Sports Then and Now

George Steinbrenner changed the role of ownership across all sports.

As a Boston Red Sox fan, I have never been fond of the New York Yankees Organization. Growing up in Buffalo, NY, I was surrounded by Yankees fans all the time.

Before I even began to get interested in baseball, my good friend, Frank Bundy, brain washed me into becoming a Sox fan.

I’ve always been sick of the Yankees winning.

After all, the Yankees 2010 payroll is over $206 million, so shouldn’t they be winning the World Series every year? That’s over $40 million more than any other team.

But when I heard the news that George Steinbrenner passed away, being a Red Sox fan didn’t matter.

It was immediately a sad day for baseball fans and beyond. What George Steinbrenner had accomplished and done within the Yankees organization can only be looked at with appreciation and respect.

The death of Steinbrenner is a huge loss, not only for Major League Baseball, but for all of sports. Steinbrenner built the Yankees empire, and was willing to win, no matter what the cost.

In his 37 years as owner, Steinbrenner led the Yankees to seven World Series Championships, 11 American League Pennants, and 16 Division Titles. Read the rest of this entry →

To many major league umpires, Lou Piniella has seemed anything but sweet.

In a week that will culminate with former major league manager Whitey Herzog receiving a plaque at the Baseball Hall of Fame, the question is whether current Chicago Cub manager Lou Piniella, who announced this week that he will retire at the end of the season, will someday join Herzog at the Hall of Fame.

The similarities between the managerial careers of Herzog and Piniella are actually much greater than you might initially anticipate.

Both were among the best managers of their era and won multiple division titles. However, they each were able to claim the World Series title only once during their managerial tenures.

In 18 seasons as a manager (14 full seasons and four partial seasons), Herzog won six division titles (three with the Kansas City Royals and three with the St. Louis Cardinals), three pennants and the 1982 World Series title. He posted an overall record of 1281-1125(.532 winning percentage) while guiding his squads to a winning record in 10 of his 14 full seasons as a skipper.

Unless something unexpected occurs in the next few weeks, Piniella will complete his 22nd full season and 23rd overall as a manager. His teams have also won six division titles, but Piniella has managed only in one World Series. That was in 1990 when his first season with the Cincinnati Reds ended with a surprising four game sweep over the mighty Oakland A’s in the World Series. Read the rest of this entry →

No major leaguer has come close to matching Joe DiMaggio's record hitting streak of 56 straight games.

The Major League Baseball players of today are capable of accomplishing amazing feats, but I am going to go out on a limb and predict that no major leaguer of today will ever hit in 56 consecutive regular season games.

It was 69 years ago today that one of the most amazing individual streaks in sports history ended following an amazing two month performance by future Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio.

After knocking out a hit in every game from May 15th through July 16th, the luck finally ran out for DiMaggio in a game against the Cleveland Indians. As he had done throughout most of the streak, DiMaggio hit the ball hard, but unlike in previous days, there was always someone there to make the play.

His best chance to extend the streak came in his first at bat when DiMaggio laced the ball down the third base line. Unfortunately, third baseman Ken Keltner was playing deep and was able to grab the ball and throw DiMaggio out at first.

After walking in the fourth inning, DiMaggio hit another drive toward third in the seventh inning, but Keltner made another play to throw out the Yankee Clipper.

With the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning, DiMaggio managed not to hit the ball to Keltner, but instead grounded to shortstop Lou Boudreau who turned it into an inning ending double play.

During the streak, DiMaggio hit .408 with 15 home runs and 55 runs batted in. He had multiple hits 22 times, including four games with four hits. Read the rest of this entry →

New York Yankees (56-32): A+

What can you say about the Yankees? They have the best record in all of baseball and look pretty much unstoppable. They are, as usual, chock full of stars – Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeeter, Robinson Cano, and Curtis Granderson have combined for 62 home runs and 255 RBI. The teams on-base percentage is an AL best .353.

The Yankee Machine has been further galvanized with the passing of its owner, George Steinbrenner.

If anything in the Yankee roster can be considered a weak spot, it would have to be pitching, but keep in mind that most teams would kill right now for pitching as “weak” as that of the Yankees. All five starters currently post .500 records or better. They are second in the AL in ERA (3.81). CC Sabathia and Phillip Hughes are other-worldly and their strength more than makes up for an over paid and unpredictable AJ Burnett. Mariano Rivera, although showing sings of age and spending some time sidelined with minor injuries, is doing his usual with 20 saves and a 1.05 ERA. Joba Chamberlain is a serious weak spot in the bull pen, but with all the Yankees have going for them, the fact that they have essentially screwed up what could have been a premier set-up man by insisting on having him start the last couple of season, it is not enough of a drag on things to really matter.

Simply stated, if the Yankees are not in the World Series this year, then divine intervention will have to be blamed. And with George Steinbrenner now in the ethereal plane, acts of God against the Bronx Bombers seem unlikely. Read the rest of this entry →

San Diego Padres (51-37): A+

Once predicted to be the major trade piece for later in July, Adrian Gonzales is going to stay put with the first place Padres.

There are lots of surprises in the standings right now, but none as astounding as the first place Padres. Leading in to the season, the Pads were on a lot of radar screens, but only because the general consensus was that by this point in the season there would be an on going circus of teams trying to get Adrian Gonzalez. Low and behold, here we sit, about sixteen days from the trade deadline and one this is pretty certain: Gonzalez is going nowhere.

Gonzalez is having a productive year (18 home runs, .301 average, 56 RBI) as most everyone thought he would. The thing is that, even though no one else on the team has more than 8 homers, and even though the Padres are 12th in the NL in runs scored, they are at the top of the West (closely followed by the Rockies.)

The Padres pitching is the reason. San Diego has given up the fewest runs in the NL (304), they are 3rd best in strikeouts (603) and 3rd best in bases-on-balls (279). Their bullpen has 18 wins and 25 saves to their credit, which bolsters the starting five, all but one of which (Kevin Correia) have a sub-four ERA.

The Padre’s are not too shabby on defense. Their top nine position players (by innings played) have a total of 25 errors over 88 games. (For a little perspective, compaired to the other NL division leaders, the Pads are tops. Using the same formula, the Braves have 47errors, the Reds have 27.)

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the Padres are a post season surety. If the Padres cannot stay ahead of the Rockies, the Dodgers, Met’s and Phillies would all be within 1.5 games of the wild-card – if it were decided today, that is. Read the rest of this entry →

Cincinnati Reds (49-41): A+

Scott Rolen had been born again in Cincinnati.

Very few people foresaw the possibility of the Reds sitting atop the NL Central at the All-Star Break. Though, as of today, their lead is a single, tenuous game, they have exceeded all realistic expectations.

Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto, and Mike Leak have all posted winning records thus far, though in 53 combined starts the Reds top three have a combined 30 no-decisions, a testament to a mediocre bullpen. While has 24 saves, he also has 10 blown saves and a 4.40 ERA. The lone releif star is 40 year old Arthur Rhodes who is posting an awesome 1.54 ERA in his 41 appearances. He’s averaging about 6 strike outs per nine innings with a WHIP of .943. His appearance on the All-Star roster was the stuff of Hollywood, even though he did not make it onto the field.

Cincinnati’s offense is leading the NL in runs (437), hits (843), batting average (.272), slugging (.441), and OPS (.779). With the resugence of veteran Scott Rolen and outstanding first half work from Joey Votto (22 home runs, .314 average) a Reds squad in the post season is a real possibility. Read the rest of this entry →