Mariano Rivera Injury Made Fun By Teammates
No Mo Zone
“Nothing’s going to change. I’m going to do what I love to do. And yes, I will. I got hurt like this. I might go to the same spot where I landed, where I was. But I’m going to enjoy it. It’s nothing to regret. Nothing to regret.”
That’s what Mariano Rivera told reporters a day before returning to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., where his 2012 season ended due to a devastating knee injury suffered while shagging fly balls during warmups. But this time when Rivera walked to the warning track, he found a special surprise waiting for him.
Toddler Names Legendary Yankees
The New York Yankees have a long and storied history filled with a countless number of great players. It would be impossible for anyone, even the most diehard of Yankees fans, to recite them all on cue.
Well, not unless you are this 18-month-old girl, who masterfully recites both names and numbers of some of the greatest Yankees in history.
Otis Nixon Busted With Crack Cocaine
Cocaine Is Hell Of A Drug
Former Major League Baseball outfielder Otis Nixon was arrested over the weekend in Atlanta when officers busted him with crack cocaine during a traffic stop.
Nixon has been charged with possession of cocaine and possession of a drug-related object.
More on the story from the AJC:
Nixon, 54, had a crack pipe in his pocket and a crack rock in his vehicle when he was stopped on I-575 early Saturday, according to a Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office reported obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A 911 caller reported a red Dodge Ram pickup truck driving erratically on I-575 north shortly after midnight and a deputy was dispatched and pulled the truck over, the report states. A state trooper assisted with the traffic stop. Inside Nixon’s truck, investigators found a small rock substance believed to be crack cocaine, the report states. Nixon also had a crack pipe in his pants’ pockets, deputies said.Police also discovered an additional crack pipe inside one of the truck compartments, as well as a plastic bag containing what they believed to be cocaine residue on the driver’s side of the floor board.
A series of field sobriety tests concluded that Nixon did not appear under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to the report.
Once handcuffed and placed in the backseat of the police car, Nixon allegedly surrendered yet another small bag of suspected crack cocaine to an officer.
The 54-year-old remains behind bars in the Cherokee County jail Monday and is being held on $11,800 bond.
Nixon spent his 17-year MLB career with nine different franchises, but his best stint with any team arguably came as a member of the Atlanta Braves.
Drafted by the New York Yankees with the third overall pick in the 1979 amateur draft, Nixon was regarded as one of the fastest players in baseball during the 1990s. He stole a total of 620 bases in his career .
Nike pulls Boston Massacre shirts
Smart
Nike has decided to pull their “Boston Massacre” T-shirts in the wake of last week’s Boston Marathon bombings.
“The shirts being referenced are older baseball shirts that were predominantly being sold through our factory store outlets,” Nike spokesman KeJuan Wilkins said Monday.
The term “Boston Massacre” is a play on to the historical 1770 incident that is also used to describe the New York Yankees late-season sweeps of the Sox in 1978 and 2006 that contributed to the Sox missing the playoffs.
Rod Barajas finds missing World Series ring four years later
Found It 2001
Current Arizona Diamondbacks backup catcher Rod Barajas was also the Diamondbacks backup catcher when the team won the World Series in 2001. Barajas, then a 25-year-old rookie, batted just .160/.191/.274 in the regular season but stepped up and went 2-for-5 with a homer in the seven-game triumph over the New York Yankees.
Four years ago, Barajas lost his World Series ring, but now he’s finally found it. The real story, though, is how he found it. It involves Brajas’ wife, Stacie, and the recent death of her beloved grandmother.
Before leaving the couple’s home in San Diego, Stacie tried on a pair of shoes she had not worn in years. She tried one foot on, determined it matched her outfit and packed both shoes for the trip.
While getting ready at the hotel just before the funeral, Stacie put on both shoes for the first time. Only there was a problem with the one she hadn’t tried on before she left. There was something in the toe blocking her foot.
“I was getting ready and my wife yelled out, ‘Guess what I just found?’” Barajas said. “We’re in a hotel room and I’m like, what could you find in a hotel room?”
