THAT'S 25 GAMES IN A ROW

Source: Twitter

In a rare night game in Yankee Stadium on Saturday, the Yankees tied a 78-year-old record.  The Bombers have hit a home run in 25 straight games and the feeling among fans and the team is just electric.

"The Yankees' current home run streak is the second longest in Yankees history, trailing only a 25-gamer in 1941. That '41 team went on to win the World Series and included six Hall of Famers, by the way: Phil Rizzuto, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing," reported CBS.com.

The 2002 Texas Rangers hit a home run in 27 straight games and the Yankees could very well surpass that record, giving them just another reason to get excited about being, well the Yankees!

Source: Newsday

The team has spread the wealth of home runs across the line up, with guys like Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez and Cameron Maybin feeding the streak.  It was Gio Urshela who gave the Yankees the 25th home run of the streak and his excitement was felt across the Stadium.

Although they were not dingers, also exciting the line up has been Giancarlo Stanton, who's clutch hits in the 6th and 7th gave the Yankees the runs they needed to best Houston in the series, taking the first three out of four games against the Astros.

Source: NY Times

With Old Timer's Day today and Yankee Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera back in pinstripes for his first appearance in the Yankee tradition, the Yankees have so much to celebrate these days: A fully stacked line up, tremendous options in the field and yes, a franchise record tie for the most consecutive home runs.

Let's keep the momentum going.

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

WHAT I LEARNED FROM "HENRY & ME"

At the end of the Summer the New York Yankees released a bold new venture that like everything else the organization does relied heavily on tradition and the belief that Yankee baseball is filled with moments that it’s fans can only describe as ‘magical’.

A few weeks ago, I took the time to unwind and experience this animated feature that took us back to the last Yankee championship in 2009 and beyond.

(In Photo: CC Sabathia recording for Henry & Me)

‘Henry & Me’ wouldn’t be an easy sell to the kids if you described the plot, especially non-Yankee fans, but the movie fits into some of the classic baseball films that have inspired younger generations.  It’s about something everyone will experience in one way or another… adversity.

In the case of the movie’s main character that adversity comes in the form of life threatening cancer.  A boy on verge of giving up is inspired by the game he loves and the heroes from his beloved team to believe in the unseen and push himself to live.

“It’s not over,” the sick Jack tells the magical Henry about the game the team is losing just as the kid goes in for surgery.

Henry, voiced by Richard Gere, takes Jack on a magical journey that sees him playing ball with Babe Ruth, Lefty Gomez, Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson and more.

The movie made news before it was released due to the fact that Alex Rodriguez’s involvement in the Biogenesis scandal forced the filmmakers to make his role in the project less prominent.

What I saw was a well intentioned classically animated feature that explored baseball lore and looked to inspire those who face adversity to ‘believe’ and never give up.

Half of baseball is hoping and believing that in the end things ‘go your way.’

Luis Guzman as Lefty Gomez was amazing and Cyndi Lauper’s role is unmistakable.

The movie does carry a heavy-handed homage to “The Boss” George Steinbrenner but in the animated world of ‘Henry & Me’ it makes perfect sense.



I think this film belongs in any fans home baseball video library.

 
Wolfgang Von Bunt
BYB Staff Writer
Twitter: @WVBunt

 

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REMEMBERING WHAT BASEBALL IS REALLY ALL ABOUT

Last  weekend I was fortunate to be able to watch a movie that left an impression I will carry with me each time I watch our Yankees.

The film “The Battered Bastards of Baseball” is a documentary of a minor league (Class A) team that existed for 5 seasons (1973 through 1977) in Portland, Oregon.  Known as the “Mavericks”, the club was owned by Bing Russell, an actor who starred as Deputy Clem Foster in Bonanza and had played Robert in The Magnificent Seven.  He is perhaps better known as the father of actor Kurt Russell.

While a boy, Bing Russell became the unofficial mascot of the New York Yankees.  As such, he lived out many a child’s dream by counting Lefty Gomez, Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig among his friends.  So endeared to the team was Bing that an already ailing Gehrig gave him the bat he used to hit his final home run.

Can you imagine?

In addition to baseball, Russell grew up with a love for showmanship.  Eventually he would move his family to the west coast in pursuit of an acting career, but as the film shows, baseball never left his heart.

