Combining a resilience the field and a vision for excellence in the front office, the Boston Red Sox have brought unbridled joy to the ever-growing population of Red Sox Nation in the past five seasons.
In 2004, there was literally dancing in the streets of Boston when the franchise stunned the New York Yankees by rallying from a 3-0 deficit in the American League Championship Series on the way to its first World Series title in 86 years. Three years later, a second generation of champions, led by high-stepping closer Jonathan Papelbon, danced in celebration on the Fenway green.
This year, after the Red Sox disposed of the Los Angeles Angels in the AL Division Series and the crowd had gone home, team owners John Henry and Tom Werner took a celebratory run around the basepaths.
The Red Sox have become winners on the field and in the community, and they've had a measure of fun doing it.
And when USA TODAY Sports Weekly ranked the performance of 30 Major League Baseball franchises in nine categories during the past five years, the Red Sox, who reached Game 7 of the ALCS this year, came out No. 1 overall.
Four postseason appearances in the past five years didn't hurt, but the team also earned high marks in player development, management continuity and attendance.
The Red Sox experienced new levels of success and profitability after Henry teamed with Werner, Larry Lucchino and other investors to buy the team for $700 million from the Jean R. Yawkey estate in 2002. The purchase included the smallest and oldest ballpark in the majors, Fenway Park, and an 80% share of the New England Sports Network (NESN).
Although it was the highest price ever paid for a baseball team, Werner says it has been one heck of an investment.
"In terms of personal satisfaction, it's paid enormous dividends," he says. "Financially, I think we have demonstrated that you can increase revenues, increase the bottom line and win. Part of what makes us successful is that we're still hungry."
Henry says that appetite for success rages top to bottom, throughout the organization.
"The two recent World Series championships fuel our desire for a third," Henry says. "We are fortunate to have bright, talented, committed people who enjoy working together and are never satisfied. If we rate something as a '9,' we ask why it isn't a '10.' If something is a '10,' we ask why can't we improve on that."
Says manager Terry Francona, who has led the team to postseason play in four of his five seasons: "There's no complacency here. … There's a hunger."
On the field
Under general manager Theo Epstein, who assumed the role in 2002, the Red Sox have added key components. His most productive trade brought pitcher Josh Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell from the Florida Marlins, even though it cost several prospects, including budding superstar shortstop Hanley Ramirez.
But the hallmark of the Red Sox's recent success has been their ability to draft and develop talented players. Young pitchers Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz have already pitched no-hitters, Papelbon has become one of the game's best closers, and first baseman Kevin Youkilis, second baseman Dustin Pedroia and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury help form the nucleus of the everyday lineup.
"We can't simply develop major league players," Epstein says. "We challenge our staff to develop major league players who are ready to step into this environment, in Boston, in the middle of a pennant race. That's the only way they can be useful to us."
Epstein and his staff pore over statistical information before making decisions and seek opinions from one another at all levels of player selection and development. While Epstein and assistant GM Jed Hoyer constantly exchange thoughts with vice presidents Ben Cherington (player personnel), Craig Shipley (scouting) and assistant to the GM Allard Baird, they also reap the benefits of sabermetric guru Bill James on staff. James was hired by Henry in 2003.
The Red Sox have developed an instructional manual with guidelines for consistency throughout the organization. It covers everything from how uniforms should be worn to controlling the strike zone from both a hitter's and pitcher's perspective.
The development process continues throughout the offseason with instructional programs, including a two-week finishing school at Fenway for players deemed to be within 18 months of making it to the big leagues.
"It's part of an expanded offseason effort to track and nurture our minor league players," Cherington says. "The two-week program in January is an opportunity for us to work on physical fundamentals and mental goals. It's an opportunity to introduce them to the city, the ballpark and faces around the ballpark they might come into contact with."
Players say it pays off.
"Once you get here, you know what's expected of you," Ellsbury says. "The biggest thing is teaching guys how to win close ballgames. If you have guys who know how to win, that's one thing that's kind of hard to teach. And we've had successful minor league teams."
Papelbon says the attitude in the Red Sox clubhouse fosters a continuation of the maturation process.
"When guys come in here, they realize they're part of something special," he says. "We have a great minor league system, but I think what separates us from any other ballclub is our clubhouse atmosphere, the camaraderie and the way we prepare for games every day."
The Red Sox have been able to find the right mix when it comes to scouting and developing homegrown talent, making trades and signing free agents.
"Given the economics of paying for high-priced free agents, you need to have good scouting," Werner says. "If you're going to talk the talk about scouting and player development, you've got to walk the walk, and we've made the financial commitment. I feel that Theo and his group have been able to spend their money wisely."
That applies to international scouting as well. The Red Sox committed more than $103 million to acquire and pay pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka for six years. In his first two seasons with Boston, Matsuzaka went 33-15.
Brian Cashman, general manager of the archrival New York Yankees, gives the Red Sox's front office high marks. "They have a tremendous farm system, and they have the money to spend," he says. "But they spend it wisely so that they can be successful now and in the future."
Few players have been more responsible for Boston's success on the field than catcher Jason Varitek, now a free agent after 12 seasons with the team.
"I lived through the entire time — finding a way to erase years and years of heartache with such a big fan base," says Varitek, referring to the Red Sox's failure to win a World Series from 1919 to 2003. "I felt the agony of the fans — felt them get their hearts broken once again. That was the way it was here until we actually won it all.
"We worked our way to get here. It didn't happen all of a sudden, in one year when someone loads up a team and wins. It was gradual."
Francona says the biggest difference between the Red Sox of today and the franchise's teams that failed to win a World Series is "probably pitching." Curt Schilling and Beckett have each been 20-game winners in the past five years.
"You can hit your way to a lot of wins during the season," Francona says, "but when you get to the postseason, you'd better have pitching. We've had excellent pitching here.
"We realize we've been given a very good payroll — not limitless, but terrific. That means we get good players. But with that comes an obligation to try to be good every year, which is not easy. I think Theo and those guys have done a great job of trying to keep us competitive every year. You win once and everyone wants to bring everybody back. … They've made some tough decisions."
In the two years after winning the World Series in 2004, the Red Sox parted ways with popular players, including free agents Johnny Damon, Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Kevin Millar. Unable or unwilling to meet salary demands of every veteran player, the team has compensated with lower-salaried, younger talent from the farm system.
Not every decision has worked out. In particular, the team has faced a revolving door at shortstop since the 2004 decision to trade Nomar Garciaparra. Edgar Renteria and Julio Lugo have been among those signed to large multiyear contracts only to fail in Boston.
One of Epstein's toughest decisions came this season when slugger Manny Ramirez became a deterrent to team unity. The Red Sox worked a three-team deal at the July 31 trade deadline, including a pair of young players to acquire outfielder Jason Bay.
Epstein says Francona has been "the perfect guy" to guide the Red Sox, with their mix of high-profile players such as Ramirez, Schilling and DH David Ortiz and budding performers such as pitcher Justin Masterson and shortstop Jed Lowrie.
"It takes a special person to deal with all of us on one hand and also handle the challenges that are unique to Boston, like the extreme (news) media presence," Epstein says. "Terry is a genuinely good person who deals honestly and amicably with all the different constituencies — fans, media, staff. He's also been very receptive to the integration of young players onto our major league roster. With Terry and his staff, development doesn't necessarily have to stop at Triple-A."
The ballpark
Fenway Park is a relic from a bygone era, transformed by current ownership into a fan-friendly tourist attraction.
"There's something magical about this little bandbox that keeps the energy and the spirit and the electricity inside it," Lucchino says. "The fact that it's always sold out kind of magnifies all of those things."
Few thought saving Fenway, which opened in 1912, would be practical, much less profitable. The park's small footprint, lack of parking and limited seating capacity were major drawbacks. The park itself required considerable work and updating.
"The joke in our early years was we led the league in new bathroom fixtures," Werner says. "We have focused first on making it a better destination for baseball — expanding it, enhancing it, making it a warmer, more comfortable place. We are committed to doing no harm — that is not changing the essential nature, the look and feel of Fenway Park."
Multiple enhancements, including the Green Monster seats atop the left-field wall, have increased seating capacity from less than 34,000 to nearly 40,000. And the fans have responded with the Red Sox selling out 468 consecutive games through 2008, surpassing the Cleveland Indians' record of 455. The club will add 560 seats this offseason.
"We've increased our revenues dramatically over the last five years," Werner says. "We think of Fenway as 'The Little Engine that Could,' and it just keeps chugging along, generating revenues."
More seating and signage have helped fill the till. But it's the new amenities and atmosphere that contribute to making Fenway a tourist destination. At 9 a.m. before a Sunday game in September, about 300 lined up just to tour the ballpark.
"We've turned Yawkey Way (at the main entrance) into a street fair," Lucchino says. "What was the laundry building behind the bleachers, we incorporated into the park (creating a food court). Fenway is a classic urban ballpark, not surrounded by oceans of parking, but that's part of its charm. It's pedestrian-friendly, public-transportation-friendly."
Says Werner: "We're not unmindful of the escalating costs of baseball tickets. We have some $12 seats out in the bleachers, and one of the things we've done is create an abundant and attractive standing-room alternative."
The expansion appears to be about maxed out.
"It will always be a ballpark that will seat under 40,000, and when we finish the work, it will be a park that will have a survivability of 30, 40, 50 years," Werner says.
Marketing the brand
Off the field, the Red Sox have been successful in selling their team, their park and their brand.
"This ownership group markets like no other organization I've ever been involved with," says former Red Sox general manager Lou Gorman, now executive consultant for the team's community affairs. "They do a remarkable job of promoting the ballclub, selling the image of the ballclub, marketing Red Sox Nation. I've never seen an organization promote itself like these people."
Gorman points to the extensive signage on Fenway's walls and the high demand for luxury suites.
"When Dan Duquette replaced me in 1995, our payroll was about $39.4 million," Gorman says. "Today it's more than $140 million, and they're still able to pay the money to be competitive. They think big. They don't think small."
Red Sox fans are spread around the country and around the globe. Their affiliation with and affinity for the team has come under the umbrella of Red Sox Nation. Wherever they play, the Red Sox draw. Transplanted New Englanders remain loyal and spread the gospel. The team again led the major leagues in road attendance this season at 38,367 a game — more than 2,000 a game more than the second-place Chicago Cubs.
"I don't quite understand how we have managed to acquire the breadth and depth of Red Sox Nation around the world," Henry says. "Unless you witness it directly, you cannot be aware of the passion our fans have whether they live in Tokyo or Brookline (Mass.)."
Through Fenway Sports Group, a wholly owned sales and marketing subsidiary, the Red Sox brand extends exponentially.
Through the FSG connection, Sox ownership also owns half-interest in NASCAR's Roush Fenway Racing, the Class A Salem (Va.) Avalanche, have a sponsorship agreement with Boston College, offer Red Sox Destination Tours to avid fans and provide consulting services to major corporations.
