Results tagged ‘ Mel Stottlemyre ’
Gates for Sunday’s Old Timers’ Day open at 10 a.m.
Fans planning to attend Sunday’s 65th annual Old Timers’ Day are encouraged to get to Yankee Stadium early. Gates will open at 10 a.m. with the Old Timers’ Day ceremonies to start at 11:30 a.m., followed by the traditional, two-inning Old Timers’ Day game. The regularly scheduled inter-league game between the Yankees and the Rockies will have a first pitch of 2:20 p.m. The entire day’s activities will be cablecast on the YES Network.
Bernie Williams and former managers Lou Piniella and Joe Torre will be making their Old Timers’ Day debuts. “Sweet Lou” will be putting on a Yankees uniform for the first time since 1988. Torre, whose Yankees teams defeated Piniella’s Seattle Mariners in the 2000 and 2001 post-seasons, is still active in the game as Major League Baseball’s vice president for baseball operations.
They will be among 50 former Yankees on hand for the ceremonies. Other headliners among returning Old Timers will be Hall of Famers Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage, plus the perfect game trio of Don Larsen, David Wells and David Cone. The Yankees will also hold a special tribute honoring long-time team trainer Gene Monahan, who will retire at season’s end after 49 years of service to the organization.
In addition, players and coaches from Yankees championship teams of the past will include Dr. Bobby Brown, Jerry Coleman, Moose Skowron, Luis Arroyo, Homer Bush, Brian Doyle, Cecil Fielder, Joe Girardi, Dwight Gooden, Ron Guidry, Charlie Hayes, Graeme Lloyd, Hector Lopez, Tino Martinez, Lee Mazzilli, Ramiro Mendoza, Gene Michael, Jeff Nelson, Graig Nettles, Joe Pepitone, Mickey Rivers, Charlie Silvera, Darryl Strawberry, Mel Stottlemyre and Roy White.
Joining the Hall of Famers and other former Yankees on the baselines will be the widows of five legendary Yankees – Arlene Howard (Elston), Helen Hunter (Jim “Catfish”), Jill Martin (Billy), Diana Munson (Thurman) and Kay Murcer (Bobby).
Bernie an Old Timer? He will be June 26th
Are you ready to consider Bernie Williams an old timer? Well, get used to it. Bernabe will make his first appearance on Old Timers’ Day when Yankees alumni gather for the 65th annual event Sunday, June 26, at Yankee Stadium.
Also making their Old Timers’ Day debuts will be former managers Lou Piniella and Joe Torre. “Sweet Lou” will be putting on a Yankees uniform for the first time since 1988. Torre, whose Yankees teams defeated Piniella’s Seattle Mariners in the 2000 and 2001 post-seasons, is still active in the game as Major League Baseball’s vice president for baseball operations.
They will be among 50 former Yankees on hand for the ceremonies that begin at 11:30 a.m., followed by the traditional, two-inning Old Timers’ game. The current Yankees will play the Colorado Rockies in an inter-league game starting at 2 p.m. The entire day’s activities will be aired exclusively on the YES Network.
Other headliners among returning Old Timers will be Hall of Famers Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage, plus the perfect game trio of Don Larsen, David Wells and David Cone. The Yankees will also hold a special tribute honoring long-time team trainer Gene Monahan, who will retire at season’s end after 49 years of service to the organization.
In addition, other players and coaches from Yankees championship teams of the past will include Dr. Bobby Brown, Jerry Coleman, Moose Skowron, Luis Arroyo, Homer Bush, Brian Doyle, Cecil Fielder, Joe Girardi, Dwight Gooden, Ron Guidry, Charlie Hayes, Graeme Lloyd, Hector Lopez, Lee Mazzilli, Ramiro Mendoza, Gene Michael, Jeff Nelson, Graig Nettles, Joe Pepitone, Mickey Rivers, Charlie Silvera, Darryl Strawberry, Mel Stottlemyre and Roy White.
Joining the Hall of Famers and other former Yankees on the baselines will be the widows of five legendary Yankees – Arlene Howard (Elston), Helen Hunter (Jim “Catfish”), Jill Martin (Billy), Diana Munson (Thurman) and Kay Murcer (Bobby).
Lou Gorman, nice guy exec
Please indulge me as I say a few nice words about a former executive for the Red Sox. Now, now, calm down. Even the most rapid Yankees fan would have loved Lou Gorman, who died Friday night at the age of 82.
