For Technorati only: NJWFD9CDA3N3

NJWFD9CDA3N3

Regular readers: Please don't ask. Sorry about this.

The Award is named after who?

So you know how I'm trying to get the MVP Award renamed the Babe Ruth Award, because if you're going to name the pitching award after the greatest pitcher, doesn't it make sense to name the player award after the greatest player? It's a no brainer.

Well it turns out that the MVP Award is already named after someone. And you want to know who it is? Take a few guesses. You already know it's not me.

Is it King Kelly? No. Wagner? Nope. DiMaggio? Not even close.

It's named after the biggest prick in the history of baseball, and I don't mean Cobb. I don't even want to say his name because he has a Google Alert that tells him every time his name comes up in a blog post, and he's f---ing scary. Yes, even in death. Especially in death.

Here's a picture of the award:

Can you believe that crap?

A baseball institution that falls over itself celebrating Jackie Robinson -- with good reason -- has no business naming its most prestigious award after the son of a bitch who would've kept Jackie out of baseball had he lived. (The fact that His Excellency suspended me for barnstorming and made me grovel to get reinstated is completely beside the point.)

Thanks, Tom Tango, for alerting me to this continuing travesty.

My Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I sure did. Claire and I went to Lou and Eleanor's and finished off a huge bird with all the trimmings. Lou and Eleanor had some, too. Then Lazzeri and Koenig came by with their ladies and we all shared a few pies. I had one all to myself. It's four days later and I'm still burping pecan pie.

Afterward, the ladies repaired to the living room and did their thing, while the boys and I started up a poker game that lasted well into the night. It ended as they always seem to end: with all the chips in Lou's pile. I know, you think of him as a softspoken, friendly guy, all that luckiest man stuff. And he's certainly all that.

But he's also a ruthless, take-no-prisoners poker player who would bluff the crap out of his own mother (and has, on more than one occasion) to win a pot.

The line of the night came from Koenig, after losing a big pot to Lou: "Looks like God is really making up for that devastating disease thing."

(Lou's response: "Karma, bitches. Pay up.")

What I'm thankful for

So it seems like everybody and their cousin-in-law is coming up with a list of the things they're thankful for, to commemorate Thanksgiving. I guess I should join the bandwagon.

Here, in no particular order, are the things I'm thankful for:

- Dames
- Booze
- The Yankees
- Henri Matisse
- The cast of How I Met Your Mother
- Cialis

That's about it for now. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Pujols wins Babe Ruth Award

It's the third MVP award of his career, to go along with his three second-place finishes. It should be four awards, because he clearly outplayed Ryan Howard in 2006--out hitting, out on-basing, out-slugging, and out-fielding Mr. Howard--yet lost in the voting inexplicably. Kinda reminds me of when I lost the 1927 MVP to Lou, even though I outplayed him. But I'm not bitter about the rules that didn't allow players to win more than one MVP. I may have mentioned that before.

Pujols is going to wind up dominating the decade in much the same way that I dominated the 1920s. I mean, have you seen the stats I put up that decade? Even I'm in awe of myself sometimes.

But back to Albert. You know what I like about him? His nickname: Prince Albert. It reminds me of the regal nickname the sportswriters gave me: The Sultan of Swat. I think a sultan is above a prince, which is why they nicknamed Lou "The Crown Prince of Swat."

Back to Albert. Do you realize that "El Hombre" (another nickname) is only 29 years old? If he plays another 10 or 12 years, he could end up as the career home run king, and he will have done it clean. No steroids allegations around "The Machine" (another nickname). Machines don't need steroids. Neither did I, as a matter of fact. The only thing I needed was clean living *snicker* and a glass of milk every morning *snicker*.

So congratulations, "Phat Albert," on your third Babe Ruth Award.

