Going Steady: A Weekend With The Hold Steady

(This article appeared in SPIN)

For years now, few live events have given me as much joy as Hold Steady shows. It’s a total niche band, the type that only has die-hard fans. No one casually likes them, thinks they’re fine. What makes that fun, though, is the community that takes gets together for each of the concerts.

There’s a fun line from an early song of theirs, “Hornets! Hornets!”: “I like the crowds at the really big shows / people touching people that they don’t even know, yo.” Maybe not the best advice for a series of concerts taking place in the midst of a global pandemic, but your mileage may vary. Anyhow, it’s a mostly perfect assessment of a Hold Steady concert. It’s physical, it’s sweaty, it’s touchy. The only slight untruth: it always feels like most people there know each other.

A few years back, it looked for a bit like the band had kind of broken up. The pianist left, they brought in a second guitarist, and they were putting out music that was just OK, but not as fun as it had been (of course, everyone says that every band’s new stuff just isn’t the same; whatever.). The guys were getting into their mid-40s, they had families, they had solo gigs. And after getting invited to do four straight nights at a Toronto club, the guys realized how much better that was for them than getting on a bus and doing a standard tour. What if, instead of playing a mid-week show in Des Moines, they limited themselves to major cities on weekends, doing multi-night runs that would allow fans to turn the trips into vacations? Instead of being on the road all year, they’d get to perform a bunch of times with less mess and craziness.

When SPIN agreed to buy this story, I was really excited, then surprised and disappointed when the band said they’d rather not do a full interview about it because “It doesn’t feel very rock and roll to talk about this stuff.” But I’m actually happy with how it turned out, just talking to fans and getting their take. I spend a lot of time with Panama Phil, because he’s incredible (and I love his son!), but I really enjoyed the chance to talk with so many different people, including this awesome guy from Denmark. In the end, I feel like I got enough of Craig Finn’s thoughts from the stage; the fans really made the story work.

Hope you’ll read and enjoy!

https://www.spin.com/2020/03/going-steady-a-weekend-in-london-with-the-hold-steady/
https://www.spin.com/2020/03/going-steady-a-weekend-in-london-with-the-hold-steady/

Going, Going, Gone

(This story originally appeared in the October 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

I’ve definitely written more words about CC Sabathia than any other person or subject in my career. I’m not sure exactly how it started, I just felt a quick rapport with him as I started my Yankees career, and I was able to mine about five very personal, very in-depth stories out of him.

In that time, I’ve been to two of CC’s houses, I’ve shared meals with him on the road, I’ve hung out around his kids. I ran a marathon on his PitCCh In Foundation’s running team. I packed backpacks that he and Amber would give to young school kids.

CC is a special guy, a huge heart, an amazing talent, a real hero to so many baseball fans. When he struggled, he wore it for everyone to see. When he thrived, fans felt every bit of his joy and intensity. He was so dominant for so long, then relied on smarts to finish his journey. In the end, with more than 3,000 strikeouts and more than 250 wins, he seems a sure get a spot in Cooperstown. He earned it.

Last year, I wrote a long feature about his career, figuring it might be the end of the road. When he came back for one more year, I decided that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to look at the role that baseball played in who he was, and what life would be like for him — and for the Yankees — when it was over. So I followed him a bit around the city and around the country, all the while trying to find out what sense of nostalgia he was feeling. The answer, usually, was none. He would laugh, but would say that he just wasn’t feeling it yet. He told amazing stories about his time in the game, about his dreams, but he said that he was also looking forward to it being done.

I told him he had to make me a promise. The minute he started feeling nostalgic, he had to promise to let us know. He laughed.

In the end, the injuries won out, and it looked like CC’s career was going to end even before his last postseason. When he was able to get that spot on the ALCS roster, I was thrilled to see him get one more shot on the mound. When he came in for Game 4, and we all figured it was possibly his last time on the Yankee Stadium mound, we all watched extra close. When his shoulder gave out, and he had to walk off the field in pain, next to trainer Stevie Donohue … it was one of the hardest things I’ve watched on a baseball field.

