Results tagged ‘ Major League Baseball ’
Sandy Hook tragedy to be remembered Opening Day
The Yankees and the Red Sox, legendary rivals, will stand together Opening Day in dedicating the April 1 game at Yankee Stadium to victims of the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, their families and the greater community of Newtown, Conn.
Pregame ceremonies will feature joint honor guards of Newtown police and firefighters, along with a moment of silence, during which a list of the Sandy Hook victims’ names will be recognized on the center-field video board.
Yankees and Red Sox players will wear a special ribbon on their uniforms for Opening Day to honor those lost and those affected by the tragedy. This ribbon will also be prominently painted on the field in front of both dugouts.
To show Major League Baseball’s solidarity in remembering the victims, their families and the greater community of Newtown, commissioner Bud Selig has asked the 28 other teams to follow suit in wearing the ribbon during their respective Opening Day games.
The Yankees have also invited approximately 3,000 children, families and members of Newtown to celebrate summer recess Sunday, July 7, by attending the Yankees’ 1:05 p.m. game that day against the Orioles. The Yankees have proclaimed the date “Newtown Day at Yankee Stadium” at a time of year after the school calendar is complete that allows for the greatest number of children and families to be able to attend.
“On Opening Day, we will reflect upon more important things and play the game to honor the community of Newtown,” Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said. “Since the day of the tragedy, our hearts and thoughts have been with those who were affected. We hope that bringing the families of Newtown together at Yankee Stadium later in the summer will give the community an opportunity to create new memories and aid in the difficult process of moving forward.”
Added Red Sox principal owner John Henry, “Months have passed, yet we are still trying to come to grips with this incomprehensible tragedy. “As our teams look to face each other on Opening Day, we will stand united in support of the families affected as we remember and honor those who were lost.”
“The Yankees organization has supported our community in several ways since the tragic events of December 14,” said Pat Llodra, First Selectman, Town of Newtown. “Their generosity and compassion during this difficult time means a lot to all of us. We also would like to thank Commissioner Selig, the Red Sox and Major League Baseball for this meaningful tribute to our community.”
Yanks named Club Retailer of Year for 2012
The Yankees were named the 2012 MLB “Club Retailer of the Year” by Major League Baseball Properties for the Club’s commitment to driving merchandise sales. The Yankees and Legends Hospitality, led by Legends general manager of retail Michael Loparo, earned the honor based on significant improvements to the Yankee Stadium clubhouse store as well as consistent product innovation and reinvention.
Since its inception in 2005, the MLB “Club Retailer of the Year” Award has been awarded based on a combination of sales, vendor/customer feedback and creative marketing and merchandising efforts. In 2012, the Yankees focused on advancing the retail experience of their fans and customer base. A New Era Tajima embroidery machine was added to the Great Hall at the Stadium to offer fans a personalized experience, resulting in increased interest in headwear. The team store was completely redesigned, including a restructuring of the floor plan to create a streamlined approach for the customer. The Yankees also worked with MLB to place Astroturf in the store to feature the Authentic Collection On-field Areas.
The Yankees and Legends Hospitality worked with MLB’s design services department to create new graphics for three key locations to add dimension and consistent branding. Other areas of innovation and development were the addition of the MLB and Victoria’s Secret PINK co-branded line and a Yankees Knievel Motorcycle in front of the store.
“The demand among fans for Yankees merchandise and other licensed products is always strong given the iconic nature of the team and their brand, but the Yankees deserve special praise for not resting on their laurels and continuing to innovate and provide creative new ways for fans to express their team pride,” MLB senior vice president for licensing Howard Smith said. “The clubhouse store at Yankee Stadium has evolved considerably just in the four years since the new ballpark opened. Mike Loparo and the Yankees are especially deserving of this honor.”
“This honor is a great compliment to the talented people we have working at Legends Hospitality,” Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost said. “The Yankees and Legends Hospitality have always tried to provide fans with products that reflect a variety of tastes while remaining respectful of Yankees tradition. We appreciate the recognition and look forward to building on our success by continuing to provide the best possible products and experience at Yankee Stadium.”
“We are extremely honored to be recognized by Major League Baseball,” Legends Hospitality president Dan Smith said. “Mike Loparo and his team work with great passion to develop new and original retail offerings that complement the culture and enthusiasm of the Yankees and their fan base. We are fortunate to be able to work closely with the Yankees in developing these innovations and share their unmatched devotion to delivering an unsurpassed customer service experience for their fans each and every time they come to the ballpark.”
Previous recipients of the award have been the Mariners in 2005, Mets in 2006, Phillies in 2007, Brewers in 2008, Reds in 2010 and Tigers in 2011.
Teixeira Yanks’ nominee for Clemente Award
Mark Teixeira was named the Yankees’ 2012 nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet. Tuesday marked the 11th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente’s legacy and to recognize local club nominees of the Clemente Award.
