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Showing posts from November, 2024

If Your Birthday is November 29th...

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 . ..you share it with the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera .  Cooperstown's only unanimous inductee spent 17 years holding baseball's most tension-filled assignment -- nailing down the last three outs of a game.  Those 652 career saves -- plus 42 more (matching his uniform number) in the post-season -- were part of five Yankee World Championship clubs.   Modest, gracious and always team-first, the native of Panama became so synonymous with the Metallica song "Enter Sandman," that they performed for him when the Yankees celebrated Mariano Rivera Day on September 22nd, 2013. Sharing the date with Mo are longtime Mets 3rd baseman Howard Johnson and 1994 American League Rookie of the Year Bob Hamelin .

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Juan Soto , the big man with the big swing and even bigger pricetag, is going to remain baseball's hottest off-season story until he and uber-agent Scott Boras decide on his destination.  Here's a good look at him batting against the Phillies last March in Grapefruit League action. (Below:) At the other end of the payscale, here's Soto's 2024 teammate   Jon Bert i .  Limited by injuries to just 25 games last season, the veteran utilityman (seen here in a September rehab assignment with AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre) was non-tendered last week, making him a free agent. Another 2024 spare part has already found a new home.  Jahmai Jones , seen here in Spring Training, started the season in the Bronx, but spent most of it in AAA.  He's landed a minor league deal for '25 with the Tigers.  Detroit's been a good luck city for his family.  His dad Andre played six games at linebacker for the NFL's Lions, while his brother TJ was a Lions receiver from 2015-'18....

If Your Birthday is November 22nd...

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... you share it with Austin Romine .  The longtime Yankees backup catcher spent parts of eight seasons in the Bronx, where one of his standout games took place in 2019 (same year I snapped this image) when he became the first Yank since 2012 to deliver both a tying-hit and a walk-off hit in the same game!  (He did it against the Royals on April 21st.) And another ex-Yankee with an "A" first name is also a November 22nd baby.   Adam Ottavino   was Romine's teammate in 2019, and returned to Aaron Boone's pen the following season.  Working mainly as a setup man, he posted an 8-8 record over two years, with two saves (including one on August 12th, 2019 against the Orioles, when I was on hand).   The native New Yorker also owns a unique place in Yankee history as the first player ever to wear the uniform number of 0.  He's also one of the 147 (at last count) to play for both the Yankees and Mets. Interestingly, two others who've suited up for bot...

Young Yankees Grab the Spotlight

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While the Yankees leaned on veterans such as Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton to reach the World Series for the first time in 15 years, two rookies were also a vital part of the story.  Luis Gil , who impressed in spring training and then went 15-7 with more than a strikeout an inning, wasn't just a contributor -- for the first two-and-a-half months of the season he filled the rotation spot while ace Gerrit Cole was on the injured list.  His impressive work earned him AL Rookie of the Year honors for 2024.  In becoming the 10th Yankee to win the award (the first since Aaron Judge), he posted dazzling numbers.  As posted by MLB.com's Bryan Hoch, Gil led AL pitchers (who pitched at least 150 inning) in opponents' batting average and was second in hits per nine innings (6.17).  He was fourth in the AL in strikeouts per nine innings (10.15), sixth in opponent slugging and 10th in opponent OPS (.643). He also paced all AL rookies in wins and tied for the...

If Your Birthday is November 15th...

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...you share it with Trevor Story.   The power hitting shortstop starred for six seasons in Colorado, but has struggled since moving to Boston  as a 2022 free agent -- just two homers and a .255 average in 2024.  (Could he be an example of Coors Field Syndome?)  Even with his recent decline, Story is alltime leader in WAR for players born on this date . Ranking second is the late Gus Bell .  A four-time All Star with the 1950s Reds, where he played alongside Frank Robinson and Ted Kluszewski, the Louisville native was also the patriarch of one of baseball's rare three-generation families: his son Buddy and grandsons Mike and David later played in the majors.   

A Very Cool Minor League Park

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During a recent extended road trip, I had the chance to check out several ballparks I'd never previously seen.  The most surprising discovery came in Oklahoma City, where I got good look at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.  The home of the Dodgers Triple A farm club has a classic look -- along with numerous details honoring Oklahoma baseball history.  We'll start with the right field gate -- named for Warren Spahn and featuring a statue honoring the winningest lefthanded pitcher of all time.  While born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Spahn was stationed in Oklahoma during World War II, where he married a woman from the Sooner State and bought a ranch in Hartshorne that became their off-season home. Oklahoma native Johnny Bench is the star whose statue welcomes you at the home plate entrance.  The 1968 NL Rookie of the Year, two-time MVP and 14-time All Star was the first catcher ever to lead a league in home runs and ranks with Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, ...

If Your Birthday is November 8th...

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  ...you share it with Giancarlo Stanton , who in his seven years as a Yankee went from one of baseball's most feared sluggers to symbol of the fans' frustration — but rebounded in October for a brilliant post-season.   Traded (along with a massive contract) by the penny-pinching Marlins after a 59-home run season earned him National League MVP honors, he's never quite met expectations as the bookend slugger for homegrown Aaron Judge.  The story, since 2019, is complicated by a wave of injuries that turned him into an awkward-swinging lead footed DH who at times drew pity from network TV announcers. His bat still has impact: four home runs in this year’s ALCS and two more during the World Series  showed fans how intimidating Stanton can be when healthy and on his “A” game  

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Congratulations to Freddie Freeman for leading the Dodgers to their first World Series title in a normal season since 1988.  Homering in the first four games of the Fall Classic -- and then contributing a run-producing single in game five's historic fifth inning rally -- earned him MVP honors and likely locked in a future place for him in Cooperstown.  While I haven't snapped him in a game since moving to LA, here is in action for the Braves, were he spent his first 12 seasons, including 2019. (Below:) The Eras Committee has announced its ballot for 2025 induction into the Hall of Fame.  Covering those who played before 1980, the group includes Dick Allen , Tommy John, Steve Garvey, the recently deceased Luis Tiant and  Negro Leaguers John Donaldson and Vic Harris.  Let's hope this panel of longtime writers and historians gets it right when it comes to Tommy John -- who won 288 thanks to being the first recipient of the surgery that bears his name -- and Dick Al...

If Your Birthday is November 1st...

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...you share it with Masahiro Tanaka , the hard-throwing Japanese ace of the 2010-decade Yankees.  Posting a winning record along with double digit victories every season from 2014-'19, he went 78-46 during his seven MLB seasons before returning to Rakuten in his native country for 2021. (Below:)  There's also a current Yankee born on the 1st of November: Trent Grisham , the defensively gifted outfielder who came to the Bronx along with Juan Soto, hit just .190, but committed only two errors in 69 games this season.