Yankee4Life

Bucky Dent His was an improbable glory. On October 2, 1978, baseball’s fates codified heroism for a hitter with four home runs in the season. He wore Yankee pinstripes, looked like a GQ model, and, quietly, on and off the field, projected likability balancing the controversy surrounding the Yankees of the late 1970s. Bucky Dent remains known to Boston Red Sox fans as Bucky F****** Dent. Dent’s name — without the emphatic vulgarity — sounds like it’s out of a Frank Merriwell novel. The moniker comes from New England’s void of hope carved when Dent went yard on a 1-1 Mike Torrez fastball in a one-game playoff to seal the 1978 American League East championship. “Bucky effing Dent! Maybe the only time in Bucky’s career that he heard ‘It’s a long fly ball deep deep to left!’ He never hit a ball deep to left!” declared Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk at the time. “I tell you what. It was a great sound, too,” Dent responded. The home run capped an epic Red Sox collapse from a 14½ game lead in the American League East in July, forcing a one-game playoff against the Yankees — a team that, to all Red Sox fans, stole Babe Ruth after the 1919 season and, in turn, cast a curse lasting until 2004, when the Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series. The Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals in the American League playoffs that followed, went to the World Series for the third consecutive year — their last voyage to the Fall Classic in the 1970s — and captured their second consecutive championship against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dent continued his post-season heroics — in the World Series, he batted .417, notched seven RBI in six games, and won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award. Dent’s home run punctuated a magical game and post-season, though it overshadows a career of achievement. The Chicago White Sox selected Dent in the 1970 draft, placing him with the Gulf Coast League White Sox (Rookie) and then the Appleton Foxes in the Midwest League (Class A). Both teams put up solid performances: 64-60 for the Foxes, 36-24 for the White Sox. Neither flashy nor cocky, Dent proved to be a reliable batsman during his Chicago years. In 1974, he played in 154 games, batted .274, and lashed 136 hits. In 1975, he played in 157 games, batted .264, and improved his number of hits to 159. In his final year in Chicago, he played 158 games, but his batting average dropped to .246, with only 138 hits. He accomplished these numbers for a mediocre team: the 1973 Sox were 77-85. In 1974, they were 80-80. In 1975, the Sox fell to 75-86, and collapsed in 1976 to 64-97. Chicago tried to peddle Dent to Oakland, but owner Charlie Finley turned down the deal. As the March 11th deadline approached for players to have a contract, a strategy emerged for Dent to play with Chicago for 1977 and then pursue opportunities as a free agent after the season. His present contract offered a renewal at $40,000; he turned down a $100,000 per season offer. Right before the 1977 season, the White Sox traded Dent to the Yankees in exchange for outfielder Oscar Gamble and two minor league pitchers, plus cash “estimated between $250,000 and $400,000.” Dent’s deal: three-year contract at $125,000 per year. Dent’s first season in New York nearly paralleled his last in Chicago: 158 games and a .247 batting average. Willie Randolph, Dent’s double play partner at second base, came to the Yankees the year prior. Dent’s value went beyond fielding and batting. He contributed stability to a team embroiled in controversy, stemming from conflict between Jackson — who had three World Series rings with the Oakland A’s and came to the Yankees after spending one season in Baltimore — and manager Martin, a former player with several World Series rings himself from the 1950s Yankees and, to that point, a journeyman manager with the Twins, the Tigers, and the Rangers. A three-time All-Star, Dent remained the Yankees' shortstop until 1982, when he was traded to the Texas Rangers in August for outfielder Lee Mazzilli. Dent returned to the Yankees briefly in 1984 (but never played a game) before finishing his career that season with the Kansas City Royals. He spent his entire 12-year playing career in the American League, with a .247 batting average, 40 home runs and 423 RBI.

Derek Jeter Jeter played his first game in the big leagues on May 29, 1995, after a series of injuries rushed his anticipated debut. He bounced between Triple-A and the majors for the rest of the year, then earned the job as the Yankees starting shortstop in 1996. Sixth months later, Jeter was the unanimous American League Rookie of the Year after hitting .314. His steadying performance at the plate and in the field helped the Yankees win the World Series title for the first time in 18 years. Over the next 11 seasons, the Yankees never missed the postseason – winning World Series titles in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Jeter made the first of 14 All-Star Games in 1998, won the first of five Gold Glove Awards in 2004 and was annually among the league leaders in hits and runs scored. His most famous moment, however, might have come during the 2001 ALDS against the Athletics. Down 2-games-to-none in the best-of-5 series and clinging to a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning, Jeter intercepted an off-target throw near the first base line from right fielder Shane Spencer on a double by Terence Long. The play appeared to all as if it would plate Jeremy Giambi, who was running from first base. Jeter’s catch and flip to catcher Jorge Posada nipped Giambi at the plate, and the Yankees went on to win the game 1-0 and the series 3-2. The durable Jeter appeared in at least 150 games every year save one from 2001-10, was named captain of the Yankees in 2003 and claimed his fifth World Series ring in 2009, hitting .334 and finishing third in the AL Most Valuable Player voting at the age of 35. He never played a position other than shortstop in his 2,674 games in the field, reached the 200-hit plateau in eight seasons and was named the 2000 World Series Most Valuable Player. Over a record 158 Postseason games – the equivalent of one full extra season – Jeter hit .308 with 111 runs scored, 200 hits, 32 doubles, 20 homers, 61 RBI and 66 walks. He finished his career with 3,465 hits, 1,923 runs scored and 4,921 total bases.