(In Photo: Bing Russell with Kurt Russell)

Portland had struggled as a minor league town, and with attendance dwindling, lost its Class A team- the Beavers- in 1972. In stepped Russell who created an independent team that held open tryouts every year. 

The club he would put together was a band of misfits and castoffs, yet somehow in their very first season the Mavericks would win their division.  In fact, over the course of over five seasons the team made the playoffs three times and garnered two division crowns.  Along the way, they rekindled Portland’s love for baseball, drawing record attendance.  The key was what Bing Russell used as his team’s motto: FUN.

The Mavericks stepped outside the box when it came to entertainment.  When they were on the verge of sweeping an opponent, a player would grab a broom and dance on the dugout with it, eventually setting it on fire.  Soon fans were coming to games with brooms.  

(In Photo: Hank Robinson)

The team had a bad-boy image that they certainly lived up to.  Their first manager, Hank Robinson, was fired for punching an umpire and his successor – Frank Peters – upon being ejected from a game, grabbed first base and locked himself inside the locker room.  The umpires called the cops, but that proved unsuccessful and the game was called.  

Peters was unconventional as a manager.  Once he rotated the players around during the course of the game so that each played every position. On another occasion he drew the lineup from a hat (something Yankees manager Billy Martin would employ a few years later).  That experiment didn’t exactly go according to plan as one of the team’s top hitters chased Peters through the clubhouse with a .44 magnum when he found out he wasn’t in the lineup.  The manager promptly put him in.

Among the “bad boys” to play on the Mavericks was a former 20-game winner with the Yankees; Jim Bouton.

To organized baseball, Bouton was truly the definition of outcast.  With the publication of his book “Ball Four”, which chronicled some of the behind-the-scenes activities in baseball, the pitcher was basically blackballed from the major leagues.  He joined the Mavericks in 1975 and used his time with them to help launch what would eventually be a comeback to the majors in 1978 with the Atlanta Braves.

Without giving you the rundown on the entire movie, the bottom line is that the Mavericks were the very epitome of “independent” and as such drew the ire of organized baseball.  In spite of their success on the field and in the stands (possibly because of it?), they would lose the franchise in 1978 when the Pacific League brought the Beavers back to Portland (attendance immediately dropped).

Bing Russell understood that as a game, baseball needed to be entertaining.  The fact that the Mavericks became so endeared to the city of Portland is proof that he had it right.  Watch the film and you’ll see what I mean.

I came away from the film promising myself that no matter how bad things get with my Yankees (and lately they’ve been pretty bad), I’d remember the lesson this film taught; that even though “business” gets involved with the sport, at its roots baseball is still just a game – why play it or watch it if you can’t have fun?

    

--Steve Skinner, BYB Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1


 
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WHY MARIANO IS THE BEST

So Bleeding Yankee Blue readers have spoken and hands down, Mariano Rivera is your favorite Yankees pitcher ever....EVER! In it’s rich history, Mo is the man you chose. You know what? I tend to agree with that. He’s electric. Without a doubt I still go back to the old school guy choosing Ron Guidry myself, but let's face it, it's a personal choice when choosing from our poll this time. Picking Mariano is not a wrong answer. In fact there was no wrong answer. So let’s analyze the poll. Here are the results:

Out of 127 people that voted, Mariano Rivera received 44 votes. That was followed by Andy Pettitte with 24 and in third place was Ron Guidry with 19. It’s good to see that my fluff piece on my love for Gator didn’t sway you, Read WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PITCHER OF ALL TIME? I'm not going to lie, I was surprised that someone like Whitey Ford only received 15 votes and someone like CC Sabathia, or Waite Hoyt or Red Ruffing received less than 3 votes. I mean Ruffing was a terrific pitcher back in the day and Whitey was one of the greatest. Sabathia is pitching now and clearly in everyone’s view every 5th day and he's awesome to see perform, plus he numbers reflect that. It’s interesting and the only thing I can think of is maybe because of the Yankees incredible run since 1996, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte just stick in our minds as being part of some of the greatest Yankee teams ever in the modern era, am I right? Even someone like David Wells received 4 votes and Mike Mussina received 7 too, so clearly these guys may be more popular because of their recent history. I get it, I'm just saying...

