So, what to ask Bernie and Paulie?
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jan 26, 2008 
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Fairly busy few days coming up:
Tonight: Covering a charity event in New Rochelle featuring Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill. Not quite sure what angle to take yet. Any ideas? With these events, you’re never sure how much time you’ll get to ask questions. Sweeny Murti is the host and I plan to heckle him.
Sunday: The annual BBWAA New York Chapter dinner is in Manhattan. A-Rod, Joba, Joe Girardi and a cast of thousands. I’ve been assigned to guard the door at the pre-banquet reception to keep autograph-seekers, steroids dealers and other undesirables out. I’ll be taking bribes.
Monday: Headed over to the Yogi Berra Museum at Montclair State to participate in a conference sponsored by Penn State’s John Curley Center For Sports Journalism. I’m on a panel with the likes of Dave Anderson, Tom Verducci and Jack Curry. I assume I’ll be getting the coffee.
Tuesday: Working on a story at Yankee Stadium for our season preview section. Yes, the season preview section.
Ask Paulie if he is going to be a special instructor at ST, and if he plans on teaching the kids the fine art of smashing a water cooler without hurting ones self.
Woohoo baseball preview!!
I got my tickets in the mail for the Baltimore games. woohoo. It is close!!
Ask paulie about if he thinks girardi has what it takes and Why. Now here’s a question for you do you think there’s a no-trade clause and/or bonuses in Cano’s contract. Thanks for everything Pete.
If you see Hanky Panky just stick tell him your a reporter I am sure he would be willing to talk….
Be nice to Sweeny.
I’d ask Paul if he has any advice for Girardi.
“I’m on a panel with the likes of Dave Anderson, Tom Verducci and Jack Curry.” Impressive.
I’d love to see something comparing the old clubhouse to the planned new one. What additional ammenities can the players expect?
Say hi Jose, (in reference to fans calling him Jose Veras) (at least I think it was Jose Veras that someone thought he was).
Make sure to bring mace or atleast a tazer incase that evil Knoblauch shows up.
Ask Bernie if he would be open to a return to the stadium for example to throw out a first pitch. He seemed reluctant to last year.
Ask Paulie if he will be doing more games this year on YES.
Both of them played with Girardi and played for Torre so both could offer an opinion on how they think Girardi will be different than Torre.
Isn’t Sweeny a Penn State alum? Why isn’t he going to be at the conference at Yogis?
I can’t wait for Monday
Pete, could you ask Bernie to respond to Cashman’s charges last night that
1) Bernie reported to camp in 2005 in “bad shape”
2) that “involvement in his music took away from his play”
3) that he had a “terrible season”
4) that Torre “played Williams ahead of guys who could help us win” in 2006
I’d like to see you and Curry afford Bernie an opportunity to defend himself. Bernie is the closest thing the Yankees have had to an Exemplary Mensch on their team in recent memory.
’51′ deserved better than the cheap shots Cashman took the other night.
ask bernie if he’s gonna play cf in the last old timer’s day at Yankee Stadium.
Thak Paulie for not disgracing the Yankee uniform like Giambi, Pettitte and Clemens.
Just ask everyone “Where is Chuck Knoblauch?”
I’m a Penn State alum and it is good to see the improvement in the journalism department. I am surprised that Sweeney Murti won’t be at that event since he is a fellow alum. I graduated in ’04 with a degree in communications from PSU (my major was journalism). The sports journalism curriculum has really improved since I left.
Really, I mean WHERE is Chuck Knoblauch?!?
Paulie has to know.
“Pete, could you ask Bernie to respond to Cashman’s charges last night that
1) Bernie reported to camp in 2005 in “bad shapeâ€
2) that “involvement in his music took away from his playâ€
3) that he had a “terrible seasonâ€
4) that Torre “played Williams ahead of guys who could help us win†in 2006″
how can Bernie defend himself from claims that are true (at least #3 and #4)?
does anyone disagree that Bernie had a “terrible season” in 2005?
he hit .249/.321/.367 in 2005.
by any objective measure, it was terrible.
what Cashman said was very blunt, but it wasn’t inaccurate.
just because Bernie was a great guy, and i agree that he was, doesn’t mean Cashman should pretend he wasn’t playing poorly when he was.
now, as far as coming in out of shape, we don’t know if that is true or not. but it is not really a stretch given the results that followed.
