The LoHud Yankees Blog

For most of us, the connection to baseball comes through the voices of others – specifically TV or radio announcers. Those people who tell and describe and inform are our way into the games and the people and the stories. It’s not surprising that fans are so particular (and critical) about the broadcasters of the teams they follow.

I thought Kevin did a fantastic job this morning talking about Mel Allen – the Gehrig story is absolutely priceless – and it got me thinking about the announcers that resonate for me. Now, admittedly, because of my job I don’t watch and/or listen to a ton of sports when I’m not working (lest my marriage fall apart), but there are two announcers who can pull me into just about anything.

1. Vin Scully: Best pipes in the business, now and forever. Satellite radio has made listening to him in the car on the way home a regular occurrence, but if you want the essence of baseball on the radio than you’ve got to listen to this. I think I’ve posted it on here before, but it’s worth the repeat. It’s just dynamite.

2. Marv Albert: Growing up a Knicks (and Rangers fan), Marv was a staple. I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but to me, Marv meant the game was important. I could listen to him do anything – even if it was “extensive gar-baaaage time.”

Today pinch hitter is Kevin Rozell, who looked beyond the roster and the front office to write about a different sort of Yankees legend.

You might know Kevin’s work from Zell’s Pinstripe Blog, but his Yankees roots run much deeper. “My Grandpa Danny was fortunate enough to see Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play at the original Yankee Stadium when he was a child,” Kevin wrote. Kevin has been blogging since March of 2008 and hopes to eventually work for the Yankees in some capacity.

“I haven’t been around to witness all the Yankees great moments,” he wrote. “But trust me when I say that I’ve done my research and I know the history. I love watching them play, but at the same time I like to act as if I’m the GM and manager.”

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“Hello there, everybody!” That’s one of the many catchphrases you might have heard by Melvin Allen Israel during his Yankees broadcasts. He was born on February 14, 1913, in Birmingham, Alabama. His love for the game of baseball as a young boy would play a big role in his life.

The future sportscaster attended the University of Alabama where he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. He served as the public address announcer at Alabama football games. In 1933, Birmingham’s WBRC was in need of a new play-by-play announcer and Alabama coach Frank Thomas suggested Israel fill the position. It was his first job behind the microphone. Israel’s first broadcast was Alabama’s home opener that year, against Tulane. He went on to earn a law degree from Alabama, but his boyhood love for baseball led him to become first a sports columnist and then a radio announcer.

Soon after graduating from Alabama in 1937, Allen took a train to New York City for a vacation, and he never turned back. While on vacation, he auditioned for the CBS Radio Network as a staff announcer. They already knew about him, as the network’s top sportscaster, Ted Husing, had heard many of his Crimson Tide broadcasts. They hired him at $45 a week. In his first year at CBS, he announced the crash of the Hindenburg. CBS suggested that Mel go by a different on-air last name, so he chose Allen, his father’s middle name. He legally changed his last name to Allen in 1943.

In 1938, Mel landed his first Major League Baseball assignment, as a color commentator for the World Series. Not long after that, Wheaties wanted Allen to replace Arch McDonald as the voice of the Senators, but Washington’s owner Clark Griffith wanted Walter Johnson behind the microphone. McDonald was moving to New York as the first full-time radio voice of the NY Yankees and NY Giants. Allen’s big break came in June 1939, when Garnett Marks, McDonald’s partner on Yankee broadcasts, twice mispronounced Ivory soap as “Ovary Soap.” He was fired and Allen replaced him. McDonald went back to Washington after only one season, so Allen became the Yankees and Giants lead announcer. He was able to do the work for both teams because only the home games were broadcasted.

Allen recounted a memory that occurred during his first full season as the announcer of the Yankees. Lou Gehrig had been forced to retire the previous year due to the disease he was fighting. Gehrig spoke to Mel in the team’s dugout and said, “Mel, I never got a chance to listen to your games before, because I was playing every day. But I want you to know they’re the only thing that keeps me going.” Allen waited until Gehrig left the dugout, and then broke down in tears.

Allen all together called 22 World Series on radio and television, including 18 in a row from 1946-1963. When the Yankees didn’t appear in the Fall Classic, he was called upon anyway to be the play-by-play man (which only happened four times in 18 years).

