N.Y. Yankees: Judge Sets The Record Straight

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Make Room For

THE JUDGE

New York Yankees: Aaron Judge Breaks Mark McGwire's Home Run Record; Becomes First Rookie in Baseball History to Hit 50 Home Runs in a Season.

Holy Cow!

Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge is the first rookie in baseball history to hit 50 home runs in a season.

On Monday, the Yankees and Kansas City Royals played a make-up game at the Stadium.  Judge went 2 for 4, on this record setting day, with 3 RBI.  Thirty years after Mark McGwire set the former rookie record with 49 home runs in 1987, Judge tied McGwire in the third inning, then began the task of resetting the record in the seventh inning with his second home run of the game.

Monday makes four home runs in two games for Judge, who also hit two home runs on Sunday against the Blue Jays in Toronto.  He has now hit 13 home runs in the month of September.  The Yankees have six games left, all at home against the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto.

Aaron Judge is the 29th player in major league history to reach 50 home runs in a season.  He joins Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Alex Rodriguez, as the only Yankees player to reach 50 home runs in one season.

This also marks the ninth time a New York Yankee has posted 50 home runs in a season:

• 1920 - Babe Ruth; 54
• 1921 - Babe Ruth; 59
• 1927 - Babe Ruth; 60
• 1928 - Babe Ruth; 54
• 1956 - Mickey Mantle; 52
• 1961 - Mickey Mantle; 54
• 1961 - Roger Maris; 61
• 2007 - Alex Rodriguez; 54

Aaron Judge, 25-years old, retained his rookie status entering 2017 after playing in only 27 games and making 84 official at-bats last season.

During his first season (1920) with the Yankees, a then 25-year old Babe Ruth hit 54 home runs and drove in 135 runs.

As of close of business Monday, Aaron Judge is slashing .283/.418/.620, with a 1.038 OPS.  He has 108 RBI to go along with his 50 home runs, and leads the American League with 129 runs scored, 129 walks, and a ghastly 203 strikeouts.

Unavoidably, many fans believe Mark McGwire's achievements were of a dubious nature.  Therefore, arguments will likely be made for Judge setting this particular record straight.

N.Y. Yankees: On Derek Jeter's Retirement

From the desk of:   BLAME CARLOS MAY

Number

2

New York Yankees: The Captain - Derek Jeter Says The 2014 Season Will Be His Last.

By 1974, I was a young five tool fanchild.  I was born a very secure Mets fan, entertained my pop's love for the Yankees, been to both stadiums, knew how to keep score, and started collecting baseball cards on my own.

Fleeting are the summers.  Forty have passed in my life as a baseball fan.  But, much like the snow piling ever higher outside my house, the passage of time is chilling to ponder.

I spent the years 1974 and 1975 taking mental snapshots of the massive renovations taking place at historic Yankee Stadium.  In the interim, the team played its games at my house, Shea Stadium.  Nevertheless, routine trips to visit relatives meant taking the F.D.R. uptown to the George Washington Bridge, which provided me with an ongoing account of progress.  I was always alert with anticipation, waiting for the moment we drove by.

In 1976, the year of Yankee Stadium's grand reopening, my pop closed out the season by taking me to Game Five of the ALCS - you know, the insane Chris Chambliss home run game.  The images of that night, and watching the transformation of the old stadium, stay with me today.  As an adult, and father myself, I caught chills the day I positioned myself across the river, at that exact point of view, for a final series of photos just prior to her demolition.

The House That Ruth Built was gone.  The loss was great, but my memories, I knew would last forever. Among them, I include the playing days of Thurman Munson, the exploits of Reggie Jackson, and the careers of Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly when they shared a field together.

You can now add the cast of recent Core players, and in particular, the career of Derek Jeter.  The Yankees shortstop of the last 18+ years, the man dubbed Mr. November, announced Wednesday he will retire at season's end.  The 11th team captain in Yankees history decided it's time to leave the game.

