“He wasn’t larger than life. He was life.”
Archive for the ‘Yankees History’ Category
HBO Sports: Legends and Legacies: Mickey Mantle
Posted in Tales & Legends, Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Media, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Videos, tagged HBO, HBO Sports, Legends and Legacies, Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees on March 26, 2015 | Leave a Comment »
Big Stein, Billy, Mickey, Two Cows and a Mule
Posted in Nonsense, Tales & Legends, Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Humor, Yankees Media, Yankees Memories, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees: Off the field, tagged Billy Martin, Cows, David Letterman, George Steinbrenner, Late Night With David Letterman, Mickey Mantle, Mule, Texas on March 18, 2015 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a clip from April of 1987, when George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin appeared on Letterman. Billy shares a story about a time he went hunting with Mickey down in Texas.
If you’d like to see the full interview, fast forward to the 15:15 mark on this video.
Brian Cashman, Keith Olbermann and Derek Jeter’s Captaincy
Posted in Yankee News, Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Organization, tagged ALS, Brian Cashman, Captain, Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, General Douglas MacArthur, George Steinbenner, Graig Nettles, Keith Olbermann, Lou Gehrig, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Mike Lupica, New York Yankees, Ron Guidry, Thurman Munson, Willie Randolph on March 13, 2015 | Leave a Comment »
Brian Cashman recently told Mike Lupica on ESPN Radio that “the captaincy should be retired with number two.”
No more captains for the Yankees? Please. I love Derek Jeter as much as the next guy, but enough is enough. Yes, that’s right…I said it. Derek Jeter is a mortal being…just like Lou Gehrig and Thurman Munson before him. There’s nothing that make Derek any more special or deserving than those two, so I don’t see why the New York Yankees shouldn’t have another captain.
Keith Olbermann has called Cashman’s comments as the “dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
After Lou Gehrig passed away from ALS (now known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), Yankees manager Joe McCarthy stated that the club would never have another Yankees captain. Years went by and the organization didn’t have a captain. In 1976 that changed, as George Steinbrenner appointed Thurman Munson to be captain. Just three years later (1979), Thurman died in a tragic plane crash, leaving the Yankees captainless. Nettles, Randolph, Guidry, and Mattingly followed him. What I’m trying to say here is…nobody is bigger than the interlocking NY on their chest.
George Steinbrenner once said:
“I have always been very, very careful about giving such a responsibility (Captain of the New York Yankees) to one of my players, but I can not think of a single player that I have ever had who is more deserving of this honor than Derek Jeter. He is a young man of great character and has shown great leadership qualities. He believes, as I do, what General (Douglas) MacArthur said, that ‘there is no substitute for victory.’ To him, and to me, it’s second only to breathing.”
I don’t believe they need to appoint a new captain right away, but when the right person comes along I don’t see anything wrong with giving that rank to a deserving player. I think you can safely bet that the Yankees will find somebody to be named captain in future years. And if you like to bet like me, you should check out: www.SportsBettingInfo.com. Life goes on, and so do the Yankees.
The 1993-1994 Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers visit Yankee Stadium
Posted in Yankee Players, Yankee Stadium, Yankees History, Yankees Memories, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Photos, Yankees Videos, tagged 1993-1994, 1994, Bronx, Eastern Conference Finals, Mark Messier, Montreal Canadiens, New York, New York Rangers, New York Yankees, The Cup, The Stanley Cup, Yankee Stadium on May 20, 2014 | Leave a Comment »
As it stands now, the New York Rangers are up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Montreal Canadiens. They’re just two wins away from advancing to the Stanley Cup. For all of you who were old enough to appreciate the 1993-1994 Stanley Cup Rangers, here’s a trip down memory lane as the champs take “The Cup” to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
Q&A with Marty Appel, former PR Director of the Yankees
Posted in Tales & Legends, Yankee News, Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Management, Yankees Media, Yankees Memories, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Organization, tagged 1970's, Bill Guilfoile, Bob Fishel, Catfish Hunter, CBS, Chris Chambliss, Dock Ellis, Fritz Peterson, George M. Steinbrenner III, Howard Berk, Marty Appel, media, Mickey Mantle, Mickey Mantle Day, Moss Klein, Murray Chass, New York Yankees, Pinstripe Empire, Public Relations, Rich McKinney, Sparky Lyle, Thom McAn, Yankees on Demand on February 10, 2014 | 3 Comments »
Marty Appel, former PR Director of the New York Yankees, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about our beloved team and his role with the ball club.
