TWO FORMER PLAYERS I ADMIRE

I'm a baseball freak.  I am a huge card collector, I love to find out new information about players, not only Yankees, but across this great game.  I have baseball cards that go back to the 1900's.

No, they're not mint and NOT perfectly preserved PSA casing like above... but it's my own collection and I do it my way. I find the cards I like, I buy them and I give them a home.  Over time, these cards will be passed down to my children... and they will do the same.  That's the deal... that's my love. Yup, besides my family and BYB... I have a passion for keeping baseball preserved my way... and I'm proud of what I've compiled over the years.

With that, I wanted to mention 2 guys that I read about over the past 48 hours that I remember playing and watching and appreciating... these stories are real and I wanted to share them on BYB.

Tim Flannery played for the Padres in the 80's. He was a solid ball player, and now, years later he's in a band called "Lunatic Fringe."  Well, he presented a check for $96,000 to the Stow family.  The money is to go toward Bryan Stow's care.

Stow was the fan who was beaten at a Giants-Dodgers game a few years ago.  A sad story, but a truly kind gesture by Tim Flannery and his band.  According to NBC Sports, Flannery said, "'That was, for me, kind of a gamble. People always say, `Well, why don't you just write a check?' I always say, `Well, I only hit nine home runs in my 10-year career, I can't just write a big check,' Flannery said by phone Monday. 'I did write a check, I wrote a check that produced a new record. ... I'm just playing the music. I'm doing the same thing I always do. For people to come and just continue the love, it's a great, great honor.'

As part of the large donation presented Saturday night, Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt contributed $25,000 to match Flannery's initial total and former Giants great turned instructor Will Clark wrote a $10,000 check."

You wanna guy Flannery's new CD and help too? Click on his website, timflannery.com.

Next is a guy named Jerry Remy.  Remdog was a hardnosed pest for the Boston Red Sox for years.  I remember hating him, only because I loved watching him play.  Anyway, Remy had lung cancer and was trying to recover. Meanwhile, last year his son Jared was charged with murdering his girlfriend.  At that time, Remy had left the broadcast booth, obviously to deal with family matters. You need to respect that as a man and human being. You need to admire his strength, because that type of double whammy doesn't happen to many.  Remy, who spoke to WEEI.com said he believes he'll be retuning to broadcasting, something his family and wife urged him to do:

"It was really three friends of mine and my wife that got me off the schneid because I had been trying to tell my family that we have to move on in some capacity and live our lives, yet I was one that was resisting that. I think it’€™s up to me to set an example to go on and live my life. Unfortunately — well, fortunately or unfortunately — it’€™s in the public eye, and it makes it a little bit different than some other things."

Now, in fairness, that above quote is a small portion of a very large statement (HERE) read my Remy. I encourage you all to read it. It's emotional and it makes you realize just how strong this man is.

Anyway ladies and gentlemen... I wanted to bring this to you. I know this isn't the Yankees... but it's humanity, and it's kindness and strength and love.  Every once in a while you need to stop and look around.  I did and I wanted to share these stories today.  They'll be unpublicized because they'd be considered "not sexy" enough for reader consumption. Well, they are here on BYB...

Enjoy your day. Do something big today.

Thank you to all the Bleeding Yankee Blue readers for continued success.  You've made BYB the fasted growing Yankees fan site in the history of Yankees fandom.  Thanks for reading, sharing and enjoying. Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue (Official) on Facebook, just type it in.