Is Derek Jeter The Last of The Cooperstown One-Teamers?

If you choose to believe the utterances of a few baseball analysts, last Monday may have signaled the recognition of a crossroads in the game. On this evening, soon-to-retire Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter passed Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski for seventh place on the all-time hits list. In true Jeter fashion, the Captain needed two hits going into the contest against the Texas Rangers and belted out three against Yu Darvish to tie, then break Yaz’s standard of 3,419.

Although Boston’s Number Eight won baseball’s Triple Crown in 1967, neither player is viewed as a stat monster, but rather as models of consistency for their respective organizations. Despite their high career ranking on the hit parade, neither Jeter nor Yastrzemski is the greatest ballplayer in their franchise’s history. Yaz takes second place to Ted Williams, while a strong argument can be made that Jeter is only the fifth greatest Yankee to wear the pinstripes, unless one truly believes that Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle were lesser talents.

So why were the talking heads of the diamond rumbling on Tuesday morning? Because, the case is being made that Jeter, along with Robin Yount, George Brett and Cal Ripken Jr., are the last of a dying breed – players who cobbled out a Hall of Fame career without ever switching team uniforms.

After Albert Pujois chose to forego an offer from his St. Louis Cardinals several years ago, and take the money hiding in the shadow of Disneyland with the Anaheim Angels, several assumed that it would be a long time before any star player spent his whole career with the same team.

I hope they’re wrong, and would like to introduce several potential Hall of Famers as examples of the new wave of one team – one career.

The first one is Pujois’ teammate with the Angels, Mike Trout. Even at 21, Trout has become not just the game’s most dominant young player, but one of its most dominant overall. His team has already taken notice, signing the outfielder to a six year, $144.5 million deal, which keeps Trout near L.A. until 2019. Given his employer’s initial show of good faith, there’s a good chance that he will stay in sunny Southern California for the duration.

Close by, the Dodgers inked two-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw for seven years for $180 million. Given that his predecessors at Chavez Ravine include Hall of Famers such as Koufax and Drysdale, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the young fireballer stay near the fun and sun while earning his way to Cooperstown.

It’s not just a West Coast thing. In New York, the Mets recently signed David Wright to a long term deal (with $19.3 million in 2014) in the hopes of developing a face for their franchise. While Wright’s numbers may elude HoF status, especially with the recent decision to reduce Hall eligibility to ten years, with a .299 career batting average, 1,668 hits and 230 home runs at age 31, he’s still capable of making the cut.

Heading toward the Nation’s Capital, the O’s of Baltimore may have found its Ripken incarnate in the form of young Manny Machado. The early returns are optimistic for the third baseman, still just 22 years old. But the Birds are getting only spending $519,000 for Machado’s services this season, and will have to buckle down (and pay up) to keep his talent within the confines of Camden Yards.

Finally, from the banks of the Anacostia River, the Washington Nationals have a trio of ballplayers who could fit the Old Faithful Mold for Old DC. One, Ryan Zimmerman, has already been identified as the future of Nats baseball. While a cursory look at his stats so far (184 HR, over 700 RBI at age 29) doesn’t say Hall of Fame, one could argue that 6-8 consecutive seasons of 25 HR, 90 RBI starting in 2015 could have Zimm in sight of 400 homers and 1500 ribbies by age 35 – much more respectable in the eyes of Hall voters. But he'll have to at least beat Ron Santo’s career numbers (342 HR, 1331 RBI) to have any shot.

The other two candidates should come as no surprise – Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. Both entered the show with high hopes and a mountain of press clippings. The Nationals are spending a shade over $6 million to keep both players. The reasonable assumption is that one will eventually be traded, and with “only” 36 wins (against 28 losses) at age 25, plus previous Tommy John surgery, my guess would be that Strasburg will be dealt after his current contract expires. The trade wheels could start turning following his likely arbitration hearing after this season.

Why keep Harper? Aside from putting butts in the seats, he’s still a major talent waiting to happen. If not for Trout, and now Machado, Harper would continue to be considered the game’s next bright light. And last night, he became the eighth youngest player in MLB history to record 300 hits. We tend to forget that he’s still only 21.

From TrackNation Magazine - Bahamas' Demetrius Pinder Owns the Fast Track

From the latest TrackNation magazine, which can be found at (issue6.tracknation.com). 

