Talking to Chipper

For about 15 minutes before a game in June, I spent time talking to Chipper Jones for this interview piece Below is the text which comes out to slightly around 1,500 words: In the morning before his last appearance at Yankee Stadium on June 20, retiring Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones walked up to the museum at Yankee Stadium and explored its artifacts of Mickey Mantle memorabilia. “That was really cool,” Jones said. “You saw a 40-year-old kid just in awe of the history that I was witnessing. Whether it was holding Mickey Mantle’s bat or holding Babe Ruth’s bat or seeing baseball cards from the olden days. “So much memorabilia and paraphernalia that really takes me back to my childhood because my dad had a Mickey Mantle bat in his closet that I always used to pick up as a kid. And I used to think, man, this is a big, how are you ever going to hit with this? Now I pick it up and it’s like yeah, I could with this.” Jones’s farewell tour to his Hall of Fame career has already made stops in Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati and Boston. In each city, the home team has provided gifts such as a flag from Wrigley Field, bases from Cincinnati, a cowboy hat from Houston and a number from the hand-operated scoreboard in Boston. After touring the museum, Jones sat down with Metro New York for an interview that discussed baseball history, switch-hitting, his career and his rivalry with the Mets. In your opinion, what is the most intriguing era or time period of baseball history? Probably the 1950s and 1960s when some of who I think are the best players of all time played the game, whether it was Mick (Mickey Mantle), Willie Mays, Hank (Hank Aaron). That to me was the golden age of baseball and my infatuation with Mickey Mantle and my affiliation with the Braves’ organization and Hank Aaron is probably the reason why that’s the most intriguing era to me. What has been getting to know Hank Aaron been like? I’ve never felt so small, and not in stature, just thinking to myself all the great things this guy has done in his life and his career and how many people he has impacted. For him to be sitting here talking to me in such a humble manner was really kind of awe-inspiring to be honest with you. This guy has every reason to be cocky and smug, but he’s not. He’s down to Earth, humble and very congenial. How did Mickey Mantle influence you becoming a switch-hitter? My dad was from Baltimore and every time the Yankees came to Baltimore, he was in the top row. Mick’s influence reached far outside of New York and even though my dad was an Orioles fan, Mickey was his guy. I grew up in the very long shadow of Mickey Mantle. Did you ever think you’d be mentioned with Mickey Mantle as among the greatest switch-hitters in baseball history? Growing up as a kid, you always dream that you’re going to be one of the greatest of all-time, but to sit there and say you can be mentioned with Mickey Mantle in a lot of categories — never. I think that now as I sit here 20 years into my career, the biggest compliment for me ever is to be mentioned in the same breath. When did that start to sink in? Probably in the last few years. I try to keep my nose to the grindstone, keep my head down and not listen too much. But when you are getting to the end of your career and start passing milestones in certain numbers [then you notice]. Anytime you pass a Mickey Mantle number, that’s special to me. Who is the best hitter that you played with and why? I would say probably Gary Sheffield. I’ve never seen a guy with quicker hands. I’ve never seen a guy swing that hard every time and more times than not hit the ball right on the button. He just hit balls that defied logic. I’d be hitting behind him, standing on deck and see the flight of the ball he hits and I’d think to myself, that’s a bullet right at the left fielder and it would go five rows deep. He was famous for those one-iron shots out of the park. I think a lot of people would be shocked to know that Gary is probably one of my top-five all-time teammates. [He was] very popular in the clubhouse while he may not have been popular outside the clubhouse. He was a phenomenal guy and a phenomenal player. Who is the best defensive player that you played with and why? The best defender would probably be Alex Gonzalez, a shortstop we had here a couple of years ago. It’s a given at the big league level you’ve got the great hands, but what sets him apart from the guy with great hands are the guys with great feet. He had great hands and great feet. Who is the best pitcher you ever played with and why? Greg Maddux — a surgeon, the professor, all those nicknames garner respect. That was Maddux. I’ve never seen a guy just absolutely pick apart opposing offenses with, you know, not overpowering stuff, but just able make the ball go both ways on both sides of the plate and change speeds. Who is the best pitcher you ever faced and why? I’ve never had to work so hard to put the ball in play against someone like I did against Roger Clemens. No. 1, he had overpowering stuff. No. 2, he never threw the ball down the middle. He took overpowering stuff and he lived on the corners. He was the guy I point to that you better bring your lunch pail and your hard hat because it’s going to be a long day. Is there a pitcher you didn’t have good numbers against that might be somewhat unexpected? I think at point I was 0-for-21 or 22 against Woody Williams. He was just one of those guys that pitched me backwards and to be honest with you, he just made good pitches. When I did center one up, I hit it right at somebody. It was just one of those freak things that you can’t really explain. Who is the best pitcher that you have hit really well? Probably Randy Johnson. I think I hit five or six home runs off of him and .350 or .400, somewhere in that vicinity. What was playing for Bobby Cox like? It was great. He just gave us the freedom to go out and play. Bobby had very few rules but what few rules he did have, you’d better abide by. What I liked about Bobby was he put every individual player in the best possible chance to succeed and put them in spots where he thought this guy is going to excel in this spot or situation. He had a knack for it and that is why he’s so great. What is the most memorable ejection? There’s one I can’t tell you what was said. It was Hunter Wendelstadt in Cincinnati and he stepped on John Smoltz’s foot in an exchange and they bumped and Hunter being the hothead threw Smoltzie out of the game. It was the first inning of the game and Bobby came out and he told John to get back on the mound and that he was not thrown out of the game, that it’s Hunter’s fault that they bumped and Hunter objected and Bobby referenced Hunter not being able to make a bump on his daddy’s behind and that got Bobby tossed. That was colorful. It happened right there at third base so that’s why I remember it so well, but certainly one of the ones that myself, Smoltzie and Bobby reminisce about. What home run of the 19 you hit at Shea Stadium is the most memorable? Wow. My first one, my first home at Shea Stadium was a game-winner in the top of the ninth inning off of Josias Manzanillo. It was my rookie year. I can just remember being a long time coming because I spent all of 1994 on the DL and I waited a long time for that home run. It’s something that’s etched in my memory. What stands out from the Mets-Braves rivalry of the late 1990s and early 2000s? There’s so much. Whether it’s the grand slam single that Ventura hit, whether it was the series that I had against them in 1999 late in September, whether it was the hate-hate love-love affair the fans had with John Rocker. There’s a bunch of things. It’s hard to point at just one. What was your reaction to the first time you heard Met fans chant “Larry, Larry, Larry?” All I can think about was Barry Bonds saying that 50,000 people wouldn’t be screaming your name at one time if you suck. I take it with a grain of salt to be honest with you. I think one of the reasons why I could be successful on that stage was that I tuned it out and I didn’t let it affect me. So I can’t really say that somebody calling me by my real name is going to get under my skin.

