Harvey Frommer Reviews: Duke vs. Kentucky, Hack Wilson, Summer of '68 & More

Who would have thought about it? The Irish and their impact on the national pastime? I did in my book Old Time Baseball. Now along comes The Emerald Diamond by Charley Rosen (Harper, $25.99, 305 pages). Its subtitle says it all: "How The Irish Transformed America's Greatest Pastime."

Rosen, known for his writings about the NBA, is in top form here dishing out data and passing out anecdotes about many of the known and under-publicized facts and factoids as well as another area of important Irish contributions in sports.

The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky and the 2.1 Seconds that Changed Basketball by Gene Wojciechowski (Blue Rider Press, $26.95) is a riveting inside look at the legendary game in 1992. The gang's all here and we can all enjoy the flashbacked, riveting read and the talented writing of Gene Wojciechowski. Especially for college hoop fans.

Hack's 191 by Bill Chastain (Globe Pequot Press, $24.95) is a look back to the epic 1930 season of slugger Hack Wilson and his Chicago Cubs team. A good friend of Al Capone, an imbiber of booze and good times, Wilson was one of baseball's most colorful all-time characters. The "Hacker" comes to life in this splendid book, as does his day-by-day RBI record exploding to a still-unbroken 191.

Wheels of Change by Sue Macy (National Geographic, $18.95, only 98 pages) is a slim volume that packs a lot of charm and content. It offers the point of view that before the bicycle in the 1880s, the lives of women were restricted. With "wheels," women became emancipated. They set records cycling and explored the world. Page after page of archival images and apt observations make this tome terrific--HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Tim Wendel's Summer of '68 (DaCapo ($25.00, 272 pages), like the Hack Wilson book and many others, is a look back at one specific baseball season and the events in the culture surrounding it. The year was one of tragedy, broken dreams, horrible events and turning points--rioting in major American cities, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy. It was also the "Year of the Pitcher" (Tiant, Gibson, Drysdale, McLain and others). The times today are fraught with peril. Back then, things were even worse, but baseball was a constant support for many. Full disclosure: As the author of Remembering Fenway Park: An Oral and Narrative History of the Home of the Boston Red Sox, I was looking ahead to read Richard A. Johnson's Field of Our Fathers (Triumph, $35.00, 288 pages). It does not disappoint. Whereas my book focuses only on baseball at Fenway, the Johnson tome includes non-baseball events. I leaned heavily on oral history with 140 individuals telling the story of the oldest MLB park. Johnson features clippings, ephemera and mini essays from folks such as Bob Ryan and Glenn Stout.

Wilt, 1962 by Gary M. Pomerantz (Three Rivers Press, $16.00, 267 pages) is a slim tome that slam dunks the story of the much misunderstood and unappreciated Wilt Chamberlain.

BOSOX TRIVIA

TRIVIA

Beginnings of Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park 100 Years Ago

All kinds of hype and hoopla and ballyhoo will take place this year n the Boston area. The 100th anniversary of the birth of Fenway Park is upon us, whether we are fans of the team or not.

So, let us now celebrate with a flashback to the beginnings at that little ballpark in Beantown.

It was damp and chilly throughout New England for most of the spring of 1912, and in Boston, it took a few attempts before baseball could be played in decent weather.

On April 9, the Red Sox and Harvard's baseball team met in an exhibition game in football weather “with a little snow on the side.” About 3,000 braved it. Boston won, 2-0. Both runs were driven in by their pitcher, Casey Hageman.

The scheduled official Opening Day match on April 12, however, was rained out. Finally on April 20, the weather improved; Fenway's first big league contest: the Sox versus the Yankees (then known as the Highlanders), was on tap on soggy, lumpy grounds and infield grass transplanted from the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds, the team’s former home.

Boston Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald threw out the ceremonial first ball. The man, whose grandson would become the thirty-fifth president of the United States, was a devoted member of the "Royal Rooters"—a group of Red Sox fans who staged pre-game parades accompanied by the singing of "Tessie" and "Sweet Adeline."

Ordinarily the game would have been the stuff of front-page headlines in New England dailies. But this was no ordinary time. Six days earlier the sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage and the accompanying loss of 1,517 lives eclipsed all other stories.

Nevertheless, it was good news in Boston that the Red Sox finally had a modern ballpark in the Fenway section bordering Brookline Avenue, Jersey Street, Van Ness Street and Lansdowne Street. It would cost $650,000 (approximately $14 million today), and seat 35,000.

An attractive red brick façade, the first electric baseball scoreboard and 18 turnstiles, the most in the majors, were all features being bragged about. Concrete stands went from behind first base around to third; wooden bleachers occupied parts of the outfield. Seats lined the field allowing for excellent views of the game but limiting the size of foul territory. The park was 20 feet above sea level. Barriers and walls broke off at different angles. Center field was 488 feet from home plate; right field was 314 feet away. The 10-foot wooden fence in left field ran straight along Lansdowne Street and was but 320 ½ feet down the line from home plate with a high wall behind it. There was a ten-foot embankment making viewing of games easier for overflow gatherings. A ten-foot high slope in left field posed challenges for outfielders forced to play the entire territory running uphill.

This was the Opening Day Lineup for the 1912 Boston Red Sox.

Harry Hooper	RF
Steve Yerkes	2B
Tris Speaker	CF
Jake Stahl	1B
Larry Gardner	3B
Duffy Lewis	LF
Heinie Wagner	SS
Les Nunamaker	C
Smoky Joe Wood	P

The Sox, with player-manager first baseman Jake Stahl calling the shots, nipped the Yankees, 7-6, in 11 innings. Tris Speaker—who would bat .383, steal 52 bases and stroke eight inside-the-park home runs at Fenway—drove in the winning run. Spitball pitcher Bucky O’Brien got the win in relief of Charles “Sea Lion” Hall. Umpire Tommy Connolly kept the ball used in that historic game, writing “Opening of Fenway Park” and brief details of the game on it.

Hugh Bradley hit the first home run in Red Sox history over the wall on April 26 in the sixth game played at home. “Few of the fans who have been out to Fenway Park believed it was possible,'' the Boston Herald noted. It was not possible the rest of the season—that was Bradley’s only dinger in 1912.

Joe Cashman, long time sportswriter in Boston, liked the “Golden Outfield” of Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis. Hooper wore the first sunglasses used in baseball, bought from Lloyds of Boston.

“Outfielders never played near the wall in those days,” Cashman noted. There was no one Tris Speaker’s equal going back for a ball. He was almost like a fifth outfielder. A base runner on second base would check out the shortstop and second baseman. Tris Speaker would sneak in from center field and pick him off.

