Yankee4Life

Updated to 7-23 ...I was going to have an update in this thread at the end of April but as the saying goes, life happened. I'll provide the abridged version here so I can move on to other more important things. Back in 2009 I had a hernia operation and a mesh had to be put in me because of that surgery. Over time I recovered from that surgery and everything was fine for these past eight years. Then on the 27th of April I started having some problems and I was told I had to go to emergency and they ended up admitting me and I did not feel fresh air on my face until two weeks later when I was discharged. A CAT scan showed that I had a fistula and to clear that up I had to have surgery. Since I had no choice in the matter I said it was a great idea. The surgery took a lot out of me because when I was sent home I was very tired all the time. Partly it was because I could not get any sleep in the hospital and partly it was from the severity of the operation. I am getting stronger now and that is clear to me because I never would've been able to write this a month ago without having to take a break. So, now that that's out of the way on with Random Thoughts. ...As if I needed another reason to hate Red Sox fans, one of them provided me with one during Boston's recent trip to Houston. Here's what happened. George Springer of the Astros hit a ball just barely fair over the third base bag and the ball bounced into foul territory as it headed towards the wall in left. When it reached the wall a fan reached down and made contact with the ball which ruled the play dead. When Boston's Xander Bogaerts came over to retrieve the ball one young Red Sox fan felt he had to let him know that he was not the one who touched the ball because the little bastard must have assumed that was the only thing on Bogaerts' mind. Never mind the game. The kid kept on pointing at the Astros fan who touched the ball and didn't let up until the stadium security people came down and took the guy away. The guy who got thrown out was the one wearing the light brown cap and if looks could kill that kid would have been slumped over instead of pointing at him. That must have been the highlight of the afternoon for him. Forget about the game - he was happier knowing he screwed someone over. With the haircut he had he looked like a reincarnation of the Hitler Youth organization of Nazi Germany. He'd of had a ball turning in terrified Jewish families back then. ...As we all know baseball is a sport ruled by statistics. For instance if you want to know the stat for every Yankee left fielder since 1990 who have hit home runs at home off of left handed pitchers you'll be able to get it. I don't know where you'd find something like that but there must be a place where useless information like that can be dug up. Some people are consumed with stats like this but I'm not one of them. How does knowing something like that help out the 2017 Yankees in any way? It doesn't. That's why I don't understand all the excitement about exit velocity when a batter hits a home run. Does it really matter how fast it takes for a ball to land in the outfield bleachers? The stat guys went nuts when Aaron Judge hit a home run with an exit velocity of 119.4 miles per hour because that was the fastest home run hit since they began keeping track of it starting in 2015. A bloop homerun hit over the left field wall at Fenway may not reach 100 mph in exit velocity but it's still a home run. To me it doesn't matter how fast they go out just as long as Aaron Judge and the rest of the Yankees keep hitting them. ...There will be no Muslim rants here today even though I realize ISIS recently attacked England twice within three weeks. ISIS took credit for them because, well, why the hell not? Even if the men who did this were not actual members of ISIS they made that organization look good by carrying out these cowardly acts. It was what happened in Portland, Oregon not too long ago that made me decide to take a look at things differently. That was when a man started yelling ethnic and religious slurs toward two women who appeared to be Muslim on a train. The man who did this was a white supremacist. If you don't know what that means just try to picture a bunch of beer drinking rednecks. The guy also killed two people who were trying to help the two women and injured another. Understand one thing here. I get why a lot of people are apprehensive about Muslims. They just got done attacking London twice. But there had to be many Muslims at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester that were only there to listen to her concert and when that van drove into those pedestrians in the Southwark district in London there had to be many Muslims there who along with everyone else were just enjoying a pleasant night with friends or co-workers. Food for thought, at least for me. ...Another good reason why not to watch ESPN is that they hired Mr. Brittle himself, Mark Teixeira, to be a baseball analyst. I seriously would question how much this guy really knows about the game except for grabbing the best seat on the bench during one of his long disabled list stints. ...I'm wondering when Greg Bird finally gets back on the field next year that he's going to have to break in his glove again? ...I had to laugh when I was listening to what some people had to say when it was announced that Derek Jeter was interested in buying the Miami Marlins. Because it was Jeter they all assumed that he would be a great owner because, well you know, he's Jeter. Jokin' Joe Torre said that Jeter would do a fantastic job because of how he conducts himself. Torre's been kissing his behind for over twenty years now so what else was he going to say? But Joe you're talking about how he handled himself on the field and with the press all these years. How do you know how well he will do as an owner? Will he open up his checkbook like Magic Johnson did in Los Angeles or do the opposite? Don Mattingly was happy about it too when he said he would look forward to working with him in Miami. Let's see if he says that if Jeter ends up firing him one day. The MLB Network experts also backed Jeter 100%. Why not? You don't want to get him mad just in case you need to interview him about something in the future. Based on what you read from one day to the next all these praises may not mean anything or they may mean everything because one day he has the money to buy the team and the next he may not have enough. What a shame. It doesn't matter to me if he buys the Marlins or not. I just wanted to hear someone come out and