This is an article that was originally published on HardRockSports.com.
HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham explains how the weekend series between the Yanks and Indians had a little bit of everything.
There was a lot of anticipation going into the weekend series between the Yankees and the Indians. Yankee loyalists have stopped short of calling this a disappointing season in light of last year’s triumph, but the grumbling about the Bomber’s lackadaisical play at times has been heard loud and clear. They fought off slumps earlier in the season and mediocre pitching from Roger Clemens to stand atop the AL East despite a strong Red Sox team constantly nipping at their heels. The Indians, on the other hand, have found a level of regular season play that has improved upon everything they’ve accomplished in the last four seasons, finding a consist and steady offense due largely to the addition of Roberto Alomar. Cleveland was clearly the best team in the league leading into the All Star break.
That setup alone would be enough to make this series interesting, but consider that the road to the World Series has run through Cleveland and New York the last four seasons, the Indians playing the Series in ’95 and ’97, the Yanks in ’96 and ’98. Not a lot of credence can be given to July series having an effect on October and neither team was playing for that. What they did want to win was respect.
Game one Friday night had all the makings of a classic and the evening didn’t disappoint. David Cone was making his first start since his perfect game Sunday against the Expos while Tom Candiotti, the struggling knuckle-baller picked up as a free agent in mid-season made the start for the Indians. The early talk focused on the possibility of Cone throwing back to back perfection, but Cleveland put those notions to rest pretty early.
Early as in the first inning. Kenny Lofton walked to lead off the game and two batters later Roberto Alomar followed him. Both runners were stranded without yielding a run, but Coney’s luck would end there. After Paul O’Neill hit a two run homer in the bottom of the first, the Indians countered with a two run shot of their own off the bat of rookie Russ Branyan, a screaming line drive that landed deep into the lower deck of right field. The 23 year-old Branyan has excellent power, but has shown some weaknesses at the plate, including striking out 1 out of every 3 at-bats in the minors.
The Yanks weren’t done though. They posted a three spot in the bottom of the inning, capped by Paul O’Neill’s RBI triple to right center, scoring Knoblauch. Cone appeared to calm down a bit until he reached the Cleveland half of the fourth. With one out, Russ Branyan walked and took second on Kenny Lofton’s single. Omar Vizquel followed with a shot to second, which Knoblauch threw wide on the relay to first, loading the bases with two outs The play was eerily reminiscent of the great play Knobby made in the eighth inning of Cone’s perfect game, ranging to his right to backhand the ball and making a strong throw. An inning that should have been over became a key moment in the game when Roberto Alomar followed the error with a grand slam to right center, giving the Tribe a 6 – 5 lead.
By this point, everyone was expecting a slugfest. The teams had scored a combined 11 runs midway through the fourth and it could only get worse. Cleveland had already dipped into their long relief, replacing Candiotti with Chris Haney in the second inning. The Yanks followed that lead, bringing in Allen Watson to start the fifth and stop the bleeding. Both pens performed admirably with neither team scoring until the top of the eighth, when Mike Stanton relieved Watson and promptly gave up a solo homer to Richie Sexson, making the score 7 - 5.
Of course, the game couldn’t end there. In the bottom of the inning, the Yanks scored a pair off a double by pinch hitter Chad Curtis scoring Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez. Scott Brosius followed with a walk, loading the bases with one out. Jorge Posada stepped to the plate with a chance to blow the game wide open in the bottom of the eighth and hit a sharp grounder to the right of the mound. Roberto Alomar dove to his right, snaring the ball and from his knees, flipped the ball with his glove to Omar Vizquel at second. Vizquel grabbed the toss barehanded and relayed to first, completing one of the most amazing clutch double plays you will ever see.
The ninth inning went scoreless, leaving the game to extra innings. As soon as Cleveland stepped to the plate, I knew this game wouldn’t make it past the tenth inning. I was right. Einar Diaz drew a two out walk, stole second base, and scored on Enrique Wilson’s single to center. The Yanks would need a big bottom of the tenth, depending on the bottom three of their order to accomplish it.
Chili Davis led off with a single off of closer Mike Jackson and was pinch run for by Luis Sojo. Chad Curtis followed, sacrificing Sojo to second. Scott Brosius popped to right, leaving the game in Jorge Posada’s hands. Posada, after being down in the count, worked out a walk, as did Chuck Knoblauch right after, loading the bases.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Derek Jeter stepped to plate having gone 0 for 5 with three strikeouts on the day. Jeter had some truly terrible looking at-bats against Candiotti, but that wasn’t bothering him in the tenth. Jeter took Jackson’s first pitch and drove it deep to right field, just out of reach of Manny Ramirez, scoring Sojo and Posada for the 9 – 8 win. The performance was typical of Jeter this season, not because he went an uncharacteristic 1 for 6, but because he again put the weight of the Yankees on his back and carried them to victory.
Game two Saturday afternoon went pretty well for the Yankees. Hideki Irabu continued to pitch well, giving up 1 run over 7 innings, striking out 7 and Ed Yarnall pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief. Oh, did I mention the Yankees scored 21 runs?
Saturday was one of those games that lost control early and continued rolling down the hill. The Yanks scored 4 runs in the first, 1 in the fourth, and 7 in the fifth. With a 12 – 0 lead, Joe Torre starting removing starters and putting in bench players like Luis Sojo, Ricky Ledee and Jeff Manto. The bench wound up going 3 for 6 with 1 walk and 4 RBI’s. Chili David went 5 for 6 with 6 RBI’s including a three-run homer off Friday’s starter Tom Candiotti, who entered the game in relief in the sixth inning and gave up 5 runs over two-thirds of an inning. The game, which featured a combined 30 hits and 22 runs, was actually an hour shorter than Friday nights game.
Game three on Sunday was the match up people were waiting for. Candiotti and Langston aren’t members of the Indians usual rotation, but Bartolo Colon is and was scheduled to start against Roger Clemens. Both pitchers are having sub-par seasons, but they’re power pitchers who throw really, really hard.
The game didn’t feature the seesaw offense of the first two, but it did feature a great pitching match up and some timely hitting. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Derek Jeter hit an opposite field home run for the Yanks first hit. Cleveland followed with a run in the sixth on a pair of walks and an RBI single by Manny Ramirez that tied the game. Both bullpens pitched out of trouble in the eighth and Ramiro Mendoza avoided an Indians’ threat in the ninth, stranding a runner at second.
In the bottom of the ninth, Chad Curtis led off with a ground out to third. Ricky Ledee came to the plate having struck out three times and causing a few near misses in left with centerfielder Bernie Williams. None of that seemed to bother Ledee, however, as he stroked a game winning home run to the bleachers in right-center in a moment reminiscent of Jeter’s heroics in game one on Friday. For Ledee it was a sweet ending to a great series, going 4 for 9 with 4 RBIs and quieting the moaning about the left field situation.
The three game sweep maintained the Yankees lead in the AL East at seven games and gave them the best record in baseball. Cleveland has been battling a number of injuries to starting players, including Sandy Alomar, Wil Cordero and Travis Fryman, but their current slump losing eight of nine seems to focus more on the lack of production from Roberto Alomar and Manny Ramirez. It wasn’t the starting lineup that allowed 21 runs on Saturday, it was a weak pitching staff, a condition the Indians front office is desperately trying to remedy. After Saturday’s blowout, the word “message” floated around the Yankee clubhouse, mostly by reporters trying to coax a little fire from the players. Were the Yanks trying to let Cleveland know that their pitchers aren’t afraid of their vaunted offense and in fact the Yankees have one of their own? Maybe. Maybe not. What the Yankees did establish is they can play with Cleveland no matter what their troubles may be. One message did get through, though. While these may not be the 1998 Yankees, they certainly remember how to play that way.
That deserves some respect.
Sunday, July 25, 1999
Friday, July 23, 1999
The Normal and Not-so Normal of the Baseball Week
This is an article that was originally published on HardRockSports.com.
The rarities didn't stop with David Cone's perfect game Sunday as HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham looks at a great week in baseball
Any week that starts off with a perfect game is going to be a little coo-coo. Even on Thursday night, Sportscenter was STILL running a piece on Cone’s gem. There were a lot of strange things involved in the game: the 33 minute rain delay (David Wells, who threw a perfect game last year, wore number 33); Cone throwing 88 pitches (Berra’s number was 8); Don Larsen and Berra reenacting the only perfect game in World Series history for the first pitch; Ricky Ledee catching a ball he only saw for a split second. Wacky stuff.
Sunday was only the beginning. A lot has happened over the last couple days, some that will shape the way this season unfolds and others that have no bearing on anything whatsoever but are fun to talk about. Here’s a look at the important and not so important stories of the last couple of days.
Dump the Umps
The umpires union is showing a real lack of solidarity as Richie Phillips revealed there has been an American League umpire faction against him for some time. Many of those umps are on record with Major League Baseball as not tending their resignation with the rest of the union. Bud Selig countered Phillips’ resignation threats by hiring ten Triple-A umpires that have been filling in on the major league level. The replacement umps are due to start September 2nd, the day after the supposed mass resignation. Phillips has spoken positively about the possibilities of the umpires union and Major League Baseball finding some mutual ground, but he may be blowing smoke. Bud Selig would like nothing more than Phillips’ resignation on his desk September 1st without jeopardizing the remainder of the baseball season and playoffs. If that results in the disintegration of the union and control of the new umpires by the commissioner’s office, it will be a major step in not only holding umpires accountable for their actions and performance, but establishing a universal strike zone that will make home plate a much happier place to visit.
Pennant Fever? Take an Aspirin
The National League beat the American League in interleague play for the second time in three years, 135 – 116. The victory isn’t surprising looking at the standings this season. The NL is simply more competitive than the AL, with six teams holding records over .500 and all of them involved in the hunt for playoff spots.
Probably the biggest surprise is the emergence of the Phillies in the East, sitting comfortably at 8 games over .500 for the first time since 1993. They sit 5 ½ behind Atlanta for the NL East, but are very much in the race for the wild card spot along with the Mets, Reds, and Diamondbacks. The Mets remain only 2 games behind Atlanta after the Braves collapsed during interleague play, losing 5 straight. Give credit to the Mets, though. They’ve been playing good baseball, but they’ll need their offense to stay sharp to help out their so-so starting rotation.
The American League is turning into a joke. The central is pathetic with Cleveland cruising to another title, their nearest competitor, the White Sox, are 3 games under .500 at home and 3 under overall. The Yankees may finally be walking away with the AL East, capitalizing on the recent skid of the Red Sox, while the Blue Jays have heated up and tied the BoSox for the AL wild card spot. Oakland’s showing signs of life in the west, but their offense will have to really kick it in high gear to overtake the Rangers. They have a real young team so anything can happen.
And Now for Something Completely Different…
There were two oddities in the last two days you may or may not have heard about. The first happened Wednesday night in the Diamondback – Astros game when Tony Womack (great baseball name) stroked a line drive to left past a diving Lance Berkman. The game was in Houston so the ball rolled all the way to the wall courtesy of the local Astroturf. Berkman chased it down as Womack sped around the bases, eventually sliding into home for an inside the park home run. The interesting part was that it happened with the bases loaded on an 0 – 2 pitch.
Womack was visibly winded after the play and with good reason. A trip around the bases totals 120 yards, the length of a full football field including the end zones. Factor into that the rounded fashion in which players run the bases and Womack may have sprinted 140 yards.