For Demetrius Pinder, the rise to the top of the track world and fall from grace was swift and sudden. But with a new training partner, and a renewed sense of urgency, the Bahamian 400-meter sensation should be ready to contend for a pair of medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

At 25, Pinder's best days may be coming
in the not too distant future

If Pinder makes it to the podium in Brazil, it won’t be his first trip. Just two summers ago, in London, he teamed with Chris Brown, Michael Mathieu and Ramon Miller to shock a favored American squad in the 4x400 relay, and win the coveted Olympic gold. Their time of 2:56.72 was almost unheard of, considering the best one-lap times for each individual runner.

Winning a gold medal at the age of 23 turned into a blessing and a curse for Pinder. With his newfound fame came new contacts. Through the power of social media, he found one of the demigods of his event, the 400-meters, two-time Olympic champion Lashawn Merritt.

“He invited me to come out and train with them,” recalls Pinder, who accepted the offer and made the trip to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Pinder was not new to the States, having starred at Texas A&M while majoring in liberal arts and theater at College Station.  At A&M, he broke the Bahamas national indoor 400 record, held by Brown, with a 45.33 winning time at the 2011 NCAA Division I Championships.

He was also accustomed to success on the world stage, having placed second in the 400 at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

Training with Merritt during the summer of 2013, under Coach Loren Seagrave, Pinder’s confidence grew quickly. Although his best time of 44.77 in the 400 was a second slower than his new training partner, the pair matched up well in workouts, a point noted as other athletes left the group.

The excited Bahamian quartet after shocking the world to
capture Olympic gold in the 4x400 relay

“We started out with a few guys early in the season,” says Pinder. “But after a while, it was just us.” With a home meet in the Bahamas on tap for later that summer, and with Merritt in the field, the stage was set for a major 400 win.

“I was feeling good, at home, with some good people in the race. At practice, I had the same foot speed as him (Merritt) and I was ready for a good time drop. In my mind, I thought – anything can happen.”

As the gun went off in his hometown of Freeport, Pinder took off. From Lane 4, it didn’t take long to make up the stagger to Merritt in Lane 5. But there was a problem.

To read the rest of this article, please go to page 27 at issue6.tracknation.com. 

Then and Now - The Pride of Trinidad and Tobago Track -- Ato Boldon!!

I was happy to have the recent opportunity to interview former track star and current NBC sports Emmy-nominated analyst Ato Boldon a few weeks ago. We were having a tough time linking up, and once I realized that he'd be staying in Florida for an 18 hour window, I was happy to conduct the interview from my car right after ordering dinner. Fortunately, I made it back before the food arrived!

This excerpt was from the article introduction. For the actual Q&A, please visit the latest issue of TrackNation magazine at issue6.tracknation.com. I am happy to report that our Facebook page now has over 89,000 likes!

Boldon in his racing prime, running for Trinidad and Tobago

It’s not surprising that a man who has run the 100-meters in 9.86 is hard to catch. But even 15 years after his personal best time in Lausanne, Switzerland, Ato Boldon remains a man on the move, and tough to track down. TrackNation managed to spend a few minutes with the 4-time Olympic medal winner on a recent Monday afternoon. He was home in Florida just the day after arriving from New York, where he had served as the lead analyst for the IAAF Diamond League Adidas Grand Prix meet as part of the NBC Sports broadcasting team, which includes Leigh Diffey, Lewis Johnson, and fellow Olympian Dwight Stones. 

These days, Boldon is earning his
professional reputation in front of the camera,
even earning an Emmy nomination
for his sports coverage with NBC.

But the visit home was a brief one. The following day, the native of Trinidad and Tobago was readying to board a plane to Guyana, to work with 1988 Jamaican track Olympic silver medalist Grace Jackson, giving several lectures in a national sports management workshop held by the Guyanese government.

Along with his broadcasting duties, which last year earned him an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Sports Personality, Boldon also serves as a sprint coach for NFL hopefuls, a pilot, speaker, filmmaker, talk show host, former politician, and ambassador for the IAAF.

Boldon’s emergence on the track started at a young age. In 1992, at 18, he found his way on to the world spotlight after two double gold medal winning performances (100 and 200 meters) at the CAC Junior Championships, and the World Junior Championships. This earned him a spot on the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic team which competed in Barcelona. Later, he won two NCAA titles with UCLA, the second one breaking a collegiate record in the 100 meters with a 9.92. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he earned the first two of his medals, scoring bronze in the open sprints. The following year saw a world championship, in the 200 at the Athens World Championships. In 1997, Boldon also clocked his best mark in the 200, with a blazing 19.77 performance in Stuttgart, Germany. He followed with more gold in 1998 at the Commonwealth (100-meter) and Goodwill (200-meter) Games.

After several more world and Olympic medals, Bolton completed his track career at the age of 30, soon after helping his home country to its first-ever Olympic finals in the 4x100 relay at the 2004 Athens Games. Since retiring, his professional life has been a whirlwind of activity.