BOX

S is for Speaker, Swift center-field tender, When the ball saw him coming, It yelled, "I surrender." OGDEN NASH, SPORT MAGAZINE, JANUARY 1949

Hooper played in a tough right field, worst in the majors. Left fielder Duffy Lewis never bounced the ball to the infield. Lewis skillfully managed the incline named for him—"Duffy's Cliff."

Before an overflow crowd on May 17, 1912 Fenway Park was formally dedicated, but the home town fans had their day spoiled as the White Sox trimmed the Red Sox, 5-2.

Hall of Fame-hurler-to-be Walter Johnson, on a 16-game winning streak and en route to a 33-win season, was in Boston with his Washington teammates on Sept. 6, 1912. Clark Griffith, the Washington manager said that Red Sox ace “Smoky” Joe Wood would be a coward if he did not face Johnson. No coward was Wood—he was ready on short rest. A 22-year-old from the Kansas plains and the mining towns of Colorado, Wood—it was said—could throw a baseball through a two-by-four.

The Wood-Johnson match up was one of the most dramatic of all time by two top of the tier hurlers. Built up like a championship boxing match in the newspapers, hype and hullabaloo preceded it.

An estimated 30,000 showed for the battle of the superstar pitchers. It was the first and only time fans were allowed to ring Fenway’s infield walls.

“The playing field,” wrote sportswriter Manville E. Webb, Jr., “was surrounded by a triple, even quadruple, rank of humanity, at least 3,000 on the embankment. So thickly were the spectators massed, and so impossible was it for the squadron of police to keep them back, that the players’ pits [dugouts] were abandoned, the contestants bringing their war clubs out almost to the baselines.”

Possessor of a 13-game winning streak, Wood gave up six hits. Johnson allowed five. But the “Big Train,” as he was called, yielded a sixth-inning, two-out ground-rule double to Tris Speaker. Duffy Lewis flared a ball to right that skipped off the glove of the Senators’ right fielder. Speaker scored. Wood won his 14^th straight.

Business in Boston virtually shut down on Sept. 23 as 100‚000 cheered the Red Sox returning from a western trip by train into South Station. So popular and so successful were the Sox that on the Boston Common, Mayor “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald gave the team the keys to the city.

Boston posted its second best home record in history, 57-20, a .740 winning percentage and copped the American League pennant. The Giants of New York would compete against them in the World Series.

The Boston Royal Rooters, Red Sox fanatics , traditionally paraded on the field before games in step with the rhythms of a big brass band. Now, on the eve of Game One of the World Series, having traveled down to New York City, hundreds of them accompanied by two brass bands and led by Mayor Fitzgerald and by “leading man” "Nuff Ced" McGreevey, they marched around Times Square in Manhattan, singing to the tune of Tammany:

Carrigan, Carrigan,

Speaker, Lewis, Wood, and Stahl,

Bradley, English, Pape, and Hall,

Wagner, Gardner, Hooper, too;’

Hit them! Hit them! Hit them! Hit them!

Do boys, do.

The word in the street was that if John J. McGraw’s Giants could beat Joe Wood, they could win the series. Before the opening game, Wood received death threats in letters postmarked "New York." One, written in red ink and containing a drawing of a knife and gun, proclaimed: “You will never live to pitch a game against the Giants in the World Series. We are waiting to get you as soon as you arrive in town.”

But the 22-year-old right-hander who threw “smoke” was not the type to be intimidated. Pitching and prevailing, 4-3, in Game One at the Polo Grounds going the distance, striking out eleven Giants, Wood stood up to all challenges. After the game, he said: "I threw so hard I thought my arm would fly right off my body."

The Royal Rooters followed the team to the Polo Grounds and back to Fenway Park as the series alternated between both venues, singing such songs as “Tessie” and “When I Get You Alone Tonight," angering Giant fans and charming Red Sox partisans.

But on October 15th, as the Royal Rooters prepared to take their seats at Fenway for the seventh game of the World Series, they discovered their usual accommodations had been sold out from under them, a consequence of some box office confusion. Ignoring pleas that they leave the ballpark, their bands blaring “Tessie,” they remained in place until their “stay-in” was resolved by ranks of mounted police who swept across the field, nudging them out of the park. One Royal Rooter, as disoriented as he was disenchanted, tumbled over the right-field fence on his way out and bellowed "To hell with Queen Victoria!"

The “Rooters” fumed and postured outside the park until they were presented with a compromise: view the game from along the left field foul line.

Winner of Games One and Four, Wood was on the mound for Game Seven. Seven of the first nine Giants in the first inning reached base—six of them scored. The Giants romped, 11-4, knotting the series at three games each, one tie.

Game Eight was for the world championship—October 16 at Fenway Park. The Red Sox won the coin flip and were awarded the home field advantage. The riveting finale of the 1912 World Series would be played before a half-capacity crowd as a result of it being scheduled at the last minute as a makeup due to the Game Two tie, as well as the game-fixing rumors that swirled about and the Royal Rooters' rhubarb.

Ace Christy Mathewson of the Giants, winless in this Series, after going the distance in the tie game and dropping Game Five, matched up against Boston’s 22-year-old Hughie Bedient. The game was 1-1- after nine tense innings. Wood took over in the eighth for Bedient.

In the top of the tenth New York scored a run. Boston pinch-hitter Clyde Engle started the 10th inning off hitting a routine fly ball to center field.

"And now the ball settles,” The New York Times reported. “It is full and fair in the pouch of the padded glove of [Fred] Snodgrass. But he is too eager to toss it to Murray and it dribbles to the ground."

Engle reached second base. Harry Hooper was robbed of a hit when Snodgrass made a neat grab of his long drive. Engle moved to third base. Yerkes walked. Speaker singled. Engle scored. The game was tied. Duffy Lewis was walked intentionally, loading the bases. A long poke by Larry Gardner to Josh Devore in right field. Yerkes tagged up and scored.

And the Red Sox had their second world championship. Fred Snodgrass' error would go down in history as "the $30,000 muff."

And Fenway Park was off to a glorious start.

New York Yankees: (Sort Of) Ultimate Quiz for Diehard Fans II

Some complained the Quiz I was too easy. Others said it was too difficult. Hopefully, Quiz II is just right. For all of you out there who think you know your baseball—especially New York Yankees baseball—this is the quiz for you.

Eighteen questions. Answers follow the questions, so no peeking. A score of nine or more correct makes you a major leaguer. Below that you are in the minors but on your way up.

Have fun.

QUESTIONS

1. What uniform number was retired by the Yankees to honor a player who never was on the team?

A. Jackie Robinson B. Bob Feller C. Dom DiMaggio D. Pee Wee Reese

2. Who remains the only Yankee to hit four home runs in one game?

A. Lou Gehrig B. Reggie Jackson C. Babe Ruth D.Yogi Berra

3. When Babe Ruth retired in 1935 with 714 home runs, only two other players had hit 300 home runs. Who were they? Hint: One played for the Yankees, the other mostly for the St. Louis Cardinals.