Now I chose 15 pitchers for you to vote from, and yes, there are plenty of guys I left out and they were write-in votes and they should have been...people like Orlando Hernandez were mentioned on Twitter and Tommy John was suggested in our comments section of the poll post. Again, no pitcher is the wrong answer, it's a personal choice. I could have made the list 40 guys, but then it just gets out of hand. I wanted to keep it to 15 and when that happens, guys don’t make the cut. It wasn’t a slight, it was just the way I conducted the poll. Hell, someone may have thought Rick Rhoden was their favorite, but he wasn’t on the list, see what I mean?

So yeah, hands down Mariano is the greatest, even without the poll I think it’s safe to say coming off a season where he became the All-time Saves leader, he’s truly the man, but it was just shocking to me that guys that were part of the Yankees rich history didn’t get too many votes. Goose Gossage only received 2 votes... I expected more. Lefty Gomez received 1, I expected at least as many as Whitey, and Roger Clemens received 3. Oh yeah...Allie Reynolds only received 2. Very interesting.

In the end, I hope you had fun with this poll and we’ll be conducting more very similarly to this one soon. Look for it and thanks for participating.

ORDER A BYB SHIRT NOW, DROB WEARS ONE! Also, Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

11 11 11 THE YANKEE WAY

There have been a handful of Yankee players that have worn #11 in their career, but today I'm going to only highlight 3 on this day, 11-11-11. Why? Because I can.

Chuck Knoblauch: CK was a superstar before he ever put on pinstripes and he already had a ring with the Twins, so he had a swagger walking into the Yankee Clubhouse. I was a fan of Knoblauch because, he may have been smaller than the other Yankees, but it never stopped him, he still had the talent and the power and guts to be a great Yankee. He was successful and a very talented hitter. Luckily for Bleeding Yankee Blue, we got to interview him and talk about his life as a ballplayer and now and it was personally exciting for me because I was always a fan. Chuck got involved very rapidly in the Twitter world is has connected with fans which is pretty cool. There is no doubt that CK was a huge part of the Yankees 1998, 1999 and 2000 championships and a staple in that clubhouse. Now we just need him to get invited to Old Timer’s Day. Why he hasn’t yet I will never know. Read EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CHUCK KNOBLAUCH if you want to hear from Chuck in his own words. It was a great interview we did with him. Knobby was a great #11.

Dwight Gooden: Doc has a great New York Yankee story, because he overcame so much, but yet is still struggling to this day. He was an incredible talent with the Mets and I thought for sure, once he had his no-hitter with the New York Yankees on May 14, 1996, he was past all the rough times. Drugs can devour an individual and addiction is the hardest thing to kick, but the one thing I remember most about Dwight Gooden in 1996 was he looked happy, he felt wanted and he was part of a terrific team. The Yankees gave Doc a chance when no one would and he in return, got clean and pitched his heart out, or at least, pitched everything he had left in the tank. Seeing Doc on the shoulders of his teammates after his no-hitter was awesome and a moment that I will never forget because it was very special. This man, who had fallen from grace had risen up again to prove to the fans, his family and himself and the world that change could happen. And it did for Doc Gooden at that very moment.

Lefty Gomez: Gomez was with the Yankees for a long time and was by far the best Yankee player to wear #11. That’s not a slap any any of the other players, but you have to realize that pitchers at that point in baseball, pitched longer, on shorter rest and usually didn’t get the hook for a closer. Gomez played on the Yankees from 1930 to 1942. He was a 7 time All-star and not only that, he was apart of 5 championships. Gomez was also a 20 game winner 4 times in his career, how many pitchers can say they’ve done that in this day and age. Look at someone like Mike Mussina, a great pitcher for the Yankees, but a 20 game pitcher once… in 2008. Gomez is among one of the best pitchers for the Yankees and played just about his entire career with New York, on leaving after the 1942 season and signing with the Washington Senators for 1943, then retired. To me, Gomez was a great #11.

This post was fun and gave me a chance to highlight some terrific Yankees that wore #11.

(In Photo: Herb Pennock)

There are others that wore the number, Joe Page (1945-1950), Gary Sheffield, Doug Mientkiewicz,Johnny Sain, Brett Gardner, Waite Hoyt, and Herb Pennock who was the first to wear #11 in 1929.

It's 11/11/11 Ladies and Gentlemen... I'm not sure what that means, but be sure to see a new piece like this on 12/12/12, that's for sure.

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.