The LoHud Yankees Blog

The Yankees just announced that Bob Sheppard has passed away. He was 99 years old. His wife was with him when he died.

Obviously, taking the job when I did, I never met Mr. Sheppard. I’ll have player reaction when the clubhouse opens. For now, the Yankees sent this lengthy obituary.

It is with deep sadness that the New York Yankees announce the passing of longtime public address announcer Bob Sheppard – “The Voice of Yankee Stadium.” Sheppard passed away this morning at his home in Baldwin, N.Y., with his wife, Mary, by his side. He was 99 years old.

A wake will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Fullerton Funeral Home located at 769 Merrick Road, Baldwin, Long Island, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. each day. The funeral will be held on Thursday at 10:45 a.m. at St. Christopher’s Church at 11 Gale Avenue in Baldwin.

Born in Ridgewood, Queens, Sheppard began his tenure as Yankees public address announcer on April 17, 1951—Opening Day of Joe DiMaggio’s final season and Mickey Mantle’s Major League debut. Among the approximately 4,500 baseball games he worked over his tenure with the Yankees were an incredible 121 consecutive postseason contests (1951-2006), including 62 games in 22 World Series.

“Most men go to work, but I go to a game,” Sheppard said. “How many men would love to do that?”

Sheppard’s incredible career behind the microphone started when he volunteered his services for a charity football game in Freeport, Long Island, in the late 1940s. An executive from the Brooklyn Dodgers football team of the All-America Conference was at the game. He liked Sheppard’s style (“clear, concise and correct”) and hired him. The football Dodgers folded after only one season at Ebbets Field (1948), but one of their opponents—the New York football Yankees—heard Sheppard’s booming voice and offered him their PA job at Yankee Stadium. Baseball’s Yankees then heard him and offered him the same role for them for the 1950 season. Though his teaching schedule could not accommodate the 77-game home schedule for baseball (plus World Series games) and he turned down the offer for 1950, he reconsidered the next year.

In addition to his baseball duties, Sheppard was the public address voice for the football Giants for 50 seasons—from their move to Yankee Stadium in 1956 until his retirement after the 2005 season. Sheppard also served the New York Titans of the American Football League at the Polo Grounds, the New York Stars of the World Football League at Downing Stadium, the New York Cosmos (soccer) and St. John’s University basketball and football. Sheppard also handled PA duties for five Army-Navy football games in Philadelphia.

Some of the events he listed as the most memorable of his incredible career were: Don Larsen’s perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series on October 8, 1956; Roger Maris’ 61st home run on October 1, 1961; Reggie Jackson’s three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series on October 18, 1977; and the Giants-Colts overtime NFL Championship Game on December 28, 1958.

In one of the game’s truly memorable moments, Sheppard introduced President George W. Bush before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series (on October 30) as Mr. Bush became the first sitting President to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium.

Sheppard attended St. John’s College, which eventually became St. John’s University. Always a talented athlete, he received a full athletic scholarship to the school, playing quarterback on the football team all four years. He later enrolled at Columbia University, where he received his master’s degree in speech and worked his way up from teacher-in-training to substitute teacher to permanent teacher to department chairman. In order to supplement his teaching salary, Sheppard played semiprofessional football on Sundays in Long Island with the Valley Stream Red Riders and the Hempstead Monitors, earning $25 a game.

In 1998, Sheppard was presented with the prestigious William J. Slocum “Long and Meritorious Service” Award by the New York chapter of the BBWAA as well as the “Pride of the Yankees” award by the ballclub. Yankee Stadium’s media dining room was named “Sheppard’s Place” prior to the 2009 season to commemorate his legacy.

On May 7, 2000, a plaque was dedicated to Sheppard in Monument Park of the original Yankee Stadium to commemorate his 50th anniversary season.

The native New Yorker was elected to the St. John’s University Sports Hall of Fame, the Long Island Sports Hall of Fame and the New York Sports Hall of Fame. He was awarded honorary doctorates from St. John’s University (Pedagogy) and Fordham University (Rhetoric), and in 2007, received St. John’s’ Medal of Honor, the highest award that the university can confer on a graduate.