The next day, arm in a sling, CC was laughing. He knew it was over, but he loved the ride, loved leaving it all out on the field. He told stories about the fact that shit never could start until he was ready. It was awesome, albeit too late to get into the story.

That said, I’m thrilled with this one. I love the way it tells Amber’s story alongside his. I love the quotes from Mark Teixeira about the things he misses, about success, and the desire to hit home runs again. I love when Amber says that they grew up in the game, but now they’ve grown out of it.

I’m going to miss covering CC Sabathia, but I’m so lucky to have gotten to write about him so much over the years. I hope I did it well.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/cc-sabathia-finishes-final-season?t=yankees-magazine

The Show Before The Show

(This story originally appeared in the September 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

A real project for me this year was to try to get away from the typical 25 guys you see in a baseball clubhouse. I wanted to tell different stories, and one thing I really sought was the chance to tell some stories about women and their places around the game.

So when I was able to combine that goal with my interest in writing about Deivi Garcia, I pounced.

I first saw Garcia pitch last year, when I was writing about then-Yankees pitching coordinator Danny Borrell. Garcia was this tiny guy with amazing stuff; I couldn’t believe what I was watching, but I was writing about Borrell (and, it turned out, another Garcia — Dermis — so there wasn’t room in that story for much on Deivi).

Then, this year, Deivi Garcia broke out, and ended the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. And his presence there allowed me to write about his journey, but also about Blayke Scheer, and the YES Network program HOMEGROWN.

Everyone around the Yankees knows Blayke, her voice, her style. She is the consummate producer, always around, always solving problems, always helping everyone around her. And the show she produces is just so perfect for the minor leagues — a version of HARD KNOCKS with a smaller focus. I got to spend time behind the scenes, as she developed segments, did her confessional interviews, schmoozed with players to help build the rapport that comes through so clearly during the broadcast.

I think that both sides of the story worked well, and it all synthesized well into solid piece.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-deivi-garcia-stars-in-homegrown?t=yankees-magazine

Known Unknown

(This story originally appeared in the August 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

This must have been part of a masochistic streak, trying to get a real good sense of DJ LeMahieu, by far the most reticent and reluctant interview on the 2019 Yankees. But I actually had a ton of fun with this piece, and if I had to guess, I think LeMahieu even enjoyed a bit of the ping-pong match.

The story really began on my first day in spring training this year. Walking around the Yankees’ clubhouse in Tampa, I introduced myself to LeMahieu, one of the new guys, and tried to engage him in a “Quick Hits” interview — real lightning-round style questions that show a bit of personality, quirk, etc. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. He wasn’t rude, but he still answered “pass” about half the time. I walked away figuring I would never need to talk to him again.

But then LeMahieu turned into the Yankees’ best hitter, and found himself at the All-Star Game. And I kept trying to get to know him as best I could, and he kept demurring. Again, he wouldn’t blow me off, and he wouldn’t bristle or scowl. He just had very little to say. He’s a private guy, intense, but you can tell that he’s genuinely nice and probably pretty interesting.

In Cleveland during All-Star Week, I plopped myself down in front of him about four different times. Each time, he seemed to find the whole experience progressively funnier. It was a media circus, so it’s not like it was 1-on-1, but I still got in more questions in those settings than I did in pursuing the line of questioning for a few weeks around the Yankees’ clubhouse.

In the end, I think the story does a good job showing who LeMahieu is and why we shouldn’t be surprised to see him doing this well. The best thing I can say about it is that I don’t think that you can tell when you’re reading it how hard I had to work to get the quotes.

https://www.mlb.com/news/dj-lemahieu-rises-to-the-top-with-yankees

Carry That Weight

(This story originally appeared in the August 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

I wasn’t born when Thurman Munson died, and for most of my life, I kind of viewed him through a lens of a cynical outsider. It was easy to kind of dismiss him as a guy beloved on account of a tragic ending.

I had never really forced myself to look at how impressive he was on the field, what he meant to fans in life, not just in death, the way he operated in the clubhouse and on the field. For any cynicism I have had about Derek Jeter’s role as a Yankees captain, I think I was similarly blind, prone to undervaluing Thurman Munson.

