http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/wires/07/23/2010.ap.bbo.hall.of.fame.adv25.1338/
Thursday July 23, 2009
Henderson and Rice together forever
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) - Rickey Henderson knew what was expected every time he batted. So, too, did Jim Rice.
"Some way, I was going to scratch to get on base to steal that base,'' Henderson said. "I steal that base, my day was good. My pride and joy was coming across the plate.''
Said Rice: "Believe me, I wasn't paid to walk. I was paid to try to do some damage.''
Each player - Henderson, the quintessential leadoff man with an infectious smile, and Rice, the consummate power hitter with an icy glare - inflicted more than his share of damage on opponents, and they will be duly recognized for their considerable career accomplishments Sunday when they are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The pair will be the first inductees to primarily play left field since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski went into the Hall in 1989.
Former Yankees and Indians second baseman Joe Gordon, elected posthumously by the Veterans Committee, also will be inducted, while former Yankees star and longtime broadcaster Tony Kubek and writer Nick Peters will be honored as winners of the Frick and Spink awards, respectively.
"As a kid, you grow up playing the game, and you never really know what you can achieve,'' Henderson said.
A member of nine teams during his 25-year career, the fun-loving Henderson achieved more than most. He holds the all-time records for stolen bases in a season (130) and career (1,406), for runs scored (2,295) and for leading off a game with a home run (81).
"Competing against myself - I think that's what made me the player that I became,'' Henderson said. "I had a lot of desire to be a winner and play the game to the fullest.''
Born in Chicago on Christmas Day 1958, Henderson moved with his family to California when he was 7 and became a three-sport star at Oakland Technical High School. Football was his forte and he received numerous scholarship offers to play college ball, turning them down for a shot at baseball.
Henderson was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the fourth round in 1976. After excelling in the minors for three seasons (at Modesto, in 1977, he led the California League with a then-record 95 steals and became just the fourth professional player to steal seven bases in one game), Henderson made his major league debut with Oakland in late June 1979. He still led the club that season with 33 steals.
When Oakland owner Charlie Finley hired Billy Martin as manager in 1980, Henderson had the perfect partner in crime. "Billyball'' - the aggressive attack Martin relished - helped catapult Henderson to stardom.
The speedy Henderson set the American League season steals record with 100 in only his second year, joining Maury Wills and Lou Brock as the only major league players of the modern era to steal 100 or more bases a season.
"I went out there and put it together, but it wasn't just me,'' said Henderson, who eclipsed the AL record of 96 set by Ty Cobb in 1915. "Billy helped teach me how to win. He had a strategy and we worked together and achieved that. There was no doubt I was gone when you told me to go.''
Henderson quickly evolved into perhaps the most dangerous player in baseball, seemingly always able to make something from nothing. After leading the AL in hits during the strike-shortened 1981 season, the "Man of Steal'' used his trademark headfirst slides to break Brock's single-season steals record with 130 in 1982.
After the 1984 season, Henderson was traded to the New York Yankees and soon was reunited with Martin after Yogi Berra was fired as manager.
Henderson hit 24 homers and batted .314 with a league-leading 80 stolen bases in 1985, and his 146 runs scored were the most since Ted Williams had 150 in 1949.
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Henderson gained at the plate by shrinking into a tight crouch, dramatically cutting his strike zone and confounding pitchers like no other player.
"Rickey just made it impossible not to be distracted by him,'' said Tony La Russa, who managed Henderson at Oakland and dreaded managing against him.
Just the 44th player elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility, Henderson retired with 2,190 career walks (128 more than Babe Ruth), and although Barry Bonds has since eclipsed that total, Henderson still holds the record for most unintentional walks with 2,129. What is most amazing is that 796 of those free passes - or 37 percent - came while leading off an inning, something every opposing pitcher and catcher desperately wanted to avoid.
"I had a strategy of my strike zone and how can I beat a pitcher, and I think I was more patient,'' said Henderson, who broke Cobb's record of 2,246 career runs and Zack Wheat's record of 2,328 career games in left field. "I loved battling against a pitcher.''
The flamboyant Henderson, who during his career frequently referred to himself in the third person and often was accused of showboating on the field with his trash talk and snatch catch - he said it was simply "Rickey being Rickey'' - also liked being paid well for his services. That led him to develop another of his fortes - leading off games with a home run.
"I'm killing myself. I was stealing all the bases, and when you had to go to arbitration they said, 'You know, only the big boys make the money,''' Henderson said. "So I got to try and figure out how to hit a home run, too.''
He learned. In 1990, Henderson matched his career high with 28 homers. He also stole 65 bases and led the majors with a .439 on-base percentage, winning AL MVP honors.
Hitting homers was second nature to Rice, who played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox. Playing at a time when offensive numbers paled in comparison to the past two decades, the so-called steroid era, Rice batted .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs from 1974-89. He was voted to eight All-Star teams and finished in the top five in AL MVP voting six times, winning the award in 1978 when he batted .315 with 213 hits, 46 home runs, 139 RBIs and a .600 slugging percentage.
The numbers get even more impressive.
Rice drove in 100 or more runs eight times, batted over .300 seven times, and topped 200 hits four times. And he's the only player in major league history with at least 35 homers and 200 hits in three consecutive seasons (1977-79).
That it took until his final year of eligibility probably rankled every time a new class was announced. If there ever was any bitterness, though, it has long since vanished.
"You let bygones be bygones,'' the 56-year-old Rice said. "Yeah, I wish I could have gone in on the first ballot or the second, not the last. But I'm in and some guys are still out. You cherish what you have. You cherish that you're in an elite category of guys that played the game one way - hard.
"There are a lot of guys that I started with my first year in rookie ball - about 60 guys - and only one made it to the big leagues.''
