George Steinbrenner, Yankees’ Owner, Dies at 80 - Obituary (Obit) by Richard Goldstein - NYTimes.com

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George Steinbrenner, who bought a declining Yankees team in 1973, promised to stay out of its daily affairs and then, in an often tumultuous reign, placed his formidable stamp on 7 World Series championship teams, 11 pennant winners and a sporting world powerhouse valued at perhaps $1.6 billion, died Tuesday morning, the team announced. He was 80 and lived in Tampa, Fla.

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“He was an incredible and charitable man,” the family said in a statement.

“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.”

Mr. Steinbrenner’s death came eight months after the Yankees won their first World Series title since 2000, clinching their six-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at his new Yankee Stadium, and two days after the team’s longtime public-address announcer Bob Sheppard died at age 99.

Mr. Steinbrenner had been in failing health for the past several years and rarely appeared in public. He attended the opening game at the new stadium in April 2009, sitting in his suite with his wife, Joan (pronounced Jo-ann). When he was introduced and received an ovation, his shoulders shook and he cried.

He next appeared at the Yankees’ new home for the first two games of the World Series, then made his final appearance at the 2010 home opener, when Manager Joe Girardi and shortstop Derek Jeter, the team captain, came to his suite to present him with his 2009 World Series championship ring.

Mr. Steinbrenner spoke for only 25 seconds at the stadium’s groundbreaking ceremony in August 2006.

The blustering owner long familiar to Yankees fans and foes briefly re-emerged in October 2007 in a newspaper interview, when he threatened to fire Manager Joe Torre if the team did not advance beyond the first round of the American League playoffs. The Yankees were eliminated by the Cleveland Indians in that round, and soon afterward Torre departed after rejecting a one-year contract extension with a cut in his guaranteed salary.

In the eyes of Yankees figures from Mr. Steinbrenner’s heyday, his aura endured despite his frailty.

“He’s arguably the most recognized owner in all of sports,” Jeter said after Mr. Steinbrenner was driven onto the field in a golf cart in a ceremony before the 2008 All-Star Game at the old stadium.

“To be able to deliver this to the Boss, to the stadium he created and the atmosphere he created around here, it’s very gratifying to all of us,” Girardi said after the Yankees’ World Series victory at the new stadium.

Mr. Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ principal owner and chairman, had ceded increasing authority to his sons, Hal and Hank, who became co-chairmen in May 2008. Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ managing general partner as well, was given control of the team in November 2008 in a unanimous vote by the major league club owners, who acted on his father’s request.

Mr. Steinbrenner was the central figure in a syndicate that bought the Yankees from CBS for $10 million. When he arrived in New York on Jan. 3, 1973, he said he would not “be active in the day-to-day operations of the club at all.” Having made his money as head of the American Shipbuilding Company, based in Cleveland, he declared, “I’ll stick to building ships.”

But four months later, Michael Burke, who had been running the Yankees for CBS and had stayed on to help manage the franchise, departed after clashing with Mr. Steinbrenner. John McMullen, a minority owner in the syndicate, soon remarked that “nothing is as limited as being a limited partner of George’s.”

Mr. Steinbrenner emerged as one of the most powerful, influential and, in the eyes of many, notorious executives in sports. He was the senior club owner in baseball at his death, the man known as the Boss.

A pioneer of modern sports ownership, Mr. Steinbrenner started the wave of high spending for playing talent when free agency arrived in the mid-1970s, and he continued to spend freely through the Yankees’ revival in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the long stretch without a pennant and then renewed triumphs under Torre and General Manager Brian Cashman.

The Yankees’ approximately $210 million payroll in 2009 dwarfed all others in baseball, and the team paid out millions in baseball’s luxury tax and revenue-sharing with small-market teams.

In the frenetic ’70s and ’80s, when general managers, field managers and pitching coaches were sent spinning through Mr. Steinbrenner’s revolving personnel door (Billy Martin had five stints as manager), the franchise became known as the Bronx Zoo. In December 2002, Mr. Steinbrenner’s enterprise had grown so rich that the president of the Boston Red Sox, Larry Lucchino, frustrated over losing pitcher Jose Contreras to the Yankees, called them the “evil empire.”

But Mr. Steinbrenner and the Yankees thrived through all the arguments, all the turmoil, all the bombast. Having been without a pennant since 1964 when Mr. Steinbrenner bought them, enduring sagging attendance while the upstart Mets thrived, the Yankees once again became America’s marquee sporting franchise.
Yankee Stadium underwent a major renovation in the mid-1970s, but that did not satisfy Mr. Steinbrenner with the passing of years and the building of many new stadiums with luxury boxes catering to corporate America. He cast an eye toward New Jersey, pressed for a new stadium in Manhattan and ultimately got a $1.5 billion stadium built in the Bronx, alongside the original House That Ruth Built.

Mr. Steinbrenner found new revenue streams from cable television, first in a longtime deal with the Madison Square Garden network and then with the creation of the Yankees’ YES network. The franchise also engineered lucrative marketing deals, notably a 10-year, $95 million apparel agreement with Adidas.

In 2005, the Yankees became the second American League team to top the four million mark in home attendance (the Toronto Blue Jays did it from 1991 to 1993), drawing a league-record 4,090,696. Their home attendance rose during the next three years, reaching a league-record 4,298,655 in 2008. But attendance dipped to 3,719,358 in the first year at the new stadium, which had fewer seats and higher ticket prices.

Mr. Steinbrenner lived year-round in Tampa, but he became a New York celebrity and a figure in popular culture. He was lampooned, with his permission, by a caricature in the sitcom “Seinfeld,” portrayed by the actor Lee Bear, who was always photographed from behind at the Boss’s desk, flailing his arms and suitably imperious, while Larry David, the show’s co-creator, provided the voice. George Costanza (Jason Alexander) became Mr. Steinbrenner’s assistant traveling secretary, whose duties included fetching calzones for him.

Mr. Steinbrenner also appeared in a Visa commercial with Jeter, calling him into his office to admonish him. “You’re our starting shortstop,” Mr. Steinbrenner said. “How can you possibly afford to spend two nights dancing, two nights eating out and three nights just carousing with your friends?” Jeter responded by holding up a Visa card. Mr. Steinbrenner exclaimed “Oh!” and the scene shifted to Mr. Steinbrenner in a dance line with Jeter at a night spot.

