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The Empire's new kingdom: Yankees' deep pockets about to get deeper September 21, 2008 Bruce Schoenfeld For Sporting News Justin Morneau stands inches from a stain on the ceiling of the Yankee Stadium visitors' clubhouse, which has seen better days -- better decades, actually -- while he lists liabilities that make the storied old structure something less than state-of-the-art. At 6-4, Minnesota's All-Star first baseman barely fits in the room. "These aren't the biggest clubhouses in the league," he says. "The batting cage is all the way down at the other end." Morneau has come of age playing in late-model...

Deborah Garcia BRONX (CBS) ― Yankees fans have one last chance to say good-bye to the famous Yankee Stadium where Babe Ruth hit his home runs and where they shared countless memories: catching fly balls, snacking on hot dogs, and enjoying America's favorite pastime. Sunday night's game against the Baltimore Orioles is the last time fans will get to sit in the legandary stadium seats, and the last time the New York Yankees will get to hit fast balls and run the bases. Andy Pettitte has pitched some of the most important games at Yankee Stadium over the past 14...

Live ESPN 8 PM EST THE FINAL GAME OF YANKEE STADIUM...COME SHARE THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES...8 PM EST ESPN LIVE

It is almost playoff and World Series time again in Major League Baseball. Here are the CURRENT STANDINGS and how things are shaping up for the playoffs. It is not a happy time for the New York Yankees, whose chance of even making the playoffs this year is very, very slim. There is a reason the Yankees have not won the World Series since 2000. It is called THE HILLARY CURSE. A few years ago, the Boston Red Sox finally broke the CURSE OF THE BAMBINO. The Chicago Cubs are still burdened by the CURSE OF THE BILLY GOAT. We...

Giambi's legacy with Yankees? Generosity Ken Davidoff 12:00 PM EDT, September 17, 2008 It could be that Jason Giambi's finest hour as a Yankee didn't occur on the field, or in the dugout, or in front of a grand jury in San Francisco. No, Giambi, whose colorful Yankees tenure is very likely coming to an end after seven memorable seasons, arguably shined the brightest in a back room of the Yankees' clubhouse, in the fall of 2003. The Yankees were holding their "shares meeting," when the players who have been on the club for the entire season convene and decide...

BRAVE KID LIVES STADIUM DREAM By KEVIN KERNAN September 17, 2008 -- This final homestand is not just about the legends and the history of this incredible place. There are so many different chapters to the Yankee Stadium story. In many ways it's about the kids, too. This is something the public rarely sees. Every day when the Yankees come out to batting practice there are children there to greet them. Many of those kids are fighting terrible illnesses or are just getting over surgery. No matter what they are going through, you can count on one thing - those...

Let's hear a little baseball chatter here! AL EAST Tampa Bay leads division by a game over Boston with the two teams squaring off in a three game series starting tonight. Yankees are in fourth, a half game behind the Blue Jays--and the last game at Yankee Stadium is set for Sunday night on ESPN. AL CENTRAL/WEST White Sox lead Twins by 1.5 games. Angels clinched the west and lead Texas by a mere 19.5 games. Curse of Hillary? The Obama campaign reminds me of the Yanks' fortune this year. Down down down Another close race in the NL EAST...

Team officials admit rules were too stringent and are now allowing sunblock to be brought into New York's Yankee Stadium. The change came after fans howled when they were forced to dump their sunscreen at the gate if it was in containers holding more than three ounces. The Yankees said the prohibition was necessary to prevent possible terrorists from concealing liquid explosives that could be brought into the stadium, The New York Post reported Wednesday. The Yankees' management will do whatever it takes to maximize profit under the guise of security, retired police officer Chester Hicks said to the newspaper....

Ladies and gentlemen, The Bronx is sunburning. Yankee fans are seeing - and turning - red over a ban on sunscreen, which Stadium security guards say was widely expanded in the last few weeks. Security guards collected garbage bags full of sunblock at the entrances to Yankee Stadium over the sweltering weekend, when temps hit 96 degrees and the UV index reached a skin-scorching 9 out of 10 - a move team officials said was to protect the Stadium from terrorism. But fans baking in the bleachers and upper deck argued that the sun may be a bigger threat than...

ABC News’ Ed O’Keefe and Jennifer Duck report: One-time GOP rivals John McCain and Rudy Giuliani bonded over hot dogs and twizzlers in front row seats by the New York Yankees dugout Sunday, providing a snapshot of a possible Republican ticket. A reporter disguised as a fan shouted to McCain, "How about Rudy for vice president?" The presumptive Republican nominee, casually dressed in sunglasses, a collared shirt with rolled sleeves and his Navy baseball cap, just smiled and waved. Reporters then swarmed around Giuliani, asking if he would accept the role as vice president. "I'm not thinking about any of...