I've always wondered if these people would find out about you somehow and then say to themselves we need to hire this guy because PC baseball is what you know. Hey, I can dream can't I? 🙂

That's one hell of a comeback. Great post.

Is that so? And you don't think that Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz are not afraid of that rotten...well forget how I feel about him. Those guys sure as hell had plenty to say against him before he got the nominee to run for office but right after that all was forgiven. If major butt kissing was a course in college these two would be professors teaching the class. What the hell are you talking about? That comment is right out of the Trump playbook although it doesn't surprise me. Your opinions are yours and I sure as heck won't persecute you for having them but the Democrats are now Communists? In what way? And no, I never saw the Manchurian Candidate.

Fantastic as usual Homer. I've always been a fan of your superior work.

I am sorry to find out that people in that fine country of yours have to be forced to listen to the same crap that we seem to get in this country non-stop every day. Who is this ungrateful SOB? And nothing will ever convince me that these people who point out racism here, there and everywhere only do it for the attention it gets them because if you don't agree with them then you become today's racist of the day. I don't consider myself an extreme leftist. I consider myself a Democrat who has over the years and especially since Trump someone who has lost a lot of respect for Republicans because they are afraid of him. I also want nothing to do with "cancel culture" or anything remotely a part of it. This Seuss thing is just one example of cancel culture and I personally would be embarrassed to be associated with it. I don't know what kind of Democrat that makes me but there it is. What I really would like to see is cancel culture being cancelled and letting people come to their own opinions instead of being pressured into going along with the next new thing to pile on. Right now, Suess. This week or next week? Who knows.