4. Who was the last batter Don Larsen faced in the Perfect Game he pitched for the Yankees?

5. Who played the most games for the New York Yankees?

A .Wee Willie Keeler B. Mickey Mantle. C. Joe DiMaggio D. Lou Gehrig

6. Name the four managers who have piloted both the Yankees and the New York Mets

7. In 1977, who nick-named Reggie Jackson "Mr. October"?

A. Willie Randolph B. Thurman Munson C. Goose Gossage D. Mickey Rivers

8. What major league team did Joe Girardi manage before the Yankees?

9. Who was nick-named "Chairman of the Board"?

A. Whitey Ford B. Reggie Jackson C. Yogi Berra D. Frank Howard

10. Where do the Yankees train in the spring?

11. Who is the current Yankee Captain?

12. Who did George Steinbrenner purchase the Yankees from?

13. Who is Mr. Sandman?

14. Who made up the "Core Four"?

16 Who said "Yankee Stadium was a mistake, not mine, but the Giants.”

A. Yogi Berra B. Harry Frazee C. Jake Ruppert D. Babe Ruth

17. When was Yankee Stadium's first World Series game played?

A. 1927 B. 1924 C. 1923 D. 1922

18. What Yankee became the first idol of Japanese fans?

A. Babe Ruth B. Lou Gehrig C. Earl Coombs D. Jake Ruppert

ANSWERS

1. (A) Jackie Robinson, #42, the number was retired on April 15, 1997 on the 50th anniversary of the breaking of baseball's color line. Mariano Rivera is the last Yankee to wear the number.

2. (A) Lou Gehrig

3. Lou Gehrig, 378; Rogers Hornsby, 300.

4. Dale Mitchell

5. Mickey Mantle played more games for the Yankees than any other player, with 2401.

6. Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel, Joe Torre, Dallas Green.

7. B. Thurman Munson

8. Chicago Cubs

9. A. Whitey Ford

10. Tampa, Florida

11. Derek Jeter

12. CBS

13. Mariano Rivera

14. Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte

15. When did the Yankee play at Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium was being refurbished?

16. C. Jake Ruppert

17 C. 1923

18. A. Babe Ruth

ULTIMATE YANKEE QUIZ (part i)

For all of you out there who think you know your baseball – especially Yankee baseball, this is the quiz for you. Eighteen questions. At the end of this challenging quiz, answers follow questions. No peeking. A score of ten or more correct makes you a major leaguer. Below that you are in the minors but on your way up. Have fun.

1 - Who wore # 7 before Mickey Mantle?
2 - Whose number (and what was it ) was retired by both the Mets and Yankees?
3 - Who caught Dave Righetti's no-hitter on July 4, 1983? A. Butch Wynegar B. Cliff Johnson C. Yogi Berra
4 - Name the four managers who have piloted both the Yankees and the New York Mets
5 - In 1977, who nick-named Reggie Jackson "Mr. October"?A. Willie Randolph B. Thurman Munson C. Goose Gossage D. Mickey Rivers
6. Name the player Derek Jeter replaced in 1996 to become the regular shortstop.A. Andy Fox B. Pat Kelly C. Alvaro Espinoza D. Tony Fernandez
7 What former Yankee was the first pitching coach for the New York Mets in 1962?
A. Joe Page B. Red Ruffing C. Vic Raschi D Johnny Sain
8 Elston Howard was the first black player on the Yankees in 1955. Who was second?
9 Trick question: Which was not a Babe Ruth nick-name?
A. "Bambino" B. "Wali of Wallop" C. "Rajah of Rap" D. "Caliph of Clout"
10 Name the National Football League coaching legend who played briefly for the Yankees.
A. Tom Landry B. George Halas C. Jim Thorpe D. Curly Lambeau
11. First-baseman Wally Pipp has gone down in history for being the player Lou Gehrig replaced. What other distinction belongs to Pipp?
A. was a baseball manager B. came from the same neighborhood Gehrig grew up in. C. was a home-run champ D. made money endorsing aspirin
12. Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in Game Six of the 1977 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers -- each off a different pitcher. What pitcher gave up Jackson's third home run?
A. Burt Hooton B. Charlie Hough C. Elias Sosa D. Don Sutton
13 Whose number was retired by both the Mets and Yankees?
14 Reggie Jackson was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a member of what team?
A. A's B. Orioles C. Yankees D. Angels
15 What Yankee pitcher has the most World Series victories?
A. David Cone B. Allie Reynolds C. Whitey Ford D. Lefty Gomez
16 In defeating the Oakland A's in the 2001 American League Division playoffs, what did the Yankees accomplish that no team ever had done before in a three-of-five game series?
A. limited their opponents to a total of 2 runs B. had a perfect fielding percentage C. won three straight after losing two games at home D. hit at least one home run in every game
17 What Yankee MVP appeared in the fewest games in the year in which he won the award?
18 Easy one: What is Yogi Berra's given name?

ANSWERS

1 Fourteen other Yankees wore the number in their career, the last two being Bob Cerv and Cliff Mapes, who wore the number at times during Mantle's rookie season.
2 Casey Stengel's No. 37 was retired by both the Mets (1965) and Yankees (1966).
3 A
.4 Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel,Joe Torre, Dallas Green.
5 B.
6 D.
7 B.
8 Harry Simpson 1957
9 Sorry about that. We said it is a trick question - all of the choices were nick-names for the Babe.
10 (B) George "Papa Bear" Halas got into six games for the 1919 Yankees.
11 (C) Pipp was an American League home run champion in 1916 and .
12 (B) Charlie Hough
13 No. 37, Casey Stengel's number
14 (C) Yankees
15 (C) Whitey Ford, 10. He started 22 World Series games
16 (C) They won three straight after losing two games at home
17 Pitcher Spud Chandler appeared in 30 games when he won the American League award in 1943.
18 Lawrence Peter

Odd and Interesting Old Yankee Stadium Facts for Hot Stove League Reading

Odd and Interesting Old Yankee Stadium Facts


This time of year baseball and to my mind Yankee fans get especially restless for the season or at least spring training to get underway. Not a substitute but at least a quick reading fix for your reading pleasure--Strange, Odd and Interesting Yankee Stadium Facts.

1. Some wanted the brand new Yankee Stadium in 1923 to be called "Ruth Stadium." Owner Jake Ruppert wanted Ruppert Stadium. They settled for the nickname "the House That Ruth Built."

2. It took 500 workers 185 days to build the original Yankee Stadium.

3. At the start, names of Yankee players were imprinted in white chalk near the top of their lockers.

4. The practice of selling more tickets than existing seats lasted until a 1929 stampede in the right field bleachers left two dead and 62 injured.

