With the news of Todd Helton‘s DUI arrest, which adds his name to the long list of MLB players who have been caught drunk driving in recent years, I thought it would be appropriate to post a piece I wrote nearly two years ago on the subject. (It first ran in May 2011.)

Here’s Helton’s mug shot. How charming.

In my opinion and in the opinion of many others, MLB still has a long way to go in how they deal with their players being arrested for operating vehicles while under the influence. It seems a little backward that there’s more outrage when someone is caught using PEDs than when someone is exhibiting behavior that can kill other people.

***

While some people are pointing to the low attendance numbers so far this season as a problem for Major League Baseball, others–like me–think that the rash of drunk driving arrests is an even bigger issue.

This spring alone, six Major Leaguers have been picked up for DUIs: Adam Kennedy (Seattle Mariners); Coco Crisp (Oakland Athletics); Derek Lowe (Atlanta Braves); Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo and Austin Kearns; and Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers).

My question is, how is this even possible?

These players aren’t rookies. The guys listed above are veteran players who have been around the league. Surely they’ve made enough money to–oh I don’t know–hire a driver to pick them up when they’ve become too intoxicated to drive home?

What’s worse? This wasn’t even Miguel Cabrera’s first offense.

From an article from Business Insider on his most recent DUI arrest:

The reports indicate that Cabrera forced at least two cars off the road due to his reckless driving. The Range Rover he was piloting caused a Wal-Mart tractor trailer to go off of a main road, and another car to swerve on the grass to avoid a head on collision with the inebriated Major Leaguer.

When will these players get it through their thick skulls that drinking and driving is dangerous? When someone gets killed? Oh, right, that’s already happened.

Two years ago, Major League Baseball was dealt a major blow when Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart and two friends were killed in a horrific accident caused by a drunk driver. The accident cut short a promising baseball career, ended two other young lives and sent shockwaves throughout Major League Baseball.

Apparently those shockwaves have become barely visible ripples because how else can you explain the rash of recent drunk driving incidents?

Now, Major League Baseball–finally–wants to do something about it.

As it stands, the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires later this year, has provisions for drugs like cocaine and marijuana but there is no way of disciplining players for alcohol related offenses. In the past, only confidential counseling and treatment were offered on a case-by-case basis.

The new plan, according to two anonymous baseball officials, is to make the punishment for alcohol-related offenses mirror the punishments handed down for drugs like marijuana: mandatory counseling and possible suspension if the player refuses to cooperate.

I say it’s about time.

Derek Lowe, who was picked up for his DUI on April 28, took a no hitter into the seventh inning of last night’s game against the Phillies. I, along with a few other people, voiced our unhappiness at the possibility of his pitching a no hitter when he probably should have been suspended for his arrest.

Luckily, Shane Victorino got a base hit and Lowe just picked up a win instead of adding his name to baseball’s history books. I’m all for redemption story lines but he hadn’t even been punished for his transgression.

Good job by MLB for finally doing something–or at least talking about doing something–but also shame on them for it taking so long.

I don’t usually enjoy making predictions but I’m going to do it anyway. Truthfully this is what I wish would happen in the playoffs.

O’s beat Rangers

Yankees beat O’s in five
A’s beat Tigers in five

Yankees over A’s in six

Braves win the WC

Nats beat Braves in five
Giants beat Reds in four

Giants beat Nats in six

Yankees over Giants in six

…And I’m not that happy with it.

I was one of those weirdos who was looking forward to interleague and from looking at the 2013 schedule, it seems that with my current ticket plan, I have only one Sunday interleague game and it doesn’t occur until late September.

Really?

Also, the Dodgers are finally heading to Yankee Stadium and it’s a two-game series. Oh but the Yankees are going to Dodger Stadium to play a two-game series as well.

Really?

You know how some people hate the six-man rotation? I loathe the two-game series. I think they’re pointless. I believe all series should be three or four games in length. The next thing Bud Selig has to do – after implementing more replay – is to do away with the two-game series.

