Gotham Baseball, the official magazine of the 2012 Mohegan Sun World Baseball & Softball Coaches’ Convention, is proud to announce the release of the 2011=2012 Winter Issue, which includes a complete guide to the event beginning Thursday, Jan 19, 2012 at the spectacular Mohegan Sun Resort Casino in Uncasville, CT.

The Winter Issue and Convention Guide is available for FREE download here:

http://gothambaseball.com/GB006_WINTER2011.pdf

Gotham Baseball covers the past, present and future of New York baseball, and in this latest issue, which features a pair of aces; New York Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia and New York Mets southpaw Johan Santana. Gary Armida profiles Sabathia’s return in “The Big Man is Back”, while Healey opines that for the Mets, “The Ace is The Whole”.

Also in the issue:

The Catcher Says Bye – Yankees catcher Jorge Posada is retiring. Armida takes a look at his great career.

The Magic is Back? – Joseph M. Lara tries to make some sense of the current Mets by looking at the past Mets.

Reading By The Hot Stove – Jerry Milani reviews some of his top choices for offseason reading.

The issue also includes a comprehensive guide to the three-day event, which will once again feature some of the world’s top baseball instructors in a range of settings, including new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, New York Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long, pitching guru Rick Peterson and softball star Jennie Finch.

Baseball Digest’s online editor Mark Healey, who is the founder of Gotham Baseball, will also be in attendance, manning BD affiliate Gotham Baseball’s booth with GB Co-Publisher Joseph M. Lara.

The Winter Issue and Convention Guide is available for FREE download here:

http://gothambaseball.com/GB006_WINTER2011.pdf

For more info visit the official site for the event or call 860.674.1500

This coming Monday, former Gotham Baseball scribe Howard Megdal, the author of Wilpon’s Folly joins Mark Healey on “Baseball Digest LIVE” at 10am ET

In case you haven’t heard, the Fred Wilpon / Saul Katz ownership group is in a bit of trouble these days, and no one, and I mean no one has been doing a better job of reporting on this mess than Megdal.

In the course of a year, the public has become far more aware of ownership’s financial problems. Anger among the team’s supporters is at an extraordinary level, with even the most innocuous postings on Metsblog.com, for instance, attracting dozens of exhortations to Fred Wilpon to liberate the team from its ruinous off-the-field problems by selling it. And these are the committed fans; many others are simply tuning the Reyes-less Mets out.

“Wilpon’s Folly” is a comprehensive look at just how dismal the financial outlook of the Wilpon / Katz ownership is. But it is also incredibly accessible, and in stark contrast to what many folks are writing about the Mets these days, an objective and agenda-free read.

***

While Megdal’s book and many other reports these days concern the team’s finances, most of what I have written about over the years about the Mets is about the dysfunction of ownership and its relationship with the front office. Let’s face it, if the Mets were a well-run organization, or even remotely proficient in their ability to procure talent, the financial problems would be difficult, yes, but not impossible to overcome. I mean, really, people who love to blame Omar Minaya solely for the sloppiness of the last few years either have a short memory or are just plain ignorant.

I don’t mean to absolve any Mets GM of the last 25 or so years for mistakes they’ve made, but to think that Fred Wilpon has kept himself free and clear of any decisions except to say ok to money transactions is as big a joke as the charde of a GM “search” that was conducted last winter.

As for sloppiness, remember this debacle?

Wow, talk about foreshadowing. I have grown to respect Steve Phillips as a colleague at SiriusXM, and as I have researched his tenure, can pretty much identify which deals he was in front of and which ones he wasn’t.

Phillips took a leave of absence on Nov. 8, the eve of important general manager meetings at which teams pursue trades and free agents. He was immediately, and somewhat reluctantly, replaced by Frank Cashen, who had last served as the Mets’ general manager in 1991. Cashen made one deal while he was in charge — acquiring the controversial ex-Met Bobby Bonilla for the unpopular reliever Mel Rojas, a trade that Phillips had laid the groundwork for before he stepped aside.

Did Phillips lay the groundwork for a deal involving Bonilla? Or simply talk to the Dodgers about Rojas? Hard to figure out all of the years later, especially when all of the GMs and other front office people that leave the Mets need to sign non-disclosure agreements. In any event, listen to this doozy of a quote from Fred Wilpon regarding the return of Bobby Bonilla.