Teixeira is one of the 30 club finalists for the annual award, which recognizes a major-league player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.
The Clemente Award pays tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character by recognizing current players who understand the value of helping others. The award is named for the 15-time All-Star and Hall of Famer who died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
An avid philanthropist, Teixeira has been involved in charitable endeavors throughout his big-league career. In 2006, Mark and his wife, Leigh, established the Mark Teixeira Charitable Fund, an initiative that awarded several scholarships to students from multiple high schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Three years later, he served as a spokesman for the National Foundation for Cancer Research through the organization’s “Help Strike Out Sun Damage” program.
Tex has been a strong supporter of Harlem RBI, a nonprofit organization in East Harlem that provides more than 1,200 boys and girls, ages 5-22, with year-round academic, sports and enrichment programs. In 2011, he made a $1 million donation to Harlem RBI and has been calling on fans to help raise additional funds through his Dream Team 25 campaign.
The fundraising campaign is helping the organization build a 45-seat public charter school facility, a new community center, 87 units of low-income housing and a rebuilt public park in the Harlem community. All are designed to serve as a model for urban development.
In addition, Teixeira, who is co-chair of the organization’s $20-million Capital Campaign and chair of the organization’s Home Run Leadership Council, works with MLB to connect with RBI programs nationally through in-stadium appearance with fellow players and supports local RBI programs around the country.
Other Yankees players who have won the award were Ron Guidry in 1984, Don Baylor in 1985 and Derek Jeter in 2009. Also included among former winners were current YES broadcasters Ken Singleton with the Orioles in 1982 and Al Leiter with the Mets in 2000. Former Yankees players who won the award while with another team along with Leiter were Phil Niekro in 1980 with the Braves and Dave Winfield in 1994 with the Twins.
Yankees fans are encouraged to participate in the process of selecting the national award recipient by visiting MLB.com/ClementeAward to vote for Teixeira. Participating fans will be automatically registered for a chance to win a trip to the 2012 World Series, where the national winner of the Clemente Award will be announced. Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14. The winner of the fan poll will receive one vote among those cast by a selection panel.
2013 schedule out; Yanks-Mets down to 4 games
Major League Baseball released its preliminary schedule for the 2013 season Wednesday. It reveals the change in inter-league play based on the Astros’ move from the National League Central to the American League West that will create two 15-team leagues and require inter-league play on a daily basis.
What that means to the Subway Series is that instead of two three-game series, the Yankees and the Mets will play consecutive two-game sets May 27-28 at Citi Field and May 29-30 at Yankee Stadium. This is a good idea. Six games each year was at least two too many. Remember, in the first two years of inter-league play the New York clubs played one three-game series, in 1997 at Yankee Stadium and 1998 at Shea Stadium. The downside is that there can be a series split, which would take away the reward of bragging rights.
The Yankees will open the season with at home against the Red Sox for the first time since 2005. The Yanks are 18-11-1 in 30 previous Opening Day games against Boston, including a 4-4 game due to darkness in 1910 at old Hilltop Park. The Yankees will play 19 of their first 32 games at home.
The other inter-league matchups for the Yankees will be against the NL West with home games against the Diamondbacks April 16-18, Dodgers June 18-19 and the Giants Sept. 20-22 and road games at Denver May 7-9, Los Angeles July 30-31 and San Francisco Aug. 2-4. The Dodgers’ visit will mark their first regular-season games at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees will have inter-league games in every month of the season.
The Astros will come to the Stadium as an AL team for the first time April 29-May 1. The Yanks will end their season with a three-game series Sept. 27-29 at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
Supreme Court Justice back in the Bronx
The Bleacher Creatures at Yankee Stadium stepped up in class Wednesday. Seated among them and taking part in the daily roll call was Sonia Sotomayor, the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She is a Bronx native and lifelong Yankees fan with a strong attachment to baseball. In 1995, she issued a preliminary injunction against Major League Baseball that prevented the unilateral implementation of a new collective bargaining agreement, a ruling that ended the 232-day players’ strike.
Scoring change benefits Cano
Robinson Cano picked up an additional extra-base hit and run batted in before taking the field Friday night at Detroit’s Comerica Park. In response to an appeal by the Yankees, Major League Baseball overruled an official scorer’s decision during their 6-3 victory May 25 at Oakland.
A liner to right-center field with two out in the third inning by Cano was initially ruled an error on center fielder Coco Crisp, who got a glove on the ball but failed to hold it. Mark Teixeira then hit a two-run home run. MLB decided to credit Cano with a double and an RBI. The change was good news for Cano but not for Athletics pitcher Tyson Ross because it made all three Yankees runs that inning earned instead of unearned.
Another change announced by MLB was the starting time for the Yankees-Mets game June 24 at Citi Field. ESPN has selected the game for its Sunday Night Baseball cablecast and will begin at 8:05 p.m.
