Welcome to the my Web site, v. XII. The blog is typically published Monday - Saturday. My primary topics tend to be the Nats, Penn State (esp. football), BeltwayLand, transportation, media, photos and more. The rest of the site gets updated as warranted and is noted on the blog.
Get well, Bob Shepherd - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Get well, Bob Shepherd
All Is Well: The Voice Is Coming Back - The Times I just learned the voice of Yankee Stadium, Bob Shepherd, is not well and will not be back until mid-season at the earliest. I hope so. I'm supposed to go up there during the summer and I cannot imagine not hearing Shepherd over the loudspeaker. He's been there since 1951 when Joe DiMaggio played his last year and Mickey Mantle his first.
Not ever wanting to ever be introduced by anyone else other than Shepherd at Yankee Stadium, Derek Jeterarranged for a recording to be used. Who can blame him? Shepherd is on the Mount Rushmore of voices with John Facenda and James Earl Jones.
Who else should be on the great voices Mt. Rushmore?
Starting rotation remains unclear - The Wash. Times With 26 days until Opening Night, the rotation isn't really cleared up. There is some good news though, a MRI revealed no further damage (actually confirmed by the Redding article from The Post above) to Shawn Hill's right forearm.
Perez awaits visa - Florida Today Visa problems are keeping Odalis Perez from pitching in Grapefruit League games, though he can pitch in accelerated game. Weird.
Nationals Are Trying To Catch A Break - The Post Another look at the catching problems the Nats have with Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada both injured.
THOMAS BOSWELL - Decisions, Decisions - The Post Bos is back on the right beat and notes that the bench should be pretty deep.
PETER KERASOTIS - Rembering Aaron Boone's big blast - Florida Today Aaron Boone says his career isn't defined by his ALCS Game 7 homer off of Tim Wakefield to give the Yankees the pennant. Why not? That was easily the greatest thing Boone ever did with a bat.
The Pope will probably get in the ballpark before I do - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Monday, November 12, 2007
The Pope will probably get in the ballpark before I do
Pope Set to Visit Washington, New York in April - The Post Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to celebrate Mass at the new Nationals Park on April 17 of next year. A few days later Yankee Stadium gets its final papal visit too.
I take issue with a line in the article though:
"On his last day in the United States, he will visit the site of the Sept. 11, 2001"
Does that mean Pope Benedict XVI will go to the Pentagon in Arlington, the World Trade Center site in New York and Shanksville, Penna. on the same day? I am guessing, no; so the reporter should have been more clear. The overwhelming tragedy of WTC has caused people to forget that there were three location attacked, not one. This fact should not be ignored by The Post whose circulation area includes one of those attacks.
I'm not exactly a fan of outdoor Masses, so I can't really get behind the whole idea of going to the (soon-to-be-sponsored) Nationals Park for his visit. Maybe I'll luck out and get a chance to see the Extraordinary Rite (Traditional Mass) done at either the Basillica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (at CUA) or the Basillica of the Blessed Virgin Mary (in Balmer).
I never got Mass in large venues. It tends to detract from things. Then again, the letters at the top of St. Peter's in the Vatican are ten feet tall, so then again, maybe I should lighten up.
# posted by Muha :
Monday, November 12, 2007 2:54:00 PM
Would the real "Artful Dodger" please stand up? - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Friday, November 02, 2007
Would the real "Artful Dodger" please stand up?
The two New York City tabloids both have the same backpage headline this morning, but they each referring to a different person. Too funny!
By the way, I think Joe Girardi was a better choice for the Yankees than Don Mattingly. Experience as the Marlins manager for a year and as a catcher as a player makes more sense for the Yankees. It would not surprise me to see Mattingly will get his chance.
Also, despite being from Brooklyn, Joe Torre was a Giants fan for some reason. It will be odd seeing him in Dodger blue, but even weirder seeing Mattingly not wearing pinstripes.