In my lifetime, there has perhaps been no athlete in New York City, who has gotten IT more right, than him. The Boss was never more spot on, than when he named Derek captain of the Yankees, just as he was correct in naming Thurman Munson.  I understand more each day why those two were so perfectly suited for the role.  I mean no slight towards Mattingly, but I was a bigger Winfield fan.  That said, Munson, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter, are whom I would define as the modern ideal of a Yankee.  In the Steinbrenner era, I believe no players brought more balance, and commanded genuine league wide, or even cross-town respect, despite the club's prevailing early Bronx Zoo, and later Evil Empire personas, than those three.

*    *    *    *

As part of my own personal Hall of Fame criteria, a player's late years, should rate similarly to those of, say, his prime years.  Loosely stated, I feel a player's 17th season, should somewhat resemble, say, his 7th year in the league. I believe one or two late, great seasons, serves as a punctuation mark to a potential HOF career.  It's a statement saying - I stayed great to the end.

For example, Dave Winfield did that in 1992, by posting 108 RBI at age 40, for the eighth 100+ RBI season of his career - a prestigious level of production by any measure.  Seven times?  Not so much.  Winfield additionally amassed 75 home runs in his final three full seasons.  He then only managed another 123 games over the next two seasons, and retired.  Had Dave Winfield not lost all of 1989 to injury, 500 home runs, and 2,000 RBI were very distinct possibilities.

Derek Jeter's 2012 regular season qualifies as one of those punctuation marks.  And like Winfield, Derek was sidelined for an entire season, all except for 17 games last year.  I'm not sure, however, if that helped or harmed his career numbers.  It just makes this season all the more intriguing.

*    *    *    *

There is also much about Derek Jeter that reminds me of Pete Rose.  Why bring Rose into this?  They shared an unrelenting, rabid determination, and thirst for competition at the highest level, and, because Derek Jeter could conceivably wind up 5th, 6th, or 7th on baseball's all-time hits list.  Currently in 6th place, is Tris Speaker, with 3,514 hits.  Derek needs 198 hits to match Speaker.

Pete Rose's last great season came at age 40, during the 1981 strike-shortened campaign, in which he led the N.L. in hits, and batted .325 for the season.  That's a punctuation mark.  He retired five years later, after passing Ty Cobb for 1st place on the all-time hits list.  Of course, Pete Rose held on till age 45, with the sole intention of chasing down Ty Cobb's record, so naturally, there was an expected drop in Charlie Hustle's production.  But had Rose retired after the 1981 season at age 40, he would still have amassed 3,697 hits. Derek Jeter currently sits at 3,316 and counting.  That's a difference of only 381 hits before a single pitch gets thrown in 2014.

Derek Jeter will turn 40 years old this June, and his bounce back 2012 season is right up there with Pete Rose's 1981 campaign.  Derek once again surpassed 200 hits, and in fact, led the league with 216, and batted .316 for the season.  That's punctuation.

Baseball's all-time hit king averaged 639 at-bats a season over his 24 year career.  Entering his 20th campaign, Jeter has averaged 661 at-bats a season.  Pete Rose eclipsed 200 hits in a season ten times, while Jeter has done so eight times.

*    *    *    *

Upon completion of Derek's final game as a Yankee, the Core FIVE era will officially come to an end. Despite arriving in the Bronx a few years earlier, I will always include Bernie Williams among the core, along with Andy, Mo, and Jorge Posada.

Bernie's enduring legacy could have been further enhanced, but he never provided that punctuating season at the end of his career.  He, in effect, ruined his .300 career batting average with four final pedestrian seasons before Brian Cashman unceremoniously pushed him out the door.  He batted above .300 for eight straight seasons, but (unofficially) retired after 16 seasons with the Yankees, owning a .297 batting average.

Like Bernie, the great Mickey Mantle probably held on too long, and likewise ruined his career batting average.  The Mick retired with a .299 mark.  In his mind, and with his words, Mickey was defiant to the end, insisting he was a .300 hitter.  Unfortunately, his baseball card disagreed by a fraction, and he always regretted that.

When Derek Jeter signed his current contract, his lifetime batting average stood at .314, which means he's lost two points over the last three years.  That's been my main concern regarding Jeter's latter years - I want him to retire with a career batting average above the .310 mark.  Over a 20 year career, I would view that as a majestic baseball achievement.  With the hopeful completion of a healthy, and even mildly productive 2014 season, his lifetime average will likely rank 15th all-time for players with 20 or more years of service.

