I wonder how great Mickey would've been if he hadn't been injured so seriously and so much. He was injured so much. The knee injury from the 51 Series was just the first. I saw a picture of Mickey on crutches detailing the injuries he suffered in his career! He had to tape himself from shoulders to knees before every game. He never complained - he just became bigger then life to some of the Yankee Fans. We all knew, if the game was on the line and Mickey was coming up, we still had a very good chance of winning it.
I think The Babe, Mantle, and Mays are top 3 (OF) of all time (not counting "Shoeless Joe"). But I honestly believe Mickey is the greatest ballplayer I ever saw. He did so much during his career while he was hurt. Without the injuries, there would have been no limit to the records he would have set maybe even brake Babe Ruth's career Hr records and many other records along the way.
Joe D was famous for making every catch look graceful and easy. I've seen him play and read books on Joe D, he was not a very nice guy! First words to a rookie were "Don't mess with my WS money"!
DiMaggio hot dogged it (some say, not me) going after the ball seeing Mantle coming on and only at the last moment yelled I got it. To be fair, Joe never dove or jumped for a ball, he was that good reading the ball, a talent very very few OF have...even the better ones! In this case his very late call, caused Mantle to try and stop, snag his foot on a sprinkler, the rest is history! Without DiMaggios (so called) grandstanding, Mantle might have been the best of the best. In my mind, I saw one of the best outfielders of all time.
There will never be another Mickey Mantle but, the closest I have ever seen is a guy in Texas...Josh Hamilton, his story is much more a tail of Drugs and Drinking but, oh what he could have been!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Monday, December 26, 2011
Yu is to be a Ranger! Oh, my!
So I can hear the gasps of disappointment and anger regarding Cashmans inability to sign any of the front line pitchers, let alone Yu!
Let's get real here, the problem isn't Cashman...you got it! It is the other GMs inability to understand the Yankees are not the Yankees of "The King G" days. We will not (Hal/Cash will not) over spend for players anymore. The days of giving away our best minor league players for one outstanding player with a long contract are over...as Cashman has more and more say in trades...things, they are changing.
Look for more internal players moving up and picking up a few (I hope) international players this year, their are a few out there to be had.
Some of the players I have seen included in trades for a front line pitcher are ridiculous...giving up two/three of our top pitchers/players + other lesser players is the way it use to be done...NO More!
I do see a trade in the works for the Yankees but, I (and no one else) knows who it will be and at what cost. If teams still want our best players...I say, "forget it Cashman"!
I still think we have enough starting pitchers (-AJ) to get the job done in 2012. If AJ can be traded, we can have another AAA pitcher come up and do a Nova in 2012...have faith, some of our pitchers are better then some of us think...please, use your head not your heart when evaluating our players.
Let's get real here, the problem isn't Cashman...you got it! It is the other GMs inability to understand the Yankees are not the Yankees of "The King G" days. We will not (Hal/Cash will not) over spend for players anymore. The days of giving away our best minor league players for one outstanding player with a long contract are over...as Cashman has more and more say in trades...things, they are changing.
Look for more internal players moving up and picking up a few (I hope) international players this year, their are a few out there to be had.
Some of the players I have seen included in trades for a front line pitcher are ridiculous...giving up two/three of our top pitchers/players + other lesser players is the way it use to be done...NO More!
I do see a trade in the works for the Yankees but, I (and no one else) knows who it will be and at what cost. If teams still want our best players...I say, "forget it Cashman"!
I still think we have enough starting pitchers (-AJ) to get the job done in 2012. If AJ can be traded, we can have another AAA pitcher come up and do a Nova in 2012...have faith, some of our pitchers are better then some of us think...please, use your head not your heart when evaluating our players.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Jeter-The Face of the Yankees
Jeter is a heck of a SS and IS the Face of the Yankees but, Captain Clutch he is not and never has been. The only two times he ever showed up was for Posada and Jason. But, when it came to Andy and A-Rod he was a no show.
Jeter is the model for every kid that wants to play baseball…he is the all-American guy!
These things are true but, the sad thing is…he will play until he can no longer do his job, then what? Kids will always see Jeter as he ended his tenure as a SS for the Yankees…not as the bright star and Face of the Yankees.
I had to sit through the endings of HOF players before, Joe "D", Yogi, Mickey Mantle, Willy Mays, and Hammering Hank...all of them waited to long to let go. Joe "D" by one year, Yogi by one year, Mickey by four or five years (He was all the Yanks had), Willy and Hank were a few years late also but they were after records.
Believe me when I say; "I had to watch a hurting Mickey get picked off 2nd base." I watched him swing and miss a pitch and almost fall down because of all his injuries with the legs etc.,!
Now we are presented with an over age Star playing SS and wants to go into the HOF but, I ask you all out there in Yankee land; What records has he broken or set other then Yankee records? None, he does have over 3,000 hits but, in a few years there will be another few guys joining him (to makes him one of 28) to make more then that even.
Don't misunderstand me, he will make it into the HOF but not for his playing baseball, it will be because everyone thinks he is such a super guy and the glue that holds the team together, granted he is the best PC guy I have ever seen in baseball. And when it all boils down to the bottom line; his being TOO PC and his quest for the HOF for doing nothing great is the only thing I have against him.
Jeter is the model for every kid that wants to play baseball…he is the all-American guy!
These things are true but, the sad thing is…he will play until he can no longer do his job, then what? Kids will always see Jeter as he ended his tenure as a SS for the Yankees…not as the bright star and Face of the Yankees.
I had to sit through the endings of HOF players before, Joe "D", Yogi, Mickey Mantle, Willy Mays, and Hammering Hank...all of them waited to long to let go. Joe "D" by one year, Yogi by one year, Mickey by four or five years (He was all the Yanks had), Willy and Hank were a few years late also but they were after records.
Believe me when I say; "I had to watch a hurting Mickey get picked off 2nd base." I watched him swing and miss a pitch and almost fall down because of all his injuries with the legs etc.,!
Now we are presented with an over age Star playing SS and wants to go into the HOF but, I ask you all out there in Yankee land; What records has he broken or set other then Yankee records? None, he does have over 3,000 hits but, in a few years there will be another few guys joining him (to makes him one of 28) to make more then that even.
Don't misunderstand me, he will make it into the HOF but not for his playing baseball, it will be because everyone thinks he is such a super guy and the glue that holds the team together, granted he is the best PC guy I have ever seen in baseball. And when it all boils down to the bottom line; his being TOO PC and his quest for the HOF for doing nothing great is the only thing I have against him.
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