The Yankees and Mets are playing two two-game series in a row – a home and home if you will – in May. Yep, that will be a fun week in New York. Though I will admit, I’m thrilled they’ve cut down the amount of games between the teams. Six was definitely too much. But, again, two-game series are awful. Why not make it a three-game series and alternate which Stadium to play them in every year?

Another issue I have with the 2013 schedule and how it relates to my current ticket plan is that the Yankees seem to only be playing their American League East rivals on the weekends.

Here’s the breakdown of my Sunday plan – without the random weekday games because we don’t know what they are until we get the tickets:

April
Orioles
Blue Jays

May
Athletics
Blue Jays

June
Red Sox
Rays

July
Orioles
Twins
Rays

August
Tigers

September
Orioles
Red Sox
Giants

And in September the Yankees play a home stand against the Giants 9/20-9/22 and the Rays 9/24-9/26 -there’s an off day on Monday the 23rd – then head to Houston to play the Astros for three games to close out the season.

Really?

Some things I like about the schedule:

Hmm, I swear there was something. Oh, the Yankees opening at home is cool, I guess. But as we all know April in New York can be iffy weather-wise but hey, MLB scheduled that off-day after Opening Day just in case there’s a rainout. Hooray!

In closing, I do not know the first thing about making a schedule. I don’t even have the patience to schedule my own life so I would never say that I know more than the schedule makers. With that said, I wish there was a way to do it without alienating some people.

Like I said at the beginning of the post, I was a big champion of interleague play throughout the season but with the way everything’s been scheduled, I will only be able to attend one game.

On Saturday, August 18th I had the opportunity and pleasure of being a guest at the MLB Fan Cave in New York City.

The Cave isn’t open to the public, so it was pretty exciting to have the opportunity to be there.

How did I get such an honor?  By being a Yankees Super Fan, of course.

OK, a little more details…

The Cave started to do a fan rivalry wiffle ball game when the Yankees and the Mets were playing, and decided to do the same this past weekend for the Yankees-Red Sox series.  They had Yankees fans and Red Sox fans from the area send emails talking about why they are a fan of the team they support.  All entries were screened by the sponsor Nike and they made their selections.  I was picked to play for the Yankees.

All of the participants arrived at the Cave around 10am.  When you signed in they gave us our gear:  A team shirt, shorts, and sneakers.

I had the honor of playing with these awesome kicks:

They loaded us onto two buses, Yankees fans on one and Red Sox fans on the other, and took us to Tompkins Square Park.  It was an intense battle of wiffle ball.  The Yankees fans took the lead 2-0 in the third inning.  I attempted to tag up on a sac fly, but was thrown out at home plate to end the inning (Oops!).

The Red Sox fans tried to make a comeback and took the lead the following inning scoring three runs, but the Yankees fans rallied back in the bottom half and retook the lead by scoring three runs.

Here was the final score:

Ball game over, Yankees win!  And Team Yankees Fans won tickets to tonight’s series finale!

We boarded the buses again and were invited back to the Cave for lunch and to just hang out.  It was just about 1pm so games were about to start.

The Fan Cave is really something spectacular.  Everywhere you look there are TV’s.  The wall along the left side of the first floor is covered in autographs by players who have visited.  They had a Nike challenge set up in the front of the room that had jump height, jump rope, and quick feet drills which I gave a shot.  Let’s just say my arms and legs are extremely sore this morning.

Lunch was downstairs, and it was your typical baseball game foods.  Hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, nachos…of course nothing wrong with any of those choices.  It was all delicious.

My favorite part of the whole place was of course on the first floor:

It’s a huge display of TV’s just covered in baseball games.  Baseball fans like myself would find this to be almost heaven-like.  I just sat on this couch, talking to some of my teammates and cave dweller Ashley Chavez.  We talked about baseball and just watched the games.  Doesn’t get any better than that.

All I could think to myself being in the Fan Cave was making sure I apply for next year.  How great to watch baseball for a living.  It’s a dream come true.