Pete Rose was far from being a home run hitter, but remains one of the greatest players I ever saw - period! Home runs do not a Hall of Famer make.  Rose retired with a .303 career batting average, and holds a considerable advantage in doubles, while Derek Jeter easily beats Rose in home runs, and was an overall higher slugger.

Derek currently has 256 home runs, and with any luck, can reach 270+ before he retires, if, he sticks to his career average of 16 per season.  Keeping in mind that he has primarily been a lead-off, or number two hitter, here are other milestones within reach this season:

39 more RBI for 1,300
24 runs scored for 1,900
2 stolen bases for 350
25 more doubles for 550

*    *    *    *

It wasn't too long ago that Derek Jeter was being ranked behind contemporaries such as the beleaguered Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada, and other various shortstops of the day.  Of the former shortstops mentioned, two have been established as cheaters of the game, and the third couldn't withstand the test of time.

Not coincidentally, Nomar Garciaparra also owns a .312 career batting average, but only lasted 14 years before injuries forced him into retirement.  It was ironic that during the 2004 season, then Red Sox GM Theo Epstein traded then face of the franchise, Nomar Garciaparra.  The Sox went on to win their first World Series in 86 years without him, and two more for good measure.  In 2009, Derek Jeter earned his fifth ring as a Yankee.

Derek Jeter's Hall of Fame career needs no championing from me.  His career spans two decades of sustained excellence that speaks for itself.  He not only outlasted, and outclassed his contemporaries, he will retire as one of baseball's all-time titans.

How about that....



Mike.BTB
Mets fan

N.Y. Yankees: Why Derek Should Retire Now

From the desk of:   BLAME CARLOS MAY

NEW YORK YANKEES: Avoid The Same Mistake Mickey Mantle Made.  Do Not Detract From A Brilliant Career.

Number Two just couldn't stay on the field.  Lingering effects of a broken foot hampered repeated comeback attempts, and so, Derek Jeter's 2013 season is over.  But it is a broken foot issue after all, which by most accounts seems something he can still fully recover from.  With a proper off-season, Derek Jeter can in fact return next season.  And as he led the league in hits in 2012, a major drop-off doesn't seem too likely.  But if I had my way, his illustrious career would be ending as well.  For his own sake - for his legacy, I'd prefer he retire post-haste.

My whole premise is based on one item - his lifetime batting average.  When he signed his current deal, his lifetime average stood at .314, but three years later, it has dropped to a .312 mark. The  decision to return next season is wholly his, not that of the Yankees.  Derek Jeter holds the option in his contract.

For me, it's all about maintaining regal numbers.  In baseball, isn't that what we cherish?  Look what happened to Mickey Mantle.  He held on too long, underperformed, and ruined his lifetime .300 batting average.  When asked, The Mick would tell you he was a .300 hitter, but the reality is that he ruined it, and rued the day he did.

Derek Jeter would have to endure a god-awful season next year in order to ruin his .300 average, but I would like for him to stay above the .310 mark.  I just feel there is more glitz and significance to it, considering how he outlasted all his former contemporaries such as Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada, and even Alex Rodriguez, who all never finished their careers at shortstop.

At this very moment, his lifetime numbers are stellar; great all-time Hall of Fame statistics.  But from this moment on, the only category which can negatively be affected is his lifetime batting average.  Anything else he does with a bat in his hands only adds to a great career.  He has over 1800 runs scored, over 3,300 hits, over 500 doubles, over 300 stolen bases, over 250 home runs, over 1,200 runs batted in, a lifetime .381 OBP, and as it currently stands, a batting average above the .310 mark.  How does a .307 average strike you?  I'm sorry.  For me there is a measure of luster lost.  The only way to end this career is with the .312 batting average he already has in hand.



Mike.BTB

N.Y. Yankees ~ Derek Jeter's Rectangular Cardboard Player Summary

From the desk of:   BLAME CARLOS MAY




New York YANKEES:   Derek Jeter; Resurrecting What it Means to be a 1 in 100 Hall of Fame Player.



