The LoHud Yankees Blog

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig put out a statement on George Steinbrenner. Here it is:

On behalf of Baseball, I am very saddened by the passing this morning of George Steinbrenner.
George was a giant of the game and his devotion to baseball was surpassed only by his devotion to his
family and his beloved New York Yankees. He was and always will be as much of a New York Yankee as
Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and all of the other Yankee
legends.

My wife, Sue, and I pass on our deepest sympathies to the Steinbrenner family, to the New York
Yankees and to all of his friends. We will miss him, especially tonight when the baseball family will be
gathered at Angel Stadium for the All-Star Game.

Yogi Berra just put out a statement on the passing of George Steinbrenner. Here  it is:

This is a very sad day for me and Carmen and all of baseball.  My sympathies go out to the Steinbrenner family.
George was The Boss, make no mistake.  He built the Yankees into  champions and that’s something nobody can ever deny.  He was a very  generous, caring, passionate man.  George and I had our differences, but who didn’t? We became great friends over the last decade and I will miss him very much.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has announced that the flags will be lowered at City Hall Plaza in honor of George Steinbrenner’s passing.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the entire Steinbrenner family,” Bloomberg said in a released statement. “This is a sad day not only for Yankee fans, but for our entire City, as few people have had a bigger impact on New York over the past four decades than George Steinbrenner. George had a deep love for New York, and his steely determination to succeed – combined with his deep respect and appreciation for talent and hard work – made him a quintessential New Yorker.

“George invested his heart and soul into the Yankees, and his competitive fire helped usher in new eras of Yankee greatness, reclaiming the team’s long tradition of excellence and its position as the most successful franchise in the history of American sports. He was a champion who made New York a better place, and who always gave back to the city he loved. He has left an indelible legacy on the Yankees, on baseball, and on our city, and he leaves us in the only way that would be appropriate: as a reigning world champion.”

George Steinbrenner has died.

“It is with profound sadness that the family of George M. Steinbrenner III announces his passing,” the family said in a statement released this morning. “He passed away this morning in Tampa, Fla., at age 80. He was an incredible and charitable man. First and foremost he was devoted to his entire family – his beloved wife, Joan; his sisters, Susan Norpell and Judy Kamm, his children, Hank, Jennifer Jessica and Hal; and all of his grandchildren. He was a visionary and a giant in the world of sports. He took a great but struggling franchise and turned it into a champion again.”

Steinbrenner turned 80 years old on July 4 and as recently as Friday he was at the Yankees minor league complex in Florida where he told an Associated Press reporter he was “feeling good.”

The family has said funeral arrangements will be private, but there will be an additional public service with details to be announced at a later date.

Associated Press photo

There are two reports out there about George Steinbrenner being taken to a Tampa-area hospital. Here is one and here is the other. Information is very murky at this time so I’ll keep updating this post with news as it comes out.

UPDATE, 9:25 a.m.: I just spoke to Howard Rubenstein, who is Steinbrenner’s long-time PR man, and he cut off the conversation after only a few seconds. He said a “we will have a statement shortly” on the situation and that he could not confirm anything “at this moment.” It sounds as though Steinbrenner was reportedly hospitalized Monday night with a heart attack. Keep it here for updates.

UPDATE, 9:48 a.m.: Chad here. The Associated Press is reporting that Steinbrenner has died. They are citing “a person close to George Steinbrenner” saying he passed away this morning.

It’s funny – I was actually planning to do a post on Andy Pettitte today because, of all the Yankees in this year’s All-Star Game, he’s the one whose story I find most compelling. Of course, then I woke up this morning and found that Chad had done an excellent piece for the newspaper on Pettitte; sometimes you just can’t stop this inter-office synergy.

At 11-2 with a 2.70 ERA, Pettitte is on pace for the third 20-win season of his career – not bad considering he’s 38 and will, as he’s done each of the past few offseasons, consider retirement yet again when the season ends. This is the first time he’s made the All-Star team in nine years.

“It’s definitely special, at my age now, to be able to put together a good first half for us. To be consistent,” Pettitte said during yesterday’s media session, according to Newsday. “That’s what I’m most proud of, to be consistent for our team. Not that I thought I wouldn’t, but that’s what you want to do. Give us a chance to win every night that I take the mound. You know that you’ve got a great team behind you. You know that you’ve got Mariano Rivera closing for you. So if you could stay consistent, go out there and just do my job, keep us in the game, you’re going to help us win.”

In terms of this season, here’s the part that’s most interesting  about Pettitte: Historically, his second halves are better than his firsts. If you look at his career splits, his winning percentage, ERA, WHIP and strikeouts/9 are all better in the second half and, typically, August is his best month – 50-19, 3.43 ERA, 1.253 WHIP.

In other words, if you liked what you saw from Pettitte in the first half, don’t be all that surprised if it gets even better in the second.

* That’s an AP shot of Pettitte with his 5-year-old son, Luke, on the field before last night’s Home Run Derby. Personally, I like the kid’s stirrups.