Bill Dickey – Marty Appel – Mel Allen
Q&A with Marty Appel
1) Q: You started out answering Mickey Mantle’s fan mail. You later went on to become the head of public relations of the New York Yankees. You really started from the bottom and climbed your way through the organization. Did you always envision yourself working for the Yankees?
- A: I was always a huge fan, but the idea of writing to the Yankees for a summer job came to me after a year as sports editor of my college newspaper. It was just a bolt out of the blue; no grand scheme. And I never even thought I’d get an answer. Also, answering the fan mail wasn’t the bottom of the food chain. I’ll reserve that for the post-game cleanup crew, who used to augment their low wages by drinking the leftover beer left under the seats. I was a few rungs above that.
2) Q: When your mentor, Bob Fishel left the Yankees after the 1973 season, you were promoted to PR director of the ball club. You were just 24 years-old. What was that like?
- A: George Steinbrenner called me in and asked if I felt ready for this assignment. No one my age had ever been a team PR Director, let alone in New York. But because I had been trained by Bob Fishel for six years, I absolutely felt ready. It was like learning democracy from Jefferson or Madison. I learned from the best and I was ready.
3) Q: Upon meeting George Steinbrenner for the very first time, what was your impression of him?
- A: Very dynamic guy, and he said all the right things about winning. We were hungry for that sort of direction after all the disappointing finishes in the CBS years. One thing you don’t appreciate at first is the huge celebrity he would become. He was unknown on that January day in 1973 and we didn’t see what was to come. He went out and redefined what owners did, and he made the Yankees a bigger brand than they had ever been.
4) Q: Take us through a day as a PR director of the New York Yankees in the 1970’s.
- A: Well it changed a lot after 1974 with the Catfish Hunter signing, and a year later with free agency. It really made the job a 365-day task. Prior to that, the winters were slower and people used to ask “what do you do in the off-season.” Of course it was spent preparing yearbooks, media guides, scorecards; doing a winter media caravan, preparing for spring training, attending dinners, announcing the schedule and promotion dates, making news when you can. Today the newspapers are told they must have a Yankee (and Mets) story every day. Then it was more of a struggle.
- A: In season, I made all the road trips, prepared the daily press notes, fielded questions from the media, contacted the next team to exchange ‘probable pitchers,’ and established good friendships with press and the players, many of who were my age. And oh yes, in the days before ‘modern communication,’ I would often be on a pay phone in the press box, giving Mr. Steinbrenner the pitch-by-pitch account of a game if he was in Florida and couldn’t listen. And I’d fill in between pitches with plugs for the new Yankee Yearbook, which he didn’t always find amusing if we were losing.
5) Q: My father was in the upper deck of Yankee Stadium with his brother when Chris Chambliss won the pennant for the Yankees in 1976. That was “his moment.” Thirty-three years later, I would be in the grandstands with my father watching the Yankees win the pennant in 2009. That was “my moment.” In all the years you’ve watched the Yankees play, what was your favorite memory you saw in-person and why?
- A: I would say Mickey Mantle Day in 1969 just edges the Chambliss home run. I had a lot to do with the planning of Mantle Day, which worked flawlessly and hit just the right emotional notes. It was one of the better “Days” I’ve ever seen. We had a great front office team in the planning then – Bill Guilfoile, Howard Berk, Bob Fishel and myself, fortunate enough to be there.
6) Q: In the ESPN TV miniseries, “The Bronx is Burning”, there was an intriguing Kangaroo Court scene. The perpetrator was Mickey Rivers. He was charged with a so-called “lunch meat violation”, where he was reaching for a cupcake and his private parts touched a ham. I’m aware you were a consultant on the show. Is this a true story? Were you ever present for these locker room gatherings? Were they always this silly?