‘I can’t predict what’s going to happen,” said Wilpon, a Bonilla believer. ”He’s a different guy. He has the strongest desire I’ve ever heard about not ending his career without making it in New York. That’s motivation. I have high regard for what he has left. I think he will be an important addition to this club.”

Wilpon, who has seen major off-season moves backfire before, acknowledged that bringing Bonilla back is a calculated risk, but he believes Bonilla has another motivating factor working in his behalf.

”He has one wonderful, smart and strong-willed wife,” Wilpon said of Millie Bonilla. ”She loves Greenwich, where they live. She’s ecstatic. She wants to be here. They want to be here. It makes a difference. He’s going to live in Greenwich when he’s through playing. So he has a lot of motivation.”

So, the owner is a “Bonilla believer” and he was traded for during Philips’ leave of absence by Frank Cashen? C’mon, you can’t make this stuff up. I don’t what I enjoy more, the “high regard” comment or the monologue about how Mrs. Bonilla was going to “motivate” Bobby to play better.

When Shaun Clancy was looking for a name for the midtown bar he was about to take over, he wanted something that captured his vision for the establishment: an Irish bar with a baseball attitude.

He invited 25 buddies over for brainstorming over some beverages. After a couple of hours produced a list of Irish-sounding names, a few frontrunners emerged, including McGreevy’s, an homage to the famed “Royal Rooters” of Boston more than a century ago. But none seemed to fit just right for Clancy, who rejected his own name because numerous other restaurants in New York had the moniker.

Then the answer literally walked through the door.

The Ireland-born Clancy, who literally made a beeline for Yankee Stadium on the day he arrived in the U.S. in 1991, had met Arthur “Red” Foley, longtime Daily News writer and official scorer at New York baseball games for decades, through some of his baseball friends like Gene Michael and Tommy John, and, enamored with the history of the game and Foley’s connection to it, had become close to the man who had spent many nights at Toots Shor’s, the legendary “in place” for sports heroes in years past.

The 18 W. 33rd St. location, which had had numerous names and themes since opening in 1913, some more successful than others, was officially re-christened” Foley’s” in 2004.

TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE GET THE FREE DOWNLOAD OF GOTHAM BASEBALL’S FALL 2011 ISSUE HERE

Foley’s NY is also the home of “Baseball Digest TV” and will be the site of an MLB TweetUp on Thursday, Nov. 10 from 4pm-7pm. Watch us tape the show, and then hang out to talk Hot Stove!

The days of praising a player as high caliber talent by calling them a ’5-tool player’ should end today. The greatest ballplayers find a way to become ’6-tool players’. The well-known five and then a very important sixth: staying healthy.

Talent is outstanding, and worth paying a great amount of money for, if one can stay on the field.

It doesn’t matter if your starting rotation consisted of a fantasy list including Sandy Koufax, Cy Young, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux in their prime. If those same names spend more time on your DL as opposed to your manager’s lineup cards throughout the year, all you will ultimately get out of them is increased jersey sales revenue. You certainly won’t see anything from them where it really matters.

Concessions? Yes. Box scores? No.

This season many teams have been bit by the injury bug, serving as an insurmountable force in the win-loss column. For example, on paper, the Chicago Cubs should have been a contender in the National League Central for 2011. Despite off the field problems in Flushing, New York, the Mets had a roster that could have competed for the wild card longer than they already have. With an elimination ‘E’ already posted for in the Cubs’ row of the MLB standings and one looming for the Mets (3 games until the Mets reach elimination for 2011), a large reason why they have had the season they’ve had is injuries. The Cubs lost a significant amount of their starting rotation to long term injuries this season and the Mets lost over half their starting lineup to nagging, recurring visits to the DL.

The Chicago Cubs are an aging team and injuries were bound to become a great issue for them at some point. 2007 and 2008 saw the Cubs capture NL Central division titles. 2008 may have been their last true chance to win it all any time soon as the team is getting older and the injuries continue to pile up. The Mets nearly reached the World Series in 2006, had giant collapses in 2007 and 2008 and injuries have haunted them since.

The Cubs are making an effort to test younger talent and hopefully nip this trend in the off-season. The potential spoiling injury bug is one plot line Mets fans are all too familiar with.