Updated to 3-14 ...It was Fun while it lasted Dept: It sure was nice to see baseball start up again a few weeks back and I’ll admit I got caught up in it when I allowed my subscription to MLB TV to extend for another year. I’ll end up regretting that as soon as the Yankees go on their first seven game losing streak or when Judge or Stanton go down, which for them should be any day now. But the spring season would not begin without the typical Yankee bragging that I have come to expect out of them in recent years. They may have not won a championship since 2009 but with the way they talk and carry on you’d have sworn they’ve won at least five or six since then. Even before the first stretching exercises took place manager Aaron Boone said that this year’s squad is going to be a team “of championship caliber.” And there you have it. Boone just made every non-Yankee fan very happy with that statement because by saying that he just gave them the kiss of death. ...So I was wrong when I thought it would have been Judge or Stanton to get hurt first down in Tampa but I wasn’t expecting it to be Zack Britton although anyone wearing that uniform can and will get injured on a moment’s notice. Britton was having some elbow issues and he got it checked out and naturally they found something wrong with it. He has to undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone chip in his left elbow and the surgery will either be performed this week or next week. The Yankees said that they will be without Britton for the “foreseeable future” which is another way of saying four or five months without having to actually say it. ...The good thing about James Paxton returning to the Mariners is if he gets hurt again no outside of Seattle will know about it. ...Finally Lou Gehrig is going to be recognized throughout baseball eighty years after his death on June 2nd of this year. That will be the first time that baseball will be holding a day for the Yankees Iron Horse and it will include an annual tribute in which uniformed personnel will wear a jersey patch celebrating Gehrig. He deserves this recognition as much as Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente do and as we get closer to June 2nd anyone out there who wishes to portray that jersey patch will get a chance to purchase a special jersey, hoodie, t-shirt or hat from Major League Baseball. Rob Manfred doesn’t miss a trick. Only baseball would know how to take advantage of a deadly disease and make a buck off of it. ...As long as the WAR statistic has been around baseball I have to admit I don’t understand what it is. What is considered a good WAR? Or a bad one? How do you go about figuring it out for yourself and what’s more why would you want to? ...Face masks have really become a big business except of course with Republicans who still refuse to wear them. I’ve seen ones that have a person’s favorite sports teams on them or a saying of some sort or advertising for something or someone. These masks have really become creative since we have had to wear them wherever we go for the past year and some have really become expensive. I’ve seen them sold for as much as twenty dollars apiece on some websites and while my initial knee-jerk reaction was to jump on Amazon to see if they had a decently priced mask that had either the Raiders or Yankees logo on it I resisted because there are more important things for me to spend my money on. We’re not going to be asked to wear these masks indefinitely and as soon as it’s safe enough that we don’t have to have them on I am not going to be walking around with an Oakland mask on to let everyone know that I’m a Raider fan because I have t-shirts that have been doing that for years. The KN-95 mask that I walk around with may not be the most stylish in the bunch but it does the job. That’s all I want. ...One of the many things my late mother taught me was not to speak ill of the dead and this is why I am not going to do that even to someone like Rush Limbaugh who died on the 17th of February. While he may be gone his millions of listeners will safeguard that his memory will live on for a long time through their behavior towards anyone that is different from them. So the next time you are in a bar and you hear a loudmouth going on about Mexicans ruining the country or wanting to go beat up an Asian because “he started the virus” or any other views like that, then the memory of Rush Limbaugh remains alive and well. Limbaugh’s opinions and hate-filled views helped create the Republican party we know today. His supporters would argue that he loved radio, loved our country and the American people. Maybe he did, provided you agreed with him first and were white. So, I will not dance on Limbaugh’s grave or rejoice in his passing but I will not shed a tear either. ...Ever since I was a kid I would read any sports book I could get my hands on and it’s a habit I have continued on to this day. With my Amazon device it makes it easy for me to read as much as I want without finding room for the books. I usually gravitate towards baseball books but every so often I buy something else. So when I bought the The Rebel League, a book about the history of the old World Hockey Association I was not able to put it down. I haven’t thought of the WHA for years and I’m pretty sure that most sports fans today had never heard of it, which in all intents and purposes is understandable. This league was only around for eight years in the 1970’s and for young hockey fans like myself who grew up then we followed both the National Hockey League and the WHA even though this league did not get press coverage compared to the NHL. Undeterred by that I was still a fan of this league. Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe extended their careers in the WHA and it’s also notable to say that this league introduced stars such as Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson to the North American audience and gave Wayne Gretzky his start in professional hockey with the old Indianapolis Racers. This league along with the old American Basketball Association went out of business in that decade but they both are still represented today in the leagues that ended up absorbing some of their teams and many of their players. For instance, where would the NBA have been without Julius Erving? He played for the ABA’s Virginia Squires and New York Nets. There was a lot more to that league than the red, white and blue basketball. I didn’t pay attention to the World Football League a lot because they were not even around for two years and I don’t recall seeing one of their games on TV. What I remember most about them is how they killed the Miami Dolphins when they signed away Jim Kiick, Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield. Even though Miami had a winning record after they left the team they were never the same. Oakland lost Daryle Lamonica but he was near the end of his career and never returned to the NFL after the league folded and even worse almost lost Ken Stabler but the league was out of business before he could even play a down. Because of that it was the only new league I wasn’t a fan of. ...If you are someone whose sole objective is to find a problem somewhere and will not stop until you come up with something brand new to label racist or insensitive then you’ll love what they are doing to six of the children’s books from Dr. Seuss. Yeah, him. The guy famous for The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and who is now the target of finger pointers everywhere that get offended at least three times before they get dressed in the morning. Ironically it was not the politicians who decided that our eyes were too delicate for these books. It was directly from the company that publishes his books today. Seuss, who wrote his first book in 1937 and died in 1991, is now being looked at as a racist in the present day because his books have under gone intense examinations over and over again until something made those people sit back, clap their hands and exclaim when they found the part in the book that they could hold on to just to try and prove to people that they weren’t wasting their time. Six of them did not pass muster and like Lord Voldemort can not be mentioned out loud again in school libraries from here on out. What’s next, the Hardy Boys? I read those books more than I read Dr. Seuss when I was younger. If they look hard enough they’ll find something there. Who knows, maybe Joe or Frank Hardy -or both!- were closet racists. ...Let me throw this out here and then I’ll move to something else in this week’s latest. Every day I hear about a brand new celebrity or sports figure or a small or big business or a school or God knows what who is accused of being a racist. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re not. I’d like to hear one news outlet after they cover a story about some poor schmuck being a racist come out and say they were wrong. Or how about getting through one day without having to hear that word? None of us are going to be around in one hundred years and sometimes during moments like these with the Seuss books I wonder what people in 2121 are going to think of some of us who actually believe this is so important? Now I know that most people are not even affected by this but if you have small children or grandchildren it might. It’s hard enough raising kids without having a corporation telling you something is bad for them because they think so. ...There are some people you can not take anywhere and Rudy Giuliani happens to be one of them. During a charity golf event where he was paired up with Michelle Wie he told a crude story about looking up her skirt when she was lining up for her putts. He told some of his cronies after the tournament that the real reason why there was so much media following them on the course was not because he happened to be there but because they wanted to get shots of Wie's panties as she was bending over to putt. This is probably why he had his tongue out on every hole as he was watching her and his bad dye job on his hair began to get away from him again. Imagine, if Giuliani acted like this just to get a look at a pair of women’s underwear he’d have a stroke if he ever was teamed up with someone like Paige Spiranac. 😉 ...Even after all these years I still miss Bill Hader on Saturday Night Live. ...Contrary to what everyone was led to believe former major leaguer Alex Rodriguez and actress Jennifer Lopez are not going their separate ways but according to a statement that they both put out they are “working through some things.” When you read about that taking place during these celebrity break-ups it means at the last minute the woman realizes she made a mistake somewhere and is desperately back tracking to fix what she did while silently hoping that it works. Now if it were the man that caused the relationship to end there would be no working through anything because the woman would be too buy talking to People magazine or being interviewed on Entertainment Tonight to give the man five minutes to talk to her. Either way I hope it works out for them so they are both satisfied but as far as me giving it another thought, I won’t. ...Say it three times fast, Dept: I am a Youtube junkie and about a week ago in one of the videos that came up on my page showed a small town in the country of Wales in the United Kingdom named Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and it immediately grabbed my interest because I thought it was some kind of click bait. But after deciding why not I watched it and believe it or not it’s an actual place and what was really impressive was there are some people who have no trouble saying it. Amazing. It would take you a half an hour just to write the name of the town if you were writing a letter. And then I thought of our uniform makers in here. How would someone like BallFour make a uniform with fifty-six letters on it? It would probably make him give up modding.😃 .,.While I did not meet the age requirement for the Covid-19 vaccine shot I did meet one of the health criteria that the state of New York had set so last Monday morning I left my house wondering what was in store for me and what kind of pain I’d have go through to get the shot. You see, I heard various things about it and I really didn’t know what to think when I got there but I have to tell you that from the time I checked in until the time I got the shot it went by smooth and easy. Fifteen minutes is how long I had to wait after I got the shot and I had a little soreness in my arm the next day but it was completely gone by Wednesday. Whomever was complaining about this shot must not have got their parking validated or something because when someone like me can go through it with no worries you’ll be able to do it too. ...And finally as a reminder please move your alarm clock, wall clock and any other clocks that need to be manually taken care of ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. this morning, provided you are still up at that time. Your computer, phone and iPad should move ahead automatically.