Mr. Steinbrenner usually adored his players but at times insulted them. He called outfielder Paul O’Neill “the ultimate warrior.” (Steinbrenner idolized Generals MacArthur and Patton.) But he derided the star outfielder Dave Winfield, with whom he feuded, calling him Mr. May, pointedly contrasting him with Reggie Jackson, who had been known as Mr. October for his clutch hitting in the postseason. He denounced the portly pitcher Hideki Irabu as a fat toad when he was late covering first base in an exhibition game.

Mr. Steinbrenner feuded with his fellow club owners, baseball commissioners and umpires. He was twice barred from baseball, once after pleading guilty to making illegal political campaign contributions. By October 1995, when he was fined for complaining about the umpires in a playoff series with the Seattle Mariners, Mr. Steinbrenner had accumulated disciplinary costs of $645,000.
When he was not phoning his general managers and managers with complaints or advice, he meddled in the smallest matters of ballpark maintenance. He was often portrayed by the news media as a blowhard and a baseball know-nothing.

“George is a great guy, unless you have to work for him,” Lou Piniella, who managed the Yankees twice in the 1980s, told Sports Illustrated in 2004. Mr. Steinbrenner saw himself as sticking up for the everyday New Yorker, though the price of Yankees tickets kept rising.

“I care about New York dearly,” he told Sports Illustrated in 2004. “I like every cab driver, every guy that stops the car and honks, every truck driver. I feed on that.”

He helped many charities and individuals in need and as a board member was a major fund-raiser for the historically black Grambling State University in Louisiana.

Mr. Steinbrenner, who was vice president of the United States Olympic Committee from 1989 to 1996, viewed himself as a patriot. He continued to have “God Bless America” played during the seventh-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium when other teams had dropped such touches, begun after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But he opposed American involvement in the inaugural World Baseball Classic of 2006, fearing that his star players might be injured in it. He was pleased when his left fielder Hideki Matsui declined to join the Japanese team.

Bud Selig, the baseball commissioner, once remarked: “George has been a very charismatic, controversial owner. But look, he did what he set out to do. He restored the New York Yankees franchise.”

George Michael Steinbrenner III, named for a grandfather, was born on July 4, 1930, the oldest of three children, and reared in the Cleveland suburb of Bay Village. His father, Henry Steinbrenner, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in naval architecture and engineering and starred as a collegiate hurdler before taking over the family’s maritime shipping business.

Young George tried to please his father by taking up hurdling and running a home-based business that raised chickens and sold their eggs.

“He was a tough taskmaster,” Mr. Steinbrenner once said of his father. “You know, if I ran four races in track, won three and lost one, he’d say, ‘Now go sit down and study that one race and see why you lost it.’ ”

His mother, Rita, offered a contrasting presence. “It was my mom who gave me compassion for the underdog and for people in need,” Mr. Steinbrenner was quoted saying by Bill Madden in “Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball” in an apparent reference to what would be his many charitable endeavors.

Mr. Steinbrenner attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana in the mid-1940s. His father, who idolized the Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio and Bill Dickey, took him to Cleveland to watch Indians games, especially when the Yankees came to town. “We were in awe of the Yankees,” Mr. Steinbrenner said.

Mr. Steinbrenner graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts with a degree in English, and he ran hurdles and played football, as a halfback. He served as an Air Force officer, coached high school football and basketball in Ohio, and was briefly an assistant football coach at Northwestern and Purdue.
He returned to Cleveland in 1957 to join the family’s longtime shipping firm, Kinsman Marine Transit, which carried Great Lakes cargo. He also operated the Cleveland Pipers, a professional basketball team.

In 1967, Mr. Steinbrenner began obtaining stock in the American Shipbuilding Company, based in Lorain, Ohio. He eventually took it over, merging it with Kinsman. By the time he gained control of the Yankees six years later, the company had greatly strengthened its operations.

Gabe Paul, a veteran baseball executive who helped arrange Mr. Steinbrenner’s purchase of the Yankees (shortly after a failed bid to buy the Indians) and became a limited partner in the team and then the Yankees president, and Lee MacPhail, the holdover general manager from the CBS years, were expected to make the personnel decisions when Mr. Steinbrenner arrived. But he quickly became immersed in baseball decisions and craved the celebrity aura that could never have come his way as a wealthy shipping executive. He began to spend large sums to end the long pennant drought, starting with the acquisition of the star pitcher Catfish Hunter.

Mr. Steinbrenner, meanwhile, ran into trouble in a matter far beyond the ball fields. In November 1974, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended him for two years — a term later reduced to 15 months — after he pleaded guilty to two charges, one a felony and the other a misdemeanor: conspiring to make illegal corporate contributions to President Richard M. Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign, and trying to “influence and intimidate employees” of his shipbuilding company to lie to a grand jury about the matter. He was fined $15,000 in the criminal case but given no jail time.

“Everybody has dents in his armor,” Mr. Steinbrenner told The New York Times in 1987. “That’s something I have to live with.” President Ronald Reagan pardoned him in January 1989, during his final days in office.

When free agency arrived as a result of an arbitrator’s decision in 1975 that nullified the reserve clause, which had bound players to their teams, Mr. Steinbrenner stepped up his spending.

The Yankees signed the slugger Reggie Jackson and the ace relief pitcher Goose Gossage, and they won the World Series in 1977 and 1978.

Mr. Steinbrenner changed managers and general managers with abandon, punctuated by the bizarre comings and goings of Martin. The oddest sequence began on July 24, 1978, when Martin resigned as manager, presumably a step ahead of being fired, after saying of Jackson and Mr. Steinbrenner: “The two of them deserve each other. One’s a born liar; the other’s convicted,” a reference to Mr. Steinbrenner’s guilty plea in the illegal-contributions case.

 Only five days later, on Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium, Martin was introduced as the Yankees’ manager for 1980. Instead he returned in June 1979, replacing the fired Bob Lemon, only to be fired himself a month after that season ended.

Dick Howser was named manager in 1980 and led the Yankees to a division championship, but soon after the season concluded, Mr. Steinbrenner announced that Howser was leaving to pursue “an outstanding offer in real estate,” an opportunity that remained a mystery.

