The Boston Red Sox were on an absolute tear a little more than a week ago and their rival New York Yankees were faltering. Now, the tables have turned and the Yankees are back in first place by half a game.
With the recent ESPN “30 for 30” about the Boston Celtics versus Los Angeles Lakers rivalry, fans began thinking back to all the Boston rivalries; Bruins and Canadiens, Patriots and all of football and, of course, Red Sox-Yankees. Ever since the first game at Fenway Park, when the Sox beat the New York Highlanders, later renamed the “Yankees,” the Big Apple and Beantown have been at each other’s throats. The 86 years of curses and the added hatred culminated to today’s Mookie Betts and Aaron Judge clash. Today’s teams don’t necessarily hate each other with the same passion as they did in 2004, but the two stars made up two thirds of the American League’s All-Star Game outfield. As two of the best players in baseball with Hall of Fame hopes, this pair seems similar to David Ortiz and Derek Jeter. Jeter and Ortiz were two of the best players in their day and now the probable Rookie of the Year and last year’s second in the American League Most Valuable Player voting are rekindling that heat. Both players are the top ten in several categories of statistics including runs scored, hits and doubles. Judge leads the AL in home runs, slugging and OPS. The only player visibly better than both of them is the Houston Astros’ second baseman Jose Altuve who leads in hits, doubles, batting average and on-base percentage. Clearly, the skill of Betts and Judge can only be matched a future Hall of Famer, such as the 5’6” athlete. Being the best in baseball is what kept the Sox-Bronx rivalry strong for the last 105 years since that game against the Highlanders when the Sox won 7-6 in 11 innings. Babe Ruth’s being traded for cash, Ted Williams And Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio rivalries, Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone, Alex Rodriguez slapping the ball out Bronson Arroyo’s glove and 2004 Boston comeback all led to the current Judge versus Betts clash. The Yankees trade deadline deal of earlier today to nab Sonny Gray from the Oakland Athletics may give the Pinstripes an edge in this postseason run, but the BoSox Eduardo Nunez, Rafael Devers and Doug Fister payed off in recent games. The Boston Squad and the Bronx Bombers both have their ways of winning, but their continued strife and their fight makes them two of the best teams in today’s Major League Baseball and in MLB’s history. Betts and Judge next face off in New York from Thursday, August 31 to Sunday, September 3 and that will be their last contest before the playoffs. Jesse A. Cook “Red Sox-Yankees Rivalry Revitalized” August 1, 2017
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Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger are shocking all of baseball with the insane numbers they’re putting up. The two rookies haven’t even played half the season, yet, but they’re the top two home run hitters in baseball!
Currently, my guess for the coming Home Run Derby looks as if the participants will be Giancarlo Stanton (he’s already confirmed that he’ll try to defend his title), Joey Votto, Scott Schebler, Mike Moustakas, Logan Morrison, Joey Gallo, and, somehow, Bellinger and Judge! The two lead their respective leagues and soon it won’t even be any close. The New York Yankees star rookie right fielder has been absolutely tearing up the Major League level. The Yankees have hit a small slump, but Judge cannot be to blame. Since the month of June began, Judge has hit nine homers, batted .341, had 32 hits, and 22 RBIs. The Los Angeles Dodgers star rookie left fielder has not been “out in left field.” He has been a major factor in the Dodger’s 18-5 month of June and their current ten game winning streak, having had four two home run games just in this month! Since the month began, Bellinger has hit thirteen home runs, has batted .307, had 27 hits, and 26 RBIs. On the year, apart from them being on separate teams, this race is not unlike 1961’s home run race between Yankees’ center fielder Mickey Mantle and Yankees’ right fielder Roger Maris. It looked an awful lot like one, if not both of the Bronx outfielders would break former Yankees’ right fielder Babe Ruth’s single season home run record of 60 bombs. Unfortunately, while Maris broke the record, finishing at 61, and left an injured Mantle at 54, the MLB Commissioner, Ford Frick, decided to put an asterisk next to the new record because Maris did it in 162 games, while Ruth only had 154. The only difference is that Judge has played 71 of the Yankees 73 games and Bellinger has only played 57 of the Dodgers 77 games. In 71 games, Judge has hit 26 home runs, yet in 57 games Bellinger has hit 24. That means that while Judge only averages about .366 homers a game, Bellinger averages about .421 homers a game. With those averages, assuming neither player gets injured or hits a slump, Bellinger will soon surge past Judge and into an unbeatable first place. LA has the best win percentage in the National League, second in all of baseball only to the Houston Astros, and the Yankees’ losing streak of late has allowed their rival Boston Red Sox back into the American League East picture, as they are now tied for first. It seems like this race is going to not only come out with Bellinger beating Judge, but LA absolutely crushing the NL and NY being overwhelmed by the AL. Now, we don’t know who every participant in Miami’s coming Home Run Derby will be, but we do have the general inkling that it will most likely end up as a Judge-Bellinger final bout. By the way the season has gone, so far, we do also have the general inkling that the home run race will come to a similar Judge vs. Bellinger result. Keeping in mind that no rookie has ever hit 50 homers (Mark McGwire hit 49 in his 1987 rookie year), we wish happy homers to all, especially to the two battling interleague rookies. Jesse A. Cook “The Rookie Home Run Race” June 26, 2017 Aaron Judge stands tall at six foot seven in the New York Yankees’ right fielder spot, and he is the answer for trophy 28. The Yankees have struggled in the past couple years, but they are back in action with a young squad led by power-hitting Gary Sanchez, speedy Didi Gregorius, and huge Judge. How does this translate to another piece of pinstripe success?