The Dodgers will be the third team from New York (originally at least) that Torre has managed. He skippered the Mets in the 1970s too, so only the Giants are left. I think Daryl Strawberry is the only other person to have been a member of all of those franchises.
Casey Stengel played for the Giants and Dodgers and managed the Yankees and Mets
# posted by Anonymous :
Friday, November 02, 2007 10:28:00 AM
Stengel managed in Brooklyn too.
# posted by WFY :
Friday, November 02, 2007 11:05:00 AM
Post a CommentSHOVE IT! NYC tabs have same Torre frontpage headline - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Friday, October 19, 2007
SHOVE IT! NYC tabs have same Torre frontpage headline
I pretty much expected the tabs to have the same headline again. I wonder how long until Torre's #6 is retired. The Steinbrenners have egg on their faces for the way they did this and I don't expect Torre to accept any ceremony for a couple of seasons.
Selena Roberts of The Times has a good column about the way this was botched.
Torre deserved better - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Torre deserved better
Torre Turns Down Yankees Offer - The Times The Steinbrenners should have offered Joe Torre more than a year after letting him twist in the wind for days. Either boot immediately or give him more than a "we made a generous offer..."
I'm not suggesting we cry for Torre, but the guy did win four titles and had the Yankees in the playoffs every year. I can't blame him for turning down a one year deal, especially this late in the game -- that's just insulting.
How long until the Yankees make peace with him so he can have his number retired?
If the media didn't love him so much, the story would be flipped, as it ought to be, to become: "Torre demands more than $5 million."
The offer would have been as much as $8 million per year with incentives — that's more than twice what any other manager is making.
Everyone loves Torre. I get that. But do they really love him so much that a team can offer him twice what everyone else in his profession gets paid and it is considered an insult?
# posted by dl004d :
Friday, October 19, 2007 8:42:00 AM
Its not the $5 million per se, but the fact that he made $7 million last year and was only offered a one year guaranteed contract. I totally back Torre on this one. Why would he want to go through the same saga again next year?
The Yankees didn't really want him back--and that's okay. They should have just told him straight up rather than make an "insulting" contract offer.
# posted by The Maryland Bureau Chief :
Friday, October 19, 2007 9:40:00 AM
The Yankees shouldn't be forced to overpay for every contract just because they have in the past. They are offering to make him the highest-paid manager in the league. That's hardly insulting.
He's free to decline the offer, of course. but the headline should be: "Torre Demands More Than $5M" not "Torre Deserves Better."
# posted by dl004d :
Friday, October 19, 2007 10:12:00 AM
My gripe with the Steinbrenners is that they waited so long to offer the contract. Within their right, sure, but my perception is they have intended to dump Torre all along. They should have just said so and moved on a week ago. That being said, I can't fault Torre for not wanting to take a 30% pay cut either because who among us would gladly take a that kind of cut?
# posted by WFY :
Friday, October 19, 2007 10:19:00 AM
The idea of "waiting so long" is only rude if you play into ESPN's constant story drive. In any other industry, it is perfectly reasonable for a boss to wait until the end of a major project before making a final evaluation. The Yankees waited a single week after the season ended. Big deal.
# posted by dl004d :
Friday, October 19, 2007 2:40:00 PM
"The idea of "waiting so long" is only rude if you play into ESPN's constant story drive."
Point taken, but I'd put it more on the NYC tabloids than ESPN.
I think it was fait accompli he was out of there, they were just stalling to come up with a way to make it look like they were not simply pushing him out.
Way too early prediction -- Torre is introduced last at Old Timers Day with no advance notice.
# posted by WFY :
Friday, October 19, 2007 3:20:00 PM
Don't get hung up on the $5M amount. The contract was considering insulting by all baseball "experts." If they didn't want Torre back, why not just buy him a watch and move on? There was no need to offer any contract.
Besides, in baseball, typically a manager gets canned the day after the season ends. And the Yankee brass knew ahead of time how this was going to end.
