Jimmy Sez

The first baseball game I ever attended was at Shea Stadium, mostly because I lived only three miles away from it. Shea wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing place in the world, but in the mid-1980's it was a perfect place to get a kid hooked on baseball. There was a palpable buzz in the crowded stadium at all times. As you shuffled through the dimly lit concourse the air was filled with a delightful smell concocted of hot dogs, popcorn, burnt pretzels and stale beer. The distinct aroma of baseball. Once you found your section number within the concourse, you literally saw a light at the end of a tunnel. As you ascended up a ramp towards that light, excitement built with every step until you found the diamond that you came for, under the brightest lights you've ever seen and surrounded by grass that was impossibly green. I remember thinking, "I never wanna leave this place." Millions of baseball fans across the country have likely had similar experiences in place...

Each year just before Spring Training, The Athletic 's Keith Law releases his list of the top 100 prospects in baseball. The amount of thought and research put into the list is impressive enough, but it's also a great way to gauge how strong your favorite team's player pipeline is. For Yankee fans, Law's 2023 rankings offer some obvious reasons to be optimistic about the future. However, it's not all sunshine and roses. There are some glaring weaknesses within the Yankee system and a significant talent gap between the Baby Bombers and some of their divisional rivals. Ultimately, what will matter most in Yankeeland is whether the organization can convert one or more of these prospects into a star player. Amazingly, it's something they've done only once  over the last 20 years or so. So let's dig in and see what's cooking on the farm. Veni, Vidi, Volpe The crown jewel of the Yankee farm system was on full display this spring and he shined brightly. Pr...

People often warn you to never meet your heroes because you'll likely be disappointed. As a general rule, it probably works. Heroes tend to be famous and with fame and fortune, a healthy detachment from reality is a strong possibility. Despite this making intuitive sense, I've always been a bit skeptical. Maybe because the hero I've looked up to more than any other since I was a kid has the reputation for being as down-to-earth as they come. I've written before about how much Don Mattingly meant to me growing up. So much so, that recently I made a promise to myself that if the opportunity to meet him ever arises, I should do it at any cost. Well, I stumbled upon that opportunity by way of a massive Yankee autograph show that happened in North Jersey earlier this month. As a person who has never paid for an autograph before, the price seemed high, but if that's what it took to meet Donnie, so be it. As my excitement grew, I planned on accomplishing two things with ...

Recently, we reviewed the Hall of Fame cases of some former Yankees whose careers will always be intertwined with steroid use. There are four other former Yankees  on the ballot  - all outfielders - who managed to steer clear of the steroid conversation in baseball while they played. However, their candidacy will be hotly contested nonetheless. First-timer Carlos Beltran has a Hall of Fame résumé that on the surface makes him an obvious candidate for election. Confounding his case is his prominent role in the Houston Astros cheating scandal that rocked the baseball world in 2019. Thus far, voters seem undecided on how to handle the situation. Two veterans on the ballot - Bobby Abreu and Andruw Jones - find themselves in the middle of what will be a long stay on the ballot. One of them may get the writers' blessing for Cooperstown before his run is through, while the other certainly will not. We'll round out this group with Jacoby Ellsbury, a player who jumped to the Yan...

It's a new year, and Hall of Fame season is really starting to ramp up. For the first time in ten years the BBWAA ballot isn't weighed down by the two biggest stars of the Steroid Era in Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. While it's nice to have a repreive from the tired arguments on both sides of their cases, there's still no shortage of steriod controversy with this year's crop of candidates. In fact, three of them were active Yankee players when their steroid use - alleged or confirmed - took place. When it comes to their legacies as a Yankee, Andy Pettitte and Gary Sheffield couldn't be more different. When it comes to their chances for Hall of Fame induction, they're on eerily similar trajectories. With just two years of eligibility left, Sheffield's time is running out. Pettitte has another six years to run the BBWAA gauntlet, but his fate seems no different. Meanwhile, Alex Rodriguez will make his second appearance on the ballot as the most fascinati...

Earlier this month the Baseball Hall of Fame released the 2023 Contemporary Baseball Era ballot . This is their latest iteration of a veterans committee designed to give former players a second chance at enshrinement. The eight-man group up for election is a star-studded cast that includes some former Yankees. Don Mattingly was a Yankee lifer and spent the maximum 15 years on the conventional ballot voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America ( BBWAA ). His share of the vote steadily declined over that time, but he's a player that was, and still is, adored by his contemporaries. Soon after Mattingly's run on the BBWAA ballot, the rules were changed to a maximum of ten years of eligibility. Roger Clemens spent a full 10 years on the ballot. However, he would have been a first-ballot slam dunk had it not been for the steroid controversy that defined the end of his career. In contrast to Mattingly, he spent only a brief portion of his career with the Yankees and his ...