Results tagged ‘ Brooklyn ’
PSAL title game Tuesday at Stadium
In connection with the inaugural New Era Pinstripe Bowl Dec. 30 at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees have scheduled a series of community initiatives with New York City’s Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL). In support of the PSAL, the Yankees installed a new all-grass football field at Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx. The sod was donated by DeLea Sod Farms, which plants the same type of grass at Yankee Stadium.
The Stadium will also be the site of the PSAL Football Championship Game at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7, featuring two Brooklyn high schools, Abraham Lincoln against Fort Hamilton. It will be the first high school football game to be contest to be played in the current Stadium. All tickets for the PSAL Championship will be distributed through the PSAL. Fans may request tickets by e-mailing Jennifer Moreno at jmoreno6@schools.nyc.gov.
The Yankees also plan to honor the best scholar-athletes in New York City Monday, Dec. 20, at the Stadium during their first annual “MVP Dinner.” The occasion will bring together 55 male and female students – 11 from each borough – who have led by example in the community, classroom and respective sports. The top graduating high school scholar-athlete from each borough will also be recognized during halftime of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl by introducing them to the crowd and designating them as “Borough Captains.”
During the week of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, which will pit Syracuse against Kansas State, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation will host instructional clinics in conjunction with the Yankees for New York City-based youth tackle football teams. The clinics will take place at Macombs Dam Park, located across the street from Yankee Stadium.
On the morning of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, the Yankees and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation are inviting high school performing arts students to Macombs Dam Park for the “Battle of the Bands.” The marching bands of the competing universities in the game will warm up with a friendly musical competition for local youth.
Kickoff for the New Era Pinstripe Bowl is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 30, and will be televised nationally televised by ESPN, which has also secured national and local radio rights for ESPN Radio.
As I was saying. . .
. . .before I was so rudely interrupted.
Regular readers probably wonder why there were no posts here the past few days. Well, you need electricity to watch ballgames on television and type on laptops and access the Internet through a wireless router. My Bayside neighborhood in Queens caught the brunt of those two tornadoes that tore through New York City last Thursday.
We lost power during the 10-minute barrage of heavy rain and strong winds and had to get along for most of the weekend with flashlights, candles and battery-powered radios. The lights didn’t come back on for good on our block until late Sunday afternoon as Con Edison crews were working 24/7 to repair power lines that were downed all over northern Queens that was hit so hard as were large portions of Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Life in Bayside these days is sort of like being on the set of a Tarzan picture.
Anyway, it’s not like I missed anything over the weekend while the team was in Baltimore – only the biggest home run of the year in Alex Rodriguez’s game winner Friday night, CC Sabathia becoming a 20-game winner for the first time in his career Saturday and Andy Pettitte making an impressive comeback Sunday only to have Mariano Rivera blow a save for the second time on a trip that proved a bumpy 3-6 for the Yankees.
I’m back in harness now and at Yankee Stadium for what will be a big night.
Memorable rivals
Yankees-Dodgers.
It is a matchup that conjures up scores of memories in 11 World Series, the most played by two opponents. The early confrontations were the original Subway Series between the Bronx and Brooklyn. There was the majesty of Yankee Stadium and the intimacy of Ebbets Field.
Their first World Series together was in 1941 featuring both leagues’ Most Valuable Players, Joe DiMaggio and Dolph Camilli and a couple of rookie shortstops nick-named Scooter (Phil Rizzuto) and Pee Wee (Harold Reese). The famous dropped third strike by Dodgers catcher Mickey Owen turned the Series around for the Yankees.
The 1947 World Series climaxing Jackie Robinson’s debut season in the major leagues was the first to be televised nationally and featured a near no-hitter by the Yankees’ Bill Bevens that was broken up in the ninth inning on a game-winning double by Cookie Lavagetto. The Yankees won the Series, however, as they did again in 1949, ’52 and ’53 before the Dodgers won their only championship in Brooklyn in 1955.
A year later, the Yankees got revenge highlighted by Don Larsen’s perfect game in Game 5, the only no-hitter in World Series history.
The Dodgers left Flatbush for Los Angeles in 1958 and won the Series a year later against the White Sox. It was not until 1963 that the Dodgers played the Yankees again in the Fall Classic. Brooklyn-bred Sandy Koufax dominated in his two starts in the Dodgers’ sweep.
The Yankees bested the Dodgers in back-to-back, six-game World Series in 1977 and ’78, the former featuring Reggie Jackson’s three home runs in the clinching Game 6. The Dodgers won in six games in 1981, the Yankees’ last World Series for 15 years before Joe Torre directed them to the first of four championships in his 12 seasons as manager.
That was Torre in the other dugout Friday night in his first encounter with the Yankees since leaving New York after the 2008 season. He and the Yankees have both moved forward since then. The Dodgers reached post-season play the past two years under Torre, and the Yankees raised another World Series flag last season under Joe Girardi.
It was a classy move for both managers bringing out the lineup cards to the plate before Friday night’s game. It is an inter-league pairing that is incomparable.
Jack O'Connell
Recent Comments