Open Thread: Ceremonies for Bob and George
By
When the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays resume play for the second half tomorrow night, the Bombers and their fans will turn out to the stadium with heavy hearts. Both Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner have passed away since the team’s last home stand, and the the Yankees announced this afternoon their pre-game plans to honor these two Yankee icons.
While the team is still firming up all of the details, the club is asking ticket holders to be in their seats by 6:45 for the ceremony. Currently plans include a video tribute to George Steinbrenner and a moment of silence for both men prior to the game. “Further tributes,” the Yankees said, “to Mr. Steinbrenner and Mr. Sheppard will be revealed during Friday’s ceremony, and additional ceremonies will be held during Old-Timers’ Day events on Saturday, July 17.” I hope they can produce a video tribute for Bob Sheppard as well. He deserves one.
In addition to these memorials, the Yankees will place a wreath in front of the Boss’ statue in the Gate 2 Executive Lobby and in front of Bob Sheppard’s plaque in Monument Park. United States Army Sergeant First Class MaryKay Messenger will perform the National Anthem.
Under George Steinbrenner, the Yankees have always honored their history and remembered the players lost to the passage of time. Friday’s events will be emotionally charged as a fanbase begins to say good bye to two beloved Bronx figures.
* * *
This thread can serve as the open thread for the evening. It’s the last night of the All Star Break without Yankee baseball, but a handful of other teams are in action. The Red Sox play the Rangers at 7:10 p.m., and the Mets face the Giants at 10:10 p.m.
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I’ll be there tomorrow. I should bring tissues shouldn’t I?
a whole box
I would. Even though I have mixed emotions about him, he will no doubt be missed. And he was the product of a generation that’s mostly gone now, which is really sad.
What are expectations for Beltran tonight? I’m gonna say 1-4 with a strikeout.
What are expectations for Beltran tonight?
I expect him to brutally collide with Jason Bay in the outfield, causing them both to be lost for the year. Mike Pelfrey will also somehow be injured while sitting in the dugout.
All three will eventually die of gangrene and sepsis. Jerry Manuel will have a humorous anecdote regarding the matter that the press corps will eat up like catnip. The Mets will finish 17 games behind the Braves. Omar will receive a 10 year extension and the Mets will sign Jayson Werth to a 7 year, 120M deal this winter to fill the Beltran/Bay hole.
Only paying one OF to play 2 OF positions? Fred Wilpon is intrigued.
You forgot the Mets double-secret-probation-weapon:
Daniel Murphy. That’s right, future HoFer Daniel “Bambino” Murphy. He’ll be back, baby.
COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!!!!
I know you can’t expect much the very first night, but I think the expectations are that he hits pretty damn well. Slg over .500. As for steals and outfield defense, that remains to be seen. I would say expectations are that he is average in those areas.
Maybe the greatest tribute to George has been the scores of people who have been coming out of the woodwork, telling stories of all the good things he did for them. Most of them anonymous and none of them publicized. Some stories had him giving money, others just spending time with someone who’s kid was sick and was a big Yankee fan. I can’t tell you how many stories I heard this week of people sobbing as they recounted these tales.
George was a mixed bag as an owner. I was a teenager in the 80s when he was very tough to defend in public. The best thing he did was set a tone and spend money. Other than that, it took a long time for him to learn to just let the Baseball people do their jobs. I can’t give him complete credit for the team’s recent success when he was such an obstacle to it throughout the 80s.
That being said, he was one of the great characters Baseball has ever known, and had a side that few knew existed until only recently. Like all great characters, he was a bundle of contradictions and will be missed.
Well said, Steve from Bayside.
Wow, what a blast that was. I wish they would have put up the audio link up on their site, but I don’t see it.
BTW-People take the stuff that goes on air way too seriously.
BTW-People take the stuff that goes on air way too seriously.
Elaborate, please. That sounds like the teaser to a great story.
It’s all just entertainment. Joe is a real character, and Evan is more of a geek than he lets on.
I enjoyed the chance you had on air. I still wish there was more talk about stats and less about finding you a girl. Also dude, you said “wins over replacement” and they thought you couldn’t spell. All in all though, it was entertaining and you tried to enlighten them a bit more.
No, they made a joke about that and I thought it was funny. Again, don’t take everything so seriously, they’re just trying to entertain the audience. I didn’t take any of it personally. I know what they’re doing there.
Yeah, I know what they were just trying to entertain. That still doesn’t take away from me wishing that you hadn’t said “wins over replacement” and then spelled it W-A-R. And then with ZiPS, he basically asked, “what is that” and you said “I don’t really like that one”.
I wish there was more substance. They made it tough for you to get anything in. I liked your Pagan and Beltran reference by the way.
I understand, but it’s really not the format for that. It’s not NPR, it’s a commercial sports talk station. I was happy for the opportunity and to get whatever points I could across.
I enjoyed your segment and thought you did a good job. However, they barely gave you time to speak. The extent of the conversation was “You’re a geek; ok in 30 secs or less tell me about UZR and WAR and wtf is ZiPS?” I was disappointed in the hosts.
This is gonna be one Hell of an Old-timer’s day. Wish I were there.