Here’s the verdict: they’re right back ahead of their rival Red Sox, they have been absolutely on fire, and they’ve got a pretty easy schedule up ahead which is a pretty clear indication that they’re gonna break out into the playoffs, again. Another factor is the young Judge: The man is batting well above .300, he’s already hit close to 15 home runs by early May, his on-base percentage is above .400, and his slugging percentage is closing in on .800! The last pinstriped outfielder to start out this well in his rookie year was Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio. Judge is sentencing opponents to grim final scores. They’re merely becoming names in history books about Judge as who he set his records against. How do teams prepare for their trial against New York? Don’t pitch right into the strike zone. The best opportunity for getting the powerful Judge out is to pitch around him. That means something similar to intentionally walking a batter. Say you’re a left handed pitcher and Mike Trout comes up with the bases loaded; you don’t want to give him anything good to hit, but you also can’t walk him because then a run will score. What you do is throw pitches around the edges of the strike zone that wouldn’t always be called a strike by the home plate umpire, but still look close enough for the batter to take a whack at. The pitches are close enough to look hittable, but they’re much more difficult to strike than pitches right down Broadway are. That’s how pitchers have to play it against Judge. For example, last year he struck out 42 times out of just 95 plate appearances. His batting average was a mere .179, but his strikeout average was an astounding .442. This year, he’s struck out just 32 times out of 104 at-bats. That’s a strikeout average of only .308. His SO average has dropped by more than .130! The Yankees also have Gary Sanchez’s power in tow: Sanchez is batting up near .300 with an OBP close to .400 alongside 2 home runs in just 10 games for Sanchez. Last year, he came in second for the Rookie of the Year award behind the 11-7 Detroit Tiger, Michael Fulmer. Sanchez also went .299 for his average, .376 for his OBP, and hit all of 20 home run shots in just 53 games. If the Bronx Bombers ballclub can keep calling their shots, this team could come to be another rendition of their late 1990s and 2000s team, their 70s team, and maybe even their 1927 Murderer’s Row lineup. Baseball has been judged and the sentence is life in another set of Yankee World Series championship wins. Jesse A. Cook May 10, 2017 “Tough To Judge: The New York Yankees” Tomorrow starts the 365 day journey that will come to be known as 2017, so to welcome the new year, here’s an article that concerns strictly baseball in years ending with 7:
It was 1887, and the 2 leagues were the National League and the American Association. Atop the National League at 79-45 were the Detroit Wolverines, and atop the American Association at 95-40 were the St. Louis Browns. President Grover Cleveland was serving his first of 2 non-consecutive terms, and he was one of the most baseball-loving presidents in American history. Tip O’Neill of the Browns won the Triple Crown in the AA, while in the NL Sam Thompson of the Wolverines led in batting average and in RBIs and Billy O’Brien of the Washington Nationals led in home runs. By 1897, the AA had disbanded and the top 2 teams in the NL faced off for the Temple Cup, the NL Championship series. The 2 competitors were the 90-40 Baltimore Orioles and the 93-39 Boston Beaneaters. Led by the league leader in home runs, Hugh Duffy, the Beaneaters took the Cup in 5 games. Now we arrive in 1907, so Cubs fans rejoice! At 92-58 and led by star outfielder Ty Cobb, the Detroit Tigers were eager to face the powerful 107-45 Chicago Cubs for the World Series. The Cubs were led by a trio of infielders: Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance. The poem about the 3 may happen to be what put them all in the Hall of Fame, however Baseball’s Sad Lexicon did more to cause anguish to the Cubs’ opponents.: These are the saddest of possible words: “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds, Tinker and Evers and Chance. