Gee, Our Old LaSalle Ran Great…
Posted by Steve L. on March 3rd, 2012 · Comments (7)
Have you read Dan Barry’s The Damned Yankees: The Yankees of Mediocrity Had Their Own Strange Charisma? (Hat tip to Greg H.) It’s a good read.
Ah, the old days…
The Saver!
Yeah, closer has a much better ring to it, though I’m sure the term refers to a combination of fireman and closer.
Speaking of good reads,
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-brown_alex_rodriguez_yankees_speech_030212
throwstrikes wrote:
Actually, that’s a pretty funny read – for a guy whose middle name is “Insincere” to start making clubhouse speeches. If I were a player on the team, I would be thinking “Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk.”
A-Rod should stop running out of the clubhouse after games, leaving his teammates to face the media, and, he should start being more “one of the guys” rather than follow his own pre-game routine, if he wants to start being a leader. Oh, and, of course, how about playing 140 games a season? Do THAT, and then he can start talking about being “All In.”
@ Steve L.:
2 MVPs, a position change, deferring to Jeter, and mentoring younger players isn’t enough?
Granted the article may be a bit of hooey, but I’m just sayin…
At any rate, looking at the sidebar, it appears Brien Taylor made the news again;
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Aq_2W_r6Aej2Ofvah4e7NxY8R9MF?slug=ap-formeryankeesprospect-drugcharges
Shoulda went to winter ball…
Raf wrote:
The position change and deferring to Jeter were to suit A-Rod by getting him out of Texas, because, without doing those two things, there was no where else for him to go.
One of the MVPs, again, suited A-Rod because it was a monster season in his opt-out season. Numbers, by the way, that he’s never come close to matching again.
As far as mentoring young players, note that it’s basically been fellow guys from the D.R. who would then follow A-Rod around like Fran Healy followed Reggie Jackson. Again, a posse that suits A-Rod.
Everything A-Rod has done as a Yankee has been for his benefit when you boil it down.
@ Steve L.:
A trade to Boston was for all intents and purposes done. Texas could’ve held on to Rodriguez, or they could’ve worked something out with the Red Sox. There could’ve been another team that could’ve traded for him, like the Marlins did with Piazza.
One of the MVPs? What about the other? At 35 years old, I doubt he’d be able to replicate that 2007 season either. It’s not often a player posts those kinds of numbers.
It’s possible these players took interest in Rodriguez because of his career accomplishments; 3 time MVP, 3 time player of the year, 4 time Hank Aaron award winner, 14 time all star, Babe Ruth award winner, 2 time gold glove winner, 10 time silver slugger winner, 1st round draft pick and franchise player?
Luis Sojo, Felix Fermin & Cal Rikpen Jr have all been mentors of Rodguez… A Venezuelan, a Dominican and an American. Rodriguez has been linked to mentoring younger Yankees players as well as other players from the states. Nothing wrong with that.
If you boil anything down, you’ll find people do things for their own benefit. Not sure why you would expect Rodriguez to be any different.