THE YANKEES JUST SIGNED THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER

We all love comeback stories. Not just a game when your team is down in the bottom of the ninth and someone hits a walk off home run. Sometimes it more than just a player who has a bounce back season after their career worst. The Yankees have their own comeback story now, his name is Danny Farquhar.

You may recognize the name. Farquhar survived a scary incident this past season, the kind you don't hear about too often. After pitching in a relief appearance on April 20th, he walked off the mound and into the dugout as usual. Suddenly he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where he was treated for a ruptured brain aneurysm.

Farquhar had a complicated surgery to relieve the swelling and bleeding around the brain. It's a very dangerous and risky surgery, but he is proof that miracles do happen. I just wish these kinds of miracles happen more often.

I have seen how devastating a brain aneurysm is on a person and their family. My husband works in public safety and on August 1, 2018 our community lost a great man, a real life super hero to a brain aneurysm. I never got the chance to meet this man, but my husband spoke highly of him often. He says this man inspired him and motivated him to get to where he is today. I wish I could've met him, but most of all I wish his same surgery would've been successful and he could've had the same miracle as Farquhar.

Baseball has a lot of common injuries. We hear about guys who have knee problems like CC Sabathia, or they blow out their shoulder. Or what about Tommy John surgery? Didi Gregorius knows all about that and nowadays it's common....and that's sad to say.

But how often do you hear about baseball players fighting against a brain aneurysm? Former All-Star first basemen and World Series champion John Olerud had one in college, but he recovered and had a long and successful big league career. Anaheim Angels pitcher Kent Mercker had a brain hemorrhage back in 2000 but quick medical attention prevented the bleeding on his brain from turning into an even more critical situation and he recovered.

Pitcher Don Black also suffered a hemorrhage in 1948 and he made a full recovery but he never pitched again.

Fortunately for Farquhar, it looks like he will have a chance to pitch again. The Yankees just signed him to a minor league deal, but getting a spot in the bullpen with this talented group of guys is going to be another challenge for him.

Even if he doesn't win a spot in spring, he has already proven that he is a fighter. We always need guys like him especially when we are chasing after a championship. He's a survivor, and I will always take survivors on my team. They know how to fight.

Even if he never makes it back to the big leagues, his story is miraculous. Welcome to New York, Danny! I look forward to watching the next part in your inspiring story.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj

GREG BIRD: HIS SUCCESS IS OUR SUCCESS

Source: Associated Press

To see someone comeback from a devastating injury and to push himself or herself to get there is quite frankly one of the most awesome feats to witness.  You wonder, "What drives him to push harder or what makes her keep going?"  I'd like to lynch pin this discussion around people who push themselves and then I want to engage us in the battle of Greg Bird and why his success is our success.

Source: Associated Press/Matt Rourke

In order to become a stronger runner, I have to consistently include cross and strength training in my regiment.  Typically, runners just want to run, so understand that this is sometimes a struggle for me. But, I am learning to like it because of the athletes around me who push themselves.  Athletes and trainers like Bobbie who pushes us because of her own commitment to staying fit.  When she gets up at 4:30 a.m. to lead her Body Pump class and then comes back at 7:30 p.m. to do it all over again, she exemplifies the attributes of grit, resilience and persistence.  She too battled an injury to her calf muscle and she challenges us to "step out of our comfort zone" and do just a little bit more.  See, her success is our success and I can see that loud and clear.

Source: CBS Sports

The same kind of grit is present in Greg Bird.  After suffering what could have been a career ending injury let alone missing the entire 2016 season, Bird battled back and his battle could pay off big dividends for him, his team and his overall career.  "Bird has been showing power at the plate with three home runs and five RBIs in 16 at bats. Girardi said his smooth swing reminded him a little of John Olerud. "You watch him swing, it's very relaxed," Girardi said. "He's got a very good eye and he hits to all fields," reported Yankee News on Tuesday.

Source: MLB.com

It's hard to train and push yourself to improve when you aren't coming off a serious injury. With Bird it is a different kind of intensity. Add the fact that he plays for the most successful franchise in baseball and there is a mental pressure as well.  But Bird is positive and has his eye on the prize with every workout and every at bat.  "I learned patience and staying within the day, that’s a big lesson to learn in baseball,’’ Bird said. “It’s a lesson in a lot of different things, level-headedness, modesty, it can change quickly," the 24-year-old said this past weekend.

Source: N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg

“The results are great. I’ll take them, obviously. But I’m feeling good and feeling good the next day and the next day. It wasn’t like that for a long time.” That development has meant a lot to Girardi, who wanted to see how Bird was able to bounce back and has been pleased to see he has been able to recover", reported the New York Post after Bird beat up on the Boston Red Sox slugging two home runs in the game.

Source: MLB.com

"A National League scout who has watched Bird since he was with Double-A Trenton in 2014 said he not only hits to all fields but also has power there. “I think in [Yankee Stadium], he can be a 30-home run guy,” the scout said. “He has power the other way," reported Newsday.  Greg Bird's success is not only his success but ours too.  He has his whole life ahead of him as a 24-year-old Baby Bomber.  It is exciting to watch him soar.