"We've used the calling card of the Red Sox and the momentum of the Red Sox to expand our business to business relationships, reaching out to new business in most cases unrelated to baseball," FSG President Mike Dee says. "Take Roush Racing. When we first knocked on the door, it wasn't like we were somebody who they hadn't heard of. I think it's paved the way for other relationships."
Destination Tours has taken Sox fans to Japan, as well as closer-to-home venues such as Baltimore, to follow the team.
"It's a niche business that represents only a small percentage of those fans who travel to see the Red Sox," Dee says. "But Sox fans have taken note of the sellout mentality and demand for tickets at Fenway and travel to other ballparks to see the team on the road.
"In many cases, those tickets are easier to get. We've added special elements, like the ability to stay at the team hotel and meet-and-greets with players or personalities like Jerry Remy."
Remy, a former Red Sox second baseman-turned-broadcaster, is a star as a NESN analyst.
"He's assumed Ted Williams-like stature," Dee says. "A lot of folks who don't remember him as a player know him as the de facto leader of Red Sox Nation.
"With NESN, we've dramatically expanded our programming, both pre(game) and postgame. We view NESN as an extension of the brand and an opportunity to tell our story outside the traditional window of game coverage. The advertising demand is there, and NESN has done a better job of getting nearly 100% coverage."
As executive producer of such television shows as Roseanne, The Cosby Show and That '70s Show, Werner knows television.
"When we acquired this franchise, John, Larry and I knew that having the cable network would be important," Werner says. "You can tell your story not just during games with the announcers but with other kinds of shoulder programming."
Continuity and future
Werner says success starts at the top.
"Theo Epstein and our baseball operations people and scouts in the field deserve an enormous amount of credit," he says.
Keeping that group together has been another winning element.
The continuity was interrupted briefly in late 2005 when Epstein rejected a three-year, $4.5 million contract offer and left. But Epstein, who grew up near Fenway, was never really gone.
He stayed in touch and by January 2006 was back, not only as GM but as executive vice president.
His future was further solidified at the end of the 2008 season when he agreed to a contract extension.
"I believe Theo is the best GM in baseball," Henry says. "I believe Larry is the best CEO in sports. I believe Tom is the most effective executive I've ever met.
"We have Fenway Sports Group led by Mike Dee and Sam Kennedy. They are challenging for a NASCAR championship led by Jack Roush. NESN led by Sean McGrail has the highest rating among sports networks. With that management lineup, it is not surprising we have been successful — more than anyone imagined."
Lucchino says it all comes back to winning.
"Where we always start is with baseball performance," he says. "The commitment to winning is the rock on which the franchise is built. We try never to forget that we are in the baseball business and the central motion of what we're doing is to try to find ways to provide winning, entertaining baseball for our fans."
Lucchino says he thinks the Red Sox can continue to prosper, even in a difficult economic climate.
"I don't think we've hit some kind of plateau," he says. "We'll find new avenues, new possibilities. The 100th anniversary of Fenway Park is going to be a very big deal. We have more plans to enhance Fenway."
Henry, however, thinks the down economy will have some impact throughout baseball.
"We go to work every day with the knowledge of how fragile success is in baseball — how difficult it is to be consistently successful," Henry says. "We just broke a great attendance record set by the Cleveland Indians. After selling 43,000 seats per game for years, within two years they were selling 21,000 seats. We don't take any of this for granted. The Indians are extremely well run, but they still haven't gotten back to selling 30,000 seats eight years later.
"We have a payroll that reflects how ardent our fans are. Our revenues come from our fans — ultimately every penny. And we pay … revenue sharing.
"That usurps the vast majority of the profits we would see from the Red Sox. But we bought the Red Sox for two primary purposes: to win world championship rings and to be an integral part of a community that gives great meaning to this franchise and sport."
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Saturday, May 12, 2007
The Yankee Clean-up Man - Rudy Giuliani
The greatest love affair of Rudy Giuliani's life has become a sordid scandal.
His monogamous embrace of the Yankees as mayor was so fervent that when he tried to deliver a West Side stadium to them early in his administration, or approved a last-minute $400 million subsidy for their new Bronx stadium, New Yorkers blithely ascribed the bad deals to a heaving heart.
It turns out he also had an outstretched hand.
Sports fans grew accustomed to seeing Giuliani, in Yankee jacket and cap, within camera view of the team's dugout at every one of the 40 postseason home games the Yankees played while he was mayor. His devotion reached such heights that at the 1995 Inner Circle press dinner, he played himself handing the city over to George Steinbrenner in a lampoon version of the Broadway musical Damn Yankees, succumbing to a scantily clad Lola who importuned him on behalf of the Boss to the tune of "Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)." Mike Bloomberg understood years later that the song was no joke; he nixed Rudy's stadium deal in his first weeks in office.
It is only now, however, as Giuliani campaigns for president, that we are beginning to learn that this relationship went even deeper. Giuliani has been seen on the campaign trail wearing a World Series ring, a valuable prize we never knew he had. Indeed, the Yankees have told the Voice that he has four rings, one for every world championship the Yankees won while he was mayor. Voice calls to other cities whose teams won the Series in the past decade have determined that Giuliani is the only mayor with a ring, much less four. If it sounds innocent, wait for the price tag. These are certainly no Canal Street cubic zirconia knockoffs.
With Giuliani's name inscribed in the 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 diamond-and-gold rings, memorabilia and baseball experts say they are collectively worth a minimum of $200,000. The Yankees say that Giuliani did pay for his rings—but only $16,000, and years after he had left office. Anyone paying for the rings is as unusual as a mayor getting one, since neither the Yankees nor any other recent champion have sold rings to virtually anyone. The meager payment, however, is less than half of the replacement value of the rings, and that's a fraction of the market price, especially with the added value of Giuliani's name.
What's more troubling is that Giuliani's receipt of the rings may be a serious breach of the law, and one that could still be prosecuted. New York officials are barred from taking a gift of greater than $50 value from anyone doing business with the city, and under Giuliani, that statute was enforced aggressively against others. His administration forced a fire department chief, for example, to retire, forfeit $93,105 in salary, and pay a $6,000 fine for taking Broadway tickets to two shows and a free week in a ski condo from a city vendor. The city's Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) has applied the gift rule to discounts as well, unless the cheaper rate "is available generally to all government employees." When a buildings department deputy commissioner was indicted in 2000 for taking Mets and Rangers tickets, as well as a family trip to Florida, from a vendor, an outraged Giuliani denounced his conduct as "reprehensible," particularly "at high levels in city agencies," and said that such officials had to be "singled out" and "used as examples."
City officials are also required to disclose gifts from anyone but relatives on forms filed with the COIB, something Giuliani did not do with any of the rings. Giuliani certainly used to sound serious about the need for full public disclosure. In 1989, he denounced his mayoral opponent, David Dinkins, for failing to disclose frequent-flier tickets to France given to him by a friend, even though the friend did no business with the city; Giuliani called it an example of "arrogance and disrespect for legal and ethical obligations."
And there's another, more recent, and closer-to-home example of arrogant nondisclosure noted publicly by Giuliani. When former police commissioner Bernard Kerik pled guilty last year to charges involving a city contractor's gift to him of a $165,000 apartment renovation, Giuliani said that Kerik had "acknowledged his violations." As part of a $221,000 plea deal, Kerik agreed to pay a $10,000 fine to the COIB for accepting and then failing to accurately disclose the renovations. Not only are Kerik and Giuliani's concealed gifts of similar value, but Kerik, like Giuliani, made a partial payment for the renovations—$17,800, far less than full value.
More ominous for Giuliani, Kerik's prosecution came eight years after the renovation of his apartment began, an indication that the ordinary statute of limitations doesn't apply to the continuing reporting requirements of the COIB. In addition, Giuliani reportedly paid the Yankees as recently as 2004 for one of the rings, another reason why an investigation might still be timely. It is also a violation of state unlawful-gratuity statutes for a public official to "solicit, accept, or agree to accept any benefit" from a business like the Yankees, which leases the stadium from the city.
If Giuliani neither received the rings, nor was promised them while in office, he would not have violated these rules. In repeated exchanges with the Voice, a Yankee spokeswoman was vague about when Giuliani actually received the rings, though she suggested that Giuliani might have obtained them when he paid for them—which would have been well after his mayoral term ended in 2001. Alice McGillion of Rubenstein Associates, the public relations firm that represents the Yankees, said that in 2003, Giuliani paid $13,500 for his 1998, 1999, and 2000 rings, and in 2004, he paid $2,500 for his 1996 ring. She said that the team had only "transmittal" documents that confirmed the payments and that, from those documents, it could be "reasonably deduced" that he didn't receive the rings until then.
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McGillion acknowledged that she had no other evidence besides the records of payment to lead her to believe that Giuliani received the rings years after the championships were won. She declined to respond to two sets of e-mailed questions about whether it was the team's contention that rings weren't made for Giuliani until 2003 and 2004, or if they were maintaining that his rings had actually been manufactured during his mayoralty and held by the Yankees, with his assent, until after he left office.
Although the Yankees replaced Joe DiMaggio’s lost rings in 1999, making new ones years later is almost never done and would have been an exceptional favor. Asked if the Yankees would make a ring several years after a World Series win for a new recipient, David Fiore, the ex-CEO of American Achievement, the Texas-based manufacturer of the team’s rings, said: "Not after the fact; they're all awarded at the same time. If you lose it a couple of years later, we will replace it."
Giuliani's protracted delay—paying for a 1996 ring eight years later—might well be seen by the IRS, COIB, or other investigators as an indication that he recognized the impropriety of receiving them while mayor, or, as Giuliani used to describe it in his prosecutorial days, an "inference of guilt." If the rings were promised and made for him while he was in office, though not actually delivered until after his term ended, that could still involve violations of the gift or gratuity statutes, according to investigators.
Four sources, two from the manufacturer and two from City Hall, have told the Voice that a ring was made with Giuliani's name on it in 1996 or early 1997. The City Hall sources also recall him receiving the ring at that time. In addition, one of these sources, joined by two other ex–Giuliani staffers, says the mayor did not take possession of the three additional rings until much later. The best recollection of these aides is that he got these rings as a package near the end of his term in 2001, just as his administration closed a number of critical deals with the Yankees. While the Yankees could offer no explanation for why he paid for three rings in one year and the 1996 ring a year later, the chronology cited by the sources suggests one. He paid for the three he received together, and then later remembered to pay for the one he'd gotten long before. He paid $2,000 less for the 1996 ring than he did for the others—another indication of how disconnected from market factors this reputed sale was, since many ring experts believe the 1996 ring, which ended a nearly two-decade Yankee drought, is the most valuable of the four.