The Babe on Vampires

I know you're all wondering what ol' Babe thinks about this new vampire movie, New Moon.*

*This post is not just a ploy to generate hits. If that were the case, I would be sure to mention the beautiful stars of the movie, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. And the author of the novel, Stephenie Meyer. And the names of the characters, Bella and Edward. And the official name of the movie: The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

I think the movie is just OK. It's got werewolves and vampires, in case you're wondering. And forbidden love, and immortal beings. If you like that sort of thing, then by all means check it out.

The one disappointment is this: Edward has been alive since around 1910 or so, which means he could have witnessed all the great moments in American history for 100 years. That means he would have seen me play ball. And I think he should have talked to Bella about it. Wouldn't you?

Mauer beats Tesheria for the Babe Ruth Award

I'm not upset that Tesheria and Jeter lost out on the MVP award to Joe Mauer. Did you see the numbers Mauer posted last year? And he's a catcher? I'd've voted for him too.

Awards, schmawards, is what I always say. (Ask Sheehy.) In '27 I hit 60 jacks* and they gave the MVP award to Lou because they had a pointless rule that nobody could win it twice. I would've won about 8 MVPs if they hadn't had that rule. You know how they named the pitching award after Cy Young and the Rookie of the Year Award after Jackie Robinson? If it weren't for that damned rule, they would've named the MVP award after me, so Joe Mauer today would've won the Babe Ruth Award. Instead, the Babe Ruth Award is allegedly the MVP of the World Series as named by the Sporting News, but nobody calls it that and the award was discontinued in 2003. What a travesty.

*Is "jacks" the word the kids use these days instead of home run? I haven't been watching much SportsCenter lately. Back in my day we called hitting a home run "beating the Dutch" and a home run was a "Dutch-beater."**

**I could be mistaken.

Starting today, I want to start a grassroots movement to rename the MVP Award as the Babe Ruth Award. Who's with me?

Focus on the important stuff

Amid the minor controversy about the latest Cy Young Award voting, there's an important point I made in my last post that really, really bears repeating:

Now get back to your typewriters and start writing about my Yankees. It's been a couple of days since you've talked about us.

I'm serious! We just won the World Series and the focus should be on us. Don't you know we're trying to trade for Roy Halladay. That Petite filed for free agency.

Thank god for some dame named Joan Keri who knows what's important: the Yankees.

The Death of Tradition

So maybe you've heard that this year's two Cy Young Awards have gone to guys who "won" 15 and 16 games. And a bunch of old-timers are up in arms about it.

Now, as I've mentioned before, I don't believe in tradition. To quote myself:

My very existence was against the tradition of baseball, but instead of changing my ways, I changed baseball.

So I'm all for smart guys using newfangled statistics to help them figure out who's better than who. And the first casualty in this battle between old and new should be pitcher "wins." Last I checked, it takes a full team to win a baseball game, hitters, fielders, and pitchers. So why should one guy get credit for a win when everybody's working together?

Also, why should we penalize a pitcher if he plays for a bad offensive team? Or reward a guy who pitches for a good hitting team?

Just look at my favorite team, the '27 Yanks. We had one 22-game winner, a 19-game winner, and an 18-game winner. But the 18-game winner struck out only 35 batters all year in 200 innings, or less than one per game! So how did he win 18? 'Cuz we scored a crapload of runs for him. I mean, we only got shut out once all season long.

I'm not saying the guy sucked, but he was 36 years old and it turned out to be his last year in baseball. Yet he "won" 18 games for us.

In this day and age, when pitchers rarely complete their games, the wins statistic makes even less sense. Yet tradition requires that we still pay attention to it.

I say, Enough!

And I say congratulations, BBWAA voters, for helping end the tyranny of wins in baseball.

Now get back to your typewriters and start writing about my Yankees. It's been a couple of days since you've talked about us.

He's a midnight toker

Dude, if you're going to be a toker, then don't apologize for it. You just won a second consecutive Cy Young Award. Embrace it, bro!

There's cheating in sports!

Rarely is it ever this blatant these days, but everybody knows that cheating goes on every moment of every day in every country in every sport at every level. Every day. In every sport.

