Year of the Jeter

Derek Jeter became the first Yankee ever to be named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year today.

Jeter was obviously thrilled by the announcement.

“It’s unbelievable. It was completely unexpected. It came out of the blue,” Jeter told The Associated Press during a break in the photo shoot. “When I heard it, what can you say? It’s one of the greatest honors you can achieve in sports.”

Michael Phelps was last year’s Sportsman, for some perspective.

The issue will hit newsstands on Wednesday.

Gregory Heisler/SI

Sheppard hangs up the mike

Legendary voice of Yankee Stadium Bob Sheppard told Bryan  Hoch today that he plans on retiring.  Sheppard, 99, hasn’t called a game since 2007.

"I have no plans of coming back," Sheppard said on Wednesday in a telephone interview. "Time has passed me by, I think. I had a good run for it. I enjoyed doing what I did. I don't think, at my age, I'm going to suddenly regain the stamina that is really needed if you do the job and do it well."

The entire article is worth a read.  He has words of praise for current public address announcer Paul Olden.  Sheppard also said he doubts he’ll return to Yankee Stadium in 2010 to call one game.

Of course, we still hear Sheppard’s voice when Derek Jeter comes to bat.

*****

I’m sure Mr. Sheppard has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, just like all of us.  On that note, I’d like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

World Series Film premiere

I caught the premiere of the 2009 World Series Film tonight.  No, I wasn’t at the big one at the Ziegfeld in Manhattan, but this was good enough.

I thought the film was nicely done and it’s certainly worth the $19.99 MLB.com is charging (but if you’re a savvy Internet shopper, Amazon has it for $14.99).

The film had some great behind-the-scenes shots of the players, a variety of camera angles, and some great commentary by the managers, players and announcers.  I also liked the integration of the fantastic Game 6 time lapse video made by Robert Caplin.

One thing that I found a little strange was when the narrator failed to mention Alex Rodriguez past drug use.  The segment was about Rodriguez’s hip surgery during spring training and how it positively affected him during the regular season.  I thought for sure the steroids would be mentioned somewhere, but I was wrong and somewhat surprised by that.

I’m a nit-picker when it comes to these things, and that was really my only bone to pick with the production.

This will probably air on MLB Network throughout the winter, but this definitely makes for a nice holiday gift.

And no, I won’t spoil the ending.

This is hideous

Political allegiances aside, this Yankees cap is absolutely awful.

Spotted by me in the Palisades Center in West Nyack, N.Y.

As expected, Mauer wins MVP

Congratulations go out to Joe Mauer who won the American League MVP award with 27 of the 28 first place votes.

The one surprise of the voting was that Miguel Cabrera – who finished fourth overall – received the other first place vote.  I’d love to see that writer try to defend that vote.

On the Yankees’ front, Mark Teixeira finished second and Derek Jeter rounded out the top three.  Alex Rodriguez came in 10th.

Guess who’s back

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Now that I’m on Thanksgiving break, I figured it’s time to try to get back into blogging.  I’ve been extremely busy at school and hopefully this break will recharge my batteries.

Plus, I reached an agreement with Jeremy that he would stop pestering me to blog if I wrote today.  So here we are today.

I know I rarely posted in September, didn’t post once in October and only posted a picture thus far in November, but I’d really like to get back into this.  There was a reason (in my head) for not posting during October – superstition.  The Yankees were playing just fine without me getting in the way and it paid off in the end.  You’re welcome.

The AL MVP is announced today at 2 p.m., so I’ll have something on it later.

27

How sweet it is!

Reuters