I attended Opening Day at Citi Field a couple years ago and the loudest boos were for the athletic trainers in the announcing of the organization members. Not even Luis Castillo received boos at the decibel that the team’s trainers walked out to. Certainly the way key injuries have been handled regarding key star players recently (Reyes and recently traded, Carlos Beltran, especially) has not pleased the Mets faithful. It also may have been a release of frustration after years of watching their promised stars of the future go down with injuries for decades.

Jason Isringhausen, who turns 39 today, is a perfect example. Isringhausen was drafted by the Mets in 1991 and before he even put on a New York Mets uniform, the media hype surround him completely. After Dwight Gooden energized New York City with his performance on the Shea Stadium mound for years, Mets fans were hungry for someone to follow in Dr. K’s dominant footsteps. The New York media responded by putting Isringhausen and fellow minor league pitchers Bill Pulshipher and Paul Wilson in the spotlight as the next great Mets talent on the mound. The trio was labled ‘Generation K’ and the shoes to fill became even larger as fan expectations grew.

Unfortunately for Isringhausen, Wilson and Pulsipher, injuries would prevent them from growing into the three-headed beast fans hoped they would become. Before you knew it, the 1993 and 1994 seasons had come and gone and it wasn’t until 1995 when all three pitchers were healthy enough to start for the Mets. While Isringhausen posted a 9-2 record in his rookie campaign over 14 starts, he would hit a major health speed bump battling injuries such as tuberculosis, a wrist injury and three serious injuries on his pitching arm.

The September 1996 issue of Baseball Digest highlights the disappointing Mets trio in this feature on MLB pitching corps falling short of promise.

Isringhausen wouldn’t see action for the Mets again until 1999. Time in between appearances became longer as did his walk to the mound. It was no longer the distance from the dugout to center stage. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, here are your 1999 New York Mets’ was no longer the back drop to his introduction. His trip to the mound would be a jog in from the outfield wall from here on out for the Mets as he was moved to the bullpen to start the 1999 season. 1999 provided a dramatic playoff run for the Mets, full of story book moments. Isringhausen would experience none of them however, as he would be shipped to the Oakland Athletics at the trading deadline that July.

It was with Oakland that Isringhausen embraced his new closer role and made a name for himself among the elite of the game. His late-game impact was felt immediately as he reached his first All-Star game (2000) and Oakland made the playoffs in 2000 and 2001. This gave him much-needed playoff experience for when he would reach the post-season the four out of the next five seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Isringhausen had his best years with the Cardinals, sharing the thrill of capturing division titles in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006, making it to the World Series in 2004 and 2006. The Red Sox spoiled his first trip in 2004 with their miracle sweep of the last four games of the ALCS and the World Series. It was a bittersweet ending to a season where Isringhausen led closers with 47 saves. In 2006, he looked to follow up a strong 2005 where he finished second among closers in ERA at 2.14 and made the All-Star team. Isringhausen was successful in his bid, helping lead the Cardinals to the post-season despite having one of his poorest statistical outings that year. Isringhausen was out with a hip injury throughout the team’s efforts that fall and rookie Adam Wainwright had to take over his duties as the team’s closer.

Since that championship season in 2006, Isringhausen has spent time with the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cincinnati Reds.

This year, he found his way back full circle to his original MLB home, the New York Mets. The 2011 Mets have been desperate for some ‘good-news headlines’ and Isringhausen has been a bright spot in a season full of dark times for the ballclub. On August 15, 2011, he saved a 5-4 decision against the Padres, earning his 300th save and a place in MLB history along 22 other pitchers to notch 300 saves in their careers.

Two All-Star appearances, a World Series ring, big-city-rotation-star hype and a place in the MLB history books among the great closers in the game. His road has been a long one, collecting nearly 800 strike outs along the way. Unlike Pulsipher and Wilson who couldn’t live up to their share of the ‘Generation K’ hype, Isringhausen took his time and found a way to make an impact on the game after all. In his fifteenth year of major league service, it will be interesting to see if his career ends full circle in Flushing, NY, or if a new chapter is in the wings waiting to begin.