# posted by The Maryland Bureau Chief :
Saturday, October 20, 2007 10:22:00 PMPost a Comment
LEAVE JOE TORRE ALONE! - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
LEAVE JOE TORRE ALONE!
The latest from the Steven A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen, yet another example of the LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! (NSFW) meme:
Joe Torre has a had a good run and deserved better than an ultimatum from George Steinbrenner. Suzyn Waldman (Newsday) though...
More on Phil Rizzuto - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Monday, August 20, 2007
More on Phil Rizzuto
While I was down the Shore, Phil Rizzuto passed away. Since we were enjoying the late edition of The Times throughout vacation, we read about it from the paper of record. The Times Web site has a special section all about Rizzuto.
Since WPIX-TV, for whom Rizzuto did Yankees games for about forty years, never made it to superstation status (though it was available in much of Pennsylvania for some reason) I only got to see Rizzuto broadcasts when I was visiting family in Jersey. It seemed like MSG usually had most of the Yankees games then, so I was even more limited because Bobby Murcer usually did those games. I don't recall much of Rizztuo's unique style, I have only read about it or heard others talk (often complain) about it. I can't say whether Rizzuto's broadcasts were found poetry like the book O Holy Cow suggests. I mostly knew him from his ads for The Money Store.
My maternal grandfather, a native of 161st Street, Bronx, N.Y. argued for years that Rizzuto should be in the Hall of Fame. He thought that Rizzuto the broadcaster was keeping Rizzuto the shortstop out.
I think I was also down the Shore when Rizzuto aburbtly quit his broadcasting gig after he was denied permission to attend Mickey Mantle's funeral. One of the tabloids, probably the Daily News, held a "Save our Scooter" campaign. If I recall correctly, Rizzuto came back in 1996 for one more year and then retired to for good. By the way, both tabloids had the same headline the day the news broke "SO LONG, SCOOTER." Unfortunately, the NY Post cover images are broken for that day.
Two consecutive days of back pages being the same - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Monday, August 06, 2007
Two consecutive days of back pages being the same
The last two days, both NYC tabs have had the same back cover headline. On Sunday, it was 500 to observe Alex Rodriguez 500th career homer and today was 300 for Tom Glavine's 300th win. I didn't think they were worth getting the full WWN tabloid similarities treatment though -- these were too obvious.
Same backpage headline yet again - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Monday, July 23, 2007
Same backpage headline yet again
You can't be shocked that both papers had the same idea for today's best page after the Yankees 21 runs yesterday.
I'm glad the Yankees are picking it up again and are five games over .500. It might be too little too late though. They are 7.5 back of the hated Red Sox and 6.5 back in the wild card.
Interestingly, the covers page on nypost.com has broken images as of 12:15 p.m. I had to do a screengrab to get something up.
<i>Daily News</i> recalls the summer of '77 - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Daily News recalls the summer of '77
My favorite New York tabloid, the Daily News, has an excellent enterprise section about the city's tumultuous summer of 1977 called The Bronx is Burning. Four topics are covered extensively
Yankees -- who won the World Series despite hating one another
The Blackout -- another blackout struck New York, this time with riotous results
The section is very extensive, so don't try to bite it off all at once unless you have a couple of hours to kill. It will be updated a few times throughout as well.
Interesting covers on today's tabs - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Interesting covers on today's tabs
I don't ever recall a pitcher being called "evil" for walking in the winning run. Then again it did mean Peter Angelo$ won, so the Daily News might be onto something.
I avoid Paris Hilton coverage as much as I can, but I have to give it up for this cover by the NY Post.
Are you taking notes, Wash. Examiner?
Oh and yesterday, both papers had "Tigers Cub" along with the same photo of Tiger Woods and family on their covers. I didn't post about it because one paper treated it with a full page, while the other was just an inset. It wasn't specific enough to fit in yesterday's newshole.
New York Yankees, Bob Shepherd, Derek Jeter
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# posted by
The Maryland Bureau Chief :
Tuesday, April 01, 2008 8:25:00 PM