You can follow all of the remaining cave dwellers on Twitter.  They are all great people.

Gordon Mack (my coach!) @gordonmack
Ashely Chavez @smashleychavez
Kyle Thompson @KyleOKC
Ricardo Marquez @iBlogBetter

Give them a follow.

I had the pleasure of making friends with them and making some new friends with all of the participants. Props to MLB, Nike, and the Fan Cave for running this event.

I almost forgot what it was like to write about a win. I was beginning to miss it. Thanks to the Yankees exploding for 12 runs against Orioles pitching, I don’t have to miss it anymore. Hooray!

The Yankees got things started in the first inning – again.

Curtis ‘I’m not a home run hitter’ Granderson hit a home run into the second deck in right field putting the Yankees up 1-0 right away. It was his 29th of the year.

Nick Swisher followed with a double, Robison Cano hit a single and Andruw Jones hit a sacrifice fly to score Swisher to make it 2-0.

Baltimore answered with a one of their own in the bottom of the first.

In the bottom of the second, with runners on first and third, Derek Jeter smacked a single to right, scoring McGehee to give the Yanks a 3-1 lead. After Granderson struck out, Nick Swisher hit a single, scoring Jayson Nix to make it 4-1.

Phil Hughes had himself an interesting game. While watching him today, it seemed to me like he was a little out of whack and didn’t look comfortable. Yet, he always got an out when he needed it.

Case in point: In the top of the third, Baltimore led off the inning with two straight singles. Hughes needed a double play and he got one. The next batter lined out and he escaped trouble. It actually happened in the fourth inning as well. It was like he was doing a David Robertson impression.

The Yanks broke the game way open in the bottom of the third with the big blow being a grand slam by Robinson Cano to make it 11-1.

Here are the key plays:

• Russell Martin walks
• Casey McGehee walks
• Nix hit a ground rule double, scoring Martin to make it 5-1
• The Orioles mercifully take Zach Britton out and replace him with Kevin Gregg
• Jeter singles, again, McGehee and Nix score and it’s now 7-1
• Granderson singles
• Nick Swisher walks to load the bases
• Cano hits a 1-2 pitch into the right field seats to make it 11-1

By the way, six of those runs were scored with two outs. Does that sound familiar? If it doesn’t, you must have missed last night’s game when Ivan Nova had it happen to him – seven runs with two outs which led to Baltimore winning 11-5.

Joba Chamberlain made his 2012 debut in the seventh and was greeted rudely by JJ Hardy who took his 0-1 pitch deep into the left field seats. Chamberlain also gave up an RBI double to Endy Chavez in the eighth. He finished his day: 1.2 IP, 4H, 2R, 1BB and 0K.

I’ll chalk it up to nerves.

The Yankees added a run in the bottom of the eighth on sacrifice fly by McGehee.

Some notes:

• Hughes improved to 11-8 and lowered his ERA from 4.08 to 3.96. He finished with nine hits in six innings, gave up one run, walked two and struck out one.
• The Orioles were looking for their first three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium since June 1986. They didn’t get it.
• Ichiro extended his hitting streak to nine games.
• Jeter now has 276 games of three hits or more – he also collected three RBI
• Jayson Nix finished the day 3-4 with two singles and a double.

(This post originally appeared on my personal blog at stacey-rose.com)

When I was a child, I had multiple personalities. No, not in the way that some people have two distinct personalities with different names and different personas, I’m not a soap opera character – even though there are times I wish I were one. It was because I was considered both a girly girl and a tomboy.

In elementary school, during recess, there were some days when I’d play kickball with the boys and then there were other days, when I’d sit and gossip with the girls about those same boys. My dual personality also occurred at home. Sometimes I’d spend the evening watching baseball – and other sports – with my father and I’d also spend time watching soap operas with my mother – both of the nighttime and daytime variety.

