Sports

No Hitters

David Nescio
Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Major League Baseball’s 2010 season is the year of the pitcher. Before the All-Star Break there have been two perfect games, a no-hitter, an imperfect game, a near double no-hitter between Ted Lilly and Gavin Floyd, and multiple no-hitters taken past the 7th inning.

Dallas Braden threw a perfect game for the Oakland A’s on May 9th, and Roy Halladay followed suit just 20 days later for the Phillies. There have been 20 perfect games in all of baseball history and there have not been two perfect games in a season since 1880- just 15 years removed from the American Civil War. If umpire Jim Joyce didn’t mistakenly call Jason Donald safe at first base with two outs in the 9th inning back on June 2nd then Armando Galarraga of the Tigers would have joined the perfect game club and made history being the third pitcher to throw a perfect game in a single season.

The perfect games from Braden and Halladay, and Ubaldo Jiminez’s no-hitter all came before June 1st. Between 1990 and 1991 there were 13 no-hitters and one perfect game. In neither season did three of those occur before June 1st. The last time three no-no’s occurred before June 1st was in 1969 when three came before May 1st.  The frequency of no-hitters in 1969 was a mystery being that’s the year when baseball lowered the mound to give batters an advantage.

Had Ted Lilly and Gavin Floyd both completed their double no-hitter it would have been the first double since May 2nd, 1917 at Wrigley Field with Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and Hippo Vaughn of the Cubs.

Perhaps one of the most logic defying fact of this entire phenomenon is that seldom do starting pitchers throw complete games anymore. May 29th, the night of Halladay’s perfect game, marked the 1482th start of the season, and just the 50th complete game.

In this year’s Home Run Derby, Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera led the competition with 22 HR’s on the season. Second to Cabrera was Milwaukee’s Corey Hart with 21. In 2009’s Home run derby, three players had 22 Hr’s on the season, two players had 24, and the leader, who other than Albert Pujols, had 32.

So I ask how? How is it that the most epic accomplishment in baseball is becoming so frequent?  Are pitchers getting better? Are batters getting worse? Most people probably want to believe that the pitching is getting better. It’s also hard to rule out the fact that baseball is getting further and further from the steroid era. Human Growth Hormones both made athletes bigger and improved hand-eye coordination. What was once a line drive into the gap is now a weak grounder to second base, and what was once a homerun is now a pop-fly or a strike out.

Or maybe, it’s just baseball. Baseball is full of quirks. The Yankee’s went from missing the playoffs so winning the World Series. The Phillies went from making two consecutive World Series to trailing the Braves and Mets in the NL East after acquiring arguably the best pitcher in baseball. So maybe it’s an off year for hitters, or an on year for pitchers.

All in all, sit back and enjoy the ride. History is being made.

Yankee Legends...Gone, But Never Forgotten

Andrew Falcetti
Tuesday, July 13, 2010

This past week has been a tough one for Yankee fans. We lost two very iconic figures in Yankee history, George Steinbrenner, and Bob Sheppard.

George Michael Steinbrenner III was the owner of the New York Yankees since 1973, the longest ownership in the Yankees history. They earned 11 pennants and 7 World Series titles during Steinbrenner’s ownership of the team. He was born in Rocky River Ohio and attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana, graduating in 1948.

