REMEMBERING STAN MUSIAL... & MICKEY MANTLE

We're a Yankee fan website.  But more importantly, we're baseball fans first.  We come from around the globe to chat about the Yankees, baseball and for me personally, how it all intertwines with life.  There are many parallels for me personally and I see it all the time.  Maybe that's just me thinking too much or too hard or whatever, who knows.  I do know this, I love the players, all the players that bust ass to become major league ball players, to become the greatest, but more importantly, to help their teams, a group of 25 guys, win a championship.  To me, that's the greatest achievement and it doesn't matter what team I see celebrating on the mound after a baseball season is complete... it still brings a tear to my eye. (Yes, the Red Sox would be the exception... I'm a baseball fan, but I'm not crazy.)

Stan Musial was put to rest yesterday.  Stan won 7 batting titles and was a staple and an icon in St. Louis, but in baseball as well.  I've never met the man, I've never seen the man play, but I know that he was one of the nicest men to ever put on a uniform and man with more focus and determination that many of the players that play the game.

I found this video on MLB.com of the eulogy of Stan Musial by one of my favorite sports guys ever, Mr. Bob Costas.  Costas has always been amazing and I love the way he calls a game and more importantly, I love the way the man talks baseball. I get chills when he tells the stories of the greats and I could listen to him chat about Stan the man, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle for hours.  Bottom line, anyone who has a baseball card in his wallet is a friend of mine as far as I'm concerned.

Here is Costas speaking at Stan's funeral.  A eulogy you will love:


Strangely, I have a favorite eulogy, if it's possible to have a favorite eulogy... and that would be Bob's eulogy of Mickey Mantle back in 1995.




Mickey wasn't always perfect, but he loved the game of baseball and he wore the pinstripes proudly. Costas did an amazing job back in August of 1995 and for all these years, for some reason, I often think about it.  Today, when I watched Costas again, I thought about 1995 again, and I had to put this post together for all of you. 

Costas is a class act there is no one better.  Rest in Peace Stan. I applaud you Bob and we miss you Mick.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone.

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GOODBYE TO THE GREAT STAN MUSIAL

Stan Musial was an outstanding hitter and a Hall of Famer.  As a kid, I just remember people saying "Stan the Man" and I remember opening an Encylocopdia (I'm not kidding) and reading all about him.  I was a baseball nut and that's what you did in the 80's.

Stan past away at the age of 92. The Los Angeles Times (HERE) says "The Cardinals announced Musial's death in a news release. They said he died Saturday evening at his home in Ladue, Mo., surrounded by family. The team said Musial's son-in-law, Dave Edmonds, informed the club of Musial's death.

Musial was so revered in St. Louis, two statues of him stand outside Busch Stadium. He spent his entire 22-year career with the Cardinals and made the All-Star team 24 times — baseball held two All-Star games each summer for a few seasons."

Yesterday was a sad day in baseball, losing Stan and Earl Weaver was a hit in a gut to all baseball fans... we lost 2 icons.  Let's not forget them.

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DEREK JETER FOR MVP? CONSIDER IT

You can’t deny Derek Jeter the opportunity to become the 2012 American League MVP this season.  He has done everything a captain can do for a ball club riddled with injury and struggle.  He has hit well, almost to the point of finding the Fountain of Youth, all because he found new life in what appears to be just being alittle more patient at the plate.  A tiny mechanical thing that he only found by accident when he was rehabbing last season down in Tampa.  Thank God he found it, because it’s making a ton of sports writers who wrote him off in 2010 really eat crow right now… and you know how I love that.  Just to rehash, because I can, this is what many of the headlines read back in 2010:

USA Today (October 2010): For a Yankees Icon, the beginning of the end

Business Insider (June 2011): Derek Jeter is getting old

Yahoo (July 2010): A Declining Derek Jeter on Collision Course with New York Yankees

ESPN (November 2010): Yanks will overpay for Jeter

New York Magazine (April 2011): This is the Derek Jeter Start Yankee Fans Feared

NBC New York (August 2010): The Derek Jeter Slump Hits the front page

New York Times (July 2010): Is a Slump a Reason for Concern?

New York Daily News (April 2011):   Yankees' Derek Jeter looks lost at the plate...