Using the 2007 mod and playing in San Diego’s Petco Park. I don’t usually score in double digits so this was a rare occurrence for me and doing it against this team is even more rewarding. WP: Y4L LP: Jon Lester Hitting stars: Joe Rudi (5 for 5, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and Olyrunner (4 for 5, 5 runs scored and 3 RBI) Home runs: Joe Rudi (1) JoeyMcM93 (1) and NYM (1) I didn’t want to write the caption in this screen shot because it looks so good that it could be a possible desktop photo. There’s a lot going on here. Pedroia just got hit, the bat falls from his hands and NYM is getting up because he knows something might happen. Hell of a shot.

I'm glad this is back too. But as far as me having an awful time last year I consider myself lucky. I did not get the virus while many people did and people all over the world died from it unnecessarily. Well then, that is certainly different from what I wrote down, which was basically satirical. I'm glad you and your wife had a nice Valentine's day and I wish you many more!

Updated to 2-14 ...It’s been awhile since I’ve been home from the hospital but I still can’t forget how hard those nurses had to work each day to care for not only myself but for the entire floor I was on and I have to admit that most of them were in worse shape than I was. I was lucky that I wasn’t there because of Covid but I was there nonetheless and I had to spend eight days there watching them do a job I could never dream of doing.I had my complaints while I was there but it was because of the restrictions I was put under which I did not understand at all. I was not allowed to get out of bed during my stay and when it came time for me to be discharged I couldn’t put any weight on my legs. I never felt that way before and it had me worried but after I started walking around my house with a crutch my legs began to remember what they were there for. I’m fine now but these nurses, who are still working around the clock at hospitals all over the country deserve a big thanks from everyone for the attention and care they provide for each patient. ...I am going to be trying to update this thread more than I have. I haven’t been because my hands begin to hurt after I am typing for ten minutes or so. I thought I had the problem solved when I bought a copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking from Amazon but the head set stopped working. I tried a different head set but I had the same result. So now I am forced to type again. I’ll just have to push myself. ...Since the Corona virus has invaded our lives in every way possible we have been instructed to wear masks while out in public, wash our hands continually and practice social distancing. It’s something that has been drummed into our heads since last March and for most of us its now become a habit, more out of necessity than requirement. But people are people and some choose to listen to this advice and some choose to look at it like this is a personal attack on themselves and their rights as Americans. Every day you read about it. Religious leaders insisting on holding services even though they were told not to, kids holding corona virus parties to give the virtual middle finger to the virus and when a few of them caught the virus themselves they had a hard time finding someone to blame it on. But above all what stands out for me the most is a twenty-one-year old woman named Ava Louise, a girl whose face looks like the poster child for social distancing. She took a video of herself licking an airplane toilet seat because she was annoyed that the virus was getting more publicity than she was. The virus she said was caused by the baby boomers so why should someone like her be worried about it? She is an aspiring singer which means that she doesn’t plan on working any time soon and if you heard her sing the first thing you’d think is that she can carry a disinfectant better than she can carry a tune. I don’t feel bad for this girl at all for whatever happens to her. It’s the people that agree with her that I really feel sorry for. ...2020 was probably the most unique year I have ever lived through and I’m not saying this in a positive way. Covid hit all of us in many different ways. Some directly and sometimes through a member of your family or close-knit group of friends. There were happy ending at times and sometimes there wasn’t. When this first started a roll of toilet paper was almost as worth as a bar of gold and I still haven’t got my hands on Purell hand sanitizer. Thankfully things have calmed down now and I can squeeze the Charmin any time I want to when I go to Walmart. We would have done a better job dealing with the virus when it first got to us had we known what we were up against but all that came out of Washington was that it was a hoax by the Democrats and it was no worse than the common cold, a lie that is still believed by the people wearing the red MAGA hats. That’s why to this day they still won’t wear a mask. ...We got your back, Dept: It must be a wonderful feeling to know from birth that everyone around you will without question make excuses for you no matter what you do and that goes as far as trying over throw the rules and laws of an entire country just because you didn’t get your way. Displaying a tantrum that even toddlers don’t even dream of trying to get away with the idol of many foolish red-hat wearing, confederate flag waving and tobacco chewing advocates stormed the Capitol building in Washington last month and ran around causing as much damage as a six-year-old on a sugar high. People died that day. Some committed suicide. It was an unabashed attempt to force one person’s will over those of the nation’s majority. Yesterday this criminal got acquitted again and his base will cheer and hug each other. Then they’ll buy a couple of cases of Budweiser and watch the NASCAR race with a smile on their face because they know their hero is free and clear to run again in 2024. I’m not worried about that. What concerns me is if he does run and loses again what we saw on January 6th could happen again and be even worse. And God help us if he gets to be in a position of power because he’ll be in revenge mode for the four years he’s in office and he’ll make Nazi Germany look like Disneyland. ...About the only time I could say I am relaxed and happy where the Yankees are concerned is right now during the off-season. That’s because I don’t have to worry about those two part time players on the Yankees, Stanton and Judge. I say part time because they spend half the season on the disabled list and the only questions you have to ask about those two is when they are going to get hurt and for how long. And to my way of thinking Gary Sanchez shows what is really wrong with baseball today. He didn’t even hit .150 last year. If he would have done only that it would’ve been an improvement. He only managed twenty-three hits for the entire season. DJ LeMahieu gets twenty-three hits in two weeks. But he did manage to strike out sixty-four times in a sixty game season. And despite all this he got a raise recently and will be making 6.35 million dollars in 2021. I got to ask what did he do to deserve a raise, find his way to the ball park every day without getting lost? ...Before I forget, a nice goodbye to J.A. Happ who went over to the Twins. I hope he complains there as much as he did in New York and also to Adam Ottovino, who was the Gary Sanchez of the Yankee pitching staff last year in that he did absolutely nothing except help the other team win games. ...Former Mets ace Matt Harvey will be going to spring training with the Orioles after signing a minor league contract with Baltimore. With the way he’s going through teams he’ll be with the Yankees by September. ...Josh Hamilton is still a free man but barely. You all remember him, right? In October of 2019 he was accused by his teenage daughter of beating her while she was staying at his house. Because of that a Texas grand jury indicted him and Hamilton was free on a $30,000 bond. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of two to ten years in prison. Hamilton has had a long history of cocaine and alcohol addiction during his major league career but during all that he was known as a good family man. When asked by a reporter outside the court house why this unfortunate incident occurred Hamilton replied without conviction that he warned his daughter that this would happen the next time he caught her going into his stash. ...Wisdom does not always come with age, Dept: A seventy-two-year-old woman from California took a trip to Yellowstone National Park and found out first-hand how some bull fighters in Spain feel when they are gorged by a bull during a fight. In her case it was a bison but a gorge is a gorge. She had no intention of fighting the huge animal since she neglected to bring a cape so she did the next best thing and approached within ten feet of the bison to try to take its picture. She tried to do this a few times because she wasn’t happy with her shot and wanted to get the perfect one until finally the bison had enough and gorged her multiple times before she got away. He only needed to jab her once to give her something to remember her by but what’s a few more between friends? The woman was flown to a hospital in Idaho for treatment and then released, wrecking her plan to pet the Grizzlies later that afternoon. ...Considering this had something to do with the NFL I am surprised that this did not any coverage. Or if it did, not as much. Two men, including an unnamed NFL player, are suing United Airlines, claiming that a woman sexually assaulted and harassed the player on a flight, and that the airline didn’t take proper steps after they complained. On a flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey a woman, who appeared to be intoxicated sexually harassed, assaulted, abused, and violated the two men and despite the claim that they alerted flight attendants four times about the woman. The only action the attendants did was move the woman’s seat toward the back of the plane after the fourth complaint. Maybe the most incredible part of the lawsuit is the claim that the airline refused to give the plaintiffs the name of the woman in addition to other passengers and flight staff who could have acted as witnesses. Now if you want an example of a double standard in this country look no further than here. If it were the other way around and the two men had did this to the woman they would have their names in the paper and TV journalists would have had a field day, not to mention the cops would have been waiting for them when the flight landed. ...I don’t agree with former Red Sox and Expos pitcher Bill Lee on much but when he said that the designated hitter served one useful purpose and that was it relieved the manager of all responsibility except to post the lineup card on the dugout wall and to make sure everybody got to the airport on time. It was Lee I was thinking of the other day when baseball and the Players Association reached an agreement to not include a universal designated hitter as a new rule. That means we can go back to watching the National League pitchers hit just like the way baseball was meant to be played. Rob Manfred may have messed around with a lot of the traditional rules but so far thankfully he has not killed this one. At least not yet. ...When you are a Raider fan you really can’t get used to seeing them on the right side of the final score because it’s something they hardly seem to do. They have not been consistent winners in a long time and the days when they were one of the best teams in the NFL are getting further and further away. They were winners in 2016, lost the wild card game to Houston and then went back to normal the following season finishing under .500 again. Watching this team go from consistent winners to consistent losers has not been easy and the worst part is there is no end in sight. Oakland fans are loyal but there is only so much you can take. That’s why for me I have to be satisfied with the minor victories I get when I watch teams that I can not stand lose. The Patriots for example. They had a losing season and didn’t make the playoffs. Just as it should be. Cam Newton did a terrible job replacing Tom Brady. It seems he was more interested in dressing like a pimp during his press conferences than winning games. Same for the Cowboys. I’ve always said my favorite team was Oakland and my second favorite was whoever was playing Dallas. So once again this was another unexciting season for the Silver and Black followers but at least it ended on a high note because at the end of Super Bowl LV Patrick Mahomes had to take his football and go back home to Tyler, Texas to cry to his mother. Tyler by the way is the home of Hall-of-Famer Earl Campbell. Immediately you can see the difference between the two. Campbell had the respect of everyone in the league while Mahomes wishes for it. And I wish for a winning Raider team. It doesn’t look like Mahomes nor I will get what we want. ...The town of Natchez, Mississippi is offering remote workers $6,000 to move there, buy a home and remain for at least one year. Thew town said that thirty slots are currently available to applicants who are employed as remote workers in the United States. Their belief is that with this offer you can live in a beautiful, historic small town where everything is convenient and affordable. That may be so and I am sure they are being honest when they said their town was affordable because compared to any medium to big sized city in the country it has to be. But what is the first person who takes them up on their offer going to say when they find out the people there get their water from a pump and still use outhouses? ...Lastly, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s day today. Oh, who am I kidding? You’re going to be spending money on crap you’d never buy unless you had to. This is not even a gift-giving holiday but for women Hallmark and jewelry stores are just as important as the birth of the Son of God. That’s because on both days they get gifts. Or else. Not everyone will agree with this and that’s ok. Maybe some of you are reading this with your wife or girlfriend looking over your shoulder right now. Before she looks at you funny you should shake your head and mutter that I don’t know what I’m talking about. Go ahead, your secret’s safe with me. 😉