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble, Making a Giant hit into a double Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” The poem describes that if a ball comes anywhere near 1 of these 3 greats, all hopes of getting on base vanished. The smug Tigers thought that they would walk all over Chicago, but the Detroit crowd would be silenced in 5 games. The next year, 1908, would mark the last Cubs World Series victory for 108 until November 2 and 3, 2016. The southside of Chicago would be grinning in 1917, for the 100-54 Chicago White Sox would defeat the 98-56 New York Giants in 6 games. Unfortunately, Chicago would experience not a single World Series title until 2005 when the White Sox won for the first time in 88 years. The next year, in 1918, the Boston Red Sox would win their last World Series until 2004, an 86 year curse. In 1927, the league was dominated by the New York Yankees’ lineup, coined the nickname “Murderer’s Row.” The ‘27 Yanks lineup consisted of 4 future Hall of Famers. Leading off was Hall of Fame center fielder Earle Combs, then shortstop Mark Koenig, followed by Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, in right field (who led the league with 60 home runs, a record that wouldn’t be broken until Roger Maris of the Yankees hit 61 home runs in 1961), and Lou Gehrig, at first base, after them was left fielder Bob Meusel, then Hall of Fame second baseman, Tony Lazzeri, after whom came the third baseman, Joe Dugan, and the catcher, Pat Collins. The 110-44 Bronx Bombers swept the 94-60 Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. The Negro National League, which was in Western America, was won by the 54-28 Chicago American Giants, who swept the 53-41 Birmingham Black Barons. The Eastern Colored League was won by 64-39 Atlantic City Bacharach, who in the first half of the season went by the name of the Giants, then changed to the Bees for the second half. In 1937, American League batting was dominated by the Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio, and the Tigers’ Hank Greenberg. Lefty Gomez of the Yanks won the pitcher’s Triple Crown by leading in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. Carl Hubbell led the National League in wins and strikeouts, however Jim Turner beat him in ERA. The 102-52 Yankees beat their crosstown rivals, the 95-57 New York Giants 4 games to 1 for the World Series. In the Negro American League, while the 19-10 Cincinnati Tigers led in winning percentage, the 23-14 Chicago Americans and the 13-8 Kansas City Monarchs were the disputed winners. After some time, the Monarchs were crowned 1937 champions. In the Negro National League, the Homestead Grays took home the title. 1947 would be a revolutionary year for not only sports, but civil rights in the world. That year, for the Brooklyn Dodgers, a young man named Jackie Robinson would take the field at Ebbets Field. Robinson faced a great deal of adversity while playing in the Majors, simply because he was black, but a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates marked a formative moment in his life. In his final year, Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg played for the Pirates, and as a Jewish ballplayer, Greenberg had faced some hatred from fellow ballplayers, as well. Robinson had been knocked to the ground, avoiding a bad throw to first, but when he looked up from the baseline, he saw something he hadn’t seen much of in that year: a helping hand. Greenberg helped him up, something that no one had done for him a long time. The 94-60 Dodgers would later lose the World Series to the 97-57 New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox left fielder, Ted Williams, won the Triple Crown that year, and Robinson won Rookie of the Year. In the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Grand Rapids Chicks defeated the Muskegon Lassies. In California, the first College World Series was held, and in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the first Little League World Series was held. The New York Cubans beat the Cleveland Buckeyes 4 games to 1 in the Negro League World Series, but Robinson’s playing that year in the MLB would pave the way for baseball to become fully integrated, and the Negro Leagues soon disbanded. The 95-59 Milwaukee Braves beat the 98-56 New York Yankees for the 1957 World Series. 1957 was a rather confusing time for Americans. Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower was president, however the Soviets had recently launched the space probe, Sputnik. The quiz show, Twenty-One, had a scandal on their hands for giving their favored contestants the answers before the show, and the Nishitetsu Lions had beaten the Yomiuri Giants for the Japan Series. In baseball, there were now rising stars like Luis Aparicio, Henry “Hank” Aaron, and Willie Mays. Now Boston Red Sox fans, prepare to cry, for 1967 was the Impossible Dream season for the 92-70 BoSox. They lost in 7 games to the 102-60 St. Louis Cardinals. In 1967, Lyndon Baines Johnson was president, however Richard M. Nixon was running a successful campaign for the 1968 election, and in other news, the Yomiuri Giants had beaten the Hankyu Braves for the Japan Series and the first NFL Super Bowl was held that year, with the Green Bay Packers as the first Super