Hot corner indeed
It could get interesting around third base tonight at Rogers Centre in Toronto where the Yankees open a two-game series Wednesday night. Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie was suspended for four games by Major League Baseball for striking plate umpire Bill Miller with a batting helmet in Tuesday night’s loss to the Rays.
Lawrie objected to being called out on strikes by Miller in the ninth inning and slammed his helmet into the ground. It bounced up and struck the ump in the right hip. Lawrie is appealing the suspension and is allowed to continue to play until his appeal is heard. Lawrie, 22, who is batting .289 with three home runs and 17 RBI, was in the Toronto lineup Wednesday night and playing third base. The third base umpire is Bill Miller.
Hmmm.
“I didn’t mean to hit him,” Lawrie said before Wednesday night’s game. “Obviously, actions kind of took over last night, and it was just one of those things. The only thing I regret is the helmet hitting him. I never meant to do that, and it shows. I threw it off the ground, it took a bad hop and it hit him totally by accident. I never meant to throw it at him. As that’s coming across, it seems like a lot of people are saying that I threw it at him, I never threw it at him. I never had any intentions of hurting anybody. I was just frustrated at the play at the time. That’s baseball for you.”
2012 preliminary schedule announced
There is still plenty of baseball left in 2011, two more weeks of the regular season and then a month of postseason games. Yet already the 2012 preliminary schedule has been released. A quick look shows that it may not be as arduous for the Yankees as 2011 has been. For one thing, they won’t have a month like this August when they had only nine scheduled games at home.
The 2012 Major League Baseball schedule will get under way April 4, a Wednesday, at the new home of the Florida Marlins, who will change their name to the Miami Marlins. The Cardinals will be the first opponent in the new Miami park that will have a retractable roof and a seating capacity of 37,000.
The Yankees will get started two days later, Friday, April 6, with a short ride across the Howard Frankland Bridge from George Steinbrenner Field, their spring training base in Tampa, to St. Petersburg and Tropicana Field, the home field of the Rays. The Yankees will play three-game series in St. Pete and Baltimore before opening the home schedule Friday, April 13, against the Angels at Yankee Stadium.
The Yanks will have an early meeting with the Red Sox April 20-22 at Fenway Park, but they won’t face each other again until July 6-8, also at Boston, on the weekend before the All-Star Game, which will be July 10 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
The Red Sox don’t come to the Stadium until July 27-29. The rivals will oppose each other Aug. 17-19 at the Stadium, Sept. 11-13 at Fenway and in the final series of the season Oct. 1-3 at the Stadium, which will be the first time the Yankees will close out the regular at home since 2006.
Inter-league play begins with the May 18-20 series at home against the Reds, pairing the World Series opponents of 1939, 1961 and 1976. The Yankees also have a home-away series of six games against the Braves, who they faced in the World Series of 1957, 1958, 1996 and 1999. They will play June 11-13 at Turner Field in Atlanta and June 18-20 at the Stadium.
The annual Subway Series against the Mets, the Yankees’ World Series foes of 2000, will be June 8-10 in the Bronx and June 22-24 at Citi Field in Flushing. The Yanks’ other inter-league series will be June 15-17 at home against the Washington Nationals, the former Montreal Expos franchise that has never played in a World Series.
Yankees president addresses fans
Yankees team president Randy Levine issued a statement before Wednesday’s game about the decision to wait for more than hours to play Tuesday night:
“The decision to play Tuesday night’s game vs. Baltimore was a collaborative effort between Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees. Every possible effort was made to play the game because there were no suitable alternative dates on which to play a rescheduled game given the poor weather forecast for Wednesday. We certainly recognize the inconvenience to our fans and have invited them back to enjoy a future game at Yankee Stadium.”
Midnight madness at Stadium
There is baseball in the Bronx Tuesday night – just barely. Less than an hour before midnight, the Yankees and the Orioles took to the field at Yankee Stadium after a rain delay of 4 hours, 3 minutes. The teams waited this one out at the urging of Major League Baseball, which wants to get games in at this point of the season because there is very little time left for makeups. There were probably no more than 5,000 people in the stands when the game started at 11:08 p.m.
Neither team was crazy about the prospect of playing two games Wednesday when the weather is supposed to be inclement again. They are already scheduled to have a makeup game at 1 p.m. Thursday at Baltimore for a game they lost to Hurricane Irene last week. The Yankees then have to fly across the country to Anaheim, Calif., to begin a 10-day, 9-game trip that includes stops in Seattle and Toronto. Those last two cities have domed ballparks, and with rain rarely a problem in California’s Orange County the Yankees don’t expect to be victimized by weather on the trip.
Tuesday night marked the 20th time this season that a Yankees game has been affected by weather. They have had eight postponements, the most in the majors, and delays in 12 other games. The list includes their victory over the Rays July 18 at Tropicana Field, an indoor facility that had a bank of lights go out due to lightning in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Jack O'Connell
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