Feb 17 – The Circus Comes to Town

(Tampa, FL) – Today the position players joined the pitchers and catchers in camp and thus spring training is fully under way.  But it also marks the day that A-Rod

At least his team has his back

sets foot in town and the media circus surrounding his story reaches its full peak.    Prior to the big Q&A from the reporters on Tuesday afternoon, we’ve heard from a number of Yankee leaders already (Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, Mo and even now Tex) that they all intend to stand by him and support him.  And they will all be in the tent (or whatever they construct to hold the crowd of reporters) when the inevitable first of many on-going question sessions to Alex begin for the season.

Here’s a quick excerpt from Mark Teixeira’s interview on Monday:   “He’s not on an island. A lot of people think this is going to tear the team apart. I think it’s going to bring the team together. Obviously, I’m brand-new to this situation, but I think any time you can rally around a few guys that may be having some problems … that’s not going to be the only thing that’s going to happen this year. There are going to be performance problems. There will be other guys who may have other problems off the field. We’re going to rally around them.”

Hey he’s a leader and a winner (and was A-Rod’s teammate at Texas in 2003).  And we may be seeing the start of the remake of the 1979 Pirates, who won it all singing  Sister’s Sledge’s classic ‘We are FAMILY’.  And that’s not bad.

Feb 17 – Legends Look: Red Ruffing, Pitcher

(Cooperstown, NY) –  Today’s Legends Look takes a glance at not so well-known but legendary Charles “Red” Ruffing .  Born in Granville, Illinois, in 1905, Ruffing suffered the loss of four toes on his left foot in a freak mine accident (in Coalton, Illinois) as a youth. Subsequently transformed from an outfielder to a pitcher, Ruffing made his major league debut in 1924 with the Boston Red Sox, pitching without a decision over 23 innings of work. He saw regular playing time with the Sox over the next few years but had limited success. His best year, in terms of earned run performance, came in 1928, when he posted a respectable 3.89 ERA; however, he also received abysmal offensive support and consequently suffered 25 losses to only 10 wins.

Ruffing’s career was renewed by a mid-season trade in 1930 which sent him to the New York Yankees. Buoyed by the offensive production of greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, he won 15 games after the trade despite a hefty 4.14 ERA. Ruffing eventually turned into an ace, winning 20 games or more four times in a row from 1936 to 1939, and striking out a league high 190 batters in 1932. He regularly contended for the ERA crown, twice posting ERAs under 3.00, and appeared in seven World Series, won six (1932, 1936-1939 and 1941), and posted a 7-2 career post-season record with a 2.63 ERA.

On August 13, 1932, Red Ruffing threw a complete game shutout and hit a 10th inning home run off Washington Senators pitcher Al Thomas to give the New York Yankees a 1-0 victory.   Though Ruffing was not the first to achieve the feat, through the 2008 season, no Major League pitcher has since thrown a complete game shutout and hit a home run in a 1-0 game. This feat also means that he was responsible for BOTH of the scores on the scoreboard in the victory. Extremely difficult to do in any major team sport.

After missing the 1943 and 1944 seasons due to the war, Ruffing was unable to regain his ace material upon returning in 1945. After moving to the Chicago White Sox in 1947, he retired. He finished his career with 273 wins, 225 losses, 1987 strikeouts and a 3.80 ERA. Ruffing was also an accomplished hitter, hitting 36 home runs and batting .269 in 1937 career at-bats. Ruffing was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967. At an Old Timers Day Ceremony on July 10, 2004, the Yankees dedicated a plaque in his memory to hang in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.    A museum in Nokomis, Illinois is dedicated to Ruffing and Hall of Famers Ray Schalk and Jim Bottomley.

Ruffing died on February 17, 1986.  That was 23 years ago today.  Long live big Red!

Source - Wikipedia