Gary Sanchez honored at Thurman Munson Awards dinner

We all know the tragic ending to Thurman Munson's life in 1979. But to truly understand the magnitude of the impact he left on the Yankees community, baseball, and all New York sports teams, you've got to find yourself a seat at the annual charity dinner created in his honor.

And that's where I found myself last night: at the 37th Thurman Munson Awards dinner along with fellow New York sports bloggers and beat reporters, all organized by Thurman's widow, Diana. The awards are presented for success and inspiration on the fields of play and community spirit off the field.

This year's recipients included Victor Cruz, Wilmer Flores, and Gary Sanchez. Sanchez made a bit of news in the pre-dinner press conference by officially declaring he would not participate in the World Baseball Classic.

Gary Sanchez answers questions from a mob of media. 

"I actually said yes initially," Sanchez said through his interpreter. "This last week, I spoke to my family, and the more I thought about it the more I felt I had to be in spring training for the full spring training to get ready for the season."

Sanchez, who showed up to the dinner with a beard that Mr. Steinbrenner would not be so fond of, shied away from the idea of being the new face of the franchise. Still, it was hard not to draw comparisons of him to Munson, so I asked a couple of Munson's teammates what they thought about last year's rookie sensation.

Bucky Dent said, "Gary's got a bright future. Thurman was our captain, our leader, just a great catcher, great player. Gary has that ability to go on and do the same thing." And Graig Nettles added, "Well, I don't know about being a captain, but if he keeps doing what he's doing he's gonna have a long career."

From left to right: Roy White, Bucky Dent, Graig Nettles, Diana Munson, Victor Cruz, Gary Sanchez, and Wilmer Flores.

Dent and Nettles were honored at the dinner and were introduced by Diana and Michael Kay, respectively.

Over the years this annual dinner has raised nearly $15 million for the AHRC New York City Foundation, which aids children and adults who have intellectual and development disabilities.

All in all, it was a very classy evening filled with one moving speech after another. Read on for more nuggets from the honorees and about Thurman's legacy.

Sometimes, even Derek Jeter messes up

I have seen many credible writers write that Derek Jeter always says the right thing. Until a couple days ago, the writers were dead on. Media trained? Of course. He gives smart answers, and then dodges anything that he think might create a stir. You can't break the "Jeter Aura."

But when I saw Rick Reilly's Q&A with Jeter a couple days ago, one back-and-forth popped out at me.

Me (Reilly): Peyton Manning changed teams this season after 14 seasons with one team. Could you see yourself doing that?
Jeter: Well, if I wanted to keep playing, yes. It's a business. People forget that.

Talk about candor. He's 100 percent correct.

But, in this case it was the wrong answer. I didn't have time to blog about it when I first saw it, but I'm glad I didn't. The Daily News followed up on the small gaffe, and Jeter came back with the right answer. (Yes, I'll purposely link to that site as much as I can now because of my new job.)

Interview with John Smoltz on baseball, Mariano Rivera [Audio]

I had the opportunity yesterday at work to interview John Smoltz over the phone. We talked about the division races, awards, Red Sox and Yankees.

Smoltz is very well-spoken, as he has broadcast games for TBS and MLB Network ever since leaving baseball after 2009 (he hasn’t officially retired).

Here’s the audio:

I asked him about Mariano Rivera (begins at 6:12) when he got a chance to see him in the 1996 World Series, and if he knew right then that Rivera was the real deal. Surprisingly, he said, “no doubt,” he’d be special. Rivera was terrific in 1996, don’t get me wrong, but it’s hard to foresee a Hall of Fame type career for a reliever (there are so few).

For the full interview transcription, head over to Boston.com or read more below.

Interview with Bernie Williams on music and his Yankees career

My second interview with an ex-Yankee is in the books. As you’ll hear (or read) more about, Bernie Williams was in Madison Square Park today campaigning for SoBe. The good people at SoBe got in touch with me a while back and made this interview happen. 

Give the phone interview a listen:

Here are some quotes that jumped out at me:

• “A lot of the things I learned with baseball — playing in crowds, performing under pressure and all that stuff — I’m able to incorporate it to my musical career now.”
• “It would be a great honor to have my number retired, but I think what means most to me is just the memories and the relationships that I was able to have in my career. To me, that is the source of my pride and the source of my happiness in my career in baseball.”
• “I was just one part of a great machine of a great team that had different parts.”
• “There is something to be said about playing the game the right way and respecting the game, so I definitely think they should not include performance enhancing drugs in the culture of the game. It sends a bad message, and at the end of the day, you still have to live with your body after you play baseball.”
• “I think you have to be in that Billy Joel, Sting, Bruce Springsteen kind of league to be able to perform at Yankee Stadium.”