Bobby Murcer, a personable, popular five-time All-Star who went on to a successful broadcasting career with the New York Yankees, died Saturday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 62. After experiencing a general lack of energy, Murcer was diagnosed with a tumor on Christmas Eve 2006, undergoing surgery at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Pathology reports later revealed the tumor to be malignant. After being diagnosed, Murcer commented in an upbeat spirit, thanking fans for their prayers and warm wishes -- many of which were delivered in the form of letters and e-mails...

Falmouth, July 08: A man was ordered held without bail Monday for allegedly beating a New York man with a baseball bat because he thought the man was a Yankees fan. As it turned out, the New Yorker allegedly beaten in the land of the Red Sox isn't even a big baseball fan. Police say Robert Correia, 20, and others spotted a car with New York license plates leaving a fireworks display Friday. The group approached the car and began yelling about the Yankees, according to the police report. Police did not identify the victim, but the New York Post...

The Red Sox beat the Yankees on Friday in the Bronx, but that didn't seem to satisfy a group of rowdy young people in Falmouth who attacked a family driving home from a Fourth of July fireworks display. Their reason, police said: The car had New York plates, and their attackers presumed they were Yankee fans. As the annual beachside fireworks show was letting up about 10 p.m., traffic congestion turned side streets into parking lots as thousands tried to leave. The New York family was stuck on Worcester Court when police say a group started yelling at them, accusing...

Loop 820 drivers stuck in traffic often curse Austin. They should be cursing their own neighbors. A long-planned freeway across Northeast Tarrant County was blocked almost 20 years ago by hostile residents, pushing an extra 80,000 cars a day onto Loop 820 for years to come and creating the worst traffic bottleneck in North Texas. Former Tarrant County Commissioner Bob Hampton, a 1980s regional transportation leader, blames "Yankees" for blocking construction of the North Tarrant Freeway, now reduced to a divided boulevard called North Tarrant Parkway. From the mid-1960s until 1990, state highway planners expected North Tarrant Freeway to carry...

Man held in Fourth of July attack By Ira Kantor Sunday, July 6, 2008 A 20-year-old man was arrested Friday night for allegedly attacking a New York Yankees fan with a baseball bat after a Fourth of July fireworks display in Falmouth. According to police, officers responded to 153 Worcester Court after receiving a report about a fight in progress. On arrival, officers noticed several youths, including Robert Donald Correia of Falmouth, bothering a family in its car because the vehicle had New York license plates. Police said Correia and others accused the family of being Yankees fans. The family...

All-Star promo with David Ortiz as Babe Ruth irks NY OAKLAND, Calif. - Touchy, touchy, touchy. Like a colicky baby who’s also battling diaper rash, the 2008 Yankees can’t seem to stop bawling. Besides a good burp, they also need to grow up. As if sitting in last place in the AL East were not bad enough, the Bronx Bombers discovered on Thursday that after years of planning for this summer’s All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, they were the last to discover that a new “Call Your Shot” insurance-company promotion would feature the Red Sox [team stats]’ David Ortiz [stats]...

The key to turning the Yankees season around could be under Jason Giambi's pinstriped pants. The Yankee slugger revealed Friday he slips on a gold lamé thong with a flame-line waistband when he's trying to get out of a hitting slump - and he's shared it with his teammates. "It works every time," Giambi told the Daily News after his secret was outed on Portfolio.com. Derek Jeter agreed that Giambi's thong works, although "it's so uncomfortable running around the bases." "I had it over my shorts and stuff," he said. "I was 0-for-32 and I hit a homer on the...

Derek Jeter is known as a player in every sense of the word, and Maxim's upcoming Hot 100 list reflects that sentiment. The magazine told AM NewYork exclusively that six members of the Jeter exes club have made the annual list, which hits newsstands May 20. The sexy ladies are Jessica Biel, Scarlett Johansson, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Minnillo, Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba. Johansson and Biel land somewhere in the top 10, though Maxim wouldn't give any more specifics.

NASHUA, N.H.—A woman accused of running down a man in her car after a Red Sox-Yankees argument in a bar never hit her brakes as she accelerated toward the small group he was in, a prosecutor said Monday. more stories like this "She never braked, and she accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people," prosecutor Susan Morrell said of Ivonne Hernandez, who is charged with reckless second-degree murder in the death early Friday of Matthew Beaudoin, 29. Authorities won't describe the argument beforehand in Slade's Food & Spirits, but witnesses...

