Add These To Your Yankees Library

I don't know about you guys but I love reading anything and everything Yankee-related. If you're like me here's two books are right up your alley.

First is a brand new book on the greatest stadium American sports have ever seen, Yankee Stadium. The book is a called Yankee Stadium: 1923-2008, and it was written by Gary Hermalyn and Anthony C. Greene, and includes many great photos of the old place in all its glory.

The Back of the book reads:

The Bronx's Yankee Stadium was designed to be the grandest, most impressive and intimidating sports arena ever. Over the past years, the stadium's mystique and grandeur has been exponentially enhanced by championship boxing matches, college and professional football, Negro League games, papal visits, and the New York Yankees baseball club's iconic reputation as the gold standard of professional team sports. Yankee Stadium has also been a witness to the 20th-century development of the Bronx from a small suburb to a large urban borough, thus forging a special and complex relationship with its hometown.

Besides all the classic photos within the books pages, it also includes many interesting stories about the stadium's history and a pack of 12 great postcards with some more fantastic images of the stadium itself and those who played, performed, and appeared there throughout it's illustrious history.

The fine folks at Arcadia Publishing were nice enough to send me a pre-release copy but you can get yours starting today for $21.99 at bookstores everywhere.

The second book I think you should get your hands on is a book that may change the way you look at some of your favorite Yankees and the stories behind them. It's called The Tuth About Ruth (And More): Behind the New York Yankees' Most Popular Myths, Legends, and Lore, and it was written by Peter Handrinos.

It's a great and fairly easy read for anyone who wants to know more about the true stories behind their favorite Yankees. Did Wally Pipp really sit because of a headache? Did Ruth really call his shot? Who was better, Mickey or Joe D? What really happened that night at the Copa? Did Yogi really says all the things they said he said? Was Casey Stengel really a clown? Is Derek Jeter really as clutch as people think? These questions and many more are answered within the pages of the book.

Some of your long-held Yankee beliefs may be shattered by this book, but don't fret, this isn't a Yankee-bashing book in anyway. The author is a long-time Yankees fans and in fact sometimes the truth behind these stories is stranger, and more interesting than fiction.

Both books are fine additions to anyone's Yankees library.

She-Fan Book Signing @ Stans

"Confessions of a She-Fan" author Jane Heller will have a book-signing at Stan's bar outside of Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, June 17th from 3:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Jane will be meeting fans and signing copies of her book.

If you're heading to the Bronx for the Yankees-Nationals game make sure you go over to Stan's. Come for the book signing, stay for the beer.

Has Money Ball leveled baseball's playing field?

Billy Beane thinks so...

From Bob Klapisch:

It’s been almost six years since Moneyball became the bible of baseball’s information revolution, but A’s general manager Billy Beane, the architect of this New Age, admits he’s paid a heavy price. Everyone in the game is smarter these days, and that includes the behemoths with cash – notably the Red Sox.

You could say Beane’s nightmare is Theo Epstein, the Sox GM who’s successfully applied “Moneyball’s’’ principles and backed it up with a payroll the A’s could only dream about. This worries Beane, and he says it should worry the Yankees, too.

“One of the reasons the Red Sox have gained on the Yankees is because the foundation of their organization is run like a very successful small market, yet they have the ability to retain their premium players in their prime,” Beane said. “When a club does that, it knocks the wind out of not just their rivals, but also small-market competitors.”

The Bombers reluctantly agree.

“The Red Sox are incredibly bright,” GM Brian Cashman said in the passages of the best-selling book, “The Yankee Years.”

“They have the best of both worlds. … When you look at Boston there’s no reason to think they won’t continue to win. The fact of the matter is you arguably have the brightest front office with lots of resources and an ownership group that supports it.”

Beane, of course, realizes this is somehow all his fault: Baseball’s intelligence gap has closed rapidly since 2003, because the old way of doing business — subjectively evaluating talent — has been replaced by the objective: numbers.

The A’s were heavy into on-base percentage a few years ago, until everyone else got smart. Coincidentally or not, that’s when the Yankees stopped winning pennants, and the A’s streak of making it to the postseason – every year from 2000 to 2003 – came to a crashing halt.

After the 2001 World Series, 12 different teams played in the next seven Fall Classics. Since 2005, eight Series berths have been filled by eight different clubs, and last year, no team repeated as division champion for the first time in 20 years.

To answer my own question, I'll say yes. I think Moneyball principles have changed the way organizations build teams, and led to more sound baseball decisions all across the game, in big and small markets.

The success of the strategy addressed in the book has to be one of the major contributing factors to a more leveled playing field.

I just finished reading the chapter in The Yankee Years that talks about Moneyball, the one that Klapisch took the Cashman quote from. The book is fantastic, by the way, and should be required reading for Yankees fans. And no, it's not some sleazy tell-all like the media made it out to be.

Anyway, the chapter in the book is basically this article with more details and focused much more on the Red Sox.

As soon as John Henry and Larry Lucchino took over in 2002, they added Theo Epstein, hired stats guru Bill James, and as we've learned the hard way, the baseball world hasn't been the same since.

You have to wonder if the Yankees and Brian Cashman missed the boat a bit with the Moneyball mindset.