Back in my day, guys running the bases would cut across the diamond and skip second base altogether if they knew the ump wasn't looking. Pitchers would lather up the ball so it practically made a bank deposit on the way to home plate. Hell I even used a corked bat once, but only during batting practice.

I don't know if you know this, because baseball tried to hush it up and I doubt there have been any books written about it, but in 1919, members of the Chicago White Sox actually took money from gamblers to throw the World Series. The World Series! Can you believe it? I couldn't, but yes, it's true. That's the ultimate in cheating, in my opinion. I think they called the team the Dirty Sox or Black Sox or something. I'm surprised nobody has heard of it.

In modern times, you have your Terry Henrys, which is one thing. And then you have your Tim Donagys, which is entirely another. Did you read the excerpts of his book at Deadspin? Holy crap!

If any umpire had tried to pull any of that crap with us back in the day, we would have known about it and we would have taken care of business, you know what I mean? A catcher would have accidentally missed a fastball and let it hit the ump in the nuts. A fielder would have thrown a relay right at his head. A batter would have let go of his bat a split-second early and whacked the guy in the nose.

It was a simpler time, is what I'm saying.

So... cheating. It's bad, but nothing to get too worked up over.

My thoughts on Sarah Palin

This week seems to be Sarah Palin week on the internets and the television, so I think it's time for ol' Babe to weigh in on the harpy from Alaska. You may not like what I have to say, but you have to agree with one thing: it could generate some hits.

Back when I played, there was always one guy on every team who thought he knew everything but actually knew nothing. Sometimes he was a rookie who wanted to get in with the veterans, so he tried to give us tips on how to pack our clothes or which restaurant to visit at some spring training city. Sometimes he was a traveling secretary who tried to scold us about staying out late or about going to the wrong speakeasy.

One guy in particular I remember clearly. His name was Frank or Francis or Fred, something with an F. He had dark brown hair, or maybe blond. Big nose, like Vince "Schnozz" Lombardi. He worked briefly for the Yankees as a clubhouse boy, and boy was he annoying. I'd come in to the clubhouse with a Schlitz beer, and he'd say, "Babe, would you like a Pabst? My uncle always said Pabst was better." Or there'd be mud in my spikes and he'd say, "Babe, you know how I get rid of mud? I use a tongue depressor. Want me to get one?"

Yeah, annoying right? As if I give a crap about the best way to get mud out of my spikes. I'd say, "I know a great way to get mud out of my spikes." Then I'd take off my shoes and hand them to him. "Here you go. Go find yourself a tongue depressor." And of course he'd do it.

I'm telling you all this not because Sarah Palin reminds me of that guy. She doesn't at all. He was actually a pretty nice kid who just wanted to please us ballplayers, and when he left the Yanks to go on to college, I missed him.

But one day, must've been around '34, Frank or Francis or Fred came into the clubhouse with this huge--and I mean HUGE--zit right on the end of his nose. It was gigantic and f---ing disgusting.

Sarah Palin reminds me of the huge zit on the end of the clubhouse boy's huge nose.

Must-see

I could watch this all day long. Just lovely.

Reminds me of all the World Series I won: 4 with the Yankees, 3 with the Sox, not that I'm counting.

Asked and answered

Some egghead from a university wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal saying that the Yankees did not buy their title. He talks about statistical relationships and whatnot, so I really only skimmed it. Why do I need numbers and words to tell me what I already know?

In any case, this story has, for some reason, made the rounds of the blogogosphere in the last 24 hours. But I just wanted to remind everyone that I already dealt with this question last week, so you can stop bellyaching about it.

If you're too lazy to click through, here's my basic point: No, we did not "buy" our title. But even if we did, what are you going to do about it? We're the New York F---ing Yankees, and you're not. Sorry about that.*

*Not really.

STFU about Big Panda

I'm sick of people talking to me about Pablo Sandoval. Just because he's big-boned like I was, people think I should care what he does. "Hey Ruth, Big Panda is on an exercise program." "Hey Ruth, Big Panda is eating right." "Hey Ruth, Big Panda isn't going to be so big anymore."

