured innings Sunday. Today, Clemens was removed, again, this time from the team's postseason roster, replaced by 37-year-old reliever Ron Villone.
Both moves, necessitated by Clemens' concession that he was not physically capable of performing.
The move seemed to signal the beginning of the end, if not the end itself for Clemens, a stark realization when it comes to an iron man who seemed intent on pitching forever in order to build onto the already astounding totals of 354 big-league victories and 4,672 strikeouts.
Should the Yankees advance past the Cleveland Indians and on to the American League Championship Series, neither new major league rules nor the injury will permit Clemens to go with them, manager Joe Torre said.
And if the team advances, further still, to the World Series? Well, the rules would allow for Clemens' reinstatement, but ...
"We don't know if he'll be alright," said Torre. "We hope we have an opportunity to find out. At least that keeps him from having to make a decision about the next round."
Thing is, Torre didn't sound any more hopeful about the Series than he appeared convinced that Clemens would ever pitch, again, period.
"I don't want to think that way," the manager said. "Obviously we'll take whatever it is when we get there. And Roger will certainly be honest with us. He's always been that."
Nuts!
NEW YORK - If and when Joe Torre leaves the Yankees' managerial position, a refreshingly honest era occupied by a concise, direct, conscientious pro will come to an end. And the New York sports scene will be all the poorer for it.
Today, Torre, for a second straight day, graciously and openly faced questions about the ultimatum from George Steinbrenner that coldly greeted him Sunday. You know the one: down 0-2 in the best of five division series, Torre was publicly, bluntly told he needed his team to defeat the Cleveland Indians in three straight games or his job was gone.
Not surprisingly, Torre's first concern was his players. No, he said, he did not think that the ultimatum had upped the pressure on the team, or provided the motivation that led to an 8-4 victory in Game 3 Sunday night.
"It's tough enough to win when you're all pulling the same thing in the same direction," Torre said prior to Game 4. "But when you have people saying, 'well, we have to win this game because the manager's job is in jeopardy' - that's nuts.
"Now you're trying to make something that's important more important and that shouldn't be the case."
As for his feelings on Steinbrenner, Torre remained in character, as he has for a dozen years in baseball's toughest venue. "The first thing you have to understand is he's the boss," said Torre. "I think that when you come in and understand that, then it;s a matter of understanding he's entitled to say what he wants. He owns the team. He can be as critical or as complimentary as he wants to be any time he wants to be that."
Today, Torre, for a second straight day, graciously and openly faced questions about the ultimatum from George Steinbrenner that coldly greeted him Sunday. You know the one: down 0-2 in the best of five division series, Torre was publicly, bluntly told he needed his team to defeat the Cleveland Indians in three straight games or his job was gone.
Not surprisingly, Torre's first concern was his players. No, he said, he did not think that the ultimatum had upped the pressure on the team, or provided the motivation that led to an 8-4 victory in Game 3 Sunday night.
"It's tough enough to win when you're all pulling the same thing in the same direction," Torre said prior to Game 4. "But when you have people saying, 'well, we have to win this game because the manager's job is in jeopardy' - that's nuts.
"Now you're trying to make something that's important more important and that shouldn't be the case."
As for his feelings on Steinbrenner, Torre remained in character, as he has for a dozen years in baseball's toughest venue. "The first thing you have to understand is he's the boss," said Torre. "I think that when you come in and understand that, then it;s a matter of understanding he's entitled to say what he wants. He owns the team. He can be as critical or as complimentary as he wants to be any time he wants to be that."
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Winning One for The Skipper
NEW YORK - It may look trite in print, but there was no mistaking the sincerity when Johnny Damon, the hitting hero of the Yankees' 8-4 playoff win over the Cleveland Indians, said the winning was done to stave off the firing of a beloved manager.
"We all love Joe Torre," said Damon of the Yankees' skipper who awoke this morning to the news that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said he'd be fired if the Indians defeated Torre's team in the best-of-five AL Division Series. "we'd all love for him to win another championship."
Damon's three-run home run, pivotal in the win, kept that possibility alive as the Yankees pulled back from the brink in a series they now trail, 2 games to 1.
"We all get to play for him at least one more day, and hopefully long after that," said Damon.
Torre, somewhat bemused by the attention brought by Steinbrenner's threat before the game, seemed more emotional - and grateful - after the victory. "It's an emotional day because losing is no fun in the post-season," said Torre. "... As for Mr. Steinbrenner, I don't want to say you ever get used to it. But you work here, you understand the pressure everybody's under to win all the time.
"The only thing I try to do is allow my players to roll the dice out there and play. because every time we go to the postseason there's nothing that's going to satisfy anybody unless you win the World Series. And that's very difficult. Those are very difficult situations for the players to play under.
"I understand the requirements here, but the players are human beings and it's not machinery here. Even though they get paid a lot of money, it's still blood that runs through their veins. And my job is to try to get them to be the players they are by, you know, allowing them to understand that the best effort you can give is all you can do."
