Thursday, June 26, 2014

ICYMI: Free Book Giveaway "The Fight of Their Lives"


As many of you may or may not know I am a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, or the IBWAA, and with that comes certain benefits and such. A fellow IBWAA member, John Rosengren, is an author and his latest book is called The Fight Of Their Lives.

For this giveaway all we need you to do is one of three things to enter. You can either put a comment on this post telling us about the fight of your life, tweeting us the same answer by tweeting and following @GreedyStripes, or emailing us the same answer by sending a line to thegreedypinstripes at gmail. Multiple answers and submissions will be allowed.

Instead of me trying to tell you about the book I'll let John tell you himself:
One Sunday afternoon in August 1965, on a day when baseball’s most storied rivals, the Giants and Dodgers, vied for the pennant, the national pastime reflected the tensions in society and nearly sullied two men forever. Juan Marichal, a Dominican anxious about his family’s safety during the civil war back home, and John Roseboro, a black man living in South Central L.A. shaken by the Watts riots a week earlier, attacked one another in a moment immortalized by an iconic photo:  Marichal’s bat poised to strike Roseboro’s head.
The violent moment–uncharacteristic of either man–linked the two forever and haunted both. The Fight of their Lives examines the incident in its context and aftermath, only in this story the two men eventually reconcile and become friends, making theirs an unforgettable tale of forgiveness and redemption.
The book also explores American culture and the racial prejudices against blacks and Latinos both men faced and surmounted. As two of the better ballplayers of their generation, they realized they had more to unite them than keep them apart.

Also here is what Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated had to say about it: 
“John Rosengren does a terrific job illuminating the people and times behind one of the ugliest incidents in baseball history. The friendship and forgiveness between Juan Marichal and John Roseboro is a powerful story well told.”
Also Andrew Dawson, Hall of Famer, had a few words to say about the book:
“This is a story about passion and pride. It’s a story about two men who came from very different backgrounds but shared a common bond. It is also a story about forgiveness with a theme that shows it’s never too late to make amends. John Rosengren extraordinarily depicts how two men long since retired taught the world a valuable lesson—that it is okay to forgive.”

Off Day Movie Recommendation: The Patriot

 

Anyone feeling Patriotic on this Yankees off day? Well it's 2:00 and the team is off today so to cure that 2:00 feeling we bring you a full movie, the Patriot starring Mel Gibson. It's not really baseball related but still, it's a good one and somewhat safe for work. Enjoy the off day, enjoy the movie, and be sure to remember your headphones for the next Yankees off day.

Recent Trade Rumors Putting Yankees' Target Price in a Bad Mood

For Rays' Pitcher David Price, the many trade rumors currently surrounding him have got to be annoying. 

The 28-year-old lefty, who's played for the team since his rookie year of 2008, has no clue where he'll be for the next 1 1/2 seasons, going along with the fact that he's leaving the only place he's ever known. 

Those two things are enough to make anyone mad, including Price, who recently admitted to MLB.com's Bill Chastain that the uncertainty he's now facing has put him a bad mood.

"I mean, obviously I think about (the rumors)," Price said. "That's why I've been in a bad mood the last week and a half. I think about it. You guys know that. And it's nothing I really want to talk about. I don't have an answer for you guys. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know when I'm going. So there's nothing I can really comment on."

In what could end up being his last outing as a Ray yesterday, Price tossed 8.1 innings of one-run ball against the solid-hitting Pirates, his sixth consecutive quality start.

Overall in 2014, though, the ex-Cy Young has been a little lackluster, posting just a 3.63 ERA and a below-.500 record. 

Off Day: Meet Your Yankees Family


You guys know me by now I love to get on Twitter and live tweet about every Yankees game that my job, my kids, and my life will let me (which is always well over 100 a season). I appreciate everybody that interacts with us, agrees with us, disagrees with us, favorites and retweets our stuff, etc. This thing we do here is not worth it without you guys, a few I will showcase here. Meet your Yankees family and go follow them on Twitter, they are awesome.

