Has it really been 20 years now?

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Via Bryan Hoch -

Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit came the last time the Rays were in town, and they’ll celebrate it all over again on Saturday afternoon. Here’s the press release from the Yankees, asking fans to be in their seats by 3:45 p.m. ET:

YANKEES TO CELEBRATE DEREK JETER’S 3,000TH CAREER HIT WITH A SPECIAL PREGAME CEREMONY ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 13

The New York Yankees tonight announced that a special pregame ceremony celebrating Derek Jeter’s 3,000th career hit will be held prior to Saturday’s game between the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, scheduled to begin at 4:10 p.m. Gates will open two hours prior to first pitch at 2:00 p.m. and fans are encouraged to arrive early and be in their seats by 3:45 p.m.

On July 9, 2011, Jeter became the 28th player all time—and at 37 years, 13 days the fourth youngest—to reach the 3,000-hit plateau with a third-inning solo home run off Tampa Bay’s David Price. Jeter would finish the game 5-for-5 with the game-winning RBI single in the eighth inning. He joined Wade Boggs as the only two players to hit a home run as their 3,000th career hit, and became only the second player to record at least five hits in the game in which they recorded their 3,000th hit (also Craig Biggio).

And, more:

Details of today’s #DJ3K ceremony being kept under wraps even to Jeter. Says no one has told him a thing.

Shame the game is on FOX today. I don’t know why the Yankees wouldn’t wait for Sunday so that they could show the whole thing on YES. I wonder what surprises they have in store for Jeter?

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Here’s a look at where the Yankees were, when they woke up on August 12th, over the last 17 seasons:

So, is it true that the Yankees, since 1995, have not won a pennant in season where they were not in first place at the close of business on August 11th?  Or, am I missing something here?

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Pitchers with the Yankees, since 1973, who had 11+ wins in a season where they were age 24 or younger and started at least 50% of their games pitched:

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Just a half-dozen guys in the Steinbrenner Era.  Dat’s it.

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The Blue Jays are stealing signs? Maybe they got the idea from the Yankees…back in the day…

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• In 2009, the Yankees were 69-43 after 112 games and went 34-16 over the rest of the season.
• In 2010, the Yankees were 69-43 after 112 games and went 26-24 over the rest of the season.
• In 2011, the Yankees were 69-43 after 112 games and have gone 0-1 since that time.

How do you think they’ll do from here out? More like 2010 or 2009? Or, will it be worse than 2010? Or, better than 2009?

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Sum’ballgame!

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Since 1919, only twice have the Yankees lost 10+ games to the Red Sox within their first 113 games of the season: 1973 and this year (2011). Below are the seasons in which the Yanks lost to the Bosox 9+ times within their first 113 games of the season:

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Not sure if this means anything – but, it does suggest how much Boston has beat-up on New York, up to this point in the season, more so than in years past.

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Here’s a fun sort – via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia. It’s Yankees leaders in TRAA, through yesterday, of all current and former Yankees not yet in the Hall of Fame:

TRAA                           TRAA     RCAA     FRAA
1    Charlie Keller              421      386       35
2    Roy White                   379      242      137
3    Alex Rodriguez              337      347      -10
4    Don Mattingly               324      293       31
5    Tommy Henrich               276      280       -4
6    Bernie Williams             274      343      -69
7    Willie Randolph             224      115      109
8    George Selkirk              214      165       49
9    Roger Maris                 199      203       -4
10   Thurman Munson              187      113       74
11   Jason Giambi                186      245      -59
12   Jorge Posada                185      207      -22
13   Paul O'Neill                180      178        2
14   Gil McDougald               178      100       78
T15  Graig Nettles               176      109       67
T15  Bob Meusel                  176      139       37
17   Bill Skowron                175      139       36
18   Bobby Murcer                151      199      -48
T19  Snuffy Stirnweiss           147       66       81
T19  Hank Bauer                  147      132       15
T21  Gene Woodling               135      107       28
T21  Tino Martinez               135       71       64
23   Tom Tresh                   125      102       23
24   Oscar Gamble                115      103       12
25   Birdie Cree                 101       98        3
26   Red Rolfe                   100       58       42
T27  Hideki Matsui                98      136      -38
T27  Ben Chapman                  98      114      -16
T29  Wally Pipp                   95       18       77
T29  Robinson Cano                95       81       14
31   Mark Teixeira                92       89        3
32   Joe Collins                  91       44       47
33   Nick Swisher                 86       60       26
34   Ron Blomberg                 82       86       -4
T35  Del Pratt                    81       14       67
T35  Elston Howard                81       63       18
37   Mickey Rivers                78       48       30
38   Gary Sheffield               75       79       -4
39   Johnny Damon                 73       83      -10
40   Don Baylor                   62       61        1
41   Danny Tartabull              57       72      -15
42   Mike Stanley                 56       72      -16
T43  Irv Noren                    55       27       28
T43  Johnny Lindell               55       41       14
45   Ken Griffey Sr.              53       39       14
46   Nick Etten                   52       81      -29
47   Harry Wolter                 51       45        6
T48  Brett Gardner                50       15       35
T48  Bobby Abreu                  50       55       -5
50   Jimmy Williams               49       14       35
51   Norm Siebern                 48       24       24
52   Clete Boyer                  47      -67      114
T53  Lou Piniella                 46       38        8
T53  Aaron Robinson               46       48       -2
55   Bobby Bonds                  45       38        7
56   Jerry Mumphrey               44       26       18
57   George McQuinn               42       33        9
T58  Chris Chambliss              41       51      -10
T58  Derek Jeter                  41      371     -330
T58  Elliott Maddox               41       28       13
61   Wally Schang                 39       26       13
T62  Jesse Barfield               38       19       19
T62  David Justice                38       21       17
64   Dan Pasqua                   34       21       13
65   Kid Elberfeld                33       26        7
T66  Pat Collins                  29       28        1
T66  Curtis Granderson            29       35       -6
T66  Charlie Hemphill             29       29        0
T69  Hersh Martin                 28       28        0
T69  Bill Johnson                 28        2       26
T69  Ben Paschal                  28       26        2
T72  Bob Cerv                     26       22        4
T72  Oscar Grimes                 26       21        5
74   Aaron Ward                   25      -88      113
75   Jack Clark                   24       24        0