A year away from competition, he wrote, produced and directed the film “Once In A Lifetime: Boldon in Bahrain,” a documentary which followed the sprinter and country mates to Bahrain to follow their soccer team in its attempt to qualify for first FIFA World Cup, which it did,  becoming the smallest nation to ever qualify.

His broadcasting career, in particular, has been receiving notice at all levels. In 2014, he was teamed with Cris Collinsworth (who beat him out for last year’s Outstanding Sports Personality Emmy), and Mary Carillo for Winter Olympic coverage.  Said the New York Times (in 2008), “Boldon has emerged as one of NBC’s best analysts, a blend of athletic smarts, charisma, precise analysis and brashness.”

Most recently, Boldon received another honor, being selected to work with the Doha Goals forum, a 10-member committee which hosted a “Ministers of Sport Summit” last December. Joining him on the committee were such sports legends as Nadia Comaneci, Boris Becker, Bart Conner, and fellow track world champions Wilson Kipketer and Jonathan Edwards.

To read the interview -- click here

Yorktown (VA) Father and Son - Two DiMaggio's Earn Black Belts Together

As published in the Newport News, Hampton, and York County/Poquoson DAILY PRESS Town Square sections on July 3, 2014.

As six-year old Jimmy DiMaggio walked into his first Taekwondo class in 2010, his father Jim couldn’t help but feel a sense of passing on the torch. After all, back in the 1980’s when he was all of 12, the older DiMaggio didn’t know much about martial arts, but wanted to learn to defend himself against the middle school bullies. So he joined the local school and began practicing.

James and Jimmy DiMaggio during their black belt
ceremony at World Martial Arts in Yorktown, VA

As a martial art, taekwondo is a Korean form of karate which combines combat and self-defense, placing its emphasis on a system of blocks, kicks, punches and strikes, as well as footwork and joint manipulation. By its definition “tae,” which means “to strike or break with the foot,” and “kwon,” which means breaking with the fist, the sport has gained popularity around the world because of the speed and technicality which is shown in its meticulous movements. In fact, several of the requirements for belt advancement deal with the enhanced ability to perform more complicated versions of “forms,” which are patterns of movements.

For years, Jim moved through several different programs and styles, but never really showed any measurable progress, in new forms or new belts. Although he still dreamed of becoming a true martial artist, it looked to be left behind when life and family responsibilities started taking over. Watching his son begin his first class, it looked like young Jimmy would be alone in finishing the work that his father started.

But, as it has been said, something happened along the way.

A number of belts representing all skills were presented
during the ceremony at WMA

“I was standing there that day watching the class, and thought, I ought to be doing that with him!” exclaimed Jim, minutes after exiting the belt ceremony at the World Martial Arts school dojo in Yorktown, where both father and son earned their black belts on June 21^st.

And so the journey began.

Jimmy had an advantage. Because of the after school program offered by WMA, he was able to sometimes practice five days a week, while Dad made it to a few sessions each week,

The group of belt winners shortly after the ceremony.

  “depending on what else was going on.”

However, the years progressed and the changing of belts became more common. From the initial white came yellow, orange, green, and purple, followed by three more of the standard colors (regular and high level), all the way to boblack, which is recognized locally, then finally the coveted black belt, which is recognized by the World Taekwondo Federation.

In all, the effort took both father and son “about four years.” They both were able to express the true meaning of the black belt to them in a short speech, which each of the 20 or so honorees gave upon presentation of their new belt.

Jimmy went first. He noted the discipline and respect learned at Grandmaster Ko’s school, as well as his improved physical condition.

“I didn’t enjoy it in the beginning because I got tired easy, but now since I’ve been practicing for a while, I enjoy the training,” said the younger DiMaggio in his speech.

Dad reminisced about the togetherness which taekwondo has brought the pair. “What was once simply a martial art to defend myself with has become a wonderful father-son activity and something that my son and I will share for years to come.”

"Redskins" Team Name Might Be Wrong, But Is The Motive Behind Name Change Correct?

“Fourth and one, from the 42. We know where this play is going. Theismann takes the snap, hands off to Riggins, he’s got the first down…he’s GONE, he’s GONE… Touchdown, Washington Redskins!!!”

This logo and name has become very unpopular
in the court of public opinion, at least if you believe what
Congress people and a few select others have to say

There’s a bit of paraphrasing in this play recall from Super Bowl XVII, so I apologize to longtime DC broadcaster Frank Herzog. But for many years, from the 1970’s to the 1990’s, his call on a Washington football score was always punctuated with the all too familiar “Touchdown, Washington Redskins!”

