Tuesday, December 9, 2014

THE STORY ON GREGORIUS THAT WILL MAKE YOU LOVE HIM


I have always thought of Kevin Kernan of the New York Post as 2 things.  One, he's really good at what he does.  Two... he's not warm and fuzzy.  That's just me reading him, seeing him on Twitter once in a while complaining about the coffee cups at the airport. I don't know the man. I read the man, and I respect the man and the work he does.

As you know, I admire and appreciate many writers out there.  Ken Davidoff. Pete Abraham. Anthony McCarron. Jason Keidel. And of course, my man Pete Caldera. I like them all because there's always a good nugget in their work. Something that many will overlook, but not me... I look for the nuggets, because those nuggets are always great for me to report about on BYB.


What's the point of this? Nuggets. I want to share with you a full article "nugget", if you will.  It's about Didi Gregorius and it's by Kevin Kernan of the New York Post.  The piece is real.  It's about our newly acquired shortstop and if you didn't know much about the man himself, you will after reading it.  You will fall in love with Didi Gregorius. A believer and a lover of the game.

As I tweeted Kevin tonight...
Kernan tweeted back:
Stand up guy and about as honest as it gets. Here's the best part; It's crystal clear that he put a huge effort into this. It was in depth and specific. No speculation. No BS. As I stated earlier... It was real.  He did good for a long time Yankee fan like myself.

Here's a portion of Kevin's piece:


"... Following Jeter will not be easy, everyone knows that — most of all Didi Gregorius, who will turn 25 right before the start of spring training.

'Jeter is the greatest, ' Gregorius told The Post on Monday as he stood in front of the bridge on a perfect 80-degree South Caribbean evening, his first interview as a Yankee. 'I didn’t start playing shortstop until I was 17 and now this.’

Gregorius laughed. He has played 169 major league games at shortstop and is so excited about the challenge of following the Captain.


'I’m still learning how to play shortstop, that’s how I look at it,’ Gregorius said. 'I love it. I just try to get outs, make the routine play and once in a while make a highlight play. Here I was sitting at home, the trade happened, I had heard rumors, but I was surprised — especially going to New York, after Jeter, and after everything he did. So it’s kind of amazing.

'The first thing I can say is that what Jeter did, I don’t think anybody else can do that. I’m going to go out there and try to be the best person I can be out there and give 100 percent, hustle, play the game hard all the time.

'I’ve only been in the city of New York like one day my entire life,' said Gregorius, who made the most of that one New York day, homering at Yankee Stadium on April 18, 2013, his first at-bat as a Diamondback. 'I heard it’s a good place to be...' "

You can read Kernan's entire piece HERE, but there was one more nugget in this article I wanted to share. It's this:


"Gregorius loves to draw. He did a sketch of Jeter in October to pay homage to the future Hall of Famer and posted it on his Twitter account, @DidiG18.
'It frees the mind,’ he said. 'I can sit hours and hours on drawing. I started by copying my brother. He always was drawing. And now I am starting to paint.’

As for his Jeter drawing, “This was during the time he was getting honored and I said, ‘I might as well draw something’, and then I end up getting traded to the Yankees to play shortstop. Amazing.’

Gregorius sounded a lot like Jeter when he said, 'Every game means something.

'I might go 0-for-4 but I might make a game-saving play where the 0-for-4 disappears. All they are going to talk about is the play that saves the game. Or if there is a game where I make an error, a couple innings later I hit a bomb and we win the game. That’s what matters, winning the game.’"


This is the best story I've seen about a player in a while.  Finally, some honest reporting. Finally, some actual, pounding the pavement and getting to the source. There was no speculation. Kernan went to to Didi himself... and if you don't fall in love with this kid now, well, you'll never see the big picture.  It's about the opportunity. It's about the fight.  It's about believing.  Go Didi, go!

Good work Kevin. Awesome.

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