5. Negro League teams who played at the Stadium when the Yanks were on the road were barred from using the Yankee dressing rooms. Instead, they were obliged to use the visitors' dressing room.

6. "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day" was staged before 61,808 on July 4, 1939. His uniform number four was the first in baseball history to be retired.

7. In 1941, Yankee president Ed Barrow offered Civil Defense the use of Yankee Stadium as a bomb shelter in case of attack. He thought the area under the stands could provide a safe haven.

8. On August 16, 1948, Babe Ruth died of throat cancer at age 53. His body lay in state at Yankee Stadium and was viewed by more than 100,000 fans.


9. The last home run at the original Yankee Stadium on September 30, 1973 was hit by Duke Sims in his seventh day as a Yankee. A coin toss that day tabbed him to play. It was not until much later that Sims realized the significance of his home-run shot.

10. The film "61" was filmed in Detroit, not at Yankee Stadium. Billy Crystal explained the Motor City ballpark architecture was better able to be made to resemble that of the Yankee Stadium of 1961.

11. Sal Durante, the guy who caught the ball Roger Maris hit for his 61st homer, snagged tickets the day of the game at a less-than-sold- out Yankee Stadium.

12. Mickey Mantle originally wore number six, but equipment manager Pete Sheehy switched him to seven after Mantle was recalled from Kansas City.

13. 20,000 letters that Mickey Mantle never answered were not bid on in the old Yankee Stadium fire sale in 1974.

14. There was widespread and indiscriminate disposal of valuable items during demolition of much of the Stadium in the mid-1970s.

15. Among the items sold in the refurbishment "fire sale" at Yankee Stadium were player jockstraps, which had names on them for identification when they came back from the laundry. The selling of these jockstraps was stopped because of sanitary reasons.

16. In 1976, a homer by Chris Chambliss gave the Yankees the American League pennant. Such a mob crowded the plate that Chambliss was taken back a few minutes after hitting the homer, and he finally touched home plate.

17. All kinds of crazy things went on in the bullpens--some of them outlandish and some of them sexy--lots having to do with food.

18. In 1988, behind a wall that was closed off for decades, a scorecard, a program and what was supposedly the bases for the 1936 team were unearthed.

19. The less-than-capable 1990 Yankees had but one starting pitcher who won more than seven games, nine-game winner Tim Leary--but he also lost 19.

20. On September 11, 2001, within 90 minutes of the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center, Yankee Stadium was evacuated.

21. Ron Guidry, a good drummer, once kept a trap set at Yankee Stadium and also played in a post-game concert with the Beach Boys.

22. Joe Torre was witness to all three perfect games in Yankee Stadium history: He saw Don Larsen's beauty as a 16-year-old fan, and the gems of David Wells and David Cone from the dugout as Yankee manager.

23. Bob Sheppard holds the record for seeing the most games at Yankee Stadium.

Check it out

http://sopastrike.com/strike/

Faux NBA: Caveat Emptor, Got Game? Or Gotcha?

What was to be a Christmas gift for all pro hoops fans happened on December 25th. Like Santa Claus, the NBA returned to town. But unlike Santa Claus, this Faux NBA was not as gifted and gift-giving as the real NBA.
The lockout produced a truncated, compressed National Basketball Association schedule that at times seems as it was thrown together without any concerns about game quality, player's health, fan's remorse. Perhaps Chicago's Derek Rose says it best: "Every game now seems to be like "a back-to-back game."
Back to back to back to back is one of the themes of this sorry season. Other themes include mental fatigue, tired legs, weary bones, a bunch of even more injured players than ever and ejected and dejected coaches and a schedule from hell.
Players nowadays decline more than ever to speak to the media after games. Shooting percentages, minutes played, enthusiasm, spirit, verve, excellence, effort - -all seem to have belonged to the other NBA, not this Faux NBA.
Players reported late, out of shape. Trades were made. Guys have struggled in many instances to fit in ­ for some there is doubt they ever will. A lack of any kind of a true training camp contributed to all of this. Players bonding, chemistry coming together, that was then.
Today malaise rules most teams. Energy baskets most of the time are reminders of times past not highlight reel stuff for today. Players are "out," "day to day," "uncertain for tonight's game." On the bench players are in expensive suits, scowling, smiling, subdued but not "having game."
According to Washington coach Flip Saunders, "Too many summer exhibition games bred "many bad habits. Those summer nights made it seem "a lot of things are going to be very easy," Saunders continued, "and turned out not to be."
Boston's Kevin Garnett is the poster child commentator.
"It's where we are -- we'll continue to work at this thing and get it better," he said. "It's not something that we're just going to hope and pray and wish, and all the good things like that. It's something that we're going to have to continue to work on. This is not easy. If we made it look easy in the past, it's not easy so far."
Coaches are castigating players for lack of toughness, for being out of shape, for playing with an attitude to stay out of harm's way. All await the time when the Faux NBA becomes the real National Basketball Association.
In the meantime there is "maintenance day," massage, and cold whirlpool baths. More treatment for sore muscles. And swelled heads.
Quite frankly, I am tired of hearing about it all. Quite frankly, there should have been some control over a game that got away from us but still costs the same amount of money (sometimes more) to attend.
Quite frankly, maybe some refunds are in order.

Best Baseball Team Ever: 1927 New York Yankees

The talk of the town usually at year’s end and new year’s beginnings usually gets down in many sports quarters to rankings of the best of the best. Agreement is sometimes a hard fought but not often achieved goal. I, however, have a no-brainer for all - -hands down or up as the case may be - -the best of the best baseball teams is the ’27 Yanks.

The club was so consistent in every way that its roster was not ever changed that glorious season. The team began with ten pitchers, three catchers, seven infielders, five outfielders, and ended that way.

There was no shuttling of players up and down from the minors. The 25 guys who began the season remained on the big league roster all season long, tying a record for fewest players used by a major league team. On that legendary squad was an ex- teacher, a railroad fireman, a bartender, a former full-time boilermaker, a seaman, a logger, a cardsharp, a guy who had studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood, one whose youth was spent climbing tenement stairs in New York City delivering laundry, another who swam in the Hudson River and made the rounds of local pool halls. Possessed of an almost royal aura, another player had attended the finest prep schools and sported thousand dollar diamond rings. The ’27 Yankee ranks also included a meat cutter and an ex-vaudevillian, a talented painter, artist, writer and singer, a skilled piano (jazz and classical) player. There were some former farm boys and farmers. And there were a few who had never known anything but playing baseball. Average age of the all-white team was 27.6.They came from diverse backgrounds, had very different personalities, backgrounds, educations, interests, skills, avocations. Baseball boned them together.
The total payroll for that 1927 team was an estimated $250,000. Average salary was $10,000 as compared to $2,699.292 for the 2006 Yankees. Salaries ranged from Julie Wera's $2,400 to Babe Ruth's $70,000. That 1927 Yankee team had a pronounced German- American flavor from its owner beer baron Jacob Ruppert to Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mark Koenig, Bob Meusel, George Pipgras, Dutch Ruether and half Germans Waite Hoyt and Earle Combs. Although Some of tha 1927 bunch lacked a true formal education, a collegiate flavor permeated the roster: Lou Gehrig (Columbia), Miller Huggins (University of Cincinnati), Joe Dugan (Holy Cross), Benny Bengough (Niagara University), Earle Combs (Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College), Mike Gazella (Lafayette), Ray Morehart (Stephen Austin College, Texas), Myles Thomas (Penn State), Bob Shawkey (Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania), Ben Paschal (University of Alabama), Dutch Ruether (St. Ignatius College, now San Francisco University) One player (Babe Ruth) was educated at St. Mary's Industrial School. Another had been in an out of one room schoolhouses in cotton county locales. Mark Koenig, Joe Grabowski, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri and Julie Wera were the only 1927 Yankees born in the 20th century.