If he can hit 60 like I did, then I'll start caring about that guy. Until then, STFU.

(And no, I'm not defensive about this at all.)

Reader Mail: Who was the toughest pitcher I faced?

An occasional feature on this blog will be me answering questions from readers like you. I don't know if anybody else does anything remotely similar to this, so I might very well be a pioneer in this, just like I pioneered power-hitting in baseball. Who knows, maybe this feature will revolutionize the internet the same way I revolutionized baseball.

So here I am, ready to answer your reader mail. Only problem is that I haven't actually received any reader mail because I just started doing this feature. So this time and this time only, I'm going to answer my own example question and then it's up to you guys to keep this going. Got it?

Here's the question: Who's the toughest pitcher I ever faced?

Answer: I know this is going to sound like I'm bragging, but the truth is that I didn't really have trouble against any pitchers. I hit 'em all, lefty, righty, speedballer, junkballer, guys who threw overhand, guys who threw like a girl, everyone.

But I suppose if I had to name someone, it would be Earl Hubbell of the New York Giants. They called him King Earl and The Meal Ticket because, I guess, he would pick up the tab at restaurants when he took the guys out for dinner. He was best known for his devastating screwball.

I only faced him two times, both in the 1934 All-Star Game. The first time, I struck out on his screwball, which I have to admit really fooled me. But then he struck out Gehrig, Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin in order, so I wasn't the only guy who got fooled.

A few things about that game. First, it was in the Polo Grounds, so Hubbell had a home field advantage on his side. He also had the ump on his side, because he was calling pitches strikes that were way out of the zone. By the time I got two strikes on me, I had no idea where that guy's strike zone was, so I pretty much had to swing at whatever. Ask Lou if you don't believe me.

But still, it was a pretty good pitch. The next time I came up, though, I had figured him out, and I drew a 2-out walk. The ump had obviously realized his earlier mistakes and started making the correct calls.

But I give full credit to Hubbell for striking me out. Of course, I was 39 years old at the time, and this was before steroids made a mockery of the aging process, so my reaction times were a little slower than before. I would have liked to have faced him in Yankee Stadium during my prime six or seven years earlier. I doubt he would have struck me out then.

But that's not how it happened and so as a result, I went hitless against Hubbell for my entire career, which makes him the toughest pitcher I ever faced. For that one at bat, anyway.

Got any more questions? Send 'em my way: ghostofbaberuth@gmail.com

The good ol' days are here again

Remember back in the 1950s when the Kansas City A's served as a quasi-farm team for the Yankees, sending us their best players basically in exchange for us allowing the commissioner to schedule games between our teams in Kansas City? Those were great times. That's how we netted Roger Maris, Art Ditmar, Bobby Shantz, and Clete Boyer, among others. And that's partly how we continued to win championships into the 1960s.

I miss those days, I really do. I miss the simpler time when my boys could just run roughshod over the rest of the league because the commissioner was such a weak-kneed hack huge Yankee fan lover of the game.

But reading this article about the Yankees pursuing Roy Halladay brought it all back to me.

Halladay will sure look great in pinstripes. (Yankee-haters, start your pillow-bashing.)

Shouldn't surprise you

Wanna know who just became a big fan of women's soccer?

Three guesses.

On competitive balance *chuckle*

Sure Bob Dupuy is a hack, but he's absolutely right. The president of major league baseball told some radio show today that even though the Yankees spent about $100 million more on players than any other team this year, that's not really a problem. Key quote:

"Competitive balance has been a hallmark of the entire tenure of Commissioner [Bud] Selig. The numbers tell an awfully compelling story. Twenty of the 30 clubs have made the playoffs the last 10 years, when we've had eight different World Series champions."

This idea of bowing before the gods of competitive balance is so funny to me... all of us, really. When we were playing, there was no such thing as competitive balance. The Yankees won it every other year if not every year. Or maybe Connie Mack would decide he actually wanted to try for a while and the A's would win. The Cardinals and Giants and Tigers had their moments as well. But that's just a few teams out of 16. What did fans of the Browns and Phillies and Indians think about the situation? I have no idea. Nobody gave a crap what they though of it. Life was life and if people had a problem with it, they shut up and took it.