With that thought in mind, realize the last two players to accomplish an inside the park grand slam were Dan Wilson, the Seattle catcher against Detroit on May 3rd of ’98 and Tony Gwynn, June 26th of ’97 against the Dodgers. A catcher and Tony Gwynn? Gwynn’s a great hitter, probably one of the best ever, but I would never have picked him for an inside the park home run. Dan Wilson has averaged about 2 stolen bases per season and I’d be willing to bet they were on the tail ends of double steals.
Oddity number two happened in the great city of San Francisco Thursday night. Giant’s reliever Jerry Spradlin came in against the Padres in the seventh inning and promptly plunked Ruben Rivera with a pitch, sending Rivera to first. George Arias then came up and struck out swinging. One out. Rivera advances to second on a wild throw from Spradlin and scores on a double by Ben Davis. So far pretty normal. Damian Jackson comes up and strikes out. Now there are two outs. Carlos Baerga pinch hits and strikes out also, but the pitch is wild and Baerga gets to first. Three strikeouts, two outs. You know what’s coming next. Quilvio Veras comes to the plate and strikes out, giving Spradlin four strikeouts in the inning.
It’s an interesting thing to see, especially when the pitcher is adept enough to strikeout four people in an inning and STILL give up a run. Spradlin was the first Giant to accomplish this feat in 93 years when the Giants were still in New York. It has happened 34 times in baseball history.
In Junior We Trust
The most interesting story to me, however, happened Tuesday night in Seattle. Randy Johnson (a.k.a. the Big Unit) was visiting the new Safeco Field in Seattle. In the sixth, Junior came to the plate and on a 3 – 1 count, Johnson came high and tight, forcing Griff to defensively check his swing. The ball ricocheted and umpire John Shulock signaled a foul ball. The problem was, Shulock wasn’t sure whether it was a foul ball or if it actually hit Griffey. So he asked him. Griffey said the ball hit him in the arm and Shulock awarded him first base.
This is a pretty strange way to make a call that awards a player a base and in Shulock’s defense, he really had no idea what the call was. I couldn’t imagine Griffey turning around and saying it was a foul ball regardless of how honest Shulock may think he is.
The big series this weekend takes place in New York as the Yanks and Indians meet for the second time this season in what is surely to be the preview for a playoff match-up this October. I believe Fox is broadcasting Saturday’s game nationally and it should be a dogfight to the bitter end. Not only are they the two best teams in the American League, but they’re not very fond of each other. Let’s hope a hockey game doesn’t break out.
The rarities didn't stop with David Cone's perfect game Sunday as HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham looks at a great week in baseball
Any week that starts off with a perfect game is going to be a little coo-coo. Even on Thursday night, Sportscenter was STILL running a piece on Cone’s gem. There were a lot of strange things involved in the game: the 33 minute rain delay (David Wells, who threw a perfect game last year, wore number 33); Cone throwing 88 pitches (Berra’s number was 8); Don Larsen and Berra reenacting the only perfect game in World Series history for the first pitch; Ricky Ledee catching a ball he only saw for a split second. Wacky stuff.
Sunday was only the beginning. A lot has happened over the last couple days, some that will shape the way this season unfolds and others that have no bearing on anything whatsoever but are fun to talk about. Here’s a look at the important and not so important stories of the last couple of days.
Dump the Umps
The umpires union is showing a real lack of solidarity as Richie Phillips revealed there has been an American League umpire faction against him for some time. Many of those umps are on record with Major League Baseball as not tending their resignation with the rest of the union. Bud Selig countered Phillips’ resignation threats by hiring ten Triple-A umpires that have been filling in on the major league level. The replacement umps are due to start September 2nd, the day after the supposed mass resignation. Phillips has spoken positively about the possibilities of the umpires union and Major League Baseball finding some mutual ground, but he may be blowing smoke. Bud Selig would like nothing more than Phillips’ resignation on his desk September 1st without jeopardizing the remainder of the baseball season and playoffs. If that results in the disintegration of the union and control of the new umpires by the commissioner’s office, it will be a major step in not only holding umpires accountable for their actions and performance, but establishing a universal strike zone that will make home plate a much happier place to visit.
Pennant Fever? Take an Aspirin
The National League beat the American League in interleague play for the second time in three years, 135 – 116. The victory isn’t surprising looking at the standings this season. The NL is simply more competitive than the AL, with six teams holding records over .500 and all of them involved in the hunt for playoff spots.
Probably the biggest surprise is the emergence of the Phillies in the East, sitting comfortably at 8 games over .500 for the first time since 1993. They sit 5 ½ behind Atlanta for the NL East, but are very much in the race for the wild card spot along with the Mets, Reds, and Diamondbacks. The Mets remain only 2 games behind Atlanta after the Braves collapsed during interleague play, losing 5 straight. Give credit to the Mets, though. They’ve been playing good baseball, but they’ll need their offense to stay sharp to help out their so-so starting rotation.
The American League is turning into a joke. The central is pathetic with Cleveland cruising to another title, their nearest competitor, the White Sox, are 3 games under .500 at home and 3 under overall. The Yankees may finally be walking away with the AL East, capitalizing on the recent skid of the Red Sox, while the Blue Jays have heated up and tied the BoSox for the AL wild card spot. Oakland’s showing signs of life in the west, but their offense will have to really kick it in high gear to overtake the Rangers. They have a real young team so anything can happen.
And Now for Something Completely Different…
There were two oddities in the last two days you may or may not have heard about. The first happened Wednesday night in the Diamondback – Astros game when Tony Womack (great baseball name) stroked a line drive to left past a diving Lance Berkman. The game was in Houston so the ball rolled all the way to the wall courtesy of the local Astroturf. Berkman chased it down as Womack sped around the bases, eventually sliding into home for an inside the park home run. The interesting part was that it happened with the bases loaded on an 0 – 2 pitch.
Womack was visibly winded after the play and with good reason. A trip around the bases totals 120 yards, the length of a full football field including the end zones. Factor into that the rounded fashion in which players run the bases and Womack may have sprinted 140 yards.
With that thought in mind, realize the last two players to accomplish an inside the park grand slam were Dan Wilson, the Seattle catcher against Detroit on May 3rd of ’98 and Tony Gwynn, June 26th of ’97 against the Dodgers. A catcher and Tony Gwynn? Gwynn’s a great hitter, probably one of the best ever, but I would never have picked him for an inside the park home run. Dan Wilson has averaged about 2 stolen bases per season and I’d be willing to bet they were on the tail ends of double steals.
Oddity number two happened in the great city of San Francisco Thursday night. Giant’s reliever Jerry Spradlin came in against the Padres in the seventh inning and promptly plunked Ruben Rivera with a pitch, sending Rivera to first. George Arias then came up and struck out swinging. One out. Rivera advances to second on a wild throw from Spradlin and scores on a double by Ben Davis. So far pretty normal. Damian Jackson comes up and strikes out. Now there are two outs. Carlos Baerga pinch hits and strikes out also, but the pitch is wild and Baerga gets to first. Three strikeouts, two outs. You know what’s coming next. Quilvio Veras comes to the plate and strikes out, giving Spradlin four strikeouts in the inning.
It’s an interesting thing to see, especially when the pitcher is adept enough to strikeout four people in an inning and STILL give up a run. Spradlin was the first Giant to accomplish this feat in 93 years when the Giants were still in New York. It has happened 34 times in baseball history.
In Junior We Trust
The most interesting story to me, however, happened Tuesday night in Seattle. Randy Johnson (a.k.a. the Big Unit) was visiting the new Safeco Field in Seattle. In the sixth, Junior came to the plate and on a 3 – 1 count, Johnson came high and tight, forcing Griff to defensively check his swing. The ball ricocheted and umpire John Shulock signaled a foul ball. The problem was, Shulock wasn’t sure whether it was a foul ball or if it actually hit Griffey. So he asked him. Griffey said the ball hit him in the arm and Shulock awarded him first base.
This is a pretty strange way to make a call that awards a player a base and in Shulock’s defense, he really had no idea what the call was. I couldn’t imagine Griffey turning around and saying it was a foul ball regardless of how honest Shulock may think he is.
The big series this weekend takes place in New York as the Yanks and Indians meet for the second time this season in what is surely to be the preview for a playoff match-up this October. I believe Fox is broadcasting Saturday’s game nationally and it should be a dogfight to the bitter end. Not only are they the two best teams in the American League, but they’re not very fond of each other. Let’s hope a hockey game doesn’t break out.
Sunday, July 18, 1999
Perfection
This is an article that was originally published on HardRockSports.com.
HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham looks at an incredible day in Yankee history and explains why David Cone truly is perfect.
When the New York Yankees marched into the playoffs via the wild card spot in 1995, they did so with a purpose: to get Don Mattingly a ring. They had the components of a decent team but hadn’t been to the playoffs in thirteen years. The Seattle Mariners, a team that had played them tough all season and featured the toughest pitcher in baseball, Randy Johnson, stood in their way. The Yankees rotation was nothing special, Jack McDowell knocked down 15 wins, another 12 from Andy Pettitte. But the team was desperate and needed an ace, so they picked up David Cone, the former Met, from the Royals at the trading deadline.
It was a hard-fought battle. Both Johnson and Cone came out of the bullpen and pitched on their days off to try and wrangle the series away, but in the bottom of the ninth of game five, Edgar Martinez drove a ball into the left field gap that scored Ken Griffey Jr. from first and won the series for the Mariners. It was an incredible five games and branded an exciting inauguration to the Division Series.
It also marked the end of Don Mattingly’s career. After spending the season mulling over retirement, Mattingly finally decided to hang it up. Yankee fans everywhere watched the heart and soul of the pinstripes over the last decade walk off, content that he performed well in his only post season, but broken-hearted that it ended so quick.
The departure left the Yanks confused. All this time, Mattingly had been the guy who formed the inspiration for the club and now he was gone. Buck Showalter had departed to manage a team that didn’t even exist yet, and some broadcaster/former player named Joe Torre was taking his place. Players were coming and going during the off-season like the men’s room behind section 3. It was mayhem.
That winter, George Steinbrenner had a decision to make. He had lured Cone back to New York by giving up a few prospects, as George was known to do, but what did he have to do to keep him there? George dangled a no-trade clause in front of Coney’s nose, leaving David the possibility of finishing his career in New York and retiring from the pitcher-for-hire position he had unwittingly adopted for the last three years. Cone accepted and returned to the stage that he loved so much in his six years of pitching at Shea.
He also brought with him an attitude, aggressiveness, and a talent that the Yankees so desperately needed. Cone had already proved he was a fighter, throwing in the Division Series against the Mariners until his arm was about to fall off. Dejectedly, he placed some of the burden for that loss on himself when everyone knew he did more than could be expected.
He started the ’96 season 3 – 1 with a 2.61 ERA and became the rock of the clubhouse. Everyone knew when Coney took the mound, you would get everything he had. Then, on May 3rd, tragedy struck as an aneurysm of two arteries in his pitching arm put him on the 60-day DL and his career in jeopardy. Coney returned from the surgery in September, much earlier than anyone expected, and threw 7 innings of no-hit ball against the Oakland Athletics. He begged Torre to leave him in the game, but Torre had him on a strict pitch count. History would have to wait for another time.
The Yanks won the East and made their way to the World Series. The Braves pounded the Yanks at the Stadium the first two games, leaving Atlanta a 2 – 0 with the Series turning to Fulton County Stadium. Cone took the mound in game 3, the most crucial game of the Series for the Yanks and walked away with a victory, giving up one run in 6 innings, pitching out of constant threats and securing the Yankees a chance in the Series. The Yanks won the next three and hoisted their 23rd World Championship banner.