Another sign that #28 is within reach.



--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

BIRD YOUR ENTHUSIASM

I am not as excited about the 2016 season as I once was. I’ll admit it; I’m a Greg Bird fan and was bummed out to hear that he will spend the upcoming season on the shelf…or perch. Bird symbolized the NEW New York Yankees to me. 

He had a young Donnie Baseball look to him with that sweet, short porch John Olerud-esq swing. Greg was riding the crest of the youth movement wave to the Bronx! A booming tide that would wash away the old, crusty, oft injury, expensive barnacles that have held on too long. I can’t pretend any more. It’s sad. 

It’s like predicting the rain when it’s already freakin’ raining! NO! We won’t get a full, healthy, bounce back year from Tex either! Nope. Nah, not “but maybe if…”. No, just stop. 

No, CC won’t have found the fountain of youth after freeing himself of the Fountain of Jack Daniels. Nope. The knee is shot like that lawn chair my Pop puts out on the porch every spring…that nobody sits in…BECAUSE IT’S BROKEN! 

ARod? He’ll run into a few. I admire his work ethic and new attitude since returning from exile…but let us be realistic for a second. .241 with 22 dingers and 83 RBIs would be in the ballpark. Prediction.

We are a year away from seeing what we actually have. “Charlie Bone Spur” won’t be better this year. It is lousy to write it, but it’s a fact. I won’t wear the rose tinted, pinstriped goggles anymore. Think about it…we’ve already started hearing that our new 2nd baseman will be a utility man. WHAT?! Why? Let him play 2nd…and ONLY 2nd.

I will admit I am pretty amped up to see the 3 HEADED MONSTER of a pen this year…but with Miller as the closer…call me crazy, he earned it.

I think even the most hardened Tex fan (Looking at you, Jenna) has to KNOW that Mark is not going to bounce back again. Yes, he had great power numbers and is the second best goalkeeper behind Henrik blah, blah, blah… but you have to see that there is a chance that this guy will get hurt on his way to his kid’s PTA meeting at their Greenwich grade school. I submit we alter the saying from “MURPHY’S LAW” to “Teixeira’s Law”. That which can be injured, can and will be injured. We’re screwed and we know it. I predict the INJURY BUG will bite early in Spring Training and then return with vigor in mid May.

What did Greg Bird mean to me? He meant a new day in the Bronx. Then again he may have laid an egg…but Tex calls that “Tuesday”.

Sorry…February sucks.

** SAME AS IT EVER WAS….SAME AS IT EVER WAS…SAME AS IT EVER WAS…**

 
 
 
--Mike O'Hara Senior "Features" Writer
Twitter: @mikeyoh21
















 

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DONNIE & THE BIRD

Note to our BYB audience... this is not a post about Mark Teixeira... period.

Sure, he may end up being the next Shane Spencer.  Years from now we may look back and say, “Wow, remember when we thought Greg Bird was going to be good?”  I’ve already taken heat from other fans for making the rookie 1st baseman a future Yankee great.  I get it.  We’ve been burned on promising youngsters before and some are just hell bent supporters of Te…”He who shall not be named”.

Here is my thinking.  I see some similarities in Bird and another notable Bronx Bomber.  They both aren’t much for talk.  They both have sweet left handed swings.  They were both homegrown.  Yes, for me Greg Bird has a little "Donnie Baseball" in him.  My hope is that Bird’s inner Mattingly will blossom into another great player.  It can happen.

Look, it’s a small sample size, I understand that, but that dinger in Toronto just screamed, “I’m here to stay, Yankee fans!”  Bird’s swing has a twinge of Olerud and Carew to it.  It’s graceful and seemingly effortless.

He plays first with a solid and ever improving glove.  Greg Bird just looks the part of a New York Yankee.  We should get him some eye black and a sharp looking mustache.

Recently BYB posted an article asking where Greg fits in next year.  I tweeted back, “STARTER!”  Look, he can play and taking ABs away will do nothing for his progress.  The Yankees are getting younger and fast.  Why stop that trend?  Those older, more expensive players need to see the writing on the wall.  If the Bombers are going to compete with the young stars of the game (Trout, Harper etc.…) they need to bring up the kids and let them run.  Trying to squeeze another decent season out of an injury prone, aging player who’s best is behind him is foolish.  I’m not just talking about one player, I’m talking about the overall mindset of handling those players Father Time has touched on the shoulder.

Greg Bird has the tools and demeanor to be a player like Mattingly in my opinion…does that mean it will happen?  No.  But letting him play as opposed to giving him a “Fast Pass” on the Scranton Shuttle will show us what we have in the Baby Bomber.  Some guys just fit.  Looks like Bird will be the word for a while in the Bronx.

** A bit on the nose…or beak as it were.  G’luck Greg. **

 

--Mike O'Hara Senior "Features" Writer
Twitter: @mikeyoh21






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