Tyler and the Miracles

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

This one really fell into my lap, and I can’t say enough about how grateful I am for that. A colleague on the Tampa side of the Yankees’ operation emailed a co-worker to mention this interesting story about a Yankees draft pick who was allowed to keep his long hair, which goes against the team’s well-known (and oft-mocked) grooming policy. She mentioned that it might be cool as short item for the front of book section.

Basically, the story was that the player, Tyler Johnson, was growing out his hair to make a wig for his mother, who had been diagnosed with leukemia. My coworker had recently taken another job, so she passed the email on to me, and I was intrigued right away.

I had no idea how amazing the story would become, though.

It turns out, Tyler had his own dramatic and traumatic medical history, one that shaped his mentality and his whole life. So he was determined to pitch professionally, and his mother was determined to watch him pitch professionally, and it was all a crazy pipe dream, until it wasn’t. But on that fateful day when the Yankees drafted him and told him to cut his hair, he explained the situation. Eventually, the question made it all the way to the team’s owner Hal Steinbrenner, who insisted that Johnson not cut his hair until he could get it long enough to make the wig.

This was a heart-wrenching story to write. Tyler’s mom, Bethanne, walked me through years of nightmares, of horror I could never imagine. Tyler told me stories I simply couldn’t conceive of. I would hang up and wipe tears from my eyes. Instead of a small item on a quirky, out-of-place hairdo, it became one of the most meaningful stories I’ve ever had the privilege to write.

I hope you’ll read and enjoy.

https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-prospect-johnson-defies-the-odds

Let It Be

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

Guys like Clint Frazier fascinate me. Sure, there’s the simple baseball talent. But I’m always drawn to polarizing figures in sports, trying to figure out what exactly makes them so complicated. So I definitely approached this feature on Clint Frazier with a bias in his direction.

Because here’s the thing with Frazier. Everyone has such an easy time talking about the ways that the’s not living up to some part of the game’s code, the rules passed down from Abner Doubleday to Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle to Derek Jeter. He needs to carry himself differently. He needs to stop making everything about himself. He needs to just shut up.

And yet, anytime you ask the obviously follow-up question — what has he actually done in defiance of those rules? — you get silence. There’s the simple answer, that he had hair that was too long and flashy, and that he expressed some reticence to cut it. But does anyone really care about that? Does anyone actually think that the wildly outdated grooming policy is a good thing? Frazier cut his hair like he was supposed to. Does it really matter that he wasn’t thrilled about it?

A couple of points about this piece: in the quotes I used and the ways that I framed them, I really had to hold in my frustration with the conversation I had with Nick Swisher. I went to talk to him because I figured he would probably be someone to share my irritation with everyone’s overheated takes on Frazier. Instead, I listened as Swisher went on and on about Frazier needing to rein it all in, that he can’t act the way he does. I tried to get him to explain what he meant, but Swisher just kept giving me the rote nonsense.

Conversely, Clint was interesting and willing to engage with all of my questions, even if it might seem weird to have to explain to a reporter why everyone has an opinion about you, and why it’s not necessarily OK. I’ve had plenty of chats with Frazier over the years, but this was probably the deepest we went together. I enjoyed it, and I really think that by the time the season’s over, he’s going to be playing a big role in the Bronx.


Hope you’ll enjoy.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/healthy-frazier-ready-to-bring-energy-to-yankees?t=yankees-magazine

Icebreaker

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

“People think we live in igloos,” new Yankees pitcher James Paxton jokes in the story I wrote after visiting him in his offseason home of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in early January. We probably deserved that after suggesting that we introduce the Canadian left-hander to his new fans in New York by heading out ice fishing. As Paxton reminded us, the weather where he’s from — just south of Vancouver, about 100 miles from Seattle — is actually perfectly mild.

But hanging out on a frozen lake (a first for me — and for James) seemed an excellent way to get a sense of his personality, to “break the ice,” if you’ll forgive the strained metaphor. And Paxton couldn’t have been more game. In fact, after about 45 minutes of photos and intermittent fishing, we (me, the photographer, the two videographers from Yankees on Demand and the YES Network producer) told him that he could leave whenever he wanted, that we had everything we needed. But he wanted to keep fishing for as long as we would let him, so it was nice to know that we weren’t bothering him all that much.