In 1964, he was fired at only 51-years of age. Back in September of that year, the Yankees informed Allen that his contract would not be renewed. Baseball Commissioner Ford C. Frick honored the Yankees request to have Phil Rizzuto join the broadcast crew instead. The Yankees received tons of letters from angry fans about Allen’s absence from the booth during the World Series. The team issued a press release announcing Allen’s firing — he was replaced by Joe Gargoyle — but the Yankees never gave an explanation. Years later, Allen said he was fired under pressure from the team’s longtime sponsor, Ballantine Beer, as a cost-cutting move because they had poor sales for years.

Eventually, the Yankees allowed Allen to perform as a speaker at special Yankee Stadium ceremonies. He did Old Timers’ Day, which he originally handled when he was the lead announcer. He was also able to take part in the number-retirement ceremonies. He worked for the Yankees again from 1976 to 1985 and was brought back to the Yankees’ on-air team as a pre/post-game host for the cable telecasts with John Sterling. He also started called play-by-play again. Mel announced Yankees cable telecasts on Sports Channel New York with Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Frank Messer, and occasionally, Fran Healy. Allen made several appearances on Yankee telecasts and commercials into the late 1980s. In 1990, Allen called play-by-play for a WPIX Yankees game to become baseball’s first seven-decade announcer.

Awards and Accolades
• Inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 1972.
• 1978 – Mel was the first recipient (with Red Barber) of the Ford C. Frick Award
• Inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.
• Inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1985.
• Inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.
• Inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
• Ranked #2 by the American Sportscasters Association in its list of the Top 50 Sportscasters of All-Time (January 2009).

Allen moved to Greenwich, Connecticut in his later years and died on June 16, 1996. Years after his death, he is still promoted as having been the “Voice of the New York Yankees.” On July 25, 1998, the Yankees dedicated a plaque in his memory for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque stands in the new ballpark today and calls him “A Yankee institution, a national treasure.”

After returning home from its trip to Asia, the  World Series trophy will be on display this Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Westchester County Center. Admission is free, display hours are from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and folks are encouraged to bring cameras because you’ll be allowed to take pictures with the trophy. I’m sure it will be a mob scene but it’s a pretty cool opportunity for local fans.

For details on how to get to the County Center, check out its website.

So, apparently the fascination with the Yankees payroll crosses over a variety of sports lines. In one of the more bizarre pseudo-rips of the Yankees free-spending ways (and Brian Cashman), Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti – yup, an NFL owner – said this at a press conference today (tip of the hat to good friend Peter Schmuck at the Baltimore Sun):

“It certainly doesn’t show up in the standings,” Bisciotti said. “If I’m a Yankees fan, I’m upset we’re not winning 130 games with the roster that they have and the money that they pay out. I think it’s a disgrace they only beat the average team by 10 games in the standings with three times the money. I’d fire that GM. You don’t need a GM. All you have to do is buy the last Cy Young Award winner every year.”

Obviously Bisciotti is a fan of the NFL’s salary cap structure, but the strange thing about this quote is that it could actually be taken as an argument against salary caps. After all, if allowing a team to spend whatever it wants doesn’t guarantee 130 wins and a title every year – as Bisciotti points out – than what’s the point of having one at all?

Either way, doesn’t Bisciotti have, like, bigger things to worry about? You know, like the NFL possibly shutting down?

Some of you may remember Randy Winn from his time with the (then) Devil Rays, particularly Oct. 3, 1999 – when he hit an inside-the-park grand slam off Jeff Juden. You don’t see that everyday.

Eleven years later, Winn is now a member of the Yankees and he got on the phone with a west coast reporter from the AP yesterday to talk about joining his new team. It remains to be seen just how much playing time Winn will get – he’ll be competing with Brett Gardner during spring training – but he does provide the so-called “veteran presence” and it’ll be interesting to see if he can impart any wisdom about base-stealing (he averages 21 a year) or defense.

“They’re the World Series champions from last year and I have a chance to compete and get some playing time,” Winn said. “I thought it was a great fit, being a versatile guy who can play all three outfield positions and can hit anywhere in the lineup.”

At the very least, Winn has come up with an approach for how to handle himself in the clubhouse and with the media.

“I’ll be low-key,” he said. “I’ll let (Alex) Rodriguez, (Derek) Jeter and CC (Sabathia) do all the talking.”

Although the Fox network normally runs its Saturday package of games in the afternoon, there will be (at least) two primetime games on Saturday this year and – not surprisingly – the Yankees will be part of both of them.

On May 22 (when the Yankees play the Mets) and on June 26  (when they play the Dodgers), Fox will show regional coverage with the Yankees games being the top bill in both cases.