Thanks to my mother, I started watching the entire ABC soap lineup as a young girl beginning with Ryan’s Hope at 12:30 p.m and ending with Edge of Night at 4 p.m. In between, there were All My Children, One Life To Live and General Hospital. And by the time 1984 rolled around, General Hospital became the one couldn’t miss and that had to schedule my life around. (Thankfully, I got out of school in time to watch the last hour of the show live. My family was late adapters in the VCR age and we didn’t get our first machine until late 1984.)

While I engrossed myself in the action and adventure story lines involving “super-couples” of the 1980′s like Luke and Laura and Frisco and Felicia, there was one constant force on the show. He may not have been fighting bad guys or traveling to exotic locales for location shoots but he was always there. The character was Dr. Steve Hardy, who was the hospital’s Chief of Staff by the time the 1980′s rolled around, and he was played by John Beradino from 1963-1996. Dr. Hardy was considered the patriarch of the show and was one of the first people to be shown on screen when the show first aired on April 1, 1963. He didn’t actually say the first line of the show which was, “7th floor nurse’s station,” but he did appear in that first scene.

What I didn’t know about Mr. Beradino when I was a child was that before he appeared on General Hospital, Beradino played professional baseball from 1939 – 1952.

Beradino who was known as Johnny Berardino when he played was a second baseman/shortstop. He was signed by the St. Louis Browns and made his major league debut on April 22, 1939. He played with the Browns, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians. His career spanned from 1939 to 1952.

His best year in the Majors was his 1940 season. He hit a career high 16 home runs and collected 85 RBI. The following year he had a career high of 89 RBI and a career high .271 batting average. His playing time would be interrupted by World War II. He’d return to baseball in 1946 but would never match his previous numbers.

Beradino played 66 games with the 1948 World Series Champion Indians. And though his overall career numbers weren’t great .249/.316/.355/.672 – he was below replacement level at -3.5 for his career – he still holds a claim no other major league player can make to this day.

In 1981, while General Hospital was at the top of its game – pun intended – Beradino suited up once again, this time to play Coach Jake Wells in “Don’t Look Back” an ABC network movie about Satchel Paige. Beradino was teammates with Paige in 1948 when the Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Braves in the World Series.

Beradino recalled his playing days with Paige:

“The ballplayers welcomed Satch with open arms. We knew he could deliver,” says Beradino, though he well remembers the discrimination, documented by the movie, that Paige once faced. On trips to Washington, for instance, white teammates were quartered at the Shoreham Hotel, but Paige had to room in the “colored” section of the nation’s capital. “That was a fact of life in those days,” shrugs Beradino. “Satch just took it in stride.” The two, later teammates for the St. Louis Browns, “had a camaraderie,” says Beradino. In fact, when owner Bill Veeck insured Beradino’s ruggedly handsome face for $1 million in a publicity stunt, it was Paige who presciently dubbed him “Hollywood John.”

“Hollywood John” would have the last laugh as Mr. Beradino has the unique distinction of being the only person to have won a World Series ring and to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.

Beradino was once quoted as saying, “I had been contemplating leaving the game [baseball] as early as 1947 to concentrate on acting. Most people don’t realize that I was an actor long before I was a ballplayer. I was one of those brat actors in the “Our Gang” comedies. I always loved acting as a kid.” It’s a good thing Johnny decided to stick it out in baseball for a few more years otherwise he wouldn’t have that World Series ring.

Beradino played baseball in college at USC and was also voted in USC’s Hall Of Fame.

In the time between his playing days and his stint at GH, Beradino starred in a few B movies, some TV series and played a state trooper in the Frank Sinatra film “Suddenly” in 1954.

When General Hospital first started he was one of the main stars along with the late Emily McLaughlin who played Nurse Jessie Brewer until her death in 1991. There were only about seven or eight main characters on the show when it first started so Beradino and McLaughlin carried the show. As the show grew more popular in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s, Beradino’s Dr. Hardy took a back seat to the younger actors on the show. A role he happily accepted.

During his later years on General Hospital, began having a yearly episode that centered around raising money for AIDS that aired every year on AIDS awareness day, December 1st.

