Sports

Upcoming plaque ceremony an honor for O’Neill

Paul O’Neill earned his “Warrior” nickname from George Steinbrenner 17 years ago.

“At the time it was a little embarrassing, but now, when you’re away from the game, you can sit back and kinda appreciate that the owner thought that about you,” The Warrior told the Rumble.

The Warrior is asked for his definition of a warrior.

“Obviously it’s a generalized term, but in the game of baseball, somebody that just … doesn’t quit, and will fight to win,” The Warrior said. “That’s what was so much fun playing here, because the intensity to win was so great that it made it fun to take the field every single day.”

O’Neill gets his well-deserved plaque in Monument Park on Aug. 9 at Yankee Stadium. An Ohio boy who was traded in 1992 by his hometown Reds and made it big in the big, bad city.

“My first emotion was, ‘If they’re trading me, then I’m not good enough to play here,’” The Warrior said. “But then, when I came over to the Yankees, it didn’t take long. I mean, spring training, I felt the tradition, I saw Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra and Don Mattingly, and it opened my eyes to how cool the tradition the Yankees have in baseball.”

O’Neill, a five-time All Star and five-time World Series champion with the Reds and Yanks, is honored to be honored with a plaque.

“It’s something that you don’t think about when you’re playing, and it’s something that reminds you when you’re finished playing of what a special time it was when you were here,” he said. “The names out there are the names of historical people in all of baseball, not just one franchise. But this franchise is like no other.”

The current Yankees could use more warriors.

“I think that the Yankees are all-in as far as trying to win,” The Warrior said. “You have a big opportunity here with a 10-game homestand to get off to a good start. Derek Jeter is still this leader here, and Derek Jeter knows how to win. To be as close as they are with what is happening to the pitching, they definitely have a chance.”

The Warrior, from his perch as YES analyst/color commentator, expects general manager Brian Cashman to do something to bolster the rotation.

“It would surprise me more if they make no moves whatsoever,” O’ Neill said. “The Yankees are not a team that will sit and watch the season go away when they have an opportunity to win.”
O’Neill, slightly biased, disputes the notion the Mets can take over the town in the second half of the season.

“The New York Yankee fans are this town,” he said. “Obviously, the Mets are a franchise in baseball, but the New York Yankees are something special. You don’t win as many championships as they do, you don’t have a fan base that’s not only in New York but all of the world without the history behind it.”

Curtis camp caters to Grand kids

Curtis Granderson didn’t go on a cruise or spend time on the beach during his All-Star break. Instead he flew to his hometown Chicago to host a Grand Kids All-Star baseball camp at the recently unveiled Curtis Granderson Stadium at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Working with kids is his passion.

“When we opened up the stadium, what made me the happiest was that youth baseball teams from the community would get a chance to play on a first-class field,” said Granderson, who instructed the youngsters with hitting, throwing and fielding stations during the clinic. “This was something that I never experienced as a child and I wanted to make sure that some of these kids get that chance now.”

A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Granderson recently contributed $5 million to the development of Curtis Granderson Stadium at UIC, which will serve as the home of Flames Baseball and will host more than 38 youth organizations in Chicago.

“Kids from the inner city aren’t baseball first anymore they are going to other sports. Hopefully having a chance to play on a field like this will guide them back into baseball.”

Clothing drive suits Giants

Giants Jon Beason and Stevie Brown showed their support of the seventh annual National Suit Drive drive by stopping by the Men’s Wearhouse flagship store in Manhattan this week to drop off a few suits. A month-long initiative ending on July 31, the campaign encourages donations of gently used suits and professional attire, for distribution to over 180 local nonprofit organizations that provide job-ready skills and training to men who are reentering the workforce.

The 2014 National Suit Drive aims to collect 150,000 pieces of used professional attire (men’s and women’s suits, shirts, jackets, ties, pants, belts, and shoes) that will be refurbished and distributed to the partnering nonprofits.

Stephen Baker “The Touchdown Maker” might have a new nickname after Sunday’s NYRR’s New York Giants Run of Champions 5k at MetLife Stadium. The diminutive former receiver with the big heart will look to run the 3.1 miles in 30 minutes, which is pretty good. The top time run by a player was in last year’s race when former Giants receiver and NYC Marathon finisher Amani Toomer came across the line in 24:51 (the slowest player was Joe Morris, who ran a 38:15).

“Depending on how this goes, I might start being referred to as Stephen Baker, the 5k Maker.” said Baker, a sprinter on his high school’s track team who never has run a 5k before.

Somerville lands a fantasy job

Shannon Somerville has covered sports on broadcast TV in Miami and upstate New York, but now she is spending every day crunching numbers on the Fantasy Sports Network, which launched in the U.S. on Cablevision this month. The New Jersey native is the nightly host for “Stats Insights,” the new daily show from Bloomberg Sports that crunches the numbers in every sport, from baseball to NASCAR, for millions of fantasy players in the tri-state area and around the world through FSN’s digital platform. It quickly is making Somerville into a cult favorite amongst the Moneyball crowd.

Is it unusual for a young female reporter to be dishing the data?

“Not at all, there are thousands of women who play fantasy sports,especially football, and the audience is growing amongst young people who are hooked on analytics and digital sports,” she said.