Cone went on to have a good ’97 season, posting a 2.82 ERA with 12 wins and 6 losses, but arm surgery awaited him again, this time in the off-season. The question marks began to rise as people wondered how much was left in David Cone’s arm. Two surgeries in three years were certainly enough to sink any pitcher.
Almost any pitcher. Cone went out in ’98 and posted a 3.55 ERA and won 20 games ten years after he first did it with the Mets. He was the cornerstone of a pitching staff that led the ‘98 Yankees to 114 regular season wins and another 11 in the post-season. He held the Padres to 2 earned runs in 6 innings to lead the Yankees to a 5 – 4 victory in game 3, paving the way for a World Series sweep and the Yankees 24th World Championship.
Again in the off-season, the questions were asked. Cone was good in ’97 but some people thought he was helped by a tremendous offense that lead the league in runs scored. Cone was tempted by free agency to see what he was worth on the free market, but ultimately decided to stay with the team he wanted to be with.
Cone has quieted the skeptics once again. In ’99, Cone is 10 – 4 with a 2.65 ERA. He has been the best pitcher in the American League, second only to Pedro Martinez, and has again solidified himself as the rock of the rotation. His demeanor on and off the field has made him the most respected player in the clubhouse, oftentimes working as the spokesman for the team. When David Wells was traded to Toronto, David Cone was the lone player to see him off as he left. His distress over Daryl Strawberry’s arrest last April and doubts over whether he had helped his friend during the tough times spoke volumes on how devoted a man David Cone is. In his times of absence, the Yankees seemed almost sluggish, often talking about when he would finally be returning. On his arrival, the team played as if new life had been breathed into them. If Reggie Jackson was the “straw that stirs the drink,” David Cone is the cup.
On Sunday, July 18th, in front of 42,000 people and countless Yankee greats who came out to honor Yogi Berra and the end of his fourteen-year feud with George Steinbrenner, David Cone threw a perfect game.
The timing for this incredible feat, only the sixteenth in baseball history, could not have been any better. The day started with a dozen former Yankees and players, out to present gifts and memories to the cherished catcher. Amongst the former players was Don Larsen, a pitcher who, in 1956, threw a perfect game in the World Series with Berra behind the plate. It had stood for forty-one years as the only perfect game in Yankee history before David Wells’ masterpiece last season. The game then started with Larsen recreating his 1956 performance, throwing out the first pitch to Berra, who happened to be wearing catcher Joe Girardi’s glove.
Call it magic, fairy dust, Yankee aura, or simply the stuff of legends, but the cute recreation of that fateful day turned into the afternoon of David Cone’s life. He went on to completely dominate the Expos lineup, never allowing a batter more than two balls, striking out 10, and enduring a 33 minute rain delay.
When the ninth inning finally came, the drama was unbearable. Cone quickly made work of Chris Widger, striking him out swinging. Ryan Mcguire pinch-hit for Shane Andrews and popped a short fly to left that Ricky Ledee almost lost in the sun, but caught at the last moment.
And then, Orlando Cabrera popped a weak fly ball to the foul side of the third baseline. Cone pointed to the sky, targeting the fly ball that was already captivating 42,000 people. As the dugout began to empty, Derek Jeter leapt up and down in his approach to the mound. Scott Brosius positioned himself under the ball, waited to hear it hit the glove, then squeezed, his arms raising in the air. Cone fell to the ground, his hands raised to his head in disbelief as Girardi landed in front of him, grabbing him and pulling him to the ground as the Yankees mobbed their leader. For nine innings on a sweltering day in Yankee Stadium, 8 guys went onto the field and gutted one out for their leader, the man that so often gave more of himself than was actually there.
Up in the owner’s box, Don Larsen applauded the scene, the mound of players all too familiar to him. When asked what passed through his mind as the game ended, Larsen responded, " I was just thinking about my day. I'm sure David will think about this every day of his life." Somewhere in the clubhouse, Yogi was heard to say “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
Indeed. Perfection is hard to forget.
HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham looks at an incredible day in Yankee history and explains why David Cone truly is perfect.
When the New York Yankees marched into the playoffs via the wild card spot in 1995, they did so with a purpose: to get Don Mattingly a ring. They had the components of a decent team but hadn’t been to the playoffs in thirteen years. The Seattle Mariners, a team that had played them tough all season and featured the toughest pitcher in baseball, Randy Johnson, stood in their way. The Yankees rotation was nothing special, Jack McDowell knocked down 15 wins, another 12 from Andy Pettitte. But the team was desperate and needed an ace, so they picked up David Cone, the former Met, from the Royals at the trading deadline.
It was a hard-fought battle. Both Johnson and Cone came out of the bullpen and pitched on their days off to try and wrangle the series away, but in the bottom of the ninth of game five, Edgar Martinez drove a ball into the left field gap that scored Ken Griffey Jr. from first and won the series for the Mariners. It was an incredible five games and branded an exciting inauguration to the Division Series.
It also marked the end of Don Mattingly’s career. After spending the season mulling over retirement, Mattingly finally decided to hang it up. Yankee fans everywhere watched the heart and soul of the pinstripes over the last decade walk off, content that he performed well in his only post season, but broken-hearted that it ended so quick.
The departure left the Yanks confused. All this time, Mattingly had been the guy who formed the inspiration for the club and now he was gone. Buck Showalter had departed to manage a team that didn’t even exist yet, and some broadcaster/former player named Joe Torre was taking his place. Players were coming and going during the off-season like the men’s room behind section 3. It was mayhem.
That winter, George Steinbrenner had a decision to make. He had lured Cone back to New York by giving up a few prospects, as George was known to do, but what did he have to do to keep him there? George dangled a no-trade clause in front of Coney’s nose, leaving David the possibility of finishing his career in New York and retiring from the pitcher-for-hire position he had unwittingly adopted for the last three years. Cone accepted and returned to the stage that he loved so much in his six years of pitching at Shea.
He also brought with him an attitude, aggressiveness, and a talent that the Yankees so desperately needed. Cone had already proved he was a fighter, throwing in the Division Series against the Mariners until his arm was about to fall off. Dejectedly, he placed some of the burden for that loss on himself when everyone knew he did more than could be expected.
He started the ’96 season 3 – 1 with a 2.61 ERA and became the rock of the clubhouse. Everyone knew when Coney took the mound, you would get everything he had. Then, on May 3rd, tragedy struck as an aneurysm of two arteries in his pitching arm put him on the 60-day DL and his career in jeopardy. Coney returned from the surgery in September, much earlier than anyone expected, and threw 7 innings of no-hit ball against the Oakland Athletics. He begged Torre to leave him in the game, but Torre had him on a strict pitch count. History would have to wait for another time.
The Yanks won the East and made their way to the World Series. The Braves pounded the Yanks at the Stadium the first two games, leaving Atlanta a 2 – 0 with the Series turning to Fulton County Stadium. Cone took the mound in game 3, the most crucial game of the Series for the Yanks and walked away with a victory, giving up one run in 6 innings, pitching out of constant threats and securing the Yankees a chance in the Series. The Yanks won the next three and hoisted their 23rd World Championship banner.
Cone went on to have a good ’97 season, posting a 2.82 ERA with 12 wins and 6 losses, but arm surgery awaited him again, this time in the off-season. The question marks began to rise as people wondered how much was left in David Cone’s arm. Two surgeries in three years were certainly enough to sink any pitcher.
Almost any pitcher. Cone went out in ’98 and posted a 3.55 ERA and won 20 games ten years after he first did it with the Mets. He was the cornerstone of a pitching staff that led the ‘98 Yankees to 114 regular season wins and another 11 in the post-season. He held the Padres to 2 earned runs in 6 innings to lead the Yankees to a 5 – 4 victory in game 3, paving the way for a World Series sweep and the Yankees 24th World Championship.
Again in the off-season, the questions were asked. Cone was good in ’97 but some people thought he was helped by a tremendous offense that lead the league in runs scored. Cone was tempted by free agency to see what he was worth on the free market, but ultimately decided to stay with the team he wanted to be with.
Cone has quieted the skeptics once again. In ’99, Cone is 10 – 4 with a 2.65 ERA. He has been the best pitcher in the American League, second only to Pedro Martinez, and has again solidified himself as the rock of the rotation. His demeanor on and off the field has made him the most respected player in the clubhouse, oftentimes working as the spokesman for the team. When David Wells was traded to Toronto, David Cone was the lone player to see him off as he left. His distress over Daryl Strawberry’s arrest last April and doubts over whether he had helped his friend during the tough times spoke volumes on how devoted a man David Cone is. In his times of absence, the Yankees seemed almost sluggish, often talking about when he would finally be returning. On his arrival, the team played as if new life had been breathed into them. If Reggie Jackson was the “straw that stirs the drink,” David Cone is the cup.
On Sunday, July 18th, in front of 42,000 people and countless Yankee greats who came out to honor Yogi Berra and the end of his fourteen-year feud with George Steinbrenner, David Cone threw a perfect game.
The timing for this incredible feat, only the sixteenth in baseball history, could not have been any better. The day started with a dozen former Yankees and players, out to present gifts and memories to the cherished catcher. Amongst the former players was Don Larsen, a pitcher who, in 1956, threw a perfect game in the World Series with Berra behind the plate. It had stood for forty-one years as the only perfect game in Yankee history before David Wells’ masterpiece last season. The game then started with Larsen recreating his 1956 performance, throwing out the first pitch to Berra, who happened to be wearing catcher Joe Girardi’s glove.
Call it magic, fairy dust, Yankee aura, or simply the stuff of legends, but the cute recreation of that fateful day turned into the afternoon of David Cone’s life. He went on to completely dominate the Expos lineup, never allowing a batter more than two balls, striking out 10, and enduring a 33 minute rain delay.
When the ninth inning finally came, the drama was unbearable. Cone quickly made work of Chris Widger, striking him out swinging. Ryan Mcguire pinch-hit for Shane Andrews and popped a short fly to left that Ricky Ledee almost lost in the sun, but caught at the last moment.
And then, Orlando Cabrera popped a weak fly ball to the foul side of the third baseline. Cone pointed to the sky, targeting the fly ball that was already captivating 42,000 people. As the dugout began to empty, Derek Jeter leapt up and down in his approach to the mound. Scott Brosius positioned himself under the ball, waited to hear it hit the glove, then squeezed, his arms raising in the air. Cone fell to the ground, his hands raised to his head in disbelief as Girardi landed in front of him, grabbing him and pulling him to the ground as the Yankees mobbed their leader. For nine innings on a sweltering day in Yankee Stadium, 8 guys went onto the field and gutted one out for their leader, the man that so often gave more of himself than was actually there.
Up in the owner’s box, Don Larsen applauded the scene, the mound of players all too familiar to him. When asked what passed through his mind as the game ended, Larsen responded, " I was just thinking about my day. I'm sure David will think about this every day of his life." Somewhere in the clubhouse, Yogi was heard to say “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
Indeed. Perfection is hard to forget.
Friday, July 16, 1999
It ain't Yogi till it's Yogi...
This is an article that was originally published on HardRockSports.com.
With Yankee Stadium preparing to shower their lost hero Sunday, HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham looks at the story of Yogi Berra's leave of absence and why he means so much to the Yankees.
This weekend, George Steinbrenner is doing something completely out of character: he’s righting a wrong. Before what is sure to be a capacity crowd on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Big George is giving Yogi Berra his very own day at Yankee Stadium.
This story made news earlier in the year when Steinbrenner showed humility and apologized to Yogi for firing him back in 1985. What was the big deal? Everyone gets fired in baseball, especially by Steinbrenner. Well, Big George had promised Yogi that he wouldn’t fire him after a horrible start to the season, then furthered the insult by sending Clyde King, a member of the Yankee organization, to deliver the message.