Pete, on Monday, can you ask why none of the sportswriters have explained to their readers that the Mitchell report, on pp. 9-10, says that HGH has no real performance-enhancing effect?
or, better yet, can you explain?
I’ve been constantly perplexed as to how the sportwriters, in some sort of weird groupthink, have presented HGH & steroids as equals, have hand-wrung over how there’s no HGH test, etc. Isn’t it their responsibility to present important facts such as this?
People might not want to hear it, but Cash was right in what he said. I was shocked to read it though. And damn I wish I knew that he was going to be at William Paterson, i would have gone!!
Hi Pete,
Sounds like a tough life! Have fun.
Actually, neither #3 nor #4 are true, hmmn, but you’ll have to wait for my post on my own blog to refute Cashman’s assertions in full.
Suffice it to say, for now,
1) Bernie’s numbers in 2005 actually didn’t differ that much from Melky’s in 2007, or Bernie’s own in 2003. They don’t compare favorably with his best years but they’re hardly “terrible”. That’s what happens when a player ages if he isn’t using PED’s; his skills decline, whether he works out or no. Anyway, to call his 2005, “terrible” is at best, hyperbole and at worst, self-serving dishonesty.
2) Canard #2- Torre didn’t play Bernie over better players in 2006. Matsui and Sheffield suffered season-ending injuries, leaving Torre no alternative but to play Bernie most of the season. And after the Yankees acquired Abreu on July 31, 2006, Torre still played Melky. In fact, Melky accumulated 106 and 91 ABs in August and September, respectively, little different from the 98 AB and 99 ABS he had in June and July.
The notion that Torre, in 2006, “played Williams ahead of guys who could help us win” is an exercise in revisionist history.
Once I post a piece of greater depth on my own blog, I invite you, if so impelled, to counter, of course.
But thanks as always for the response.
Ask Bernie.. about the following:
The Times has the best round up of the joint talk Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein held Friday night. I found this part on Bernie Williams and Joe Torre interesting:
Cashman took a few jabs at Bernie Williams, the popular Yankee whose exit from the team was not on friendly terms. Cashman said that Williams was terrible in 2005, but that he brought Williams back as a farewell in 2006. After Williams had a solid year, he wanted to return for 2007. But Cashman did not sign Williams. Cashman said that Williams’s music career “took away from his play.” Interestingly, Cashman said that Joe Torre, who was then the manager, looked for ways to play Williams in 2006 “ahead of guys who could help us win,” so Cashman did not want that to happen in 2007.
Cashman got rid of Bernie rather than telling Joe how to manage his squad. That strikes me as the right thing to do as a GM. The manager is supposed to control the action on the field. If he’s doing the wrong thing, either fire the manager or take away the player. (I think you saw the same thing with Miguel Cairo last season.) As Torre goes to the Dodgers, I wonder how much playing Bernie was loyalty to Williams or a desire to play veterans. Los Angeles fans should hope it’s the former.
Pete,
Sorry that I won’t see you at MSU on Monday–I work there, but will be in Atlanta for the week. If you need a great place for dinner, try Fascino on Bloomfield Ave!
Melky 2007- .273/.327/.391 8 Hrs, 73 RBIs, 43 BBs, 545 ABs; RC/G = 4.3
Bernie 2005- .249/.321/.367 12 HRs, 64 RBIs, 53 BBs, 485 ABs; RC/G = 3.8
On condition of anonymity, Chuck Knoblauch is safely hidden in an undisclosed 5th Avenue building awaiting a November championship parade so he can see the No. 27 trophy.
wow Matt, if only there wasn’t this whole other half of the game where the players put on gloves and try to catch the balls hit by their opponents.
“.249/.321/.367″
if you don’t think this is terrible from a guy with little to no defensive value, i am not going to argue with you.
that would be *amenities*
Although they may not be welcome, lets not put “autographs seekers and steroids dealers” in the same class of undesirables Peter, not all autograph seekers are greed barons looking to make a buck selling their collectibles, and to be honest, if you do need to included autograph seekers for the sake of literal semantics, you may as well add sportwriters, because the reality is that if the players had it their way none of you would be welcome in the clubhouse/parties either.