Tag: MiLB

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

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

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