After the Yankees lost to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1981 World Series at Los Angeles, Mr. Steinbrenner broke his hand. He said he had punched two men who insulted him and the Yankees in a hotel elevator. But the supposed assailants were never identified.

Another furor arose in 1985, this one surrounding Yogi Berra, the Yankees’ Hall of Fame catcher, who had become the manager. After declaring that “Yogi will be the manager the entire season, win or lose,” Mr. Steinbrenner fired him with the team off to a 6-10 start and dispatched the Yankees executive Clyde King to give Berra the news. Berra, furious, refused to set foot inside Yankee Stadium until Steinbrenner apologized 14 years later.

The Yankees struck a major financial coup in 1988 with a 12-year, $486 million TV deal with the Madison Square Garden network. But the team had been without a pennant since 1981 — a split season because of a players’ strike — and free agents had been reluctant to enter Mr. Steinbrenner’s turbulent domain.
By 1990, he had switched managers 18 times and hired 13 general managers.
Then came more trouble. In July 1990, Commissioner Fay Vincent ordered Mr. Steinbrenner to step aside as the Yankees’ managing partner for making a $40,000 payment to a confessed gambler named Howard Spira in return for Mr. Spira’s seeking damaging information about Winfield. Mr. Steinbrenner had been displeased with Winfield’s performance on the field, and the two had feuded over contributions Mr. Steinbrenner was to make to Winfield’s philanthropic foundation.

Mr. Steinbrenner resumed control of the Yankees in 1993, and three years later they were World Series champions again, beginning a long run of dominance.

By the 1990s, with free agents becoming ever more expensive, Mr. Steinbrenner acknowledged the need to develop the Yankees’ minor league system. The Yankees swept to championships with home-grown talent like Jeter, center fielder Bernie Williams, catcher Jorge Posada and pitchers Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera. But they also assumed more than $100 million in payments owed to Alex Rodriguez, who arrived in a trade with the Texas Rangers, and obtained the high-priced Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson.

In 2002, an investment group that included the Yankees formed the YES network to carry many games and broadcast Yankees-related programming. YES had $257 million in revenue in 2005, for the first time surpassing MSG as the country’s top regional sports network, according to Kagan Research.

The Yankees’ management achieved stability in the last decade as the team captured World Series championships in 1996 and every year from 1998 to 2000. But the Yankees faltered after that in their bid for another World Series title, and when they were knocked out of the playoffs by the upstart Detroit Tigers in 2006, speculation arose that Mr. Steinbrenner would fire Torre.

Torre, the manager since 1996, stayed on, and Mr. Cashman, the general manager since 1998 and a frequent object of Mr. Steinbrenner’s criticism, remained as well.

Even in his earliest days running the Yankees, Mr. Steinbrenner acknowledged that he seemed to rule through fear.

“Some guys can lead through real, genuine respect,” he told Cleveland magazine in 1974. “There are some guys who people would walk through a wall for, O.K., but I’m not that kind of a leader.” He likened himself to George Patton: “He was a gruff son of a bitch and he led through fear. I hope I don’t lead through fear, and I would hope it was more love and respect, but maybe it isn’t.”

Mr. Steinbrenner’s wrath often extended to the workers at Yankee Stadium. During an interview with The Times at his office in 1998, he called in two food-service employees and pushed a pretzel at them. “You call that fresh?” he said.

Always fastidious about his own grooming, he insisted that his players shun unruly hair and beards, displaying something of the disciplinarian he had been at home, with his children. He admitted he had been overbearing and even verbally abusive toward them. His daughter Jennifer said in 2004 that her brothers had absorbed the brunt. “Let’s put it this way: he had very high expectations of us,” she said.

In addition to his wife, Joan, his sons Hal and Hank, and his daughter Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal, Mr. Steinbrenner is survived by his daughter Jessica Steinbrenner and grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements will be private, the family said. There will be an additional public service with details to be determined.

In his later years Mr. Steinbrenner spent most of his time in Tampa, with his own corps of Yankees advisers, an arrangement that created a rift with the New York hierarchy headed by Mr. Cashman. He had divested himself of most of his business interests. American Shipbuilding filed for bankruptcy in 1993, but he owned a stud farm in Ocala, Fla., and had entered six horses in the Kentucky Derby over the years.

In April 2010, Forbes magazine estimated the Yankees’ value at $1.6 billion. The Red Sox had the second-highest value among major league teams, according to Forbes, far behind the Yankees at $870 million, with the Mets third at $858 million.

In his last years, Mr. Steinbrenner seemed to mellow some, and he spoke of the deaths of many friends. He cried in public on several occasions, including the time he walked past a group of West Point cadets who cheered for him at the Yankees’ 2004 home opener. He cried again in a television interview that day.

“This is a very important thing that we hold the string to,” he said of the Yankees, his voice cracking. “This is the people’s team.”

In building it into a fabulously successful and exceedingly lucrative enterprise, he never lost sight of his credo. As he told The New York Times in 1998: “I hate to lose. Hate, hate, hate to lose.”

Longtime Yanks Announcer Sheppard Dies | Marty Noble - MLB.com

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The gentle, refined and pious man whose voice afforded the Yankees' former home a dignified distinction for nearly five decades has passed away. Bob Sheppard, who introduced Joe DiMaggio, George W. Bush, Mickey Mantle, Elmer Fudd, and Derek Jee-tah and narrated the touchstone NFL playoff, died at his home in Baldwin, N.Y., on Sunday at age 99, nearly three years after his final call in the Bronx.

A rich, mellow voice and precise elocution made Sheppard a primary component of the Yankee Stadium experience. For generations, his "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen..." was the greeting that mattered most. Scooter, Yogi, Mickey, Whitey, Thurman, Reggie, Goose, Donnie, Bernie and Jee-tah were occupied, preparing for the day's event. They didn't nod or wave. It was left to Sheppard to greet the masses. "...and welcome to Yankee Stadium."

His words, deliberately delivered and echoing, served as a baseball "On your mark." Once Sheppard had spoken, the game could begin. He did for elocution what Loretta Young did for elegance, Benny Goodman did for swing, what Rogers and Astaire did for dance and what Mantle did for switch-hitting. Sheppard was from then, and he extended "then" so that it could be appreciated into the 21st century.