Now, my take on the matter is, of course the Yankees have an advantage. We're the f---ing New York Yankees, the most famous, awe-inspiring team in the history of sports, anywhere. Dallas Cowboys? Please. Manchester United? Whatevs. When people think of sports, they think of the Yankees. No amount of revenue sharing is ever going to take that advantage away from us.

And when we're successful, baseball as a whole is successful. Baseball would be nothing near as popular as it is today if the Yankees weren't successful. Bud Selig likes to claim that under his "leadership," baseball revenues have quadrupled in the last 15 years. As if he had anything to do with it. Hey Bud, do you realize that those same 15 years coincide with the most recent Yankee dynasty?

If you're not a fan of the Yankees, you have two choices. You should either become a fan now (we're accepting applications), or you should HATE us. Not just kinda hate us, I mean seriously HATE us with every fiber and sinew and testicle you have. You should go out and buy a pillow with a Yankee logo on it and punch it every night before you go to bed and every morning when you wake up. And a couple of times during the day for good measure.

And during those rare moments when we're not the defending champions, you should try and enjoy your lives just that much more, because those days will soon come to an end, as they did last week.

The Yankees are rich, successful, and champions. All the things you wish you were. Deal with it.

The Babe Ruth of Competitive Eating?

So there's this guy who keeps winning eating competitions. It's disgusting to watch, really.

Now, when I was around, I just thought of this as lunch and a pre-game snack. It would never have occurred to us that we could make a competition out of it. So please, please don't get any ideas about calling this kid "The Babe Ruth of Competitive Eating." Not when the Babe himself would have kicked this kid's ass.

Lies and the lying liars who usually tell them

There are certain facts about the Yankees that today's fans know deep in their bones, without having to look them up. My home run total, for example. Lou's consecutive games total. Joe's hitting streak. The number of championships we've won... and the number of years we went without one until 2009.

But when a professional liar writes a whining article pointing out that we never won the big one while his boss was in office, you're gonna wanna look it up just to be sure.

Turns out he wasn't lying this time.

Explain this to me

If Obi-Wan and the Jedi were so intent on hiding young Luke from Darth Vader, why didn't they change his last name? I mean, how clueless could Vader have been: "Hmm, kid named Skywalker, about 22 years old, living on Tattoine, watched over by an old man named Kenobi. I wonder if that could be my son. Nahh, I'm sure it's just a coincidence." Are you telling me that the Empire mastered light-speed travel and built a weapon that could destroy entire planets with a single laser blast, but they didn't have Google?

Lots of plot holes in that series, no question.

You're damn right we're #1

So in the wake of the latest championship, the blogs and internets are all atwitter with discussions of how this team ranks with the all-time best Yankee teams. Let me summarize for you:

Dayn Perry: Right

Dan Rosenheck: Yes

David Schoenfield: Close, but not quite (and WTF with the video that autoplays when I visit your site? Annoying.)

Chris Jaffe: Try again (without all the statistical gobbledygook)

I'll make it easy for you. One team had Hall of Famers at 6 positions.

Is that easy enough?

Cobb figures we're even now

I didn't invite him to the Yankee bash, he didn't invite me to his Windows 7 launch party. So I guess we're friends again, according to him.

Sure, Ty. First stop trying to show me your Live Taskbar Previews and then we'll talk.

What a party!

What a party we had last night! Everybody who ever won a World Series as a Yankee was there. Even Stan Coveleski showed up (though he had to bring his copy of the Baseball Encyclopedia before we would let him in. Turns out he pitched like 10 games at the end of his career for us in 1928, the year we won my 3rd World Series).

The best thing about the party was that we could celebrate a great moment in Yankee history with all the guys who helped make the history happen. The second-best part about it was that we didn't have to feel bad about not inviting Cobb--he can be such a baby about these things. He knew to stay way the hell away.

