THINKING BACK TO THE ROBERTO KELLY DAYS

Roberto Kelly was an interesting bridge to the rebuilding of the Yankees franchise. The late 1980’s were a strange time for the Yankees organization. The team would perennially have powerful hitting, strong starts, poor pitching, and personnel issues. Roberto Kelly was one of the rookies coming up through the system, who had the promise to help the Yankees get over the hump and back into postseason play. Personally, I liked what he brought to the team, and was unhappy to see him go. Nevertheless, while he was here, he helped a struggling team stay competitive.

In 1987, one of those aforementioned personnel issues was Rickey Henderson. Rickey would periodically claim that his hamstring was hurt, and that he could not play. Other players and even managerLou Piniella accused him of not giving 100% and overstating the injury. By 1989, Roberto Kelly had established himself as the starting center fielder and a legitimate lead-off hitter, which gave the Yankees some options. Just before the All-star break, the Yankees executed one of the worst trades in franchise history, trading Rickey Henderson to Oakland for pitchers Greg Cadaret, Eric Plunk, and outfielder Luis Polonia and Roberto Kelly held sole possession of the lead off spot as well as center field.

Over the course of five full seasons with the Yankees, he hit .278 with about 14 home runs and almost 40 stolen bases per season. He was caught only about 25% of the time, making him a constant threat to steal second and a legitimate lead off hitter. He was an above-average fielder, with good range and a decent arm. The Yankees were very trigger-happy at the time with trades, giving away rookie talent for promising but ultimately disappointing veterans whose best days were behind them. Kelly represented hope that if the Yankees could have patience with their farm system, that they could have a very strong team on the field. The fact that he survived trade negotiations through his minor league career, made it to the majors, and delivered on what the team expected was just plain amazing.

Though he spent most of his career away from the Yankees, it was nice that he was able to finish his career with the Yankees, playing 10 games in 2000 before announcing his retirement. I was sad to hear the news on November 4, 1992, when the Yankees announced that they had traded him to the Cincinnati Reds. By then it was obvious that the Yankees had to do some major renovation to build a competitive team again, though I felt they could have done it with Kelly. 

Nevertheless, his departure opened the door for two legends of the Yankees to be part of the team. The trade that sent him to the Reds brought us a young left-handed outfielder named Paul O’Neill. Moreover, the Yankees needed to make room for another rookie coming up through the system who had speed, a good bat, and played center field – Bernie Williams. It was sad to see him go, but it worked out for the Yankees in the end.

 
--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon
My blog is: Shots from Murderer's Row

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MIKE HARKEY DARTS FOR ARIZONA

Many of you know Mike Harkey and have enjoyed watching him getting the pitchers up in the pen all these years for the New York Yankees.  Well, no more. 

According to several sources, but we'll go with ArizonaSports.com on this one, Harkey has left the Bronx and is on his way to the Arizona Diamondbacks to take a position as the DBacks pitching coach.  Hey... good for him!

"Arizona Sports 620's John Gambadoro, the Arizona Diamondbacks are expected to move forward with the hiring of New York Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey as their next pitching coach...Harkey has spent six seasons as the Yankees' bullpen coach."

I wonder who the new Yankees bullpen coach will be.  Jose Contreras? Eric Plunk? Ron Guidry? Yeah... I know... now I'm just throwing names out.  

Congrats to Mike, and good luck.

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THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY OF THE YANKEES

I'm a traditionalist and a guy who always remembers the Yankees long forgotten. I've written about guys like Danny Pasqua (read WHY I ROOT FOR THE ITALIANS ) and Wayne Tolleson (Read BRETT GARNDER: BIG DOESN'T MEAN BETTER ), even Bobby Meacham (Read "WHO ARE YOU... BOBBY MEACHAM?" ) There are so many Yankees that have come and gone. For me though, other than the late 70's and the Mattingly era, I remember the lonely late 80's and early 90's as a strange time, yet comforting. I fondly remember guys like Don Slaught, Eric Plunk and guys like Pascual Perez and young pitching phenom Brien Taylor. Many people wouldn't even think twice about these guys, I do.