For that and other reasons, New York Times columnist George Vescey once identified him as a "civic treasure." That Sheppard worked Giants football games -- "Tackled by Robustelli and Katkavage" still resonates -- and St. John's basketball games and later did introductions for the Yankees' YES Network enhanced his metropolitan-area profile.

What Yankee Stadium visitor didn't mimic his unique delivery? The backyard and schoolyard fantasy games of young boys in Yankees' vast kingdom routinely featured introductions with the cadence and tenor of Robert Leo Sheppard, the man who made every syllable count and made a visit to his workplace different from an outing to any other sports venue in the land.

He made us listen and taught us to appreciate subtle sounds in a setting that often offered only jock-jam cacophony. Now, he is silent, and we are at loss for words -- his words.

It was no specific illness, but natural causes that took Sheppard from us. He had been ill and, as a result, too frail and weak to work in 2008. He regained weight and strength, but not enough to visit the successor to The House That Ruth Built. The new Stadium is graced, though, by a press dining area that bears his name and by his voice each time Jeter bats.
At the request of the Yankees' captain, a recording of Sheppard's "Derek Jeet-tah" is used.

Sheppard referred to Jeter's request as "one of the greatest compliments I have received in my career of announcing," and wryly added, "The fact that he wanted my voice every time he came to bat is a credit to his good judgment and my humility."

Sheppard's first game as the Yankee Stadium public address announcer came April 17, 1951. The first player he introduced was DiMaggio -- Dom, the Red Sox center fielder. His debut coincided with Mantle's big-league debut. (Coincidentally, the two also shared a birthday, Oct. 20.)

"Mickey arrived with slightly more fanfare," Sheppard liked to say.
Almost all of them did, from Mize to Mo, Raschi to Rodriguez and Stengel to Steinbrenner. But before his time came, Sheppard, too, had gained celebrity, unlike others who had similar responsibilities in other ballparks. He became, for the Yankees, what Ed McMahon became for Johnny Carson.

"I'd bat ninth just to hear him say my name," Reggie Jackson once said. "When he says "Forty-four," it's a higher number."

After hearing his name Sheppard-dized, Roy Smalley stated, "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Red Sox second base Jerry Remy decided no player was a bona fide big leaguer if he hadn't been introduced by Sheppard, and Rusty Staub identified Sheppard's voice as "the tones of dignity." More recently, Moises Alou lamented never having played in the Bronx. "I want to hear him say my name," Alou said in 2008, hoping Sheppard would work a Mets-Yankees Interleague game. Sheppard had been advised the proper pronunciation was "Ah-LOW," and was prepared to alter the public's pronunciation, as he had done with Tony PEH-rez in the 1976 World Series.

For that matter, it was Sheppard who taught the world the proper pronunciation of the Di-MAH-gio. To him, the short A was comparable to fingernails on a blackboard.

Sheppard was a tall, slender man who, like DiMaggio, preferred a blue suit and white shirt. He was distinguished before his hair turned white. In his later years, he favored solid-color LaCoste sweaters and ivy caps. His dress was as meticulous as his speech.

He was a striking figure on the dance floor. He and his second wife, Mary, occasionally attended the "Indoor Outing," a dinner and dancing event staged annually in the fall by the New York Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America at one of the city's ballparks. When they danced, others did not; they watched, instead. The Sheppards moved like Champions.

The BBWAA honored Sheppard for his long and meritorious service to the game at its annual winter dinner in 1998. When he reached the lectern, he stood, arms extended, palms facing up. He had the appearance of a religious figure. The reception afforded him was long and heartfelt.

Players suggested Sheppard's announcements sounded like sermons, particularly those in which unruly fans were gently admonished. Jackson took it a step further. After Sheppard had ventured to Fenway Park and surprised all by replacing Sherm Feller and introducing Jackson, the Yankees Hall of Famer said he had been introduced by "The voice of God."

Sheppard wasn't altogether comfortable with such well-intended comparisons. He was a devout Roman Catholic who celebrated mass daily when his health allowed.

Some did consider him a kind of deity. Oscar Gamble once pointed out that National League players didn't know what they were missing.

"We got the DH over here," Gamble said. "And that man upstairs." His reference was not to George Steinbrenner or a supreme being, but to Sheppard.

Perhaps no name benefited more from Sheppard's delivery than AH-scar Gamble, unless it was Ah-to VELL-ez or Looo-EESe Ar-r-r-royo. Even Mickey Klutz sounded better. Sheppard enjoyed introducing Mantle, Rocky Colavito, Dave Righetti and most Hispanic names.

Mantle once said, "Each time Bob Sheppard introduced me at Yankee Stadium, I got shivers up my spine." And Sheppard said to him, 'So did I.'"

Salome BAR-oh-has and Shigetoshi Hasegawa were his particular favorites. Sadly, William Van Landingham never pitched in the old Stadium.

Asked for a list of his favorite names, Sheppard did more than accommodate. He wrote this verse:

There are certain names that go over well,
Like Pena, Ramos, Carrasquel,
With liquid sounds so panoramic.
And strangely, they all are Hispanic.
Aurelio, Hipolito, Cecilio, Domingo
Have a lovelier sound than American lingo.
What native name could I ever tell so
Musically, as Valdivielso?
And no native name could ever show us
The splendor of Salome Barojas.

"He adds elegance to the game," Tim McCarver said. "The best words to describe his introductions are 'eloquent' and 'elegant.'"

Sheppard was born Oct. 20, 1910 -- 21 years to the day before Mantle -- in Ridgewood in Queens, N.Y. He graduated from Saint John's Preparatory School in Brooklyn in 1928 and from St. John's College in 1932. He was president of his senior class and earned seven varsity letters at St. John's, four as a left-handed quarterback and a first baseman. Upon graduation, he played semi-pro football on Long Island on weekends.

He earned his Master's Degree in speech from Columbia University and later served two years in the United States Navy during World War II, commanding shipboard gunnery crews in the Pacific Fleet.