The shortest players were catcher Benny Bengough and utility man Mike Gazella. Bob Meusel was the tallest Yankee at 6' 3" and Babe Ruth was the next tallest at 6' 2". Other six footers included pitchers Wilcy Moore, Herb Pennock, George Pipgras, Dutch Ruether, infielders Lou Gehrig and Mark Koenig, and centerfielder Earl Combs. Only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig weighed more than 200 pounds.

Only Lou Gehrig would start every game (155) at first base.Second baseman Tony Lazzeri appeared in 113 games. Mark Koenig got into 122 games at shortstop, Joe Dugan 111 at third base. Earl Combs started all but three games.

The final statistics on Ruth and Meusel would be misleading. The Babe would start 95 times in right field and "Silent Bob" 83 times in left field. But they flip-flopped starts at Yankee Stadium and in a few parks on the road. Six men accounted for almost 90% of the innings pitched.

There was an almost grotesque quality to the team collectively as well as individually. One player was only able to sleep sitting up. He had a heart condition that he kept secret from his teammates. Another seemingly unfriendly, at times very quiet, was an epileptic. Tony Lazzeri’s health condition was never mentioned by the press. One was taciturn, some would say miserable, a drinker, a scowler who looked at the world about him with annoyance and anger. One worked off-season as a mortician. Another (Lou Gehrig) was a "mama's boy," reportedly a virgin,very uncomfortable in the presence of women. He enjoyed fishing by himself for eels and living in an apartment with his parents.

There was one (Babe Ruth) whose hearty belches sometimes rattled bats stacked in the dugout, who slugged down great quantities of beer, ate prodigiously. His prowess with women was the talk throughout baseball.

Another was an uneducated dirt farmer, aged 30, or was it 40. There was also a Kentuckian, a church goer, a non-smoker, non-drinker, a man who never cursed and read his Bible on the road in hotel rooms. This terrific, talented team had it all including a four game sweep of the Pirates to roll to the world championship. It was a group of men who totally dominated baseball. It was a group led by Babe Ruth a free swinger in a free swinging time. Babe Ruth was the king. The 1927 New York Yankees were the royalty of baseball.

And if you loved the Yankees, it was the best of times.

NBA Team Nicknames, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The NBA is back and so is Dr Harvey Frommer!

Back in the day as some are apt to say, I was interviewing and writing Red on Red. It was the autobiography of the legendary coach of the New York Knickerbockers ­ Red Holzman. He is still the only coach to ever win an NBA title with the Knicks, in fact he won two.
Red was a walking history book when it came to pro basketball. He was especially informed about league trivia. He also knew had to spin a tale.
Before his days as Knick coach, Holzman plied his trade as a pretty good scout for the team. "I was scouting a kid from Czechoslovakia," Red said. "We decided to give him a vision test. I got hold of an eye chart and told the kid, 'All right. Let's hear you read the bottom line.' "'Read the bottom line?' he asked, 'I know him.'"
But back to the subject at hand - -NBA team nicknames.


There are all kinds of team names and nicknames in the world of the National Basketball Association, and even more interesting explanations of how these came to be. And although some clubs have moved from city to city, they kept the original nicknames they began with which makes for some odd combinations.
The Knicks and the Celtics are the only teams still playing in the NBA in their original cities. The name Knickerbockers dates back to when New York was New Amsterdam, and the city's Dutch settlers wore trousers bunched up at the knee known as "knickers." The name Celtics was given to Boston in 1946 by Walter Brown, the founder of the franchise.
"We'll call them the Boston Celtics," he said. "The name has a great basketball tradition, especially when you think of the original 'Celtics' team. Boston is full of Irishmen; so we'll put the players in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics after their Celtic ancestors."
The Atlanta Hawks were once the St. Louis Hawks, and before that they were the Milwaukee Hawks. Even before that in 1948, they were the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. The three cities referred to Moline, Illinois; Rock Island, Illinois; and Davenport, Iowa. Way back in 1831, the Blackhawk War was fought in that tri-cities area, and that's how the original Blackhawk's nickname, later shortened to Hawks, came to be.
The Rochester Royals played in the NBA for nine seasons and then transferred to Cincinnati. The name Royals was kept. In 1972, the franchise moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and the name was dropped to avoid confusion in the Kansas City area as the Kansas City and the Omaha baseball teams both used the name Royals. The new name for the NBA basketball franchise became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings and, in 1975, simply the Kansas City Kings. A decade later, when the team moved to California, they became the Sacramento Kings.
Not many people realize that the Denver Nuggets were charter members of the NBA. But that team only lasted one season. When the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association came into the NBA, they had to change their name because the Houston Rockets already existed. So the Denver franchise took the "Nuggets" name of the original franchise, which was appropriate for an area with a history of gold and silver mining of nuggets.
Charlotte, Miami, Minnesota and Orlando are among the newer teams in the NBA. All have interesting "name" stories. Originally, the Charlotte team was named the Spirit, but that didn't go over too well. It was soon dropped, and a contest was launched among fans to come up with a new name. Runner-up names included: the Charlotte Gold, the Charlotte Knights, and incredibly the original name - the Charlotte Spirit.
As every NBA fan knows; the winner was the Charlotte Hornets. Miami also held a name-the-team contest and received more than 5,000 entries. Some of the names that didn't make it included such choices as Palm Trees, Beaches, Suntan, and Shade.
Heat beat them all out. As one clever official explained, "When you think of Miami, heat is what comes to mind."
Over 6,000 entries were submitted for the Minnesota team name. The choice came down to Timberwolves vs. Polars. Timberwolves easily won. That animal is native to Minnesota, and no other professional sports team ever thought to use the name.
The "Orlando Sentinel" sponsored a name-the-team contest in that Florida city. As with Minnesota, the competition came down to two names: Magic and Juice. Orlando general manager Pat Williams explained why Magic won out: "Magic is synonymous with the Orlando area. We have the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld, and the tourism slogan here is 'Come to the Magic.'"