In a nostalgic, if not a literal sense, the back of Derek Jeter's baseball card is a throwback to those circa the 1974 Topps era; the first season I personally started buying baseball cards.  Where when you flipped it over, there were orderly columns headed by lettered abbreviations, with neatly detailed statistics below them, detailing a player's history spent with ONE TEAM.



The cards red like ancient tablets decipherable by only the most astute baseballologist or a grade school kid.  But once in the hands of either, one instantly knew how to read one, and exactly what all the information and values meant.  Somehow, we inherently understood the parameters of greatness, and interpreted baseball cards accordingly.



Some red like Epics.  Some read like a bumper sticker.  Back then more so than today, you could literally spend hours with a stack of Topps, and not just ingest, but retain every statistic of every player in the pile.  That's why for generations of kids, they became the scourge of grade school teachers across the nation and got locked up in the top draws of their desks, never to be returned again.  Where if teachers had just printed lesson plans on baseball cards, countless more American kids might have become geniuses today; not to mention stayed in possession of their long stolen treasure.



In those mid-70's days for kids my age, there was either going to the game with Pop, watching games on TV, and This Week In Baseball.  Before the days of the Internet, ESPN and cable TV, and this nine year old's willingness to hit the newsstand for some hard copy, after the game itself, reading the backs of baseball cards was still the number one way to learn about not only your favorite players, but the game's stars, and just about everyone else.



Derek Jeter's card is like that.  His is a throw-back card indeed and a template becoming increasingly more rare by the season.  The movement of players these days lends to the uniqueness of what Derek Jeter has done in Pinstripes.  For all his seventeen years in the Bigs have been spent with the Yankees. His career numbers fall uniformly into perfect columns chronicling his greatness.  And so the eye-catching sense of order which dominates the back of his card is right in line with the self-control he maintains as a person off the field, and a player on it.



The more I look at his numbers, the more impressed I am with them.  At some point in the 2012 season; health permitting; DEREK JETER should:

* Exceed 10,000 at-bats
* Close-in on 1,900 runs scored
* Surpass 3,200 hits
* Surpass 500 doubles
* Surpass 1,200 rbi
* Surpass 1,000 walks
* Possibly hit his 250th home run
* Possibly steal his 350th base



Then there is the matter of his career .313 batting average.



Last off-season, the Yankee icon and his General Manager publicly clashed over a new contract extension.  It was a classic confrontation between a Yankees legend and organizational pragmatism.  In the end, Jeter won the day with a new four year deal.



Many wondered at the time of the signing, as well as still wondering a year later, if in his twilight years, Derek Jeter will be able to fulfill this contract playing at the Hall of Fame level fans and Derek Jeter himself, are accustomed to.  Personally, that is more a matter for Yankee Fans, than for myself.  But for a Mets Fan like me, and at this stage of Jeter's career, there is only one issue regarding the future Hall of Fame shortstop that intrigues me.  Can he keep his career .300 batting average in tact?



Last season was year one of what everyone understands to be his last player contract with the Yankees.  Suffice to say he did not get off to a JETERian start.  Instead he struggled mightily early in the season, and was mired with a .260-some batting average at the plate.  He only played in 131 games which was the second lowest total of his full-time playing career.  And it marked the first time in eight seasons he didn't play in at least 150 games.



He did however, recapture his old form in time enough to finish the season with a deceivingly strong .297 batting average.  But it was still the second consecutive season in which he did not hit above the .300 mark.  Of course, nothing was going to detract attention away from Derek Jeter's chase for 3,000 hits.  And he got it in grand fashion; with a home run in new Yankee Stadium on a day he went 5 for 5 at the plate.  Yeah.., cause days like that are liable to happen to every guy named Mr. November, any given time of year.



No Highlander or Yankee player had ever amassed 3,000 hits in a Yankee uniform before.  On this 1st day of April 2012,  -  Babe Ruth, the Iron Horse, Joe D, The Mick, Yogi;  -  none of them have as many hits for the New York Yankees than does Derek Jeter.  He is the first to reach the golden plateau.



Derek Jeter is keenly aware of his place in Yankee history.  It's rather unavoidable in today's age of mass media.  He will also be thirty-eight years old this summer.  By the end of his first season in his final contract, he more than proved he wasn't washed up, yet.  But no, he didn't hit above .300 for only the fifth time in his full-time playing career.  Two of those sub-par seasons have come in the last two years, and the last before those came in the 2004 season.