If Yogi is nothing, he is a man of principles and this was the ultimate slap in the face to a player that brought a Hall of Fame career to the Yankees. Yogi promptly made it known that he would never return to Yankee Stadium while Steinbrenner was at the helm. That was fourteen years ago.
Over the last couple of years, with the passing of Mickey Mantle in 1996 and the illness and eventual death of Joe DiMaggio this past winter, fans and players alike have been pleading with Yogi and George to settle their dispute and bring Berra back where he belongs. In January, the most trigger-happy owner in baseball, a man that inspired a maniacal, obsessive character on “Seinfeld,” walked into the Yogi Berra Museum at Montclair State University and left his ego at the door.
Berra didn’t let him off easy. He was more than cordial, walking Steinbrenner around the museum, explaining the many photos and memorabilia that told the legend of his career. And Big George followed, obedient and respectful with the demeanor of a schoolboy on a field trip, knowing all too well that Professor Yogi was teaching The Boss what his coarseness had cost him the last fourteen years.
Yogi forgave him, but he did it his way, in his element, by his rules. Steinbrenner had apologized to Yogi before, but it wasn’t until now that Yogi felt the man they call The Boss had truly made amends. Now, Yogi returns to Yankee Stadium this Sunday for the third time this season to celebrate one of the most storied careers in baseball.
Yogi was a member of the Yankees from 1946 – 63, helping them capture a staggering 14 American League pennants and 10 World Series championships. After taking over the starting catching reigns in 1949 and rattling off 5 straight AL pennants, Yankee manager Casey Stengal dubbed Berra “the man who holds us together.”
Was he ever. Yogi went on to win three MVP awards (1951, 1954 and 1955), and in the years he didn’t win, placed 2nd twice, once in third and fourth places. His World Series accomplishments are legendary, placing him first in all-time World Series hits, third on the homer run list behind Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth, and second to Mantle in RBI’s. He was an integral part of the greatest World Series performance ever, calling Don Larsen’s perfect game in game five of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Berra leaping into Larsen’s arms at the end of the game remains one of the most enduring baseball images.
The World Series isn’t the only place Yogi shines. In comparison to some of the greatest catchers of all time, Yogi ranks among the best:
-----------------Hits--Runs--RBI---OBP---Slug---OPS (OBP + Slug)
Yogi Berra-------2150-1175--1430--.348--.482---.826
Johnny Bench----2048-1091--1376--.342--.476---.818
Roy Campanella-- 1161-627---856---.360--.500---.860
Mickey Cochrane-1652-1041--832---.419--.478---.897
Bill Dickey------- 1969-930---1209--.382--.486---.868
Gabby Hartnett-- 1912-867---1179--.370--.489---.859
Yogi truly had a great career and while players like Mike Piazza will surely surpass his numbers in this modern offensive age, you can’t ignore the contributions or character that Yogi added to the game. He remains one of the most quotable personalities ever to play ball, often treating reporters to Yogi-isms that would make Socrates smile.
It’s not the statistics or even the funny quotes that baseball fans everywhere have fallen in love with. It’s the way Yogi manages to balance integrity with humility, a strong sense of self without being selfish. Leaving Yankee Stadium for over a decade wasn’t easy on the old catcher, but he did because he had to and the fans understood.
When the Yankees celebrate their second Yogi Berra Day this weekend, I’m sure Yogi will be happy to be where he belongs, but not nearly as happy as the fans who’ve waited fourteen years for him to return.
Welcome back, Yogi. We missed ya…
With Yankee Stadium preparing to shower their lost hero Sunday, HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham looks at the story of Yogi Berra's leave of absence and why he means so much to the Yankees.
This weekend, George Steinbrenner is doing something completely out of character: he’s righting a wrong. Before what is sure to be a capacity crowd on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Big George is giving Yogi Berra his very own day at Yankee Stadium.
This story made news earlier in the year when Steinbrenner showed humility and apologized to Yogi for firing him back in 1985. What was the big deal? Everyone gets fired in baseball, especially by Steinbrenner. Well, Big George had promised Yogi that he wouldn’t fire him after a horrible start to the season, then furthered the insult by sending Clyde King, a member of the Yankee organization, to deliver the message.
If Yogi is nothing, he is a man of principles and this was the ultimate slap in the face to a player that brought a Hall of Fame career to the Yankees. Yogi promptly made it known that he would never return to Yankee Stadium while Steinbrenner was at the helm. That was fourteen years ago.
Over the last couple of years, with the passing of Mickey Mantle in 1996 and the illness and eventual death of Joe DiMaggio this past winter, fans and players alike have been pleading with Yogi and George to settle their dispute and bring Berra back where he belongs. In January, the most trigger-happy owner in baseball, a man that inspired a maniacal, obsessive character on “Seinfeld,” walked into the Yogi Berra Museum at Montclair State University and left his ego at the door.
Berra didn’t let him off easy. He was more than cordial, walking Steinbrenner around the museum, explaining the many photos and memorabilia that told the legend of his career. And Big George followed, obedient and respectful with the demeanor of a schoolboy on a field trip, knowing all too well that Professor Yogi was teaching The Boss what his coarseness had cost him the last fourteen years.
Yogi forgave him, but he did it his way, in his element, by his rules. Steinbrenner had apologized to Yogi before, but it wasn’t until now that Yogi felt the man they call The Boss had truly made amends. Now, Yogi returns to Yankee Stadium this Sunday for the third time this season to celebrate one of the most storied careers in baseball.
Yogi was a member of the Yankees from 1946 – 63, helping them capture a staggering 14 American League pennants and 10 World Series championships. After taking over the starting catching reigns in 1949 and rattling off 5 straight AL pennants, Yankee manager Casey Stengal dubbed Berra “the man who holds us together.”
Was he ever. Yogi went on to win three MVP awards (1951, 1954 and 1955), and in the years he didn’t win, placed 2nd twice, once in third and fourth places. His World Series accomplishments are legendary, placing him first in all-time World Series hits, third on the homer run list behind Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth, and second to Mantle in RBI’s. He was an integral part of the greatest World Series performance ever, calling Don Larsen’s perfect game in game five of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Berra leaping into Larsen’s arms at the end of the game remains one of the most enduring baseball images.
The World Series isn’t the only place Yogi shines. In comparison to some of the greatest catchers of all time, Yogi ranks among the best:
-----------------Hits--Runs--RBI---OBP---Slug---OPS (OBP + Slug)
Yogi Berra-------2150-1175--1430--.348--.482---.826
Johnny Bench----2048-1091--1376--.342--.476---.818
Roy Campanella-- 1161-627---856---.360--.500---.860
Mickey Cochrane-1652-1041--832---.419--.478---.897
Bill Dickey------- 1969-930---1209--.382--.486---.868
Gabby Hartnett-- 1912-867---1179--.370--.489---.859
Yogi truly had a great career and while players like Mike Piazza will surely surpass his numbers in this modern offensive age, you can’t ignore the contributions or character that Yogi added to the game. He remains one of the most quotable personalities ever to play ball, often treating reporters to Yogi-isms that would make Socrates smile.
It’s not the statistics or even the funny quotes that baseball fans everywhere have fallen in love with. It’s the way Yogi manages to balance integrity with humility, a strong sense of self without being selfish. Leaving Yankee Stadium for over a decade wasn’t easy on the old catcher, but he did because he had to and the fans understood.
When the Yankees celebrate their second Yogi Berra Day this weekend, I’m sure Yogi will be happy to be where he belongs, but not nearly as happy as the fans who’ve waited fourteen years for him to return.
Welcome back, Yogi. We missed ya…
Wednesday, July 14, 1999
Pete Rose and Bud Selig: The Dance Continues...
This is an article that was originally published on HardRockSports.com.
After another boring All-Star game, HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham talks about how Bud Selig has made the Pete Rose situation more confusing than ever.
Something very interesting happened before the All-Star game Tuesday night, interesting because it managed to make complete sense and confuse me at the same time. The league announced the one hundred players on the All-Century team ballot, baseball’s equivalent to the NBA’s Fifty Greatest. Kevin Costner (Hollywood’s version of a baseball player) introduced 32 of the living players from the ballot as they jogged onto the field, culminating with the entrance of Ted Williams. There was quite a crowd of baseball greats past and present all gathered together and it made for a stirring moment.
One guy who was on the ballot and in Boston, but not on the field or represented by one of the 98 banners displaying the nominees around the grandstand was Pete Rose. In what seems like a grand contradiction on the part of Major League Baseball, Pete Rose and fellow banishee “Shoeless” Joe Jackson were both allowed to be on the ballot, but were given no recognition of any form during the introductions.
The reasoning is obvious. Bud Selig didn’t want to trot Pete Rose out onto the field at Fenway, one of the most historical landmarks in all of sports and most certainly baseball, to a standing ovation broadcast on national television. The pro-Rose backlash would send Selig into spin-cycle for weeks.
Why place his name on the ballot then? Selig attempted to explain Rose’s inclusion/exclusion this way:
"Neither Pete Rose nor Joe Jackson's official status has anything to do with the selection of the All-Century team. They're great players, they're entitled to be on the ballot. ... I want to be very precise in the way I say it: It doesn't in any way affect their status with major league baseball. However, they are two great players that have made an impact on the field, and they're entitled to be on the ballot."
When pressed about the possibility of reinstating Rose after his 1997 petition which has gone unanswered, Selig responded “I don't think there's anything new or if there's anything new that I would do to change what Bart Giamatti did.”
In plainer terms: No.
So, in summation: Selig believes Rose should remain banned from baseball, scolded him for giving a pep talk to the Reds in spring training and finds his status unsuitable for consideration regarding the Hall of Fame. But he is more than willing to tempt fate and see if he will be elected to the All-Century team.
It’s a pretty safe bet that people will jump at that chance to honor Rose in light of his lifetime banishment. If the fans don’t choose him, an additional veterans-type committee is set to be assigned to balance the list by five players, making Rose’s chances even better. This list will almost definitely find a major display in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the prospect of Rose’s inclusion leaving irony to smack it’s lips.
Obviously, the All-Century team isn’t that important to the image of baseball in Selig’s eyes. If it were even remotely close to the importance of the Hall of Fame, Selig wouldn’t let Rose anywhere near this list. If Jackson and Rose truly are great players that deserve to be on the ballot but can not be in Cooperstown due to banishment, how can baseball honor them in any way, shape or form? Does this make any sense?
I won’t go too deeply into judging whether Rose should be reinstated, except to say this: Giamatti swore before his death that he had every reason to believe, based on evidence in his possession, that Rose had bet on Cincinnati Reds games while he was the manager. What he wanted was his admittance to that fact and Rose has refused to do it.
Giamatti wass well respected within the baseball community and I don’t think he would have publicly taken this perspective without a solid foundation for his beliefs. If Rose did in fact bet on games that he managed, I don’t care if he confesses, he doesn’t deserve to be a part of baseball again. Anyone who deliberately puts the integrity of the game in jeopardy for his own personal benefit has no respect for the game and doesn’t deserve any accolades, whether he owns the career hits record or not.
You can say that we’ll never know if he bet against the Reds, but judging by some of the teams they had during that era, he would have been a terrible gambler if he didn’t. You’re coaching a squad that’s going nowhere, you’ve got five large riding against your team and your down by two going into the ninth inning. Are you going to go out of your way to try and win this game? Maybe. Maybe not.
That’s the question mark that sits above Rose’s head and the fact that we even have to ask that question is reprehensible.