Truthfully, I’ve never quite understood why Fox doesn’t just put all of its games in primtime. Saturday programming is notoriously weak, so why not give baseball a shot?

(Personal aside: As a writer, I’ve always hated 4 p.m. games anyway — they’re just early enough to make it impossible to do much before heading to the park and just late enough that it’s tough to make plans to do anything after you’re done working.)

As I was reading the guest post from the 6-pound Boys this morning, I found myself pausing over the part where they used CC Sabathia’s impact on the Brewers in 2008 as the prime example of a trade deadline smash. So, since I’m not bogged down today discussing The Show That Everyone Watched Last Night, I decided to go back and relive CC’s second-half a little, and see if it really was as good as we all seemed to think it was.

Short answer: Uh, yeah.

After being traded to the Brewers on July 8, Sabathia started 17 times, going 11-2 with seven complete games. Seven! That was most in the National League (despite having only played there for less than three months) and only two less than MLB-leader Roy Halladay had during a full season.

Sabathia also threw 130 2/3 innings during his 17 starts in  that stretch – or just about the same number that Wandy Rodriguez threw for the Astros in 25 starts over the entire schedule. Sabathia also struck out 132 hitters with the Brewers – a total that would have tied him (with Jorge De La Rosa and Matt Garza) for 56th in season totals for the entire league.

Sabathia faced 516 batters and allowed an opposing OBP of .265. He threw 1,881 pitches, 67 percent of which were strikes. He once threw three complete games in a row, four in six starts and six out of 10 outings. He finished the season by pitching his final three games on three-days rest (winning two and going the distance in the finale). That’s super-human stuff.

I once talked with Sabathia about what the run was like and, as is his way, he low-keyed the whole thing. Said he was just doing his best, trying to help the team, etc. Then he laughed and we started talking about basketball. That’s just Sabathia’s way.

He can’t deny, though, that those 17 starts with the Brewers were something special. When fans (and GMs) talk about making an impact trade for their team at the deadline, the hope – the dream – is to get something like that.

Next up in the Pinch Hitters series are Conor Cashel and Kevin Seefried, who looked into the future to find possible deadline additions who could help the Yankees this season.

From the About page of their blog, 6 Pound 8 Ounce Baby Joba: ”At the age of 5, Conor Cashel and Kevin Seefried became die-hard Yankee fans. And nothing has changed since. From collecting baseball cards, to practicing John Sterling’s famous ‘Thaaaaaaaa Yankees WIN,’ to reading every article written about the Yanks, Conor and Kevin live, sleep, eat, and breathe Yankee baseball. The friends grew up in Westchester, New York, but have since moved to Denver, CO (Kevin) and Boston, MA (Conor). Inspired by the Hot Stove season, the blog was started in early December of 2008.”

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Right around July 24th, every blogger, journalist, crazed fan, and third-string catcher pulls for an addition to their team. Sometimes it works out (2008, CC Sabathia, Milwaukee). Other times, not so much (2009, Freddy Sanchez, San Francisco). Regardless, baseball lovers won’t shut up about anything transaction-related during the last two weeks of July.

Mid-season holes are unpredictable. Couldn’t Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez or Robinson Cano get injured in a June freak accident? (Dear Lord Baby Joba, I hope not). A big injury to a positional staple would spark a hunt for a player in his contract year who could take over (like Felipe Lopez in Milwaulkee when Ricky Weeks moved to the DL).

Midseason moves cause a sudden impact, so triggers are often pulled prematurely. Brian Cashman isn’t known for July blockbusters; Shawn Chacon, Wilson Betemit, and Xavier Nady highlight an unimpressive “acquired by the Yanks midseason from 2001-2009” list. Still, he did bring in David Justice to help the Yanks win ring 26. Nick Johnson, Curtis Granderson, and Javy Vazquez are already in tow, but in the words of Kenny Williams, “There’s always another move to be made.”

The level of unpredictability in the Yankees rotation is pretty high (think Everest). CC Sabathia’s the only stable rock; A.J. Burnett has a jones for getting injured and has less consistency than Chuck Knoblauch’s arm; Andy Pettitte’s old (baseball years); Javy Vazquez is dealing with variables: new stadium, league switch, NY return; then there’s a half dozen arms duking it out for slot number 5. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a midseason deal for a co-ace to complement CC as the Yanks run for a repeat. Co-aces possibly entering their contract years include Brandon Webb, Josh Beckett and Cliff Lee. Of that trio, Webb is the likeliest to be available, as his squad may very well be out of contention by July.