Also Born Today:

Darren Bragg turns 42 today. The MLB journeyman and Waterbury, Connecticut native played for nine different teams over his ten years as a major league player (Mariners, Red Sox, Cardinals, Rockies, Mets, Yankees, Braves, Padres, Reds). A .255 lifetime hitter, Bragg found himself coaching players in his post-MLB career. In 2007, he was the hitting coach for the Dayton Dragons, the A-ball affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Bragg currently runs a company called ‘The Hit Club’ where he dispenses his major league level knowledge of the art of hitting to high school baseball players.

Joe Rudi turns 65 today. A left fielder from Modesto, California, Rudi played fifteen years in the league, spending most of his time with the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics. Rudi helped lead the A’s to a championship three-peat from 1972-1974 and had a career best 181 hits in 1972.

Ryan Maloney is a staff writer for BaseballDigest.com, author of the popular Chicago Cubs blog titled ’Prose and Ivy, and a contributing writer to MLB.com.

Follow Ryan on Twitter.

Read more from Ryan here.

Follow Baseball Digest on Twitter.

Like Baseball Digest on Facebook.

To kick off your professional baseball career by winning Rookie of The Year honors is an incredible feat. It is an award that without a doubt deserves merit. Showcasing young talent making a name for themselves while playing on a high level in a league they have no prior experience in is worthy on many levels. It serves as a guide as to which team’s farm system has developed their talent the best, which young player has filled a spot on their roster and which have the potential to become the most valuable player in the league. It allows fans to speculate which players are possibly going to make the difference in leading their favorite ball club to the promise land in the coming years and highlight league wide events, such as All-Star Games, for years to come.

It also often helps them determine which name they’d like to put on the back of a customized jersey.

To put on a Major League uniform for the first time and make an impact is one thing. To do it in a foreign land, amid culture shock on top of the always present obstacles for rookies is another. Hideo Nomo is one of those players to accomplish the feat and was the first Japanese player to ever relocate permanently in order to play in MLB.

Aside from his ROY honors, when you hear the name Hideo Nomo, the first thing that comes to mind is his unique wind up motion. In the Nippon Professional Baseball league, Nomo was a coveted talent racking up over 1,200 strike outs from 1990-1994 for the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Earning the nickname ‘The Tornado’, after media and opponents witnessed his unique back-to-the-plate delivery, early on Nomo gained national attention in his debut season with the Buffaloes striking out 287 hitters in 235 innings. His stats earned him the 1990 Pacific League MVP and Rookie of The Year honors.

Fans and members of the media were more appreciative of the results Nomo produced than the Buffaloes however. After the 1994 season, wrapping up a stretch within the first four years where he compiled 17 or 18 wins per season, Nomo demanded a multi-year contract.

What was the Buffaloes’ loss, turned out to be the Los Angeles Dodgers’ gain.

After retiring from Japanese baseball in order to get out of his contract with the Buffaloes, Nomo found a new opportunity in Los Angeles. His career in the States started off oddly enough, very similar to the way his career began in Japan. Due in large part to his unique delivery, batters were unable to solve the pitching mystery Nomo presented every five days in each start and he ended up leading the league in strike outs with 236, finished second in ERA at 2.54. Along the way, he broke Koufax’s team record of strike outs per nine innings with 11.101 to Koufax’s 10.546, started the All-Star Game and won the NL Rookie of the Year award.

Many would argue that a professional ballplayer with years of experience in Japan should not be up for MLB Rookie of The Year voting consideration. I understand that mentality, however, a player’s first year in the league is just that, no matter where their prior experience comes from. Also, it can be argued that the player coming in from Japan or some other international location is up against much more than the rookie of the year contender that is from the United States. The language, culture, nuances, and comfort are not the same as they were in their other league. The player from the international league has to figure out how to survive on the playing field as well as within their new surroundings off the field. The argument could certainly be made that an outstanding rookie campaign by an international star is much more difficult. That argument was made in 1995 and the pro-Nomo side won. Future star, Chipper Jones, finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year race that year as voters gave the advantage to Nomo. Or perhaps I should say, disadvantage.

Baseball Digest’s John Kuenster highlighted Hideo Nomo’s performance as one of the bright spots of the 1995 season. An interesting read about one of the great young pitchers to wear the Dodgers’ uniform.