There is a very good reason why most Yankee fans don't care how much their team spends on baseball players. One of the best reasons is that their team keeps asking them - at least the most well-heeled of them - to spend more and more to help pay the freight. There is a guy I know who has tickets behind the Yankee dugout, has had them for awhile. Last season each seat cost $150 per game. This season, because it is the last season at the old Yankee Stadium, the cost went up to $250. Next season, if he...

NEW YORK -- Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate mass at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, taking center stage of an iconic structure that has been referred to both as a great cathedral and as hallowed ground. Gates will open at 9 a.m. ET, with pre-mass festivities beginning at noon and the formal mass beginning at 2:30 p.m. Tickets have already been distributed through the Archdiocese of New York and its many parishes for the approximately 2 1/2 hour ceremony, and there are no tickets available at Yankee Stadium for the mass.

One giant pitch for mankind: Astronaut to hurl Yanks' first pitch from spaceBy Caitlin Millat DAILY NEWS WRITER Tuesday, April 15th 2008, 5:21 PM Forget The Rocket. A real astronaut will throw the first pitch at Wednesday night's Yankee game. NASA astronaut Dr. Garrett Reisman will throw the ceremonial pitch from the International Space Station during Wednesday's game against the Red Sox. Broadcast on the stadium's JumboTron screens, it will be the first ceremonial first pitch in Yankee history thrown from space. Reisman, a lifelong Yankee fan, carried a Yankee banner, a cap autographed by George Steinbrenner and a pile...

NEW YORK — A construction worker's bid to curse the New York Yankees by planting a Boston Red Sox jersey in their new stadium was foiled Sunday when the home team removed the offending shirt from its burial spot.After locating the shirt in a service corridor behind what will be a restaurant in the new Yankee Stadium, construction workers jackhammered through the concrete Sunday and pulled it out. The team said it learned that a Sox-rooting construction worker had buried a shirt in the new Bronx stadium, which will open next year across the street from the current ballpark, from...

The new Yankee Stadium may be cursed! A devilish Boston fan working on a concrete crew at the $1.3 billion stadium covertly buried a Red Sox T-shirt under what will become the visiting team's locker room to jinx the Yanks, two construction workers told The New York Post yesterday.

Alex Rodriguez makes more this year than his hometown Florida Marlins. Boosted by his new deal with the New York Yankees, A-Rod tops the major league baseball salary list at $28 million, according to a study of contract terms by The Associated Press. The 33 players on the Marlins' opening-day roster and disabled list total $21.8 million...

Just seen on FNN: a blonde newsbabe was covering a rally in Aiken, South Carolina. The bottom-third title was "Edwards makes final push in home state." Thing is, Edwards' home state is NORTH carolina, not SOUTH Caroilina. They're two, like, totally different states. Seriously. They have separate governments and everything. It wasn't a momentary glitch. That title stayed up for most of the story.

In her “60 Minutes” interview with New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez Sunday, Katie Couric asked the third baseman about steroids in baseball, the home run record he is poised to break eventually, and his own upstaging of the 2007 World Series. But most surprising were Couric’s questions about A-Rod’s record-setting salary. "Your new contract is worth $300 million-plus,” Couric told Rodriquez, asking, “Are you worth it? Is any player worth that kind of salary?” The Yankees announced this month that they had resigned Rodriguez in a deal ESPN estimated to be worth $275 million over 10 years, with another...

"What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?!" he exclaimed. "He had 30 home runs and over 100 RBIs last year. He's got a rocket for an arm. You don't know what the hell you're doing!"

On the occasion of Alex Rodriguez's third American League MVP award and with his contract negotiations by now presumably in the seventh-inning stretch, this is a good time to consider what it is A-Rod so desperately desired to come back to. The New York Yankees have lost 13 of their last 17 playoff games and basically dismissed their iconic manager because of it, and they just spent nearly $400 million to put the same product back on the field, only with potentially less pitching. Assuming Scott Boras can get Rodriguez's contract through the seventh and eighth innings – outs the...

Investment king Warren Buffett gave A-Rod the push to crawl back in late October. Days after contract talks broke off with the Yankees, a distraught and humbled Alex Rodriguez took the advice of his pal, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, on how to get back into the team's good graces: Kick his agent to the curb. After speaking with Buffett, and then using two Goldman Sachs money men as go-betweens, the slugger, hat in hand and without agent Scott Boras, flew to Tampa last week to meet with Yankees bosses Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, The Wall Street Journal reported. "I don't...

