Jimmy Sez

Last month we began our review and rankings of the plaques on display at Monument Park. We're back with a new batch of bronze. The eight plaques featured here are a notch above the group we looked at last time, but they're not anything to write home about either. Rest assured that things will be looking pretty good from here on out. Ground-level view of the original Monument Park in Old Yankee Stadium. wallyg/Wikimedia Commons As was the case last time,  I won't share a picture of every plaque because they tend to run together and get redundant as you scan through them. For any that I don't have a picture of below, it's relatively easy to find via google . 24. Lou Gehrig - dedicated on July 4, 1941 A minimilast approach here for Lou, whose plaque was the second one commissioned by the Yankees after Miller Huggins. The first bit reads just like Babe Ruth's plaque, and awkwardly starts with this sentence: "A man." His consecutive games streak is mention...

Last year I told the story of meeting Don Mattingly and from there committed to the quest of getting the rest of the living Yankees All-Time All-Stars to sign a copy of the book. Luckily, the folks at Hall of Fame Signings hosted another Pinstripe Pride event earlier this month in north Jersey. There, I was able to get the autographs of five more legends, which means seven of the 17 living All-Stars have now signed. While it was thrilling to meet each of the five who signed this year, I won't have nearly as much to say about the encounter as I did with Donnie Baseball. Ya know, you only get to meet your childhood hero for the first time once. So here's a brief description of each exchange with a picture of my ugly mug next to some guys that you'd much rather see. Before digging in, I do need to give a shout out to Hall of Fame Signings for a dramatically improved experience at the event for 2024. There was far more space at the venue, organization, and predictability wh...

When Whitey Ford passed away a few weeks ago it left the Yankee Universe asking themselves a question that has had an obvious answer for a very long time. Ford was one of many former Yankees who racked up championship rings at record rates in the 1950's and 60's. Since that time, the team has been lucky enough to celebrate those teams by inviting the men who made them legendary back to Yankee Stadium every year. And of that group, there's always been a clear elder statesman, an old guy with a Hall of Fame resumé who serves as the unofficial patriarch of the extended Yankee family. For nearly 50 years this role was filled by Joe DiMaggio. The man who touted himself as the "Greatest Living Ballplayer" was treated as such whenever returning to the Bronx. There were others in the running of course, none more so than Mickey Mantle, but The Mick tragically died at the way too young age of 63 and DiMaggio held the title until he passed away in the spring of 1999. At tha...