Sheppard also made cameo appearances in numerous motion pictures and television shows, including 61*, It’s My Turn, It Could Happen to You, Anger Management, Seinfeld and Mad About You.

Sheppard announced his final game at Yankee Stadium on September 5, 2007, a 3-2 Yankees victory over the Kansas City Royals.

At the request of Derek Jeter, a recording of Sheppard announcing his name has been played prior to each of his at-bats since Sheppard’s absence in 2007.

On September 21, 2008, Sheppard provided a valedictory in the bottom of the seventh inning of the final game at the original Yankee Stadium. Unable to say goodbye in person as he continued to recover from illness that had kept him away from the Stadium since the final weeks of the 2007 season, Sheppard gave his tribute through a taped segment played on the video board. He recited, “Farewell, old Yankee Stadium, farewell / What a wonderful story you can tell / DiMaggio, Mantle, Gehrig and Ruth / A baseball cathedral in truth.”

Associated Press photo.

Javier Vazquez said he never thought about a no-hitter last night. He had one until a two-out infield single in the sixth inning, but Vazquez said he never thought about it. How long would he have to go to start thinking about it?

“I haven’t gotten that far yet, so I don’t know,” he said.

At the end of April, there was no reason to consider the no-hitter possibilities. Vazquez wasn’t flirting with milestones, he was having his turn skipped, and the Yankees top pitching addition looked like a bust.

Since the end of May, though, it’s pretty easy to argue Vazquez has been the Yankees second-best starter. The Yankees needed him to bring stability to the back of the rotation, and he’s certainly done that.

“I feel good,” Vazquez said. “Especially the way I started, to get all that behind me and move forward. That’s something I feel good about.”

Here’s Vazquez after last night’s game.

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Just as you probably expected, Joe Girardi said he plans to stick with Joba Chamberlain as his eighth-inning reliever. Tonight was one of the low points for Chamberlain — two singles and a game-winning grand slam — but Girardi said, “I’m going to send him back out there, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Chamberlain was consistently 96 to 97 mph with his fastball. GameDay had his last pitch to Chone Figgins at 99. As Girardi said, the stuff was there, but Chamberlain’s command has gotten him into trouble time and again this season. After missing with back-to-back sliders, the grand slam pitch to Jose Lopez was a fastball up in the zone. It was supposed to be down and away.

“I missed a spot,” Chamberlain said. “A lot.”

With a one-run lead and Felix Hernandez dealing, there was no room for a missed spot like that. It was especially brutal given the seven brilliant innings from Javier Vazquez.

“I definitely let Javy down,” Chamberlain said. “It’s tremendous the way he went out and pitched and got himself out of jams. He continues to pitch better, and that’s a good sign for us. I’ve got to go out there and protect that one-run lead for all the good work he did.”

Here’s Chamberlain talking after the game.

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• Can’t say enough about Vazquez. “His changeup was dynamite tonight, and he threw a lot of them,” Girardi said. “I thought he located his fastball good. I thought that’s as good as he’s thrown for us all year.”

• In the seventh inning, Girardi had Damaso Marte ready in the bullpen, but he let Vazquez pitch to Milton Bradley with the bases loaded. “I want to see him finish it if he can,” Girardi said.

• Speaking of that at-bat, it was a nice play by Ramiro Pena that ended it without the ball falling for a single. “I had jammed him and I thought it was going to drop in there,” Vazquez said. “When I saw Pena there, kind of under it a little bit, I was relieved.”

• No-hitter though 5.2 innings. “Sincerely, with all my heart, I never think no-hitter,” Vazquez said.

• Ichiro’s sixth-inning single hit Vazquez in the inner thigh. He said it caught all leg, no glove, but he wasn’t hurt.

• On the day he was named to the Home Run Derby, Nick Swisher hit his 15th home run of the season. He’s now hitting .435 with two homers and four doubles during this road trip.