McGillion also declined to answer questions about the tax implications of Giuliani's rings, which may explain the late payments. Bill DeWitt III, one of the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals, says the team, which won the championship last year, issued 1099-MISC "miscellaneous income" forms to employees and non-employees who received rings, but the Yankees have never done that. At the time of the Yankee wins, IRS rules required the reporting of gifts of more than $10,000 by either the donor or the recipient (the threshold was recently raised to $12,000). DeWitt says that estimating a ring's value for tax purposes gets "a little gray and murky," and a Cardinal spokesman says that the club actually boosted employee salaries to cover taxes they might have to pay on the rings.
Three tax attorneys tell the Voice that Giuliani's payments may have been intended to lower the value of the gifts below the IRS thresholds. That would mean that neither the Yankees nor Giuliani would have to report the transaction. The belated payments then may have been a post-divorce or pre-presidential-campaign attempt, on the advice of tax counsel, to avoid dealing with the actual timing and true value of the rings.
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Frequently ensconced in George Steinbrenner's eight-seat 31A box and four Legends 31AA seats next to the Yankee dugout while he was mayor, Giuliani and his many guests were also repeatedly given Yankee jackets, caps, autographed balls, and other gifts. "He would require gifts at every game," says a former close Giuliani aide, whose account is supported by both a Yankee source and an ex-cop assigned to the mayor. He even wanted a fitted cap with the World Series logo and other special caps, and the equipment management had to reach into the players' uniform case to find one for Giuliani's large head. The Giuliani group also raided the closet in Steinbrenner's office, even taking DiMaggio jackets with red piping for the mayor and guests. "They finally turned the spigot off in 2000 and said we just can't do it anymore," the aide recalls. The cop remembers jackets and balls—some signed by all the Yankees—stuffed in the back of the city cars they used to drive back from the stadium.
The Yankees say Giuliani paid for at least some of his tickets, though he did not pay when "he attended in his official capacity." They declined to specify which games were official, or to answer detailed questions about the other largesse. Several friends who sat with Giuliani at games, like Emergency Management Director Jerry Hauer, say they were never asked to pay. "I don't believe he paid for our seats," says Hauer. "I don't think anybody paid for them. It would have cost him a fortune." Russell Harding, one of three members of his family who went to Yankee games with Giuliani and the head of the Housing Development Corporation, wrote in an e-mail disclosed after his arrest on charges of bilking the city for hundreds of thousands of dollars: "I never have to pay for things like that . . . especially Yankee tickets . . . just one of the perks I get with my job . . . And knowing the mayor doesn't hurt either." Russell's brother Robert (both are sons of Liberal Party boss Ray Harding) was actually in charge of the Yankee Stadium negotiations for Giuliani.
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With tickets for Giuliani's box and Legends seats selling for $50 to $200 for regular-season games, and with Giuliani and an average of eight guests attending a minimum of 20 games a year, the eight-year price tag for the mayor, including the far more expensive postseason games he never missed, would have been an estimated $120,000. That's quite a load on an average salary of $150,000. Obviously, any substantial tickets and assorted gifts to the mayor or his city employee guests would also have run afoul of the $50 COIB limit.
The Yankees say that Mayor Bloomberg has purchased four season tickets in Section 53, behind the Steinbrenner box that Giuliani still uses, and pays even when he attends in his official capacity. Bloomberg does not allow anyone on the city payroll to use his seats because he regards it as granting an improper benefit to a subordinate. (The Yankee spokeswoman declined to characterize the difference between how the two mayors dealt with seating at the stadium.) Giuliani's periodic payments for some of these tickets may also have had a tax motive. Had he paid nothing for the seats, he would have had to treat the entire Yankee goodie bag as income.
Giuliani's sense of entitlement about the Yankees was so deep that he frequently used a police boat to haul himself and his guests to games, using either the slip near Gracie Mansion or the Wall Street/South Street one near City Hall. In his own book, Leadership, he revealed that the first Yankee game he ever took Judi Nathan to was David Cone's perfect game in July 1999, almost a full year before he announced at a press conference that she was his "very good friend." Judi and her girlfriends became part of his stadium entourage, just as his previous very good friend, Cristyne Lategano, had been in the earlier years. When Giuliani's wife Donna Hanover barred Lategano from the box if her son Andrew was at the game, the young press aide sequestered herself in Steinbrenner's suite, extending Giuliani's reach to the home-plate section of the stadium as well. Judi, too, eventually became a presence in the Steinbrenner suite.
At one point, according to the close aide, George Pataki's office asked if the seats could be "split in half, either horizontally or vertically" so the governor could get access. "Absolutely not," was Rudy's answer. What about just two of the seats? Another no. Asked if he'd ever sat in the prized seats, Gene Budig, who was American League president for most of the Giuliani years, tells the Voice: "I got to sit in seats a couple of times when he wasn't there, but never with him. The seats were practically in the dugout." The prominence of the seats and the success of the team quickly catapulted Giuliani into prime-time sports hero status. He even managed to get himself interviewed on camera in the locker-room champagne celebrations of the great victories, running right in through the dugout after the game. That was in addition to his regular fifth-inning appearance on the Yankee radio broadcast. He merged himself with the Yankees in the national consciousness, and is still featured, with his old comb-over look, on the scoreboard screen during every game, leading cheers for a Yankee rally. On opening day in April, the presidential candidate also appeared in the Yankee radio and TV booth for full inning commentary, a sneer at the equal-time provisions of federal law.
In 2003, the Yankees paid a $75,000 fine to the state lobbying commission for not disclosing as a lobbying expense dozens of tickets given to public officials in 2002 and 2003. Even though Giuliani wasn't a public official anymore, his name appeared on a list entitled "Political Friends" that the Yankees turned over to the commission. He was one of the few with a special note by his name: "GMS list," referring to George Steinbrenner. He still had all 12 seats in the same section for playoff games, though he was listed as sharing them with Mayor Bloomberg on opening day. While a variety of credit cards or the word invoice are listed under the category of "method of payment" for many of the special seats, the space beside Giuliani's name is left blank. No explanation for those left blank was offered. Since the ring payments occurred as recently as 2004, the commission, too, may still have the jurisdiction to investigate whether the tickets were improper gifts granted to Giuliani while he was a lobbied public official.
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While mayors in other cities may have tried to tie themselves to successful sports franchises like Giuliani, none, no matter how big a fan, has gotten a ring for his efforts. Team representatives, or mayoral representatives, in every city that's won a championship since 1995 tell the Voice that their mayor didn't get a ring. Not the Florida Marlins (winners in 1997 and 2003), Arizona Diamondbacks (2001), Anaheim (now Los Angeles) Angels (2002), Boston Red Sox (2004), Chicago White Sox (2005) or St. Louis Cardinals (2006). Team representatives also tell the Voice that rings are not for sale—to a mayor or anyone else. "The mayor didn't get a ring," says White Sox spokesman Lou Hernandez. "We did a World Series ring raffle and all the proceeds went to charity. So he could have won a ring. He's a ticket holder. But no public officials got gifts even if they helped." The Cardinals' DeWitt says: "We haven't allowed anyone to buy a ring, even some limited partners who wanted an extra. You can only have it given to you. We have a great mayor. He's been helpful for us. But we just felt like for us it was best to stick to employees and Hall of Famers." Asked if rings are ever given to public officials, DeWitt says: "I've never heard that politicians get them." Angels spokesman Tim Meade says rings are "absolutely not sold under any circumstances." In fact, the Angels fired an executive who put his ring up for sale, an action Steinbrenner is also said to have taken. "There were a couple of people from the city of Anaheim who got rings," acknowledges Meade. "They were people from the city manager's office who worked closely with the Angels."
Jerry McNeal, a World Series historian associated with the Baseball Hall of Fame, says that public officials don't usually get rings. "No, you have to be associated with the team in some way," says McNeal. "When the L.A. Dodgers won the world championship, Frank Sinatra was good friends with the manager, Tommy Lasorda, but he couldn't get a ring." Phyllis Merhige, senior vice president of the American League, says she isn't aware of rings going to public officials. "In a situation, I'm guessing, an official that was involved in the building of a new stadium or keeping a team in a city would be considered for a ring. But I couldn't tell you whether it's been done or not. There are no records." She says that congressional representatives are barred by law from receiving rings or other gifts from teams.
McNeal estimates that Giuliani's rings "would go for at least $50,000 apiece," adding that they "might even go for more than that." If Giuliani were elected president, he says, the rings "would skyrocket in value." Pete Siegel, the president of Gotta Have It Collectibles on East 57th Street, puts the value of Giuliani's four-ring set at a quarter of a million dollars. Siegel says that Giuliani has purchased sports items at his store and even came in once wearing a World Series ring. Having just sold two 1998 rings owned by a coach and front-office executive for $28,000 and $29,000, Siegel says that "Giuliani's rings would be on the same level as players' rings for all those years." He says he knows that Giuliani "definitely has a 1996 ring," though he is unsure if that was the ring the former mayor wore to his store.
Robert Lifson of Robert Edwards Auctions maintains that Giuliani's rings would be "more meaningful and valuable than some of the players'." Lifson's "gut" tells him the value could "go through the roof," estimating that they would sell for "north of $25,000 apiece." People would pay "a much bigger premium to have the ring of America's Mayor than an executive that nobody knows," says Lifson, who insists that "any modern Yankee ring" would sell for five figures even if it were the ring of an unknown. He says the rings are "works of art" that serve also as "a symbol of greatness in sports." Spencer Lader, a certified appraiser for the Yankees who has appeared on their TV network's memorabilia show, tells the Voice he puts the overall value of Giuliani's collection at about $200,000, adding, as did others, that the 1996 ring is "the most coveted."
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But when did Giuliani get that 1996 ring? Did he, as the Yankee spokeswoman suggests, receive it only when he made a token payment for it in 2004, after he was no longer mayor?
Not according to the man who actually made the ring, William Sandoval.
Sandoval says he's made rings for 26 years. After attending a stone-setter school, he went to work for L.G. Balfour in Attleboro, Massachusetts, which manufactured sports and school rings at its plant there for 84 years. "I was a special maker, doing diamond settings and customer repair," the Guatemala-born jeweler, now with his own small business in Rhode Island, tells the Voice. "I did the Yankees, the Celtics, and the Baltimore Orioles. Balfour liked my work. I did every championship ring." He particularly recalls the 1996 ring he did for the Yankees. Fifty percent larger than any previous team ring, the famous interlocking NY at the center was made of 23 diamonds, one for each title, encircled by the words World Champion. With the Series trophy and courage and heart on one side, the ring also featured the Yankee Stadium facade, the Yankees top hat, and the word tradition on the other.
It was easy to remember because it was Sandoval's last championship ring. Balfour was acquired by a New York investment firm in 1996 and closed its Attleboro plant to move to Texas in late 1997, laying off hundreds of workers. Its successor firm, American Achievement, still does Yankee work.