Like other great puzzles that are tough to figure out such as the Rubik’s Cube, Sudoku or ‘what happened to Tony Soprano at the end of ‘The Sopranos’?', eventually the answer is found and they get a little easier to figure out. (Ok, perhaps that Sopranos one is still left up in the air). NL batters finally got used to seeing an opposing pitcher’s back before the release of a pitch and Nomo’s efficiency lacked as his stats became less impressive. Despite finishing as the only other pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters in each of his first three seasons, the early years of his MLB career are definitely the most impressive.

There must be something in the water at Dodger Stadium. When Nomo won the NL Rookie of the Year, he became one of 13 Dodger debuts to earn the honor, the most of any team in the National League. Dating back to 1952, the team has had a rookie win the award in back-to-back seasons three times. The most recent time coming in a stretch where Nomo was one of those rookies as the team won the award in five consecutive years (Eric Karros, 1992; Mike Piazza, 1993; Raul Mondesi, 1994; Nomo, 1995; Todd Hollandsworth, 1996). In recent years the Florida Marlins have dominated the category however, for a stretch, it was the Dodgers system producing the best young talent in the league, Nomo included.

One stand out highlight of Nomo’s latte portion of his career came on April 4, 2011. It was Nomo’s first start as a member of the Boston Red Sox and he would once again come out of the gates quickly with his new team. The Orioles were the team he would face that day and they would provide Nomo with a no-no as the team was unable to muster up a single hit against Beantown’s new star pitcher. In doing so, Nomo became the fourth pitcher in the history of the game to throw a no-hitter in both the American and National Leagues. After a couple more productive years after returning to his first major league home in America from 2002-2003, Nomo started to fade.

His career path led to signing with the Kansas City Royals, who ultimately released him on April 29, 2008. Nomo retired from MLB that same July. Nomo was both a journeyman and a pioneer in his time as a professional baseball player. In MLB, he would go on to spend time displaying his unique ‘tornado’ wind up for fans across the country, proudly wearing the uniform of the Dodgers, Mets, Brewers, Tigers, Red Sox, Devil Rays and Royals.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the meaning of the name ‘Hideo’. Turns out it means ‘excelling man’. After analyzing Nomo’s career, you’ll realize he compiled over 3,100 strike outs in his time between the NPB and MLB competition. Excelling man? Sounds about right to me.

Hideo Nomo turns 43 today.

Also Born Today

Frank Robinson turns 76 today. Robinson’s career saw him spend time  playing with the Reds, Orioles, Dodgers, Angels and Indians. He managed the Indians, Giants, Orioles and Expos/Nationals. At the end, it all added up to a plaque in Cooperstown. Robinson is the only player to win MVP honors in both the American and National Leagues and finished his career with a batting average of .294, 586 home runs, 2,943 hits and 1,812 RBI. Robinson won the World Series with the 1966 and 1970 Orioles, winning MVP honors in 1966. Other career highlights include NL Rookie of the Year (1956), 14 All-Star appearances (MVP in 1971), AL Manager of the Year (1989) and he had his number retired by both the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles.

Eddie Plank was born on this day in 1875. Plank pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Terriers and the St. Louis Browns. Eight times, Plank finished a season with twenty or more wins. He has the 13th most wins in MLB history, led the American League in shutouts twice and has more career shutouts by a left-hander than anyone in MLB history (66). Plank’s win-loss record of 326-194 matched with his career ERA of 2.35 and 2,246 strike outs earned him induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame by vote of the Veteran’s Committee in 1946.

Ryan Maloney is a staff writer for BaseballDigest.com, author of the popular Chicago Cubs blog titled ’Prose and Ivy, and a contributing writer to MLB.com.

Follow Ryan on Twitter.

Read more from Ryan here.

Follow Baseball Digest on Twitter.

Like Baseball Digest on Facebook.

If we were to truly honor Deion Sanders, the right way, this article would have been written not in the morning, but in prime time.

If we were to truly honor Deion Sanders, the right way, this article would include a link at the bottom of the page leading to its continuation at NFL.com.

If we were to truly honor Deion Sanders, the right way, this article would include not only a link to a previous Baseball Digest print edition mention of Sanders’ career, it would include a video making it stand out among the rest, done in Flash.