I’d like to see every living free agent the Boss ever signed show up. That would be awesome.
That would be so fucking epic.
You think Jeet should make a speech? Or Hal?
Reggie.
He started it all.
(Yes, I know Catfish was first, but Catfish isn’t Reggie. There were no Catfish candy bars.)
Plus Catfish is dead…
Well, that too.
That would be awesome.
I’ll be on a train so I won’t see any of it!
So glad that this is the one game I’m attending between May and August
the sux are already been spanked in the top of the first, nice come back of baseball
The patches are nice but I just can’t picture one being worn on the chest instead of the sleeve. That’s probably going to look pretty tacky.
That’s probably going to look pretty tacky.
One man’s tacky is another man’s significant/noteworthy.
Fair enough.
Steve (mystiqueandaura.com)
When a 17 year old is destroying the GCL, at what point do you really consider his major league potential? by 19? by AA?
Klaw
You can talk about it now, if the tools are there. If you’re talking about Sanchez, yeah, that’s legit.
Nice words from Klaw on Sanchez today.
Very, very aroused.
Ditto.
I would have asked him this:
Keith, did you really just refer to yourself in the third person when discussing a minor leaguer? Really?
Really, Keith? Really?
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb.....id=5381764
He must be an effeminate wimp then?
/DBHOF’d
You left out “creepy”, but well done. Blast from the past.
http://www.battersbox.ca/artic.....1130808737
Pic for reference.
JIMP
Or, more accurately, JIMS.
Jizz in your skirt? In your shorts? In your skort? In your sweatpants? In your slip? In your stockings? In your scoopneck tankini?
In your socks? In your shirt? In your scarf? In your satchel? In your scrubs? In your shearlings? In your slingbacks?
In your sofa? In your Saab? In your Sam Adams? In your scallops?
In your sanity?
In your scallops?
Just no.
Fantastic.
In your saddlebags?
In your spacepants?
If the Sox might as well give Tim Wakefield the mascot suit already and get it over with. He’s useless otherwise.
No he is not. He is useful…by helping the Yankees…
George Sherrill’s available. LOOGY?
2010 v LHB: .211/.326/.368 against (.233 BABIP), 8/7 K/BB in 46 TBF
Career v LHB: .167/.235/.270 against (.234 BABIP), 165/39 K/BB in 439 TBF
I’d bite, after he clears waivers and refuses an assignment, becoming a free agent. We’d only be on the hook for the veteran’s minimum (prorated). Good risk/reward, and less potential for utter craptasticness than Dontrelle Willis, by other favorite second LOOGY option.
Much better than Dontrelle Willis. Amirite?
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....iants.html
I’ll keep you updated if he ever pitches again.
I’d try it.
I dunno. Boone Logan is better with the walks than him this season. His walks are way up and so are his strikeouts. Perhaps if he has a change in scenery he’ll do better? I’d bite.
I don’t think he can refuse the assignment because he’s never been outrighted before. Maybe there’s a service time thing though…
Ah, you might be right. I just assumed he had been in the bigs long enough to refuse it, but he might not have been.
He has five years of service. He can refuse the assignment.
He can refuse.
Pass.
Is a second lefty really that necessary? He at least has a track record over Logan, but he might be done.
Necessary? No. But it would be a nice luxury, and wouldn’t cost much of anything.
And it’s not like we’ve got a stacked 7 man pen and his addition would bump some better reliever to the minors. Sherrill can reliably retire left handed batters, which is more than I can say for Park/Gaudin/Moseley at the moment.
Whoa whoa whoa, don’t you ever accuse me of not hating Chan Ho Park enough.
Maquinito had a couple hits today, including a double. Good to see him back on track after his slump
(Yes, Kabak, I am exaggerating on purpose)
what does Maquinito mean?
Machine.
thanks
Gary Sanchez
ha
David Ortiz just struck out looking.
And bitched about it. Stunning.
/Youkilis’d
Good job by Steve on WFAN today…thumbs up.
Aside – Why doesn’t the YES Network expand with YES Network 2? Show all of the Yankee minor league affiliates…maybe all of the Nets Summer League games too…some soccer even?
With the rise in popularity of Milb and prospects, it only makes sense that the Yankees would televise their minor league games.
Multiple networks is very risky. Think about how long it took for ESPN to expand to multiple networks. They cover every sport. It would be ill-advised to make a second channel for the heck of it, this is television, not YouTube.
That said I strongly support airing minor league games. If I’m not mistaken they did that for a time, but they weren’t very popular.
Even if they showed the MiL games on tape delay, I’d enjoy it. It’d be better than the same Yankee Classics all day.
But they’re undefeated.
But, then again, maybe it’d be iffy logistically for the network to film some of these games. Maybe if they did just one game from each level per week? Whatevs.
Tape delay should work out well. It’s not as if the rest of their schedule is jammed with live/must see programming.
But I think the reason they won’t do it is production costs. A Yakeeography or Centerstage is a one time cost, which is probably a fraction of televising a single MILB game. Also, since its cable, most of their revenues come from subscriber fees that are set no matter how much programming they put on. There’s really no incentive to put a MILB game on, unless it could garner big enough ratings to offset the production costs, which I’ll assume it can’t (though I don’t know that).