Henderson says he has one regret - that he didn't retire sooner.
"You got to wait five years to go into the Hall of Fame,'' he said. "If I would have thought about it, and just went on and got them five years up early, then I'd been a little younger. Then I could have came back after I went into the Hall of Fame, but I waited too long.''
Showing posts with label Babe Ruth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Babe Ruth. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, April 28, 2008
Yankees go the healthy route
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-briefing24apr24,1,7520532.story
Yankees go the healthy route
A clubhouse ban on candy and other sweets doesn't go over so well.
By Chris Foster, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 24, 2008
So it has come to this in New York: You can't get a Baby Ruth in the clubhouse that was home to Babe Ruth.
New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi has banned candy and ice cream in an effort to create a more healthy diet.
Furthermore, the Journal News of Westchester County reported that the Yankees asked opposing teams to remove the offending items from the visitors' clubhouse before the team arrives.
In Tampa Bay, the candy was replaced with nuts, dried fruit and granola, hardly an inspiring rhyme scheme for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" ( . . . Buy me some peanuts, dried fruit and granola, I don't care if I ever go hoo-ma?).
Yankees players, meanwhile, were seen smuggling banned items (candy bars, not steroids) into the clubhouse.
It all leads to one important question: If the Yankees announce the hiring of Craig, will it be Roger or Jenny?
Yankees go the healthy route
A clubhouse ban on candy and other sweets doesn't go over so well.
By Chris Foster, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 24, 2008
So it has come to this in New York: You can't get a Baby Ruth in the clubhouse that was home to Babe Ruth.
New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi has banned candy and ice cream in an effort to create a more healthy diet.
Furthermore, the Journal News of Westchester County reported that the Yankees asked opposing teams to remove the offending items from the visitors' clubhouse before the team arrives.
In Tampa Bay, the candy was replaced with nuts, dried fruit and granola, hardly an inspiring rhyme scheme for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" ( . . . Buy me some peanuts, dried fruit and granola, I don't care if I ever go hoo-ma?).
Yankees players, meanwhile, were seen smuggling banned items (candy bars, not steroids) into the clubhouse.
It all leads to one important question: If the Yankees announce the hiring of Craig, will it be Roger or Jenny?
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Even Santa believes in Mantle’s 565-foot blast
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AsGCsBKGb2esJp1kQOOdzzk5nYcB?slug=jp-mantlehomer041708
Even Santa believes in Mantle’s 565-foot blast
By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
04-17-8
The longest home run ever hit did not go 565 feet. Not even close.
Actually, the longest home run ever hit isn’t even the longest home run ever hit.
“The truth hasn’t caught up to the original legend,” Bill Jenkinson says. He has been studying monster home runs for nearly three decades now, and he admits they’re a bit like Bigfoot or Nessie or any other great beast – untamable and apocryphal, fantasy getting one over on reality.
“Once a myth takes hold,” he says, “it very rarely is completely withdrawn.”
No home run carries the lore of the blast Mickey Mantle hit 55 years ago today, the one that still stands in the Guinness Book of World Records as the mightiest of all dating back to May 2, 1876, when Ross Barnes hit baseball’s first. Fact and fiction have blended Mantle’s shot off the Senators’ Chuck Stobbs and out of Washington’s Griffith Stadium into a grand tale, the kind that lasts more than half a century not because it’s true but because people want to believe it.
And who can blame them? The mammoth home run is the domain of gods, and Mantle, in his Yankee pinstripes, hitting from both sides with equanimity while nursing hangovers that would fell a man twice his size, was the kind in whom everyone believed. To think the Mick hit that ball 565 feet is to think that Santa Claus exists, and no one ever saw fault in that.
Mantle
Only 4,206 people could actually vouch for Mantle’s home run, the attendance sparse even with the four-time defending champions in town. It was the fifth inning. Wind gusted toward left field, where a huge sea of bleachers backed into a sign advertising National Bohemian beer.
In stepped Mantle against Stobbs, a middling left-hander. Mantle hadn’t felt right the first three games of the season, so he borrowed a 33-ounce bat from teammate Loren Babe. Of course his name was Babe.
Mantle connected on a belt-high fastball from Stobbs, and the ball kept soaring, a shooting star in the afternoon sky. It clanged off the Natty Boh sign, estimated about 460 feet from home plate, and disappeared. The ball had broken the confines of the stadium, and with it went any chance of truly knowing how far it traveled.
Still, Arthur “Red” Patterson, the Yankees’ enterprising public relations man, wanted to find out. So he returned with the ball – and a tall tale.
Patterson said he retrieved the ball from a 10-year-old boy named Donald Dunaway, who stood with it in the back yard of 434 Oakdale Lane. Patterson said he paid Dunaway $1 and sent him a pair of autographed balls in exchange for Mantle’s home run. Finding any record of a man named Donald Dunaway who would have been 10 years old in 1953 has proven elusive.
Until his death, Patterson never wavered on the Dunaway portion of the story. He did admit later in life that his claim of using a tape measure to record the distance between the ball’s landing spot where Dunaway found it and the edge of the stadium was dubious. Though the term tape-measure home run stuck, Patterson in reality walked the space himself, added the guess to 460 and, voilà, Mickey Mantle’s 565-foot home run was born.
Almost instantly, Mantle’s home run was famous. In the next day’s The New York Times, Louis Effrat wrote: “It is true that a strong wind might have helped Mantle, but if the A.A.U. will not recognize the homer, all of baseball will.” The Senators celebrated it by painting a baseball on the sign Mantle hit – at least until upper management removed it.
The more evidence surfaced to debunk it, the stronger the legend of 565 grew. Mantle himself said the home run he hit May 22, 1963, off Bill Fischer would have traveled farther had it not bounced off the right-field façade of Yankee Stadium. The work of physics professors, particularly Robert Adair, cast doubts on the ability of a ball to travel 500 feet, let alone 565.