In regards to Rose’s slight at Fenway, if Selig was willing to put him on the ballot, he should have been willing to make him part of the ceremony. Selig is trying to take the high road by taking a short cut on the low road. He felt he had to give Rose and Jackson some kind of acknowledgement with the All-Century team but he wasn't willing to swallow his pride and watch as the crowd welcomed Rose with open arms. It was a spineless move on Selig’s part and hopefully not an indicator of how he will be handling the office of commissioner.
After another boring All-Star game, HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham talks about how Bud Selig has made the Pete Rose situation more confusing than ever.
Something very interesting happened before the All-Star game Tuesday night, interesting because it managed to make complete sense and confuse me at the same time. The league announced the one hundred players on the All-Century team ballot, baseball’s equivalent to the NBA’s Fifty Greatest. Kevin Costner (Hollywood’s version of a baseball player) introduced 32 of the living players from the ballot as they jogged onto the field, culminating with the entrance of Ted Williams. There was quite a crowd of baseball greats past and present all gathered together and it made for a stirring moment.
One guy who was on the ballot and in Boston, but not on the field or represented by one of the 98 banners displaying the nominees around the grandstand was Pete Rose. In what seems like a grand contradiction on the part of Major League Baseball, Pete Rose and fellow banishee “Shoeless” Joe Jackson were both allowed to be on the ballot, but were given no recognition of any form during the introductions.
The reasoning is obvious. Bud Selig didn’t want to trot Pete Rose out onto the field at Fenway, one of the most historical landmarks in all of sports and most certainly baseball, to a standing ovation broadcast on national television. The pro-Rose backlash would send Selig into spin-cycle for weeks.
Why place his name on the ballot then? Selig attempted to explain Rose’s inclusion/exclusion this way:
"Neither Pete Rose nor Joe Jackson's official status has anything to do with the selection of the All-Century team. They're great players, they're entitled to be on the ballot. ... I want to be very precise in the way I say it: It doesn't in any way affect their status with major league baseball. However, they are two great players that have made an impact on the field, and they're entitled to be on the ballot."
When pressed about the possibility of reinstating Rose after his 1997 petition which has gone unanswered, Selig responded “I don't think there's anything new or if there's anything new that I would do to change what Bart Giamatti did.”
In plainer terms: No.
So, in summation: Selig believes Rose should remain banned from baseball, scolded him for giving a pep talk to the Reds in spring training and finds his status unsuitable for consideration regarding the Hall of Fame. But he is more than willing to tempt fate and see if he will be elected to the All-Century team.
It’s a pretty safe bet that people will jump at that chance to honor Rose in light of his lifetime banishment. If the fans don’t choose him, an additional veterans-type committee is set to be assigned to balance the list by five players, making Rose’s chances even better. This list will almost definitely find a major display in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the prospect of Rose’s inclusion leaving irony to smack it’s lips.
Obviously, the All-Century team isn’t that important to the image of baseball in Selig’s eyes. If it were even remotely close to the importance of the Hall of Fame, Selig wouldn’t let Rose anywhere near this list. If Jackson and Rose truly are great players that deserve to be on the ballot but can not be in Cooperstown due to banishment, how can baseball honor them in any way, shape or form? Does this make any sense?
I won’t go too deeply into judging whether Rose should be reinstated, except to say this: Giamatti swore before his death that he had every reason to believe, based on evidence in his possession, that Rose had bet on Cincinnati Reds games while he was the manager. What he wanted was his admittance to that fact and Rose has refused to do it.
Giamatti wass well respected within the baseball community and I don’t think he would have publicly taken this perspective without a solid foundation for his beliefs. If Rose did in fact bet on games that he managed, I don’t care if he confesses, he doesn’t deserve to be a part of baseball again. Anyone who deliberately puts the integrity of the game in jeopardy for his own personal benefit has no respect for the game and doesn’t deserve any accolades, whether he owns the career hits record or not.
You can say that we’ll never know if he bet against the Reds, but judging by some of the teams they had during that era, he would have been a terrible gambler if he didn’t. You’re coaching a squad that’s going nowhere, you’ve got five large riding against your team and your down by two going into the ninth inning. Are you going to go out of your way to try and win this game? Maybe. Maybe not.
That’s the question mark that sits above Rose’s head and the fact that we even have to ask that question is reprehensible.
In regards to Rose’s slight at Fenway, if Selig was willing to put him on the ballot, he should have been willing to make him part of the ceremony. Selig is trying to take the high road by taking a short cut on the low road. He felt he had to give Rose and Jackson some kind of acknowledgement with the All-Century team but he wasn't willing to swallow his pride and watch as the crowd welcomed Rose with open arms. It was a spineless move on Selig’s part and hopefully not an indicator of how he will be handling the office of commissioner.
Sunday, July 11, 1999
What's the Deal with Baseball Realignment?
This is an article that was originally published on HardRockSports.com.
In his second look at the structure of baseball, HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham wonders why baseball would even consider radical realignment.
A couple of days ago I wrote an article on why I felt it was time to get rid of interleague play. My timing was absolutely perfect: on Friday I posted the article, on Saturday the Yankees and Mets made every single point I tried to drive home seem insignificant as they played one of the most thrilling regular season games I have ever seen. On national television no less.
Saturday was truly a great game, there’s no doubt about that. The fire that was behind each team in trying to win bragging rights for New York City with a raucous crowd cheering every pitch made for a truly electric atmosphere. Even if you aren’t a New Yorker, you could feel what was going on that day in Flushing.
I stand by my assertions, though. The weekend series at Shea has truly been enjoyable, even if my beloved Yankees come out on the losing end. What worries me is what looms ahead.
Interleague play is merely the stepping stone in making Major League Baseball completely unrecognizable. The game has undergone a couple of major structural changes in its history, the biggest being the addition of the League Championship Series in 1969. The LCS became a necessity after both leagues expanded from ten to twelve teams a piece by adding the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos in the NL and the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots – who became the Milwaukee Brewers the following season – in the AL. This marked quite a departure from the tradition of baseball, but has since proved to be a welcome addition to the season. The LCS started as a five game series up until 1985 when it was expanded to seven games.
The next major revision came in the restructuring of the American and National Leagues in 1995 from the two-division format into three: the East, West, and Central. The league’s expansion to twenty-eight teams left baseball in a dilemma: load up the East and West with seven team divisions or break the leagues into three separate divisions. The subsequent three-division split left the playoffs in shambles, requiring the addition of the wild card team and the Division Series. For the most part, the Division Series has produced some truly exciting games, the inaugural series between the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees quieting most nay-sayers, including myself. The downside was the lengthening of an already long season. The World Series, instead of being the first week of October, was coming dangerously close to running into Election Day.
Now, with the placement of Milwaukee Brewer’s owner Bud Selig as baseball’s commish, we could be facing another restructuring, one that would turn the game on its ear.
In one version of the proposed restructuring, baseball would be aligned according to regions. The American League would comprise the East Coast teams, the National League comprising the West Coast teams. That would mean fifteen of the thirty major league teams would be changing leagues:
The new alignment:
American League
Atlanta Braves
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Florida Marlins
Montreal Expos
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
National League
Anaheim Angels
Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Colorado Rockies
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Dodgers
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
Oakland Athletics
St. Louis Cardinals
San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
Obviously, these are sweeping changes, changes a lot of the teams involved are not in favor of. The Mets have been a major factor in stalling the realignment process in their protests against joining the American League, saying that sharing opponents with the Yankees will dilute attendance. The same can be said for the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics or the Chicago Cubs and White Sox.
These are valid arguments, as baseball obviously doesn’t want to employ a structure that will effect the revenue of its teams, especially those like the Athletics who have been publicly struggling with finances. Likewise, the power of such large market teams as the Yankees and Mets will surely play a role in whether this situation comes to light.
But who cares about the owners? What about us, the fans?
Well, one question that would have an interesting answer would be interleague play. Without the regional rivalries that have provided the sparks in interleague play, would there be any reason to continue it? How many people are going to come out to see the Florida Marlins play the Milwaukee Brewers?
Interleague play would probably meet it’s demise if a major realignment took place, contradicting the main reason Major League Baseball claimed they were giving us interleague baseball to begin with: to show off the stars from around the league in arenas they wouldn’t normally play. With realignment in this manner and no interleague play, the Dodgers would never see Mike Piazza. The Pirates would never see Barry Bonds.
With realignment, this would become even worse. Placing the National League on the West Coast puts them almost entirely in a different time zone. Except for Saturdays and Sundays, the only time us East Coasters would ever see an NL game would be after ten o’clock, thereby alienating an entire region from baseball. How will baseball appeal to kids, the future of the game, when part of the country won’t be able to see half the league?
To solve that problem, baseball would have to have some kind of interleague play, possibly in the style of the NBA. This would draw many of the problems I addressed in my previous column, one being the continued unbalancing of the schedule. Plus, adding interleague games contradicts one of the benefits of regional realignment, which is less travel for teams and a possibly tighter schedule. It would be nice if baseball could start April 15th instead of the bitterly cold April 1st starts some fans in the north have had to endure.
The final question that comes into play is the designated hitter. National League cities would suddenly find themselves confronted with a different kind of baseball. Pitchers like Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine who have thrived on the National League game would be faced with American League umpires. Edgar Martinez would have to learn to play first base or be traded by the Seattle Mariners. Realignment would cause sweeping changes to players in the league, a change most probably are unwilling to accept. Fifteen teams would be forced to take a long look at their rosters and make a lot of moves, in some cases trading local heroes like Martinez.
I think realignment has been Brewing for a while (Selig pun intended). The restructuring prior to the 1995 season was done with the knowledge that the league was in place for something larger. The Marlins and Rockies had been in place for one and a half seasons and the need for more teams to balance the leagues was already in discussion. It’s a shame, too, because not only has over-expansion diluted the pitching, it may eventually force baseball to change the leagues in a very drastic measure that could alienate everyone.
What’s the solution?
Number one:
No More Expansion. I do not see the logic in allowing this league to grow when the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins have been flirting with relocating for a couple seasons. If it weren’t for the few fans that actually attend their games, I would say disband the teams, cut your losses, and let baseball become a little more competitive.
Number two:
Leave the leagues alone. Even if the Twins and Expos stay in existence, there’s no reason to mess with something that really isn’t broken. I would like to see the schedules more balanced towards the divisions, but as long as interleague seemingly brings in more attendance, that will not happen.
If the Expos and Twins do disappear, some minor realignment could be in order. First, the Brewers could return to the AL, probably in the Central taking the place of the Twins. The Pirates could then return to the NL East, giving them hopefully a little more revenue from the Braves and the Mets. That would leave fourteen teams per league and even things out a bit.
All this may be for naught. Selig is going to push forward with a plan for realignment that may or may not resemble the one I’ve shown you here regardless of whether the fans want it or not. Let’s hope, for once, baseball thinks with their hearts and not their wallets.
In his second look at the structure of baseball, HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham wonders why baseball would even consider radical realignment.
A couple of days ago I wrote an article on why I felt it was time to get rid of interleague play. My timing was absolutely perfect: on Friday I posted the article, on Saturday the Yankees and Mets made every single point I tried to drive home seem insignificant as they played one of the most thrilling regular season games I have ever seen. On national television no less.
Saturday was truly a great game, there’s no doubt about that. The fire that was behind each team in trying to win bragging rights for New York City with a raucous crowd cheering every pitch made for a truly electric atmosphere. Even if you aren’t a New Yorker, you could feel what was going on that day in Flushing.
I stand by my assertions, though. The weekend series at Shea has truly been enjoyable, even if my beloved Yankees come out on the losing end. What worries me is what looms ahead.