Long story short, I think it’s a money loser. An occasional game might make sense, where it would be appointment TV. But even then, after seeing Montero play a few times the novelty would wear off.
Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. I just wish they’d do it on nights like tonight when there is no game. It’s better than no baseball at all.
Another good nugget from Klaw today:
Mike (Seattle, WA)
Taking health out of the equation…Smoak package or Montero package?
Klaw
Montero package. Premium guys are a push. Prefer the extra parts from NYY. Bear in mind I would want absolutely no part of Lueke.
Shut up, Steve. Everyone knows Law hates Yankee prospects.
Good for Keith for standing up for his principles (I assume that’s why he wouldn’t want Lueke), but the sad truth is that if you can throw a good breaking ball, you can get away with being a total bastard.
(And you run into a dilemma — how much of a bastard does a player with talent have to be before no one wants him?)
Whoops, said “bastard” twice. So it goes.
This quote from Bronson Arroyo should be on George’s tombstone: “If you ask any owner whether they would rather make $20 million and come in last place or lose $20 million and win a World Series, there’s only one guy who honestly would take that championship: George Steinbrenner. Nobody else.”
But the unstated part of that quote is that George would rather lose 20M and win a championship because he knows that championship will earn him that 20M back in no time.
Winning is good business.
You’re right, but I think the question was meant in a vacuum.
Ah, that makes more sense. Only Steinbrenner would be willing to lose $20M and personally get sucked into a vacuum if it meant a championship for the New York Yankees. We lost a great owner and a great man.
I love this quote so much. It’s the first thing I thought of reading all the Steinbrenner articles and I was really surprised it didn’t make it into any of them.
Anybody have the word on Mat Latos? Are they going to sit him for September?
I guess it depends on their cap for him. He did about 122 IP last year and is already at 106 this year. If they’re aggressive, they could probably let him get to 180.
thanks
I guessed around 160, but since they are in the hunt, you are probably right, they will go closer to 180.
Dontrelle Willis signed with the Giants.
TSJC’s dreams:Crushed
Poor guy. TSJC will not be very aroused about this.
Beat ya by an hour. Scroll up.
Guess I should have clicked the link.
So who’s pitching Tuesday? Will be my first (and probably only) game of the year. Two years ago I got Darrell Rasner. Last year I got Chad Gaudin (and left before Swisher’s walk-off(not my fault)). No matter what I have an upgrade coming.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say Sabathia, barring an injury.
Wait, I forgot Hughes moved up to the four spot. It’s going to be Javy.
Damnit, it’s actually Hughes.
it’s actually a Kei Igawa/Sidney Ponson tandem start.
Ugh, I went to so many fucking Igawa starts in ’07.
You poor soul.
I got to see A-Rod’s 500th in person, though. That was awesome.
My mom saw like 50000 Moose starts that year, I remember. In 2007, that was painful.
Lefites off Igawa in 2007:
.320/.407/.507/.914
You’ll get Hughes. Javy was moved to 5th and will pitch on Wednesday.
Seeing as Game 1 of the 2000 World Series is airing on YES at the moment, I think its proper to start a list of what my father and I have always referred to as “The Slugs.”
I’ll start with a few of my favorites from the 1996 – 2000 run.
Jose Canseco
Glenallen Hill (his stats from 2000 are ABSURD. I love ‘roids)
Clay Bellinger
Luis Polona
There are a bunch more but i’m hoping people jump on and keep this going. God am I bored.
Shane Spencer, represent.
Sojo? Or was Sojo too meaningful?
ah yeah lets put him on!
Jose Canseco
Glenallen Hill (his stats from 2000 are ABSURD. I love ‘roids)
Clay Bellinger
Luis Polona
Shane Spencer
Luis Sojo
David Justice?
Too important/good, I think.
Do pitchers count? Neagle?
is Cecil Fielder too good as well then?
Dunno, but I was thinking you thought mostly utility/bench players. Justice was a tremendous trade. We probably don’t win the WS in 2000 without Justice (yeah you could say that about a lot of players, I know).
My favorite moment ever at Yankee Stadium – Justice’s HR against the Mariners to send us to the Subway Series.
It’s gonna be hard to top that one.
Ruben Sierra?
Seeing those two patches side-by-side, I have to say that George really got the shaft.
Big Stein’s death was so sudden that I don’t think they had enough time to design a stylish looking patch. Personally, I would have done just a GMS going around a circle.
Me and my friend were watching SWB’s Gameday… bet him $50 Montero would hit a homerun… i love JESUS MONTERO!!!
Never bet against the Jesus.
Is there any stopping Josh Hamilton?
3 doubles tonight. Hamilton’s my MVP to-date. Sorry Cano.
I’m not disagreeing if the season were to end now, but check that BABIP. Should move in the 2nd half, and not upward.
scu scu scutaro up at bat
Rangers win, the-e-e-e-e Rangers win
i love picking up a free half game
IETNickName.
Woo, SF is leading the Mets 2-0.
And Lincecum just wrapped up a shutout.