“The ball could not have flown farther than 515 feet,” Jenkinson says, and even that, he believes, is a stretch. One physicist told him it went 498 feet. Jenkinson, whose book “Baseball’s Ultimate Power: The Kings of the Tape Measure” is set to come out next year, thinks it went 505 feet. A phenomenal home run, yes, one only a handful of players could hit. Not the best, though.
That, Jenkinson says, belongs to Babe Ruth. On June 8, 1926, at Navin Field in Detroit, Ruth hit a shot that traveled out of the stadium and, Jenkinson says, landed an estimated 575 feet away. The arc of Ruth’s swing, plus the speed he generated with a 44-ounce bat, gave him the extra 70 feet or so over Mantle’s.
Or another 121 feet, if you believe a different version of the story that says the ball jumped off the roofs of a few cars before landing. Turns out Mantle isn’t the only player whose home runs will cause a storyteller’s nose to grow, though his are the greatest culprits. Mantle hit so many prodigious drives that on one top 10 list, the 565-footer ranks sixth, and the Fischer home run is estimated at a truly impossible 734 feet.
Such nonsense bothers Jenkinson, because big home runs are his passion, and he figures the public is owed the truth. He’s right, of course, but he misses a point: There’s a piece of everyone that wants to think Mantle did hit his great home run 565 feet – that anyone could swing at a pitch and send it that far. The limits of credibility are only as big as we make them, and the inclination is to stretch them as far as the imagination allows.
“I buy into that,” Jenkinson says. “I was born in ‘47. All through the ’50s, this guy was like a golden child to me. I went on vacation with my family in August 1960, and by coincident, my great aunt, who I’d never met, lived in Oklahoma.
“I got there, and I remember seeing Mickey Mantle’s picture on her refrigerator and saying something. She said, ‘Well, do you want to meet his in-laws?’ It turns out (Mantle’s wife) Merlyn grew up next door. I was 13. Just the idea I was next door to a place where Mickey Mantle spent a lot of time gave me goosebumps.”
Mantle died almost 13 years ago. He was 63. He didn’t live to see the technological revolution that today allows the measurement of home runs to the tenth of a foot. Using everything from the temperature to the wind to the time the ball spent in the air to where it landed, Greg Rybarczyk created HitTracker, which charts every home run hit.
While the data is compelling, it’s also distressing. Part of the tape-measure home run’s beauty is the curiosity in how far it really went. Teams announce distances based off some chart, and it’s always just another guess, and you know, that’s all right. The longest home run ever hit did not go 565 feet. Maybe it went 505. Or 605. Or even longer.
Sometimes it’s OK to still believe in Santa Claus.
Even Santa believes in Mantle’s 565-foot blast
By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
04-17-8
The longest home run ever hit did not go 565 feet. Not even close.
Actually, the longest home run ever hit isn’t even the longest home run ever hit.
“The truth hasn’t caught up to the original legend,” Bill Jenkinson says. He has been studying monster home runs for nearly three decades now, and he admits they’re a bit like Bigfoot or Nessie or any other great beast – untamable and apocryphal, fantasy getting one over on reality.
“Once a myth takes hold,” he says, “it very rarely is completely withdrawn.”
No home run carries the lore of the blast Mickey Mantle hit 55 years ago today, the one that still stands in the Guinness Book of World Records as the mightiest of all dating back to May 2, 1876, when Ross Barnes hit baseball’s first. Fact and fiction have blended Mantle’s shot off the Senators’ Chuck Stobbs and out of Washington’s Griffith Stadium into a grand tale, the kind that lasts more than half a century not because it’s true but because people want to believe it.
And who can blame them? The mammoth home run is the domain of gods, and Mantle, in his Yankee pinstripes, hitting from both sides with equanimity while nursing hangovers that would fell a man twice his size, was the kind in whom everyone believed. To think the Mick hit that ball 565 feet is to think that Santa Claus exists, and no one ever saw fault in that.
Mantle
Only 4,206 people could actually vouch for Mantle’s home run, the attendance sparse even with the four-time defending champions in town. It was the fifth inning. Wind gusted toward left field, where a huge sea of bleachers backed into a sign advertising National Bohemian beer.
In stepped Mantle against Stobbs, a middling left-hander. Mantle hadn’t felt right the first three games of the season, so he borrowed a 33-ounce bat from teammate Loren Babe. Of course his name was Babe.
Mantle connected on a belt-high fastball from Stobbs, and the ball kept soaring, a shooting star in the afternoon sky. It clanged off the Natty Boh sign, estimated about 460 feet from home plate, and disappeared. The ball had broken the confines of the stadium, and with it went any chance of truly knowing how far it traveled.
Still, Arthur “Red” Patterson, the Yankees’ enterprising public relations man, wanted to find out. So he returned with the ball – and a tall tale.
Patterson said he retrieved the ball from a 10-year-old boy named Donald Dunaway, who stood with it in the back yard of 434 Oakdale Lane. Patterson said he paid Dunaway $1 and sent him a pair of autographed balls in exchange for Mantle’s home run. Finding any record of a man named Donald Dunaway who would have been 10 years old in 1953 has proven elusive.
Until his death, Patterson never wavered on the Dunaway portion of the story. He did admit later in life that his claim of using a tape measure to record the distance between the ball’s landing spot where Dunaway found it and the edge of the stadium was dubious. Though the term tape-measure home run stuck, Patterson in reality walked the space himself, added the guess to 460 and, voilà, Mickey Mantle’s 565-foot home run was born.
Almost instantly, Mantle’s home run was famous. In the next day’s The New York Times, Louis Effrat wrote: “It is true that a strong wind might have helped Mantle, but if the A.A.U. will not recognize the homer, all of baseball will.” The Senators celebrated it by painting a baseball on the sign Mantle hit – at least until upper management removed it.