In the public imagination, sports negotiations unfold along the lines of "Jerry Maguire" and other fictional portrayals -- fast-talking, bare-knuckled agents going to head-to-head with cigar-smoking team owners in a game of "Show Me the Money." But when New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez stumbled in his efforts to ink a stratospheric new contract, he turned to a different set of characters: Omaha investor Warren Buffett and two executives from Goldman Sachs Group Inc...

By HASANI GITTENS November 16, 2007 -- The taxman wants to call Derek Jeter out at home. The Yankee captain is fighting New York officials over whether he actually lives in the state and owes millions in back taxes. Jeter, who has played with the Bronx Bombers since 1995, owns an off-season home in Tampa, Fla., and has claimed residency in Florida for years. But the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance insists the superstar shortstop is an Empire State resident, and is demanding back taxes, plus interest, for the years 2001 through 2003, according to court filings....

ARod will sign 10-year, $270MM deal with the Yankees, just announced by Shep Smith

skip to main | skip to sidebar Saturday, November 3, 2007 Pride & Prejudice: What does 'Yankee' mean to you? Southerners reserve three insults for outlanders and assorted other pathetic creatures. They are: "Bless your heart" "Y'all ain't from around here, are you?" "Yankee" This blog is barely two weeks old, but it has already taken a few pot-shots at some sacred cows, such as "bait-and-wait" deer-hunting, litterbugs and low expectations in some local schools. The ensuing conversations have largely been delightfully rambunctious, but a few visitors have registered their disagreement by simply invoking the "Yankee" Doctrine: You ain't one...

With Grady Little out of the way, Joe Torre is the Dodgers' first choice to take over the club. According to sources, Torre has agreed in principle to a three-year deal worth $14.5 million and could be introduced Thursday, the same day the Yankees are holding a press conference to welcome Joe Girardi, Torre's successor, at Yankee Stadium. The Dodgers are denying a deal is complete. Alex Rodriguez could be following Torre from The Bronx to Hollywood. One of the reasons Rodriguez opted out of the last three years on his Yankees' contract was he wasn't sure what Yankees life...

Just outside East Peoria, Ill., in a one-story brick building in a small town called Washington, there used to be a Italian restaurant on Wilmore Street where locals could count on reasonable prices and old-world cooking, and a warm personal greeting from the owners. The place was called Girardi's. "They served the best ravioli I've ever had in my life," says Jane Miller, a longtime patron. That was mother Angela Girardi, welcoming customers by the door, a hostess with a long, flowing dress and a background in psychology. That was father Jerry in the kitchen, a man who once harbored...

Joe Girardi has accepted a 3-year, $7.5 million deal become the Yankees manager, sources told The Post this morning. After a late dalliance Monday with the Dodgers that led to nothing, Girardi will succeed Joe Torre with an announcement scheduled for today. It was not clear which side initiated contact between the Dodgers and Girardi yesterday, but at 5:30 last night the Yankees knew Girardi was talking to the NL club. However, by nightfall the Yankees were sure Girardi would accept the job today since he requested which coaches from Torre's staff he wanted to remain. The three-year, $7.5 million...

Joe Girardi has agreed to a three-year contract to manage the New York Yankees. The agreement to take over as Joe Torre's replacement is worth an average salary of at least US$2-million annually, a baseball official said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team had not yet announced the deal. Girardi was the 2006 NL Manager of the Year with Florida, plus he has a pinstriped pedigree. The hard-nosed catcher played on three Yankees teams that won the World Series, served as their bench coach and was a TV announcer this year. "Joe Girardi is a good man,"...

The Los Angeles Dodgers are planning on firing manager Grady Little and replacing him with former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, according to multiple reports. Citing sources, the Journal-News of Westchester, New York said the announcement of Torre’s hiring could come as early as Tuesday. The New York Times, quoting two major league officials who requested anonymity, also reported Torre’s imminent hiring but did not give a timetable. Story continues below ↓advertisement Torre has been on the market since turning down a one-year offer to remain as manager of the Yankees on October 18. He had been with the...

Alex Rodriguez opted out of his $252 million, 10-year contract with the Yankees on Sunday in what appears to be the end of his tumultuous career with New York. Rodriguez's decision, announced by agent Scott Boras as the rival Boston Red Sox completed their World Series sweep of Colorado, makes the third baseman eligible to become a free agent. Boras said he attempted to notify Yankees general manager Brian Cashman of the decision but couldn't reach him, so he left a voice mail. "He was traveling and I was traveling," Boras said. Rodriguez loses the final $72 million in guaranteed...