Sandoval distinctly remembers that they made a ring for Giuliani because, he says, he crafted it himself. Asked if he was certain if the Giuliani ring was made at the same time as the rest, he says: "It has to be at the same time." Asked again if he "definitely" remembers making a ring for Rudy Giuliani, Sandoval replies: "Yes. Oh, yes." His memory is confirmed by a former Balfour vice president who oversaw sports sales and asked that his name not be used. "I honestly think that Giuliani did get a ring," he says. "The only people who could get rings had to have a letter signed by Steinbrenner on Yankee stationery." Attempts to get the current manufacturer to confirm that rings were made for Giuliani for the other three championships were unsuccessful; the sales representative for the firm referred all questions to the Yankees.
Two other sources who asked that they not be named recall the 1996 ring. A member of Giuliani's police detail remembers attending a barbecue at Gracie Mansion after the ticker tape parade for the Yankees on October 29, 1996. Giuliani was so involved in the Yankee celebration, he personally reviewed the guest lists for the barbecue and an earlier event at City Hall. A photo of him in Yankee pinstripes appeared on the passes for attendees. His two prime Democratic opponents for the 1997 campaign had to settle for seats in the crowd at City Hall, though both were borough presidents, one from the Bronx. "George and he went into the Green Room at one point," the ex-cop recalls, referring to a den where Giuliani frequently entertained friends and close associates. "They were gone for about 15 minutes. He came out and said to us, 'I'm getting a ring. George is giving me a ring.' " Though the cop can't recall seeing the ring after that, he says that another Giuliani aide told him that the mayor got it, as well as other rings.
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That aide, who worked in City Hall throughout the Giuliani years, says the mayor got the ring sometime in 1997, around the time that the players got their rings in mid May. "The ring was kept in the second or third drawer of Beth Petrone's cabinet in Rudy's outer office at City Hall," says the aide, referring to Giuliani's executive assistant, who is currently the office manager for Bracewell & Giuliani, the Texas-based law firm that Giuliani has joined. "He actually wore it about once a year. He may have worn it during the playoffs in 1997 as a lucky charm.
"The other three rings came collectively," the aide continues. "I saw them in wooden boxes with Plexiglas windows. They were either kept in the mayor's personal office on the main floor or his downstairs office. He didn't get the 1998 and 1999 rings as they were handed out. They were just given to him sometime in 2001 as a collection." The 2000 ring wasn't presented to players until late July 2001, so Giuliani's rings would've arrived sometime after that. Though gifts to mayors are routinely logged on a City Hall list, Giuliani listed only one Steinbrenner gift among his more than 8,500 gifts bequeathed to the city: a videotape and booklet from Joe DiMaggio Day.
This aide and other sources close to City Hall recall that Giuliani's name was misspelled on one of the rings, returned to the Yankees, and replaced. News accounts of the 1999 ring presentation in 2000 indicated that there were mistakes on six rings, but the only one specified in the stories was that Roger Clemens's uniform number was wrong. The sources say that Carmela Piazza, who ran Giuliani's correspondence office at City Hall, oversaw the return of the ring, another indication that it was given to Giuliani while he was still in office. Contacted by the Voice, Piazza, who is a current donor to his presidential campaign, said repeatedly that she couldn't remember anything about the incident. A Yankee official initially confirmed that there was a spelling problem with one of the Giuliani rings, but later said he could not definitely determine if it happened. Spokeswoman McGillion, who was receiving limited information from the Yankees, acknowledges that "another person" affiliated with the team "hinted this to us."
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On December 31, 2001, first deputy mayor Joe Lhota was standing on the steps of City Hall, listening to the bagpipes playing in anticipation of Rudy Giuliani's farewell, when he was tapped on the shoulder and asked to sign a document. It was the last official act of the Giuliani administration: an amendment to the Yankee lease. Bills from Yankee lawyers that were reimbursed by the city indicate that the parties were busily negotiating the terms of the deal for at least five of Giuliani's final hours that day. Fourteen days later, Bill Thompson, the new city comptroller, would write the new mayor, Mike Bloomberg, to complain about the amendment Lhota signed, which allowed the Yankees to terminate their lease on 60 days' notice "anytime over the next nine years" if the team "reasonably determined" that the city was unlikely to proceed with the new stadium Giuliani had promised them. Previously, the Yankees had made a five-year commitment to remain in the Bronx if they stayed there through the 2002 season.
Bloomberg quickly moved to kill the lavishly subsidized term sheets that the Giuliani administration had signed to build new stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets. But he could do nothing about the $50 million in stadium planning costs that another last-minute lease amendment delivered to the teams. That amendment, signed by Giuliani in the closing moments, allowed each team to deduct from the rent they paid the city any costs they attributed to stadium planning—up to $5 million a year for five years.
A Voice story in 2006 revealed that the Yankees deducted the $203,055 they paid lobbyist Bill Powers, the former head of the state Republican party. They also deducted hundreds of thousands in other legal and lobbying fees retroactively, meaning that the city actually paid the Yankees' costs involved in negotiating, drafting, and pushing for the very lease amendment that allowed the deductions in the first place, an unprecedented circular giveaway. Though the amendment only permitted the Yankees to deduct for expenses from the beginning of 2001, the team submitted thousands in bills from the Regency Hotel as far back as 1999, a maneuver subsequently blocked by the comptroller. Remarkably, this was the Yankees' second dip into the city treasury to plan its own stadium. Giuliani's Economic Development Corporation had already reimbursed the Yankees $3 million for similar expenditures.
The ninth-inning amendments were just the latest in an orgy of favors that Giuliani granted the Yankees. When Thompson did an audit of the Yankees' payments to the city in 2004, it was only supposed to cover the period since 2002. But his office was so intrigued by the Yankees' meager payments to the city during the Giuliani years that he extended its review back to 1997 and discovered that the Yankees had grossly shortchanged the city. The club is allowed to deduct from its rental obligation the revenue-sharing payments it makes to Major League Baseball. It had mysteriously overstated those payments by $34 million between 1997 and 2002, shortchanging the city by $2.7 million.
In fact, as astonishing as it may seem, the Mets, big-time losers for most of the Giuliani years, were assessed for twice as much in net rent to the city for a half-empty Shea as the Yankees were for its packed house, an average of $5.4 million a year versus $2.86 million. The Yankee lease has long allowed the team to do its own stadium maintenance and deduct its costs from the rent, while Shea is maintained by the Parks Department. The Yankees drove an armored truck through that loophole in the Giuliani years. Even though the loophole is still in effect under Bloomberg, the payment pattern has reversed itself, with the Yankees paying twice as much as the Mets for 2002–2004, an annual average of $4.93 million versus $2.58 million. The Yankees argue that Giuliani's final stadium proposal was a boon to both teams equally, though the 60-day escape clause and the quadrupling of luxury boxes were unique Yankee benefits. But Mets owner Fred Wilpon wasn't even seeking a new stadium until late 2000, asking for city help simply to renovate Shea. He joined the Giuliani feast only to keep pace with the hog in the Bronx. With Daily News editorials observing that the mayor "has created the impression that money is no object" in accommodating Steinbrenner, what else was Wilpon to do?
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Of course, before Giuliani brokered his Bronx deal, he waged a three-year war to give the Yankees, not the Mets, a stadium on the West Side. He and Steinbrenner began that strong-arm campaign in 1996, just as the mayor was collecting his first ring. That's also when he amended the Yankee lease for the first of five times, quietly granting the Yankees permission to exclude much of cable and luxury-suite revenue from the calculus that determined the rent due the city. In fact, all the team paid the city to rent Yankee Stadium in a World Series year, when all deductions were made, was a measly $100,000. Giuliani was so committed to the West Side site he created a phony charter commission to put manufactured amendments on the ballot in 1998, a legal maneuver that submarined a referendum opposing the stadium. When a steel beam at Yankee Stadium collapsed that year, he turned it into a campaign to virtually condemn the stadium, rejecting the findings of his own building commissioner that the stadium was sound. No fact could get in the way of what Steinbrenner wanted.
The goodies list seems endless. Giuliani spent $71 million on a stadium for the Staten Island Yankees, a low-level minor league team half-owned by Steinbrenner's son. So few people go to games there that the team has yet to hit the minimal attendance threshold that triggers some rental payments to the city. Though the lease required the team to submit turnstile attendance numbers to the city, the stadium operated for years without turnstiles, and the comptroller has repeatedly found that it shortchanges the city. The city also helped the Yankees reconfigure Yankee Stadium in lucrative ways, including adding the very Legends seats in foul territory near the dugouts and home plate that Giuliani wound up occupying. On December 19, 2001, also just days before the end of Giuliani's term, Bob Harding signed a letter approving a million-dollar replacement of the playing field.
Those who know Giuliani well say that when he thinks he's in love, he waives all the rules of acceptable conduct. But the story of him and his team is not just a saga of disturbing infatuation and self-absorption. It is an object lesson in what kind of a president he would be, a window into his willingness to lend himself to a special interest, to blur all lines that ordinarily separate personal and public lives. It is not so much that he identified with the Yankees. It was himself that he was serving.
His monogamous embrace of the Yankees as mayor was so fervent that when he tried to deliver a West Side stadium to them early in his administration, or approved a last-minute $400 million subsidy for their new Bronx stadium, New Yorkers blithely ascribed the bad deals to a heaving heart.
It turns out he also had an outstretched hand.
Sports fans grew accustomed to seeing Giuliani, in Yankee jacket and cap, within camera view of the team's dugout at every one of the 40 postseason home games the Yankees played while he was mayor. His devotion reached such heights that at the 1995 Inner Circle press dinner, he played himself handing the city over to George Steinbrenner in a lampoon version of the Broadway musical Damn Yankees, succumbing to a scantily clad Lola who importuned him on behalf of the Boss to the tune of "Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)." Mike Bloomberg understood years later that the song was no joke; he nixed Rudy's stadium deal in his first weeks in office.
It is only now, however, as Giuliani campaigns for president, that we are beginning to learn that this relationship went even deeper. Giuliani has been seen on the campaign trail wearing a World Series ring, a valuable prize we never knew he had. Indeed, the Yankees have told the Voice that he has four rings, one for every world championship the Yankees won while he was mayor. Voice calls to other cities whose teams won the Series in the past decade have determined that Giuliani is the only mayor with a ring, much less four. If it sounds innocent, wait for the price tag. These are certainly no Canal Street cubic zirconia knockoffs.
With Giuliani's name inscribed in the 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 diamond-and-gold rings, memorabilia and baseball experts say they are collectively worth a minimum of $200,000. The Yankees say that Giuliani did pay for his rings—but only $16,000, and years after he had left office. Anyone paying for the rings is as unusual as a mayor getting one, since neither the Yankees nor any other recent champion have sold rings to virtually anyone. The meager payment, however, is less than half of the replacement value of the rings, and that's a fraction of the market price, especially with the added value of Giuliani's name.