The more evidence surfaced to debunk it, the stronger the legend of 565 grew. Mantle himself said the home run he hit May 22, 1963, off Bill Fischer would have traveled farther had it not bounced off the right-field façade of Yankee Stadium. The work of physics professors, particularly Robert Adair, cast doubts on the ability of a ball to travel 500 feet, let alone 565.
“The ball could not have flown farther than 515 feet,” Jenkinson says, and even that, he believes, is a stretch. One physicist told him it went 498 feet. Jenkinson, whose book “Baseball’s Ultimate Power: The Kings of the Tape Measure” is set to come out next year, thinks it went 505 feet. A phenomenal home run, yes, one only a handful of players could hit. Not the best, though.
That, Jenkinson says, belongs to Babe Ruth. On June 8, 1926, at Navin Field in Detroit, Ruth hit a shot that traveled out of the stadium and, Jenkinson says, landed an estimated 575 feet away. The arc of Ruth’s swing, plus the speed he generated with a 44-ounce bat, gave him the extra 70 feet or so over Mantle’s.
Or another 121 feet, if you believe a different version of the story that says the ball jumped off the roofs of a few cars before landing. Turns out Mantle isn’t the only player whose home runs will cause a storyteller’s nose to grow, though his are the greatest culprits. Mantle hit so many prodigious drives that on one top 10 list, the 565-footer ranks sixth, and the Fischer home run is estimated at a truly impossible 734 feet.
Such nonsense bothers Jenkinson, because big home runs are his passion, and he figures the public is owed the truth. He’s right, of course, but he misses a point: There’s a piece of everyone that wants to think Mantle did hit his great home run 565 feet – that anyone could swing at a pitch and send it that far. The limits of credibility are only as big as we make them, and the inclination is to stretch them as far as the imagination allows.
“I buy into that,” Jenkinson says. “I was born in ‘47. All through the ’50s, this guy was like a golden child to me. I went on vacation with my family in August 1960, and by coincident, my great aunt, who I’d never met, lived in Oklahoma.
“I got there, and I remember seeing Mickey Mantle’s picture on her refrigerator and saying something. She said, ‘Well, do you want to meet his in-laws?’ It turns out (Mantle’s wife) Merlyn grew up next door. I was 13. Just the idea I was next door to a place where Mickey Mantle spent a lot of time gave me goosebumps.”
Mantle died almost 13 years ago. He was 63. He didn’t live to see the technological revolution that today allows the measurement of home runs to the tenth of a foot. Using everything from the temperature to the wind to the time the ball spent in the air to where it landed, Greg Rybarczyk created HitTracker, which charts every home run hit.
While the data is compelling, it’s also distressing. Part of the tape-measure home run’s beauty is the curiosity in how far it really went. Teams announce distances based off some chart, and it’s always just another guess, and you know, that’s all right. The longest home run ever hit did not go 565 feet. Maybe it went 505. Or 605. Or even longer.
Sometimes it’s OK to still believe in Santa Claus.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
A-Rod Says He Expects Questions on Drugs
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCj65bmE8AEQ7MvFQrBVYXwwJp9QD8UUAVI80
A-Rod Says He Expects Questions on Drugs
By RONALD BLUM
2-20-8
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alex Rodriguez sat in the first-base dugout at Legends Field, surrounded by the usual circle of cameras, microphones and reporters. He knows the scrutiny will only increase as he approaches Barry Bonds' career home-run record, especially in an era when all top athletes must prove they haven't juiced up on performance-enhancing drugs.
In his first session with reporters during spring training, Rodriguez talked about baseball's drug-testing program and made a curious statement.
"Last year, I got tested 9-to-10 times," Rodriguez said. "We have a very, very strict policy, and I think the game is making tremendous strides."
Rodriguez could have been exaggerating about the amount of tests, he could have been selected for an unusually high number of checks or he might have dropped a clue to something else.
Under baseball's drug-testing rules, players are tested at least twice: within five days of arriving at spring training and again at a randomly picked unannounced date. There also are 600 additional random tests throughout the major leagues, of which as many as 60 may be conducted during the offseason.
If Rodriguez's statement was correct, that means he was selected repeatedly for the random tests. Another possible explanation is that he tested positive for a stimulant, which would have subjected him to six additional unannounced tests over the following year.
Initial positive tests for stimulants are not subject to discipline and are not announced.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that because of the confidentiality of baseball's drug program, he didn't know if Rodriguez was tested that many times. Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, and Michael Weiner, general counsel of the players' association, didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
"I don't know many times he was tested. We don't talk about that," baseball spokesman Rich Levin said. "Theoretically, it is possible. But I don't know if he was just throwing those numbers out."
Rodriguez wasn't available for questions after the Yankees' workout.
"Right now, the game is in a very not-trusting situation with our public, with our fans," A-Rod said during his morning session with reporters. "Some of the things that I've accomplished and potentially some of the things that people think I can accomplish, my name has come up and will probably come up again in the future."
A-Rod stated categorically that he had never taken steroids or human growth hormone. He said he isn't worried about Jose Canseco, who has hinted without going into detail that he will make allegations of some sort against Rodriguez in an upcoming book.
Rodriguez also denied a claim last week by former Texas teammate John Rocker that doctors from management and the players' association told A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Rocker following a spring training meeting how to effectively use steroids. Rodriguez and Rocker were with the Rangers in 2002.
"That did not happen," A-Rod said.
Rodriguez said he still hasn't spoken with Scott Boras since negotiating his new contract without his longtime agent. A-Rod, however, has been dealing with others in Boras' office.
Rodriguez signed a record $275 million, 10-year contract to remain with the New York Yankees.