- A: The clubhouses were fun and crazy things could happen there – like Fritz Peterson’s hockey games, during which Rich McKinney got injured and it helped end his Yankee days. Mickey Rivers was always funny. Dock Ellis too – he was a special character in the clubhouse. And Sparky Lyle. Oh, I could go on. Great collection of personalities.
7) Q: Can you please share an odd story from your time with the Yankees? Something the average fan might not know.
- A: Mickey Mantle would always give me his gift certificates from doing pre-game radio interviews. I couldn’t imagine he would use “$10 off” at Thom McAn shoe store in Yonkers, so he’d give it to me. And eventually he’d save them up from road trips and bring them back to me. I couldn’t use “free dessert” in Minnesota, but it was a fun ritual. I should have had him sign the certificates and saved them instead of using them. Nice memory. He was great to me.
8) Q: How would you compare the Yankees of today to the ball club’s you worked under in the 70’s? How has the role of the PR Director changed over the years in baseball?
- A: The role dramatically changed in the mid-’70s when, led by Murray Chass and Moss Klein, the media decided that they would decide what was news and go after it themselves, rather than using our daily press notes. So the PR department became reactive and not proactive. And it has been the same ever since, although the media gets far less access to the players today. Everything is much more controlled. Writers don’t even travel with the team anymore.
9) Q: Whether you like to believe it or not, you are a part of Yankees history. When I think of the Bronx Bombers, I think of Ruth, Steinbrenner, Jeter, Cashman, Sheehy, Torre, Michael, Appel, etc. As you grow older, you start to realize that there’s a lot more to a ball club than the players on the field. How does it feel to be part of such an iconic franchises’ history?
- A: The Yankees are such a strong brand, that even after you’ve left the club, your time with the team sort of defines you. And I’m happy about that – it’s a great association. I’m honored to still be connected, doing video for Yankees on Demand, or writing for their publications. I love when someone in the front office calls to clarify some piece of history. I’m actually the last man standing (and still active in the field) who worked in the original stadium, worked when Mantle played, worked when CBS owned the team. Very proud of that. And proud to have been able to write Pinstripe Empire and get a lot of those memories on record.
10) Q: If someone wanted to be the Director of Media Relations of the New York Yankees today, what advice would you give them?
- A: Well, it’s hard to always give time to social media, but ultimately, they are read and they are helping to form opinions among fans. I’d lobby to add someone in the department assigned to be the contact person for that category of “media” (bloggers, online columnists, large groups on Facebook, etc., so that the team is reaching its fan base through them. I’d also suggest having a strong sense of the business of baseball so that you better understand decisions made by other departments. It’s not just knowing how many MVP awards Yogi Berra won. It’s understanding the dynamics between the players, management, media, fans, the city, and even the nation. The Yankees matter to a huge number of constituencies, and you have to be aware of all of them.
I can’t thank Marty enough for taking the time to be part of this Q&A interview. If you haven’t already, go out and pick up Marty’s book, “Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss.”
Bronx Bombers: A New American Play
Posted in Yankee News, Yankee Players, Yankee Tickets, Yankees History, Yankees Media, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees: Off the field, tagged Babe Ruth, Box Office, Broadway, Bronx Bombers: A New American Play, Carmen Berra, Derek Jeter, Joe Dimaggio, Lombardi, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, Play, Theater, Tickets, Yogi Berra on January 20, 2014 | Leave a Comment »
Illustration By: Mark Ulriksen
That’s right. The New York Yankees have hit the Broadway stage. The show comes from the same creators of Broadway’s “Lombardi.” The story centers around Yogi Berra and his wife Carmen, as they take you through the New York Yankees storied history. Legendary players such as Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, Gehrig, and Jeter are portrayed on the stage. I’d bet this would be a real treat for any Yankees fan to attend, both young and old.
**If you’re interested in attending a show, visit: BronxBombersPlay.com or call: 212-239-6200 / 800-432-7250. Box Office Information: Hours: Mon: 10 – 6, Tues – Sat: 10 – 8, Circle in the Square Theatre, West 50th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue.**
At 4:02pm, the plane struck ground…
Posted in Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Media, Yankees Memories, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Videos, tagged 1979, August 2, Captain, Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, Plane Crash, Thurman Munson on August 2, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
On August 2nd, 1979, Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash which rocked the baseball world. He was one of the most beloved and respected players to ever don the pinstripe uniform. Munson was the first team captain since Lou Gehrig and was considered the driving force behind those Yankee teams.