Steinbrenner received his B.A. at Williams College of Massachusetts in 1952. He had many extracurricular activities in his time at college, including membership in the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, a talented hurdler, a sports editor for the school paper, and even played halfback in football. He joined the Air Force after graduating, becoming a second lieutenant at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus Ohio. He was honorably discharged in 1954, and earned a Masters degree in physical education at Ohio State University. He also served as an assistant to the legendary football coach Woody Hayes. He married Elizabeth Joan Zieg on May 12, 1956 and gave birth to sons Hank and Hal Steinbrenner and daughters Jessica and Jennifer Steinbrenner-Swindal. He again served as assistant football coach at Northwestern University from 1955-1956 and at Purdue from 1956-1957. In 1957 he entered his father’s family business, Kinsman Marine Transport Company. He was very successful in bringing the company back to life. In 1960 Steinbrenner entered into the sports franchise business with the Cleveland Pipers. Unfortunately two years later the American Basketball League folded up and Steinbrenner lost a large amount of money, but he was able to pay everything off throughout the next few years. He then entered into theatre for a short time, with a 1967 play titled The Ninety Day Mistress. He also invested in the 1974 Tony Award nominee for Best Musical See-Saw. Steinbrenner was approached by baseball executive Gabe Paul and introduced to E. Michael Burke of CBS, the current owners of the New York Yankees. CBS was looking for a buyer for the Yankees, who’d fallen on harder times while under CBS ownership. On January 3, 1973, Steinbrenner and minority partner Burke had a group of investors, including Lester Crown, John DeLorean, and Nelson Bunker Hunt, who then purchased the New York Yankees. The original price for the Yankees was $10 million, but this included parking garages CBS had owned but later bought back for $1.2 million, so the net cost was actually $8.8 million. Steinbrenner was very well known for his tracking down of expensive free agents and then actually fighting with them. In his first 23 seasons, he changed managers 20 times which also includes getting rid of Billy Martin a few times. He also changed general managers 11 times in 30 years. In July 1978, Martin said that Steinbrenner and $3 million outfielder Reggie Jackson “were meant for each other. One’s a born liar, and the other’s convicted.” An interesting policy implemented by Steinbrenner was that of grooming for all members of the team, including all players, coaches, and even executives. No one was allowed to have any facial hair besides a mustache, and no hair was allowed to be worn below the collar. The single most well known event because of this was probably in 1991 with Don Mattingly. Steinbrenner was at the time suspended, but management made Mattingly get rid of a mullet-like haircut. Mattingly refused and he was benched which caused a huge uproar in the media. Mattingly was eventually reinstated, and in 1995 he broke the rule again by growing a goatee which he was criticized for by Steinbrenner, but Mattingly eventually trimmed it back to a mustache. Mattingly remained clean shaven later on as a coach for the Yankees; and also for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Some of the longer lived Yankee fans might remember the 1981 World Series loss in Los Angeles, and after Game 3 he called a press conference to his hotel room showing a cast over his hand blaming it on a fight with two Dodgers fans in the hotel elevator. No one admitted to fighting him though so most just dismissed it as a lie. He then issued a public apology to New York City for his team’s performance and assured fans the 1982 team would be put together immediately. Also during the 1980 season, Steinbrenner signed Dave Winfield to a 10 year, $23 million contract, making him baseball’s highest paid player. Then on July 30th, 1990, Commissioner Fay Vincent banned Steinbrenner from baseball for life after he paid a small time gambler $40,000 after Winfield sued him for failing to pay his foundation $300,000 that had been guaranteed in his contract. Steinbrenner was reinstated in 1993 and didn’t interfere as much as before he’d been banned. The Yankees made it to the playoffs in 1995 and won in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000. They lost in 2001 to the Diamondbacks ending their winning streak. The Yankees made it to the playoffs every season up until 2007, including winning the AL pennant over the Red Sox. After all the accomplishments he’d had as the Yankees owner, he left his sons Hank and Hal to run the Yankees since 2006. He never made many public appearances or statements after retiring; having even family members refuse to comment on his health and the rumor that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s. The Yankees went to strenuous lengths to make sure no one bothered Steinbrenner, even when he would make appearances at Yankee games. There was also word when he appeared at spring training, regular games, and other outings, he was in a wheelchair. Steinbrenner was a huge driving force behind the Yankees, turning them from a $10 million franchise to a $1.2 billion behemoth. In 2005, the Yankees were the first professional sports franchise to be worth over one billion dollars, all under Steinbrenner’s watch. He will be greatly missed among all Yankee fans, but most certainly not forgotten.