Ichiro homers twice

On July 23, the Yankees pulled off the surprising move of getting Ichiro. Though his bat has diminished, he still gets hit. Two of them were home runs in this victory against the Red Sox on August 19. Below is the text to the copy: When the Yankees made the surprising move to acquire Ichiro Suzuki last month, the word “special player” was often cited with the hope that the 38-year-old might regain some of the form that made him the owner of 10 straight 200-hit seasons. In the last week, the Yankees have seen that version of Ichiro as their otherwise buzz-less series against the Red Sox concluded with him hitting two home runs off Josh Beckett in a 4-1 win last night. “Obviously you always have a gameplan against a certain pitcher but I think everybody was just focused on the game,” Ichiro said through an interpreter. “It’s a very important game, obviously the rivalry. So you could just say that everybody was just focused.” Ichiro connected in the fourth and sixth innings off Beckett, who had fallen behind 2-0. Both times he sent fastballs into the right-field seats, with his first home run landing in the second deck. It marked just the seventh multi-home run game of Ichiro’s 12-year career, though one was at the current Yankee Stadium nearly two years ago. That left some wondering how many he might have had if he spent his career playing in the Bronx. “I think he’s probably hit to his ballpark in a sense all those years,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Seattle plays extremely large and if he had been a Yankee for a number of years, who knows how many home runs he might have hit? But we know that there’s power. I saw him hit one hit in Seattle to beat us, so I’m well aware of it. We watch his BP and we can see it.” The home run Girardi was referencing was a game-winning shot in Sept. 2009 against Mariano Rivera, which earned him a curtain call in Seattle. That was the same reaction the fans at Yankee Stadium had after he turned on a 1-0 fastball in the sixth for a 4-0 lead. “I really didn’t know how the fans were going to react,” Ichiro said. “I’m so happy that they’re behind me. It’s just really one of those special moments for me in my career to have the support of the fans. Obviously I still need to be ready and play well in the future and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.” “I didn’t really see it because I was on deck, but Ichi’s been swinging the bat [well],” Derek Jeter said. “Everyone knows how good a hitter he is. I don’t care what the scoreboard statistics say, Ichiro can hit it to left field, right-center field and he’s got speed.” The two home runs capped a 10-for-19 homestand and his three-hit night gave Ichiro 14 hits in his last 30 at-bats. His batting average is now up to .272, an 11-point increase from when he was acquired. “He swung the bat very well for us and he’s gotten hot,” Girardi said. “He got hot on this homestand and had some big hits on the road trip as well. He hit two home runs and those are big hits for us. He’s played really well.” Ichiro’s two blasts capped a business-like series for the Yankees, who have spent three of the last seven weekends winning six of 10 games against the Red Sox, who now are 13 1/2 games out of first place. “He’s a special player,” Boston manager Bobby Valentine said of Ichiro. “I don’t know that he’s a power hitter now, but he’s one of the good ones to ever play the game.” Besides Ichiro’s first real big night in pinstripes, the Yankees picked up their 72nd win and stayed five games up on the surging Rays by getting big nights from Jeter and Hiroki Kuroda. Jeter continued his climb up baseball’s all-time hit list with a three-hit night as he doubled in his first two at-bats and scored the first two Yankee runs on Curtis Granderson’s double in the first and a wild pitch in the third. It marked Jeter’s 14th game with at least three hits and also put him at 3,251 overall, one behind Nap Lajoie for 12th on the all-time list. He also moved within one of Craig Biggio for 13th on the all-time list with 1,843 runs scored. Kuroda followed up his two-hit shutout of Texas from Tuesday with another gem. Kuroda’s night was mostly spent keeping the ball on the ground, where he recorded 12 outs, while winning for the ninth time in his last 11 decisions. The only thing spoiling Kuroda’s night was hanging a 1-0 slider to Adrian Gonzalez that landed in the right-field seats. “He’s been so consistent and just so good lately,” Ichiro said. “Being behind him, he’s got such good rhythm, good tempo, that you want to get some runs for him. It just feels good to play in the outfield [behind him].”