Before passing away, Mickey Mantle expressed a few regrets he had along the way.  One of his biggest, was ruining his career .300 batting average by sticking around too long.  Right to the very end, The Mick swore he was a .300 hitter.  But the record books sadly reflect otherwise.



Derek Jeter entered the 2011 season with a lifetime .314 batting average.  When the Yankees walked off the field after their final regular season game last year, Derek Jeter's career batting average had dropped; albeit by a seemingly trivial percentage; to a .313 mark.  That's where he will pick up this season.



He has three years left on his current contract.  As it stands right now, the back of his baseball card, with a career .300 career batting average complimenting his 3,000 hits; among the other numbers highlighted above; read as one of the more glorious rectangular cardboard player summaries in Baseball History.  In Third-Grader speak, the back of his card looks like the one of those old guys from the nineteen thirty-whatevers.



I simply want to say this - the day - the game - or the at-bat, in which his career batting average lies exposed and winds up in jeopardy of falling below .300, should be the day - game - or moment he declares his intent to retire from the grand game of Baseball, post haste.



For now, the back of his baseball card still truly reads like the distinctively unique, one in a hundred, Hall of Fame type player's card should; or at least used to in a bygone century.  Derek Jeter's career numbers reach out like a hand rekindling a connection with the game's glorious past.  He can join the ranks of Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron, and Pete Rose, and Honus Wagner, and Ty Cobb, and George Brett, and Tony Gwynn; and a very short list of others, as the only players to retire with 3,000 hits, and a .300 career batting average.  Or, not.



Not all 28 players to achieve 3,000 hits in a career retired batting over the .300 mark, just as not all of them accomplished the feat with one club.  Considering the team and city for which Derek Jeter played; the same sacred plots where Ruth, Gehrig; Joltin' Joe; and other Bronx baseball deities made their names, makes Derek Jeter's case so infinitesimally majestic, if not historically significant.



Every so often, a player comes along and transcends the game.  In 1847, the New York Knickerbockers planted the seeds of Baseball in Manhattan, and are credited with playing what is regarded to be the first baseball match on the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken.  Since then, many amateur and professional teams, and mythical players have graced the city's various ball fields through the different eras.  Among the storied players that stood out over the last 167 years of NYC baseball; and even through the days of the old Brooklyn Dodgers, and the New York Giants, and even former Yankee greats themselves; Derek Jeter can, and will stand, like a titan among them, ...if, he keeps his .300 status in tact.



Why is that so?  Because Time makes it so.  Ten and fifteen years after his retirement, like in most instances, the legend of Derek Jeter will have multiplied many times over.  To the greats, and even near greats of the game, revisionist history is often very generous in that respect.  And when it comes to baseball, it's History the Fanatics and Bugs of the game want.



There are many ghosts of the game's past willing to tip a brown derby in appreciation of the modern day player they call Captain Clutch.  But Derek Jeter says not yet.  So, we'll just have to wait and see how he choses to go out.







Mike.BTB

NYY ~ "The BRONX is Simmering"

The N.Y. Yankees' Head Guy in Charge; Hal Steinbrenner thought it very necessary fans of the Yankees and New Yorkers, receive an apology from Texas Rangers' CEO/Owner Mr. Chuckie (good guy) Greenberg for disparaging comments he made on the heals of the San Francisco World Series victory, and the Texas Rangers' defeat.

Chuckie called "us" awful and embarrassing; violent or apathetic....we were the worse out of any crowd he's seen in the post-season....! Blah blah..

Can you imagine that?  Us?

Brilliant; Spoken like a man who has no experience,  practical to Baseball in late October. This was the first opportunity for your franchise to shine in the national spotlight and you allowed the whole experience to flicker-out like a "dim bulb".  Thank your lucky "Lone Star" you have Nolan Ryan on board is all I can say.


Chuck Greenberg, obviously reacting to backlash, called Hal Steinbrenner to apologize for the comments.
Hal responded in a manner as if to say...'Save it.  Takes more than you to Rattle(snake) the Empire.  You want to apologize?  Direct it towards the fans you insulted and good luck with that.  Cowboy-up Chuck!'