What's more troubling is that Giuliani's receipt of the rings may be a serious breach of the law, and one that could still be prosecuted. New York officials are barred from taking a gift of greater than $50 value from anyone doing business with the city, and under Giuliani, that statute was enforced aggressively against others. His administration forced a fire department chief, for example, to retire, forfeit $93,105 in salary, and pay a $6,000 fine for taking Broadway tickets to two shows and a free week in a ski condo from a city vendor. The city's Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) has applied the gift rule to discounts as well, unless the cheaper rate "is available generally to all government employees." When a buildings department deputy commissioner was indicted in 2000 for taking Mets and Rangers tickets, as well as a family trip to Florida, from a vendor, an outraged Giuliani denounced his conduct as "reprehensible," particularly "at high levels in city agencies," and said that such officials had to be "singled out" and "used as examples."
City officials are also required to disclose gifts from anyone but relatives on forms filed with the COIB, something Giuliani did not do with any of the rings. Giuliani certainly used to sound serious about the need for full public disclosure. In 1989, he denounced his mayoral opponent, David Dinkins, for failing to disclose frequent-flier tickets to France given to him by a friend, even though the friend did no business with the city; Giuliani called it an example of "arrogance and disrespect for legal and ethical obligations."
And there's another, more recent, and closer-to-home example of arrogant nondisclosure noted publicly by Giuliani. When former police commissioner Bernard Kerik pled guilty last year to charges involving a city contractor's gift to him of a $165,000 apartment renovation, Giuliani said that Kerik had "acknowledged his violations." As part of a $221,000 plea deal, Kerik agreed to pay a $10,000 fine to the COIB for accepting and then failing to accurately disclose the renovations. Not only are Kerik and Giuliani's concealed gifts of similar value, but Kerik, like Giuliani, made a partial payment for the renovations—$17,800, far less than full value.
More ominous for Giuliani, Kerik's prosecution came eight years after the renovation of his apartment began, an indication that the ordinary statute of limitations doesn't apply to the continuing reporting requirements of the COIB. In addition, Giuliani reportedly paid the Yankees as recently as 2004 for one of the rings, another reason why an investigation might still be timely. It is also a violation of state unlawful-gratuity statutes for a public official to "solicit, accept, or agree to accept any benefit" from a business like the Yankees, which leases the stadium from the city.
If Giuliani neither received the rings, nor was promised them while in office, he would not have violated these rules. In repeated exchanges with the Voice, a Yankee spokeswoman was vague about when Giuliani actually received the rings, though she suggested that Giuliani might have obtained them when he paid for them—which would have been well after his mayoral term ended in 2001. Alice McGillion of Rubenstein Associates, the public relations firm that represents the Yankees, said that in 2003, Giuliani paid $13,500 for his 1998, 1999, and 2000 rings, and in 2004, he paid $2,500 for his 1996 ring. She said that the team had only "transmittal" documents that confirmed the payments and that, from those documents, it could be "reasonably deduced" that he didn't receive the rings until then.
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McGillion acknowledged that she had no other evidence besides the records of payment to lead her to believe that Giuliani received the rings years after the championships were won. She declined to respond to two sets of e-mailed questions about whether it was the team's contention that rings weren't made for Giuliani until 2003 and 2004, or if they were maintaining that his rings had actually been manufactured during his mayoralty and held by the Yankees, with his assent, until after he left office.
Although the Yankees replaced Joe DiMaggio’s lost rings in 1999, making new ones years later is almost never done and would have been an exceptional favor. Asked if the Yankees would make a ring several years after a World Series win for a new recipient, David Fiore, the ex-CEO of American Achievement, the Texas-based manufacturer of the team’s rings, said: "Not after the fact; they're all awarded at the same time. If you lose it a couple of years later, we will replace it."
Giuliani's protracted delay—paying for a 1996 ring eight years later—might well be seen by the IRS, COIB, or other investigators as an indication that he recognized the impropriety of receiving them while mayor, or, as Giuliani used to describe it in his prosecutorial days, an "inference of guilt." If the rings were promised and made for him while he was in office, though not actually delivered until after his term ended, that could still involve violations of the gift or gratuity statutes, according to investigators.
Four sources, two from the manufacturer and two from City Hall, have told the Voice that a ring was made with Giuliani's name on it in 1996 or early 1997. The City Hall sources also recall him receiving the ring at that time. In addition, one of these sources, joined by two other ex–Giuliani staffers, says the mayor did not take possession of the three additional rings until much later. The best recollection of these aides is that he got these rings as a package near the end of his term in 2001, just as his administration closed a number of critical deals with the Yankees. While the Yankees could offer no explanation for why he paid for three rings in one year and the 1996 ring a year later, the chronology cited by the sources suggests one. He paid for the three he received together, and then later remembered to pay for the one he'd gotten long before. He paid $2,000 less for the 1996 ring than he did for the others—another indication of how disconnected from market factors this reputed sale was, since many ring experts believe the 1996 ring, which ended a nearly two-decade Yankee drought, is the most valuable of the four.
McGillion also declined to answer questions about the tax implications of Giuliani's rings, which may explain the late payments. Bill DeWitt III, one of the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals, says the team, which won the championship last year, issued 1099-MISC "miscellaneous income" forms to employees and non-employees who received rings, but the Yankees have never done that. At the time of the Yankee wins, IRS rules required the reporting of gifts of more than $10,000 by either the donor or the recipient (the threshold was recently raised to $12,000). DeWitt says that estimating a ring's value for tax purposes gets "a little gray and murky," and a Cardinal spokesman says that the club actually boosted employee salaries to cover taxes they might have to pay on the rings.
Three tax attorneys tell the Voice that Giuliani's payments may have been intended to lower the value of the gifts below the IRS thresholds. That would mean that neither the Yankees nor Giuliani would have to report the transaction. The belated payments then may have been a post-divorce or pre-presidential-campaign attempt, on the advice of tax counsel, to avoid dealing with the actual timing and true value of the rings.
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Frequently ensconced in George Steinbrenner's eight-seat 31A box and four Legends 31AA seats next to the Yankee dugout while he was mayor, Giuliani and his many guests were also repeatedly given Yankee jackets, caps, autographed balls, and other gifts. "He would require gifts at every game," says a former close Giuliani aide, whose account is supported by both a Yankee source and an ex-cop assigned to the mayor. He even wanted a fitted cap with the World Series logo and other special caps, and the equipment management had to reach into the players' uniform case to find one for Giuliani's large head. The Giuliani group also raided the closet in Steinbrenner's office, even taking DiMaggio jackets with red piping for the mayor and guests. "They finally turned the spigot off in 2000 and said we just can't do it anymore," the aide recalls. The cop remembers jackets and balls—some signed by all the Yankees—stuffed in the back of the city cars they used to drive back from the stadium.
The Yankees say Giuliani paid for at least some of his tickets, though he did not pay when "he attended in his official capacity." They declined to specify which games were official, or to answer detailed questions about the other largesse. Several friends who sat with Giuliani at games, like Emergency Management Director Jerry Hauer, say they were never asked to pay. "I don't believe he paid for our seats," says Hauer. "I don't think anybody paid for them. It would have cost him a fortune." Russell Harding, one of three members of his family who went to Yankee games with Giuliani and the head of the Housing Development Corporation, wrote in an e-mail disclosed after his arrest on charges of bilking the city for hundreds of thousands of dollars: "I never have to pay for things like that . . . especially Yankee tickets . . . just one of the perks I get with my job . . . And knowing the mayor doesn't hurt either." Russell's brother Robert (both are sons of Liberal Party boss Ray Harding) was actually in charge of the Yankee Stadium negotiations for Giuliani.
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With tickets for Giuliani's box and Legends seats selling for $50 to $200 for regular-season games, and with Giuliani and an average of eight guests attending a minimum of 20 games a year, the eight-year price tag for the mayor, including the far more expensive postseason games he never missed, would have been an estimated $120,000. That's quite a load on an average salary of $150,000. Obviously, any substantial tickets and assorted gifts to the mayor or his city employee guests would also have run afoul of the $50 COIB limit.
The Yankees say that Mayor Bloomberg has purchased four season tickets in Section 53, behind the Steinbrenner box that Giuliani still uses, and pays even when he attends in his official capacity. Bloomberg does not allow anyone on the city payroll to use his seats because he regards it as granting an improper benefit to a subordinate. (The Yankee spokeswoman declined to characterize the difference between how the two mayors dealt with seating at the stadium.) Giuliani's periodic payments for some of these tickets may also have had a tax motive. Had he paid nothing for the seats, he would have had to treat the entire Yankee goodie bag as income.
Giuliani's sense of entitlement about the Yankees was so deep that he frequently used a police boat to haul himself and his guests to games, using either the slip near Gracie Mansion or the Wall Street/South Street one near City Hall. In his own book, Leadership, he revealed that the first Yankee game he ever took Judi Nathan to was David Cone's perfect game in July 1999, almost a full year before he announced at a press conference that she was his "very good friend." Judi and her girlfriends became part of his stadium entourage, just as his previous very good friend, Cristyne Lategano, had been in the earlier years. When Giuliani's wife Donna Hanover barred Lategano from the box if her son Andrew was at the game, the young press aide sequestered herself in Steinbrenner's suite, extending Giuliani's reach to the home-plate section of the stadium as well. Judi, too, eventually became a presence in the Steinbrenner suite.
At one point, according to the close aide, George Pataki's office asked if the seats could be "split in half, either horizontally or vertically" so the governor could get access. "Absolutely not," was Rudy's answer. What about just two of the seats? Another no. Asked if he'd ever sat in the prized seats, Gene Budig, who was American League president for most of the Giuliani years, tells the Voice: "I got to sit in seats a couple of times when he wasn't there, but never with him. The seats were practically in the dugout." The prominence of the seats and the success of the team quickly catapulted Giuliani into prime-time sports hero status. He even managed to get himself interviewed on camera in the locker-room champagne celebrations of the great victories, running right in through the dugout after the game. That was in addition to his regular fifth-inning appearance on the Yankee radio broadcast. He merged himself with the Yankees in the national consciousness, and is still featured, with his old comb-over look, on the scoreboard screen during every game, leading cheers for a Yankee rally. On opening day in April, the presidential candidate also appeared in the Yankee radio and TV booth for full inning commentary, a sneer at the equal-time provisions of federal law.
In 2003, the Yankees paid a $75,000 fine to the state lobbying commission for not disclosing as a lobbying expense dozens of tickets given to public officials in 2002 and 2003. Even though Giuliani wasn't a public official anymore, his name appeared on a list entitled "Political Friends" that the Yankees turned over to the commission. He was one of the few with a special note by his name: "GMS list," referring to George Steinbrenner. He still had all 12 seats in the same section for playoff games, though he was listed as sharing them with Mayor Bloomberg on opening day. While a variety of credit cards or the word invoice are listed under the category of "method of payment" for many of the special seats, the space beside Giuliani's name is left blank. No explanation for those left blank was offered. Since the ring payments occurred as recently as 2004, the commission, too, may still have the jurisdiction to investigate whether the tickets were improper gifts granted to Giuliani while he was a lobbied public official.