Just 32, he is an 11-time All-Star who led the with 54 home runs and 156 RBIs last season and won his third AL MVP award. Heading into this year, he's 17th on the career list with 518 home runs, 244 behind the record Bonds established last year.
He wouldn't talk about why he opted out of his record $252 million, 10-year contract last October only to return a few weeks later.
"It was just a big misunderstanding," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said. "We really didn't know that he wanted to come back and he was very concerned, very alarmed when he found out we didn't know he wanted to come back and he made it clear he did, and everything was great from there."
Wherever A-Rod goes, there are questions. He is 8-for-59 (.136) in the postseason dating to 2004 and hitless in 18 consecutive playoff at-bats with runners in scoring position.
No matter how many home runs he hits, without a World Series ring he can't take a place alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, can't be mentioned with Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson.
"I think there's a sense of urgency," new manager Joe Girardi said. "There's no better year than the present, right?"
Playing for the Yankees has largely robbed A-Rod of his privacy. Whether he's sunbathing in Central Park or walking through a Toronto hotel lobby with a blond stripper, paparazzi are usually hiding nearby.
"When you're as good as Alex, you're going to be scrutinized more, and people are always watching," Girardi said. "When you're a great player, people never take their eyes off of you, so everything that you do is under a microscope, and he's doing it at the highest level in New York."
Across town, the Mets have their own icon to show off this year. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana is the Queens ace to play opposite A-Rod's Bronx bravura.
"I'm glad for a guy like Santana, gets to play in a city like New York," Rodriguez said. "He's the best pitcher. He deserves to be in the city, and in a forum. I thought it was a fantastic move by the New York Mets."
Rodriguez also praised teammate Andy Pettitte, who was forced to give a deposition and affidavit to Congress in which he admitted using HGH in 2002 and 2004. Pettitte also said Roger Clemens discussed HGH use nearly a decade ago — Clemens said Pettitte "misremembers."
"Andy is one of the greatest human beings I've ever met," Rodriguez said. "I have two daughters — well, I have one and one on the way. If I had a daughter, I would want 'em to marry Andy Pettitte. The age difference might be a little awkward, but in today's day and age anything is possible."
A-Rod Says He Expects Questions on Drugs
By RONALD BLUM
2-20-8
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alex Rodriguez sat in the first-base dugout at Legends Field, surrounded by the usual circle of cameras, microphones and reporters. He knows the scrutiny will only increase as he approaches Barry Bonds' career home-run record, especially in an era when all top athletes must prove they haven't juiced up on performance-enhancing drugs.
In his first session with reporters during spring training, Rodriguez talked about baseball's drug-testing program and made a curious statement.
"Last year, I got tested 9-to-10 times," Rodriguez said. "We have a very, very strict policy, and I think the game is making tremendous strides."
Rodriguez could have been exaggerating about the amount of tests, he could have been selected for an unusually high number of checks or he might have dropped a clue to something else.
Under baseball's drug-testing rules, players are tested at least twice: within five days of arriving at spring training and again at a randomly picked unannounced date. There also are 600 additional random tests throughout the major leagues, of which as many as 60 may be conducted during the offseason.
If Rodriguez's statement was correct, that means he was selected repeatedly for the random tests. Another possible explanation is that he tested positive for a stimulant, which would have subjected him to six additional unannounced tests over the following year.
Initial positive tests for stimulants are not subject to discipline and are not announced.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that because of the confidentiality of baseball's drug program, he didn't know if Rodriguez was tested that many times. Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, and Michael Weiner, general counsel of the players' association, didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
"I don't know many times he was tested. We don't talk about that," baseball spokesman Rich Levin said. "Theoretically, it is possible. But I don't know if he was just throwing those numbers out."
Rodriguez wasn't available for questions after the Yankees' workout.
"Right now, the game is in a very not-trusting situation with our public, with our fans," A-Rod said during his morning session with reporters. "Some of the things that I've accomplished and potentially some of the things that people think I can accomplish, my name has come up and will probably come up again in the future."
A-Rod stated categorically that he had never taken steroids or human growth hormone. He said he isn't worried about Jose Canseco, who has hinted without going into detail that he will make allegations of some sort against Rodriguez in an upcoming book.
Rodriguez also denied a claim last week by former Texas teammate John Rocker that doctors from management and the players' association told A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Rocker following a spring training meeting how to effectively use steroids. Rodriguez and Rocker were with the Rangers in 2002.
"That did not happen," A-Rod said.
Rodriguez said he still hasn't spoken with Scott Boras since negotiating his new contract without his longtime agent. A-Rod, however, has been dealing with others in Boras' office.
Rodriguez signed a record $275 million, 10-year contract to remain with the New York Yankees.
Just 32, he is an 11-time All-Star who led the with 54 home runs and 156 RBIs last season and won his third AL MVP award. Heading into this year, he's 17th on the career list with 518 home runs, 244 behind the record Bonds established last year.
He wouldn't talk about why he opted out of his record $252 million, 10-year contract last October only to return a few weeks later.
"It was just a big misunderstanding," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said. "We really didn't know that he wanted to come back and he was very concerned, very alarmed when he found out we didn't know he wanted to come back and he made it clear he did, and everything was great from there."
Wherever A-Rod goes, there are questions. He is 8-for-59 (.136) in the postseason dating to 2004 and hitless in 18 consecutive playoff at-bats with runners in scoring position.
No matter how many home runs he hits, without a World Series ring he can't take a place alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, can't be mentioned with Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson.
"I think there's a sense of urgency," new manager Joe Girardi said. "There's no better year than the present, right?"
Playing for the Yankees has largely robbed A-Rod of his privacy. Whether he's sunbathing in Central Park or walking through a Toronto hotel lobby with a blond stripper, paparazzi are usually hiding nearby.