Some claim that the Chicago Bulls got their name from stockyards in that windy city. It was actually the franchise's first owner Richard Klein who came up with name in 1966. The rookie mogul liked "bulls" because of their power and toughnees. And his wish was to have team sporting those ahaving a team that had that quality.
The Pistons came into being early on in NBA history - back in 1948. They were known then as the Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons. It was a case of an owner naming a team for himself and the business that he ran. Fred Zollner owned a huge piston-manufacturing company. In 1957, the team moved to Detroit, and Pistons moved right along with it.
Way back in 1925, there was a Philadelphia Warriors team in the American Basketball League. In 1946, when Philadelphia joined the NBA, it took its nickname from that old team. Many years and many miles later, the Golden State Warriors are a descendant of the old Philadelphia Warriors. They've gone through a couple of geographical shifts. Philly became the San Francisco Warriors, San Francisco became the Oakland Warriors and Oakland became the Golden State Warriors.
A few years back a newspaper guy came up with the idea of teams trading names. The suggestion had some merit, but it was no dice. What the guys thought was that the Utah Jazz become the Utah Lakers and the Los Angeles Lakers become the Los Angeles Jazz.
Actually, both Utah and Los Angeles have names from cities both franchises vacated. Utah came into being in 1979, when the New Orleans Jazz moved there. That New Orleans basketball team is only a memory, but the Utah Jazz kept their name and team colors. The Minneapolis Lakers made the move to L.A. before the 1960 season and took with it its nickname that comes from the state of Minnesota's motto: "the land of 10,000 lakes". There aren't many lakes in L.A. or that much jazz in Salt Lake City - so maybe that newspaper guy had a good idea after all.
Here's how the three Texas NBA teams got their names. The Houston Rockets were once the San Diego Rockets. The name has worked well for both franchises - linked to space programs and industries. The San Antonio Spurs got their short name in a public naming contest - a name that makes you think of Texas, and the same is true of the Dallas Mavericks who came into being in 1980. A Dallas radio station sorted out many suggested names in a "name-the-team" contest and picked Mavericks thinking it had Texas flavor.
In 1963, the old Syracuse Nats were sold and became the Philadelphia 76ers. Anybody who knows anything about American history, knows how Philly got its name.
In 1968, the new Phoenix franchise offered a cash prize and a couple of season tickets to the winner of a "name-the-team" contest. "Suns" was the winning name, but runner-ups included Scorpions, Rattlers, and Dust Devils.
Two years later, in another "name-the-team" contest in Portland, nearly 200 people contributed for a new franchise name - Trail Blazers.
The New Jersey Nets began life in the American Basketball Association and were known as the New Jersey Americans. In 1968, the team left New Jersey and moved to Commack, Long Island and were re-named the New York Nets.
The reasoning was that since the New York metropolitan area had the football Jets and the baseball Mets, why not the basketball Nets? Just before the 1977-78 season, the franchise moved back across the Hudson River to New Jersey. There were some who thought the original name -New Jersey Americans - should be brought back, but the name Nets moved right along with the team.




What's in an NBA Name? Part III
A guy named R.D.Treblicox of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin got himself a brand new car for coming up with the name Bucks back in 1968 for Milwaukee's NBA team.
His pick beat out names like Stags, Skunks, and Stallions. R.D. said, "Bucks are spirited, good jumpers, fast and agile."
Treblicox knew both his bucks and his basketball. Alliteration was probably one of the reasons for the name Cavaliers winning out in a Cleveland newspaper competition back in 1970. But that name in recent years has been de-emphasized in favor of "Cavs."
I guess some of the media and a lot of the fans think that Cleveland's former name was a bit too ritzy for an NBA club. When the Indiana franchise came into existence in 1967 in the American Basketball Association, the owners said they named the team Pacers because they intended to set the pace in professional basketball. And when Indiana joined the NBA in 1976, the name Pacers went along.
The present Washington team began life as the Chicago Packers in 1961, and was named by its owner after his packing company. A year later, the name was Zephyrs. In 1963, the team was in Baltimore and was renamed the Bullets after the city's first basketball franchise that got started in 1946.
That club picked up its Bullets' name because it played its games near a foundry that made ammunition during World War II. In the 1973-74 season, a new name surfaced - Capitol Bullets. The name was never politically correct until Washington owner Abe Pollin finally changed the name to the Wizards in 1997.
The location of a huge Boeing aircraft plant in Seattle was the inspiration for Howard E. Schmidt's suggestion of SuperSonics as a name back in 1967 for the Seattle NBA franchise. Mr. Schmidt was rewarded with a free trip to Palm Springs, California and season tickets for Seattle's first basketball season. And the franchise got itself a nice space-age name.
Toronto, the NBA's 28th team and its first expansion franchise outside of the United States, picked up its Raptors name in a "Name the Team" contest. Its Canadian partner in Vancouver dubbed itself "Grizzlies", because Grizzly bears are part of the scene in British Columbia. The animal is also part of the mythology of the area.
One of the oddest name situations involves the Los Angeles Clippers who, in another life, were the Buffalo Braves. (Caution: you may have to read this explanation twice).
In 1971, the City of San Diego lost its NBA franchise when its team moved to Houston and became the Rockets. Seven years later, the Buffalo Braves moved to San Diego. The owners weren't too thrilled with San Diego Braves as a name. So one of those name-the-team contests was staged, and the winning entry was, you guessed it, Clippers. That was because, once upon a time, lots of beautiful clipper ships passed through the great harbor of San Diego.
There probably were never clipper ships in Los Angeles, but in 1984 when the franchise moved there from San Diego, the name Clippers came along.

And that's a slam dunk!