Interleague play is merely the stepping stone in making Major League Baseball completely unrecognizable. The game has undergone a couple of major structural changes in its history, the biggest being the addition of the League Championship Series in 1969. The LCS became a necessity after both leagues expanded from ten to twelve teams a piece by adding the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos in the NL and the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots – who became the Milwaukee Brewers the following season – in the AL. This marked quite a departure from the tradition of baseball, but has since proved to be a welcome addition to the season. The LCS started as a five game series up until 1985 when it was expanded to seven games.
The next major revision came in the restructuring of the American and National Leagues in 1995 from the two-division format into three: the East, West, and Central. The league’s expansion to twenty-eight teams left baseball in a dilemma: load up the East and West with seven team divisions or break the leagues into three separate divisions. The subsequent three-division split left the playoffs in shambles, requiring the addition of the wild card team and the Division Series. For the most part, the Division Series has produced some truly exciting games, the inaugural series between the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees quieting most nay-sayers, including myself. The downside was the lengthening of an already long season. The World Series, instead of being the first week of October, was coming dangerously close to running into Election Day.
Now, with the placement of Milwaukee Brewer’s owner Bud Selig as baseball’s commish, we could be facing another restructuring, one that would turn the game on its ear.
In one version of the proposed restructuring, baseball would be aligned according to regions. The American League would comprise the East Coast teams, the National League comprising the West Coast teams. That would mean fifteen of the thirty major league teams would be changing leagues:
The new alignment:
American League
Atlanta Braves
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Florida Marlins
Montreal Expos
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
National League
Anaheim Angels
Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Colorado Rockies
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Dodgers
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
Oakland Athletics
St. Louis Cardinals
San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
Obviously, these are sweeping changes, changes a lot of the teams involved are not in favor of. The Mets have been a major factor in stalling the realignment process in their protests against joining the American League, saying that sharing opponents with the Yankees will dilute attendance. The same can be said for the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics or the Chicago Cubs and White Sox.
These are valid arguments, as baseball obviously doesn’t want to employ a structure that will effect the revenue of its teams, especially those like the Athletics who have been publicly struggling with finances. Likewise, the power of such large market teams as the Yankees and Mets will surely play a role in whether this situation comes to light.
But who cares about the owners? What about us, the fans?
Well, one question that would have an interesting answer would be interleague play. Without the regional rivalries that have provided the sparks in interleague play, would there be any reason to continue it? How many people are going to come out to see the Florida Marlins play the Milwaukee Brewers?
Interleague play would probably meet it’s demise if a major realignment took place, contradicting the main reason Major League Baseball claimed they were giving us interleague baseball to begin with: to show off the stars from around the league in arenas they wouldn’t normally play. With realignment in this manner and no interleague play, the Dodgers would never see Mike Piazza. The Pirates would never see Barry Bonds.
With realignment, this would become even worse. Placing the National League on the West Coast puts them almost entirely in a different time zone. Except for Saturdays and Sundays, the only time us East Coasters would ever see an NL game would be after ten o’clock, thereby alienating an entire region from baseball. How will baseball appeal to kids, the future of the game, when part of the country won’t be able to see half the league?
To solve that problem, baseball would have to have some kind of interleague play, possibly in the style of the NBA. This would draw many of the problems I addressed in my previous column, one being the continued unbalancing of the schedule. Plus, adding interleague games contradicts one of the benefits of regional realignment, which is less travel for teams and a possibly tighter schedule. It would be nice if baseball could start April 15th instead of the bitterly cold April 1st starts some fans in the north have had to endure.
The final question that comes into play is the designated hitter. National League cities would suddenly find themselves confronted with a different kind of baseball. Pitchers like Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine who have thrived on the National League game would be faced with American League umpires. Edgar Martinez would have to learn to play first base or be traded by the Seattle Mariners. Realignment would cause sweeping changes to players in the league, a change most probably are unwilling to accept. Fifteen teams would be forced to take a long look at their rosters and make a lot of moves, in some cases trading local heroes like Martinez.
I think realignment has been Brewing for a while (Selig pun intended). The restructuring prior to the 1995 season was done with the knowledge that the league was in place for something larger. The Marlins and Rockies had been in place for one and a half seasons and the need for more teams to balance the leagues was already in discussion. It’s a shame, too, because not only has over-expansion diluted the pitching, it may eventually force baseball to change the leagues in a very drastic measure that could alienate everyone.
What’s the solution?
Number one:
No More Expansion. I do not see the logic in allowing this league to grow when the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins have been flirting with relocating for a couple seasons. If it weren’t for the few fans that actually attend their games, I would say disband the teams, cut your losses, and let baseball become a little more competitive.
Number two:
Leave the leagues alone. Even if the Twins and Expos stay in existence, there’s no reason to mess with something that really isn’t broken. I would like to see the schedules more balanced towards the divisions, but as long as interleague seemingly brings in more attendance, that will not happen.
If the Expos and Twins do disappear, some minor realignment could be in order. First, the Brewers could return to the AL, probably in the Central taking the place of the Twins. The Pirates could then return to the NL East, giving them hopefully a little more revenue from the Braves and the Mets. That would leave fourteen teams per league and even things out a bit.
All this may be for naught. Selig is going to push forward with a plan for realignment that may or may not resemble the one I’ve shown you here regardless of whether the fans want it or not. Let’s hope, for once, baseball thinks with their hearts and not their wallets.
Saturday, July 10, 1999
It's Time to Say Goodbye to Interleague Baseball
This is an article that was originally published on HardRockSports.com.
As the second round of interleague baseball kicks into high gear, HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham takes a look at why it's time to put this puppy to rest.
Interleague play must go. I was thinking of leaving the column with just those four words, the simplicity making a profound and long-lasting impression on you, the reader. Then I saw the crowd at Shea Stadium Friday night to watch the Yanks and the Mets enter round two of the New York Subway Series and realized it may take a little more than that to make my point.
So here I go to type more words to convince you of my theory. But first, let me preface this tirade by giving you a little history of my baseball gripes: I hated the three divisional system when it was first put into place but have learned to live with the need for it; I hated the idea of a wild card system drawing out the playoffs another series and creating races for second place within a division, but, because of the three divisional system, realized it was necessary to maintain some competition; and finally, I hate the fact that Major League Baseball obviously juiced the ball after the ’94 season to increase the offense, then, in the bogus name of LIMITING offense established a universal strike zone that the umpires have all but ignored. Still, it’s a great game and I’ll watch it until the day I die.
The fact is that changes are made in sports for one reason and one reason only: money. The 24-second shot clock in basketball was an attempt to speed up the game and draw more viewers. Three divisions and the wild card became much more acceptable to baseball owners when revenue from another round of playoffs entered the picture. Heck, even volleyball abolished the side-out rule because they thought it was slowing down the game and boring people to death.
When sports like volleyball take action, you know there’s a problem.
And now we’re left with interleague play. When interleague play first came into fruition a couple of seasons ago, it was given the purpose of allowing fans in other cities to see the superstars of baseball that would never visit their town. Ken Griffey Jr., Arod, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza. All these players would be making three game appearances in venues they’d never played before and revitalize the game amidst the dragging post-strike era. Sounds reasonable, but the problems for the traditionalists lied in how these changes effected almost a hundred years of tradition. American and National league teams weren’t supposed to meet until the World Series. But in the name of revenue, baseball pushed on.
They gave us many reasons why interleague was good for the sport. A couple for instances:
As above, fans in different cities get to see the players in person that they never would.
It would seem that way given the outline MLB designed. The original plan was for the first two seasons to rotate divisions. In the first year, the AL East would play the NL East. The next year, the AL East would play the NL Central, etc. This way, you get to see everyone.
But that’s not how it worked out, is it? Instead, everyone has played the same division for the last three seasons. Major League Baseball found out that there were some geographical rivals in Chicago, New York, and California drawing sell-out crowds that wouldn’t exist if the Devil Rays played the Astros. Now, not only has everyone played the same division in each year, but the Yankees and Mets play TWO series just to draw the crowds. Boston draws the Braves twice to the Yankees once creating a clearly unbalanced schedule.
Interleague play gives fans the rivalry games they want to see.
Sure, in Chicago, New York, California, even Texas. The Mets drew 54,000 people Friday night. How about the games that nobody cares about? Milwaukee at Detroit drew 23,000. 10,000 showed up for Toronto at Montreal. In the midst of battles for small market teams to increase revenue, interleague play has clearly benefited the teams that are “making too much money.” That goes against everything Major League Baseball claims they are trying to do.
Regardless of these minor drawbacks, there are major flaws in the system, most notably the effect on the schedule. In the NL Central, there are six teams compared to the AL Central’s five. To correct the problem, St. Louis doesn’t play Cleveland, the team with the best record in baseball, at all, creating a huge advantage for them in a tight pennant race. Al Leiter attributed the Mets missing the playoffs by one game in ’98 to the three games they had to play against the Yankees.
Worst of all, to accommodate the large number of interleague games, the schedule against same division teams has suffered. Teams play other teams in their own division 12 times over the season, two series at home and two on the road. Against teams outside of their division, sometimes they play ten games, sometimes twelve. For instance, the Yankees play the Central division Tigers twelve times this season, but the Indians only ten. This creates advantages and disadvantages for certain teams in how often they play the stiffer competition. The importance of determining pennants by playing teams within your division is completely lost when you don’t play a significant number of games against them. Likewise, the rivalries that have formed in the past and can be built today are given less chance to develop.
Simply put, interleague play has done nothing for baseball but unbalance the competition, create wider gaps between the small and large market teams, and conflict the exact goals it “attempted” to achieve by implementing the games to begin with. I beg of you, Mr. Selig, tear down that wall.
As the second round of interleague baseball kicks into high gear, HardRock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham takes a look at why it's time to put this puppy to rest.
Interleague play must go. I was thinking of leaving the column with just those four words, the simplicity making a profound and long-lasting impression on you, the reader. Then I saw the crowd at Shea Stadium Friday night to watch the Yanks and the Mets enter round two of the New York Subway Series and realized it may take a little more than that to make my point.
So here I go to type more words to convince you of my theory. But first, let me preface this tirade by giving you a little history of my baseball gripes: I hated the three divisional system when it was first put into place but have learned to live with the need for it; I hated the idea of a wild card system drawing out the playoffs another series and creating races for second place within a division, but, because of the three divisional system, realized it was necessary to maintain some competition; and finally, I hate the fact that Major League Baseball obviously juiced the ball after the ’94 season to increase the offense, then, in the bogus name of LIMITING offense established a universal strike zone that the umpires have all but ignored. Still, it’s a great game and I’ll watch it until the day I die.
The fact is that changes are made in sports for one reason and one reason only: money. The 24-second shot clock in basketball was an attempt to speed up the game and draw more viewers. Three divisions and the wild card became much more acceptable to baseball owners when revenue from another round of playoffs entered the picture. Heck, even volleyball abolished the side-out rule because they thought it was slowing down the game and boring people to death.
When sports like volleyball take action, you know there’s a problem.
And now we’re left with interleague play. When interleague play first came into fruition a couple of seasons ago, it was given the purpose of allowing fans in other cities to see the superstars of baseball that would never visit their town. Ken Griffey Jr., Arod, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza. All these players would be making three game appearances in venues they’d never played before and revitalize the game amidst the dragging post-strike era. Sounds reasonable, but the problems for the traditionalists lied in how these changes effected almost a hundred years of tradition. American and National league teams weren’t supposed to meet until the World Series. But in the name of revenue, baseball pushed on.