I never would have figured to see Jeter so low on this list.

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And, last night makes the list now twenty-one…

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A fun list.  It’s non-pitchers since 1973 who played with the Yankees in the last season of their big league career.

(more…)

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That’s all I have to say.

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During the 1920′s New York Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert once described his perfect afternoon at Yankee Stadium. “It’s when the Yankees score eight runs in the first inning,” Ruppert said, “and then slowly pull away.”

Have a happy, Jake.

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More on this via the AP -

Derek Jeter allowed cameras to follow him during his pursuit of 3,000 hits partly because “if and when” he has children, he’d like them to be able to see him as a player.

In the hour-long documentary that premieres Thursday night on HBO, the Yankees shortstop says he’s jealous of teammates whose kids get to watch their dads while they’re still playing.

New York’s normally private captain wore an in-game microphone and did an interview at his home for the first time for “Derek Jeter 3K.” MLB Productions got some unexpected drama when Jeter went on the disabled list with a calf injury, and the crews accompanied him to rehab in Tampa, Fla.

Jeter had control over what was shot, but he didn’t see the documentary until after it was completed.

There are no tears or tantrums from a player renowned for avoiding controversy. Noting with a grin that it’s an HBO program, Jeter does curse once or twice. The footage includes shots of Jeter hosting friends for a lunch cooked by his personal chef, when they discuss why all the stars of “The Bachelor” are white.

Jeter did a two-hour interview at his New York apartment a day after he reached 3,000 hits with a home run as part of a 5-for-5 day against the Rays on July 9. Also agreeing to an interview is his actress girlfriend, Minka Kelly, who succinctly sums up the timing of the calf injury: “It sucked.”

Of the delay in reaching the milestone, Jeter says, “I felt like I was disappointing people.”

He concedes that selfishly he wishes his mother and sister could have been there when he hit No. 3,000 — they missed the game because of his nephew’s christening.

Look at that, Jeter with a Mookie-like “Sal, how come you ain’t got no brothers up on the wall here?” moment. Only on HBO!

Seriously, I’m looking forward to this one. I hope that it’s good.

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Oh, the stories these two could tell…and they did. If you’ve never read Balls and The Bronx Zoo, or haven’t read them in a while, think about checking them out.

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It was two for one – 15,000 days ago.  Chris Jaffe has the details.

Related, I was there for La Lob, in person, at the Stadium.  It was one of those games I will never forget!

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Mariano Rivera needs 18 saves to get 600 on his career. But, he needs just 20 saves to set the all-time saves record. So, when Mo gets #600, should the Yankees not go crazy on it…and just wait until he gets two more to really celebrate his milestone?

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I missed this fact last night – per MLB.com:

Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada made a bit of history at Rogers Centre on Thursday night.

When Posada checked in as a pinch-hitter for Andruw Jones in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ eventual 16-7 loss to the Blue Jays, it marked the 1,660th game he and Jeter played together.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the most regular-season games two players have ever appeared in together in Yankees history. The previous mark was set by Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri, who had 1,659 instances in which both played in the same game as Yankees.

The only other current big league teammates to even play 1,000 games together are Jeter and Alex Rodriguez (1,050).

I wonder what the big league record is?