Just the headlines alone give a negative vibe that the end was near for Jeter, even if you read their pieces and it was mildly positive, the headline itself is like a slap at our Captain.  This is what Bleeding Yankee Blue’s headlines were right around that time:

WHY DEREK JETER IS OUR CAPTAIN

THE APPEAL OF DEREK JETER

WHY JETER DESERVES A PAY DAY

Why am I comparing? I'll tell you why... because we never gave up on the captain when everyone else in the media did. That's significant.

Now, as we approach one of Derek Jeter’s best seasons since 2009, (.334 BA in '09), you really have to starting thinking, could this be real life?  Could this 38 year old guy who’s pretty much won every type of individual and team award in his career also tack on a 2012 MVP award? Here are his numbers this season: 195 H / .323 AVG / 15 HR / 53 RBI. Look, It’s true, there are plenty of options, great players also have great seasons.  Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels is killing the ball right now (163 H /.331 AVG / 27 HR / 77 RBI), and many believe he’ll be the guy, but there is also another “little” award he should collect first. 

(In Photo: Derek Jeter, 1996)
It’s called the Rookie of the Year award.  Remember that award? Derek Jeter won it in 1996.   

Miguel Cabrera continues to have a great season (179 H / .328 AVG / 36 HR / 118 RBI), he always does and let’s not forget, this guy is just a great hitter. Sure, he deserves consideration too. 

And Josh Hamilton? Sure, the guy hits the ball well and has terrific numbers (145 H /.298 AVG / 41 HR / 121 RBI), but I have to tell you, it almost seems logical that Derek Jeter be considered ahead of them, and even more so than a guy like Robinson Cano. Why? The reason is simple… The comeback.  I hate to use that term because Jeter hasn’t gone anywhere.  What I mean is Jeter came to life again...hard! All us Yankee fans knew he still “had” it, but finding it took alittle while.  Couple that with Jeter being a classy, clean ballplayer with no scandal attached…not even PEDs Skip Bayless (Read SHAME ON SKIP BAYLESS) and we may be onto something big this year for Jeet.

Look Derek Jeter is currently batting .323, his best average since 2009 when he ended the season with a .334 average. His home runs are up (2012: 15 - 2011: 6), his OPS is up (2012: .817 to 2011: .743) and this is another factor, but a factor that won’t be (and probably shouldn’t be) considered in the voting.  Jeter at this point has 3283 hits in his career and 195 this year.  He’s quickly approaching Pete Rose and his all-time hits record.  He’s tied with Willie Mays (Read HERE) and about to pass guys like Honus Wagner and Stan Musial...legends.  I mean are you freaking kidding me?  We are talking about a living legend right here, right now in Derek Sanderson Jeter.

Now would Jeter want to hear about MVP talk? Hell no.  He just wants to win another ring, as a team. He just wants this Yankee team to win more games than just 1 in a row and instead rally for a winning streak in September.  That’s all he’s thinking about. For Jeter, we all know these individual awards are weird for him and that’s fine, you need to admire that.  Jeter’s a gamer and a team player, but my God, the fact that fans at Yankee stadium aren’t yet chanting “M-V-P” when he walks to the plate is puzzling to me. We need to start drumming up the chatter Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight! Why?

Because while 20 year old Mike Trout has played a terrific season, so has 38 year old Derek Jeter.  Think about it, he’s never slowed down this season, he’s been consistent and has kept that average up all year, there really is no drop off.  Amazing.

Yeah, I’m just rambling and slobbering at this point, we all know the voting wouldn’t even consider a New York Yankee anymore.  They’re done with rewarding us, almost like they think we’ve “Won too much,” but they need to think long and hard about this vote, because love the Yankees or hate them, everyone admires Derek Jeter.  I don’t care if you’re a Red Sox fan or a Padres fan, What’s not to admire? Jeter is the ambassador of Major League Baseball. The classiest guy, and one of the hardest working players out there and at 38, I have to tell you, it’s time he needs to get his. 

 

So yeah, when the fans pile into Yankee stadium tonight against the Rays, let’s start the Derek Jeter “M-V-P" chant… the time is now, we have to start drumming up the hype and help out the Captain… he deserves it. I have no doubt in my mind. Jeter could be the 2012 MVP… Damn that's got a nice ring to it, don’t it?