They gave us many reasons why interleague was good for the sport. A couple for instances:
As above, fans in different cities get to see the players in person that they never would.
It would seem that way given the outline MLB designed. The original plan was for the first two seasons to rotate divisions. In the first year, the AL East would play the NL East. The next year, the AL East would play the NL Central, etc. This way, you get to see everyone.
But that’s not how it worked out, is it? Instead, everyone has played the same division for the last three seasons. Major League Baseball found out that there were some geographical rivals in Chicago, New York, and California drawing sell-out crowds that wouldn’t exist if the Devil Rays played the Astros. Now, not only has everyone played the same division in each year, but the Yankees and Mets play TWO series just to draw the crowds. Boston draws the Braves twice to the Yankees once creating a clearly unbalanced schedule.
Interleague play gives fans the rivalry games they want to see.
Sure, in Chicago, New York, California, even Texas. The Mets drew 54,000 people Friday night. How about the games that nobody cares about? Milwaukee at Detroit drew 23,000. 10,000 showed up for Toronto at Montreal. In the midst of battles for small market teams to increase revenue, interleague play has clearly benefited the teams that are “making too much money.” That goes against everything Major League Baseball claims they are trying to do.
Regardless of these minor drawbacks, there are major flaws in the system, most notably the effect on the schedule. In the NL Central, there are six teams compared to the AL Central’s five. To correct the problem, St. Louis doesn’t play Cleveland, the team with the best record in baseball, at all, creating a huge advantage for them in a tight pennant race. Al Leiter attributed the Mets missing the playoffs by one game in ’98 to the three games they had to play against the Yankees.
Worst of all, to accommodate the large number of interleague games, the schedule against same division teams has suffered. Teams play other teams in their own division 12 times over the season, two series at home and two on the road. Against teams outside of their division, sometimes they play ten games, sometimes twelve. For instance, the Yankees play the Central division Tigers twelve times this season, but the Indians only ten. This creates advantages and disadvantages for certain teams in how often they play the stiffer competition. The importance of determining pennants by playing teams within your division is completely lost when you don’t play a significant number of games against them. Likewise, the rivalries that have formed in the past and can be built today are given less chance to develop.
Simply put, interleague play has done nothing for baseball but unbalance the competition, create wider gaps between the small and large market teams, and conflict the exact goals it “attempted” to achieve by implementing the games to begin with. I beg of you, Mr. Selig, tear down that wall.
Friday, July 9, 1999
A Chink in the Armor?
This is an article that was originally published on HardRockSports.com.
As the All Star break looms, Hardrock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham thinks it's time to take a look at the good and bad of the Yankees season.
We’re approaching the All Star break and that can mean only two things: three days without competitive baseball and its time to take stock in our teams. While the National League benefits from one of the most competitive seasons in recent memory, the AL is slowly waking up from a mediocre beginning. The AL Central continues to be a joke while Seattle and Toronto are trying to make the West and East a lot more interesting.
All this should spell good news for the World Champion New York Yankees. After all, they won 114 regular season games last year and survived the one stumbling block they encountered in Cleveland during the post-season en route to a World Series sweep. This league should be ripe for another Yankee dynasty to emerge.
Slow down, turbo. These are NOT the 1998 Yankees. Yes, going into the weekend series with the Mets they are 51 – 32, a solid 19 games over .500 and 4 games ahead in the East, but this team isn’t performing near the level of their predecessors.
Call it karma, Murphy’s Law, or the unwritten principle that nothing is a guarantee in baseball. Either way, the Yankees so far in 1999 have had their successes and their failures. I’m going to shed a little light on both.
The Great
Derek Jeter – I’m growing a little tired of the debate over the best shortstop in the American League - ARod, Nomar, and Jeter - for one simple reason: we won’t have the answer until they retire. Two years ago, Jeter wasn’t quite in the class of Arod or Nomar, but as the ’99 season is proving, Derek has closed that gap and may be ready to surpass them.
Jeter has been the focal point of a Yankees’ offense that has drifted from dominating to non-existent. He’s posted an OPS (slugging percentage + on base percentage) of 1.089, a distinct improvement over his .860 before the ’98 break. That number will more than likely drop a notch by the end of the season, but if history is any indication, it could actually rise, as Jeter’s OPS has increased in the second half over the last three seasons by .061.
In all likelihood, this won’t happen unless Jeter’s power numbers increase. After a torrid April (1.217 OPS), Jeter’s numbers have been on a slow decline while maintaining a steady batting average. Barring injury, he will get two hundred hits for the second season in a row and most likely will drive in one hundred runs for the first time in his career.
Probably the most impressive fact about Jeter is how he’s worked to improve his hitting. After batting .304 (.862 OPS) against right-handers over the last three seasons, the right-handed Jeter is hitting .398 (1.128 OPS) going into the All Star break.
David Cone – There was some talk at the end of the ’97 season about what could be left in David Cone’s arm. After enduring two arm surgeries in three seasons, including an aneurysm in 1996, age and the wear and tear of thirteen seasons of pitching looked to have caught up with the former Cy Young winner. Twenty wins and a World Championship later, Cone faced the same questions leading into the ’99 season.
Instead of being a 36-year-old pitcher on the decline, Cone has actually improved. He’s been averaging 6.2 innings per start, having only one truly bad outing, allowing 5 earned runs in 5.2 innings to the Phillies. Over 113 innings, Cone has allowed 90 hits, averaging 7.1 hits per nine innings, a vast improvement over the 8 per nine innings he averaged in ’98, while giving up 4 less home runs going into the break.
If there’s been a point of concern with Cone this year, it’s been his walk total. After walking only 59 batters last year in 207.2 innings, Cone has walked 51 already this season. With fatigue usually playing a factor down the stretch, this number could rise even more along with Cone’s ERA.
Mariano Rivera – Some may argue the true value of closers in a bullpen, but you can’t argue how effective Rivera has been. Since joining the Yankee bullpen in ’96, Rivera has posted a 1.92 ERA, collecting 105 saves. He has struck out 252 batters, while allowing only 81 walks and 205 hits. In a word, he has been dominant.
The Good
Bernie Williams – What, a .342 batting average with 52 RBI’s is only good? Well, yes.
Bernie’s been having a good season, no doubt there. After signing a huge seven-year, $87.5 million contract in the off-season, Bernie entered the upper echelon of Major League ballplayers. And to a degree, he has been exactly that so far this season, posting a .937 OPS. Bernie’s scored 65 runs and driven in another 52, which ain’t too shabby either.
There’s only one problem: the power numbers just aren’t there. A .514 slugging percentage is okay, but Bernie hit .575 last year, .603 before the All Star break. The lack of power has left the Yankees’ cleanup spot less productive than had been expected and forced Torre to mix-up the order in hopes of jump-starting the offense. Bernie landed in the two spot and instantly fell into a groove. It was good for the offense for a while, but Bernie didn’t get the big bucks to be a table-setter and has since returned to the cleanup spot.
Chances are, Bernie’s numbers will rise. He’s never played more than 144 games in a season and so far this season has avoided injury. Over the second half, Bernie has remained pretty consistent and looking at his average, you have to figure the power will come around.
Chili Davis – When Chili Davis tore up April with a 1.091 OPS, Yankee fans were left to wonder what ’98 would have been like with a healthy Davis for a full season. Instead of 125 wins, could it have been 128? 130? After all, nobody expected the 39 year-old DH to come out swinging in ’99 after slugging .447 in 35 games last year.
His numbers have since cooled off a bit, an interleague June spent mostly on the road removed his DH position for a week. The break may have taken Chili off of his stride, but he’s started July off well, going 8 for 27 with 2 HRs. His switch-hitting bat is a key component to the Yankees’ lineup, both sides producing a decent average and more power from the left side. Davis’ numbers typically drop in the second half but the long vacation in ’98 due to the reconstruction of his ankle could help him down the stretch.
Hideki Irabu – No, that’s not a typo. Despite hitting a packet of turbulence in spring training and an equally horrible start to the season, Irabu has turned what could have been his swan song with the Yankees into a mildly successful season. How so, you ask? His record is only 5 – 3, but what has he done for us lately?
Since May 5th, Irabu has started 8 games, posting a 3.38 ERA, averaging 6.1 innings per start. Not bad for a fifth starter.
The Bad
Jorge Posada/Joe Girardi – The Yankees’ catching situation has been nothing short of dreadful. First, they put a good catching prospect in Mike Figga on waivers, allowing the Orioles to pick him up. This isn’t a tremendous loss because the Yanks are deep with talent in the catching position. Aren’t they?
If by deep you mean sunk, you may be onto something. Posada’s a veteran prospect at this stage in his career and Girardi’s a seasoned veteran with good catching skills. What last year looked like an ideal situation to groom Posada for the starting job has slowly shed some doubt on the Yankees’ catching future. This August, Posada will be 28 years old and on the downswing while Girardi is a second string 35 year-old catcher making $3.5 million in his option year.
How bad is Posada this season after being so highly touted? Try a .657 OPS in 55 games, 50 strikeouts in 187 at-bats, 11 passed balls, and a sharp decline in his caught-stealing ratio. Girardi isn’t much better on the offensive front with a disturbingly low .506 OPS in 35 games. While defensively he is much more solid, Girardi likely will not be back next season, making Posada’s downward trajectory all the more concerning.
The Bullpen – Delete Mariano Rivera from the equation and the Yankees’ relief corp. has struggled. After losing Jeff Nelson early in the season, the revolving door that is the Yankees’ pen has seen the likes of Tony Fossas, Jay Tessmer, Todd Erdos, and the recently acquired Allen Watson. Jason Grimsley has been decent at times, his 4.20 ERA reflecting the few struggles he’s had over 45 innings. Ramiro Mendoza, the Yanks sixth starter, has struggled even more than Grimsley, posting a 4.46 ERA and making the decision to leave Irabu in the rotation look like a no-brainer.
Left Field – The turf is fine, it the players I’m concerned about. The Yankees have been rotating the most ineffective platoon in baseball, utilizing Shane Spencer (.770 OPS), Chad Curtis (.694), Ricky Ledee (.553) and Tony Tarasco (.482). The lack of offensive production has not only hurt the bottom of the Yankees’ order, but also started a whirlwind of trade rumors.
Shane Spencer started to solidify the position over the last couple of weeks, showing good signs of power and raising his average 35 points, but found himself in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat.
The Ugly
Andy Pettitte – Pettitte’s numbers have been weak to say the least: 5.56 ERA, 100 hits over 87.1 innings, and a 2.2 IP, 6 earned run shellacking at the hands of the Cleveland Indians. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre claims the rough first half isn’t due to control or lack of movement, but is more mentally related. That may not be a good sign as many pitchers have dropped in recent years due to their inability to focus on the mound.
What turns the situation from bad to ugly is the firestorm that has surrounded Pettitte’s decline from previous success. Rumors are that the Yankees are shopping Pettitte, possibly for a left fielder (see above). While this may simply be a ploy to see what kind of interest there is, the prospect of trading a proven 27 year-old left hander with a successful track record is not comforting when looking at the ages of David Cone and Roger Clemens.
Chuck Knoblauch – Knobby didn’t exactly have a stellar inaugural season with the Yankees in ’98, but the rest of the team’s performance more than made up for him. While his OBP has risen slightly so far this year, he’s still not producing anywhere near what the Yankees expected when they traded four prospects, including the highly touted pitcher Eric Milton to the Twins.