• Mark Teixeira has now reached base in 31 consecutive games. He has a hit in 26 of his past 30. This was his 21st multi-hit game of the season.

• The loss snapped a season-high seven-game winning streak.

• Felix Hernandez pitched his third straight complete game against the Yankees (9/18/09, 6/30/10, 7/10/10). He’s the first pitcher to do that against the Yankees since Jaime Navarro in 1990-91.

Associated Press photos of Chamberlain and Vazquez.

YANKEES (55-31)
Brett Gardner LF
Nick Swisher DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Curtis Granderson CF
Colin Curtis RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena SS

RHP Javier Vazquez (7-7, 4.81)
Vazquez vs. Mariners

MARINERS (34-51)
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chone Figgins 2B
Russell Branyan DH
Jose Lopez 3B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Justin Smoak 1B
Michael Saunders LF
Rob Johnson C
Jack Wilson SS

RHP Felix Hernandez (6-5, 3.01)
Hernandez vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 10:10 p.m. ET / YES Network

UMPIRES: HP Lance Barksdale, 1B Ed Rapuano, 2B Tom Hallion, 3B Ron Kulpa

WEATHER: I know it’s supposed to rain in this city all the time, but we’ve had nothing but great weather this weekend. Today has been the nicest of the bunch. Just a perfect blue sky overhead.

ALL ABOUT PITCHING: The Yankees have allowed six runs total in the past five games. It’s the first time they’ve pulled that off since 2002. They’ve not allowed six runs through six games since 1998, when they did it through seven games.

HEY NOW, YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR: Nick Swisher is hitting .474 with four runs, four doubles and a home run on the current road trip. The trip, of course, started the day after he was named to the final all-star ballot.

GOING DEEP: Russell Branyan is 3-for-7 in his career against Javier Vazquez. All three hits have been home runs. It’s a small sample size but still impressive.

THREE BASES: The Yankees have 21 triples this season. That matches their total from last year.

UPDATE, 10:45 p.m.: Justin Smoak’s at-bat music: Smoke on the Water.

UPDATE, 10:54 p.m.: Put that man in the Home Run Derby! Swisher goes deep for a 1-0 Yankees lead.

UPDATE, 11:02 p.m.: So far so good for Vazquez. Only a walk allowed through the first three innings.

UPDATE, 11:27 p.m.: Gardner was running on the pitch, but Swisher hit it hard enough that the Mariners were still able to turn two, a double play to end the fifth inning. Still a 1-0 Yankees lead.

UPDATE, 11:34 p.m.: Must be nice to have Gardner and Granderson in left and center. Those two cover a lot of ground and there was never much doubt one of them was going to catch that fly ball. Gardner got it and Vazquez is through five innings, still 1-0 Yankees.

UPDATE, 11:40 p.m.: There’s a room in the press box that’s showing the game in 3D. It’s pretty amazing. It’s not so much that the baseball is flying off the screen or anything like that, there’s just real depth perception. The shot from behind the pitcher, you can really see how much room is from the mound to the plate. When they show the outfield, you have a better feel for how far the center fielder is from the wall. It’s little things like that, and it makes a huge difference. You have to wear some sort of 3D glasses to see it properly, but it’s an amazing way to watch the game. Meanwhile, here’s Javy, back on the mound for the sixth inning, still with a 1-0 lead.

UPDATE, 11:46 p.m.: Not the nicest way to lose a no-hitter. Ichiro shot a ball up the middle, off Vazquez, who tried to rush the throw and made a bad one in the dirt. Would have been an out had Teixeira scooped it, but that’s definitely a hit.

UPDATE, 12:05 a.m.: Vazquez opened this inning at 93 pitches. Even without that infield hit, it might have been tricky for him to go nine innings.

UPDATE, 12:08 a.m.: Damaso Marte warming in the pen as Vazquez allows his second hit of the game with two outs in the seventh.

UPDATE, 12:18 a.m.: Marte getting warm in the pen, but Girardi is sticking with Vazquez with the bases loaded and Milton Bradley at the plate. This seems to be the at-bat of the game.