Paxton’s one of those guys that proves the media’s East Coast bias. He really should be more famous than he is, and Brian Cashman probably deserves more credit than he has received for plucking him out of Seattle. His stuff is filthy, with a great four-seam fastball (he is very clear about the fact that his philosophy on the mound is just to go right after the hitters). He also has a terrific, somewhat unfair knuckle-curve, as well as a solid two-seamer, cutter and change. It’s an excellent arsenal, matched with fluid and easy mechanics that keeps his arm in good shape (knock on wood).

He’s also just a good guy. He couldn’t have been more pleasant and helpful over the few days we spent together (guess those Canadian stereotypes are true). Watching him work with kids during a clinic at the facility his brother-in-law Steven Hensley, owns, he made sure to give personal attention to everyone there. Hensley thinks the kids have no idea just how good Paxton is when he’s teaching them. He wishes that the pitcher got the attention he deserves. But if Paxton keeps pitching like he did in May of 2018 — when he threw a 16-K game, then followed it up with a no-hitter — the attention will definitely come his way. You can’t go under the radar in the Bronx.

(Courtesy New York Yankees)

This was a fun one — I got to ice fish! I even caught some! That was extremely cool. And I like the story, too. Hope you’ll read.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/getting-to-know-yankees-lefty-james-paxton/c-303341582?tid=163658034

A Year in the Life

(Courtesy New York Yankees)

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

When the Yankees hired Aaron Boone, my first thought was similar to a lot of other people’s: Why? Only, I think I was coming at it from the opposite side of most people who were confused by the move. Why, I wondered, would Aaron Boone want this job?

Obviously, there aren’t too many managing positions that compare in fame and prominence to the top job in the Bronx. But why would you want your first job to be replacing a guy who was fired after taking an overachieving team within a game of the World Series? Why would a guy such as Aaron Boone, whose short career in pinstripes included a basically perfect, singular memory, want to change that? Becoming a manager is basically just starting the clock until you inevitably get fired. Even Joe Torre left under not so great terms.

Again, why would you want this job?

I spent a year watching Boone pretty closely, trying to get a measure of the guy, before I got to spend some time with him on what was almost exactly the one-year anniversary of his hiring. We chatted in his office, as Boone — smiling, enthusiastic, ready for the new year — talked about what went right for so much of the 2018 season, and what went wrong when the games meant the most. It’s difficult to fully and honestly judge the year. On paper, so much went right. Even in the ALDS loss to Boston, Boone’s players were right there in all but one game, the absolute laugher in Game 3.

But Boone clearly took a different philosophy into the playoffs than his counterpart, Alex Cora, did. Cora threw away the book, making aggressive pitching changes without a second’s thought. Conversely, the knock on Boone after the series was that he took too long to react, leaving pitchers in to fight through trouble, letting the clock tick toward midnight instead of acting. I wanted to take the manager’s temperature with a few months of perspective.

(Courtesy New York Yankees)

I’m not sure how much new ground we broke. He basically met me halfway on my questions about the playoffs, admitting that there are some things he has second thoughts about, but insisting that the process was sound. And I’m not sure he’s wrong about that. Cora got the last laugh because his team won, but if, for example, the Yankees had come back to win Game 4, after Chris Sale had pitched the 8th inning (because Cora was managing to win every single pitch), I’m not sure who would have pitched in the deciding Game 5. Maybe then we’re talking about Boone being a genius for remaining patient, for going with what had worked. Perhaps we’re just overthinking all of this.

Anyhow, I hope you’ll read and enjoy.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/aaron-boone-looks-back-on-his-first-year-in-ny/c-302440744?tid=163658034

The Take and the Give

(This story appears in the October edition of Yankees Magazine.)

I’ve written about CC Sabathia plenty over the years. He’s one of the best guys on the team to talk with — always funny, always available. He doesn’t BS you at all; one example that has always stuck with me is after the Yankees traded away a lot of veterans in 2016 during a hyper-speed rebuild. That week, I asked CC what he thought about the young kids getting their chances. The big left-hander basically told me he couldn’t care less about them. He was a veteran, and he didn’t have enough time left to think about the future.

It was a funny comment, but I question whether he meant it. After all, Sabathia has been leading the Yankees’ clubhouse for years, deftly taking the baton from Derek Jeter (much as he took The Captain’s locker when Jeter retired). CC is a big brother and mentor to so many of the young kids on this roster — everyone loves him, and he loves all of them.

