Blue Jays birthdays: Rick Cerone
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Rick Cerone turns 67 today.
Cerone was an original
John Lowenstein, four months and one day before their first game, sending Rico Carty to
Cleveland for him. We had taken Carty from Cleveland in the expansion draft and would get him back in March of 1978.
Cerone played in our first ever game, going 2 for 4 with a double in our win over the
White Sox (in the snow). He played four games in that first week before being sent down to AAA. He came back for a game in May and then was up for good in mid-August. He hit .200/.245/.270 in 31 games.
A week ago in this space your humble correspondent prattled on at length about the Red Sox/Yankees playoff game of 1978, in my opinion the best baseball game I ever saw.
As luck would have it, I had the good fortune to moderate a panel discussion with old Red Sox and old Yankee players held less than 48 hours before baseball shut itself down due to the coronavirus. Representing the Yankees were Bucky Dent, Goose Gossage, Graig Nettles, and Mickey Rivers, all of whom played key roles in that game. On the Red Sox side were Luis Tiant, Bill Lee, Bernie Carbo, and Wade Boggs. Tiant and Lee were both on the 78 Red Sox, Carbo had been traded to Cleveland earlier that season, and Boggs, the baby of the group at age 61, didn t reach the majors until 1982. Needless to say, the playoff game was a major topic of discussion.
- Dan Epstein, co-author, “The Captain and Me”
That quote from the introduction is a great encapsulation of “The Captain and Me,” the new book co-written by Ron Blomberg and Dan Epstein. I’ve read many books co-written by a former player and a writer that unfortunately aren’t that way. Many a writer has taken the opportunity to write a book in their voice, using their words with anecdotes from the player’s experience.
This isn’t that book. “The Captain and Me” is written in Blomberg’s voice, with Blomberg’s words, with Epstein in the background, expertly guiding the story. The result is an enlightening, entertaining read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Yankees great Reggie Jackson, now working for Astros, excuses Houston’s cheating: ‘More than half the teams were getting signs’
Today 7:01 AM
Reggie Jackson quit his long-time job as a Yankees special assistant earlier this week and now is working for the Houston Astros. His old and new club play this week at Yankee Stadium.AP
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The Rogers Centre security guard working the door of the Yankees clubhouse for a June 2019 series in Toronto initially didn’t have a clue he’d just stopped baseball royalty from entering with an arm-to-the-chest block. A group of media, waiting for the go-ahead to enter, was watching and one writer called out, “He’s with the Yankees.”