UPDATE, 12:20 a.m.: Nice little play by Pena to keep the one-run lead intact. He made it look easy, but that ball really seemed destined for center field off the bat.

UPDATE, 12:30 a.m.: Looks like Cano is arguing that he made contact with that pitch. I haven’t seen a good replay of it, but it hardly matters. It was called a swinging strike and the eighth inning is over with runners stranded at first and second.

UPDATE, 12:32 a.m.: Here’s Joba with a one-run lead in the eighth. First pitch, a single to center.

UPDATE, 12:34 a.m.: On a foul ball, Jack Wilson had to run back to first base, and he intentionally ran around the mound. Just pointing it out. Chamberlain wasn’t even paying attention. He clearly didn’t care one way or the other.

UPDATE, 12:42 a.m.: Oh jeez. A grand slam. Let’s revisit the Chamberlain-in-the-eighth questions, shall we?

When Nick Swisher got the call this morning asking him to join the Home Run Derby, he made five phone calls before saying yes. He called his manager, his hitting coach, his general manager, his father and his brother. All five gave him the thumbs up.

“He said, The Swish is in, here we go,” Long said.

Swisher asked his dad to pitch to him, but Steve Swisher said he hadn’t thrown BP in a while and didn’t want to suddenly do it again on that stage. Instead, Tony Pena will pitch and Swisher will hit left-handed.

“There’s still the same concerns,” Long said. “If he goes deep into the thing, then there’s going to be some issues and things we’ll have to iron out. We’ve already talked about the day after going right back into the cages and working on his swing. He should be alright.”

Joe Girardi said the difference between Swisher and Robinson Cano is that Swisher is 100 percent healthy. Cano has the back issue, Swisher doesn’t. “Swish is healthy as he can be,” Girardi said.

He’s also pretty much as excited as he can be.

“I used to do this in my backyard when I was six years old,” Swisher said. “Now I get to actually do it on the big stage… I gotta hit (at least) one. I can’t come back in this locker room otherwise.”

Here’s Swisher.

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Here’s Long.

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• The Yankees rotation after the break: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and Javier Vazquez. “Just the way we’re going with it,” Girardi said. “Not a huge deal, but it’s the way we’re going.”

• Sergio Mitre pitched three innings in the Gulf Coast League today. He allowed one run, two hits and struck out three. The Yankees are still deciding what’s next for him. He will either join the big league team immediately after the all-star break, or he’ll make another rehab start on Thursday.

• Nick Johnson will see the Yankees hand specialist on Sunday. “I have no idea when he’s coming back, and I have no idea if he’ll come back,” Girardi said. “You keep your fingers crossed but it’s just to hard to predict.”

• Regular day off for Derek Jeter. “He’s never happy,” Girardi said. “He never wants to come out of a game. But that’s my job to make those tough decisions.”

• Girardi said he already knows the pitchers he will use to replace those all-stars who start on Sunday, but obviously he’s not ready to announce them. He’s already indicated Jered Weaver will be one of them.

• Cliff Lee is making his Texas debut today, so he won’t be replaced.

• Speaking of replaced, Rafael Furcal has replaced Jose Reyes on the National League team.

• How does Girardi want the Yankees to go after Felix Hernandez tonight? “For a guy that has so much movement down, I think the approach is that you look for a pitch up and hope that he makes some mistakes,” Girardi said.

UPDATE, 9:25 p.m.: Mariners lineup
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chone Figgins 2B
Russell Branyan DH
Jose Lopez 3B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Justin Smoak 1B
Michael Saunders LF
Rob Johnson C
Jack Wilson SS

Associated Press photos of Swisher and Jeter.

The announcement just came from the league.

Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko has been named to replace Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins on the American League’s active roster for the 81st All-Star Game, Major League Baseball announced today.

Because Morneau was a fan-elected starter, his replacement was selected by American League All-Star manager Joe Girardi. This is Konerko’s fourth All-Star Game selection, having also been named in 2002, 2005 and 2006.