His announcing career began in the late '40s when he volunteered to work a charity football game in Freeport, N.Y. That job led to positions with the Brooklyn Dodgers of the All-American Conference, the New York football Yankees, baseball's Yankees and the NFL Giants. His work with the Yankees might have begun a year earlier, in 1950, but his job as the chairman of the speech department at John Adams High School in Queens conflicted with the Yankees' schedule of mostly afternoon games. His "other job" responsibilities were accommodated the following year.

It was as the Giants' PA announcer that Sheppard worked the NFL championship game between the Giants and Colts in December, 1958, widely considered the game most responsible for the explosion in popularity of the NFL.

Traffic before and after Giants home games played in the Meadowlands persuaded Sheppard to end his football duties after the Giants' final game of the 2005-2006 season. His final baseball game came Sept. 5, 2007 -- Ben Broussard of the Mariners was the last player he introduced -- though his official retirement didn't come until Nov. 27, 2009. Sheppard's passion for football belied his gentle nature, but it was evident. He was once an on-air guest of Phil Rizzuto during a rain delay at Yankee Stadium in the early '70s. Rizzuto, wearing his pinstripes on his sleeve, as always, said, "Well, Bob, you've been present for so many great moments here at Yankee Stadium. Which one has the been the biggest for you?" Rizzuto was stunned when Sheppard cited the Colts-Giants game.

Sheppard also worked games for New York Titans of the AFL at the Polo Grounds, the New York Stars of the WFL at Randall's Island and five Army-Navy football games, all of which is not to suggest he wasn't a baseball fan. He treasured his relationships with the Yankees greats and the lesser-knowns who passed through the Bronx, and generally enjoyed the company of baseball people.

Sheppard is survived by his wife, Mary, two sons, two daughters, four grandchildren and nine great grandchilden.

Sheppard's work was recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame, which displays his encased microphone, and by St. John's University, where he also taught and which annually awards the Sheppard Trophy to an outstanding student-athlete. His celebrity also reached the cinema -- he appeared in four movies -- and television. His voice was heard in three episodes of "Seinfeld."

Though he made his mark via his introductions of batting orders and lineup revisions, Sheppard's poetry -- eloquent tributes to players and preambles to ceremonies at the Stadium -- made him more special and admired. Among scores of poems, he wrote were ones about DiMaggio, Mantle, Roger Maris, Thurman Munson, the now-razed Yankee Stadium and a tribute to Hispanic names.

He wrote the eulogies he delivered, declining on at least one occasion to use something Steinbrenner had provided. Sheppard suggested he might leave the Stadium if ordered to use The Boss' words. Steinbrenner later praised his eulogy for Dick Howser.

Sheppard was a man of conviction who had a strong sense of what was proper. In the mid-'90s, he had been in early discussions about writing a book about his Yankees' experiences. But when the publisher suggested that anecdotes which Sheppard considered unusable would be essential, Sheppard flatly declined to work on a book and didn't revisit the possibility.

When the New York baseball writers considered roasting him a few years earlier, he had expresssed reservations. No one was quite sure how to roast such a revered figure. But when Sheppard asked, "Would my daughter feel comfortable if she attended? ... She's a nun," he was told the roast might get a tad improper. He politely but firmly declined.

So few people in the game are like Sheppard. Paul Olden has replaced him in the booth, but not in the Yankees' pantheon. More than any club in the game, the Yankees know how difficult it is to replace a legend. But they do salute their heroes: Sheppard has a plaque in Monument Park with Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, et al. And as further tribute, there are the words Jackson spoke in 1985 after the death of long-time clubhouse manager Pete Sheehy. They're quite apropos for Sheppard as well:

"There have been a handful a great Yankees. He belongs. They shouldn't wear black arm bands. They should remove one pinstripe."

Poignant and well said, but had Sheppard said it, it would have sounded better.

Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Voice of the Yankees - Bob Sheppard Dies by Mark Herrmann - Newsday

And now...passing away....at age 99...legendary Yankees announcer....Bob Sheppard.

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Bob Sheppard, the renowned Voice of Yankee Stadium whom Reggie Jackson once called "The voice of God" for his intonations as public address announcer, has died at home in Baldwin. He was 99.

He died peacefully, surrounded by family members, early this morning, said his youngest son, Chris.

Sheppard, a former college football quarterback and later a speech teacher at St. John's University, began doing the public address announcements for Yankee games in 1951--when Joe DiMaggio still was playing and Mickey Mantle was a rookie--and lasted well into the Derek Jeter era. Health issues caused him to stop coming to the Stadium, but Jeter still has a recording of Sheppard announcing him every time he comes to the plate.

Sheppard also was the voice for Giants football games at the Stadium and continued when they moved to the Meadowlands. He was also a longtime lector at mass at St. Christopher's Roman Catholic Church in Baldwin.

Viewing will be Tuesday and Wednesday at Fullerton Funeral Home in Baldwin and a funeral mass will be held Thursday, the younger Sheppard said. A spokesman for the funeral home said no arrangements have been finalized and it is not clear whether the family will want the wake open to the public.feath

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Stadium Status from Internets Celebrities on Vimeo.

"It's hard being a sports fan these days."

Stadium Status is a documentary which examines the rush of new sports stadiums in NYC as the latest example of an obscene national trend. New stadiums are built every year and the private businesses that own them benefit from huge sums of public money for their creation. Are we getting our money's worth?

Internets Celebrities are Dallas Penn, Rafi Kam and director Casimir Nozkowski
Featuring Neil deMause and Killian Jordan
Additional Cinematography - Ian Savage
Original Music - Bless-1

Stadium Status was funded by fans of the Internets Celebrities via Kickstarter including a sponsorship from our friends at DIYThemes -- the company behind the Thesis theme for Wordpress. We are grateful for everyone's support.

More videos and Internets Celebrities updates at internetscelebrities.com

Web Watchdogs Gain Cult Following - Internet Celebrities - The Dylan Rattigan Show - msnbc tv

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Town Square: The Internet Celebrities join "The Dylan Rattigan Show" to talk about their Web show highlighting economic injustice...

John Fogerty to Perform 'Centerfield' Live at Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in July by David Hinckley - NY Daily News

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Festivities at the first opening day at Yankee Stadium. John Fogerty plays a bat-shaped guitar and sings his baseball anthem "Centerfield"

Andre Dawson played center field, John Fogerty sang "Centerfield," and in an unusual twist, both will be honored at the baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony July 25.