So it was great to spend as much time as I did this summer researching him, leading up to an afternoon in Canton, Ohio, that I’ll never forget, when I spent time with his widow, Diana, and his son, Michael.

We met at Michael’s bar, then spent hours chatting. I learned more than I could have imagined. Diana was open about Thurman’s less-awesome qualities, candid about the ways that he could be a bully. I saw her pugnaciousness, the ways that she would push back against him.

But what I saw the most was the way that she carries on as Thurman’s legacy, a real living monument. She ripped open scars and told me about the worst moments of her life, but also spoke at length about her work to keep her late husband’s memory at the forefront. She continues raising money for the AHRC, continues showing up at Yankee Stadium on Old-Timers’ Day, so that the fans can cheer her for her husband.

NEW YORK – UNDATED: Thurman Munson #15 of the New York Yankees poses for a portrait circa 1969-79 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. (Photo by Louis Requena/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

During my time in Canton, and certainly around Yankee Stadium, I tried to find as many monuments to the late captain as I could. Along with a photographer, Barrie Schneiderman, I drove around town, to the stadium that bears his name, the street named for him, the large and impressive gravestone. We drove past the airport and the field where his life came to an end. In New York, we saw his locker, his number 15 on the backs of fans way too young to have cheered for him.

I tried to tell a big story here. The way that Diana has kept her husband alive in the 40 years since he died. It was a special story to tell, not the least because of how much I learned in the process.

https://www.mlb.com/news/remembering-yankees-captain-thurman-munson

Excelsior

(This story originally appeared in the July 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

This was as much a function of timing as anything else. I had plans to be in Cleveland for another story, and it just so happened that the trip I had planned coincided with Didi Gregorius’s first games back from Tommy John surgery.

2019 DIDI GREGORIUS SCRANTON

Didi can be a tough guy to go deep with, which might seem surprising considering his huge smile and engaging social media presence. When the microphone is off, he’s the guy you expect — funny, candid, insightful. But once you start recording, it’s as though he’s working his hardest to give you nothing. One example: I asked him what he did during his downtime-filled rehab that he couldn’t have otherwise. He kind of talked around the question, didn’t give me anything interesting. A few minutes after we got done with the interview, when we were making smalltalk, he talks about this trip he took with Nike. Turns out, Nike asked him to go every year, and he always turned them down. But with so little to do after the surgery, he decided to take them up on it this year.

I mean … 

I yelled at him. “Didi! Why couldn’t you say that when I asked you?” There was nothing about it that he didn’t want to put in the story, and when I asked if I could include it, he said of course. He just puts up such a crazy shield when he’s being interviewed. He’ll challenge questions, dispute premises, etc. It’s not as frustrating as, say, Mark Teixeira was during his prime, but it’s still not what you expect the first time you try to interview this otherwise bubbly, hilarious star.

Didi had an interesting season. He returned SO fast from the Tommy John surgery (after playing through some gruesome injuries in the last games of 2018), and he may have rushed things in a way that impacted his performance. Who knows. He’s also a free agent now that the season is over, so we’ll see if he’s back in 2020.

But as difficult as it can be to get him to open up, I thought this was a good piece about the kind of guy he is, the way he works, the things that are important to him, and the drive he has to be the absolute best at everything he touches.

https://www.mlb.com/news/didi-gregorius-road-to-recovery

No Place Like Home

(This story originally appeared in the June 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

There are times that working for a team publication can be a bit of a drag, but then there are projects like this one, which I still can’t believe happened. The Yankees made a big push this year to honor the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, and they put together what was a remarkable initiative, encompassing education, advocacy and exposure.

In creating the Yankees-Stonewall Scholars program, the legendary sports franchise and the historic, iconic bar, became unlikely partners, a phenomenon I explore in this story. It’s hard to think back to just how unlikely it would have seemed in 1969 to see the Yankees helping the LGBTQ community. Not that there was specific hostility, neither intentional nor explicitly directed. Just that, as Martin Boyce explains in the story, Yankee Stadium was the place where “Our dads would take us, because they were training us to be straight.”