Konerko enters play tonight with a .299 batting average, 20 home runs and 62 RBI.
Konerko will be a reserve on the A.L. squad, while player-elected All-Star Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers will now serve as the American League’s starting first baseman.

Brett Gardner LF
Nick Swisher DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Curtis Granderson CF
Colin Curtis RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena SS

UPDATE, 7:41 p.m.: Just a regular day off for Jeter, Joe Girardi said. Also — and I”ll have more on this later — before agreeing to do the home run derby, Nick Swisher called Girardi, Kevin Long and Brian Cashman to make sure everyone was OK with him participating. He got the green light and excited is not a strong enough word to describe his thoughts.

Here we go again.

Major League Baseball just announced that Nick Swisher will participate in the Home Run Derby. He and Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Young are the latest additions.

Obviously this will bring back all of the Robinson Cano questions of just a few days ago.

I don’t understand technical stuff. Anything with wires and plugs is beyond my comprehension.

I can hook up my DVD player, but I have no idea how it can tell the difference between a Big Lebowski DVD and a Shawshank Redemption DVD. Aren’t all those shiny surfaces the exact same?

This is my way of explaining that I don’t know anything about a 3D telecast except what’s in this press release. Apparently, tonight’s game and tomorrow’s game are going to be shown on YES in 3D. It sounds pretty cool, and I wish I knew more about it, but I don’t. Here’s the latest release from the network.

—

Blue Ridge Communications, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Service Electric Broadband Cable, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS have joined DIRECTV in distributing the YES Network’s historic July 10 and 11 3D Yankees-Mariners telecasts from Safeco Field in Seattle. The July 10 and 11 games will be the first Major League Baseball games to be televised in 3D. DIRECTV and Panasonic will be presenting sponsors of the two 3D telecasts.

The Saturday, July 10 3D game telecast will begin at 10:00 p.m. ET, and the Sunday, July 11 3D game telecast will begin at 4:00 p.m. ET. YES will also produce traditional HD telecasts of both games.

Dave Niehaus, the Mariners play-by-play man who is also a member of the broadcasters wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, will handle play-by-play duties for the 3D telecasts along with fellow Mariners voice Dave Sims. YES’ Ken Singleton will provide color commentary.

That’s not an Associated Press photo. I just found it on the Internet and thought it was funny. If I somehow stole it or violated some kind of copyright, that’s my bad.

When A.J. Burnett struggled through the month of June, everyone seemed quick to match those bad outings with the absence of pitching coach Dave Eiland. Maybe that focus should have been directed elsewhere.

Phil Hughes also fell into a funk in June, and he’s also been turning a corner since Eiland — who’s coached him since the minor leagues — came back to the team. Hughes said he’s made a minor mechanical adjustment since Eiland returned, keeping his arm angle high so that he throws down through the ball.

“It’s kind of a problem that accumulated over the last few starts,” he said. “I was pushing the ball a little bit and Dave wasn’t around to really help me out noticing it. I kind of got away with it sometimes, but it wasn’t as crisp as I’d like it to be. I really tried to make that adjustment in my sides and I just felt a lot better (Friday).”

Joe Girardi raved about his fastball, and about the way Hughes has carried his bullpen power into the rotation. The Yankees have clocked Hughes fastball velocity being consistently higher than before his stint as a reliever.

“I think maturity, physically he’s gotten stronger,” Girardi said. “You think about him in 2008 he was pretty skinny, but he’s filled out. In 2008 he might have come into camp too skinny. He might have run too much coming into camp. Physically he’s a man now.”

Hughes didn’t talk about strength or maturity.

“I kind of got that confidence back last year,” he said. “I don’t think people really expected a ton out of me. I was a No. 5 starter (this season) and really all we needed were a solid four guys last year, and starting three in the playoffs, so maybe not all that much pressure was put on me. But I really felt a lot of pressure (from) myself that I could have a good year. So far so good. I do take pride in that, because the front office puts a lot of belief in you, and it’s kind of up to you to live up to that.”

Associated Press photo