say that they really could have cared less if he bought them. But that was too much to wish for. ...Angel Hernandez is suing Major League Baseball on accusations of racial discrimination because baseball has promoted only one minority umpire as crew chief in the history of the game (newsflash: it wasn't him) and is also complaining that only one non-white umpire has worked a World Series since 2011. Despite his lawsuit Hernandez was still picked to work last week's All-Star game in Miami. If it wasn't for colleagues such as Laz Diaz and C.B. Bucknor this guy would be the worst umpire in the major leagues. With these two around they give him a run for his money. If there is one lawsuit that baseball should not break a sweat about it's this one. Umpires work the World Series games on merit. Only the best of the best get to be on the field when the game's champion is decided and that's why Hernandez is home every year when the series starts. ...When I first heard that Pablo Sandoval was designated for assignment by the Red Sox I immediately guessed (incorrectly I should add) that there were two big winners after this happened. First of course is Sandoval. No matter what he's getting paid 48 million dollars to watch Netflix and Hulu. With all that money he can eat half of Southern California. I originally thought the Giants were the other winners in this because they were the team the got rid of him three years ago and they weren't the ones to sign him to that huge contract. But for reasons that made sense only to them, they resigned Sandoval to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Sacramento. The Giants are having a terrible year and if there is one team that you should consider to be sellers before the trade deadline it's these guys. They have no where to go except to go home when the season wraps. Signing Sandoval is basically a no-risk move. If he helps, great. If not, thanks for trying. ...What worries me most about Michael Pineda's injury really has nothing to do with Pineda himself. Addition by subtraction as Branch Rickey used to say. In other words getting rid of someone like the Yankees are forced to do with Pineda's upcoming Tommy John surgery will end up making the team better and there is nothing better than getting rid of an inconsistent pitcher. At the same time I am hoping that the Yankees don't trade one of their good young players for a pitcher just to make the playoffs this year. I'm all for keeping these young guys and building for the future. That's why I was happy when Jose Quintana was snatched up by the Cubs. The Yankees probably could have had him but they would've had to overpay. If they don't make the playoffs this year that's fine. Next year is fine by me. I won't feel better until the trading deadline is done. Not with this team. ...Katherine Dettwyler, the University of Delaware professor that was fired for her controversial comments on Otto Warmbier was not entirely wrong. As it happens so often people concentrated on one thing that she said and ignored everything else. Dettwyler started out calling Warmbier a "spoiled, white, rich, clueless American college student." Talk about hitting a bull's-eye. She was right on every count. Warmbier was traveling in China when he decided to go to nearby North Korea for a backpacking tour. That made as much sense as an American walking around Syria waving the Stars and Stripes around because if your name isn't Dennis Rodman you're not going to be welcome there. Warmbier and his friends celebrated the New Year with a drink or two or a lot more than that and they continued drinking when they returned to their hotel later that evening. Sometime during the night Warmbier, armed with courage provided by Mr. Jack Daniels, tried to steal a state propaganda poster. Touching or even looking at posters like that is considered a serious crime in North Korea and the next day when Warmbier was scheduled to leave with his group he was detained and in a trial that Perry Mason or Clarence Darrow had no chance of winning, was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor. Warmbier only served eighteen months of his fifteen-year stint because he was returned to the U.S. last month after suffering a severe neurological injury and he died six days after he returned home. The comment that got this college professor in trouble was when she went on to say that he got "exactly what he deserved." That's when the pitchforks were taken out and the complaints started piling in. As stupid as this guy was I won't go as far to say he deserved to die at such a young age (he was only twenty-two.) Everything else this woman said I agree with. The guy was an idiot to willingly go into that country. He had to have heard of Kenneth Bae and what he went through for over two years. But he still went. I'm sorry the guy died but he put himself in the position to get in trouble. When they have the Running of the Bulls each year people get the hell out of the way when they see one coming at them. What Warmbier did was stand out in front of one and let himself get run over. ...When I take everything in account, I consider myself a pretty lucky person although not lucky enough to win big in the lottery. I usually get good parking spaces when I go to stores, I have a great family and there isn't really anything that I really need to have. So I'm pretty content. Despite all this I seem to be a magnet every time bratty kids are around. Take last Monday for example. It was a beautiful morning and I went to have breakfast with a cousin of mine who is getting married next month. We were there for about twenty minutes catching up with each other when a mother and her two kids and what looked like the grandmother came into the restaurant. The little boy who was with them ran ahead of them and was jumping up and down and making enough noise that for just a second I thought the entire place was going to get up and pay their bill at once just to get out of there. I turned to my cousin and told her that I guaranteed her that these people will be sitting at the table next to us. Sure enough that's what happened and for the next five minutes she laughed so much that she couldn't even drink her coffee. Then my luck was with me once again because the mother calmed down the little demon. I don't know how she did it but he sat down and pouted for a bit until his chocolate milk came and he shut up for good. I don't have kids of my own and I have always been told if I had one I'd have a different outlook but when I see kids like that it makes me want to run in the opposite direction.