As it turns out, you can find a 2001 World Series ring and pendant.
“She walked out with the ring and pendant and we both looked at each other and I said, ‘That was your grandmother. Your grandmother grabbed that and put it there for us. One last gift that she gave us before she left,’” Barajas said.
Brian Cashman skydives & breaks ankle
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is a know daredeviland yesterday was no different when he went skydiving outside of Miami with with the Golden Knights of the U.S. Army. He went up not once, but twice and ended up severely injuring his ankle on the second jump his bone poked through the skin.
All Fun & Games Until Someone Gets Hurt
Alex Rodriguez charity only gave away 1% of donations
Not A Good Business Man
The Boston Globe identified a number of offenders in its recent review of 150 Internal Revenue Service filings by 50 nonprofits run by professional athletes. One of the worst organizations was the A-Rod Family Foundation, which gave just 1 percent of its proceeds to charity during its first year of operation.
The IRS stripped the foundation of its tax-exempt status after it stopped submitting required financial reports, according to the Globe, but the organization’s website is still up and running and claims to be a 501c3.
The website says that’s its devoted to helping distressed families by supporting educational and mental health programs. But right off the bat, A-Rod appeared to be stiffing the cause. In 2006, its inaugural year, he hosted a celebrity poker tournament with Jay-Z and raised $403,862. According to the Globe, just $5,000 went to Jay-Z’s Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund and $90 to a Little League Baseball club in Miami.
“There are a lot of depressed children out there, a lot of children who don’t want to live and think there’s no hope,” Rodriguez told MLB.com back in 2006. “My life is the perfect example of an underdog who did good, so I want to help those kids out there.
Judges agree the Yankees are the Evil Empire
Classic Stuff
According to Ashby Jones and Dan Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal, a panel of trademark judges denied a request for a private entrepreneur, Evil Enterprises, Inc., to register the phrase “Baseballs Evil Empire” after the Yankees objected.
The phrase, at least in the baseball world, was coined by Red Sox president Larry Lucchino in 2002 after the Yankees signed Cuban right-hander Jose Contreras. The Yankees have come to embrace the identity of being the “Evil Empire” over the years, even playing the Imperial March from “Star Wars” during their home games. This was actually part of the Yankees’ argument in the case, as well as numerous articles mentioning them in connection with the phrase.
The best part of this whole thing might be the judges’ explanation of their ruling.
“In short, the record shows that there is only one Evil Empire in baseball and it is the New York Yankees,” wrote the judges. “Accordingly, we find that [the Yankees] have a protectable trademark right in the term . . . as used in connection with baseball.”
Alex Rodriguez World Series ring up for sale
Till The Casket Drops
Alex Rodriguez’s longtime assistant and noted drug mule is apparently in need of some cash. Yuri Sucart, best known as the cousin who A-Rod says convinced him to take steroids, is selling his 2009 New York Yankees World Series championship ring.
Sucart was banned by Major League Baseball from clubhouses and private areas of stadiums after Rodriguez ‘s 2009 admission that he took performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003. As part of Rodriguez’s admission, he said a cousin supplied and administered “boli” to him in those years.
That cousin was later identified by reporters as Sucart, and his name emerged again recently in the logs of Biogenesis, the South Florida clinic that reportedly distributed substances – banned and otherwise – to at least 25 major league players, Rodriguez included.
Biogenesis logs obtained by the Miami New Times show Rodriguez’s and Sucart’s names in ledgers from 2009 – the year A-Rod exorcised his postseason demons and led the Yankees to the World Series title.
Now, reports the New York Daily News, the Rodriguez/Sucart ring could fetch as much as $40,000 via New Jersey-based Goldin Auctions, which says the bling “boasts a STAGGERING 95 diamonds.”
Curt Schilling’s bloody sock sells at auction
Fraud
A bloody sock worn by Curt Schilling while pitching for the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals was sold for $92,613 at a live auction on Saturday night at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion.