Thurman’s plaque in monument park reads: “Our captain and leader has not left us, today, tomorrow, this year, next … Our endeavors will reflect our love and admiration for him.”
Jim Bouton and Big League Chew
Posted in Yankee News, Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Organization, Yankees: Off the field, tagged Big League Chew, Bubble Gum, Chewing Tobacco, Gum, Jim Bouton, New York Yankees, Portland Mavericks, Rob Nelson on June 13, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
I think we all loved that shredded bubble gum we would grab during our little league games. Stuffing so much of it in our mouths to make it look like we were chewing on tobacco. Bringing me back in time, I recently purchased a pack of Big League Chew. Flipping over the package, I noticed a cool tie the product had with the New York Yankees organization.
The back of the package reads: “Sitting in a bullpen one night, Portland Mavericks’ lefthander Rob Nelson, and teammate Jim Bouton, the former New York Yankee All-Star, wanted something different and fun to chew. So they came up with a great idea – shredded bubble gum in a pouch – and called it Big League Chew. It soon became an amazing hit with ballplayers everywhere. That was over 30 years ago. Today, more and more professional and amateur players in all sports are turning to Big League Chew, a fun gum that keeps your mouth from getting dry when the game is on the line.”
Video: Derek Jeter’s First Little League Homerun
Posted in Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Media, Yankees Memories, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Videos, tagged Baseball, Derek Jeter, First Homerun, Kalamazoo, Little League, Michigan, New York Yankees on April 24, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
How to Make a Baseball Glove out of Cardboard by Mariano Rivera
Posted in Yankee Players, Yankees History, Yankees Memories, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Videos, tagged Ballfield, Baseball Glove, Bat, Brandon Steiner, Cardboard, Glove, Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees, Panama on November 25, 2012 | 5 Comments »
I’ve never seen this video before, and I just found it very humbling to watch. We’ve sat in front of our televisions for years on end and watched Mariano Rivera simply dominate the game. He is, after all, a 12-time All-Star, the all-time leader in saves, with five Rolaiads Relief Man Awards and a three time Delivery Man of the Year. If there has ever been a sure bet for the Hall of Fame, he’s it.
But growing up in Panama, his own family didn’t have the money to buy him a bat or glove. Panama, like most of the world, is a country of haves and have-nots. Given it’s climate and large tourist industry, parts of Panama feature restaurants, casinos and nightlife to rival any vacation destination. But Mariano did not grow up privileged in Panama City. He was the son of a fisherman in Puerto Caimito. There were no fancy restaurants, no casinos and no lavish nightlife. It is doubtful that you can order take-out or play cards online at partycasino.com there to this day.
Mariano didn’t even have a decent field to play on. Kids from the neighborhood made balls from old clothing and nets; rolling the material up and wrapping it up with tape. But given how Mariano and so many other great Panamanian players turned out, it seems to have mattered very little. Baseball is still a lot more about heart and determination than equipment and trappings.
Using a knife and a small piece of cardboard, he created a baseball glove. It’s just incredible to see how far he’s come. From cardboard gloves and fields without grass to Yankee Stadium and the most prestigious franchise in all of sports is simply mind boggling. It just makes you smile. [talking about his cardboard baseball glove] “I was the happiest kid in the neighborhood with this thing.” – Mo
The Art of Broadcasting a Rain Delay by Phil Rizzuto and Bill White
Posted in Yankees History, Yankees Humor, Yankees Memories, Yankees Miscellaneous, Yankees Videos, tagged Bill White, Broadcast, Funny, Phil Rizzuto, Rain Delay, Tarp, Yankee Stadium on October 7, 2012 | 1 Comment »
“Part of a Yankee telecast on WPIX TV, Channel 11 from 1986. Bill White and Phil Rizzuto broadcast a 4th inning rain delay as the Yankees played the Twins at Yankee Stadium.”
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