Webb’s career to date is enviable by most every pitcher (non-King Felix division): 3.27 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and a Cy Young (plus, twice runner-up). His devastating sinker would induce grounders at a Bronx stadium where fly balls seem to party beyond the right field fence. Shoulder injuries kept him out from Opening Day onward in ’09, but if he’s back to his usual self, Arizona may look for a better return than two first round picks.

After dealing away Austin Jackson, Arodys Vizcaino, and Mike Dunn, though, Cashman may be reluctant to deal more top prospects. It comes down to A.J. and Javy, if they pitch to their potential, Webb will stay in the desert or find a non-Steinbrenner-owned home; if they struggle, Webb will feel how the pinstripes pop.

Barring an injury as catastrophic as the plague, the infield will go unchanged; the outfield, however, could see changes if Nick Swisher reverts to his Chicago form, Curtis Granderson’s sinistrophobia worsens, or Brett Gardner hits like Brett Gardner.

Josh Willingham, Rajai Davis, Hunter Pence, and Luke Scott may be made available when their teams fall out of contention; all earn more than the league minimum and their GMs wouldn’t mind shedding some salary and collecting young talent. The big fish, of course, is a Ray; Carl Crawford’s contract runs out at year’s end, but Tampa is likely to hold onto Carl. Even if the Rays fell out of the race, the Yanks won’t sell the farm for two months of Crawford; rather, they’d wait until winter and buy him.

Aside from Carl, the only promising outfielder with an expiring contract is Jayson Werth, who the Phillies don’t figure to have any interest in losing as they defend their NL Crown. The Yanks will sign either Werth or Crawford next winter (86.678% certain), which makes acquisitions of the signed-past-2010 quartet I mentioned earlier doubtful.

That said, I don’t see an impact outfielder arriving in New York any time after February 20th. The Yanks will either acquire someone before the season, or after it, the midseason options just don’t line up with their long-term plans.

As for the bullpen, don’t look for any swaps midseason. The Yanks have more depth than the Mariana’s Trench, and can demote/call-up as necessary until the ‘pen is tolerable. Cashman is the poster-boy of the “I don’t overpay for relief” philosophy, so the biggest bullpen addition will likely be Mark Melancon or Ivan Nova.

Deadline deals are meant to fill holes; which the Yanks don’t have any of the glaring genre… yet. Cashman won’t give up much for marginal upgrades (ie Rajai Davis over Brett Gardner), but if a move increases the probability of ring twenty-eight, he’ll look into it. Thus, a Brandon Webb acquisition is realistic, while there’s an ant-sized chance that Bronson Arroyo sports the pinstripes in 2010; Arroyo’s barely an upgrade over Sergio Mitre or any in-house starter; Webb, though, would give the Yanks a 1-2 punch for mowing through the playoffs. The deadline isn’t for six months, but already we can see July headlines shaping.

Rich Aurilia is a Brooklyn boy and, despite struggling to be productive and healthy last year, he’s hoping for a homecoming with either the Mets or Yankees.

“We know nothing is imminent, but hopefully we keep in contact with them,” Aurilia told the San Jose Mercury-News. “It’s just been preliminary, but they said there could be some interest down the road. So I’m concentrating more on just making sure my body is ready. I still have the desire to compete and play. I can contribute. I’ve been throwing, swinging the bat and actually feel pretty good.”

Even if the Yankees do take a flyer on Aurilia and invite him to spring training, it sure doesn’t look like he’s got much left: He’s 38 years old and coming off a season in which he hit .213 with two homers and 16 RBI in 122 at-bats.

I love the show Numb3rs. For those who aren’t familiar, it’s sort of like CSI but with (a lot) more math and the best parts are when the genius, Charlie Eppes, suddenly has a revelation about some algorithm that can help him figure out which restaurant a bunch of bank robbers will hit next.

I mention this because most people – including me – have almost no idea what Charlie is talking about when he explains his revelation, but the end result is still fascinating. It’s much the same phenomenon when it comes to PECOTA rankings.

Last week, the good folks at Baseball Prospectus used their complicated formula to predict that the Yankees would finish third in the AL East this year. Then, after some more tweaking, they decided the Yankees and Red Sox would tie for first. Now they’re saying the Yankees will finish first.

As previously stated, math isn’t my strong suit (especially since I don’t think there’s any way the Mariners finish dead last in the AL West).

I do, however, know axioms and one immediately came to mind as this worst-to-better-to-best sequence relates to Yankees fans:

Third time’s a charm?