News Roundup

(Bronx, NY) – There is never a lack of news in baseball, the sporting world or the Yanks.  The Yanks will take on the Royals for the 2nd of a 3-game set tonight but here is a brief look at various news items:

• Phil Hughes is set to start throwing again.  Still not sure what the velocity problem is attributed to but we can hope for the best.  Almost a month on the DL now.
• Long time NY Daily News cartoonist, Bill Gallo, passes away at the age of 88.  He was a great one.
• After 49 years of service, Yankee trainer Gene Monahan announced he will retire after the season is over.  He deserves it and will be missed!
• Rafael Soriano will have an MRI done on his elbow in an attempt to figure out why he is in pain.
• Jeter has gone from cold to hot.  Jeter is hitting .406 (13-for-32) with two home runs and four RBI during the streak, lifting his average from .242 to .283.
• Eric Chavez (foot) hopes to return from the DL in early June.

Why K is used for a strikeout in Baseball

(New York, NY) – Section 430’s very own James K. has come up with some baseball trivia that all will find interesting.

The use of the last letter of Struck instead of the first to denote a strikeout dates back to when Henry Chadwick developed the box score in the late 1850’s. Chadwick often used the last letter instead of the first, especially if he considered that letter to be the more prominent one in the word. Chadwick said “the letter K in struck is easier to remember in connection with the word, than S.” He also used L for Foul and D for Catch on Bound. Only the K survived into the 20th Century.

Source: Paul Dickson’s The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary and Alan Schwarz’s The Numbers Game.

The common view that the K was used because the S was taken (by Sacrifice, Stolen Base, or Single) appears to be erroneous.

Read more at this link here.

Source:  Wiki Answers.

Top 50 Bombers: One List to Consider

(New York, NY) – ESPN NY came up with an interesting list and montage of the 50 greatest Yankees.  One can debate a few of them (I struggle with Dave Winfield at #28) but this post is for you to see it and of course comment as you wish.

Click Here to See ESPN List of the 50 Greatest Yankees.

Value Proposition: Yanks Now Worth $1.7B as a Franchise

#1 again for 14th straight year

(New York, NY) – No matter how you look at it, its a lot of hot dogs and cracker jacks.  See this excerpt on the value of the franchise as well as this excerpt from Yahoo Sports:

Yankee Global Enterprises is a three-engine money-making machine. The baseball team generated $325 million in revenue from regular-season tickets and luxury suites in 2010. Sponsorship revenue at the stadium is $85 million annually thanks to deals with PepsiCo, Bank of America, MasterCard, Delta Air Lines and others.

The YES Network, the team’s 34 percent-owned regional sports channel, is the most profitable RSN in the country and had over $400 million in revenue last year. The Yankees own a stake in Legends Hospitality Management, which manages stadiums, and generates $25 million in operating income. The enterprise value for the Yankees, YES and Legends is $5.1 billion.

See full article courtesy of Yahoo Sports here.

Back to the Future: Even Then Uecker Knew

The Legendary Bob Uecker Was a Prophet

(New York, NY) – Well it seemed like only yesterday but it was way back in 1989 when the class baseball film ‘Major League’ was introduced.  In it a future star was born, Charlie Sheen as the enigmatic Ricky Vaughn, the original Wild Thing pitcher.  Fast forward 22 years and the famous actor was fired from his hit show ‘Two and a Half Men’ climaxing weeks of rants and crazy behavior.  But click the clip below for a smile and memories of the famous Bob Uecker line ‘Just a bit outside’ describing Vaughn’s first pitch.  And catch how he describes the pitcher in the off season too.

http://www.killerclips.com/clip.php?id=78&qid=734

ESPN Special: Disecting Mariano’s Cutter

Excellent Video Piece on Mo and his Cutter

(New York, NY) – We’ve watched Mo for years and marvel as to why he is so effective and how he can get by with one pitch.  This excellent video from ESPN explains it all.  It is must see for all Yankee fans but baseball fans as well.

The Science of Mariano’s Cutter.   Click Here.

Jan 8 – Boss Remembered: Yankees put Steinbrenner statue at spring complex

Re-Post Courtesy of Yahoo Sports

TAMPA, Fla. (AP)—The New York Yankees have put a statue of former owner George Steinbrenner at the team’s spring training complex.

The 600-pound, life-size bronze statue was put on a marble stand Friday at the entrance of the ballpark named for Steinbrenner, who died at 80 in July. The 6-foot statue, on a 3-foot granite pedestal, is identical to one in the lobby of new Yankee Stadium.

A formal ceremony is scheduled to take place before the Yankees’ spring training opener against the Phillies on Feb. 26.

The statue has Steinbrenner in a suit and wearing the 2009 World Series championship ring, the last of the seven titles won by the Yankees under his ownership.