I transcribed the entire 12-minute interview below if reading is your thing.

Interview with Jim Bouton on ‘Ball Four’ [Audio]

Last summer I posted a 1963 Topps Jim Bouton card as one of my Featured Cards of the Week. After reading about him, I was curious enough to read his book “Ball Four.” Today, I got the chance to ask him about it in a phone interview.

It was a pleasure talking with him and I’m very thankful he could spare 10 minutes for a fan like me.

Here’s the audio:


Some notable quotes:

• “People call it a “tell-all” book, but it was really a “tell-some” book.”
• “I didn’t realize how angry the sportswriters would be about it.”
• “As far as heroes are concerned, well I don’t think we should really have heroes. I’m against the whole concept. Most people don’t know what other people are really like anyway. But I think he was certainly a hero to his teammates.”
• “I think the owners and the players made a big mistake by not getting involved in banning those drugs a lot earlier than they did.”
• “When you are outspoken against the Yankees then you get on their shitlist and you don’t get invited to stuff like [Old Timers Day], so that’s why I haven’t been invited since then.”

You can buy his book “Ball Four” here and the update to it, “Ball Four: The Final Pitch” here. 

I also transcribed the entire interview below.

Video: Michael Kay & Ken Singleton interview Eminem & Jay-Z on YES

Two awesome people being interviewed by the two wrong people. Here’s an excerpt:

Michael Kay: You guys have both reached your pinnacle and your both sports fans. Would you trade this Jay-Z to be a Yankee?

Jay-Z: No. No it’s too difficult to hit a baseball man. Look at that, I can’t do that.

Eminem: No. I don’t think I can hit that ball, as fast as they’re throwing it, nah.

Jay-Z: These guys just played a doubleheader, like 18 innings, I don’t want to do that.

Derek Jeter interview reaction

Snapshot from the interview

Derek Jeter was interviewed on MLB Network last night by Harold Reynolds. If you didn’t see it, you can find it here. Here’s my reaction to a few notable things he said.

HR: What is the Yankee way?
DJ: Handle yourself like a professional on the field and you have one goal — and that’s to win.
Reaction: This is why he’s captain. Could anyone have said it any clearer?

HR: What’s it like to be known as the all-time hit king for the Yankees?
DJ: Mind-boggling.
Reaction: It really is. So many legends in baseball have played with the Yankees, but not many of them lasted very long for various reasons. Babe Ruth lost five full years as a pitcher for the Red Sox, Joe DiMaggio lost three years in his prime to the military, Mickey Mantle was never healthy, and we all know how Lou Gehrig faded out of the game. Anyway, Jeter has a great chance to become the first Yankee with 3,000 hits. It should happen in the beginning of 2011.

HR: What’s your mindset when you are walking to the plate in a critical situation?
DJ: I try to keep it simple. I don’t try and do anything differently.
Reaction: This brings up the idea of is “clutch” something that can be measured? Can you name anyone who has been consistently clutch throughout an entire career? That’s why I’m not really high on everyone worrying about Cano’s lack of clutch hitting last year. It was just one year. Let’s see what happens this year.

HR: When are you going to quit playing?
DJ: As long as I’m having fun I’m going to play.
Reaction: I want to stress this. I’m not sold he’s going to drag out his career and go for all the records everyone expects him too. I’ve always had the thought in the back of my mind that Jeter could be a guy to retire early. I still think that.

HR: What is it going to be like playing against Joe Torre?
DJ: It’s going to be a little awkward. It was extremely awkward to see Mattingly in a Dodger uniform — that’s even more so than Mr. T.
Reaction: Haha. I noticed Jeter paused for a little bit at first before answering this question. I think he really misses “Mr. T” and that his divorce with the Yankees may not have been stressed as much as it should have.

HR: What’s the key to a repeat?
DJ: You have to have that same hunger.
Reaction: Absolutely.

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I think Harold asked 20 questions unrelated from each other in a 10-minute span. Nice work…