If we were to truly honor Deion Sanders, the right way, this article would no longer refer to Deion Sanders as ‘Sanders’, but ‘Deion’. ‘Neon Deion’ would be even better. However, like Sanders at the end of his induction speech this past weekend into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, applying a bandana to his bronze likeness, we’re going to simply make do.

As one of the greatest two-sport athletes of all-time, Sanders excelled in both football and baseball. Born in Fort Myers, Florida, Sanders attended Florida State University, where he made a name for himself on the basepaths, the gridiron, and in track and field competitions. One story has it that Sanders once played game one of a doubleheader, left to compete in a leg of a 4]]> http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/08/baseball-digest-birthdays-deion-sanders/feed/ 0 http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/07/baseball-digest-birthdays-casey-stengel/ http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/07/baseball-digest-birthdays-casey-stengel/#comments Sat, 30 Jul 2011 15:24:33 +0000 Drew Sarver http://www.baseballdigest.com/?p=10041

One hundred-twenty one years ago today one of the most colorful characters in baseball history was born. Charles Dillon Stengel had the monicker “Dutch” in his formative years, but he would become famous, and infamous, much later as “Casey” Stengel and the “The Ol’ Perfessor”.

Long before that though, the future Hall of Fame member was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1890. He was a good athlete growing up and quit high school to play for the Kansas City Blues of the American Association. He later played in the Northern Association and the Blue Grass League, but still studied to become a dentist.  Obviously, baseball won out and Stengel was chosen by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1911 draft. He appeared in 17 games for the Dodgers in 1912, hitting .316 with one home run and 13 RBI.

Stengel hit .284 in six seasons in Brooklyn (who were known as the Dodgers, Superbas, and Robins during that time; they didn’t become the Dodgers full time until 1931.), and helped lead them to the World Series in 1916. He was 4-11 (.364) in the Series, but the Dodgers lost to Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox in four games. His final four seasons were in the tutelage of legendary manager Wilbert Robinson.

In 1918, Stengel was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates as part of a deal for another future Hall member, pitcher Burleigh Grimes. Stengel was dealt three more times in his career, to the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, and Boston Braves. One of his best seasons with the Giants was in 1922 when he hit .368/.436/.564 with 48 RBI in only 84 games. He also went 2-5 in that year’s World Series when the Giants topped the Yankees. One year later, he was on the losing end to the Yankees, but hit .417.

During his time in Pittsburgh, Stengel’s reputation for nutty/funny behavior was best exemplified when his Pirates team visited his old Brooklyn team. The fans booed Stengel mercilessly until he stepped into the batters’ box, doffed his cap, and a bird flew out.

Learn more about “The Old Perfessor” in Milton Richman’s 1957 profile in Baseball Digest. Click here to read all about it!

Stengel retired early in the 1925 season to become player/manager of the Worcester Panthers of the Eastern League. A year later he began a six year stint at the helm of the Toledo Mud Hens of the America Association. (He saw some playing time as well in five of the six years.) Then it was back to the Major Leagues and Brooklyn as a coach for two years before Stengel was named as the Dodgers manager. Unfortunately for Stengel, the Dodgers lacked talent and didn’t finish higher than 5th place before Stengel was fired after the 1936 season.

Stengel got another chance with the Boston Bees/Braves in 1938, but the talent level was no better than in Brooklyn. Boston had four seventh place finishes in Stengel’s first five seasons, but that may not have hurt as much as the broken leg Stengel suffered when a car hit him in April, 1943.  Casey missed 46 games, but the Braves continued their losing ways when he returned, though the  team moved up a notch to sixth place. With the Braves coming under new ownership prior to the 1944 season, Stengel decided to resign, saying he did not want to “embarrass the new stockholders…”.

Stengel’s best days were ahead of him though, as were many more games to manage. After one season running the minor league Milwaukee Brewers he returned to his roots as the skipper of the Kanas City Blues in 1945. Then it was three years at the helm of the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks before Stengel got the break of a lifetime. The Yankees and manager Bucky Harris agreed to a mutual departure after the 1948 season and Stengel was hired. He would wear the Yankees’ pinstripes and road greys for 12 seasons (Kind of sounds a little like the Joe Torre story, no?).

