As you would know, New York is the “Big Apple”. Not only is that its nickname, but also it’s one of the biggest and most innovative cities in the world. New York’s sports teams have an extreme amount of pressure to succeed. In this case, the New York Yankees are one of the most successful Major League baseball teams ever. As a fan, player, coach and reporter you always know the Yankees will be a competitive team that looks to win every game. Ever since the retirement of future Hall of Famer and former Yankees Captain, Derek Jeter, the team has been in a semi rebuilding mode. They haven't sold away their team and given up a season like a normal rebuilding team would, but Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman has done everything he can to make moves to help improve the franchise in the long run. Last Year’s 2016 season had ups and downs. Although the Yankees missed the playoffs, the rising of future stars Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge and the improvement from Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius gave many fans hope of many more Championships to come. As we hit the middle part of the current offseason, Brian Cashman has signed Closer Aroldis Chapman to a 5 year 86 million dollar contract, as well as First Baseman/Outfielder Matt Holliday to a 1 year 12 million dollar contract.
With the Yankees being talked about as a threat in 2017, there is one position they need to focus on. Currently the Yankees pitching staff consists of ace Masahiro Tanaka, Veteran C.C Sabathia, 27 year old Michael Pineda, Young Luis Cessa, and another youngster in Luis Severino. It would definitely be hard for the Yankees to seriously contend without one more experienced pitcher. Their reliance on young pitchers may become a problem throughout the year. The 2016/2017 class of free agent starting pitchers has been very weak. Due to the limited available starting pitchers, the trade market has been up. The Yankees have reportedly shown interest in White Sox’s ace Jose Quintana and Free agent pitcher Josh Hammel. Since the White Sox just received a haul for ace Chris Sale from the Red Sox, the price of Quintana is high. According to multiple reports, the Yankees would only do the deal if they could dump the contracts of Chase Headley or Brett Gardner. It’s not a question of if the Yankees have the prospects for the deal, it’s if they feel it will improve the organization in the long run. Don't forget lefty pitchers are great in Yankee Stadium, due to the short porch. Going into spring training another position without a definite starting player is First Base. After having promising prospect Greg Bird go down to a right shoulder labrum tear last year, there is speculation of whether he will return from injury 100% healthy. Don't forget young Tyler Austin could fill the spot at First Base or newly acquired Veteran Matt Holliday could. Most likely Bird and Austin will platoon while Matt Holliday is the designated hitter. It definitely will depend on the best spring training and who will show the greatest potential. As for every Major League baseball team there will be many question leading into Spring Training and the upcoming 2017 season. Via Owen Castle.
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Sports media and journalism are tough fields, but if you’re wondering how to get by, there are some excellent ways. It’s tough to write; everyone has writer’s block at least once in a while, but fortunately, there’s news everyday in sports: whether it’s the death of Jose Fernandez, the Patriots search for a starting quarterback, the Knicks praying that their new team will pull together, or the NHL preseason, there’s always something to follow. Fans who live in a Big 4 city, a city with a team in the MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL, can attest, for there’s almost always a good team around.
Boston, Detroit, Washington DC, and Phoenix are all incredible examples of how you always have a team to track. You’d probably think of New York, LA, or Chicago, but there are too many teams out there. In New York, you have the Jets and Giants in football, the Mets and Yankees in baseball, the Islanders and Rangers in hockey, and the Knicks and Nets in basketball. Fans are split; there’s no one hero team per sport. There, you run the risk of writing about a team that half the city hates! Boston, Phoenix, Washington DC, and Detroit there’s only one team per sport. Washington DC’s got the Wizards in basketball, the Nationals in baseball, the Capitals in hockey, and the Redskins in football; the city’s a sportswriter’s wonderland. In LA, if you write about how Adrian Gonzalez might be a better hitter than Mike Trout, you’ve made lots of Dodgers fans happy, but now there are lots of steamed Angels fans, however if in Phoenix, you talk about how Paul Goldschmidt might be a better hitter than Mike Trout, you’re only surrounded by happy Diamondbacks fans. Fans in cities with more than one team per sport don’t root for both teams, they choose one and stick to it. Cubs fans and White Sox fans in Chicago do not get along. That’s one of the tricks to succeeding at working in sports media and journalism, you have to know who your general audience is. You can make whoever you want happy by writing positive articles, but more people read the fearmongering ones because it piques their interest. If you saw two articles and you only had time to read one, you wouldn’t read “Sox Win Again,” you’d probably read “2 U’s, 2 K’s, and 2 Broken Legs: Bruins’ Goaltender, Tuukka Rask, Out For Season.” You have to grip the reader, surprise them, you have to know what’s going on in the sports world and what of it people will want to read. I am the head writer for Cincinnati sports. Considering that the Reds and Bengals aren’t the best teams, it’s hard to find what’ll make people read what I write. With teams like the Reds and Bengals you have to find which players people like. Every team has that big name that everybody knows, that’s who you write about. In the MLB, NHL, and NBA you have the minor league systems. In the NFL and NBA, as well, you also have big draft picks, people want to hear about that; it’s what gives their team hope for the future. In my case, I write about Andy Dalton, Tyler Eifert, and A.J. Green for the Bengals and Pete Rose, Billy Hamilton, and Adam Duvall for the Reds because those are the people know and want to hear about. If you’re in a city like Salt Lake City, Utah, you’re not in a big sports town, for they only have basketball in the Utah Jazz, but even they have their big names, you know Gordon Heyward, Karl Malone, and John Stockton. Stuff about those guys grips people out there, and before you know it, you’re everyone’s favorite writer! Another way to pique the reader’s interest is to talk about how the unknown players will rise up and become those big names. In cities where there’s only minor league teams, like Pawtucket, Rhode Island, you talk about those unknown players. Pawtucket is a gold mine for stories like that. They’re the Boston Red Sox’s highest level minor league affiliate, so a lot of Boston’s big names had to develop there. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Xander Bogaerts were American League Players Of The Month, Mookie Betts could be the American League MVP, Eduardo Rodriguez could be New England’s next pitching star, and Andrew Benintendi has made multiple highlight reel grabs. All of these players were big prospects and were followed throughout their minor league careers; writers in Pawtucket and its fellow minor league teams had a field day with all these great prospects to write about. Even if the major league team is doing poorly, or there isn’t one around, you can always write about the minor league, college, or even local high school teams. A great trick to succeeding at writing in this field is to always know what you have to work with. If you live in the middle of Iowa, you probably don’t have many professional sports teams around you, but you have the high school and college and minor league teams around to excite people about. It’s like making something out of next to nothing. If you do your research it’s really not that difficult to write good article. There are a few easy tricks to get by in the sports media and journalism field, but it’s not like “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying;” you do have to work hard. You have to know your audience, know what grips people, and know what’ll give people hope for their favorite team’s future. Sports media and journalism can seem like a scary, tough field of work, but if you know all the little tricks and idiosyncrasies, you’ll make off just fine. Jesse A. Cook “Sports Journalism: How To Get By” January 1, 2017 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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