Seems like it’s sort of overkill to do a full-on “game thread” style post for the Home Run Derby but since I know many of us will be watching, we might as well have a place to talk about it. These things are generally unpredictable and, as was the case with Josh Hamilton in 2008, the most impressive hitter doesn’t always win. So, with that in mind, here’s a just-for-kicks breakdown of the field (go here for some more analysis and, no kidding, some odds):

Nick Swisher, Yankees
Pros: Switch-hitter hitting left in the derby, where most of his 15 homers have come from this year. Hits a homer every 16.7 at-bats in his career.

Cons: Has only three HR at Angel Stadium in 144 career at-bats there.

Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
Pros: Has 22 HR already this season and is averaging 400 feet per blast.

Cons: Um … might get tired?

Corey Hart, Brewers
Pros: Least-known hitter in the field, but has 20 homers already this season.

Cons: Never homered at Angel Stadium (in 14 career at-bats – yeah, I know we’re reaching here).

Matt Holliday, Cardinals
Pros: Hottest hitter coming in, having homered in five of his last six games.

Cons: Only 16 home runs so far this season and can be streaky.

David Ortiz, Red Sox
Pros: Has hit a homer every 17.6 at-bats at Angel Stadium in his career, averaging 403 feet per homer this season.

Cons: Never won in three previous Derby appearances.

Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
Pros: Maybe the best all-around hitter in the field and has power to all fields.

Cons: Only homers once every 25.1 at-bats this season giving him a paltry total of 13.

Vernon Wells, Blue Jays
Pros: Has found his power stroke again this year and has 19 homers already this season.

Cons: Doesn’t love Angel Stadium; only three homers in 149 at-bats there.

Chris Young, Diamondbacks
Pros: Big pull hitter, with 13 of his 15 home runs going to left or left-center.

Cons: Unproven, hard to know what to expect on “big stage.”

The Pick: Kind of hard to pick against Cabrera, isn’t it? I like him or Chris Young. Just a guess, but I think Swisher makes the semifinals and then goes out. Bet he’ll have a blast, though. Hope everyone enjoys the fireworks.

*That’s an AP photo of Swisher homering off King Felix in Seattle over the weekend.

Ever since he officially made the all-star team, Andy Pettitte has talked a lot about taking his kids to the game. They’ll finally be old enough to understand the magnitude of what’s happening, Pettitte said, and he’s excited to share the moment with them.

Yesterday, though, Pettitte added a bit of a wrinkle to the feel-good, family story.

“All they’re really fired up about is the Home Run Derby,” Pettitte said. “Thinking they could go out there and shag in the outfield. I’m worried one of them is going to take one on the nose.”

The derby begins tonight at 8, and it seems safe to assume the Pettitte boys — Andy included — will be cheering for Nick Swisher, who said he’s been nervous ever since he agreed to participate.

“It’s just like doing our net drill on the field,” he said. “But in front of 10 million people. No added pressure.”

Swisher is not the favorite to win the derby, but I’ll declare him the one most likely to enjoy the experience.

Also worth a link, MLB.com and State Farm are running the Go To Bat charity initiative in connection to the Home Run Derby. It’s worth checking out.

Associated Press photo.

Courtesy of Bryan Hoch, here is Nick Swisher on how he is planning to prepare for tonight’s Home Run Derby:

“I’m going to drink my Gatorade and I’m going to put my batting gloves on. That’s all you can do. There’s no game plan – just go out there and have a blast. You swing, see where you can hit them, and go from there. I’m like that duck on the water: Everything’s cool on top, but underneath, my feet are going a mile a minute. I’m just trying to act cool, but I’m so nervous for tonight. It’s like taking BP with 10 million people watching. No biggie.”

* Photo credit: That’s a duck

There’s a great page on Baseball Almanac devoted to the Home Run Derby and, if you spend a little time on it you’ll notice that the power-hitting contest is one of the few things in baseball where the Yankees don’t have a whole lot of history.

Granted, the Derby isn’t so old – it’s gone through a couple of overhauls in format (starting back in 1985) but by my count the Yankees have had two players make three appearances in 25 years. Why is that? I’d venture that a good part of it was George Steinbrenner’s disenchantment with his players doing anything that wasn’t directly beneficial to the Yankees pursuit of a championship; in his heyday, the Boss certainly wasn’t shy about telling his employees what he did and did not think was a good use of their time.

Anyway, since Nick Swisher will become the fourth Yankee to participate in the Derby tonight, here’s a look back at the previous three performances:

1997 All-Star Game, Jacobs Field, Cleveland: Tino Martinez takes first place in the Derby after hitting 16 home runs. Martinez’s total was actually three fewer than second-place finisher Larry Walker, but Martinez beat Walker, 3-1, in the head-to-head final round.

2002 All-Star Game, Miller Park, Milwaukee: Jason Giambi makes his first appearance for the Yankees and wins the title as well, crushing Sammy Sosa, 7-1, in the finals. Giambi hit 11 homers in the first round and six more in the second, giving him 24 for the competition including one particularly memorable moonshot that was estimated to go 488 feet.

2003 All-Star Game, U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago: The Big G was back to defend but couldn’t pull off a repeat, finishing third despite hitting almost as many homers in two rounds (23) as he did in three rounds a year earlier. Giambi’s total was actually one more than the eventual winner, Garrett Anderson, and three fewer than runner-up Albert Pujols.

*That’s an AP photo of Giambi with the trophy from 2002.