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Games since 1919 where the Yankees have allowed 16+ runs in a game of 9 innings or less:

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I’ll always member the one from 1977 – because that was really embarrassing considering how good the Yankees were then and how bad the Jays were at that time.  And, I remember that 2004 turd against the Tribe because I had tickets for that one, sold them to my friend, and then told him afterwards that I would never sell him tickets again because he, obviously, was a bad luck charm.

How about last night?  What did you think of that game?

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Great stuff on these and more via Chris Jaffe.

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The story via FOX News Latino -

A cool $50,000. Even $100,000 to $250,000.

Half a million dollars!

Those are some of the estimates for how much Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit – a home run – might sell for in the collectibles market. But when the ball settled into Christian Lopez’s hands, he didn’t have to think twice about his price.

“I was just happy I caught the ball,” the Highland Mills, New York, native told Fox News Latino.

Lopez, 23, never considered trying to sell the ball in the open market. After he emerged from the scrum, he was whisked away to the bowels of Yankee Stadium, with the head of security in front of him, asking him what he wanted for the ball.

Lopez said he hadn’t thought about that. He turned to his father, Raul Lopez, for guidance.

“You’re a grown man,” his proud father said. “You make your own decisions.”

And the young man – who has Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican and Nicaraguan roots – did just that.

He said that it would “be cool to get a jersey or something,” and maybe some bats and balls.

The Yankees decided on Derek Jeter-autographed bats, balls, and jerseys. And they threw in four Champions Suite season tickets for every remaining home game this season, including the playoffs, to go along with his front row seats for Sunday’s game after he caught 3,000.

“The jerseys and balls are going to be the sickest,” Lopez said. “I’ll frame those right away and give one to my girlfriend.

“The president gave me his card,” Lopez added, referring to Yankees President Randy Levine. “I’m going to e-mail him a little later and ask them to make out one of the jerseys to my girlfriend’s family so I can give it to her for her birthday next week.

“She started crying last night, her grandma was a big fan of Derek Jeter,” Lopez continued. “This means a lot to her. I know how much Derek Jeter means to her family.”

When Lopez was interviewed by Michael Kay live on the YES Network after he caught the ball, he said that as a Latino, Jeter means a lot to him.

“I just meant that as a minority, he’s done a lot for our generation,” Lopez said on Monday. “I grew up watching the guy; he’s done a lot for us. As a minority he’s had struggles to go through and he’s overcome a lot. I look up to that in the man. He’s an icon for our generation.”

And for the lifelong Yankee fan, he can’t pick just one memory that stands out as his favorite from the whirlwind game.

“I remember the whole day,” Lopez said. “I got to watch the rest of the game from George Steinbrenner’s suite. I met Reggie Jackson, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Jay-Z and Derek Jeter.

“I was like a kid in a candy shop.”

Poor kid was getting killed by callers on WFAN this morning for not cashing in on catching the ball.

Sure, and, if he had kept the ball for the dough, people would be on him for that too.

Me? I would have given the ball back to Jeter as well – requesting a photo of Jeter with my kids (who were at the game with me) in exchange. That’s it. Would have used my own camera too.

Maybe that makes me stupid – especially considering that I have so little saved, so far, for the college tuition of those aforementioned kids, now ages seven and nine? But, it just seems like the right thing to do. And, if there’s such a thing as karma, I can’t imagine a better karma thing that someone could do…in a spot like that.

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Left the house at 10 AM this morning to attend the Yankees game. Decided to set this one up as a “chron job” to publish at 6 PM.

Probably won’t be checking the blog until later tonight. In any event, use this post, if you want, to discuss the events of the day.

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There have been 254 times in his career, to date, where Derek Jeter had 3+ hits in a game:

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Does he have another one in him tonight? What do you think?

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I just love it when a study says that Thurman Munson was the best base running catcher in baseball history since 1950.

Take that Carlton Fisk!

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I suspect, once Derek Jeter comes back and resumes his quest for career major league regular season hit #3,000, there will be some who may attempt to marginalize the achievement.

Why? Since it’s “Derek Jeter” and many believe that he’s overrated – leading them to discount any part of his production (because anything he does, in their eyes, is too highly graded).

However, here’s two things to keep in mind:

1. There have been at least 17,379 men to play big league baseball and only 27 of them, to date, have 3,000+ career hits. And,
2. There have been at least 1,528 men to play for the New York Yankees, to date, and no one has collected 3,000 hits while wearing the Yankees’ uniform.

Three thousand career hits is a major baseball milestone.

And, to do it playing for one team is very unique. In fact, to date, there are only 13 men to collect 3,000+ hits where at least 3,000 of those hits came under one uniform. And, only 9 players, to date, have at least 3,000 hits while playing for the same team over their entire career.  (Those nine would be Musial, Yaz, Ripken, Brett, Yount, Gwynn, Biggio, Kaline and Clemente.)