Bowl Champions. By ‘67, baseball’s seasons had extended from 154 games to the modern 162. It was an incredible, unbelievable season for Boston. They were a ragtag team of essentially nobodies, except for Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Conigliaro, and Jim Lonborg, but they made all the way to the World Series only to come 1 game shy of breaking the Curse of The Great Bambino which they had been struck with in 1919 when they traded Babe Ruth, the Great Bambino, himself, to the New York Yankees for $100,000. In that year, Lonborg won the American League Cy Young Award, and Yastrzemski won the American League MVP Award and he became the last player to win the Triple Crown until Miguel Cabrera in 2012 for the Detroit Tigers. In 1977, the Bronx was burning. They’d just lost the World Series in ‘76 to the Cincinnati Reds’ Big Red Machine, which was not unlike the ‘27 Yankees’ Murderer’s Row. The Big Red Machine’s fielders went at catcher, Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, at first base, Hall of Famer Tony Perez, at second base, Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, at third base, all-time leader in hits at 4,256, Pete Rose, at shortstop, Dave Concepcion, in left field, George Foster, in center field, Cesar Geronimo, and last, but least, in right field, Ken Griffey Sr. The team began to disband the late months of ‘76 and early months ‘77 when Perez was sent to the Montreal Expos. However, now we must get back to the Bronx. Fans were excited about the recent acquisition of Reggie Jackson, who in the middle of the intense season, in an interview proclaimed himself “The Straw That Stirs The Drink.” Of course people were scared out there because of the Son of Sam killings. David Berkowitz was later revealed to be the murderer called, Son of Sam, who would go out at night, find women with long hair, and kill them. In the midst of all this, the 100-62 Yankees were in the American League Championship Series against the 102-60 Kansas City Royals. After beating the Royals 3 games to 2, the Bronx would be in the World Series, yet again, to face the 98-64 Los Angeles Dodgers who had beaten the 101-61 Philadelphia Phillies 3 games to 2 in the National League Championship Series. The Yankees won the Championship 4 games to 2. In 1987, pitcher Nolan Ryan had become one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Wade Boggs, Andre Dawson, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, and Tony Gwynn were quickly becoming the stars, and the Minnesota Twins had beaten the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series title. By 1997, the MLB had the 3 divisions in each league that we have today: East, Central, and West. The Divisional Series and Wild Card teams had been introduced. With World Series MVP, Livan Hernandez, the Wild Card Florida Marlins beat the Cleveland Indians for the first of 2 Marlin World Series wins, the second being in 2003. 104 years before, in 1903, the Boston Red Sox had won the first ever World Series, 89 years before, in 1918, they’d won for the last time until 3 years before, when the self-proclaimed “Idiots” won the 2004 World Series, breaking the 86 year Curse of the Great Bambino. Still led by David “Big Papi” Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek, Kevin Youkilis, Tim Wakefield, Mike Timlin, and Curt Schilling, Boston had a great shot at the ‘07 title. They had also made the crucial recent acquisitions (and having called up to the Majors from the Minor Leagues) of Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, Mike Lowell, Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Rookie of the Year, Dustin Pedroia. Pretty great team, right? At 96-66, tied with the Cleveland Indians for best record in baseball, the BoSox had no trouble sweeping the 90-73 Colorado Rockies for the World Series win. In this coming spring of 2017, the fourth annual World Baseball Classic will be held. One of the top headlines has been Team Israel; they’ve made it past the qualification round and into the actual tournament for the first time. We don’t what deals will be made next year, nor do we know who will win which award, nor do we know who will the World Series. It should be an exciting year, though, and I, for one, can’t wait. The New York Mets and Cleveland Indians will be the first teams to report to Pitchers’ and Catchers’ Training Camps for Spring Training on February 12, 2017. Baseball has taken a fun ride through the ages, and year 7s have been some of the most exciting. It’s been a great last several decades, and on the final day of 2016, let’s hope for some more. Jesse A. Cook “Baseball Ending In Year 7s: Welcoming 2017” December 31, 2016 |
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