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While mayors in other cities may have tried to tie themselves to successful sports franchises like Giuliani, none, no matter how big a fan, has gotten a ring for his efforts. Team representatives, or mayoral representatives, in every city that's won a championship since 1995 tell the Voice that their mayor didn't get a ring. Not the Florida Marlins (winners in 1997 and 2003), Arizona Diamondbacks (2001), Anaheim (now Los Angeles) Angels (2002), Boston Red Sox (2004), Chicago White Sox (2005) or St. Louis Cardinals (2006). Team representatives also tell the Voice that rings are not for sale—to a mayor or anyone else. "The mayor didn't get a ring," says White Sox spokesman Lou Hernandez. "We did a World Series ring raffle and all the proceeds went to charity. So he could have won a ring. He's a ticket holder. But no public officials got gifts even if they helped." The Cardinals' DeWitt says: "We haven't allowed anyone to buy a ring, even some limited partners who wanted an extra. You can only have it given to you. We have a great mayor. He's been helpful for us. But we just felt like for us it was best to stick to employees and Hall of Famers." Asked if rings are ever given to public officials, DeWitt says: "I've never heard that politicians get them." Angels spokesman Tim Meade says rings are "absolutely not sold under any circumstances." In fact, the Angels fired an executive who put his ring up for sale, an action Steinbrenner is also said to have taken. "There were a couple of people from the city of Anaheim who got rings," acknowledges Meade. "They were people from the city manager's office who worked closely with the Angels."
Jerry McNeal, a World Series historian associated with the Baseball Hall of Fame, says that public officials don't usually get rings. "No, you have to be associated with the team in some way," says McNeal. "When the L.A. Dodgers won the world championship, Frank Sinatra was good friends with the manager, Tommy Lasorda, but he couldn't get a ring." Phyllis Merhige, senior vice president of the American League, says she isn't aware of rings going to public officials. "In a situation, I'm guessing, an official that was involved in the building of a new stadium or keeping a team in a city would be considered for a ring. But I couldn't tell you whether it's been done or not. There are no records." She says that congressional representatives are barred by law from receiving rings or other gifts from teams.
McNeal estimates that Giuliani's rings "would go for at least $50,000 apiece," adding that they "might even go for more than that." If Giuliani were elected president, he says, the rings "would skyrocket in value." Pete Siegel, the president of Gotta Have It Collectibles on East 57th Street, puts the value of Giuliani's four-ring set at a quarter of a million dollars. Siegel says that Giuliani has purchased sports items at his store and even came in once wearing a World Series ring. Having just sold two 1998 rings owned by a coach and front-office executive for $28,000 and $29,000, Siegel says that "Giuliani's rings would be on the same level as players' rings for all those years." He says he knows that Giuliani "definitely has a 1996 ring," though he is unsure if that was the ring the former mayor wore to his store.
Robert Lifson of Robert Edwards Auctions maintains that Giuliani's rings would be "more meaningful and valuable than some of the players'." Lifson's "gut" tells him the value could "go through the roof," estimating that they would sell for "north of $25,000 apiece." People would pay "a much bigger premium to have the ring of America's Mayor than an executive that nobody knows," says Lifson, who insists that "any modern Yankee ring" would sell for five figures even if it were the ring of an unknown. He says the rings are "works of art" that serve also as "a symbol of greatness in sports." Spencer Lader, a certified appraiser for the Yankees who has appeared on their TV network's memorabilia show, tells the Voice he puts the overall value of Giuliani's collection at about $200,000, adding, as did others, that the 1996 ring is "the most coveted."
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But when did Giuliani get that 1996 ring? Did he, as the Yankee spokeswoman suggests, receive it only when he made a token payment for it in 2004, after he was no longer mayor?
Not according to the man who actually made the ring, William Sandoval.
Sandoval says he's made rings for 26 years. After attending a stone-setter school, he went to work for L.G. Balfour in Attleboro, Massachusetts, which manufactured sports and school rings at its plant there for 84 years. "I was a special maker, doing diamond settings and customer repair," the Guatemala-born jeweler, now with his own small business in Rhode Island, tells the Voice. "I did the Yankees, the Celtics, and the Baltimore Orioles. Balfour liked my work. I did every championship ring." He particularly recalls the 1996 ring he did for the Yankees. Fifty percent larger than any previous team ring, the famous interlocking NY at the center was made of 23 diamonds, one for each title, encircled by the words World Champion. With the Series trophy and courage and heart on one side, the ring also featured the Yankee Stadium facade, the Yankees top hat, and the word tradition on the other.
It was easy to remember because it was Sandoval's last championship ring. Balfour was acquired by a New York investment firm in 1996 and closed its Attleboro plant to move to Texas in late 1997, laying off hundreds of workers. Its successor firm, American Achievement, still does Yankee work.
Sandoval distinctly remembers that they made a ring for Giuliani because, he says, he crafted it himself. Asked if he was certain if the Giuliani ring was made at the same time as the rest, he says: "It has to be at the same time." Asked again if he "definitely" remembers making a ring for Rudy Giuliani, Sandoval replies: "Yes. Oh, yes." His memory is confirmed by a former Balfour vice president who oversaw sports sales and asked that his name not be used. "I honestly think that Giuliani did get a ring," he says. "The only people who could get rings had to have a letter signed by Steinbrenner on Yankee stationery." Attempts to get the current manufacturer to confirm that rings were made for Giuliani for the other three championships were unsuccessful; the sales representative for the firm referred all questions to the Yankees.
Two other sources who asked that they not be named recall the 1996 ring. A member of Giuliani's police detail remembers attending a barbecue at Gracie Mansion after the ticker tape parade for the Yankees on October 29, 1996. Giuliani was so involved in the Yankee celebration, he personally reviewed the guest lists for the barbecue and an earlier event at City Hall. A photo of him in Yankee pinstripes appeared on the passes for attendees. His two prime Democratic opponents for the 1997 campaign had to settle for seats in the crowd at City Hall, though both were borough presidents, one from the Bronx. "George and he went into the Green Room at one point," the ex-cop recalls, referring to a den where Giuliani frequently entertained friends and close associates. "They were gone for about 15 minutes. He came out and said to us, 'I'm getting a ring. George is giving me a ring.' " Though the cop can't recall seeing the ring after that, he says that another Giuliani aide told him that the mayor got it, as well as other rings.
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That aide, who worked in City Hall throughout the Giuliani years, says the mayor got the ring sometime in 1997, around the time that the players got their rings in mid May. "The ring was kept in the second or third drawer of Beth Petrone's cabinet in Rudy's outer office at City Hall," says the aide, referring to Giuliani's executive assistant, who is currently the office manager for Bracewell & Giuliani, the Texas-based law firm that Giuliani has joined. "He actually wore it about once a year. He may have worn it during the playoffs in 1997 as a lucky charm.
"The other three rings came collectively," the aide continues. "I saw them in wooden boxes with Plexiglas windows. They were either kept in the mayor's personal office on the main floor or his downstairs office. He didn't get the 1998 and 1999 rings as they were handed out. They were just given to him sometime in 2001 as a collection." The 2000 ring wasn't presented to players until late July 2001, so Giuliani's rings would've arrived sometime after that. Though gifts to mayors are routinely logged on a City Hall list, Giuliani listed only one Steinbrenner gift among his more than 8,500 gifts bequeathed to the city: a videotape and booklet from Joe DiMaggio Day.
This aide and other sources close to City Hall recall that Giuliani's name was misspelled on one of the rings, returned to the Yankees, and replaced. News accounts of the 1999 ring presentation in 2000 indicated that there were mistakes on six rings, but the only one specified in the stories was that Roger Clemens's uniform number was wrong. The sources say that Carmela Piazza, who ran Giuliani's correspondence office at City Hall, oversaw the return of the ring, another indication that it was given to Giuliani while he was still in office. Contacted by the Voice, Piazza, who is a current donor to his presidential campaign, said repeatedly that she couldn't remember anything about the incident. A Yankee official initially confirmed that there was a spelling problem with one of the Giuliani rings, but later said he could not definitely determine if it happened. Spokeswoman McGillion, who was receiving limited information from the Yankees, acknowledges that "another person" affiliated with the team "hinted this to us."
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On December 31, 2001, first deputy mayor Joe Lhota was standing on the steps of City Hall, listening to the bagpipes playing in anticipation of Rudy Giuliani's farewell, when he was tapped on the shoulder and asked to sign a document. It was the last official act of the Giuliani administration: an amendment to the Yankee lease. Bills from Yankee lawyers that were reimbursed by the city indicate that the parties were busily negotiating the terms of the deal for at least five of Giuliani's final hours that day. Fourteen days later, Bill Thompson, the new city comptroller, would write the new mayor, Mike Bloomberg, to complain about the amendment Lhota signed, which allowed the Yankees to terminate their lease on 60 days' notice "anytime over the next nine years" if the team "reasonably determined" that the city was unlikely to proceed with the new stadium Giuliani had promised them. Previously, the Yankees had made a five-year commitment to remain in the Bronx if they stayed there through the 2002 season.
Bloomberg quickly moved to kill the lavishly subsidized term sheets that the Giuliani administration had signed to build new stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets. But he could do nothing about the $50 million in stadium planning costs that another last-minute lease amendment delivered to the teams. That amendment, signed by Giuliani in the closing moments, allowed each team to deduct from the rent they paid the city any costs they attributed to stadium planning—up to $5 million a year for five years.
A Voice story in 2006 revealed that the Yankees deducted the $203,055 they paid lobbyist Bill Powers, the former head of the state Republican party. They also deducted hundreds of thousands in other legal and lobbying fees retroactively, meaning that the city actually paid the Yankees' costs involved in negotiating, drafting, and pushing for the very lease amendment that allowed the deductions in the first place, an unprecedented circular giveaway. Though the amendment only permitted the Yankees to deduct for expenses from the beginning of 2001, the team submitted thousands in bills from the Regency Hotel as far back as 1999, a maneuver subsequently blocked by the comptroller. Remarkably, this was the Yankees' second dip into the city treasury to plan its own stadium. Giuliani's Economic Development Corporation had already reimbursed the Yankees $3 million for similar expenditures.
The ninth-inning amendments were just the latest in an orgy of favors that Giuliani granted the Yankees. When Thompson did an audit of the Yankees' payments to the city in 2004, it was only supposed to cover the period since 2002. But his office was so intrigued by the Yankees' meager payments to the city during the Giuliani years that he extended its review back to 1997 and discovered that the Yankees had grossly shortchanged the city. The club is allowed to deduct from its rental obligation the revenue-sharing payments it makes to Major League Baseball. It had mysteriously overstated those payments by $34 million between 1997 and 2002, shortchanging the city by $2.7 million.