Not Hornsby, though. He tried to sneak in but we caught him and kicked him out. He shouted something about getting back at us, but we were like, sure, Rajah, go ahead and try. We're the effing Yankees. Nobody gets back at us.

Anyway, I don't really want to drop too many names--you can figure out for yourself who was there. I will tell you that lots of fun and alcohol was had by all. Koenig and Sheehy actually brought champagne goggles, which made them look as dumb as you think they'd look. But we didn't care, we were sloshed.

The highlight of the night came when Lou actually got up and started singing Yankee Doodle Dandy. Then all the Italians joined in (Lazzeri, Crosetti, Rizutto, etc.) and soon all of us were singing right along. Even Joe sang a little (although he beat a hasty retreat as soon as it was over because ladies were not allowed and he had to go and be with Marilyn again).

The party ended when Mickey's iPod ran out of good songs to play and scraped the bottom of the barrel. I mean, if a song about a dancing queen is not a mood-killer for a party of old dead baseball players, nothing is. I'm like, what the f---? I guess that's my signal to get the f--- out.

Most of us left, and as we did, I turned back to the party and saw a lone guy holding a bottle and mouthing the words to that song. He was really into it, closing his eyes, swaying his body, taking a drink during the musical parts. It was ridiculous and sweet at the same time.

Should I tell you who it was? Yeah, it was Lou. Ya can't help but love that guy.

Congrats to Giraldi and the Yanks

I'm working on a long post about the big-ass party we had last night, but meantime, I wanted to be sure and congratulate Giraldi and Mario Rivera and Alex Ramirez and the rest of the gang for their great play yesterday. It definitely brought back fond memories of 1923, 1927, 1928, and 1932 for me (not to mention 1915, 1916, and 1918). Jeter and Mo now have more Yankee WS titles than I had, but I'm not bitter because I also won three with the Sox, which was much harder to do.

Giraldi had an even better night after the game when he literally saved the life of a stranded motorist on his way home. Is there anything he can't do?

This is what it's all about

Well, friends, tonight is what World Series baseball is all about. It’s gonna be a war out there, and it's gonna come down to who wants it more. Both teams have heart, but who has the guts to come out strong and make a statement early? (Or maybe: Both teams have guts, but who has the heart to come out strong and make a statement early? No, I'll stick with heart-guts.)

You've got two veteran moundsmen, Pedro and Andy Petite, who each know what it takes to win the big one. They've been there before, and neither should wilt in the glare of the limelight.

For the Yankees, anything less than a championship is unacceptable. They have a lot of players with big game experience, and they just have to go out and take care of business. It's as simple as that.

For the Phillies, they have to come out of the locker room fired up and ready to prove that they're not scared of legendary Yankee Stadium. They have to dig deep, turn it up a notch, and pull out all the stops. Most of all, they need to just try and have fun out there. Baseball is a simple game, and any time you try and complicate it, you're gonna come out on the losing end of the stick. The Phils need to avoid that.

The crowd could be a factor in this one, the all-important 10th man (not including the designated hitter). Are they going to sit on their hands, like they did in games 1 and 2, or are they going to root, root, root for the home team?

My prediction: Yanks will win, but it'll be too close for comfort for the Yankee faithful. It'll come down to the final strike, and Mo will close it out.

It's gonna be a fun ride!

The Babe Ruth of What?

I've heard of the Babe Ruth of news, the Babe Ruth of golf, and the Babe Ruth of operatic tenors, bank robbers, and basketball.

But until today, I had never heard of the Babe Ruth of deaf studies.

RIP, Dr. Lawrence Fleischer. You did great work (according to the article).

This is un-Yankee-like

Cobb loves it, of course.

The Babe on Instant Replay

Game 3 a few days ago was the first time instant replay was used in the World Series, I think (I wouldn't even know where to look up whether it was used before). They used it to call Alex Ramirez's big hit a home run, and replays showed the umps got it right in the end.