My goal for this feature was to write about CC’s first decade in pinstripes. He signed a one-year contract before the 2018 season, so whenever the Yankees get eliminated, he’ll become a free agent. He has given no indication that he wants to retire, and I certainly think that he was good enough this year for the Yankees to offer him the same deal again. But if this is it for CC, it was a pretty incredible ride.

I reached out to his people about an in-depth interview away from the stadium, and offered to go on the road if it was easier (most players have more down time when they’re traveling — away from family and other commitments). I was shocked, though, when they offered me time during a trip to Oakland. Sabathia’s from the Bay Area, and he’s always terribly busy when he heads home. But he was doing an event for his PitCCh In Foundation on the off day after the series, so I’m guessing it was how they were hoping to bribe me into covering it. Mission accomplished.

I spoke to CC over breakfast for about an hour, and it was a great, enlightening talk. But I couldn’t write the story I had planned — it didn’t make sense to fly to Oakland/San Francisco to write about New York. I ended up speaking to a ton of people from his past, and I got a picture of an incredibly strong person who’s incredibly important to his community. Everyone made time to talk to me about him — I can’t count how many of my interviews included some variation of “I barely have any time, but I’ll always talk about CC.” From a young age, everyone back home in Vallejo, California, seemed to know that Sabathia was special, and they all went out of their way to make sure he could thrive. His mother, his coach and his friends all told me stories about people basically getting him out of a place where something bad was about to happen, walking him home instead of to a party where things would go down. He was lifted out of Vallejo, and he seems to have made it his life’s work to help out other kids in similar situations. 

Whatever comes next for CC, he’ll always be one of my favorite guys to write about. I hope this isn’t the end for him, but if it is, I hope he gets to live out his dream of never having to wear a collared shirt again.

Hope you’ll read and enjoy.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/looking-back-on-cc-sabathias-career/c-296957024?tid=163658034

Five Minutes With … Jane Leavy

Just a fun, quick interview with Jane Leavy, a terrific journalist who has written three incredible baseball biographies. I was fascinated to talk to her about the fact that the subjects she had chosen over the years — Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle and now Babe Ruth — seemed to me to be so picked over already. Why not a nice biography on Joe McEwing?

One thing that really intrigued me about her latest book, The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, were some of the early descriptions of her search for the story to tell. Several years ago, I went through a similar quixotic journey with The Babe, tracing steps similar to those Ms. Leavy took. Something about The Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum in Baltimore made my understanding of Ruth hazier instead of clearer. (You can read my attempt to understand his legacy here.)

Anyhow, I highly recommend Leavy’s newest book, as well as her first two.

NYY_Oct18_pg028

Five Minutes With … Jim Furyk

(This story originally appeared in the September 2018 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

Nothing too fancy here, just a quick interview with Jim Furyk in advance of his stint captaining the U.S. Ryder Cup team when it heads to France at the end of September. Furyk brought the Ryder Cup trophy to Yankee Stadium, and I got a few minutes to chat with him about his own Ryder Cup history, his expectations for this year, and what makes the event so special.

Hope you’ll read.

NYY_Sept18_pg030

End Game

(This story originally appeared in the September 2018 edition of Yankees Magazine.)

As the 2018 trade deadline approached, it seems that the Yankees were in desperate need of a starting pitcher. So general manager Brian Cashman went out and acquired one of the best … relief pitchers? … on the market? On the surface it made little sense. But baseball is changing, and all you need to do is look at the ways that the Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays approached this year to see it. And sure, the Yankees are playing their part, too.

Starting pitchers are throwing fewer innings than ever, and since the game is still nine innings long, that means that managers and pitching coaches are being forced to rely on relievers more than ever before. So in Zach Britton, Cashman added a fourth elite closer to the Yankees’ bullpen, joining Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and David Robertson.

For this story, I tried to introduce Britton to Yankees fans, while also looking at what the acquisition can tell us about the new team-building philosophies at play. I had never interviewed Britton before this, and we had a really fun chat. He’s incredibly honest and thoughtful in his answers. A highlight for me was when we talked a lot about all of the high-leverage situations he would face in his hybrid role on the Yankees’ roster. An experienced closer who wouldn’t be doing much ninth-inning work, he was excited about the change, anxious to add a new club to his bag. Britton is enough of a student of the game (in particular, of the ways that former Yankee Andrew Miller has thrived in a unique bullpen role) to know that the idea of the ninth inning being where all the money is made doesn’t really make sense anymore.

