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This belongs to you. Take it back...
baseball 
Sat Jul 04, 2009 at 18:08:13 PM EDT
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70 years ago today, a native New Yorker who became probably the greatest first baseman of all time playing for one of the hometown teams, said goodbye to the game with a speech in the Bronx.
Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.
"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.
"So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you."
- Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939
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Tue Apr 15, 2008 at 19:16:22 PM EDT
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Today is Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball. It was 61 years ago today that Jackie Robinson became the first African American player in the major leagues when he suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, a couple of miles down Bedford Avenue from where I post this.
Governor Paterson, our first African American governor, will throw out the first pitch tonight at Shea Stadium, where my beloved Mets will take on the Washington Nationals. All players on both teams will wear Robinson's 42 on their jerseys.
This is one of my favorite photographs of all time. it shows Jackie Robinson stealing home. Against the Yankees. In the World Series.
They don't make them like Jackie any more.
Consider this an open thread.
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Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 22:38:06 PM EDT
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Admit it, you love baseball. You're a New Yorker, it's in your blood. Don't fret. You are among friends. We understand. Need an outlet for that excess of baseball zeal? Why not join the The Albany Project Fantasy Baseball League? It's easy and fun. I don't care if you are a Yankees fan (though I do think you may be deranged) or a Mets fan (like myself, obviously), we accept all those of all faiths.
The league page can be found here (ID# 236733). It's a 12 team rotisserie league, universal between both the AL and the NL, and our draft will take place Sunday morning at 11am EST. If you'd like to join us, the password is ilovejoebruno.
I have a feeling that this is going to be loads of fun. Hope you'll join us.
UPDATE: Only 6 4 1 slot left!
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Thu Feb 14, 2008 at 22:09:18 PM EST
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Brian McNamee's lawyer suggested today that Roger Clemens would be pardoned by President George W. Bush. His rationale for this is because of how hard his client (McNamee) was hit by the Republicans during yesterday's hearings.
"It would be the easiest thing in the world for George W. Bush, given the corrupt proclivities of his administration, to say Roger Clemens is an American hero, Roger Clemens helped children," Emery said in a telephone interview. "It's my belief they have some reason to believe they can get a pardon."
I watched the hearings yesterday. Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) really hammered McNamee on false statements that McNamee made and DID admit to making yesterday. So in that regard, if McNamee made false statements and he admits to them, then questions should center on those issues.
But I tend to agree with the basic premise here. We all know that Bush was owner of the Texas Rangers and he is a huge baseball fan. So I could envision a Clemens pardon should we reach that point.
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Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 17:47:55 PM EST
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I was really sad to see one of my favorite Mets, Paul Lo Duca, go to the Nationals recently. Now, it looks like the Nats have a juicer on their hands.
He was apparently using human growth hormone and it appears everybody knew it. Check out this internal discussion about Lo Duca by the Dodgers in 2003:
Steroids aren't being used anymore on him. Big part of this. Might have some value to trade . . . Florida might have interest.. . . Got off the steroids . . . Took away a lot of hard line drives.. . . Can get comparable value back would consider trading. . . . If you do trade him, will get back on the stuff and try to show you he can have a good year. That's his makeup. Comes to play. Last year of contract, playing for 05.
Sad.
UPDATE Now that I think about it, maybe I should have seen this coming...
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Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 13:04:40 PM EST
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New York Yankee pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte were juiced.
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Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 12:25:44 PM EST
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(Join me at the Pub Quiz for Himes Saturday Night! - promoted by phillip anderson)
(Cross-posted at Daily Kos.)
Chris Shays (CT-04) has been in office for two long (too long) decades.
Over that time, he's had the opportunity to question countless witnesses in Congressional hearings - questionable, criminal, devious, and laughable characters ranging from Brownie to Rummy to Wolfie.
The other day, he gave an interview to a major national website. And guess who he told them had exhibited the "worst behavior" he's seen in Congress over all those years?
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Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 00:22:47 AM EDT
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An asterisk, a thousand words.
Those of you who know me personally know that I'm something of a baseball fanatic. The thing about Barry Bonds that breaks my heart is that he didn't need the "juice". He was always going to be a Hall of Famer. Always. He is one of the best pure athletes the game ever produced; superb fielder, great base stealer, great clutch hitter and the guy who always has scared the ever livin' hell out of other teams and their pitchers at the plate. He didn't need to juice but only the most die hard Barry partisans even try to deny that he did so. Barry Bonds is, without a doubt, one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Look at the numbers, they're sick. That's what makes this so sad. He cheated, pure and simple and now he "owns" one of the greatest records in all of American sports.
Roll over Hank Aaron, tell Babe Ruth the news...
Affix that asterisk, America. Baseball deserved better and someone from such a stellar baseball lineage, as Barry Bonds certainly is, should know it.
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Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 17:12:27 PM EDT
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The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal. I opted to crosspost this here because both Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson are important figures in New York's history.
My first love is baseball. I am a Yankee fan. Please don't snicker. Rooting for the Yankees doesn't make me a bad person. However, as another opening day approaches, I want to acknowledge the cultural importance of two Brooklyn Dodgers: team President Branch Rickey and second baseman Jackie Robinson. This season marks the 60th anniversary of their collaboration to break major league baseball's color barrier.
Baseball is America's enduring pastime. Hence, the game is a snapshot of America's soul. Prior to Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, baseball was at the forefront of America's institutionalized bigotry. Racism was not stigmatized in that era. Indeed, bigotry was mainstream. Just consider the story of Jimmy Claxton.
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