Stengel became one of the first managers to heavily utilize platooning. He inherited an aging DiMaggio, a young  Mantle, and stalwarts like Berra and Rizzuto. Though he would sometimes clash with veterans and maybe liked the attention he got a little too much, it’s hard to argue with “The Old Perfessor’s” success. 10 pennants and seven world championships, including five straight titles from 1949-1953. He was nearly fired after losing the 1957 World Series to the Milwaukee Braves and then fell behind three games to one to the Braves in the 1958 series. But the Yankees rallied to win three straight games and the Series. Among his memorable moments as Yankees manager was his 1958 anti-trust testimony in front of Congress, in which he had everyone in stitches with his rambling style.

Yankees ownership decided to go in a new direction after the 1960 season and let Stengel go. He would be out of the Majors for one season before accepting a job across town with the expansion New York Mets. The Mets were short on talent so they knew they needed a charismatic figure to help boost attendance. The 71-yr old Stengel was the perfect fit, it didn’t really matter what the Mets did on the field. Good thing too since they lost 120 games that first year and dropped over 100 in the next two seasons as well.

In July, 1965, the 75-yr old manager broke his hip getting out of a car and, on advice from his doctor, retired in August. A year later, the Veteran’s Committee selected Stengel for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Casey is the only person to wear the uniform of all four 20th century teams in New York and both the Mets (1965) and Yankees (1970) retired Casey’s #37.

The baseball world was saddened on September 29, 1975 when Casey Stengel passed away at age 85. He was married to his beloved Edna for 51 years.

Also Born Today:

Clint Hurdle (Big Rapids, MI 1953): Clint Hurdle was a Sports Illustrated cover boy in 1978 and was predicted to be a star in Major League Baseball. Though his time with the KC Royals and three other organizations never lived up to the hype, Hurdle has made a successful career for himself in post-playing days. He’s currently in his first year as manager of the surprising Pittsburgh Pirates, who are in the running for a division title for the first time in nearly 20 years. Hurdle previously managed the Colorado Rockies from 2002-2009 and took the team to it’s sole World Series appearance in 2008.

]]> http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/07/baseball-digest-birthdays-casey-stengel/feed/ 0 http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/07/baseball-digest-birthdays-goose-gossage/ http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/07/baseball-digest-birthdays-goose-gossage/#comments Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:18:41 +0000 Drew Sarver http://www.baseballdigest.com/?p=9936

When the name Goose Gossage is mentioned, you think big bushy walrus mustache, intimidation, upper 90′s fastball, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. But things weren’t always so easy for the player originally known as Rich in MLB circles and Rick to his friends and family.

Richard Michael Gossage was born in 1951 in Colorado Springs, CO where he still makes his home today. After a stellar career at Wasson High School, Gossage was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 9th round of the 1970 amateur draft. He appeared in 13 games combined that year for the Gulf Coast rookie White Sox and low level ‘A’ Appleton Foxes with mixed results, but a year later as a starter he made everyone in the organization stand up and take notice.

24 of Gossage’s 25 appearances for Appleton in 1971 were indeed as a starting pitcher and he excelled. An 18-2 record, 1.83 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 187 innings jumped off the page at everyone. He also allowed just 141 hits and 50 base on balls. His performance earned the 20-yr old an invitation to the big league spring training in 1972. He then continued to open eyes that spring and went north will the ball club.

Manager Chuck Tanner, who later became Gossage’s manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the front office decided to move Gossage to the bullpen despite his prior year’s performance. It was felt that his electric stuff would work even better out of the pen. He made 36 appearances his rookie season, but despite a 7-1 record, his other numbers weren’t up to his minor league standards. He walked five batters per nine innings, allowed 72 hits in 80 innings, and posted a 4.28 earned run average. Control issues would be the reason was Gossage shuttled back and forth between the Majors and minors the next two seasons.

Bob Rubin of the Miami Herald profiled Gossage after the reliever saved 33 games in 1980. Click here to read all about it.

It wasn’t until 1975 that the player nicknamed “Goose”, by teammate Tom Bradley, (because of the way he stuck his neck out when looking for the sign from the catcher) started to put it all together at the Major League level. He led the American League that year with 26 saves, struck out 130 batters in 141.2 innings pitched, and allowed 99 hits (just three of which were home runs). His play earned him the first of his nine All-Star appearances, and he finished sixth in the 1975 AL CY Young voting.

