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Looking into the future for an afternoon

January
28

The pinch hitter on the blog this morning was Rebecca, a student at Syracuse. As you can tell by her prose, there’s plenty of writing talent out there.

I had a chance to meet some other students today when I was invited to participate in a forum sponsored by the Center For Sports Journalism at Penn State.

The event was held at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center on the campus of Montclair State.

The center’s director is Malcolm Moran, a former sportswriter with the Times, the Chicago Tribune and USA Today. He was a mentor of mine when I was just out of school.

They’re doing good work in Happy Valley. The students we spoke to were sharp and seemed to have a genuine interest in the field. There are so many ways to go in this business (print, web, television, radio, etc.) and so many ways to go about it. They asked good questions.

I was on a panel with Tom Verducci (Sports Illustrated), Jack Curry (Times), Claire Smith (ESPN.com) and the great Dave Anderson (Times). It was educational for me to hear Dave talk about covering the Brooklyn Dodgers. Imagine having covered Jackie Robinson and Derek Jeter.

Our guest blogger program finishes up Thursday. It’s something I want to try again next winter and hopefully we’ll have more college students participating. There were five or six this month.
——————
If you haven’t been to Yogi’s Museum, get yourself out there. The exhibits are great, especially Yogi’s collection of World Series rings.

The New Jersey SABR conference is there on March 1 and Baseball Prospectus is having a roundtable the next day hosted by Steven Goldman.

The man himself, Mr. Berra, was on hand today. He’ll be going down to spring training on Feb. 27. “I need to talk to Girardi,” he said. “Somebody has to pick me up at the airport.”

Somehow, I’m guessing that won’t be a problem for Yogi.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 5:39 pm by Peter Abraham.
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49 Responses to “Looking into the future for an afternoon”

  1. Adam

    penn state pride

  2. Rebecca--Optimist Prime--Save the Three Musketeers!

    I’d fly down to Tampa just to pick Yogi up, and no, I am so not joking.

  3. mel

    Awww. Yogi’s the best. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Jeter may be the last.

  4. UtilityMan

    If Yogi wants to wait until the 29Th,Ill take him over to Legends Field!!

  5. S.o.S.27

    People are ripping Cashman for saying this about Bernie “Got into music, and I thought it took a lot away from his play.” I think thats not that bad. I mean Bernie was signed to a hefty contract. Gave us all he had, but in the final 3 years or so was not worth the money. Instead of retiring he put Cashman in a bad position. I dont think it was fair for Cashman to be the bad guy. Bernie could have just taken the hint that we’re in a youth movement and gracefully retired. If and when he got another offer from another team. Then unretire. Keep in mind he did invite him to spring training but he didnt show up.

  6. jay destro

    Yogi, you bring the sfogliatelle, i’ll bring the espresso. it’ll be a quick drive.

  7. S.o.S.27

    Dammit Angelos. It looks like Beddard is staying with the O’s. Here i thought Peter would finally pull the trigger and help us Yankees. I was already moving on to who can take Halliday off our hands.

  8. Rebecca--Optimist Prime--Save the Three Musketeers!

    SoS: Thing is, the Orioles are so bad that even with Bedard, I still think they’re going to finish behind Tampa. (And Toronto, Boston, New York…)

  9. Buddy Biancalana

    Don’t underestimate the Rays, they have a really good core of young talented position players as well as pitchers.

  10. Buddy Biancalana

    If the Bedard deal goes through & it still may, then Roberts goes to the Cubs for Pie & Gallagher. Not much left besides Markakis.

  11. jay destro

    Yankees don’t need a Bedard deal done either way.

  12. Buddy Biancalana

    Oh I see, now all of the sudden Angelos may sign Bedard to a five year deal, maybe the Mariners jump back in to get Johan.

  13. S.o.S.27

    jay destro
    January 28th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
    Yankees don’t need a Bedard deal done either way.

    I know the O’s suck. But Beddard always seems to shut us down. It would be nice to see less of him and Halliday yearly.IMO

    Buddy,
    I agree with you on the Rays. They might end up in third this year.

  14. Jaewon

    I’m worried about 1 team: Boston.