But at the same time, he admitted that he couldn’t really explain why it was still important to him, why he still expected that when he enters free agency after the 2018 season, he expects to find a job closing again. He was almost treating it like a thought experiment, brainstorming responses. “I have the American League record for consecutive saves,” he told me, more thinking out loud than anything else. It turns out, the game might be changing faster than even the players can comprehend (for more on this, ask Greg Bird about the shift. Then back away slowly).

I think it’s going to be fascinating to see how all of this develops in the coming years. In the meantime, I hope you’ll check out this story.

https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/britton-trade-added-to-yankees-deep-bullpen/c-294600990?tid=163658034

Master Craftsman

(This story originally appeared in the August 2018 issue of Yankees Magazine.)

I hope I’m wrong when I say this, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get to work on a more interesting reporting project. I had been circling something like this for a while, hanging out with a minor league roving instructor as he moved from town to town coaching different players. Between the Drew Henson scouting story that I wrote in 2016 and my feature last year about Donny Sands learning how to play catcher, I’ve long been fascinated by the people behind the scenes, the ones who help the players develop into major leaguers.

When I started asking around the Yankees front office, a bunch of people pointed me toward Danny Borrell, one of the team’s two pitching coordinators. I had never met Danny, had never heard of him, and didn’t really know what to expect. But he was open to the story from the start, and agreed to let me tag along on two trips — Staten Island and Pulaski.

The night before we started, he emailed me to say that he was actually going to be in Charleston instead of Pulaski, that something really big was happening. Normally, when big things happen around the team, we’re told to stay away. This was a rare case when I was being told that something huge was happening, and that I should make sure I was there for it. It was a no-brainer. 

He wouldn’t tell me what the big news was until after it happened, so we spent the first few days just watching the way he interacted with all the young minor leaguers — Short-Season A-ballers in Staten Island, then Low-A players in Charleston. It was fascinating. Danny would strap on catching gear and catch all the bullpens (despite being A: left-handed; and B: a former pitcher). He just has the most positive way about him, always laughing, joking, teaching. The best thing about writing minor league stories is that you really get total access. I have never stepped in the bullpen at Yankee Stadium, but while I was following Danny around, I was basically standing next to the pitchers as they were doing their workouts. It was awesome.

Danny let me hang out in meetings, he let me stand over his shoulder as he watched video with players, he let me stay next to him while he watched the games. The only time he told me he needed me to stay away for a few minutes was when they had the big meeting. As it turned out, they were taking Dermis Garcia — a pretty substantial prospect in Charleston — and letting him try to pitch. Garcia has never pitched, but his arm from third base was incredible, and Borrell had long been pining to get him onto a mound. And after Brian Cashman and his team spent time in the offseason pursuing Shohei Ohtani, they were encouraged enough by the idea of a two-way player to see if Garcia might have the chops to handle it. So they presented it to him, he enthusiastically accepted, and the next day, we stood right along the bullpen as Garcia threw off a mound for the first time in his life.

This story was an absolute joy to write, everything I could have hoped for and more. I don’t think I’ll ever have access like this again. I’m happy with how it came out.

https://www.mlb.com/news/danny-borrell-molds-yankees-young-pitchers/c-287603796

A Major Minor Showcase

(This story originally appeared in the August 2018 issue of Yankees Magazine.)

The Trenton Thunder were hosting the Double-A All-Star Game this past July, and since they are a Yankees affiliate, it was only natural that we’d do a magazine piece on the spectacle.

I’ve been to eight MLB All-Star Games, so I was really interested to see how this minor league version would compare, and what I saw was an absolute delight. It was everything that makes minor league baseball so fun, just amped up about 300 percent. They still had Rookie the bat dog retrieving lumber in the early innings, but they also had Budweiser Clydesdales doing a lap of the warning track. The Thunder have a pork roll mascot (and on Fridays, the team wears Trenton Pork Roll uniforms). I laughed literally every time I saw the weird pink meat costume wandering the concourses. All of the silliness and nonsense (in the best way) was still there. It was just amped up.

I sat in the press box over these two days listening to one soon-retiring New York Post writer bemoaning the assignment, hoping that Tim Tebow wouldn’t do anything special, so that he wouldn’t have to write about it. Dude, we get it. This isn’t The Masters. But I really loved covering this event, and I’d love to do it again sometime. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/trenton-packs-the-fun-into-aa-all-star-game/c-287605738