"When you're as good as Alex, you're going to be scrutinized more, and people are always watching," Girardi said. "When you're a great player, people never take their eyes off of you, so everything that you do is under a microscope, and he's doing it at the highest level in New York."
Across town, the Mets have their own icon to show off this year. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana is the Queens ace to play opposite A-Rod's Bronx bravura.
"I'm glad for a guy like Santana, gets to play in a city like New York," Rodriguez said. "He's the best pitcher. He deserves to be in the city, and in a forum. I thought it was a fantastic move by the New York Mets."
Rodriguez also praised teammate Andy Pettitte, who was forced to give a deposition and affidavit to Congress in which he admitted using HGH in 2002 and 2004. Pettitte also said Roger Clemens discussed HGH use nearly a decade ago — Clemens said Pettitte "misremembers."
"Andy is one of the greatest human beings I've ever met," Rodriguez said. "I have two daughters — well, I have one and one on the way. If I had a daughter, I would want 'em to marry Andy Pettitte. The age difference might be a little awkward, but in today's day and age anything is possible."
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Cost of new Yankee Stadium up to $1.3B
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-newyankeestadium&prov=ap&type=lgns
Party suites, martini bar: Cost of new Yankee Stadium up to $1.3B
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
February 8, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) -- The granite and limestone exterior is designed to evoke the original 1923 Yankee Stadium, before it was remade in the 1970s.
But the new stadium's interior will offer amenities unheard of in Babe Ruth's day -- or in Reggie Jackson's.
Scheduled to welcome fans on opening day 2009, the new stadium will have party suites, a members-only restaurant, a martini bar and a price tag to match all the luxury -- $1.3 billion, up from a $1 billion estimate last year, the Yankees said Thursday.
"We tried to reflect a five-star hotel and put a ballfield in the middle," said Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost, who hosted a media tour of the new stadium.
The new ballpark is being built directly across the street from the old House that Ruth Built in the Bronx. For now, the stadium is a welter of cranes and construction trailers, with hard-hatted workers instead of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez patrolling the infield.
The field's dimensions will be the same as at the old ballpark, which will be partially demolished. But the 58-by-103-foot center field television screen will be six times the size of the current stadium's video screen.
Inside, there will be such features as a conference center with video conferencing, so a corporate group could have a daylong meeting and then stay for a ballgame, Trost said.
A concierge will be available to procure theater tickets or restaurant reservations. There will be 51 luxury suites, two large outdoor suites and eight party suites with seating for up to 410 people in total.
Trost said the cost overruns included $150 million in such enhancements as the giant video screen, $138 million in food and beverage costs not included in the original estimate and $50 million from delays due to a lawsuit by community groups that sought to halt construction of the stadium.
The groups sued because two city parks were razed to make way for the new stadium. The Yankees have said the lost parkland would be replaced at the site of the old stadium and elsewhere in the Bronx.
Asked whether the Yankees had been securing additional financing, Trost said, "We will be."
Party suites, martini bar: Cost of new Yankee Stadium up to $1.3B
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
February 8, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) -- The granite and limestone exterior is designed to evoke the original 1923 Yankee Stadium, before it was remade in the 1970s.
But the new stadium's interior will offer amenities unheard of in Babe Ruth's day -- or in Reggie Jackson's.
Scheduled to welcome fans on opening day 2009, the new stadium will have party suites, a members-only restaurant, a martini bar and a price tag to match all the luxury -- $1.3 billion, up from a $1 billion estimate last year, the Yankees said Thursday.
"We tried to reflect a five-star hotel and put a ballfield in the middle," said Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost, who hosted a media tour of the new stadium.
The new ballpark is being built directly across the street from the old House that Ruth Built in the Bronx. For now, the stadium is a welter of cranes and construction trailers, with hard-hatted workers instead of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez patrolling the infield.
The field's dimensions will be the same as at the old ballpark, which will be partially demolished. But the 58-by-103-foot center field television screen will be six times the size of the current stadium's video screen.
Inside, there will be such features as a conference center with video conferencing, so a corporate group could have a daylong meeting and then stay for a ballgame, Trost said.
A concierge will be available to procure theater tickets or restaurant reservations. There will be 51 luxury suites, two large outdoor suites and eight party suites with seating for up to 410 people in total.
Trost said the cost overruns included $150 million in such enhancements as the giant video screen, $138 million in food and beverage costs not included in the original estimate and $50 million from delays due to a lawsuit by community groups that sought to halt construction of the stadium.
The groups sued because two city parks were razed to make way for the new stadium. The Yankees have said the lost parkland would be replaced at the site of the old stadium and elsewhere in the Bronx.
Asked whether the Yankees had been securing additional financing, Trost said, "We will be."
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Bonds makes history with 756th home run
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070808/ap_on_sp_ba_ga_su/bbn_bonds756
Bonds makes history with 756th home run
By JANIE McCAULEY, AP Sports Writer
8-8-7
For one spectacular moment, Barry Bonds and everybody cheering him could forget about the controversy surrounding his chase and appreciate the phenomenal feat: 756.
Nobody in the majors — not Hank Aaron, not Babe Ruth — has ever hit more home runs than the San Francisco star.
On Tuesday night, in his home ballpark, it didn't matter how many of them might have been fueled by steroids or performance-enhancers. Bonds has the title of home run king all to himself, ending Aaron's 33-year reign.
"This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period," Bonds said.
And more than 43,000 adoring Giants fans, including his godfather, Hall of Famer Willie Mays, surely agreed.
Bonds raised both arms over his head like a prize fighter in victory, fists clenched — and then he took off. It was over at long last.
Bonds did it with a shot to the deepest part of the ballpark with one out in the fifth inning against Washington's Mike Bacsik.