Schilling had loaned his sock to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum but when his Rhode Island-based video game company “38 Studios” went bankrupt, he decided to sell the sock that was bloodied as he pitched on an injured ankle.
Bidding began at $25,000 several weeks ago. An anonymous bidder submitted the winning bid.
This was not the famous bloody sock he wore during Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees.
Pedro Martinez admits to plunking on purpose
Who's Your Daddy
Monday, former pitching great Pedro Martinez, the Boston Red Sox newly minted special assistant to general manager Ben Cherington, was front and center answering reporter’s questions.
And, suffice it to say, I would have loved to have been there to listen because, according to Peter Abraham from the Boston Globe, there were some gems. Especially when the subject of teaching young pitchers the value of being able to pitch inside was brought up.
“I think it’s all part of the game. You have to pitch inside and you have to brush them back when you have to,” the three-time Cy Young Award winner said. “I will preach it and I will say they need to pitch inside if they want to have success.”
But the best part, Martinez added that “90 percent” of the batters he plunked…he did it on purpose. Retaliation for his teammates he maintains.
Oh, and about that 2003 incident with Karim Garcia of the New York Yankees? Martinez claims that wasn’t on purpose.
“It didn’t even hit him, it hit the bat,” Martinez added. “Lucky bastard.”
Derek Jeter won’t comment on Alex Rodriguez
Captain Handles It
New York Yankees Derek Jeter is busy trying to recover from the broken ankle he suffered in the 2012 MLB Playoffs. Unfortunately for him he’s also getting bombarded with questions about Alex Rodriguez and his PED usage. Jeter addressed the issue today and the writers must not have liked the response they received.
“I don’t comment on anyone until they speak first,” Jeter said Monday. “Let him address his situation before I comment on it. Let him speak first and then we’ll talk about that.”
While that’s not a response they liked, I love it. It’s your typical Jeter, if you want information on a guy go talk to that guy.
Mark Teixeira says he’s overpaid
Still On The Book For $70 Million
Baseball players have been on the receiving end of some gaudy contracts recently. In fact, salaries have shot up across the board dramatically in the last decade alone. One of those players who has benefited in a tremendous way financially is New York Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira.
Teixeira inked a massive 8-year, $180 million free agent deal with the Yankees in January of 2009. He earned approximately $22.5 million in base salary last season and is due to earn the same amount in each of the next four seasons.
The 32-year old hasn’t exactly performed up to expectations since being rewarded to the big sum of cash, which has many fans complaining about his true value. The 10-year MLB veteran addressed those complaints in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal:
“I have no problem with anybody in New York, any fan, saying you’re overpaid. Because I am,” Teixeira said. “We all are.”
“Agents are probably going to hate me for saying it,” he continued. “You’re not very valuable when you’re making $20 million. When you’re Mike Trout, making the minimum, you are crazy valuable. My first six years, before I was a free agent, I was very valuable. But there’s nothing you can do that can justify a $20 million contract.”
New York Post pokes fun at Derek Jeter’s weight gain
Captain Comeback At South Beach Burger King
The New York Post featured Derek Jeter on its back cover Friday with the headline “DEREK EATER,” a reference to the slightly-paunchy offseason frame of the injured Yankees shortstop. The Post even went with the caption “The ankle we knew about. The gut, not so much.”
Mariano Rivera Uncertain About Future
GOAT
New York Yankees, general manager Brian Cashman says Mariano Rivera is unsure if he will return for a 19th season.
“He wasn’t certain on what he is going to do,” Cashman said.
Rivera, the all-time saves leader with 608, is recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee, an injury he sustained in early May and limited the closer to a career-low 8 1/3 innings for the season.
Although he’s 43 now, Rivera has said he would like to return in 2013. But he has also been coy on the subject of retirement in recent years.
The Yankees managed to replace Rivera with Rafael Soriano, who had 42 saves and a 2.26 ERA. But he can opt out of the last year of his contract, which could leave the Yankees without a proven closer when offseason player moves start in earnest next month.