The tradition began in 1994 when the writers and producers came up with the idea for the Charity Ball. The storyline centered around the hospital having a yearly ball to raise money for AIDS research – the show itself actually also raised money for various AIDS charities – and the characters would act out skits or sing and dance. It would give the actors on the show a chance to showcase what they were trained to do before appearing on General Hospital.

Some were trained as gymnasts, some were trained as singers and dancers and in one of his last appearances on the show before he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, John Beradino performed “Casey at the Bat” as a part of that storyline.

It was both poignant and perfect for Mr. Beradino to suit up one last time doing both things he loved to do; to act and to talk about baseball.

The Yankees are probably very happy to be out of the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. After dropping the first two games to the Rays, they finally were able to escape with a win yesterday and end a nine-game skid in Tropicana Field which dated back to last season. What’s also good is that they’re not scheduled to play in that place again until September.

So what’s next for the Yankees? Oh nothing much, just a four-game series in Fenway Park. I’d really like to smack the person who scheduled this particular week for my team. Also, why haven’t the Red Sox visited New York yet? It’s July 5 and there’s been one series between the teams and it occurred in April.

» Continue reading “Off-Day Ruminating About The Yankees And Red Sox”

Robinson Cano was named the Captain of the American League’s Home Run Derby team. Cano won the contest last year, defeated Adrian Gonazlez of the Red Sox in the final round. Matt Kemp was named captain of the National League’s team.

Derek Jeter leads all shortstops in All-Star voting and Cano, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira are all second in their positions.

This year’s game takes place in Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium.

Fans can submit up to 25 ballots per email address with the All-Star Game Online Ballot, through June 28 exclusively at MLB.com and all 30 club sites, wired or mobile. Once that voting ends, then comes the always-frenetic finish with the All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote from July 1-5 and the annual MVP vote during the All-Star Game to help decide who wins the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award.

Lots of people – myself included – didn’t appreciate the app’s message.

Among them Rebecca Glass of Pinstriped Bible and Steven Goldman of Baseball Prospectus.

Rebecca talks about why she doesn’t need a baseball boyfriend.

Steven’s piece is called, “Pardon Me, Sir, But Have You Ever Talked To a Female Baseball Fan?”

Other people tweeted about their dislike for the app.

And then there were some who thought some of us were being knee-jerky in our response to Baseball Boyfriend. I was even told I was being too serious.

Well, here’s a funny take from Diane of the Value Over Replacement Blog who tries to find ways to improve Baseball Boyfriend.

Oh and hey there was some Yankees news – this is a Yankees blog after all.

Bill Hall tweeted that he signed with the Yankees yesterday. Then took an instagram picture of himself in a Yankees cap. That’s kind of awesome. It’s a minor league deal and he can be let go if he doesn’t make the Majors by Opening Day.

The Yanks are still trying to shop A.J. Burnett and they’re also still deciding between Johnny Damon and Raul Ibanez for the DH spot.

Happy Wednesday!

As everyone knows, this weekend marks the tenth anniversary of one of the worst days in New York City’s history. September 11, 2001 was a day that had an effect on everyone regardless if they were personally involved in the tragedy or not.

In the weeks and months that followed baseball – more specifically the New York Yankees – helped the city (and in some cases the whole Country) take its mind off what was happening downtown during the recovery efforts at the site of the World Trade Center.

And where will those New York Yankees be on September 11, 2011? They will be on the road in Anaheim, California.

But hey, at least the New York Mets will be home.

This reminds me of 2008 when the Yankees ended their season on the road. They played the last game in the old Stadium on September 21, 2008. And guess who got to close out their season at home and play the last game in Shea Stadium on September 28, 2008? Yep, the Mets.

The franchise with – at the time – 26 Championships, more history and who are the face of baseball (Sorry everyone but it’s true) ended their last season in the House That Ruth Built on the road.

The franchise that plays in Queens and, hmmm, plays in Queens ended their season at home.

So, yeah, good job MLB! Kudos to you.

Dinks.