Despite his fabulous year, the White Sox decided to move Gossage back to the starting rotation for the 1976 season. The results were semi-disastrous. Goose lost 17 games, struck out just 130 in 224 innings, and allowed 214 hits. The team led by Paul Richards also lost 97 games, so that winter owner Bill Veeck decided to make some changes. In December, Gossage along with lefty Terry Forster were shipped to Pittsburgh for outfielder Richie Zisk and pitcher Silvio Martinez. Zisk hit 30 home runs and produced 101 RBI in his one and only year in Chicago and never approached those numbers again. Meanwhile Gossage’s best days were ahead of him.

Back in the bullpen in 1977, Gossage saved 26 games and combined with Kent Tekulve and Grant Jackson for one of those dominant relief corp in baseball. But free agency loomed for Gossage and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, despite having the reigning AL CY Young winner Spark Lyle on his team, was greatly intrigued.  And whatever George wanted, George generally got. He landed Gossage with a six year deal on November 22, 1977. It was a move that eventually led to third baseman Graig Nettles’ famous quote on Lyle, “He went from CY Young to sayonara.”

Gossage’s intro to New York was a rough one. He lost the first game of the season when he gave up a 9th inning home run to none other than Texas’ Richie Zisk. His next appearance was a blown save to Milwaukee and another loss. After mop up duty in his third appearance, Gossage lost another ninth inning game, this time to Toronto. His 0-3 record led to boos when the Yankees returned home. Gossage loves to retell the story today of when center fielder Mickey Rivers jumped on the hood of the bullpen car, yelling “NO”, to stop Gossage from entering a game.

Though he also had a blown save in the ’78 All-Star game, Gossage turned things around (a league leading 27 saves) and helped the Yankees come back from a 14.5 game deficit to Boston in the AL East. He then protected a one run lead in a one game playoff between the two teams, getting Carl Yastrzemski to pop up to Graig Nettles to end the game. Gossage went on to make four All-Star appearances while with New York, led the league in saves twice and finished third in the AL CY Young voting in 1980. But Gossage began to clash with owner George Steinbrenner as the 1980′s marched on and he decided to depart as a free agent after the 1983 season. He signed with San Diego and helped them to their first World Series with 25 saves.

After four years on the left coast, Gossage spent time with the Chicago Cubs, had a second tour with the Yankees before rounding out his career with the Texas Rangers, Oakland A’s, and Seattle Mariners. He also pitched in Japan during the 1990 campaign. In 22 big league seasons, Gossage finished with 310 saves and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. Today, the Goose is active in youth sports and serves as a Spring Training instructor for the Yankees.

]]> http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/07/baseball-digest-birthdays-goose-gossage/feed/ 0 http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/02/baseball-digest-pettitte-calls-it-a-career/ http://www.gothambaseball.com/2011/02/baseball-digest-pettitte-calls-it-a-career/#comments Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:40:20 +0000 Mark Healey http://www.gothambaseball.com/?p=2136

Michael Kay of the YES Network and 1050ESPN radio announced this morning that Andy Pettitte intends to officially retire tomorrow (Friday) after 16 seasons in the major leagues.

Since Pettitte’s return to New York prior to the 2007 season, he’s taken his time each off season to decide whether or not to return the following season. Since the 2010 season ended, Pettitte seemed to be heavily leaning towards calling it quits. Conversations with manager Joe Girardi and GM Brian Cashman gave every indication that the chances of Pettitte’s return for 2011 was less than 50%.

click here to read rest of article

Jay Ferraro and Hawk Drobnis, talk Yankees-Mets, fantasy baseball and New York sports on a brand new edition of Gotham Baseball LIVE! Jay Ferraro is the Assignment Editor for Gotham Baseball and the Fantasy Editor for BaseballDigest.com and Gotham Gridiron. Hawk Drobnis is a senior columnist for Gotham Baseball and Gotham Gridiron. Jay is a Yankees Fan, Hawk is a Mets Fan, and neither can hit a curveball!

Jay and Hawk are more than just New York baseball! They cover all of Major League Baseball’s hot topics in the “Teepee Talk” segment and all New York City sports on their “Around The Apple” segment.

Please click the link to listen live or to past shows:  Gotham Baseball LIVE