Being a Yankee is a good thing, It's an honor and you are held at a higher standard.  After all guys like the great Lou Gehrig, and Phil Rizzuto, Don Mattingly and Ron Guidry all wore the pinstripes...and of course there are plenty others...there's a long history of great players and great traditions.

But where is the good in being a New York Yankee, there also can come the bad and the ugly of it as well, the unfortunate and the disappointing that sometimes happens when your name is connected to a major sports team like the Yanks.  Now, let me be clear, I am in no way blaming the Yankees for anything I'm about to write about, but I can say that when you are with the big dogs, you become a target, or in the case of Brien Taylor, you ride the wave alittle too soon, not because you need to, but because you think you've made it, even before you have.

When news broke about the apparent murder of Pascual Perez yesterday, read HERE, it saddened me. Couple that with news of Brien Taylor facing up to 40 years in prison for drugs and drug trafficking and it was clear, that sometimes terrible things happen in life that are beyond our control, Hurricane Sandy is a great example. And sometimes, you CAN control your own destiny, but don't. Again, the bad and the ugly.

Pascual Perez was killed by a group of thugs that apparently broke into his home, whacked him in the head and then stabbed him, according to reports.  The New York Times writes: "...Perez, who last played in the majors for the Yankees in 1991, was found with a severe head wound in a town west of Santo Domingo, and there was evidence at the scene to suggest that whoever killed him had been searching for money..." It's just terrible.

Brien Taylor, who had struggled since he hurt his arm in a fight kept falling down the dark path of self-destruction. Read HERE.  As CBS reports: "In March 2012, a 40-year-old Taylor was charged with cocaine trafficking after undercover narcotics agents said they purchased a large quantity of cocaine and crack cocaine from him over a span of several months.

Taylor was federally indicted on trafficking charges in June and faces 5-to-40 years in prison after pleading guilty to cocaine distribution..."  A sad, sad story.

But, I'm not going to sit here and judge these two individuals. Sure Perez had drug problems and was never a superstar, but he did play major league ball for 11 years racking up a 3.44 ERA, a 67-68  record and 822 strikeouts in his career.  Taylor on the other hand, never played a major league game and got wrapped up in the glory before it even began. We've seen it time and time again, but for all of us who knew the story of Brien Taylor, it was very surprising. After all, we were anticipating a true superstar when he finally went pro. That never happened.

I just wanted to say I'm very sorry to hear about these 2 and their unfortunate ends. No one needs to go through this.  Not them and not their families. All I'm saying is, know what you have in life and run with it. Be cautious, but courageous and do your best as a person. That's really all I wanted to say. It's a sad post, but there's a lesson here.

Good Luck Brien Taylor... Rest in Peace Pascual Perez.

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WHAT YANKEE BASEBALL MEANS TO ME

I have always been a Yankee fan. Most of us have been. There are some that came out of the woodwork around 1996 and stayed with us and I get that, everyone wants to latch onto a winner. But I’m a die-hard and I’m proud of it. No, I don’t go to may games any more, but on that rare occasion that I can bring the kids, we go. They do more eating than watching, but it’s about family at that point. I’m just happy to be there, eating ice cream after ice cream with my kids, but the point is, it’s Yankee Stadium, the greatest place on earth.

Look, I lived through some pretty good teams and pretty bad players. My Yankees were always my Yankees no matter what, but some of the players we collected over the years were just downright not good, others I loved, but through it all and even to this day, if I’m ever on Ebay or at a card show and I see a lot of Yankee cards for sale, I buy the lot. It doesn’t matter that there are a dozen of Bobby Meacham or Eric Plunk or how about Frank Tanana or Spike Owen. I love my New York Yankees and believe me, there’s always a story behind a name.

I was once at a game with my buddy and we had just finished talking about how we never caught a foul ball. I quickly ran off to the bathroom. When I came back he was holding a foul ball off the bat of Mike Gallego. I bought him a beer... What else do you do for a guy who has that kind of luck?