Rudy's turned red -- and that's sure to have Yankees fans feeling blue. Even though many New Yorkers are still mourning the Yankees' defeat by the Cleveland Indians two weeks ago during the playoffs, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani today declared his allegiance to Boston Red Sox, and said he'd root for them in the World Series against the Colorado Rockies. "I'm rooting for the Red Sox," the Republican presidential contender said in response to a question, sparking applause at the Boston restaurant where he was picking up a local endorsement. "I'm an American League fan, and I go...

Where is Steve Swindal now that we want to blame him for the breakup of the Yankees and Joe Torre? Swindal isn’t around because of his own breakup with his wife, Jennifer née Steinbrenner. Calls to known telephone numbers for Swindal did not locate him yesterday. An automated voice messaging system on what had been his cellphone said the number “is not available.” The automated message at what had been his home number said, “We’re sorry. You’ve reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service.”Swindal’s divorce from George Steinbrenner’s daughter cost him not only his...

The story lines would have been predictable and bombastic had the Red Sox met the Yankees again in the American League Championship Series. Imagine the hysteria if the Sox and Yankees clashed in the playoffs for the first time since the historic hurt the Sox hung on the Bombers in October of '04. But the Yankees and their $200 million payroll have gone fishin', the Cleveland Indians are coming to town, and here are 33 reasons why it's better to have the Sox playing the Tribe in the ALCS: # You just get a good feeling when there's a guy...

Grady Sizemore led off the first inning with a homer and Victor Martinez ripped a two-run single in the fourth as the Indians roughed up Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang early tonight in Game 4 of their best-of-five series

COME AND SING "THE HILLARY CURSE" HERE IS THE BOXSCORE. Cleveland eliminates the Yankees, 3 games to 1, with a 6-4 victory in game four. Since carpetbagging Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected senator, New Yorkers have paid a heavy price. The Yankees have not won a World Series since she was elected. No major New York sports team has won a champsionship. THE HILLARY CURSE is alive and well.

Bronx, NY -- (Sports Network) - Johnny Damon hit the go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth inning as the New York Yankees overcame an early injury to Roger Clemens and stayed alive in their American League Division Series with an 8-4 Game 3 win over Cleveland. New York overcame a three-run deficit, two nights after falling victim to a plague of flying insects in a 2-1, 11-inning loss at Cleveland. The victory also saved Joe Torre's job for another day. Torre, who is in the final year of a contract worth $7 million per year as Yankees manager, is reportedly...

Report: Steinbrenner says Torre's job on the line against Indians ESPN.com news services As the Yankees stand on the brink of elimination in the first round of the playoffs for the third season in a row, owner George Steinbrenner says longtime manager Joe Torre needs his team to advance to the ALCS if he wants to keep managing the club. "His job is on the line," Steinbrenner told The Bergen Record. "I think we're paying him a lot of money. He's the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series."...

NEW YORK (AP) -The Cleveland Indians could end a few eras Sunday night. Roger Clemens could be taking the mound for the last time. Alex Rodriguez could be playing his final game in pinstripes. Joe Torre could be managing for his future with the New York Yankees. Ahead 2-0 in their best-of-five AL division series after swarming the Yankees at the Jake, the youthful Tribe could be starting a run of their own: The Indians need just one win to advance to their first AL championship series since 1998 - and to send the Yankees home without a World Series...

CLEVELAND -- The Yankees are in the playoffs thanks in large part to a lineup that led the major leagues by batting .290 and scoring 5.98 runs per game during the regular season, but their bats are killing them in the division series against the Indians and it could lead to lineup changes for Game 3. The Yankees, who scored 968 runs this season - the most in the majors since 2000 - have just four in two playoff games and are batting a laughable .121 (8-for-66) after getting only three hits in last night's 11-inning loss. Alex Rodriguez, Jorge...

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees submitted lavish expenses to the city as planning costs for the new stadium they are building, a watchdog group said. The group, Good Jobs New York, accused Yankees officials of turning in to the city's Department of Parks and Recreation receipts for 2005 for expenses including crystal baseballs, postseason bar tabs, wool baseball caps and gifts for corporate clients. The group's project director, Bettina Damiani, called on the city comptroller to conduct an audit to make sure Yankees officials weren't submitting receipts unrelated to planning for the new stadium. "Elected officials are...