Tag: Trenton

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

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