Gorman was a baseball lifer, serving in the front offices of several organizations in capacities ranging from general manager to assistant farm director. He cut his teeth with the Orioles where he worked under Frank Cashen, who would bring him to the Mets in the early 1980s. That was where I got to know Lou, a delightfully cheerful New Englander who never lost his Rhode Island accent.
Gorman was a writer’s dream of an executive because he always, always returned phone calls and while he was frequently cautious in his remarks he was truthful. “I can’t answer that,” Lou would say rather than tell a lie.
He was particularly effective in building farm systems of expansion teams, first the Kansas City Royals and later the Seattle Mariners before joining the Mets. He left Shea Stadium to take the job of his dreams, that of general manager of the Red Sox for 10 years in the 1980s and ‘90s. He was the GM in Boston in 1986 when the Red Sox came within one strike of winning the World Series only to fall to the Mets.
Red Sox fans never forgave Gorman, however, for the 1990 trade that backfired on them. In need of a relief pitcher, Gorman dealt prospect Jeff Bagwell, then blocked at third base by Wade Boggs, to Houston for Larry Andersen. The righthander pitched in 15 games for the Red Sox and then three more in the American League Championship Series, a four-game sweep by Oakland.
Andersen was eligible for free agency after the season and left Boston to sign with San Diego. Meanwhile, Bagwell moved over to first base with the Astros and went on to a brilliant, 15-year career that may someday earn him a spot in the Hall of Fame.
Yankees fans do owe one debt to Gorman. It was Lou who brought Mel Stottlemyre back to New York as a pitching coach. When Davey Johnson was named Mets manager in 1984, he wanted to hire Wes Stock, a former teammate in Baltimore, as the pitching coach, but Cashen sided instead with Gorman, who wanted Stottlemyre with whom he had worked with young pitchers in Seattle.
Mel did a terrific job with the Mets staff and later worked with Bob Watson in Houston. In 1996, Mel came back to the Yankees as Watson as general manager in the Bronx hired him to be Joe Torre’s pitching coach.
That worked out pretty well, too.
Happy birthday, Phil
The Yankees have an open date Thursday in Los Angeles, which allows Phil Hughes to spend his 24th birthday at home with his family in southern California. With a 23-11 career record, Hughes has nearly as many victories as candles on the cake.
He has the most victories at that age by a Yankees pitcher since Al Downing and Mel Stottlemyre both turned 24 in 1965. At that point in their careers, Downing had 32 victories and Stottlemyre 29. Mel caught up and passed Al in career victories, 164-123.
Hughes was originally scheduled to start Friday night’s opener of the Yankees-Dodgers series but will be skipped this turn in the rotation to conserve his innings. There is a good chance that Hughes will be back in the area three weeks from now when the All-Star Game will be played at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
His 10-1 record has Hughes on course for a possible berth on the American League pitching staff. Two of his veteran teammates, Andy Pettitte (9-2) and CC Sabathia (8-3), are also in the mix.
The Yankees are likely to be well represented in Anaheim. Yankees manager Joe Girardi will handle the AL squad and will be accompanied by his coaching and training staffs. Shortstop Derek Jeter and second baseman Robinson Cano are leading in the voting at their positions, and catcher Jorge Posada, first baseman Mark Teixeira and third baseman Alex Rodriguez are running second at their spots, which may earn berths for them.
Two Yankees minor-leaguers have already been chosen for the XM Futures Game. Catcher Austin Romine will play for the U.S. team and pitcher Hector Noesi for the World team in the Futures Game, which is held the Sunday before the All-Star Game. They are teammates for the Yankees’ Double A Trenton, N.J., affiliate.
Two other members of the Yankees organization who played in All-Star Futures Games indeed became future All-Stars. Both were second basemen – Cano and Alfonso Soriano. Cano actually was in two Futures Games, in 2003 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago and 2004 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Robbie was on the AL All-Star team in 2006 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
Soriano was the Most Valuable Player in the Futures Game in 1999 at Fenway Park in Boston and represented the Yankees on the AL squads in 2002 at Miller Park in Milwaukee and in 2003 at the Cell. In 2004, his first year with the Rangers after being in the trade that brought A-Rod to the Yankees, Sori was the MVP of the All-Star Game at Houston. He also represented the Rangers in 2005 at Comerica Park in Detroit, the Nationals in 2006 at Pittsburgh and the Cubs in 2007 at AT&T Park in San Francisco and in 2008 at the old Yankee Stadium.
Jack O'Connell
Recent Comments