Mr. Greenberg did just that issuing a statement today.

And we say - Save it Road Kill; not interested.  You're only apologizing because you're getting flack over getting special sauce all over your cow chips.

Us?  We have skin thinker than a steer in a spacesuit.  We wear insults like a badge of courage so...,  Dont'cha fret none bout us now...ya hear?  Because "Frankly", (wink wink Chuck) my man, we don't give a Damn.

But to those dummies who spit down on Mrs. Cliff Lee, don't make that mistake again because as far as you're concerned, Greenberg is right.  After all, we aren't Philly fans are we?

Moving on, Bruce Bochy, manager of the new World Champions of Baseball is "irresponsible"; or so thinks Brian Cashman, in a manner of speaking.  Last week, Brian Cashman was on the Michael Kay Show and when asked about the differences between managers who manage with their guts versus skippers who employ a stat based decision process, Cashman responded by saying he prefers a manager who uses all the information and statistical analysis at his disposal to arrive at the most informed decision possible and who will implement said dictates.  He continued to say how a manager employing a gut-based system was irresponsible and wasn't the type of manager he wanted working for him.  In a separate interview, Sandy Alderson also concurred with Cashman's assessment when asked about managerial styles.

The Blue Binder Joe Girardi is joined in STATISTICAL matrimony with is co-authored by Brian Cashman himself.  Joe Girardi is every bit the manager he wants Joe to be.  As a matter of fact, a deviation from the binder will earn Joe a demerit.  Prepare to watch "LooseLeaf" in action for another three years.

So, does this make Bochy a modern day Baseball Fred Flintstone; a rebel; lucky.....? - Does this make him a hockey stick flung into the spokes in the theory of high probability?  Cashman calls it plain ol' irresponsible.

Stats have their usefulness and place in decision making.  But give me a caveman who breathes this game and knows what to do when he gets a tingly feeling in his head; and I don't mean flies.

Mariano Rivera, always class, has made his latest great pitch.  He said he is willing to sign a one year deal, with an option.  He has provided the Yankees with the best possible resolution regarding the question "what to do about resigning MO?"  Mariano "saved" the Yankees from having to deal with that problem by offering them a respectful and minimalist way of winding down his career in Pinstripes.  If only every situation came with ready made solutions.....like...,

What to do about Derek Jeter?  Some how, some way, ARod figures into the answering of this question.
Inevitably, based on the principal aspect alone, the extensions of ARod and Jeter will no doubt be played against each other by Jeter's agent.  Because of what Jeter has meant to this franchise, any and all attempts to play off that legacy will hold water.  Hal also made a comment to the effect the Team has reached out to initiate discussions, but there may be a possibility things could get difficult (my words).  That all remains to be seen.

But here's what I think Jeter might thinking.  The Great Mickey Mantle ruined his lifetime .300 career average by hanging on too long.  Later in life he admitted that and about how much it bothered him.  Mickey would say defiantly he was a .300 hitter.  The only problem was his baseball card disagreed.  I don't think Derek Jeter wants to jeopardize his career .300 average.  This last season was the worst batting average he posted in his career. 

His pursuit of 3000 hits will most likely come to a close by mid-season 2011 baring any unforeseen disasters.  When he gets that momentous 3000th hit he will be the only New York Yankee/ New York Highlander to ever achieve that milestone.  That will no doubt get him into Cooperstown in due time.  But I think Jeter's .300 career average is something haunting Derek Jeter and I do not feel he's willing to risk falling below the rate of three out of every ten.

I'm looking for Jeter to sign a three year deal somewhere in the neighborhood of  $19 to $20 million dollars.
I strongly believe he will stay short term and not even entertain the idea of a 5 year deal.  A personal services contract isn't out of the question and would be something wholly different when talking deals.

What ever Derek signs for and what ever he decides to do in the future I'm sure will still be carried out in typical JETERIAN fashion; With Class.


That's everything "Yankee" which interests me at the moment.

*note for clarification:  By "we" I meant NY'ers.  I am a Met fan/Jekyll and Hyde Yankee Hater.  I only Hate when provoked to do so by irresponsible Yankee Fan phenomena.




Mike.BTB