Billy Martin As a player on the great New York Yankees teams of the 1950s and later as a manager with five different major-league clubs, Billy Martin was known to be brash, bold, and fearless. He played the game hard and made no excuses for the way he handled himself on or off the field. Many people, including his off-and-on boss, George Steinbrenner, considered Martin a baseball genius for the intuitive way he managed his teams. Asked about Martin’s prowess as a field general, former Yankees manager Casey Stengel, who had known Billy since his minor league days in Oakland, told The Sporting News in an interview printed on August 23, 1975: “He’s a good manager. He might be a little selfish about some things he does and he may think he knows more about baseball than anybody else and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was right.” Asked why he thought so highly of Martin as a player, Stengel replied, “If liking a kid who never let you down in the clutch is favoritism, then I plead guilty.” As difficult, irascible, and pugnacious as he was, Martin commanded respect as a manager. In 1987, in a poll of 600 former players, he ranked eighth among some heavyweights – behind Stengel, Joe McCarthy, Walter Alston, John McGraw, Connie Mack, Earl Weaver, and Al Lopez, and ahead of Whitey Herzog, Sparky Anderson, and Tommy Lasorda. Billy started out playing baseball on the sandlots around Berkeley, and while in high school joined up with the Oakland Junior Oaks, an amateur club sponsored by Oakland’s Pacific Coast League team. Showing his proclivity for a good fight, Martin was spending his free time boxing in the amateur ranks in the San Francisco/Oakland area. Martin batted.250 in his first big-league season and, aside from 1955, never hit over .267. His forte was his consistent defense and his ability to come up with big hits in crucial situations. The Yankees captured their fifth consecutive pennant in 1953 and again squared off against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. New York came out on top in the first two contests, but Dodgers ace Carl Erskine cooled off the Yankees’ hot bats in Game Three with a 14-strikeout performance. After the game Erskine told the United Press, “It’s hard to believe but players like Phil Rizzuto and Billy Martin give me a lot more trouble than hitters like Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. You just can’t strike out Rizzuto and Martin. At least I can’t anyway.” The two teams split Games Four and Five and the stage was set for Martin’s heroics in Game Six. In the bottom of the ninth inning, he smacked a base hit off Clem Labine, plating Hank Bauer with the game-winning run. It was the Yankees’ fifth consecutive world championship. Martin’s 23 total bases in the six-game series eclipsed the old record of 19 set by Babe Ruth 30 years earlier. Billy collected 12 hits, including two home runs, two triples, and a double. His 12 hits also tied the mark for a seven-game Series. His .500 batting average, five extra-base hits and two triples tied the record for a six-game Series. He received the Babe Ruth Memorial Award, given to the best player in the Series. Martin discovered that his reputation as a brawler and carouser was not ingratiating him with Yankee management and, most importantly, general manager George Weiss. After a much-publicized brawl at the Copacabana nightclub in New York, Martin was traded to the Kansas City A’s in a seven-player deal. Martin initially accepted the deal as standard baseball business, but later stopped talking to Stengel over what he perceived to be his manager’s not fighting hard enough to keep him on the team. In the spring of 1962, Martin lost the second-base job to rookie Bernie Allen and was released by the Twins. Although the Kansas City A’s had expressed an interest, Billy decided it was time to retire as an active player and pursue other interests on and off the field. A fair hitter who always seemed to come through in the clutch, Martin finished his career with a .257 batting average. He made the All-Star team in 1956. Steady with the glove, he usually showed above-average range. In his five World Series (28 games), Martin collected 33 hits, two doubles, three triples, five home runs, and 19 RBIs while posting a .333 batting average. Martin succeeded Cal Ermer as manager of the Twins in 1969. In his first year the team went 97-65 and finished in first place in the newly formed American League West division. The Twins’ opponent in the first best-of-five American League playoffs was the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore swept the Twins in three games, and Martin was criticized in the press for some of his decisions during the series. For example, he started pitcher Bob Miller in the third game; Miller was knocked out of the box in the second inning. When Twins owner Calvin Griffith asked him why he started a pitcher who had a 5-5 record during the regular season, Martin told him, “Because I’m the manager, that’s why.” The rash comment led to Martin’s firing a few days later. When Texas Rangers owner Bob Short heard Martin was available, he told Whitey Herzog, his current manager, that he would fire his grandmother for the chance to hire Billy. A few days later, Short fired Herzog and hired Martin, leading to the deposed Ranger manager’s reply: “I’m fired, I’m the grandmother.” The Rangers had lost 100 games or more in the previous two seasons, but under Martin they won 84 games and finished in second place in 1974, his first full year with the team. Texas signed a number of high-priced free agents The next year the team struggled during the first half of the season, and on July 20, 1975, the new owner, Brad Corbett, fired Martin. On August 1 Billy was hired as the manager of the New York Yankees by owner George Steinbrenner, replacing Bill Virdon. The Yankees responded well to Martin, and the next season they led the American League East, defeated Kansas City in the American League Championship Series, and faced Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine in the World Series. The New York bats fell silent in the Series; they scored only eight runs while losing four straight games. The 1977 campaign was tumultuous for the Yankees as Martin feuded with owner Steinbrenner and newly acquired superstar Reggie Jackson. Martin, in the first year of a $100,000 contract, was rumored to be on the chopping block for most of the season. In 1978 Martin made disparaging comments about Steinbrenner and Jackson: “One is a born liar and the other convicted.” Not surprisingly, he was forced to resign on July 24. But he was rehired in 1979 and then fired at the end of the year after the Yankees failed to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1975. During his tenure as a major-league manager, Martin’s off-field exploits were legendary; he got into fights with team officials, bar patrons, a cab driver, a marshmallow salesman, various fans, and two of his pitchers. After leaving the Yankees in 1988, he remained on the team’s payroll as a special consultant. A short time later, rumors began to circulate that Billy would return to manage the Yankees in 1990. In the early evening hours of December 25, 1989, Martin’s pickup truck skidded off an icy road near his country home in Fenton, New York, and plummeted 300 feet down an embankment, flipping over and landing on its right side. The 61-year-old Martin was killed in the accident, and his good friend from his days in Detroit, Bill Reedy, was seriously injured. The two had been drinking at a local bar, and Martin allowed Reedy to drive his truck home that evening.