There are a lot of guys out here who are totally against instant replay. Their arguments are:

1. It goes against the tradition of baseball.
2. It interrupts the flow of the game.
3. Baseball should be decided by people, not technology, even if they get it wrong.

The biggest booster of these ideas, not surprisingly, is Bowie Kuhn, but honestly, nobody here gives a rat's ass what he thinks. The guy was a disaster as a commissioner, and he's always trying to start up conversations with the guys and talk about the good ol' days. I mean, I didn't know the guy at all when we were alive, but he acts like he knows me. Poor guy. I think he's waiting for Selig so he can have somebody just like him to talk to.

You might wonder what Landis thinks about instant replay, but actually, he has made it pretty clear to us that he doesn't give a crap about baseball anymore. He's too busy doing -- well, I don't really want to get into it. He still scares me a little, the only person who ever did.

Anyhoo, a lot of the guys have been asking me what I think of instant replay. They figure that since I'm an old-timer, I should be against it.

But actually, I feel just the opposite. I'm all for it. I mean, when I started asking to play the outfield on days when I didn't pitch, people thought I was crazy. And when I started swinging from my heels and trying to whack the ball over the fence, they told me to stop. Nobody had ever done that before and succeeded.

So this BS about something being against the tradition of baseball just doesn't fly with me. My very existence was against the tradition of baseball, but instead of changing my ways, I changed baseball.

As far as the other two arguments against replay, I call BS on those too. First of all, the game is already slow to begin with, so taking a few extra minutes to make sure an important call is correct shouldn't matter much.

And are you seriously going to talk to me about not letting technology take over the game? With all the advanced stats and training regiments and scouting and film breakdowns and all the other high-tech stuff already happening, you're going to draw the line at getting calls correct?

As I said to Ed Barrow when he told me to choke up and spray the ball, f--k that s--t.

Clinching in New York

Well, my boys did their fans in New York a nice favor by dropping that game yesterday. Now, when they finally clinch it, they'll do it in front of 50,000 screaming fans instead of a quiet opposing stadium.

I can tell you from personal experience that it's much more special to clinch the World Series at home. As you know, I won 7 World Series as a player (3 with Boston, 4 with the Yankees), but we only clinched 3 of them at home, including only one of my Yankee championships.

(I know, doesn't it seem like I should have won more World Series titles? Berra won 10, Dimaggio won 9, but I only won 7. Joe knows not to talk to me about it. He actually doesn't talk much to anyone about anything, including to Marilyn. But we see them together all the time, just staring into space. Very sweet, I guess.)

Anyway, I was watching the game with Cravath last night and he was feeling pretty emboldened by the victory. He thinks that Giraldi made a mistake by going with a 3-man rotation. It showed last night with AJ, and he thinks Andy Petite is going to be tired tomorrow, too. If the Phillies win that one, then it's anything goes.

Now, I'm not one of those old-timers who thinks today's players aren't tough enough or strong enough. Hell, if I had to bat against all those sliders and cutters and one-inning relief specialists, I'm sure I wouldn't have hit 714 home runs--maybe more like 700 or so, but definitely not 714.

But I don't think Giraldi made a mistake. He has that strong bullpen which should be able to shut down the Phillies in case the starters falter, and last night they just didn't. The offense did its part by scoring 6 runs. Now it's time for the pitchers to pick them up.

Yankees in six, mark my words!

The New York Way

Remember that scene in "The Untouchables" when Sean Connelly was talking about what it takes to defeat Al Capone?

"You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone!"

That's what I thought of last night when my boys were taking apart the Phillies. You wanna know how you do it? They tie it in the fourth, you re-take the lead in the fifth. They score a run in the 8th off your second-best reliever, you score three in the ninth against their best reliever--and steal two bases on a single pitch while you're at it. They bring in Lidge, you bring in Mo. That's the New York Way, and that's how you win 27 world championships.

By the way, I knew Al Capone back in the day, and he was nothing like the movie. He may have run a racketeering syndicate and had dozens of people murdered, but he was always nice to me and Claire.