How about when I was a kid, I reached over the wall during batting practice to give Gary Ward his baseball card to sign. He just came over from the Texas Rangers. I remember Ward took the card, signed it and he never even smiled. It didn't matter, for the time frame Ward was with the Yankees, I rooted for him like he was Mickey Mantle. Kids do that when it comes to athletes, it doesn't matter who they are, if an athlete does something like that, they're Gods to all of us. Ward signing that card was just a moment, but for me, him signing my card felt like a lifetime... “A Yankee is taking the time to sign my baseball card? WOW!” Here it is, I still have it, and guess what, I always will because it’s a great memory:

I remember banging the pan of Freddy Sez, sometimes we’d even see him on the subway after the game and do it, God rest his soul. Or what about the game I was on television when I was lucky enough to buy 2 nice seats from my pal’s dad at the last minute. I still have that on VHS somewhere. I taped it just in case, and guess what, I was pathetic enough to come home and look for myself… and I found me. That’s right, I was part of baseball history and it was documented!

I even cherish the Yankee game that never happened for me, on September 11, 2001. After that tragedy, I realized that I needed to not go to the game after that, I needed to hold onto that ticket forever.

I could go on and on and you know what? I will again, but for now, I’m gearing up. My New York Yankees start up officially tomorrow. One of the greatest days in baseball. Derek Jeter will no doubt lead the charge even though we play the Rays in Tampa Bay... it doesn’t matter. Opening Day is when baseball counts again. We’ve been patient and we’ve seen some good spring ball so far, but now… now it counts and the numbers get tallied, the wins will pile up and hopefully more records will be broken. There is no doubt though, I like what I see from my team this season. It’s about to get really exciting.

Baseball’s here Ladies and Gentlemen…. How sweet it is!

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WHY I'VE ALWAYS LINKED CHRISTMAS TO THE YANKEES

You know who my favorite ballplayer of all time is… Rickey Henderson was the guy I wanted to be in little league and I would mimic his movement as he inched away from the bag and then darted to second base. Yes, it’s true, I was a huge Yankee fan and when he was on the Oakland Athletics, it didn’t matter much to me, baseball fans do that. They latch on to guys they love to watch and appreciate. For me, that was Rickey Henderson, the Man of Steel and there was no other.

Let me also mention that when it came to little, scrawny me, I didn’t even come close to muscle or appearance, but I nailed the impersonation of Rickey, or, at least I thought so. One season I stole something like 40 bases. I remember that not because little league tallied them for us, they really didn't. I remember that because I wrote my stats on an index card after every game. Pathetic I know, but when your a kid who has a hero, you tend to want to be them. No doubt, I wanted to be Rickey. I just remember that once I perfected how to bunt, I'd steal my way around the bases and do it the Rickey way. But enough about me being 10, there is actually a point to all of this.

 

On December 5, 1984, the New York Yankees did the unthinkable… They sent a bunch of guys, Jose Rijo, Eric Plunk, Jay Howell, Stan Javier and Tim Birtsas to Oakland for Rickey and Bert Bradley. I remember at the time, it was going to be the best Christmas and the best 1985 season EVER. Soon, I was able to replace my Henderson Oakland A’s 8x10 photo with a Yankee one. I snagged up all his cards and it clearly was one of the happiest times for me as a New York Yankees fan.

Christmas and Rickey Henderson for me, will always be connected and for some odd reason, at least once, even now in my adult years, I think about Rickey when it’s December. It’s not that I’m obsessed with the dude anymore. Instead, it’s just a fond memory, it just brings be back to 1984, just for a second.

To this day I try to teach my kids the importance of speed in baseball. My 9-year-old uses it to his advantage; he’s like an gazelle, although he takes a page from the Brett Gardner handbook, a slight lean toward second with his right hand pointing toward the dugout.

Yeah, we all have heroes, but mine happens to be one I had as a giddy Yankee fan back in 1984 and I’ll forever remember where I was when I found out Rickey was coming to New York. The next several years, I loved watching him in pinstripes… it was one of the greatest moments of my life, that’s for sure and it's all coming back to me again this Christmas...27 years later. Man, how time flies.

Merry Christmas everyone.