@BillWillisf3
@Draft2Dynasty
@TreyAlex09
@JayB725L
@EastBHamKid
@auh2o14
@ClydeEDawkins
@TraceyNYY
@BigBadWolf_1
@gymkoukla
@ashleyyhughess
@Charlie_Ricker
@Doug_4NYY
@BrahmaBull71
@yankeeschicaa
@yanks_jets
@RGoldthwaite48
@michaelpagano_
@ejpoock
@lillyg2_13
@ms_sportzchic
@Mike92383
@Jeter_fan26
@Emarin671
@YankeeNate17
@aemdee
@sumatyme80
@JerryCulkin
@Lordof28Rings
@cagetheYanks
@UrKllnMeSmalls
@RayRobert9
@NYYFanInBama
@Gersh_Essential
@BrianDanuffBBE
@KenneyLaurie
@LadyWriting
@no_tweet_Fallon
@JamieHop27
@nycajun1
@jmstephe1229
@JRRestaino
@kjreitmeier
@ftjrnyy
@GreenArmMike #Bigelmade
@yeahyanks

A special shout out goes out to our writers, they bring it every single day and do a great job. Without them it would just be me babbling all day and nobody wants that:

@dm23HOF
@Bryanv21
@DanielBurch
@CGJackNiemuth
@Neildwyer1993
@johnbalas_
@AdamHamburger21
@MichaelPawluk

And another special shout out to those other Yankees blogs that do such a wonderful job day in and day out, whether they interact with us or not:

@bleednyankeeblu
@BronxPinstripes
@BXBaseballDaily
@RiverAveBlues
@nicknowsky
@LohudYankees


If I forgot anyone please drop us a line in the comments section or tweet us because you were not left off this list by accident. Again, thank you. Everybody. Also be sure to check out our Twitter accounts section on the site where we (try) to keep up with the Yankees players and such on Twitter as well and list their accounts. Spend the afternoon on Twitter, work won't mind.

Off Day Music Recommendation: John Legend


Will someone do me a favor? Call John Legend and tell him to get out of my damn head. It's not a bad song, in fact I really like it, but I wish it would get out of my head. Maybe posting it here will help. Enjoy!


Also to keep this Yankees related we will continue to look at the team's walk up music by looking at the walk up music for Mark Teixeira. It's Tricky by Run DMC. Whether you're in a bad mood or a good mood this song makes you get up and move, enjoy your day Yankees family.

The Home Run Derby Gets A Face Lift


It has been 10 seasons since the MLB Home Run Derby has changed but this year it will, hopefully for the better. Instead of eight batters participating we will have the field expanded to 10 and they will be separated into two brackets by league. Batters will only have seven outs to work with instead of 10, which I don't agree with in case you were wondering.

The new rules will create more head to head matchups and less free for all type scenarios. The player with the most home runs in the first round will get a bye for Round 2. That puts a ton of incentive on getting the most home runs and really allows players to sit back and relax if they have no shot at making it in first place but know they are advancing. For example Yoenis Cespedes hit 17 home runs in the first round last year and would have the second round to rest. The rest of the field knew they weren't going to match that so after they hit 7-8 they could take their feet off the throttle a little.

It remains to be seen whether more players, less outs, second round byes, and head to head matchups will improve something I already thought was great but I am open minded and excited about the new rules.



Quick Hit: Catching Up w/ The Farm


I am a little behind on my Yankees prospects and Baby Bomber updates so let's get caught up, shall we?

Slade Heathcott will miss the remainder of the 2014 season with a knee injury, that same knee injury that cost him much of the 2013 season. The injury will require surgery, terrible luck for Slade and the Yankees.

Heath Bell has been released after just five games for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. He was brought in to use and abuse for a couple weeks and that is exactly what the Yankees did.

Nik Turley is being activated off the DL finally after missing all of spring training and this season to date and will be assigned to the RailRiders. As you remember Turley was released and re-signed, basically a procedural move to get him off the 40 man roster and through waivers.

Dean Anna and Diego Moreno came off the Triple-A disabled list and really created a logjam for the RailRiders, especially in the infield. Scranton now has Kyle Roller, Anna, Zelous Wheeler, Rob Refsnyder, and Scott Sizemore vying for spots. That's not including second basemen turned outfielder Jose Pirela already moved to the outfield.

Happy 40th Birthday Derek Jeter


I have never seen so much talk about a 40th birthday before in my life as I have seen across the blogosphere this week for Derek Jeter. Happy 40th birthday goes out to the Yankee captain. Here's to handing out two or three gift baskets today before handing one out to the Boston Red Sox this weekend. Enjoy your day Derek.

This Day In New York Yankees History 6/26


On this day in 1944 the great state of New York had a three team baseball game for charity. The Polo Grounds held roughly 50,000 fans that watched a six inning game between the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and New York Giants. The way it worked was a team would play consecutive innings against the other two teams and then would sit out the third inning. The money went for war bonds and the final score was the Dodgers 5, the Yankees 1, and the Giants 0.

On this day in 1995 Mariano Rivera throws a five inning no hitter against the Rochester Red Wings of the International League. Mo finished his minor league career with a 27-18 record and a 2.35 ERA with seven complete games, this no hitter and another seven inning no hitter on his resume.