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Memorable night for the Chamberlain family

Peter Abraham
September
8

Tonight was one of those nights when you had to work hard to screw up the story.

To see Harlan Chamberlain crying as he watched his son pitch, then to see Joba hitting 101 mph on the mound … well, as a writer it doesn’t get much better.

Joba told us he had no idea where his family was in the crowd but he could hear the voice of his sister Tasha when he was on the mound. He wasn’t surprised to hear about his father crying.

“Not one bit,� he said. “He’s as proud as father as anybody can be.�

After the game was over, little Karter Chamberlain (Joba’s son) was crying his eyes out in the lobby outside the clubhouse. Tasha was organizing a postgame party in Joba’s room and Harlan was sitting on the scooter talking to reporters.

His dad is a piece of work. He said he was prepared for Billy Butler’s ball to go over the wall because he knows Joba is going to give up a run eventually. “Matter of time,” he said.

After we got done speaking to him, Joe Torre came out of the clubhouse. Seeing Joba’s dad, he walked over.

“How did my boy do for you, Joe?â€? the proud father asked as he shook the manager’s hand.

“Pretty damn good,� Torre said. “We’re going to keep him.�

Woo, I couldn’t wait to get upstairs to write.

Here is Joba’s postgame interview:

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at 1:32 am by Peter Abraham.
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59 Responses to “Memorable night for the Chamberlain family”

  1. kasey

    god, that’s cool. what a great kid and a great story. i hope he’s up to stay.

  2. Jen Wild Omar

    future legend that he is…

  3. Rebecca--The Queen of Optimism

    Only those with a heart of stone can’t be moved by this story.

    Man, I can’t wait to have Joba on the mound in October…

    (how cool would it be if he finished the season without allowing a run? I know it’s not likely, but still…)

  4. Ben

    Such a great story. I can’t believe Joba is 21, listening to him give an interview.

  5. Joe da man

    Joba has more class than “mark” apparently.

  6. Registration

    Well Thanks McLovin you just installed Registration for everyone FOR SURE. By the way the only the Super Bad is going to be watching the BOSUX in October!

  7. populoso

    I can’t get over Singleton circling Joba’s father’s tears. Good Lord.

  8. Stacey

    Joba has a son?!

  9. mr met on roids

    class? you have buchholz on your team. dont talk about class

  10. Stef

    Joba’s son has been mentioned in several articles now. He’s just a toddler. Here’s one of them:

    http://www.nypost.com/seven/08.....nkees_.htm

  11. Mehdi the Troll killa

    Mark, get over it. You’d think he actually hit him, the way you Red Scum fans go on moaning about it. By the way Daniel Cabrera for President you muppet!

  12. Stef

    That link didn’t wrap right, but here’s the except on Karter from Serby’s piece Q&A with Joba:

    Q: What is your [15-month-old] son Karter like?

    A: If you’re having a rough one and you go home, he brightens up your day. When you see him run to you and smile and give him a hug, it’s the best thing.

    Q: Are you married?

    A: No. I’ve got a girlfriend.

    Q: She takes care of Karter?

    A: Back in Lincoln [Nebraska].

  13. Pete Feng

    Peter, thank you for the hard work on Joba’s family. It is wonderful! What a great family! I am looking forward to learn more about Joba and other players of Yankees in the future through this blog. You really have done great job here. Thank you.

  14. Stacey

    No…Joba doesn’t have sex. None of the kids on the Yankees do.

  15. Will

    it was heartwarming when they showed his dad crying, but the telestrating of the tears was pretty funny. Thanks for pointing them out, John Singleton!!

  16. buchholz eleven

    don;t worry about it mark next time we wont miss.

  17. whoa

    “Why didn’t he try to hit someone in the head for his father? Twice?”

    Wow, you can read minds. That’s damn impressive.

  18. whoa

    “don;t worry about it mark next time we wont miss.”

    We? What team do you play for?

  19. Khoa

    Ignore him. A reaction’s all he’s wanting anyway. GO JOBA!