Chuck’s case of the Steve Sax throwing yips last year has mysteriously risen again, only this time in much worse form. After committing 13 errors over the entire ’98 season, Chuck has 16 already this year and has a zone rating of .803. A lot has been attributed to personal problems in his life leading to less focus on the ball field, but none of this will help him when it becomes contract time, especially with D'Angelo Jimenez awaiting his chance in the minors.
But What Does it All Mean?
I have made a lot of arguments about what has gone wrong with the Yankees this year, but in spite of it all, they still remain in first place in the AL East. The team has a lot of talent and knows how to win, characteristics that can carry you quite far in the post-season.
But that doesn’t mean it will be easy. The Yanks have shown a lot of weaknesses the first half and while their pitching ranks in the top three in the league, there are enough holes that can be exploited. Unlike last year, this team can be beat fairly easily, whether by a terrible pitching performance or the slumbering nature of the offense. When running on all cylinders, they look like the ’98 Yankees, but those occasions haven’t found the consistency Joe Torre would like.
The second half holds a lot of questions that can only be answered in the post season. The team has severely underachieved, leaving the possibility of a hot streak at any moment that could ignite the subdued arrogance that festered in the clubhouse last year. Cleveland remains the biggest obstacle in returning to the World Series and it will take the pitching staff to be running at full speed to surpass them. If the Yankee’s rotation hit’s their stride come playoff time, look for the Yanks to make another appearance in the Series.
As the All Star break looms, Hardrock Sports columnist Scott A. Ham thinks it's time to take a look at the good and bad of the Yankees season.
We’re approaching the All Star break and that can mean only two things: three days without competitive baseball and its time to take stock in our teams. While the National League benefits from one of the most competitive seasons in recent memory, the AL is slowly waking up from a mediocre beginning. The AL Central continues to be a joke while Seattle and Toronto are trying to make the West and East a lot more interesting.
All this should spell good news for the World Champion New York Yankees. After all, they won 114 regular season games last year and survived the one stumbling block they encountered in Cleveland during the post-season en route to a World Series sweep. This league should be ripe for another Yankee dynasty to emerge.
Slow down, turbo. These are NOT the 1998 Yankees. Yes, going into the weekend series with the Mets they are 51 – 32, a solid 19 games over .500 and 4 games ahead in the East, but this team isn’t performing near the level of their predecessors.
Call it karma, Murphy’s Law, or the unwritten principle that nothing is a guarantee in baseball. Either way, the Yankees so far in 1999 have had their successes and their failures. I’m going to shed a little light on both.
The Great
Derek Jeter – I’m growing a little tired of the debate over the best shortstop in the American League - ARod, Nomar, and Jeter - for one simple reason: we won’t have the answer until they retire. Two years ago, Jeter wasn’t quite in the class of Arod or Nomar, but as the ’99 season is proving, Derek has closed that gap and may be ready to surpass them.
Jeter has been the focal point of a Yankees’ offense that has drifted from dominating to non-existent. He’s posted an OPS (slugging percentage + on base percentage) of 1.089, a distinct improvement over his .860 before the ’98 break. That number will more than likely drop a notch by the end of the season, but if history is any indication, it could actually rise, as Jeter’s OPS has increased in the second half over the last three seasons by .061.
In all likelihood, this won’t happen unless Jeter’s power numbers increase. After a torrid April (1.217 OPS), Jeter’s numbers have been on a slow decline while maintaining a steady batting average. Barring injury, he will get two hundred hits for the second season in a row and most likely will drive in one hundred runs for the first time in his career.
Probably the most impressive fact about Jeter is how he’s worked to improve his hitting. After batting .304 (.862 OPS) against right-handers over the last three seasons, the right-handed Jeter is hitting .398 (1.128 OPS) going into the All Star break.
David Cone – There was some talk at the end of the ’97 season about what could be left in David Cone’s arm. After enduring two arm surgeries in three seasons, including an aneurysm in 1996, age and the wear and tear of thirteen seasons of pitching looked to have caught up with the former Cy Young winner. Twenty wins and a World Championship later, Cone faced the same questions leading into the ’99 season.
Instead of being a 36-year-old pitcher on the decline, Cone has actually improved. He’s been averaging 6.2 innings per start, having only one truly bad outing, allowing 5 earned runs in 5.2 innings to the Phillies. Over 113 innings, Cone has allowed 90 hits, averaging 7.1 hits per nine innings, a vast improvement over the 8 per nine innings he averaged in ’98, while giving up 4 less home runs going into the break.
If there’s been a point of concern with Cone this year, it’s been his walk total. After walking only 59 batters last year in 207.2 innings, Cone has walked 51 already this season. With fatigue usually playing a factor down the stretch, this number could rise even more along with Cone’s ERA.
Mariano Rivera – Some may argue the true value of closers in a bullpen, but you can’t argue how effective Rivera has been. Since joining the Yankee bullpen in ’96, Rivera has posted a 1.92 ERA, collecting 105 saves. He has struck out 252 batters, while allowing only 81 walks and 205 hits. In a word, he has been dominant.
The Good
Bernie Williams – What, a .342 batting average with 52 RBI’s is only good? Well, yes.
Bernie’s been having a good season, no doubt there. After signing a huge seven-year, $87.5 million contract in the off-season, Bernie entered the upper echelon of Major League ballplayers. And to a degree, he has been exactly that so far this season, posting a .937 OPS. Bernie’s scored 65 runs and driven in another 52, which ain’t too shabby either.
There’s only one problem: the power numbers just aren’t there. A .514 slugging percentage is okay, but Bernie hit .575 last year, .603 before the All Star break. The lack of power has left the Yankees’ cleanup spot less productive than had been expected and forced Torre to mix-up the order in hopes of jump-starting the offense. Bernie landed in the two spot and instantly fell into a groove. It was good for the offense for a while, but Bernie didn’t get the big bucks to be a table-setter and has since returned to the cleanup spot.
Chances are, Bernie’s numbers will rise. He’s never played more than 144 games in a season and so far this season has avoided injury. Over the second half, Bernie has remained pretty consistent and looking at his average, you have to figure the power will come around.
Chili Davis – When Chili Davis tore up April with a 1.091 OPS, Yankee fans were left to wonder what ’98 would have been like with a healthy Davis for a full season. Instead of 125 wins, could it have been 128? 130? After all, nobody expected the 39 year-old DH to come out swinging in ’99 after slugging .447 in 35 games last year.
His numbers have since cooled off a bit, an interleague June spent mostly on the road removed his DH position for a week. The break may have taken Chili off of his stride, but he’s started July off well, going 8 for 27 with 2 HRs. His switch-hitting bat is a key component to the Yankees’ lineup, both sides producing a decent average and more power from the left side. Davis’ numbers typically drop in the second half but the long vacation in ’98 due to the reconstruction of his ankle could help him down the stretch.
Hideki Irabu – No, that’s not a typo. Despite hitting a packet of turbulence in spring training and an equally horrible start to the season, Irabu has turned what could have been his swan song with the Yankees into a mildly successful season. How so, you ask? His record is only 5 – 3, but what has he done for us lately?
Since May 5th, Irabu has started 8 games, posting a 3.38 ERA, averaging 6.1 innings per start. Not bad for a fifth starter.
The Bad
Jorge Posada/Joe Girardi – The Yankees’ catching situation has been nothing short of dreadful. First, they put a good catching prospect in Mike Figga on waivers, allowing the Orioles to pick him up. This isn’t a tremendous loss because the Yanks are deep with talent in the catching position. Aren’t they?
If by deep you mean sunk, you may be onto something. Posada’s a veteran prospect at this stage in his career and Girardi’s a seasoned veteran with good catching skills. What last year looked like an ideal situation to groom Posada for the starting job has slowly shed some doubt on the Yankees’ catching future. This August, Posada will be 28 years old and on the downswing while Girardi is a second string 35 year-old catcher making $3.5 million in his option year.
How bad is Posada this season after being so highly touted? Try a .657 OPS in 55 games, 50 strikeouts in 187 at-bats, 11 passed balls, and a sharp decline in his caught-stealing ratio. Girardi isn’t much better on the offensive front with a disturbingly low .506 OPS in 35 games. While defensively he is much more solid, Girardi likely will not be back next season, making Posada’s downward trajectory all the more concerning.
The Bullpen – Delete Mariano Rivera from the equation and the Yankees’ relief corp. has struggled. After losing Jeff Nelson early in the season, the revolving door that is the Yankees’ pen has seen the likes of Tony Fossas, Jay Tessmer, Todd Erdos, and the recently acquired Allen Watson. Jason Grimsley has been decent at times, his 4.20 ERA reflecting the few struggles he’s had over 45 innings. Ramiro Mendoza, the Yanks sixth starter, has struggled even more than Grimsley, posting a 4.46 ERA and making the decision to leave Irabu in the rotation look like a no-brainer.
Left Field – The turf is fine, it the players I’m concerned about. The Yankees have been rotating the most ineffective platoon in baseball, utilizing Shane Spencer (.770 OPS), Chad Curtis (.694), Ricky Ledee (.553) and Tony Tarasco (.482). The lack of offensive production has not only hurt the bottom of the Yankees’ order, but also started a whirlwind of trade rumors.
Shane Spencer started to solidify the position over the last couple of weeks, showing good signs of power and raising his average 35 points, but found himself in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat.
The Ugly
Andy Pettitte – Pettitte’s numbers have been weak to say the least: 5.56 ERA, 100 hits over 87.1 innings, and a 2.2 IP, 6 earned run shellacking at the hands of the Cleveland Indians. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre claims the rough first half isn’t due to control or lack of movement, but is more mentally related. That may not be a good sign as many pitchers have dropped in recent years due to their inability to focus on the mound.
What turns the situation from bad to ugly is the firestorm that has surrounded Pettitte’s decline from previous success. Rumors are that the Yankees are shopping Pettitte, possibly for a left fielder (see above). While this may simply be a ploy to see what kind of interest there is, the prospect of trading a proven 27 year-old left hander with a successful track record is not comforting when looking at the ages of David Cone and Roger Clemens.
Chuck Knoblauch – Knobby didn’t exactly have a stellar inaugural season with the Yankees in ’98, but the rest of the team’s performance more than made up for him. While his OBP has risen slightly so far this year, he’s still not producing anywhere near what the Yankees expected when they traded four prospects, including the highly touted pitcher Eric Milton to the Twins.
Chuck’s case of the Steve Sax throwing yips last year has mysteriously risen again, only this time in much worse form. After committing 13 errors over the entire ’98 season, Chuck has 16 already this year and has a zone rating of .803. A lot has been attributed to personal problems in his life leading to less focus on the ball field, but none of this will help him when it becomes contract time, especially with D'Angelo Jimenez awaiting his chance in the minors.
But What Does it All Mean?
I have made a lot of arguments about what has gone wrong with the Yankees this year, but in spite of it all, they still remain in first place in the AL East. The team has a lot of talent and knows how to win, characteristics that can carry you quite far in the post-season.
But that doesn’t mean it will be easy. The Yanks have shown a lot of weaknesses the first half and while their pitching ranks in the top three in the league, there are enough holes that can be exploited. Unlike last year, this team can be beat fairly easily, whether by a terrible pitching performance or the slumbering nature of the offense. When running on all cylinders, they look like the ’98 Yankees, but those occasions haven’t found the consistency Joe Torre would like.
The second half holds a lot of questions that can only be answered in the post season. The team has severely underachieved, leaving the possibility of a hot streak at any moment that could ignite the subdued arrogance that festered in the clubhouse last year. Cleveland remains the biggest obstacle in returning to the World Series and it will take the pitching staff to be running at full speed to surpass them. If the Yankee’s rotation hit’s their stride come playoff time, look for the Yanks to make another appearance in the Series.
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