When Jeter gets his 3,000th career hit, a huge, major, big deal should be made out of it.  This is not ony big news for Jeter and the Yankees.  This is big baseball news – period. 

Anyone who tries to ho-hum it, or, lick their finger and immediately turn to page once it happens, is totally missing the point.

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Has it really been 34 years?

Seems like it was yesterday. Oh, what fun it was to watch that whoopin’ at Exhibition Stadium on WPIX.

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It was nice to see Sweet Lou.  And, the hands for Torre and Bernie were impressive. 

Gotta be truthful: My eyes started to well up a bit seeing Whitey and Yogi standing out there, together.  Not sure how much longer we have with both of them.

The video tribute for Geno was first rate.  Great job on that one – especially getting guys like Donnie and Rags to contribute.  And, how impressive were the current Yankees getting him that truck?  Ballplayers make a ton of money these days…but when it  allows them to pony up and do something like that, it’s awesome.

Great to see the current players – Giambi too – enjoy this one so much.  Sad that Jeter had to miss this one.  But, you could see Jorge step up and be the ring master for the team.  Call me crazy, but, I think Posada would make an excellent Yankees manager someday.  And, if he’s allowed to do it somewhere else, it will be like when they let Piniella get away.

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Remember Funny Face Keisler? He’s been at it for a long time now.  Here’s a recent story on him:

Left-hander Randy Keisler was at a crossroads in his life and his career between 2008 and ’09.
He had 50 games in the Majors to his credit with brief stints with five clubs. After the ’08 season, Keisler succumbed to a second shoulder surgery.

“I had been pitching hurt for a long time, for years,” he said. “I couldn’t throw anymore, so I shut it down at the beginning of August, knowing I was going to be a free agent. I was kind of scared about that.”

Keisler rehabbed on his own and briefly pitched for an independent team in ’09.

“At the time back then, I was going through a divorce that was real bad,” he said. “I’d just had my first son. The economy’s the way it is … all I know is baseball, it’s all I’ve ever done. Someone was depending on (me) now.”

Keisler pitched for two more independent teams and Laguna of the Mexican League in 2010, putting up solid numbers that still did not earn a phone call from a Major League organization.

“I was putting calls in every two weeks to every organization on my own, just trying to ask them to give me a chance,” he said.

Keisler finally got offers to try out for the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers at the start of Spring Training in February.

Three days before he left, Keisler’s father suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.

“My No. 1 supporter my whole life has been him,” Keisler said. “He was the one never saying quit, never saying give up.”

From his bed in the intensive care unit, Keisler said his father told him to go to Arizona.

While the Brewers’ tryout would be 1-on-1, Keisler knew there would be a few other players at the Dodgers’ tryout.

“I get there and pull up at 8 in the morning at Camelback Ranch,” he said. “I see 100 cars and people everywhere. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on? There’s 250 people at this tryout.’”

Luckily for Keisler, one of the coaches present was Trey Hillman, who had managed the lefty at Triple-A Columbus in 2000 and ’01. Hillman introduced Keisler to assistant general manager Logan White, who watched him pitch and offered him a contract.

“[The Brewers] were interested in signing me, too, but I just liked how Logan was,” Keisler said. “He seemed enthusiastic about having me. For the first time in [a while], it felt good.”

Keisler now toils for the Albuquerque Isotopes. He was named PCL Pitcher of the Week for June 6-12, when he won both of his starts on the road. One of them came in Round Rock, where Keisler’s 3-year-old son got to see his father pitch for the first time.

“Those four days with him in the ballpark with me … that was one of the best times I’ve had in baseball in 13 years,” he said.

Randy had a big night last night.  Good for him.  Gotta give the dude an “A” in terms of hanging with it…after all these years.

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How many Yankees have hit 18+ homers in the team’s first 65 games of the season? Here’s the list:

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Tex ended up with 39 HR in 2009. How many do you think the Grandy Man will finish with this year? Heck, how about Tex this year? Between the two of them, who will finish up with more HR?

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2011 is…

The 10th anniversary of the 2001 A.L. Champion Yankees.
The 15th anniversary of the 1996 World Champion Yankees.
The 30th anniversary of the 1981 A.L. Champion Yankees.
The 35th anniversary of the 1976 A.L. Champion Yankees.
The 50th anniversary of the 1961 World Champion Yankees.
The 55th anniversary of the 1956 World Champion Yankees.
The 60th anniversary of the 1951 World Champion Yankees.
The 70th anniversary of the 1941 World Champion Yankees.
The 75th anniversary of the 1936 World Champion Yankees.
The 85th anniversary of the 1926 A.L. Champion Yankees.
The 90th anniversary of the 1921 A.L. Champion Yankees.

Imagine being someone like Mitch Miller…if he was a baseball fan…and he may have been, I dunno…he got to see all these Yankees team play!

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