For many of us who grew up in the DMV (District, Maryland, Virginia) region as fans of the Burgundy and Gold, Herzog’s touchdown call was part of our lexicon, just as much as the fight song, “Hail to the Redskins,” the Hogettes, and the Redskinette cheerleaders. The Redskins were the one constant in the D.C. area, the one element that brought Republicans and Democrats, blacks and whites, Virginians and Marylanders, together. Sundays in the fall were almost holidays inside the Beltway as hundreds of thousands of fans waved their Washington banners and conglomerated in homes and local taverns to cheer for Sonny or Billy, Chris Hanburger, Darrell Green, Charlie Taylor, Dave Butz, and all the other Redskins. RFK was our sacred ground.

For most of my lifetime, that wasn’t a problem.

Then about five years ago, somebody found a problem with the team name.

While a number of Native Americans have stood against
the team name for the Washington football club, a lot of
dissenters seem to have found their voice just in time to
ride the media wave associated with this cause.

The reasoning wasn’t out of the ordinary. Several colleges, such as Marquette, William and Mary and St. John’s had changed their team names from Warriors, Indians and Red Men to Golden Eagles, Tribe, and Red Flash.

Still, the professional teams are mostly privately owned entities, so the change didn’t hit the big leagues. In fact, it still hasn’t. The Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves still roam their fields of dreams, while the Golden State Warriors take to the hardwood 82 times each winter. Ironically, the only exception came when Abe Pollin personally opted to change his basketball teams name from the Bullets to one of five choices which eventually became the Wizards. But Pollin’s choice was made because of his personal discomfort with the team name in such a crime infested city.

Times have certainly changed. While Pollin used his conscience to make a decision, there are now hundreds of individual citizens and small groups out there looking to force Redskin owner Daniel Snyder to change the name of his team, all in the name of political correctness. Sadly, one of these small groups is the United States Congress, which apparently has nothing better to do, although this might make sense since valuable legislative pieces from Capitol Hill are few and far between. Gotta fill in those time gaps between the shriek shows on CNN and Fox.

Here’s my problem. While I may now agree that the term “Redskins” could be seen as offensive, it wasn’t meant that way at the team’s inception. More importantly, I question the heart and underlying objective of most of these “concerned citizens” who seemingly had no problem with the Washington team name during the second half of the last century. In our growing 24-hour news cycle, it has become much easier to shine a spotlight on oneself by finding a cause and screaming to the heavens in favor or opposition. My primary worry is that more of these people are obsessed with personal promotion as opposed to tribal preservation. If I’m a Congressman, it would be easy to utter the phrase “I’m against the name Washington Redskins because it is offensive, and I’m all for human rights.” It brings news cameras to the office, and people will see me on TV touting a cause which sounds good, but really has nothing to do with my elected job.

I truly believe that Dan Snyder will continue fighting to keep his team’s name for two reasons. First, as a lifelong fan, he, like many of us, remember the winning tradition of the team headed by George Allen and Joe Gibbs. The Redskin name is synonymous with success (since a lot of us don’t recall the losing teams of the 50’s and 60’s), three Super Bowl trophies, and the Fight for Old D.C. Second, he is clearly a stubborn man. I don’t think that many people become billionaires by kowtowing to public opinion, even if it’s politically correct. They certainly didn’t become rich by doing what others tell them to do. 

And Snyder could be losing money defending his team’s name. A good marketing expert could tell you the financial windfall which could be gained by changing the team name, then selling old Redskin gear at a premium price while introducing a large new line of team swag. Of course the same expert might theorize that all publicity is good publicity, and Snyder should fight on to keep his own product in the news.

I think that the team name will change before the turn of the next decade. As with any other  company in the free enterprise system, the negativity arising from the court of public opinion will begin to hurt Snyder in his deep pockets. People will start boycotting home games, advertisers will disappear, broadcasters might stop using the team name, and there will be no choice left but to cave to public pressure and change the moniker. But I admire Snyder for sticking to his principle here. The name Redskin surely is offensive to a segment of the Indian population, much like the N-word is to African-Americans. I get that. But why are we only hearing about it now?

In any case, when the name does change, I’m casting my vote for Bravehearts. You wouldn’t have to alter the team logo or mascot too much, and the fight song can stay the same. Hail to the Bravehearts! Hail Victory! Braves on the Warpath! Fight for old D.C.!!

Is Braves still OK, or will some other media whore grab a hold of that cause? Hmmm… Land of the Free...Home of the ...OK, I think we’re good.