Dawson, who also played right field with Montreal and the Chicago Cubs, was previously announced as a Class of 2010 inductee alongside Veterans Committee selections Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey.

Tuesday the Hall is announcing that Fogerty will perform "Centerfield" to kick off the ceremony and then be honored to mark the 25th anniversary of the song's release. "I'm overwhelmed and truly humbled," Fogerty said on Monday. "I had no idea the song would ever be adopted by baseball."

While Fogerty is a Hall of Famer himself - the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Class of 1993 - the former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman said sharing a stage with baseball greats is a different level of thrill. "As a young boy who loved baseball, I grew up thinking baseball players were very special people, not like the rest of us," he said. "I never thought I'd be connected to them in any way except maybe getting an autograph."

[Photo caption: John Fogerty is 'humbled' to play 'Centerfield' at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.]

Noting he was born in California before baseball expanded west, Fogerty said his first team was the Yankees, but that he now roots for the Oakland A's. His recording of "Centerfield" has been played at the Cooperstown induction for more than a decade.

Commisioner Selig: Move the 2011 All-Star Game - MoveOn.org Political Action

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Show Commissioner Selig that baseball fans want the All-Star Game moved unless AZ's anti-immigration law is repealed—put on your favorite baseball team's gear and send in a photo.

Moveon.org Facebook page...

Also see: Move The 2011 Baseball All-Star Game and sign the petition...

Late Show with David Letterman - World Series Champion NY Yankees Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Hideki Matsui...

FYI, The Yankees do really well with a Democratic President:

Since winning the 1958 World Series when Republican Dwight Eisenhower was president, all nine of the Yankees’ titles have come under Democratic administrations — 1961, 1962, 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009. This bodes well for the Yankees for at least the next three seasons.

Dave's interview with Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada. Plus; MVP Hideki Matsui brings out the hardware...

Air Date: 11/05/09 Clip 5:00

David Letterman - World Series Champion NY Yankees, Part 2

Air Date: 11/05/09 Clip 4:47

David Letterman - World Series Champion NY Yankees, Part 3

Air Date: 11/05/09 Clip 1:57

Congress Congratulates the 2009 World Champion Yankees

Congressman Jose Serrano speaking about the 2009 World Series Champion Yankees as he works to pass a resolution congratulating them in the U.S. House of Representatives...

Joe Girardi Helps Car Crash Victim After World Series Win - Huffington Post

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Yankees manager Joe Girardi capped off a victorious evening by helping a car crash victim in suburban New York.

Police say Girardi pulled over to help after a woman lost control on a Westchester County parkway and crashed into a wall around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

That was just hours after Girardi's team claimed a World Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Girardi tells WFAN-AM that he was "really concerned" because of damage to her car. He says he had his wife call 911, then approached the mangled vehicle.

The woman had only cuts, and police arrived minutes later.

Officer Kathleen Cristiano says that seeing Girardi at the accident scene later "was totally surreal."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/joe-girardi-helps-crash-v_n_347301.html&cp

The Mayor Who Wouldn’t Leave - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

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Amid all the expected celebratory scenes inside the Yankee clubhouse on Sunday night, there was one incongruous constant: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

The Constant Mayor

Following the Yankees’ clinching win over the Los Angeles Angels, the Fox cameras were trained on the podium, as various presentations were made and interviews conducted. And just to the right, Mayor Bloomberg held his position on the podium, so long that it almost seemed awkward.

Asked whether the Fox Sports coverage found the mayor’s constant on-camera presence in the clubhouse awkward, Lou D’Ermilio, the spokesman for Fox Sports, said, “We had nothing to do with him being there. The moment was about the New York Yankees and the team winning a pennant. We interviewed team executives, the manager, the MVP, and the players. That’s what we do after a game.”

Asked if the network had any previous experience with a city’s mayor turning up in the coverage of a clubhouse celebration, Mr. D’Ermilio said, “I don’t recall the last time there was one in there.”

No one knows for sure why the mayor wouldn’t leave, although we and others could certainly hazard a guess. In fact, here are our 10 guesses, in the tradition of a Late Show Top 10. Somehow we think you can do better. So please, send us your possible reasons…

Top 10 Reasons Why Mayor Bloomberg Wouldn’t Leave the Podium

10. Rudy would have stepped up to replace him.
9. As Letterman might say, the podium was kinda high off the ground for a guy that short.
8. Someone has to represent the Red Sox, er, I mean the Mets, er, I mean City Hall.
7. If the cracked stadium ramps gave way, this was the safest place to be.
6. Free Champagne? Somewhere there’s gotta be free hot dogs.
5. He had to stay for all nine innings; no way he leaves now.
4. A showing of solidarity with the biggest payroll in baseball.
3. Just bursting for the opportunity to show a national audience how well he speaks Spanish.
2. It’s great to be with a wiener.
1. It’s not often the mayor gets TV face time that he doesn’t have to pay for.

Happy 99th Birthday to Yankees Legend & Hall of Fame Announcer Bob Sheppard

Happy Birthday to Richmond Hill's own Bob Sheppard...

Robert Leo "Bob" Sheppard (born October 20, 1910)^[1] has been the public address announcer for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball since 1951, and was the public address announcer for the New York Giants of the National Football League from 1956 to 2006. In his time with the Yankees, he has announced over 4,500 Major League Baseball games, and has seen the Yankees capture 22 American League pennants and 13 World Series championships.

View Full Wikipedia entry...

Parks Dept's Hidden-Tix Trick on Luxe Mets Box by David Seifman - New York Post

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THE city's luxury box at Shea Stadium was used almost entirely over the last four years by employees of the Parks Department - which oversees the ballpark - while other city agencies were largely shut out.

Documents obtained by The Post under the Freedom of Information Law show Parks workers were allocated 78 percent of the 324 Mets' home games from 2005 to 2008 in the 15-seat box.

The Mayor's Office and its subsidiaries grabbed 12 percent.

The rest of city government struck out with a meager 10 percent.

Mayoral aides have defended their hard-nosed negotiations in 2006 to secure luxury boxes valued at between $250,000 to $500,000 for the city in the new Met and Yankee stadiums, claiming they're needed to reward municipal workers.

But insiders say many agencies weren't aware free baseball tickets could be had for the asking.