 

2010 in review – Our FNY Blog

(Suffern, NY) – The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 8,500 times in 2010. That’s about 20 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 121 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 480 posts. There were 216 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 259mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was July 28th with 71 views. The most popular post that day was Jul 25 – A Royal Feast: Yanks Close Out Series with a 12-6 Rout of Kansas City.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, my.yahoo.com, mail.yahoo.com, zellspinstripeblog.com, and obama-scandal-exposed.co.cc.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for friday nite yanks, derek jeter, yankees logo, yankee stadium gate 2, and jeter.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Jul 25 – A Royal Feast: Yanks Close Out Series with a 12-6 Rout of Kansas City July 2010
5 comments

2

Jan 10 – Chasing History: Jeter for All-Time Yankee Hits January 2009
1 comment

3

Sep 16 – Jeter Sets All-Time Hit Record for Old Yankee Stadium September 2008

4

May 1 – Save (old) Yankee Gate 2 May 2009
2 comments

5

Feb 3 – Legends Look: Elston Howard, #32 February 2009

Apr 26 – Computing Clues: AccuScore Updates Their Model

Tampa Rises Rapidly as a Threat, Yanks Still the Highest

(New York, NY) – Three weeks in to the season and the computing models are off an running using the data they have.   To some these are a bible, to others a complete shot in the dark.  To all they raise discussion so make your comments as you wish.   Check out Tampa and Boston scores.

Note: By repeating the simulation 10,000 to 20,000 times per game AccuScore calculates the precise probability teams have of winning each game, making the playoffs, advancing in the playoffs and winning the World Series.  Courtesy of Stephen Oh, AccuScore

————————————————————————————————————————————————

AMERICAN LEAGUE	WEEK 3 REVIEW		PLAYOFF	% CHANCE
TEAM	19-Apr	26-Apr	% DIFF	WIN DIV
Tampa Bay Rays	46.5%	75.9%	29.4%	43.6%
Los Angeles Angels	41.7%	49.7%	8.0%	46.3%
Seattle Mariners	19.6%	23.5%	3.9%	20.4%
Minnesota Twins	69.3%	69.5%	0.2%	66.0%
Detroit Tigers	23.1%	22.7%	-0.4%	17.4%
Cleveland Indians	5.2%	4.7%	-0.5%	3.7%
Baltimore Orioles	1.1%	0.6%	-0.5%	0.1%
New York Yankees	80.4%	79.6%	-0.8%	51.1%
Toronto Blue Jays	9.0%	7.5%	-1.5%	2.0%
Chicago White Sox	9.6%	7.4%	-2.2%	5.9%
Kansas City Royals	13.3%	9.7%	-3.6%	7.0%
Texas Rangers	16.2%	8.8%	-7.4%	7.6%
Boston Red Sox	22.8%	11.2%	-11.6%	3.1%
Oakland Athletics	42.1%	29.1%	-13.0%	25.6%

Jan 31 – Giving Back: CC Makes His Mark

Story Courtesy of Lohud.Com Yankees Blog

(New York, NY) – This is a great story about CC and comes from a Lohud.Com.  The original story can be seen at this link.

from Chad Jennings: Also wanted to pass along this picture of CC Sabathia, his wife Amber and his mother Margie Sabathia Lanier at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Thurmon Field, which Sabathia recently helped renovate. Here’s the story – in press release form — and the picture.

It was only less than one year ago when New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia returned to see the first field he ever played on at North Vallejo Little League. What he discovered was covered with weeds and totally unsuitable for children to play baseball. As a man who believes in the importance of giving youth as many opportunities as possible, Sabathia and his PitCCh In Foundation™, vowed to make a change. The reconstructed Thurmon Field will open with a field ceremony on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 9 a.m., followed by the North Vallejo Little League All Star baseball clinic at 10 a.m.

The result of an intense two-month schedule of construction, coordinated by the Good Tidings Foundation and project general contractor Robert A. Bothman, Inc., this revitalized field will include new irrigation including lateral lines, new heads, valves and controller; new infield dirt, new bases, pitching rubber and home plate; new dugouts; new electronic scoreboard; a black vinyl coated chain link fence donated by the California Fence Contractors Association, and 37,000 square feet of sod provided by West Coast Turf. It will be the exact same turf as the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum where the Oakland A’s play. In addition, the field will be adjoined by a rebuilt snack bar with new electrical and the addition of a new water line, floor and roof.

“We had a lot of help from some very dedicated people who are equally passionate as me about making sure kids get to play this great game of baseball,” explained Sabathia. “Thinking back to what was here in terms of weeds and old dugouts to what we have now, I’m as excited as the kids on the first day of the season.”