Soriano rebounds

Here are a few of the things I've written recently. - Soriano rebounds to save game: The Yankees haven't won much in the last few weeks and save opportunities have been lacking for Soriano. In this story, he came back from a tough blown save against the Blue Jays with a little help from Mariano Rivera. Below is the text from that piece: Hours before he would rebound from his third blown save by displaying some of his most electric stuff of the season, Rafael Soriano encountered Mariano Rivera in the clubhouse. Rivera was watching Monday’s loss when Soriano hung a slider to Colby Rasmus that turned into a three-run home run. When he found Soriano in the clubhouse, Rivera told him to stop focusing so much on that pitch. Soriano listened to the greatest closer of all-time’s advice and needed just 10 pitches to nail down Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory over the Blue Jays. “The thing that happened last night, I said, ‘All right, tomorrow will be a better day and I would do the best that I can,’” Soriano said. “Mariano came to me today and said ‘throw your fastball, you can do whatever you want but don’t throw too many sliders because your best pitch right now is your fastball. Why do you got to throw too many sliders?’” Rivera also dished out another piece of advice to Soriano about remaining accountable after bad outings. After not discussing his third save with reporters, Soriano gladly relayed the advice he received from Rivera, spending nearly 5 1/2 minutes discussing Rivera’s advice and the stuff that he displayed in retiring the side for his 34th save in 37 opportunities. Russell Martin described Soriano’s performance as a man pitching angry in an on-field interview. It appeared that Soriano was determined to preserve a one-run ballgame that had it gone the other way would have seen the Yankees’ AL East lead drop to 2 1/2 games over the Orioles. “When he has something to say you listen, just because he’s been doing for it for a while,” Martin said. “It’s kind of like when Derek [Jeter] talks to you about hitting. He definitely had a good fastball tonight.” “I think tonight I [was] the best that I felt,” Soriano said. Of the 10 pitches Soriano threw while pitching three straight days for the second time this season, three were sliders. Each one generated a swing and a miss and accounted for strikeouts of Adam Lind and Yorvit Torrealba. “I think I throw like five sliders in a row and that never happened before,” Soriano said. “Sometimes it happens. Sometimes the pitching coach or maybe the catcher has to come to you and say ‘today might be the best slider you have’ and figure out to throw something else.” “It was as good a stuff as I’ve seen him have this year,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I thought his fastball was exceptional, his slider as well. It’s hard when you’re a closer and you do your job 95 percent of the time. It doesn’t make it easier that five percent and he did a good job tonight.” Leading up to Soriano’s bounce-back was seven effective innings from Phil Hughes, who had lost two 2-1 games this season. Hughes allowed just a solo home run to Adeiny Hechavarria in the fifth among four hits. But he also had significant help from Robinson Cano’s glove in the sixth. One pitch after getting Adam Lind to fly out to warning track in right field, Hughes recorded two outs on an Escobar liner to Cano, who doubled Colby Rasmus off third. “It’s an incredible play,” Girardi said. “I thought he had no chance at third, but it’s an incredible play — a huge double play at a crucial time. I wasn’t even sure he was going to catch it to begin with and to get the double play was icing on the cake.” “He’s one of the bigger second baseman, so he can certainly jump higher,” Hughes said. “To be able to get rid of it like that is pretty big, so obviously it got me out of a tough inning. I don’t know if there’s many who can make that play, especially to instinctively know to get rid of it and throw to third base. It’s like he’s looking over there when he’s catching the ball.” Hughes found himself in a tight situation because the Yankees could only squeeze out two runs and five hits against Ricky Romero. Romero was pounded for 12 hits in six innings in a rain-shortened game here on July 18 when the Yankees took a season-high 10-game lead in the AL East. If they did not get the two runs on Nick Swisher’s RBI single in the fourth and Curtis Granderson’s sacrifice fly the Yankees faced the possibility of the lead being 2 1/2 games for the second time in five days.