Bonds sent the 84-mph fastball arcing high into the night, 435 feet into the right-center field seats. And then, the celebration began in force — fireworks, streamers, banners commemorating the accomplishment, and even a party in McCovey Cove.
Conspicuous by their absence were the commissioner and Hammerin' Hank himself.
Though he was on hand for the tying homer three days ago, deciding to put baseball history ahead of the suspicions plaguing the Giants slugger, Bud Selig wasn't there for the record-breaker.
Instead, he sent two emissaries, Major League Baseball executive vice president Jimmie Lee Solomon and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. Selig also issued a statement.
"While the issues which have swirled around this record will continue to work themselves toward resolution, today is a day for congratulations on a truly remarkable achievement," Selig said.
Bonds also heard personally from the commissioner with congratulations.
"I was very happy about that," Bonds said.
As for Aaron, he said all along he had no interest in being there whenever and wherever his record was broken. He was true to his word, but he did offer a taped message of congratulations that played on the stadium's video board during a 10-minute, in-game tribute.
"It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity and determination," he said.
"Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic achievement.
"My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams."
A woman who answered the phone at Aaron's home in Georgia shortly after Bonds' homer said that Aaron was asleep.
"When I saw Hank Aaron that made everything," Bonds said. "We've always loved him. He's always the home run king."
With a long, satisfied stare, Bonds watched as the ball sailed over the fence and disappeared into the scrum in the first few rows. Then he raised both arms over his head like a victorious prize fighter, fists clenched, and took off.
"I knew I hit it," Bonds said. "I knew I got it. I was like, phew, finally."
His 17-year-old batboy son, Nikolai, was already bouncing on home plate as Dad rounded third and ran the final 90 feet to make it official. After a long embrace, the rest of the family joined in — his mother, two daughters and wife. And then there was Mays, who removed his cap and congratulated his godson.
Bonds saved his most poignant words for last, addressing his late father, Bobby.
"My dad," he said, looking to the sky and choking back tears. "Thank you."
Bonds had wanted to break the record at home, where he would be assured of a friendly crowd. They were all right, unlike in San Diego where some fans held up signs with asterisks.
Bonds has always denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
After doubling and singling his first two times up, Bonds hit a solo home run. Bacsik put his left hand to the back of his head as soon as Bonds connected.
"I dreamed about it as a kid, but when I dreamed about it, I was the one hitting the home run and not giving it up," Bacsik said.
"I didn't really want to be part of history as a bad part, but I am," he said. "I'm OK with it."
Bacsik later spoke with Bonds and got an autographed a bat from the Giants star.
Bonds took his position in left field to start the sixth, then was replaced and drew another standing ovation. The Nationals won the game, 8-6.
A fan wearing a Mets jersey wound up with the historic ball. Matt Murphy of New York emerged from the stands with the souvenir and a bloodied face, and was whisked to a secure room.
Even with Bonds at the top of the chart, fans will surely keep debating which slugger they consider the true home run champion. Some will continue to cling to Aaron while other, older rooters will always say it's Babe Ruth.
"It's all about history. Pretty soon, someone will come along and pass him," Mays said before the game.
Aaron held the top spot for 12,173 days after connecting for No. 715 to pass the Babe on April 8, 1974.
"This is the greatest record in all of sports," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We are all fortunate to witness it. It's awesome. This road to history has been a lot of fun."
Bonds homered exactly three years after Greg Maddux earned his 300th victory at the same ballpark. It's been quite a week of baseball milestones — over the weekend, Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run and Tom Glavine won No. 300.
A seven-time NL MVP, the 43-year-old Bonds hit his 22nd home run of the year. Bonds broke Mark McGwire's single-season record by hitting 73 in 2001 and while he's no longer such a force, opposing pitchers remain wary.
Bonds and Giants management bickered in the offseason over contract issues. This big night was the main reason owner Peter Magowan brought back the star left fielder for a 15th season in San Francisco, signing him to a $15.8 million, one-year contract.
Bonds' once-rapid quest for the record had slowed in recent years as his age and balky knees diminished his pace. He hit 258 home runs from 2000-04, but has only 53 since then.
While steroids have tinged Bonds' pursuit, it was race that was the predominant issue when Aaron broke Ruth's mark in 1974. Aaron dealt with hate mail and death threats from racist fans who thought a black man was not worthy of breaking the record set by a white hero, the beloved Babe.
Bonds was destined for stardom at an early age. The son of All-Star outfielder Bobby Bonds and the godson of one of the game's greatest players, Bonds spent his childhood years roaming the clubhouse at Candlestick Park, getting tips from Mays and other Giants.
"I visualized him playing sports at a high level. He was 5 when he was in my locker all the time," Mays said.
In a matter of years, Bonds went from a wiry leadoff hitter with Pittsburgh in 1986 to a bulked-up slugger. That transformation is at the heart of his many doubters, who believe Bonds cheated to accomplish his feats and should not be considered the record-holder.
There are plenty of fans already hoping for the day that Bonds' total — whatever it ends up — is topped. Rodriguez may have the best chance, with his 500 home runs at age 32 far ahead of Bonds' pace.
Bonds said he hadn't yet thought beyond 756. He plans to play in 2008.
"I'll tell you one thing: I'm going to hit a lot better from now on," he said after a champagne celebration in the clubhouse.
Bonds makes history with 756th home run
By JANIE McCAULEY, AP Sports Writer
8-8-7
For one spectacular moment, Barry Bonds and everybody cheering him could forget about the controversy surrounding his chase and appreciate the phenomenal feat: 756.
Nobody in the majors — not Hank Aaron, not Babe Ruth — has ever hit more home runs than the San Francisco star.
On Tuesday night, in his home ballpark, it didn't matter how many of them might have been fueled by steroids or performance-enhancers. Bonds has the title of home run king all to himself, ending Aaron's 33-year reign.