"We all love Joe Torre," said Damon of the Yankees' skipper who awoke this morning to the news that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said he'd be fired if the Indians defeated Torre's team in the best-of-five AL Division Series. "we'd all love for him to win another championship."
Damon's three-run home run, pivotal in the win, kept that possibility alive as the Yankees pulled back from the brink in a series they now trail, 2 games to 1.
"We all get to play for him at least one more day, and hopefully long after that," said Damon.
Torre, somewhat bemused by the attention brought by Steinbrenner's threat before the game, seemed more emotional - and grateful - after the victory. "It's an emotional day because losing is no fun in the post-season," said Torre. "... As for Mr. Steinbrenner, I don't want to say you ever get used to it. But you work here, you understand the pressure everybody's under to win all the time.
"The only thing I try to do is allow my players to roll the dice out there and play. because every time we go to the postseason there's nothing that's going to satisfy anybody unless you win the World Series. And that's very difficult. Those are very difficult situations for the players to play under.
"I understand the requirements here, but the players are human beings and it's not machinery here. Even though they get paid a lot of money, it's still blood that runs through their veins. And my job is to try to get them to be the players they are by, you know, allowing them to understand that the best effort you can give is all you can do."
For Hughes, Future is Now
NEW YORK - The present giving way to the future was planned as an off-season ceremony by the Yankees. Then and only then was The Empire supposed to ready for the likes of Roger Clemens and, who knows, Mike Mussina, to give way to Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain.
Last night, The Rocket took perhaps his most serious obvious step towards Cooperstown and away from a leading active role in the Bronx when he broke down after lasting only 2 1/3 innings as a starter in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against Cleveland.
Clemens gutted it out as long as he could, testament to his Hall of Fame makeup and pedigree. But he allowed two runs before he left and cast in doubt any further assignments coming his way should the Yankees continue on in the postseason. By departing when he did, Clemens also allowed Hughes an opportunity to seize the moment.
The kid did. After allowing the one run he inherited in the third to score on a Jhonny Peralta double in the third, Hughes bowed his back completely. He wound up stranding Peralta by inducing the previously sizzling Kenny Lofton to fly out. Then followed scoreless innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth, a dazzling performance that took the frenzied home crowd the rest of the way in terms of envisioning how bright this young man's future might be.
For Hughes came on and provided the salve the Yankees desperately needed - 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only two strikeouts and striking out four. In that span, the Yankees awoke, overcame a three-run deficit and went on to win their first game of the series, 8-4.
Not bad for a guy who's used to plying his living as a starter, and one who's got all of 72 2/3 regular-season innings in at the big-league level.
"That kid's got a live fastball, tough breaking ball, started mixing in a changeup a little bit," impressed Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "Posada did a good job with him. (And) if you talk about the difference between Roger and him, and just the way they pitch threw us off a little bit. But the kid showed a lot of poise. He did a good job."
"He looked like a seasoned pro out there," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I can't say more than that. He was happy to give you the innings, and when you looked into his eyes, it wasn't a surprise."
"My job was really just to keep the damage to a minimum, to try to keep us where we were at," said Hughes, 5-3 in 13 games as a starter for the Yankees this season.
Last night, The Rocket took perhaps his most serious obvious step towards Cooperstown and away from a leading active role in the Bronx when he broke down after lasting only 2 1/3 innings as a starter in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against Cleveland.
Clemens gutted it out as long as he could, testament to his Hall of Fame makeup and pedigree. But he allowed two runs before he left and cast in doubt any further assignments coming his way should the Yankees continue on in the postseason. By departing when he did, Clemens also allowed Hughes an opportunity to seize the moment.
The kid did. After allowing the one run he inherited in the third to score on a Jhonny Peralta double in the third, Hughes bowed his back completely. He wound up stranding Peralta by inducing the previously sizzling Kenny Lofton to fly out. Then followed scoreless innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth, a dazzling performance that took the frenzied home crowd the rest of the way in terms of envisioning how bright this young man's future might be.
For Hughes came on and provided the salve the Yankees desperately needed - 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only two strikeouts and striking out four. In that span, the Yankees awoke, overcame a three-run deficit and went on to win their first game of the series, 8-4.
Not bad for a guy who's used to plying his living as a starter, and one who's got all of 72 2/3 regular-season innings in at the big-league level.
"That kid's got a live fastball, tough breaking ball, started mixing in a changeup a little bit," impressed Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "Posada did a good job with him. (And) if you talk about the difference between Roger and him, and just the way they pitch threw us off a little bit. But the kid showed a lot of poise. He did a good job."
"He looked like a seasoned pro out there," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I can't say more than that. He was happy to give you the innings, and when you looked into his eyes, it wasn't a surprise."
"My job was really just to keep the damage to a minimum, to try to keep us where we were at," said Hughes, 5-3 in 13 games as a starter for the Yankees this season.
Joba Rues
NEW YORK - A funny thing happened on the way to the Yankees' first postseason win of 2007 - Joe Torre acted not only like a man fighting to save his career, but also like a manager freed of the weight of protecting a precious asset, freed to let it fly, tomorrow be darned.