MLB Playoff Pumpkin Carving
The good folks at The NOC have somehow found a professional pumpkin carver, and in the spirit of the MLB postseason he has carved logos of New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants into pumpkins.
New York Post Takes Major Shot At Alex Rodriguez
Shots Fired
The New York Yankees season is over after they suffered a sweep by the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. New York writers have to head to Detroit to cover the World Series and that doesn’t make the New York Post very happy.
The best way to show their displeasure with the situation is to zing the hell out of Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees with this front page spread.
Mama Margie’s Major Meltdown: Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez
Every Thursday Sports Grind Entertainment will present you with the Mama Margie’s Major Meltdown. The recipient of this honor goes to New York Yankees third baseman and mega paid star Alex Rodriguez who has been benched for most of the American League Championship Series while still having $114 million left on his contract and getting caught asking Australian supermodels for their numbers during game 1.
The Women Alex Rodriguez Flirted With During Game 1
TALENT
The New York Post is out to discover every possible angle in New York Yankees struggling slugger Alex Rodriguez’s flirtation with a couple of young ladies in the stands during Saturday’s Game 1 loss to the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. Now comes news that the ladies have been identified. Above on the right is Kyna Treacy an Australian bikini model and the other young woman is Kate Quinn, a fellow Aussie and a pal of Treacy’s.
Alex Rodriguez Flirting With Fans During Game 1
I'd Bump Me
According to the New York Post, Alex Rodriguez started flirting with two blonde women near the dugout after being replaced eighth inning in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers. The report quotes anonymous witnesses saying that the struggling 37-year-old exchanged notes written on a baseball and may have even gotten a phone number.
After going hitless in three at-bats and stranding several runners, Yankees manager Joe Girardi pulled A-Rod for Eric Chavez in the eighth. With A-Rod watching (or not) from the dugout, it was a player who had previously replaced him in a clutch spot, Raul Ibanez, who came through for the Yankees with a two-run home run to tie the game in the ninth. The Yankees would ultimately lose 6-4 in extra innings and also lose captain Derek Jeter to a broken ankle.
Maryland State Trooper Asks Yankees For Autographs In Dugout During ALDS Game
Can You Sign This
Two Maryland State Police officers assigned to security in the New York Yankees dugout Sunday at Camden Yards in Baltimore asked shortstop Derek Jeter and outfield Nick Swisher for autographs while the game was still going on, the New York Post reported.
According to the report, the troopers, who weren’t identified, asked for the autographs in the top of the ninth inning, after the Yankees had taken a 7-2 lead over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
Swisher, according to an unidentified person who witnessed the autograph request, “was livid,” The Post reported.
Later, when the newspaper asked Jeter if he had ever experienced that sort of thing, he said, “What do you think?”
Local or state police typically are stationed in or around the dugouts, especially during playoff games, but it was unclear what the Orioles’ or Camden Yards’ response would be to the breach of protocol by the troopers, if confirmed.
Reporter Dan Tordjman Apologizes For Robinson Cano PED Rumor
Deny, Deny, Deny
Robinson Cano the New York Yankees All-Star second baseman has not been suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs as reporter Dan Tordjman, a reporter for WSOC-TV in Charlotte, N.C., said he would be. It has caused Tordjman to issue an apology.
Back in September, Tordjman tweeted that the slugging keystone player had tested positive for PED use and was facing an imminent suspension.
According to the New York Daily News, Tordjman also made a contribution to the Robinson Cano Foundation to make amends for sparking the Cano PED discussion.
MLB.com writer Peter Gammons tweeted shortly after Tordjman’s report that it was a “fabrication.” The rumors garnered so much attention on Twitter that Cano was asked if there was any truth to them.
“Not at all,” Cano told The Daily News hours after the PED talk had his name trending. “There’s no test or anything.”
Rajai Davis Leaps At The Wall To Rob Home Run
Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Raja Davis steals a home run away from New York Yankees Casey McGehee in front of the home crowd.
Timing is everything.