"If people asked, they got them, but you had to know to ask," a source said.

The 10,549 employees of the Correction Department didn't get a single ticket. Neither did the 6,985 at the Administration for Children's Services. The NYPD got to use the luxury box on one measly occasion, when the Mets faced the San Diego Padres on July 21, 2005.

The most eagerly sought tickets - the annual hometown Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees - always ended up in the hands of either Parks or the Mayor's Office.

Officials say the ticket policy was overhauled last season, with a lottery established to level the playing field.

david.seifman@nypost.com

Weiner: Wrong for City to Trade Tax Breaks for Luxury Baseball Perks

Representative Anthony Weiner (D – Brooklyn and Queens), co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Caucus on the Middle Class, released the following statement today on news of the City's efforts to secure perks for a luxury suite at Yankees Stadium:

Rep. Weiner said, "It is wrong for city officials to trade tax breaks for luxury perks at a baseball stadium. During these challenging economic times, the City should have the Yankees repay the City for the value of these luxury boxes or auction them off. If city officials want to catch a game, they should purchase tickets just like every other New Yorker."

In October, Rep. Weiner released an analysis of luxury box perks at the new Yankee and Mets stadiums and found that the $1.3 million the City could retrieve from selling the luxury box perks would:

- Hire 29 new teachers
- Hire 30 new police officers
- Hire 36 new firefighters
- Build 1 new little league field

City Pressed Hard for Use of Luxury Suite at Yankee Stadium by David W. Chen - NYTimes.com

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Some tough negotiations led to the City of New York’s obtaining the right to use a luxury suite at the new Yankee Stadium. Uli Seit for The New York Times

The Bloomberg administration was so intent on obtaining a free luxury suite for its own use at the new Yankee Stadium, newly released e-mail messages show, that the mayor’s aides pushed for a larger suite and free food, and eventually gave the Yankees 250 additional parking spaces in exchange.

The parking spaces were given to the team for the private use of Yankees officials, players and others; the spaces were originally planned for public parking. The city also turned over the rights to three new billboards along the Major Deegan Expressway, and whatever revenue they generate, as part of the deal.

The e-mail messages between the aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Yankees executives were obtained and released by Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, Democrat of Westchester, who questions whether taxpayers were adequately protected in the city’s deal with the team.

Mr. Brodsky said what emerges from the e-mail correspondence is a sense of entitlement ingrained in Bloomberg officials. He said that the city appeared to be pushing for use of the suite for not just regular-season games, but for the playoffs and the World Series, and for special events like concerts, too.

“There’s this ‘Alice in Wonderland’ quality to the question of, what is the public interest here and who’s protecting it?” said Mr. Brodsky, who conducted a hearing on the issue of public financing of sports stadiums this summer. “We can’t find the money for the M.T.A., or schools, or hospitals, and these folks are used to the perks and good things of life, and expect them.”

The city maintains it was simply trying to obtain a luxury suite comparable to that given to other cities involved in stadium or arena projects. But the message traffic, which dates to January 2006, raises questions, too, about how sincere city officials were when they recently stated publicly that the box could be used to reward outstanding city workers, rather than mainly for the mayor, dignitaries and aides. The notion of inviting city workers as guests is not mentioned in the e-mail messages until Aug. 7, 2008, and only then in response to an inquiry from a reporter.

The city’s push for the perks has been known, at least broadly speaking, since Mr. Brodsky began raising questions earlier this year about the stadium deals for the Yankees and Mets, from whom the city also secured a luxury box. But the e-mail messages offer a revealing snapshot of the behavior and marching orders of the people involved in the deal for the construction of the billion-dollar Yankee Stadium.

It is hard to determine the precise value of what the city gave the Yankees as part of the exchange. The public parking, though perhaps a convenience to those who drive to the stadium, was to be run by a parking garage operator, not the city, before it was turned over to the Yankees for team use. The billboards would most likely generate about $750,000 annually, given their location. The Yankees are expected to charge $600,000 to $850,000 a year for stadium luxury suites, according to reports.

The project required permission from the Internal Revenue Service because of the team’s desire to use tax-exempt bonds to finance construction. In one heated exchange, city lawyers threatened they would not make the request to the I.R.S. for the use of the tax-exempt financing unless the Yankees would consider providing the luxury suite.

Lonn Trust, the Yankees chief operating officer, wrote to the city on Jan. 26, 2006: “For clarity, no seats, no suites, no tickets, and as they say in Brooklyn ‘No nothin’.’ ”

In response, a lawyer for the city, Joseph Gunn, warned that “No nothin’ can go both ways,” adding that if the luxury suite was not included, “We do not submit the letter ruling request.”

“Suite negotiations between the city and the New York Yankees were part of lengthy discussions with the city involving a whole host of different deal points,” said Alice McGillion, a spokeswoman for the Yankees.

At another point, raw personal feelings emerged, as evidenced during this exchange, starting June 29, 2006, between top city officials about Randy Levine, the Yankees president.

“If we want a deal on the suite, he wants 250 spaces,” Seth W. Pinsky, then the executive vice president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, wrote to Daniel L. Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor. After Mr. Doctoroff did not respond, Mr. Pinsky, a bit sheepishly, wrote the next day: “It comes down to how much we’re willing to rely on Randy’s word.”

“Let’s not give,” Mr. Doctoroff replied. “I don’t trust him.”

Another theme that emerges is Mr. Bloomberg’s interest in the stadiums. In one e-mail message on July 5, 2006, about the Mets’ new stadium, Mr. Pinsky noted: “This is a big issue to the mayor.”

David Lombino, a spokesman for the city’s Economic Development Corporation, cautioned against reading too much into the e-mail messages.

“Securing the option to use a box at the stadium was one part of a much larger, comprehensive negotiation where we sought the best deal possible for the city,” he said. “Our goal was to make sure that New York had the same advantages as other cities, including the option to use a box, be it for staff outings, for public employees or for visiting dignitaries. The mayor’s office has indicated that no decision has been made as to whether or not it will exercise the option, but it exists for this and future administrations.”

A Bloomberg spokesman, Andrew Brent, echoed those ideas, saying, “As a matter of equity, it was important to us throughout the negotiations that the Yankees were not exempted from such gives or treated any differently than other teams.”