  20. buchholz eleven

    whatever, registration cant come soon enough.

  21. buchholz eleven

    and we as in the yankees. like we say we will win in iraq but none of you are even out there. but w.e.

  22. whoa

    Yeah, I’m sure Peter wants posters to register for his blog who think that their team shouldn’t miss Yankee hitters with 90+ mph fastballs. I mean, who wouldn’t want someone with such good character to participate in a discussion.

  23. whoa

    We will win in Iraq by installing a Shiite dominated gov’t so that Iran can expand their influence there? Sounds like a plan.

  24. buchholz eleven

    i was talking about our guys (yankees) hitting them, or do you just never ever read the comments and see that i am always mowing down trolls.

    iraq was an example, johnny come lately.

  25. buchholz eleven

    an example of the use of we, that everyone loves to hastily jump on.

  26. Mehdi the Troll killa

    Hmm sounds like no other alternative. The sunni’s are not going to rule Iraq anymore. The US invasions saw to that. Iran’s influence is already grown heavily in the country and that’s with 150k+ US troops in the country. So I know you were being sarcastic but that’s the only logical plan because that’s the situation the US has created for itself and the region.

  27. whoa

    Oh, my bad then. No, I don’t usually read comments of posters with user names that might suggest a Red Sox tie in.

    To the point: I don’t want engage in a beanball war. I think the Yankees are the better team on the field. They don’t need suspensions or distractions.

  28. Ben

    Buchholz, why are you even posting here, other than to be a punk?

    How many laptops was your dream boy busted for stealing and reselling? Was it 28, or 29?

    The Red Sox are praised for seeing past this guy’s character flaws, and drafting him when he dropped that low. We’ll see how Lucchino feels when he starts stealing other player’s meal money, making claims for a couple hundred here and a couple hundred there.

    No hitter, my a$$. At least Joba is a real person who loves and respects his family.

  29. whoa

    Partition, per the Biden plan.

  30. Mehdi the Troll killa

    Right which what the British did to begin with and here we are today.

  31. Mehdi the Troll killa

    Ben I think Bucholz 11 is a yankee fan.

  32. whoa

    At least it limits the reach of the Shia Crescent.

    I’m going to stop though, because we have gone OT too much.

  33. Mehdi the Troll killa

    Shia crescent wasn’t going further than Iraq. The only reason it’s so big in Iraq is cause of some of it’s holiest sites are there, anyways the Shia aren’t even the real problem, the Al Queda types are not Shia, but you are righ we are going way OT.

  34. E-ROC

    Solid win by the Yankees. Kennedy went 5 strong innings and we won a close one.

  35. E-ROC

    Kevin Thompson was signed by the Oakland A’s.

  36. Thomas

    The squirrel is Shia

  37. Dr. Acula

    *Long Live The Empire*

    .

    .

    .

    http://tinyurl.com/2×2q6a

  38. Dr. Acula

    A Mosaic of Last Night’s Game

    http://tinyurl.com/yo8xdx

  39. Dr. Acula

    On Friday, Harlan was elated to see his son and lap up the big-league atmosphere. He made sure to meet as many Yankees as possible, sitting in his scooter near the on-deck circle in batting practice and stopped players as they walked out to stretch. “Mr. Posada. I’m Joba’s dad.” “Hello, Mr. Mussina? I’m Joba’s father.”

    For those whose attention Harlan failed to grab, other players did the job. Johnny Damon ushered over Mariano Rivera. Someone nudged Derek Jeter, who came over talking about “Jabba the Hutt.” Jason Giambi leaned over for a hug and Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes, Cano and Joe Torre stopped to chat.

    Harlan was one of hundreds of fans who traveled from Lincoln. In Joba’s mind, his dad was clearly the most important. “For him to be able to come down and get the treatment he deserves, that’s great,” Joba said. “Life is really, really precious.”

    http://www.newsday.com/sports/.....3296.story

  40. Dr. Acula

    Okay, let me try this again.

    *Long Live The Empire*

    (take II)

    http://tinyurl.com/2×2q6a

  41. Dr. Acula

    We do need an edit button.