Last week was a very good week for total classics fans here because Dennis James and Jim825 released another gem in their long line of season mod hits, this time taking us back to the 1934 season where the Gas House Gang was king and the Sultan of Swat was just about on his way out. Although there are many total classics mods already to choose from this mod here is a unique one because it is the first mod from the 1930's. There is a lot of history associated with the 1934 season and in my opinion it starts with two people. First, Dizzy Dean of the St. Louis Cardinals. He may have given his manager Frankie Frisch a lot of grey hairs when he played for him but as Dean always said "it isn't boasting when you can back it up." And in 1934 that's exactly what he did when he went 30 -7 with a 2.66 ERA. Dean may have loved to laugh and have a good time but when he was on the mound he was all business. But even while Dean was winning all those games the Cardinals were still in second place behind the New York Giants and this is where the second person comes into the picture. Bill Terry was the manager of the World Champion New York Giants of 1933 and he was feeling pretty good about the chances of his team repeating in 1934. During the off season he was giving an interview about the chances of each team in the National League winning the pennant and he analyzed each roster for the reporters, giving them what he thought were their strengths and weaknesses. Finally a reporter from Brooklyn asked Terry what he thought the Dodgers' chances were and his reply struck a cord in the entire borough of Brooklyn that Terry paid for dearly at the end of the season at the Polo Grounds. "Brooklyn?" Terry asked, "is Brooklyn still in the league?" With two games left in the season their was a tie for first place between the Giants and Cardinals. St. Louis won their final two games at home against the Reds while the Giants were hosting the Dodgers -and hundreds and hundreds of their loyal fans to end the season. The Giants were razzed as bad as they were when they played in Brooklyn and they never had a chance. The Dodgers won both games to eliminate their hated rivals and the Cardinals won the 1934 pennant. You have to wonder if Bill Terry had not made that off the cuff statement in the off season if things would have been different. Well, that's a little background for this year in baseball and you can download the mod right here so you can try it out yourself. Again, and this is for the new people only, you need a clean copy of Mvp 2005 on your hard drive where you can install the mod. Jim has once again made the installer and as always it is very user friendly. Once you get into the game the first thing that I notice is the jukebox music in the background. If you say to yourself that this music sounds kind of melancholy and downhearted then you're right. 1934 was right in the middle of the Great Depression and there was no money or jobs to be had. Lou Gehrig hit .363 with 49 home runs and 166 runs batted in in 1934 and he lead the American League in each of these categories but he was still forced to take a two thousand dollar pay cut in 1935. I'd be melancholy if something like that happened to me too. The uniforms in this mod are exquisitely created and tailored by the master himself, Dennis James. He has a way of giving each classic uniform a modern but at the same time throwback look. I don't ask how he does it. I'm just appreciative and grateful of his work. The two team I picked were the New York Giants visiting the Cardinals at Sportsman's Park. I saw why the Giants had such a good team with Mel Ott and Bill Terry in their lineup and Carl Hubbell on the mound. And every member of the Cardinals were a tough out. They were not champions for nothing. I give this mod the highest rating I can give it and I highly recommend spending some time in it. Thank you very much Jim and Dennis! Screenshots Welcome to Total Classics 1934! In-game overlay of TC '34. I like how the baseball in the overlay is not too big or too small but manages to stand out on its own just the same. It's between innings and it is a close one between the Cardinals and the New York Giants.