In fact, as astonishing as it may seem, the Mets, big-time losers for most of the Giuliani years, were assessed for twice as much in net rent to the city for a half-empty Shea as the Yankees were for its packed house, an average of $5.4 million a year versus $2.86 million. The Yankee lease has long allowed the team to do its own stadium maintenance and deduct its costs from the rent, while Shea is maintained by the Parks Department. The Yankees drove an armored truck through that loophole in the Giuliani years. Even though the loophole is still in effect under Bloomberg, the payment pattern has reversed itself, with the Yankees paying twice as much as the Mets for 2002–2004, an annual average of $4.93 million versus $2.58 million. The Yankees argue that Giuliani's final stadium proposal was a boon to both teams equally, though the 60-day escape clause and the quadrupling of luxury boxes were unique Yankee benefits. But Mets owner Fred Wilpon wasn't even seeking a new stadium until late 2000, asking for city help simply to renovate Shea. He joined the Giuliani feast only to keep pace with the hog in the Bronx. With Daily News editorials observing that the mayor "has created the impression that money is no object" in accommodating Steinbrenner, what else was Wilpon to do?
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Of course, before Giuliani brokered his Bronx deal, he waged a three-year war to give the Yankees, not the Mets, a stadium on the West Side. He and Steinbrenner began that strong-arm campaign in 1996, just as the mayor was collecting his first ring. That's also when he amended the Yankee lease for the first of five times, quietly granting the Yankees permission to exclude much of cable and luxury-suite revenue from the calculus that determined the rent due the city. In fact, all the team paid the city to rent Yankee Stadium in a World Series year, when all deductions were made, was a measly $100,000. Giuliani was so committed to the West Side site he created a phony charter commission to put manufactured amendments on the ballot in 1998, a legal maneuver that submarined a referendum opposing the stadium. When a steel beam at Yankee Stadium collapsed that year, he turned it into a campaign to virtually condemn the stadium, rejecting the findings of his own building commissioner that the stadium was sound. No fact could get in the way of what Steinbrenner wanted.
The goodies list seems endless. Giuliani spent $71 million on a stadium for the Staten Island Yankees, a low-level minor league team half-owned by Steinbrenner's son. So few people go to games there that the team has yet to hit the minimal attendance threshold that triggers some rental payments to the city. Though the lease required the team to submit turnstile attendance numbers to the city, the stadium operated for years without turnstiles, and the comptroller has repeatedly found that it shortchanges the city. The city also helped the Yankees reconfigure Yankee Stadium in lucrative ways, including adding the very Legends seats in foul territory near the dugouts and home plate that Giuliani wound up occupying. On December 19, 2001, also just days before the end of Giuliani's term, Bob Harding signed a letter approving a million-dollar replacement of the playing field.
Those who know Giuliani well say that when he thinks he's in love, he waives all the rules of acceptable conduct. But the story of him and his team is not just a saga of disturbing infatuation and self-absorption. It is an object lesson in what kind of a president he would be, a window into his willingness to lend himself to a special interest, to blur all lines that ordinarily separate personal and public lives. It is not so much that he identified with the Yankees. It was himself that he was serving.
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Sox are looking in advance
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — For several weeks after the conclusion of last season, the Red Sox kicked around ways to improve the team’s major-league advance scouting staff.
General manager Theo Epstein, manager Terry Francona and the coaching staff were happy with the work of advance scout Dana Levangie, but thought there were ways to better utilize the information Levangie provided.
Eventually, through brainstorming, they came up with a unique arrangement. While a number of major-league teams are cutting back on their advance scouting for budgetary reasons — utilizing video more and actual scouts less — the Red Sox are actually heading in the opposite direction.
This season, the Sox plan to use two advance scouts — Levangie and former Portland Sea Dogs manager Todd Claus — who will alternate series and assignments. The arrangement is unprecedented, though for years the New York Yankees had two advance scouts scouting the same future opponent together.
Typically, for teams that still rely on advance scouts, a scout stays one series ahead of his major-league club. If, for instance, the Red Sox were about to play the Yankees, White Sox and Indians in succession, the advance scout would watch the Yankees immediately before the Sox play them, then while the Sox and Yanks meet, scout the White Sox, then, while the Red Sox and White Sox play, move on to the Indians.
At the conclusion of each series, the scout would file an in-depth report on tendencies, strategy, strengths and weaknesses and which players are currently hot or cold.
But under the Red Sox’ new setup, one scout will watch the next opponent, then join the Red Sox for that series to be on hand to provide on-site assistance.
“I just felt there were things falling through the cracks,” said Francona recently. “We’d be getting calls from the airport at the last minute. It was good information, but it always seemed rushed. The information is there. The more time we have to digest it and implement it, the better off we’ll be.”
Under the new set-up, the advance scout with the team will meet with the coaching staff on the afternoon of the first game of the series. He’ll provide background on the opposing hitters to pitching coach John Farrell, then offer his impressions of the opposing pitchers to hitting instructor Dave Magadan. Later, he’ll get together with first base coach Luis Alicea (who doubles as infield instructor) and third base coach DeMarlo Hale — who works with the Sox’ outfielders — to help with positioning.
During the series, the scout will sit in the stands behind home plate and note any adjustments that can be made.
“We’re not only going to get their reports,” said Francona, “but we’ll have the benefit of their eyes, too. I’m real excited about it.”
To be sure, the Sox don’t ignore the video component of scouting. The team has a state-of-the-art video system that archives pitcher-batter matchups and enables players to view past at-bats, catalogued by pitch selection and count. While Claus and Levangie will be responsible for information on defense, baserunning, positioning and strategy, video will continue to be the primary resource for hitters looking for help on opposing pitchers.
In addition, the fact that the Sox will have two different perspectives from two different scouts over the course of the season will keep the information fresh. At times, some say, managers, coaches and players tend to tune out the same information being delivered from the same source during a six-month season. A new voice — even if the information relayed is essentially the same — can make the scouting reports sound fresh.
By introducing Claus to the staff and players in his new capacity as scout, the Red Sox could also be preparing him to join the major league coaching staff in the not-too-distant future.
General manager Theo Epstein, manager Terry Francona and the coaching staff were happy with the work of advance scout Dana Levangie, but thought there were ways to better utilize the information Levangie provided.
Eventually, through brainstorming, they came up with a unique arrangement. While a number of major-league teams are cutting back on their advance scouting for budgetary reasons — utilizing video more and actual scouts less — the Red Sox are actually heading in the opposite direction.
This season, the Sox plan to use two advance scouts — Levangie and former Portland Sea Dogs manager Todd Claus — who will alternate series and assignments. The arrangement is unprecedented, though for years the New York Yankees had two advance scouts scouting the same future opponent together.
Typically, for teams that still rely on advance scouts, a scout stays one series ahead of his major-league club. If, for instance, the Red Sox were about to play the Yankees, White Sox and Indians in succession, the advance scout would watch the Yankees immediately before the Sox play them, then while the Sox and Yanks meet, scout the White Sox, then, while the Red Sox and White Sox play, move on to the Indians.
At the conclusion of each series, the scout would file an in-depth report on tendencies, strategy, strengths and weaknesses and which players are currently hot or cold.
But under the Red Sox’ new setup, one scout will watch the next opponent, then join the Red Sox for that series to be on hand to provide on-site assistance.
“I just felt there were things falling through the cracks,” said Francona recently. “We’d be getting calls from the airport at the last minute. It was good information, but it always seemed rushed. The information is there. The more time we have to digest it and implement it, the better off we’ll be.”
Under the new set-up, the advance scout with the team will meet with the coaching staff on the afternoon of the first game of the series. He’ll provide background on the opposing hitters to pitching coach John Farrell, then offer his impressions of the opposing pitchers to hitting instructor Dave Magadan. Later, he’ll get together with first base coach Luis Alicea (who doubles as infield instructor) and third base coach DeMarlo Hale — who works with the Sox’ outfielders — to help with positioning.
During the series, the scout will sit in the stands behind home plate and note any adjustments that can be made.
“We’re not only going to get their reports,” said Francona, “but we’ll have the benefit of their eyes, too. I’m real excited about it.”
To be sure, the Sox don’t ignore the video component of scouting. The team has a state-of-the-art video system that archives pitcher-batter matchups and enables players to view past at-bats, catalogued by pitch selection and count. While Claus and Levangie will be responsible for information on defense, baserunning, positioning and strategy, video will continue to be the primary resource for hitters looking for help on opposing pitchers.
In addition, the fact that the Sox will have two different perspectives from two different scouts over the course of the season will keep the information fresh. At times, some say, managers, coaches and players tend to tune out the same information being delivered from the same source during a six-month season. A new voice — even if the information relayed is essentially the same — can make the scouting reports sound fresh.
By introducing Claus to the staff and players in his new capacity as scout, the Red Sox could also be preparing him to join the major league coaching staff in the not-too-distant future.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
State of 2007 Red Sox
Here's my perspective on the Sox as presently constituted. Please read it in its entirety:
With Nixon, Gonzo in the lineup this team won 86 games last year and everyone agrees that Lugo and JD is an upgrade in the offense. Everyone thinks the 2B is a problem, but I would give him a chance to blossom until May --50 more games before passing any judgment. I think he makes solid contact and has a decent plate discipline, although he should cut down on his swing with 2 strikes. That alone is + 3 in wins from last year.
The real concern for me right now is Coco as I feel he looks in between and kind of lost at the plate. I was told that he is one of the best fast ball hitters in the game by Theo and he seems to foul off most of the fastballs in the 88 to 92 mph range and chases breaking balls to strike out or pops them up. When facing righties, he has the propensity to chase breaking balls inside instead of laying off.
He would be traded for middle relief come June/July..The one guy I like in minor leagues is Brandon Moss..I saw him at Paw Sox debut vs. Charlotte knights and he is absolutely scorching the ball.. I think he would be a gr8 mid season upgrade over Coco. which was a mistake by Theo trading Marte for him since we had 3 OF prospects in the system which we could have started with in 06 and also we don't have any corner infielders with Power in the system so its imperative to go after Mark of Texas next year to play 1B for the Sox and move Youk to 3B and keep him away from the Yankees -- Remember Teixeira's idol growing up was Don Mattingly -who would be the Manager of the Yanks in 08 and he was upset with Sox scouts who disrespected his dad after drafting him from Ga Tech and did not sign with them so it would be tough to keep him away from the evil empire as they need 1B as well.