    Really early BASEBALL picks:

    AL East: Red Sox (sorry!)
    AL Central: Tigers
    AL West: Mariners
    AL Wild Card: Yankees

    NL: coming up

  15. Jim PA

    Rebecca-

    Great post today. You’ve got talent! The Stadium will always have a place in our hearts and in history. My first game was a double header against Baltimore in ‘66. I was nine years old, and I was hooked. Still, I would follow the Yanks anywhere- Manhattan, Jersey, or McCombs Dam Park. I’ll love the new park and give it all the respect it’s going to command. The Yankees are the Yankees, and I’m still hooked- womb to tomb.

  16. jay destro

    oh btw, any one else notice this today?

    http://thebaseballoutsider.blogspot.com/2008/01/david-cone-returns-to-new-york.html

  17. Rebecca--Optimist Prime--Save the Three Musketeers!

    Jim: Thank you!

    Jay: Pete blogged about it this morning =D

  18. Drew

    Yogi once snapped at me at the museum :( Makes for a great story.

  19. jay destro

    i missed it. sorry ms. internet savy

  20. Rebecca--Optimist Prime--Save the Three Musketeers!

    So apparently we all eat dinner at the same time.

  21. Rebecca--Optimist Prime--Save the Three Musketeers!

    testing

  22. Marc Pattavina

    Pete,

    Was there any discussions of how blogging is changing the landscape of sports journalism?

    It’s gotten to the point where your blog and a few others have gotten so good that as a reader I’m going to them before I got to the usual suspects (cnnsi.com, espn.com, etc) for the scoop on my team. I’m sure it has to have changed the way you and others work.

    As always its a pleasure reading. Keep it going.

    Marc

  23. Jennifer - Save Phil Hughes!

    Auh, Yogi if I was going down I’d give you a ride. :)

  24. Confucius

    Who is Claire Smith and why did they take away Yogi’s driving license?

  25. YaRightTalent

    Yawn

  26. Alan

    Sorry Jeawon but don’t count on the Socks repeating. They haven’t done it since 1916.
    Also, don’t count on them coming out of the gate like last year and seeing the Yankees start with a 21-29 record.

  27. Hit Me A Touchdown

    Is Phil Hughes still being offered for Johan?

    Just curious, I am a twins fan.

    I believe he is but i figured I would get some Yankee Insite.

    Thanks

  28. Buddy Biancalana

    Joba may very well start in the bullpen:

    http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3219462

  29. Jennifer - Save Phil Hughes!

    Touchdown

    Your guess is as good as ours. We’ve heard he’s off the table, than we heard there was never really a deal on the table. Personally I’d rather have Phil. I don’t want to see him traded.

  30. Buddy Biancalana

    Hughes is off the table, but who knows officially. If the Twins want to send Johan to the Yanks, it will be w/o Hughes.

  31. Hit Me A Touchdown

    alright.. thanks

    guess we have to continue to wait and see..

  32. Larry Jaffe

    Rebecca, fantastic job this morning. Sorry did not have the opp to write earlier. I will never forget the first time I went to the Stadium.

  33. Triple OG

    Still we can put a much better package together then the Mets

  34. Jennifer - Save Phil Hughes!

    As we’ve gone over a number if times, we shouldn’t have to trade the moon and stars when we have to give a 20 million a year contract. The Twins need to realize that and take it into consideration when they are asking for packages.

  35. george

    SI should can that hack Verducci & hire Rebecca, who is obviously an excellent writer.

    Since Verducci and “journalism” came up in the same context, is it just me, or does anyone else think this guy is an incredibly overrated piece of work?

    For example, it’s hard to write sillier article than this, even if one tried to do so:

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_verducci/01/15/verducci.congress/index.html

    The weirdest passage is Verducci’s idea that “the Mitchell Report, as an institutional vehicle, worked”. Which, since the aftermath has been a bloody mess, is a passage that can best be explained as follows: either Verducci is 1000 degrees of fried, or Verducci likes access to people he can quote in his articles, and you get access to power by brown-nosing power…. Typical problem with “journalists”.

    So SI, can Verducci and bring on Rebecca. That would be a first step towards making something other than the swimsuit issue readable.

  36. Rebecca--Optimist Prime--Save the Three Musketeers!

    Larry: Thank you!

    George: Hah, you got me blushing. I totally misread that last line…so I kind of just fell out of my chair laughing.