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Harvey Frommer's Sports Book Reviews: "Howard Cosell," "Shaq Uncut" and more

Way back when I was interviewing for my Ph.D. in sports, culture and media at New York University, one of my professors suggested I check out Howell Cosell. The bombastic broadcaster was at the top of his game then.
I got to his office in Manhattan having arranged the interview with someone at ABC. "What is this all about?" I explained quickly, sensing that he was rushed.
"Why the hell do you want to do something like that?" he snapped. "Why not do work on racism in sports, something important."
I explained that I was too far along. All I wanted from him as a "designer voice" was a few paragraphs to put into the thesis to satisfy the powers-that-be over me.
"For crying out loud," he smiled, "why didn't you say so in the first place?"
Howard Cosell intelligently and quickly gave me what I needed, and he even spent some time chatting with me about sports. And that was that.
But I never forgot that meeting.
Now there is "Howard Cosell" by Mark Ribowsky (Norton, $29.95, 477 pages), a book that its subject would have enjoyed.
We are there with the man some called "the mouth" from the middle 1950s into the 1980s. Cosell was medium, message, massage. He was front stage, back stage, off stage ­ a lawyer transformed into a broadcaster, a force.
Ribowsky has produced a mighty epic here, a loving, loathing, lingering portrait of Cosell. It is a book that reveals what drove a master media showman, what devils possessed him, and how he transformed sports and media at the same time.
Sections dealing with his relationship with Ali, with Monday Night Football, with his growing up years are especially insightful.
As Cosell said of himself: "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, and verbose, a show-off, I have been all of these. Of course, I am." He was all of these, and he was something special. A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READ
In the same vein, sort of, as "Howard Cosell," there is also "Shaq Uncut" by Shaquille O'Neal with Jackie Macmullan (Grand Central Publishing, $27.99, 290 pages). It's a slam dunk of a book. The gang's all here in this tome sub-titled "My Story" - -Kobe, Phil Jackson, DWade, LeBron, Jerry West and Pat Riley, family members, friends and enemies. This is a page turned filled with honest and not so honest observations, filled with true confessions, filled with humor and even philosophy. The man called "Superman," "Diesel," "The Real Deal" and "The Big Shamrock" and lots of others things, has his say here. MOST ENJOYABLE.
"John Feinstein's "One on One" (Little Brown, $27.99, 533 pages) is a Niagara of a book focused on a memoir of just some of the author's inside sports (locker rooms, dugouts, clubhouses, etc.). Feinstein has been there, done , that, seen and heard it all, and he takes great pride in telling you about his times with Tiger Woods, Jim Valvano, Larry Brown, Dean Smith, Tony LaRussa and dozens and dozens more. Unabashed in its approaches, prideful in its approach, "One on One" is part gossip, part star gazing, part sports history - -all John Feinstein. And all lively and riveting reading.
"A Team for America" by Randy Roberts (HMH, $26.00, 268 pages) is truly about one of the terrific sagas in sports. Its focus ­ the Army-Navy football game in 1944. The contest united a nation locked in a deadly war. Thorough, engrossing, this tome is a winner.
"The Greatest Game" by Todd Denault (McClelland & Stewart, $19.95, 336 pages, trade paperback) is also about a momentous sports contest ­ the Montreal Canadiens versus the team of the Red Army on December 31, 1975. For hockey fans - a must.

YANKEES BY THE NICK-NAMES (I)