I definitely like our starting rotation. Scill has too much ego and pride to be awful and he would be OK for 12-14 wins. Beckett is going to win 15-17 wins with an ERA of under 4.00 and Dice-K is too savvy and poised along with his gr8 stuff not to win 17-18 games.. That leaves Wakefield who I think would win 10-12 games and then the 5th starter which is right now my pet peeve with Sox management:
Hansack who has the best stuff and had a great spring training is relegated to the minors while Julian whose talent is not nearly as good as Hansack is taking the ball every 5th day since we are paying him 2.5 Million and had to get some use out of him. Hansack should be the 5th starter and Julian should be the long relief in the bull pen and possible trade chip for teams that need pitching and willing to gamble on him --maybe the cards !!
Lack of Power is also a concern -only 1 HR in 5 games but David and Manny would heat up but drop off fro last years monster 54 HR season is enevitable. The weather is cold , so I would give them a pass but certainly looking at other AL East teams makes me jealous of their power.
75 HR for Papi(40) and Manny(35), 20 for JD, 30 from Lowell + Varitak, 15-for Youk 10 for coco and Lugo and 5 for 2B and Mirabelli and 20 HR from bench (Pena and Hinski) = Total of 190 HR's decent but not great. Need 220 + HR's and we would be there in 08 if we get Tiexiera.
Elijia Dukes of Devil Rays has 2 HR's and Sox as a team has just 1 ;))
Any intelligent comments and responses are more than welcome.
With Nixon, Gonzo in the lineup this team won 86 games last year and everyone agrees that Lugo and JD is an upgrade in the offense. Everyone thinks the 2B is a problem, but I would give him a chance to blossom until May --50 more games before passing any judgment. I think he makes solid contact and has a decent plate discipline, although he should cut down on his swing with 2 strikes. That alone is + 3 in wins from last year.
The real concern for me right now is Coco as I feel he looks in between and kind of lost at the plate. I was told that he is one of the best fast ball hitters in the game by Theo and he seems to foul off most of the fastballs in the 88 to 92 mph range and chases breaking balls to strike out or pops them up. When facing righties, he has the propensity to chase breaking balls inside instead of laying off.
He would be traded for middle relief come June/July..The one guy I like in minor leagues is Brandon Moss..I saw him at Paw Sox debut vs. Charlotte knights and he is absolutely scorching the ball.. I think he would be a gr8 mid season upgrade over Coco. which was a mistake by Theo trading Marte for him since we had 3 OF prospects in the system which we could have started with in 06 and also we don't have any corner infielders with Power in the system so its imperative to go after Mark of Texas next year to play 1B for the Sox and move Youk to 3B and keep him away from the Yankees -- Remember Teixeira's idol growing up was Don Mattingly -who would be the Manager of the Yanks in 08 and he was upset with Sox scouts who disrespected his dad after drafting him from Ga Tech and did not sign with them so it would be tough to keep him away from the evil empire as they need 1B as well.
I definitely like our starting rotation. Scill has too much ego and pride to be awful and he would be OK for 12-14 wins. Beckett is going to win 15-17 wins with an ERA of under 4.00 and Dice-K is too savvy and poised along with his gr8 stuff not to win 17-18 games.. That leaves Wakefield who I think would win 10-12 games and then the 5th starter which is right now my pet peeve with Sox management:
Hansack who has the best stuff and had a great spring training is relegated to the minors while Julian whose talent is not nearly as good as Hansack is taking the ball every 5th day since we are paying him 2.5 Million and had to get some use out of him. Hansack should be the 5th starter and Julian should be the long relief in the bull pen and possible trade chip for teams that need pitching and willing to gamble on him --maybe the cards !!
Lack of Power is also a concern -only 1 HR in 5 games but David and Manny would heat up but drop off fro last years monster 54 HR season is enevitable. The weather is cold , so I would give them a pass but certainly looking at other AL East teams makes me jealous of their power.
75 HR for Papi(40) and Manny(35), 20 for JD, 30 from Lowell + Varitak, 15-for Youk 10 for coco and Lugo and 5 for 2B and Mirabelli and 20 HR from bench (Pena and Hinski) = Total of 190 HR's decent but not great. Need 220 + HR's and we would be there in 08 if we get Tiexiera.
Elijia Dukes of Devil Rays has 2 HR's and Sox as a team has just 1 ;))
Any intelligent comments and responses are more than welcome.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007
38 Not so special !!
Worse than Ellen DeGeneres's first night hosting the Oscars. Worse than Arsenio Hall's first shot at late-night television. Worse than Patriots coach Clive Rush's first press conference, when he was nearly electrocuted.
The much-anticipated Red Sox baseball season of 2007 kicked off Monday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, and Curt Schilling and the Boston Nine were thrashed, 7-1, by the Kansas City Royals.
Perhaps anticipating the beating he and his teammates will take Tuesday on the Hub airwaves and in print, Kevin Youkilis said, "If you're going to get upset at losing one game, it's going to be a long year. If a team loses only 60 games in a season, that's a great year.
"People are going to get all worried. We want to win them all, but I don't think anybody ever went 162-0."
Where to start? Blogmaster Schilling threw like a man suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, yielding five runs on eight hits and two walks in just four innings. 38pitches? That's almost how many Schill needed to get out of the first inning, when he threw 33 and walked home a run. It was his shortest outing since July 2001 and hardly a good start to his 2007 campaign for a new contract.
Meanwhile, Bill James-mandated shortstop Julio Lugo started his Red Sox reign in Renteria-esque fashion, fanning in his first three at-bats, Japanese lefty Hideki Okajima yielded a home run on his first big league pitch, two Sox runners were cut down at second base, and spring strugglers Jason Varitek and Coco Crisp had hitless starts. Sox pitchers yielded 12 hits and two walks in eight innings.
Facing the widely mocked Gil Meche ($55 million over five years?), the Red Sox lineup was hardly the relentless run-producing machine that Theo and the Minions envisioned when they hovered over their computers during the wild-spending winter. The Red Sox struck out 10 times, and six of their eight hits were singles.
We all laughed when the Royals gave Meche the money, and he's been the baseline for Big Curt's request for an extension. After all, if Meche is worth $11 million per year, how much is Schill worth? That's the logic. Well, on this day, Meche was a far better pitcher than his counterpart (no blog updates from Schill during the game, darn it). He enjoyed the best Opening Day by a Royal starter since Bret Saberhagen in 1988.
Schilling made no excuses. Never does.
"No fastball command," he started. "I did not adjust. I can't remember that ever being the case. It's very disappointing. As a starting pitcher, you can make your team look a lot worse than it is some days."
This was one of those days.
A few years ago, our print brethren over at Herald Square bannered a "Wait 'Til Next Year" headline after an opener like this. Funny, but untrue, of course. We all know that baseball is a marathon, not a sprint -- remember? They play 162 of these things, and one game in April means nothing in the scheme of a season. This is not football, where everyone has to stick their head in an oven after a single game is lost. The 2004 Red Sox lost their opener to the lowly Orioles and that season worked out pretty well.
Still, after all the hype and hysteria that accompanied the start of this season, it was somewhat shocking to see the team with the $58 million payroll -- a team that lost 100 games in four of the last five seasons -- croaking the team with the $145.7 million payroll.
We'd do well to remember that the Sox were swept by the "lowly" Royals in this ballpark in early August 2006. That series proved to be a harbinger. It was a sign of things to come when the Yankees came to town and imploded the Boston season.
The Red Sox don't play Tuesday, which is a bad thing. It makes for another 24 hours of nonstop pummeling from Nation members on the edge. It's a good time for the Boston ballplayers to be on the road, where the hardest decision is whether to go to Gates or Bryant's for ribs.
Josh Beckett can make it all go away Wednesday. And then there's some rookie with a hard-to-spell name pitching for the Red Sox Thursday. Wonder if anybody will even bother to cover that one.
The much-anticipated Red Sox baseball season of 2007 kicked off Monday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, and Curt Schilling and the Boston Nine were thrashed, 7-1, by the Kansas City Royals.
Perhaps anticipating the beating he and his teammates will take Tuesday on the Hub airwaves and in print, Kevin Youkilis said, "If you're going to get upset at losing one game, it's going to be a long year. If a team loses only 60 games in a season, that's a great year.
"People are going to get all worried. We want to win them all, but I don't think anybody ever went 162-0."
Where to start? Blogmaster Schilling threw like a man suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, yielding five runs on eight hits and two walks in just four innings. 38pitches? That's almost how many Schill needed to get out of the first inning, when he threw 33 and walked home a run. It was his shortest outing since July 2001 and hardly a good start to his 2007 campaign for a new contract.
Meanwhile, Bill James-mandated shortstop Julio Lugo started his Red Sox reign in Renteria-esque fashion, fanning in his first three at-bats, Japanese lefty Hideki Okajima yielded a home run on his first big league pitch, two Sox runners were cut down at second base, and spring strugglers Jason Varitek and Coco Crisp had hitless starts. Sox pitchers yielded 12 hits and two walks in eight innings.
Facing the widely mocked Gil Meche ($55 million over five years?), the Red Sox lineup was hardly the relentless run-producing machine that Theo and the Minions envisioned when they hovered over their computers during the wild-spending winter. The Red Sox struck out 10 times, and six of their eight hits were singles.
We all laughed when the Royals gave Meche the money, and he's been the baseline for Big Curt's request for an extension. After all, if Meche is worth $11 million per year, how much is Schill worth? That's the logic. Well, on this day, Meche was a far better pitcher than his counterpart (no blog updates from Schill during the game, darn it). He enjoyed the best Opening Day by a Royal starter since Bret Saberhagen in 1988.
Schilling made no excuses. Never does.
"No fastball command," he started. "I did not adjust. I can't remember that ever being the case. It's very disappointing. As a starting pitcher, you can make your team look a lot worse than it is some days."
This was one of those days.
A few years ago, our print brethren over at Herald Square bannered a "Wait 'Til Next Year" headline after an opener like this. Funny, but untrue, of course. We all know that baseball is a marathon, not a sprint -- remember? They play 162 of these things, and one game in April means nothing in the scheme of a season. This is not football, where everyone has to stick their head in an oven after a single game is lost. The 2004 Red Sox lost their opener to the lowly Orioles and that season worked out pretty well.
Still, after all the hype and hysteria that accompanied the start of this season, it was somewhat shocking to see the team with the $58 million payroll -- a team that lost 100 games in four of the last five seasons -- croaking the team with the $145.7 million payroll.
We'd do well to remember that the Sox were swept by the "lowly" Royals in this ballpark in early August 2006. That series proved to be a harbinger. It was a sign of things to come when the Yankees came to town and imploded the Boston season.
The Red Sox don't play Tuesday, which is a bad thing. It makes for another 24 hours of nonstop pummeling from Nation members on the edge. It's a good time for the Boston ballplayers to be on the road, where the hardest decision is whether to go to Gates or Bryant's for ribs.
Josh Beckett can make it all go away Wednesday. And then there's some rookie with a hard-to-spell name pitching for the Red Sox Thursday. Wonder if anybody will even bother to cover that one.
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