    Okay – lets try again

    http://img256.imageshack.us/im.....ansgx2.jpg

  42. Dr. Acula

    cool, it works.

  43. E-ROC

    Dr. Acula–Why are u talking to yourself, lol?! Kiddin’.

  44. Pete Feng

    Dr. Acula

    Thanks for posting the pics. I really enjoyed. I can not wait to see you post the pics after the series at Boston. I love the pics you post for the last Yankees-RedSox series. Keep up the good work!

  45. Dr. Acula

    E-ROC-

    Why I outtta [shakes fist, Homer like]

  46. Dr. Acula

    Thanks, Peter!!

  47. E-ROC

    LOL, @ Dr. Acula!

    We have a good pitching match up for tonight’s game. Pettitte vs Bannister…I wish I could see that game. Have we faced Bannister this year? I don’t think we have. I wish Brett Gardener would have gotten a chance to show his skills.

  48. rover

    hmmmmmm,,, wonder what harlan did so right that did so wrong?

  49. rover

    I did so wrong

  50. Mike NYY

    We really need registration here. Its hard to weed through all the pointless posts and the trolls to find the good ones.

    Great stories on Harlan and Joba though.

    What is Joba’s entrance song? I`ve mostly heard that its Indian Outlaw but over at River Avenue Blues they said it was Smells Like Teen Spirit

    BTW, Rebecca’s blog looks great

  51. YankeesLuv

    That was great to see Joba’s dad tear up like that, very sweet.
    I can’t believe Joba has a son, he’s just a baby himself. :o

  52. Rebecca--The Queen of Optimism

    From the ESPN article:

    “When his son’s first pitch registered 99 mph on the radar gun, the older man whooped with glee and pointed toward the scoreboard yelling, “Ninety-nine! Ninety-nine!”"

    “”If I can be half the man and half the father he was, I’ll be very, very happy and have a great life,” he said.

    Afterward, Joba said he’d been able to concentrate on the game and shut out every sight, sound and emotion but one.

    “I heard my sister,” he said. “For some reason, that’s one of those voices where you’re just like, ‘Oh, gosh. There she is.’ I wasn’t even trying to hear it. That’s one of those high-pitched voices you hate to hear.”

    This is probably one of the greatest stories I’ve heard in a long time…

  53. gayle

    One of the best things was how earlier int he day Pete had written that when Harlan had gone up to Torre he called him Mr. Torre and Torre told him to call him Joe. Then here they were at the end of the night and Harlan said how did my boy do Joe. This is such a great story I can only hope that all good things come to this family and that the media glare doesnt hurt them.

  54. LathamJoe

    What a great human interest story! I could almost feel the emotion through the TV…its stuff that movies are made of.
    Joba has uncommon poise for a 21-year old whose made the leap from single A to MLB. The pressure of holding a slim
    1-run lead, piching in front of his dad, family and friends must have been enormous – great performance! (99-101 mph fastball helps, too)

    Dr.Acula (is that a homonym form Dracula?): Great photos as usual. Thanks!

  55. T.J.

    nice story about joba peter. thanks for the article and pictures dr. acula.

  56. mark

    Did he throw at anyone’s head? I hear he’s good at that. Damn slippery ball.

  57. Go NYR

    No, he throw at anyone because he only hits scumbags and the Red Sox have plenty.

  58. Go NYR

    I cant wait for registration. These BloSox losers have no lifes

  59. saucy

    wow mark, “waaaahh!” would have been much easier for you to type…

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About the authors
Chad JenningsChad Jennings joined the The Journal News in October 2009, having spent the better part of seven years covering baseball in Scranton, PA. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri and an award-winning beat reporter and features writer. E-mail me at cjennings@lohud.com
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Sam BordenSam Borden is an award-winning journalist who joined The Journal News and LoHud.com in January 2008. He covered the Yankees for the New York Daily News from 2004-06, and has also worked as a columnist for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. E-mail me at sborden@lohud.com
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