UNITED STATES – JUNE 28: Stonewall Inn nightclub raid. Crowd attempts to impede police arrests outside the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. (Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

I’m proud of the research that went into this story, the months that I spent learning all about Stonewall, talking to people who were there, meeting with advocates in the community and even talking to Yankees players and staff about their own views of the initiative. To meet the first five winners, this extraordinary collection of students who are going to change the world, was an experience that I’ll keep close forever.

But mostly, I’m proud that the Yankees did this. I know that there are always cynics who will say that they did it to sell tickets or to nod in the direction of progress, but this was real, it was meaningful and it was organic. I saw it, nearly every step of the way. This was the highest levels of the organization — ownership and executives — working to create something that will last. Brian Cashman and his top assistant Jean Afterman participated in all of the interviews to select the winners. That’s remarkable.

And I’m proud that fans at the ballpark in June who wanted to keep score saw this story in their gameday program. I hope that you’ll read it.

https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-stonewall-scholars-lgbtq-inclusivity

The Pioneer

(This story originally appeared in the June 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

The Yankees made a big push this year to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots (see next entry), so as part of our June magazine, I included this interview with former NBA player Jason Collins, who famously came out in 2013 while he was still active. I really enjoyed our talk, a look at the way the world had changed in the six years after he made his announcement on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and the optimism he feels for the future. I also liked the specific stories he told, including the way he decided to use all six of his fouls against a player who had made some insensitive comments.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/q-and-a-with-jason-collins?t=yankees-magazine

No Excuses

(This story originally appeared in the May 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

Much like when I wrote about Clint Frazier, Gary Sánchez presented the perfect subject fo the type of story I like to write. He’s remarkably talented, with an incredible resume to date, and yet he draws the ire of so many fans because of whatever imperfections he might show. Undoubtedly, some of it is also racism; no one on the Yankees works harder than Sánchez, and you have to think that some of the accusations of laziness might be less prevalent if he looked more like Austin Romine.

In 2018, nothing went right for the young Yankees catcher. He couldn’t hit much, but more than that, he seemed to spend half of every game running to the backstop to chase passed balls. In reality, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it seemed, but it wasn’t good.

There were a couple of trips to the injured list on account of groin injuries, but when the year was done, the team announced he was having shoulder surgery on his catching arm. And suddenly things started making more sense. How hard must it be to catch a ball moving across the strike zone — especially in cases of cross-ups — if your shoulder is busted?

I chased Sánchez around for a few weeks, trying to get the interview I needed for this story. Mostly, he wouldn’t engage with my central question: What’s wrong with admitting that you’re hurt? What’s wrong with saying, “Yeah, I missed that ball, and it sucks, and I feel badly about it, but I’m doing the best I can.”?

When he finally answered me, I thought it was an incredibly illustrative look into the person he is, the competitor he wants to be, and the standards to which he holds himself.

“The fact of the matter is, we call it The Show. Our fans, they come here to watch us play, and they come here for the show. And I can say, in my experience, if I go to an event — it could be a concert, it could be a basketball game — I don’t go there to see them practice. I have no idea what they do to get ready for that. I just show up for the performance. And like fans, I judge them on what they do on the field. But yes, there’s a lot of work behind the scenes. There’s a routine that is done every day, many, many, many hours before the first pitch of the game. Some fans don’t know that or don’t see that, and that’s the way it is, and that’s the way it should be.”

https://www.mlb.com/news/gary-sanchez-doesn-t-make-excuses

Player Developer

(This story originally appeared in the May 2019 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

Nothing too crazy here. I’d dealt with Patrick Osborn a time or two, and he seemed like a fun, youthful, interesting guy. In particular, I liked that he was managing Double-A, the same level at which he petered out during his own career. So essentially, he was trying to teach players to do something that he, himself, wasn’t able to do.

Pat let me hang with him for a full day, in meetings, during downtime, and even in the dugout during the game. It was fun watching the whole day play out, and I think the story is a fun look at life on the farm. ]

https://www.mlb.com/news/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-minor-league-manager