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AROUND YANKEELAND, AROUND MLB AND KATE UPTON

There is plenty of news going on around the Yankees and Major league baseball that I had to fill you in on. Plus, you need to realize that alot of these stories don't deserve their own post. Naturally, I didn't want to cheat you. This is perfect "waking up and having coffee" reading. Enjoy this and Good Morning on a hot Yankee off day.

Omar Luis Rodriguez: Never heard of that name before? Me neither. The Yankees signed this Cuban 18 year old left handed pitcher to a minor league contract with a $4 million bonus. Back in 2010 he was a bright spot during the World Junior Championship when he beat Team USA. All this comes from Ben Balder of Baseball America and you can read the full report HERE. According to Ben, "Given his age and experience level, Luis would likely report as high as low Class A Charleston, though he still must be able to acquire a visa, so it's not certain when Luis will be able to begin his career." So, are the Yankees gearing up for their future? I'd say so.

Sadder and Sadder for Brien Taylor: Just when you thought being Brien Taylor couldn't suck enough...it can. It's being reported HERE, that he was indicted on 3 counts of distributing crack had appeared in front of a judge and was ordered to stay behind bars. According to reports: "The former No. 1 selection in the Major League Baseball draft now faces a slew of charges involving the possession of and the intent to sell and distribute cocaine." This is a tragedy. Sure, he never made it to superstar status, but this is a perfect case of a kid with hopes and dreams and no direction. I feel for this guy and his family.

ARod's climbing the charts: Alex Rodriguez is now 6th on the all-time list for RBIs. That's fantastic. Right now Alex has 1925 RBIs and he just passed Jimmie Foxx who had 1924. Rodriguez trails Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and all-time leader Hank Aaron in that category. Way to go kid!

Gibberish: Not sure how many people saw or heard this incident surrounding the Rangers play by play announcer Dave Barnett. I know I'm late to the party with this but you really need to feel for Barnett right now. This seems quite scary. They say a migraine was responsible for the incident but can you imagine your brain just shorting out like this? On Monday during the Rangers, Padres game, Barnett said this in the 8th inning: "the go-ahead run is at fifth on what (Mike) Adams is insisting on calling it a botched robbery. What actually happened was his henchman took piece literally all of." Whoa.  

Look, I'm 40. I feel my body breaking down sometimes, the last thing I want is my mind to short circuit like this. Remember a few years ago when that news reporter spoke gibberish during her news report? Look it's below:

  

All I can say is good luck to Dave and I hope they are able to figure out what happened.

Pine tar re-visited: The other night, Davey Johnson, the Nationals manager asked the umpire to go out to the mound and inspect Tampa Bay Rays set up man Joel Peralta's glove. He was suspicious. It turns out Peralta's glove had a crap load of pine tar on it. My guess is Peralta will be fined. Joe Maddon was pissed at Davey Johnson. Read HERE. Well, you may not believe this, but I have an interesting take that you may not expect.

I don't believe in cheating and I've stated that here a ton of times. I don't believe in PEDs and I don't believe in performance enhancing drugs. But I also don't believe that spit balls and pine tar and alittle scuff of a baseball is cheating either. Now look, clearly spit balls are not allowed in baseball, but I am from the school of old time baseball and what I mean by that is this; if alittle pine tar happens to get on the ball, hey, that's baseball.

Like Gaylord Perry, if some sweat or spit or something else helps the ball move a bit while you're pitching, go for it. If you want to use the old baseball and not ask for a new one, that's cool, go for it, that's baseball. Guys have been doing it for years. I am a believer that it's part of the game. Now, I will also tell you that if your blatantly obvious about it and coat your mitt with pine tar, you're deserve to get caught. Sure, it's a fine line but this is my scenario, my opinion on it, and it's just how I feel. In fact, I have a piece that we'll release this weekend on the recent ordeal surrounding Jose Valverde and his recent spitball accusation, read HERE and watch below:

 

Look for BYB's piece on all of this this weekend.

Kate Upton does it again: What do you want me to say. Kate Upton is everywhere and after the huge success of our last piece titled YANKEES NEW, YANKEES OLD AND KATE UPTON, Why not try it again... it's a Yankees off day after all.

It turns out Kate Upton is on the new cover of GQ and of course they got her to pose provocatively. That's what she does... right? Hey, it's working.