Red Ruffing “That Ruffing is a wonder,” Hall of Fame slugger Jimmie Foxx once said. “Always in there winning that important game for you.” Indeed, Charles “Red” Ruffing was the epitome of a big-game pitcher. A key starter for seven pennant winners with the Yankees, Ruffing won seven of his nine decisions in World Series play. In his postseason career, Ruffing posted a 2.63 ERA and helped New York win championships in 1932, 1936-39 and 1941. During the Yankees’ four consecutive title seasons from 1936-39, Ruffing won at least 20 games each year. Ruffing will forever be identified with the Yankees dynasty, but he started his career with the rival Red Sox in 1924. After posting a 39-96 record in seven years with the Red Sox, Boston traded him to the Yankees during the 1930 season for Cedric Durst and $50,000. In 15 seasons with the Yankees, Ruffing was 231-124. Born in Granville, Ill., Ruffing lost four of the toes on his left foot in a mining accident as a youth. The accident hastened his transition from the outfield to the mound, but he remained dangerous with a bat in his hands. In 1932, Ruffing threw a complete game shutout and hit a 10th-inning home run to give the Yankees a 1-0 win against the Washington Senators. In 1935, he led the Yankees in both wins (16) and batting average (.339 in 109 at-bats.) He finished his career with 36 home runs and a .269 batting average. Ruffing was the consummate competitor on the mound. He led the American League with 25 complete games in 1928, and led the circuit with five shutouts in 1939. In 1932, he paced the AL with 190 strikeouts. He worked at lest 220 innings in every season from 1928-40.

Waite Hoyt Waite Hoyt first signed a professional contract with the New York Giants as a 15-year-old at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn. But Hoyt played just one game for the Giants before embarking on a 21-year career with seven teams. Hoyt made his name with the Yankees, helping them to win three World Series titles in the 1920s. The Yankees acquired Hoyt from the Red Sox before the 1921 season, when he was 21. He immediately validated the move by winning 19 games in each of his first two seasons in the Bronx. In the 1921 World Series against the Giants, Hoyt didn't allow an earned run in 27 innings, but still only went 2-1. Hoyt continued to be a key contributor for the Yankees throughout the decade, peaking with the Yankees' World Series championship teams in 1923, 1927 and 1928. His 22-7 mark was the best winning percentage in baseball in 1927, and he earned MVP votes in 1928 after going 23-7. Hoyt was the ace of the 1927 Yankees, often considered the best team in baseball history. Hoyt left New York during the 1930 season and would play for five teams before retiring in 1938. His best year after leaving the Yankees came in 1934, when he went 15-6 with a 2.93 ERA with the Pirates. Hoyt finished his career with a 237-182 record and a 3.59 ERA. During retirement, Hoyt became a popular broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds, where he did play-by-play for 24 years. Perhaps his most famous moment as a broadcaster came when he spoke impromptu about Babe Ruth for two hours on air after a game when Ruth's death was announced. Hoyt was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969.