"This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period," Bonds said.
And more than 43,000 adoring Giants fans, including his godfather, Hall of Famer Willie Mays, surely agreed.
Bonds raised both arms over his head like a prize fighter in victory, fists clenched — and then he took off. It was over at long last.
Bonds did it with a shot to the deepest part of the ballpark with one out in the fifth inning against Washington's Mike Bacsik.
Bonds sent the 84-mph fastball arcing high into the night, 435 feet into the right-center field seats. And then, the celebration began in force — fireworks, streamers, banners commemorating the accomplishment, and even a party in McCovey Cove.
Conspicuous by their absence were the commissioner and Hammerin' Hank himself.
Though he was on hand for the tying homer three days ago, deciding to put baseball history ahead of the suspicions plaguing the Giants slugger, Bud Selig wasn't there for the record-breaker.
Instead, he sent two emissaries, Major League Baseball executive vice president Jimmie Lee Solomon and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. Selig also issued a statement.
"While the issues which have swirled around this record will continue to work themselves toward resolution, today is a day for congratulations on a truly remarkable achievement," Selig said.
Bonds also heard personally from the commissioner with congratulations.
"I was very happy about that," Bonds said.
As for Aaron, he said all along he had no interest in being there whenever and wherever his record was broken. He was true to his word, but he did offer a taped message of congratulations that played on the stadium's video board during a 10-minute, in-game tribute.
"It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity and determination," he said.
"Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic achievement.
"My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams."
A woman who answered the phone at Aaron's home in Georgia shortly after Bonds' homer said that Aaron was asleep.
"When I saw Hank Aaron that made everything," Bonds said. "We've always loved him. He's always the home run king."
With a long, satisfied stare, Bonds watched as the ball sailed over the fence and disappeared into the scrum in the first few rows. Then he raised both arms over his head like a victorious prize fighter, fists clenched, and took off.
"I knew I hit it," Bonds said. "I knew I got it. I was like, phew, finally."
His 17-year-old batboy son, Nikolai, was already bouncing on home plate as Dad rounded third and ran the final 90 feet to make it official. After a long embrace, the rest of the family joined in — his mother, two daughters and wife. And then there was Mays, who removed his cap and congratulated his godson.
Bonds saved his most poignant words for last, addressing his late father, Bobby.
"My dad," he said, looking to the sky and choking back tears. "Thank you."
Bonds had wanted to break the record at home, where he would be assured of a friendly crowd. They were all right, unlike in San Diego where some fans held up signs with asterisks.
Bonds has always denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
After doubling and singling his first two times up, Bonds hit a solo home run. Bacsik put his left hand to the back of his head as soon as Bonds connected.
"I dreamed about it as a kid, but when I dreamed about it, I was the one hitting the home run and not giving it up," Bacsik said.
"I didn't really want to be part of history as a bad part, but I am," he said. "I'm OK with it."
Bacsik later spoke with Bonds and got an autographed a bat from the Giants star.
Bonds took his position in left field to start the sixth, then was replaced and drew another standing ovation. The Nationals won the game, 8-6.
A fan wearing a Mets jersey wound up with the historic ball. Matt Murphy of New York emerged from the stands with the souvenir and a bloodied face, and was whisked to a secure room.
Even with Bonds at the top of the chart, fans will surely keep debating which slugger they consider the true home run champion. Some will continue to cling to Aaron while other, older rooters will always say it's Babe Ruth.
"It's all about history. Pretty soon, someone will come along and pass him," Mays said before the game.
Aaron held the top spot for 12,173 days after connecting for No. 715 to pass the Babe on April 8, 1974.
"This is the greatest record in all of sports," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We are all fortunate to witness it. It's awesome. This road to history has been a lot of fun."
Bonds homered exactly three years after Greg Maddux earned his 300th victory at the same ballpark. It's been quite a week of baseball milestones — over the weekend, Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run and Tom Glavine won No. 300.
A seven-time NL MVP, the 43-year-old Bonds hit his 22nd home run of the year. Bonds broke Mark McGwire's single-season record by hitting 73 in 2001 and while he's no longer such a force, opposing pitchers remain wary.
Bonds and Giants management bickered in the offseason over contract issues. This big night was the main reason owner Peter Magowan brought back the star left fielder for a 15th season in San Francisco, signing him to a $15.8 million, one-year contract.
Bonds' once-rapid quest for the record had slowed in recent years as his age and balky knees diminished his pace. He hit 258 home runs from 2000-04, but has only 53 since then.
While steroids have tinged Bonds' pursuit, it was race that was the predominant issue when Aaron broke Ruth's mark in 1974. Aaron dealt with hate mail and death threats from racist fans who thought a black man was not worthy of breaking the record set by a white hero, the beloved Babe.
Bonds was destined for stardom at an early age. The son of All-Star outfielder Bobby Bonds and the godson of one of the game's greatest players, Bonds spent his childhood years roaming the clubhouse at Candlestick Park, getting tips from Mays and other Giants.
"I visualized him playing sports at a high level. He was 5 when he was in my locker all the time," Mays said.
In a matter of years, Bonds went from a wiry leadoff hitter with Pittsburgh in 1986 to a bulked-up slugger. That transformation is at the heart of his many doubters, who believe Bonds cheated to accomplish his feats and should not be considered the record-holder.
There are plenty of fans already hoping for the day that Bonds' total — whatever it ends up — is topped. Rodriguez may have the best chance, with his 500 home runs at age 32 far ahead of Bonds' pace.
Bonds said he hadn't yet thought beyond 756. He plans to play in 2008.
"I'll tell you one thing: I'm going to hit a lot better from now on," he said after a champagne celebration in the clubhouse.
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