Sadly enough, the death of George Steinbrenner came only two days after the loss of another Yankee living monument, Bob Sheppard. Anyone who’s been to a Yankee game between 1951 and 2007 can tell you how iconic and trademark that voice was for the Yankees. He announced over 4,500 games, and got to see the Yankees win 22 American League Pennants and 13 World Series championships.

He was born in Richmond Hill, Queens in 1910. He was also a U.S. Naval Officer during World War II, commanding shipboard gunnery crews in the Pacific Fleet from 1942-1945. He went to St. Johns Preparatory school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in 1928 and graduated from St. Johns University in 1932, president of his senior class. He earned several varsity letters in his four years in college, three in baseball as the first baseman and four in football as a starting quarterback. He earned a Master’s degree one year after graduating from St. Johns, receiving it from Columbia University. He originally worked as a speech teacher at John Adams High School, and then later at his old school St. Johns. He also worked as a speech and debate coach for Sacred Heart Academy’s Forensic Team in Hempstead. He continued to serve as an announcer at St. Johns for sporting events into the 1990’s. He then went on to be an announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers of the All-American Football conference. He debuted as the Yankees announcer on April 17, 1951 for the Yankees home owner, a win over the Red Sox. In 1956 he also announced the New York Giants when they moved into Yankee stadium, staying with them even when they moved to Giants Stadium. He even made a mistake in the Giants first home game and announced “Welcome to Yankee Stadium.”

The first game he announced included eight future Hall of Famers, DiMaggio, Mantle, Mize, Berra, and Rizzuto for the Yankees. Williams, Doerr, and Boudreau for the Red Sox. He was first paid 15 per game or 17 for a double header. He was most well known for having a manner of speaking that he wouldn’t interrupt his own echo throughout the stadium, and an ability to draw the entire crowd’s attention to whatever he spoke of. When a player would first come up to bat, he would announce their position, uniform number, name, and number again. For any following at-bat he would only say the name and position. He would refuse to use any nicknames for players. Sheppard would always say Mickey Mantle was his favorite name to announce, as he says in this quote "Mickey Mantle says 'Every time Bob Sheppard introduced me at Yankee Stadium, I got shivers up my spine.' And I said to him, 'So did I.'" Sheppard even helped defend the Expos when they joined Major League Baseball, because one time when their anthem was sung the crowd booed, and the next three games Sheppard reminded the crowd they were their allies during two World Wars, partners in NATO, and helped get American hostages out of Iran. He also read a poem he wrote in memory of Yankee catcher Therman Munson after his death on August 2, 1979. Sheppard missed his first game on April 11 2006 after throwing out his hip in his Long Island home and Jim Hall filled in for him. He returned for the next Yankee home game on April 21st. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter requested a recording of Sheppard announcing him for any future times Sheppard was unable to announce, and will be used for the rest of Jeter’s professional career.

Sheppard took this as a huge honor and one of the greatest compliments. Unfortunately his health did not permit him to announce during the 2008 season, the last at the now gone Yankee stadium. On September 20, a video that had been filmed the previous day of Sheppard pulling the lever that changed the countdown clock for the final games of Yankee stadium was filmed at his home in Long Island was shown on Yankee Stadium’s Diamond Vision. On April 1, 2009, according to longtime friend and agent Paul Doherty, Sheppard would retire from his role as public address announcer. Then later on in an article on the official Yankees website, Sheppard’s son Paul stated through the Yankees PR director Jason Zillo that his father had no intention of retiring. On November 26, 2009, Sheppard officially announced his retirement as the Yankees public announcement addresser. His voice will forever be the voice of Yankee stadium to many generations, and knowing that the legendary voice of Yankee stadium is gone is a very disheartening thing to know. Rest in peace to both Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner, we will all miss you dearly and thank you for dedicating your lives to the team we all love.