  37. Hit Me A Touchdown

    yeah,

    i guess we gotta wait and see what the deal is if one ever happens.

    then i will be open to judge the offers.

  38. Rockin' Rich

    I got my tix today for 3/9 Twins and Yanks in Ft. Meyers. I am a happy boy!

    Kudos for participating in the journalism thing, Peter. Though print newspapers are having tough times, you’ve shown that savvy reporters who interact with readers will succeed. I’m astonished that it doesn’t happen more often, but you’ve certainly shown the way.

    That’s the future!

  39. Jennifer - Save Phil Hughes!

    I got my tickets Saturday for Yankees vs Baltimore in Baltimore! :)

  40. whozat

    “Joba may very well start in the bullpen:”

    Wow, that was just a rehash of stuff we’ve heard a hundred times.

  41. Jennifer - Save Phil Hughes!

    whozat

    tell that to the newspaper writers.

  42. Bronx Liaison

    Don’t know if anyone saw it on ESPN, but there is a nonstory about Joba possibly starting the season in the pen.

    This is basically old news, but the article has some very good quotes from Eiland. The part about Hughes especially seems to prove the idea that the Yankees will hold onto Phil in spite of any Santana offer.

    http://bronx-bomberz.blogspot.com/2008/01/espn-joba-may-start-in-pen.html

  43. Buddy Biancalana

    “Joba may very well start in the bullpen:”

    Wow, that was just a rehash of stuff we’ve heard a hundred times.
    —————————————————————————————-

    True, but now it’s coming from Dave Eiland, before it was Hank etc…

  44. hmmm

    “The part about Hughes especially seems to prove the idea that the Yankees will hold onto Phil in spite of any Santana offer.”

    i didn’t get that from the quote. he can still be traded. all he is saying that Phil Hughes, IF he isn’t traded, will start the season in the Yankees’ rotation. he doesn’t have to worry about “making the team”.

    but Hank can and may still trade him.

  45. Bronx Liaison

    Hmmm

    i didn’t get that from the quote. he can still be traded. all he is saying that Phil Hughes, IF he isn’t traded, will start the season in the Yankees’ rotation. he doesn’t have to worry about “making the team”.

    but Hank can and may still trade him.

    Obviously Hank can still turn around and trade him. But this is the first time I’ve heard any Yankee coaching staff talking about Hughes pitching in ST. Sure the possibility is there, but the fact that the pitching coach refers to Hughes as an intricate member of the team going into camp is a departure from the more vague references only weeks ago.

    I wasn’t saying “Oh, Hughes is untradeable,” but I did think it is a more explicit implication that he won’t be traded. In the end, I agree Hank (believes) he holds all the cards and a trade can still go down. But this leads one to think otherwise, IMO

  46. Rebecca--Optimist Prime--Save the Three Musketeers!

    The Yankees didn’t do a whole lot to rehash their bullpen this offseason, did they?

  47. hmmm

    “The Yankees didn’t do a whole lot to rehash their bullpen this offseason, did they?”

    i guess you were napping when they replaced Joe Torre with Joe Girardi, huh?

    just kidding folks.

    kindof.

  48. Jim Clark

    Any of these “sharp minds” at PSU ask Jack Curry and Dave Anderson how exactly their rag could ignore facts and responsible journalism by trying to put three Duke students jail on rape charges because of the color of their skin? Did Verducci say anything on how his SI colleague Jon Heyman reported last October 23 that Torre in spring wanted a one year $4.5 million extension, which makes those who thought the one year $5 million offer not an “insult” but actually a raise?

  49. george

    Jim, excellent questions.

    following is a generalization – of course there are exceptions in the print media – however i think this is largely correct: all the journalists who puzzle over the decline of print media need to look in the mirror: why would anyone in their right mind pay to read the NY Times or SI when the quality of information is so dismal, as these examples show? why is the quality of info so dismal? why aren’t the journalists more investigative & free-thinking, instead of falling into group-think?

    this blog is excellent – Pete’s posts kick off good discussions, and the people commenting are far more insightful & knowledgeable than what you get in the print media. i don’t see how the print media can compete long-term with such new media if it doesn’t up its standards dramatically.

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Peter AbrahamPeter Abraham is the Yankees beat writer for The Journal News and LoHud.com. E-mail me at pabraham@lohud.com

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