Baseball Spring Cleaning

Starting 9 (5/26/09) Have a lot of links to get on the blog that have just been sitting around so I figured it was time for Spring Cleaning and I will try to do them in as orderly a way as possible (it's mostly Yankees stuff until after #4).

 

1. I've had a lot of opinions on New Yankees Stadium (NYS) piling up so here they are: Formerly of Deadspin, now of New York Magazine, Will Leitch talks about the Yankees' unrealistic self-image. New Stadium Insider reveals that Standing Room tickets won't go on sale for either NY team anytime soon. Deadspin has more on Lonn Trost wanting to keep us "smelly riff-raff" away from the rich folk and Scott Proctor's Arm goes over the entire Trost/writers exchange. The Yankees website goes over the Legends Seats features and amenities, this is a Flickr photo of the controversial moat, and Was Watching chimes in that they're O..K with the NYS Legends Suite Moat. The Wall Street Journal looks at the "ugly start" for NYS, The New York Post recounts Peter Gammons calling NYS "one of the biggest jokes in baseball", Scott Proctor's Arm has a great in-depth look at the Metro-North station, and a non-Yankee fan tries to beat the Yanks with his stomach for TIME magazine. River Ave Blues uses some Accuweather reporting to declare we may not be witnessing the true homerun power of NYS just yet (scary). Lastly, The Onion gets in on the fun saying that the slashed Yankees ticket prices now allow for lesser nobility to attend the games.

2. I've been saying for a while now that the secondary market is the place to go for Yankees ticket (or Mets tickets for that matter). Was Watching agreed and the New York Times chimed in as well. I think with the team playing as well as it is and the weather getting warmer that this will begin to correct itself again. I don't think that people will pay for $90 face in the middle section of the stadium during the week unless the Red Sox are playing (and maybe not even then), but I think that people will start seeing a little more return for their tickets. But I still would highly recommend NOT buying tickets from the Yankees and/or at face. Wait until the day before and snatch up some cheap tickets on StubHub, Craigslist or eBay.

3. Happy birthday to Freddy Sez! According to Fack Youk, Fred Schuman turned 84 on Saturday. The first time I ever got to bang Freddy's pan was at the All Star Cafe (now non-existent) in New York City while the Yankees played the Orioles in Baltimore during the 1996 ALCS. I hit the pan and Darryl Strawberry hit one over the rightfield fence and Freddy gave me a big smile. I'm glad he's moved over to NYS because it wouldn't be the same without that sound. Also, this is the first I've heard of a "Freddy Sez Story" from NoMas so I'm excited to watch tonight.

4. A few things from the Old Yankee Stadium (OLS) and other Yankees news. This is pretty awesome. From the long-lost ESPN Page 3, the 2004 Yankees at-bat songs (I love the description for Ruben Sierra). I'm shocked to learn from CNBC's Darren Rovell that sales of OLS seats have been brisk. Not that I wouldn't want one, but in this economy, people have that type of disposable income to spend? Past A Diving Jeter may need to rethink the name of the blog. The New York Times on Phil Coke's sleepless night (funny story). River Ave Blues looks at the Damon-Jeter switch and if it's worked so far. Sliding Into Home looks at Rob Neyer's suggestion to put Phil Hughes in the bullpen (I disagree with this). New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand on Melky and a few other NYS topics. Newsday on Austin Jackson's progression. MLBTradeRumors on possible relief acquisitions for the Yankees. Baseball Musings on Francisco Cervelli. Peter Abraham can't believe the Yankees have set a franchise record with 12 straight errorless games (me neither). And Slate on why the Yankees won't have to worry about all those bad contracts after 2012 (just kidding).

5. I have no clue why more teams don't try to pick up players in the Rule 5 draft. Looking back at this MLB.com article from December of the best players draft since 1990, you see names like Johan Santana, Josh Hamilton, Dan Uggla, Joakim Soria and Shane Victorino. Looking at Wikipedia, names like Roberto Clemente, Bobby Bonilla and George Bell. So why don't more teams just take a flyer on a guy and hope he pans out? I understand you need to put him on your major league roster, but even if you don't, it's a small amount of money invested. Also, many teams expose guys for Rule 5 that they don't want anyways so you may get to keep a guy even if you don't have room on the active roster for him or can make a small deal with the other team. Just seems like an easy way to find good talent to me.

6. People I dislike: First Cal Ripken and think he's a pretty selfish guy so hearing this about him from Shysterball's Craig Calcattera on NBC's Circling The Bases is not surprising. Will go more into him someday. Next, is Jonathan Papelbon, who, as Subway Squawkers points out, was a real crybaby after getting hit with a blown save against the Mets. If Joba did that, the world would go crazy. Lastly is Curt Schilling who talks on his blog, 38 Pitches, about Manny Ramirez's suspension (curious his thoughts on the SCOTUS nominee announced today with his feelings about the strike and his large Republican leanings). One thing I do agree with him about is that everyone in the past 10 years played with someone on something. According to Baseball-Reference's Oracle, Manny Ramirez played with 438 players with two in the Hall of Fame (with more to come). Jose Canseco played with 537 players, with 6 already in the Hall of Fame. Each player won 2 World Series. Do you really want to take away all those World Series rings and Hall of Fame trophies?

7. Dan Le Beatard writes about Jim Leyritz and this has certainly turned into a sad, sad story. Joel Sherman has some great points in his 3 Up today and it sounds like the Mets did as little planning with backups at SS as the Yankees did with backups at C, even though both positions had players known for being injured at times. Shysterball also looks into the SCOTUS nominee today.

8. Two more related to baseball notes: The Big Lead on no Red Sox games for former teacher accused of child porn possession. Also, an awesome job recreating Mordecai Brown's delivery in this video (H/T Rob Neyer). That is AWESOME!

9. A few non-baseball items: Bill Simmons loves hockey (!!!!). Is Stephen Curry to the Knicks sealed with a promise as The Big Lead reports? Chad Johnson has yet another name according to Yahoo! Sports (H/T Sarah). Lastly, from Busted Coverage, it seems that Australia has a problem with rugby players and 19-year-old female group sex (why?).