How else can you explain Torre's absolute shredding of whatever was left of the so-called Joba Rules, the commandments chisled in stone by Yankees management during the season once phemon prospect Joba Chamberlain was called to the majors?
You remember the rules: kid pitches an inning, gets a day off, pitches two, gets two off, and so on and so forth. Tonight, not only did Torre bring Chamberlain into the seventh inning of a game the Yankees led by a comfortable five runs. He left the kid on the mound for two full innings, something you figure fries the kid for at least one more game - the critical Game 4 the Yankees will need to win to keep their pennant hopes alive.
The good news for Chamberlain is that his first inning was a breezy 1-2-3 frame. The next, though, was a puzzlingly long, arduous three-hit, one-run, six-batter adventure that infused a laugher with mystery and some mild discomfort among Empire citizentry.
Oh, Torre warmed up a couple arms in the eighth, including that of the venerable Mariano Rivera, who, like Chamberlain, had previously pitched in Game 2 on Friday in Cleveland.
But no one came to rescue Joba, or spare his arm. Quite obviously, this outing wasn't about saving Joba. It was about saving the team from the stark possibility of turning to pitchers of lesser talent, something that bit the Yankees badly in the first two games - losses - of the best of five series.
So, Joba, and the rest of the Empire got a taste of a different reality. Chamberlain is here to take care of today. Tomorrow, Torre will think about, well, tomorrow.
As for next year, heck, that will likely be some other manager's concern, anyway, if Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is true to his threat to fire Torre should the Yankees wind up with anything less than a pennant.
How else can you explain Torre's absolute shredding of whatever was left of the so-called Joba Rules, the commandments chisled in stone by Yankees management during the season once phemon prospect Joba Chamberlain was called to the majors?
You remember the rules: kid pitches an inning, gets a day off, pitches two, gets two off, and so on and so forth. Tonight, not only did Torre bring Chamberlain into the seventh inning of a game the Yankees led by a comfortable five runs. He left the kid on the mound for two full innings, something you figure fries the kid for at least one more game - the critical Game 4 the Yankees will need to win to keep their pennant hopes alive.
The good news for Chamberlain is that his first inning was a breezy 1-2-3 frame. The next, though, was a puzzlingly long, arduous three-hit, one-run, six-batter adventure that infused a laugher with mystery and some mild discomfort among Empire citizentry.
Oh, Torre warmed up a couple arms in the eighth, including that of the venerable Mariano Rivera, who, like Chamberlain, had previously pitched in Game 2 on Friday in Cleveland.
But no one came to rescue Joba, or spare his arm. Quite obviously, this outing wasn't about saving Joba. It was about saving the team from the stark possibility of turning to pitchers of lesser talent, something that bit the Yankees badly in the first two games - losses - of the best of five series.
So, Joba, and the rest of the Empire got a taste of a different reality. Chamberlain is here to take care of today. Tomorrow, Torre will think about, well, tomorrow.
As for next year, heck, that will likely be some other manager's concern, anyway, if Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is true to his threat to fire Torre should the Yankees wind up with anything less than a pennant.
Sounds of Silence
NEW YORK - The silence was deafening, even before the full house at Yankee Stadium went silent with each run scored by the Cleveland Indians tonight.
For the mellifluous voice of Bob Sheppard, the public address announcer who's calls of the lineups in over a half century of Fall Classics at the Ballpark in the Bronx did not greet the faithful tonight when the Yankees hosted Cleveland in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.
Sheppard was absent due to a broncial infection. So, for the first time in 122 Yankees' post-season home games, someone other that The Voice manned to P.A. mike.
Sheppard's phenomenal run, which included 62 home games during 22 of the Yankees' World Series appearances, was as familiar an October fixture in the Bronx as Yankees' pinstripes.
A combination of eloquence, class and precision, Sheppard chronicled the Series appearances of the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and Tony Gwynn, to name but a few Hall of Famers.
Sheppard, in his 57th season as the Yankees' public address announcer, began his postseason streak on Oct. 4, 1951, in Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Giants. That debut followed by one day the Giants' famed playoff game victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in which Bobby Thomson hit the "shot heard 'round the world" off the Dodgers' Ralph Branca.
For the mellifluous voice of Bob Sheppard, the public address announcer who's calls of the lineups in over a half century of Fall Classics at the Ballpark in the Bronx did not greet the faithful tonight when the Yankees hosted Cleveland in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.
Sheppard was absent due to a broncial infection. So, for the first time in 122 Yankees' post-season home games, someone other that The Voice manned to P.A. mike.
Sheppard's phenomenal run, which included 62 home games during 22 of the Yankees' World Series appearances, was as familiar an October fixture in the Bronx as Yankees' pinstripes.
A combination of eloquence, class and precision, Sheppard chronicled the Series appearances of the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and Tony Gwynn, to name but a few Hall of Famers.
Sheppard, in his 57th season as the Yankees' public address announcer, began his postseason streak on Oct. 4, 1951, in Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Giants. That debut followed by one day the Giants' famed playoff game victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in which Bobby Thomson hit the "shot heard 'round the world" off the Dodgers' Ralph Branca.
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