With the hot stove baseball season in full swing, fans are eagerly awaiting the next one still many months away. Some have moved over to follow other sports. Some Yankee fans scour the news for free agent and trade rumors and moves. Others read Yankee books. Still others soak up what they can of Yankee history, trivia, oddities. For the "still others," this partial list of New York Yankee nick-names is for you.
Babe Ruth leads the pack in the number of nick-names attached to him. First called "Babe" by teammates on the Baltimore Orioles, his first professional team because of his youth, G.H.Ruth was also called "Jidge" by Yankee teammates, short for George. Opponents referred to him negatively as "The Big Monk" and "Monkey." He was also called "Two Head" negative nick-name used by opponents to describe the size of his head which seemed very huge to some.
Sports writers glamorizing the big guy came up with these monikers: "The Bambino", "the Wali of Wallop", "the Rajah of Rap", "the Caliph of Clout", "the Wazir of Wham", and "the Sultan of Swat", The Colossus of Clout, Maharajah of Mash, The Behemoth of Bust, "The King of Clout."
Other Yankee nick-names, expressions, bon mots that caught on through the decades include:
"Root" ­ Owner Jake Ruppert's mispronunciation of Babe Ruth's name.
"Babe Ruth's Legs" - Sammy Byrd, used was employed as pinch runner for Ruth.
"Bam-Bam" - Hensley Meulens could speak about five languages. His name was challenging to pronounce.
"Biscuit Pants" - A reference to the way Lou Gehrig filled out trousers.
"Billyball" - the aggressive style of play favored by Billy Martin.
"Blind Ryne" - Ryne Duren's vision, uncorrected -20/70 and 20/200.
"Bob the Gob" - Bob Shawkey in 1918 served in the Navy as a yeoman petty officer.
"Brooklyn Schoolboy" - Waite Hoyt had starred at Brooklyn's Erasmus High School.
"Bulldog" - Jim Bouton was dogged.
Bye-Bye"- Steve Balboni, the primary DH of the 1990 Yankees, 17 homers but .192 BA.
"Chairman of the Board" - Elston Howard coined it for Whitey Ford and his commanding and take charge manner on the mound.
"Commerce Comet" - Mickey Mantle, out of Commerce, Oklahoma.
"Georgia Catfish" - Jim Hunter, name given to him by Oakland owner Charles Finley, shortened to just "Catfish."
""the CAT-a-lyst" - Mickey Rivers given this name by Howard Cosell.
"The Count" - Sparky Lyle, handlebar mustache and lordly ways "The Crow" - Frank Crosetti loud voice and chirpy ways.
"Daddy Longlegs" - Dave Winfield, for his size and long legs.
"Death Valley" - the old deep centerfield in Yankee Stadium.
"Dial-a-Deal - Gabe Paul, for his telephone trading habits.
"Donnie Baseball" - Don Mattingly was the only player in any sport to have a nickname with the actual name of his or her sport in it.
"Ellie" - affectionate abbreviation of Elston Howard's first name
"Father of the Emory Ball" - Rookie right-hander Russ Ford posted a 26-6 record with 8 shutouts, 1910, using that pitch.
Flash" - Joe Gordon was fast, slick fielding and hit line drives.
Four hour manager" - Bucky Harris, who put his time in at the game and was finished.
"Fordham Johnny" - for the college Johnny Murphy attended.
"Gator" - Ron Guidry came from Louisiana alligator country.
"Gay Reliever" - Joe Page for his night owl activity.
"Goofy" or "El Goofo" - earned by Lefty Gomez for his wild antics "The Great Agitator" - for Billy Martin, self explanatory.
"Horse Nose" - Pat Collins via Babe Ruth, a reference to a facial feature.
"Home Run Twins" (also "M & M Boys") - Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, phrase coined in 1961.
"Iron Horse" - Lou Gehrig, for his power and steadiness.
"Joltin' Joe" - Joe DiMaggio, for the jolting shots he hit.
"Jumping Joe" - Joe Dugan, for being AWOL from his first big league club as a youngster.
"Junk Man" - Eddie Lopat, for frustrating hitters and keeping them off stride with an assortment of slow breaking pitches thrown with cunning and accuracy.
"Kentucky Colonel" - Earl Combs, for his Kentucky roots.
"The King and the Crown Prince" - Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, self evident.
"King Kong" - Charlie Keller, for his muscular body type and black, bushy brows.
"Knight of Kennett Square" - Herb Pennock, for his raising of thoroughbreds and hosting of fox hunts in his home town of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
"Knucksie" - Phil Niekro, for his knuckleball.
"Lonesome George" - George Weiss, for his aloof ways.
"Lou'siana Lightnin'" - Ron Guidry, for his fastball and the state he came from.
"Mail Carrier "- Earle Combs, for his speed and base stealing skills.
"Major" - Ralph Houk, for rank held in the Armed Forces and demeanor.
"Man of a Thousand Curves" ­ for Johnny Sain and his assortment of curve balls.
"Marse Joe" - Joe McCarthy, for his commanding style.
"Master Builder in Baseball" - Jacob Ruppert, and that he was.
"The Merry Mortician" -Waite Hoyt, for his cheery soul and off-season mortician work.
"Man in the Iron Hat" - Captain Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Hutson, for the same squashed derby hat he wore over and over again.
"Man nobody knows" - Bill Dickey, for his blandness.
"Mighty Mite" - Miller Huggins, for his size and power.
"Milkman" - Jim Turner, for an off-season job delivering milk.
"Mr. Automatic" - Mariano Rivera, for his virtually unflappable behavior and special skills as a Yankee stopper.
"Mr. May" - George Steinbrenner's sarcastic jibe at Dave Winfield because of his postseason struggles as compared to Reggie Jackson's successes and Mr. October nick-name.
"Mr. November" - Derek Jeter, for his World Series home run, the first of November, 2001.
"Mr. October" - In Game Five of the 1977 ALCS Billy Martin benched Reggie Jackson. In a comeback win against Kansas City Jackson returned to slap a single. Thurman Munson sarcastically called Jackson "Mr. October."
"Moose" - Bill Skowron's, grandfather called him Mussolini because of a resemblance to Mussolini. As the story goes, the family shortened the nickname to "Moose."
"Murderer's Row" - Yankee lineup boasting powerful batters: standard version was the meat of the 1927 lineup of Tony Lazzeri, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Earl Combs and Bob Meusel. Backup version was the 1919 entry of Ping Bodie, Roger Peckinpaugh, Duffy Lewis and Home Run Baker.
"My writers" - Casey Stengel's phrase for journalists he was close to.
"Nightrider" - Don Larsen called himself that because it reminded him of comic books heroes he read about and it fit with his late-night bar wanderings.
"Old Reliable" - Mel Allen gave Tommy Henrich that nickname after a train that made its way from Cincinnati through Allen's home state of Alabama and was always on time and could be depended on. Henrich was also called "The Great Debater" for his sometimes loquacious and argumentative ways.
"Ole Perfessor" - Casey Stengel, for the time in 1914 when he had a spring training baseball coaching stint at the University of Mississippi.
"The Peerless Leader" - Frank Chance, for his keen baseball mind.
"Poosh 'em up, Tony" - Tony Lazzeri was a magnet for Italian fans at Yankee Stadium who would scream out this phrase urging him to hit home runs.
"Prince Hal" - Hal Chase, for his charismatic, elegant, royal quality. "The Principal Owner" - George Steinbrenner, no doubt here.
"Push Button Manager" - Joe McCarthy, for his by the book ways.
"Ragin' Cajun" - Ron Guidry, for his Louisiana roots and fire.
"Rags" - Dave Righetti, abbreviation of his name "Ruppert Rifles" - The Yankees, during Jake Ruppert's tenure.
"Sailor Bob" - Bob Shawkey, for his time spent mostly in 1918 in the Navy as a yeoman petty officer aboard the battleship Arkansas.
"Schoolboy" and "Schoolboy Wonder" - Waite Hoyt, for his major league debut in 1918 when he was a teen ager.
"Scooter"- Nick-name for Phil Rizzuto coined by Mel Allen. "When Mel saw me run, he said: 'Man, you are not running, you're scootin'. "And from scootin' I got "Scooter."
"Second Place Joe" - Joe McCarthy's three straight second-place finishes prompted this tag in the three seasons before the Yanks won four consecutive world championships, 1936-39. The name was also used when he was manager of the Cubs and had some disappointing second place finishes.
"Silent Bob" - Bob Meusel, for his aloofness.
"Silent One" - Chris Chambliss, for his taciturn manner, name given by Howard Cosell.
"Solid citizens"- Name Joe McCarthy gave to players he relied on.
"Slick" - Whitey Ford used a spitter to strike out Willie Mays in the 1964 All-Star Game. That was just one of the reasons for the Yankee star's nick-name.
"Slow" - Joe Doyle, for his time consuming pace.
"Smash" - Gil McDougald, for the verve of his personality.
"Springfield Rifle" - Vic Raschi, after his arm and his birthplace in Springfield, Massachusetts.
"Spud" - Spurgeon Ferdinand Chandler was called that,easier for everyone.
"Squire (or Knight) of Kennett Square" - Herb Pennock came from historic Kennett Square, PA an area of horsemen and fox hunters. Pennock himself was an expert rider and a master of hounds.
"Steady Eddie" - Eddie Lopat, for his consistency year after year as a Yankee pitcher, nick-name originated with Mel Allen.
"Stick" - Gene Michael, for his lean and long appearance.
"Superchief" Allie Reynolds, for his one-quarter Creek Indian ancestry and winning ways on the mound.
"Supersub" - Johnny Blanchard, home run hitter as a pinch hitter,. extraordinaire.
"The Switcher" - Mickey Mantle, for switch-hitting par excellence.
"T.J." - Tommy John.
"Tanglefoot Lou" - For Lou Gehrig, early days and fielding trials as a player.
"The Tabasco Kid" - Norman Arthur Elberfeld, for his liking of the stuff and his personality.
"Three Million Dollar Man" - Nick-name placed on Catfish Hunter when he signed with the Yankees as a free agent for that sum in 1974.
"Twinkletoes" - George Selkirk, for his running with his weight on the balls of his feet.
"The Unholy Trio" - Billy Martin, Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford, for their devilish ways.
"The Weatherman" - Mickey Rivers, for his knack for predicting weather.
"The Warrior" - Paul O'Neill, name pinned on him by George Steinbrenner for the outfielder's pugnacious ways.
"The White Gorilla" - Goose Gossage, for the way he looked.
"Whitey" - Whitey Ford, for the tow head blonde hair he sported as a 50s hurler.
"Window breakers" - Name given to the 1936 Yankees for their slugging power.
"Winny" - Dave Winfield, affectionate shortening of his name.
"The Yankee Clipper" - for Joe DiMaggio for the way he glided about centerfield at Yankee Stadium.
"The Yankee Clipper" - A slap at George Steinbrenner who longed to see his players clean-shaven.
"The Yankee Empire Builder" - Ed Barrow was all of that.