I know Cashman is a stats guy, it was one of the problems Torre had with him during the last few years he was in New York, but was he possibly being overruled by the more old-school Tampa faction for most of the early 2000s? Or was he and the rest of the organization—from scouts on up—not as savvy as the rest of the new-school GMs and scouts around the game?

Winter Reading: Summer of '49

I recently finished David Halberstam’s Summer of ’49 for the second time, and I must say it’s one of the best baseball books I’ve ever read. Halberstam is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and tells the story of the 1949 baseball season better than anyone probably could have, giving us an engaging blow-by-blow of one of baseball's best pennant races pitting Joe D’s Yankees against Ted Williams’ Red Sox. The race would be decided during the final weekend of the season at Yankee Stadium.

The book not only recounts the story of this great pennant race, but of the players within it, the radio broadcasters who called it, and the newspaper reporters who covered it. Reading this book also gives the reader great insight into a time where baseball was still pure and truly America’s national pastime - When it was a game.

My favorite parts of the book are the anecdotes about the players; I will share a couple excerpts from the book with you here.

First, a couple Yogi stories,

The All-Ugly Team

In 1946, when Berra came up at the end of the season, there was a Yankee-Red Sox game, and Charlie Keller started joking around Red Sox pitcher Mike Ryba. Ryba, who was considered to be a less-than-handsome figure himself, had created what he called his All-Ugly team. It playing captain, he always claimed, was Charlie Keller, so powerful and hairy that his nickname (which he hated) was “King Kong.” Keller took the ribbing from Ryba because he believed Ryba even uglier than he. When their teams played they always argued about who was on the All-Ugly team. “I’ve got a new playing captain for you,” Keller told Ryba.

“There’s no way Keller,” Ryba said. “There’s no one uglier than you in baseball”

“Yes there is,” Keller said. Just then Berra came out of the dugout and walked past the two players. Ryba starred at him.

“I take it back, Keller,” he said, “it’s all over for you. You’re off my team. You’re no longer ugly enough” (pg 84-85)

Joe D. Sets Young Lawrence Straight

Later that season the Yankees went to Washington for a doubleheader. By then DiMaggio was exhausted by the season and the pain, but he insisted on playing both games. He was so tired that by the end of the second game Lopat and Allie Reynolds virtually carried him off the field. Berra, claiming fatigue, had begged out of the second game… Later in the locker room, DiMaggio turned around and said, loud enough for Berra to hear, “Jesus Christ, a twenty-year-old kid and he can’t play both ends of a doubleheader when we’re fighting down the stretch. What kind of bull**** is this?” From then on Berra’s work habits began to improve. (pg. 142)

Here’s a couple about the team’s practical joker, Johnny Lindell.

Lindell Gives Scooter Worms (Remember while reading this that Rizzuto was scared of almost anything that moved)

Once the Yankees were in Detroit and it rained heavily, forcing a delay. Finally the sun came out and the game was played. During the fifth inning, as the Yankees came in from the outfield, Lindell Beckoned to Bobby Brown, the third baseman. You won't believe what I've got here." He pulled some thirty nightcrawlers out of his back pocket. They had been coming to the surface after the rain, and he had dutifully collected them. In those days, when the players left the field to bat, they left their gloves on the field. Lindell managed to get Rizzuto’s glove and stuffed the fingers with his enormous worm collection. The other players were onto the gag and held Rizzuto up for a minute as the Yankees went back out on the field. That way he would be a little late getting back to his position and the explosion would come in full view of the crowd. Everyone was ready as Rizzuto got to shortstop. On came the glove. It was like someone had given him an electric shock. He threw the glove high into the air and did what look like an Indian war dance. Both teams were incapacitated with laughter. (pg 257-258)

Johnny and His Wang 

[Lindell’s] humor seems to dominate the locker room… Even the trainers table wasn’t safe. A player lying down for treatment would often get whacked on the forehead by Lindell’s phallus, which was considered one of the wonders of the Yankee locker room. (pg 270)

Lindell Makes Joltin' Joe Blush

Once DiMaggio walked into the locker room in a beautiful and obviously expensive new Hawaiian sports shirt. Lindell immediately shouted out, “Hey beautiful, where’d you get that sports shirt? You look pretty in it.” DiMaggio froze, his face reddened, and he never wore the shirt again. “We’ve got to keep the Dago honest,” Lindell said when the others looked at him quizzically." (pg 271)

And finally a couple things about the recently departed, Tommy Byrne.

Tommy Byrne - Control Artist

Byrne’s starts were memorable: long drawn-out games when no one hit the ball. Forty years later, he could remember a game where he walked 16 and lost 3-2 in thirteen innings: he threw 248 pitches, which he believed might be a record of some sort. (pg 244-245)

Stengel on how to manage Tommy Byrne:

“Look,” he once counseled Ralph Houk, who would eventually be his successor, “don’t watch the him pitch. You’ll die too young. Just turn away, and listen to the crowd. You’ll know he’ll walk in a run or two in some situations, but then you’ll hear the cheer when he strikes someone out. Listen to the noise. It’s easier on your stomach. If you watch him you won’t last long.” (pg 245)

Summer of ’49 is a great book, and a must-read for not only any Yankee fan, but baseball fan as well. (It can be purchased here.)