John Henry "Pop" Lloyd Essential to any team's success during the deadball era was the presence of John Henry Lloyd, the greatest black baseball player during the first two decades of the century. The tall, rangy superstar was the greatest shortstop of his day, black or white, and with the exception of Honus Wagner in his prime, no major leaguer could compare with him. Wagner is reported to have said that he considered it a privilege to be compared to Lloyd. He was a complete ballplayer who could hit, run, field, throw, and hit with power, especially in the clutch. A superior hitter and a dangerous base runner, his knowledge and application of inside baseball as defined in the era allowed him to generate runs with a variety of skills. In the field he was a superlative fielder who studied batters and positioned himself wisely, got a good jump on the ball, and possessed exceptional range and sure hands with which he dug balls out of the dirt like a shovel. Lloyd's play afield earned him the nickname in Cuba of "El Cuchara," Spanish for "The Tablespoon." He was discovered in 1905 on the sandlots of Jacksonville, Florida, by Rube Foster, Harry Buckner, and Sol White, who were traveling south with the Cuban X-Giants. A year later, when the team's owner, Ed LeMarc, decided to let several of his best players go and replace them with talented youngsters, he sent for Lloyd, who was playing second base with the Macon Acmes, a semi-pro team in Georgia. Lloyd, who had joined the impoverished team as a catcher and had to resort to using a wire basket for a catcher's mask, was glad to get a chance with a top team. From the time he joined the Cuban X-Giants in 1906 until he became player manager of the Brooklyn Royal Giants in 1918, the presence of his all-around ability assured a team of being a big winner. The teams on which he played during this period was a roll call of the great teams of the era. Lloyd was a smart player who easily fit into the Foster-style of play. In the deadball era, when pitching dominated and teams played for a single run, Lloyd excelled at getting the run. He was an exceptional bunter and base stealer and, with good bat control and an excellent eye at the plate, he was expert at playing hit-and-run. Indicative of Lloyd's batting ability is that with all the talent on Foster's team, he batted in the fourth spot in the lineup. With Lloyd starring, the American Giants reigned as western champions three times during his four-year tenure with the team, and defeated the eastern champions in playoffs in 1914 and 1917. In 1921 Lloyd left the New York City baseball scene to become playing manager of the Negro National League Columbus Buckeyes and hit .336, but stayed only a single season when owner Connors brought him back to New York to replace Dick Redding as manager of the New York Bacharachs. Before the season started the Bacharachs decided to return to Atlantic City as their home base for the season, and although he hit .387, his stay there was only a season as he left when Hilldale beckoned. Later in life Lloyd was to say, "Wherever the money was, that's where I was." In his managerial capacity Lloyd was a master at instilling confidence in younger players. In these latter years he became known affectionately as "Pop" and was considered the elder statesman of black baseball even after he retired as an active player. Newspapers of 1910 referred to Lloyd's good nature by saying that he was "one comical man off the diamond," and indicated that when he quit baseball he could make good on the stage as a comedian. However, after closing out his professional baseball career, he continued as manager and first baseman of sandlot teams, the Johnson Stars and the Farley Stars, until age sixty. Residing in Atlantic City, he worked as a custodian for the post office and school system. In addition to his work he served as the city's Little League commissioner, and in recognition of his involvement with youngsters, in 1949 the John Henry Lloyd Park for baseball was dedicated in his honor. The left-handed place hitter who batted out of a slightly closed stance had an easy, powerful swing that produced a lifetime .368 average over a phenomenal twenty seven year career in black baseball. Twelve winter seasons in Cuba, interspersed between the years 1908 and 1930, show a .321 lifetime average. During his prime, island records of the 1912 and 1913 seasons show a composite .361 batting average, and in one reknowned series in 1910, against Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers, he hit .500 to lead all hitters. John McGraw assessed the country's sociological climate while appraising his ability: "If we could bleach this Lloyd boy, we would show the National League a new phenomenon." Some historians say that he was born too soon. But in 1949 at the dedication of the Atlantic City ballpark in his honor, Lloyd expressed his thoughts. "I do not consider that I was born at the wrong time. I felt it was the right time, for I had a chance to prove the ability of our race in this sport... and we have given the Negro a greater opportunity now to be accepted into the major leagues with other Americans."

Jim Gentile The Yankees grabbed all the headlines in 1961. Roger Maris set the new single-season home run record with 61. Mickey Mantle hit 54 home runs himself and was neck and neck with Maris for much of the year. Maris and Mantle finished first and second in the American League MVP voting, respectively, and the team won 109 games, cruising to a World Series championship. Yet meanwhile, over in Baltimore, Jim Gentile was making history of his own. The sophomore sensation was overshadowed by the M&M Boys, but he did things at the plate that neither Maris, Mantle, nor anybody else had done before. Gentile hit a grand slam in consecutive innings on May 9 against the Twins, the first time that ever happened. He went on to hit three more grand slams that year, setting an A.L. record and tying the major league record (since surpassed by Don Mattingly and Travis Hafner). Gentile clubbed 46 home runs and drove in 141 runs. It was in his contract with the Orioles that, if he led the A.L. in RBIs, he would get a $5,000 bonus. Nearly half a century passed until it was discovered that Maris was erroneously given an extra RBI in a July 5 game against the Indians. This reduced Maris from 142 RBIs in 1961 to 141. Thus, in 2010, Gentile received his $5,000 bonus from the Orioles. He ended up being a special guest of the team at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in August of that year. What was about to transpire absolutely shocked him. “I didn’t know about it,” he said. “They had invited me back to do what we call the suites. You go back there for two days and you go up into the suites and you go around and sign autographs for the people in the suites and so they invited me to do that and while I was there, they said ‘Hey, we’d like you to throw the first ball out,’ and I said ‘Okay.’ So I walk out and a girl walks me out to the mound and I said, ‘Do you have a ball?’ She said, ‘No.’ I see the ball there on the mound and I said, ‘How about this one?’ She said, ‘No, that’s the game ball.’ So, I turned to home plate and I figured the catcher has one. I turned to home plate and there was nobody at home plate. … So here comes Lee MacPhail’s son out with one of those big golf-type checks worth $5,000. That was the first I’d heard of it. I almost fainted, for Pete’s sake.” Though he spent just four seasons in Baltimore, the Orioles inducted Gentile into their Hall of Fame in 1989. He played in six All-Star Games, making both teams every year between 1960 and 1962. Gentile specified the first 1961 All-Star Game as the one that stood out to him. It was held on July 11 in his hometown of San Francisco. Gentile’s 1963 season was his last in Baltimore. He continued to display his power, hitting 24 home runs with 72 RBIs in 145 games, but his average fell off to .248. The team went 84-78, an improvement over 1962. Following the season, he was shipped to the Athletics with $25,000 for Norm Siebern. The Sporting News described the swap as “hitting consistency, speed and hustle [Siebern] for defense, power and color [Gentile].” Gentile was also described as “entertaining” and “fiery.” In a nine-season career, Gentile batted .260 (759-for-2922) with 179 home runs, 549 RBI, 434 runs, 113 doubles, six triples, and three stolen bases in 936 games.