In response to recent questions from reporters, Mr. Pinsky, who is now the president of the Economic Development Corporation, has played down the importance of the luxury suite, saying he did not understand what all the fuss was about.

But the messages show that he and other aides were anything but casual about the matter, with issues like the location and size of the box of obvious concern.

When the team agreed to an 8-seat box, the city successfully demanded 12 seats.

And on July 7, 2006, Mr. Pinsky informed Mr. Doctoroff that the Yankees had told him: “The location of the box is in left field, but before the foul pole. Also, it is designed to project out, so that it will have a direct view down the third base line.”

The city also demanded that the luxury suite be provided with food — just like all the other suites. But the Yankees balked.

In one message dated July 26, 2006, Stephen Lefkowitz, a Yankees lawyer, wrote to Mr. Pinsky: “Seth — Randy believes he told you ‘no food’ and that you agreed. If this is so, please let me know and we can drop this from our list of irritants.”

The city, of course, disagreed. And that prompted Mr. Lefkowitz to respond this way: “It’s really ridiculous, but it sticks like a bone in everyone’s craw. The Yankees feel the city should pay for any food it wants to consume, and I think it’s a little unseemly to require ‘free’ food.”

He added: “For this I went to law school — sigh.”

Report: Joba Chamberlain Arrested for DUI -- Newsday.com

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Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain was arrested early Saturday morning for DUI, according to report from the Gannett News Service.

According to the news service, the hurler was arrested near his hometown of Lincoln, Neb.

The story quotes Deborah Collins, from the Nebraska State Patrol, who said the pitcher was pulled over after apparently speeding. The spokeswoman told the paper an officer arrested Chamberlain after the odor of alcohol was detected and spotting an open container of alcohol in the front seat of a 2006 BMW 2006 75i.

Chamberlain was arrested, and charged with driving under the influence, having an open container and speeding, the news service says.

Former Yankee Outfielder Bobby Murcer Dies At 62 - WNBC | New York

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News 4 New York has learned that former Yankees outfielder Bobby Murcer has died after a battle with brain cancer. He was 62.Murcer played for the Yankees from 1965-74 and 1979-83 and became a broadcaster with the team after retiring in 1983.

Murcer was diagnosed with brain cancer on Christmas Eve in 2006 after an MRI revealed a malignant brain tumor, according to The Daily News. A five-time major league All Star and Gold Glove winner in 1972, Murcer spent 17 years in the Major League.

City Choosing to Forget - Selective Memory on Display in Uproar Over Delayed Yankees’ Parkland by Patrick Arden - metro

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When did the Bloomberg administration know that it was replacing parks lost to the new Yankee Stadium with polluted land?

That was the question City Councilwoman Helen Foster asked yesterday at a hearing on the project’s delays.

Costs to the city have doubled in the last two years, with the replacement parks’ bill climbing 84 percent to around $190 million. Yesterday, officials attributed part of the sticker shock to “unanticipated” cleanup.

“I can assure you that there was no attempt to underplay the cost,” said Liam Kavanagh of the Parks Department. But the city knew its replacement park parcels were contaminated — it’s even mentioned in the project’s initial environmental review. In 2006, Metro detailed the massive amount of pollution the city had found at the site.

The review acknowledged toxins exceeding state standards “were detected in soil samples from throughout the project area.”

Oil contamination was identified in dirt and groundwater.

National Park Service executive Jack Howard noted soil near the Harlem River had “petroleum-like odors.” With reason: The lot had hosted a Valvoline Oil facility and a power plant.

Sikhs Back Renaming of a Queens Park for Rizzuto by John Sullivan - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog

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Holy Cow…! I think it’s a wonderful thing that Scooter Rizzuto has Smoky Oval Park named after him…With the LIRR Morris Park train repair yard long gone from Atlantic Avenue, the name “Smoky Oval” simply no longer held any significance to the park…It’s a fitting tribute to an individual who many of us let into our homes while broadcasting Yankees baseball games for years and years, I grew up listening to Phil on the radio and television…I’m glad the old huckleberry from Richmond Hill High School will live on in our community in spirit…

If people in Queens have their way, one of the more peculiar names on the roster of city parks will soon be history. Smokey Oval Park, a cluster of ball fields and playgrounds in Richmond Hill, gets its name from deposits of soot and ash that passing trains used to dump on the area, according to the Parks Department. The ash heaps are long gone, but the name has lived on to baffle visitors to the neighborhood.

Now, Rory I. Lancman, the state assemblyman who represents the area, wants to change the park’s name to honor one of Richmond Hill’s most famous sons, Yankee great Phil Rizzuto. Mr. Rizzuto, who died in August, grew up in nearby Glendale but played high school baseball in Richmond Hill, which gives the neighborhood sufficient reason to honor the hall of famer. (There was some support for another former resident, Jack Kerouac, but Mr. Lancman said the beat writer could not compete with the shortstop.)

“There are certain things about Phil Rizzuto that makes it especially appropriate,” Mr. Lancman, following a news conference at the site this morning. “He embodied the spunk and decency of New Yorkers.”

Mr. Lancman is also bowing to the will of a large group of his constituents. Two of the city’s largest Sikh temples are located near the park, he said, and smoking is banned by the Sikh religion. He said delegates from the community approached him and asked to change the name.

“It sounds like a place for smoking and drinking and things like that,” said Raghbir Singh, one of the founders of one of the temples, the Makhan Shah Labana, and chairman of the 25th District’s Democratic club. “When we print up fliers, we have to say we are having an activity in nearby Smokey Park.”

Mr. Lancman said Community Board 9 has already unanimously endorsed switching the park’s name. This morning’s news conference, he said, was intended to persuade (“I don’t like to say pressure”) the Parks Department into confirming the switch.

The department responded with a statement saying that while no one has officially applied for a name change, it “would welcome the opportunity to review a proposal.”

The Staten Island Yankees Have a Switch Pitcher...

The Staten Island Yankees have a switch pitcher, watch this clip from the Staten Island Yankees game against the Brooklyn Cyclones...




The pitcher's name is Pat Venditte, and he was a 45th round pick in last year's draft but chose to go back to college for his senior year. This year the Yankees picked him in the 20th round and he signed. He made his debut on Thursday.