Posted on

How Derek Jeter’s N.J. roots made him Yankees diehard

g224648_u72037_1_61_jeter_derek

By Brendan Kuty | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on May 14, 2017 at 6:00 AM, updated May 14, 2017 at 6:01 AM

You know the story: Derek Jeter always wanted to be a Yankee.

Jeter, whose No. 2 the team will retire Sunday, dreamed of playing shortstop at Yankee Stadium when he was a kid. He dreamed of wearing pinstripes. And he accomplished that goal.

But why? Why the Yankees?

Thank his family.

In an interview with the “MLB Tonight,” Jeter’s mother, Dorothy, said he became a fan because of summer trips to see family in New Jersey as a kid.

“I’m from Jersey, and my mom was a diehard Yankee fan,” Dorothy Jeter said. “The kids used to go visit my mom with my other nieces and nephews and stay the summer. They used to watch Yankee baseball. They used to go to Yankees games. So, Derek was a diehard Yankee fan, mainly because of my mom and he just fell in love.”

https://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2017/05/how_derek_jeters_nj_roots_made_him_yankees_diehard.html

Posted on

They Can Hit 400-Foot Homers, but Playing Catch? That’s Tricky

baseball_layout

By BILL PENNINGTONAPRIL 1, 2017

In the 40 years that Jack Thomson has been coaching high school baseball, he has seen a noticeable rise in the talent of players trying out for his team.

They scorch line drives, they hurl blazing fastballs.

But something is often missing.

“They can’t play catch,” said Thomson, a coach in California, one of the more fertile grounds for future major leaguers. “They’re bad at it. You’d be surprised how bad it looks. We have to teach them how to play catch.”

In modern youth baseball, where the culture has been transformed by the pursuit of the holy grail, a college athletic scholarship, the fundamentals are falling by the wayside in favor of flashier skills like big-league-style hitting and pitching.

Private coaching and specialized camps are proliferating along with travel teams whose primary goal is putting players in a position to display their batting and pitching skills at college recruiting showcases. These events are cattle calls, with everyone trying to impress.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/01/sports/baseball/they-can-hit-400-foot-homers-but-playing-catch-thats-tricky.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Posted on

Baseball Scorekeeping Joins the 21st Century with GameChanger

20120330_baseball_33

February 26,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, There was a time when nothing was more sacred than going to a baseball game, getting a hot dog and keeping score in the stands. Children from past generations would enter the gates at their favorite baseball stadium and immediately ask their parents to get a scorecard and pencil, so that they could track every play. In the days before YouTube, Wikipedia and baseball reference sites, keeping score was one of the only ways to look back on games and remember what happened – batter to batter.

As technology advanced the art of scorekeeping faded from popular use, and now many fans don’t know what a backwards “K”, “HPB” or a “6-4-3 DP” means. To help bring scorekeeping back to the 21st Century, GameChanger has launched apps for iOS and Android. GameChanger, available for free, is the leading digital scorekeeping app that also helps amateur baseball and softball teams stay organized and informed.

GameChanger features an easy-to-use tutorial that guides even the most inexperienced users step-by-step and pitch-by-pitch. With one click, users simply have to select the virtual field on the screen and a set of dropdown menus will allow them to input the play. The app keeps track of all the action, so that users can review the game anytime, anywhere. In-game stats include everything from pitch counts to first-pitch strike percentage.

Posted on

Hitting Glory – A Baseball Bat Adventure

Hitting Glory - A Baseball Bat Adventure

Hitting Glory – A Baseball Bat Adventure

by Robert J. Skead

Ridgewood NJ, The heartwarming story about Lou Gibson, an 11-year-old boy who finds an old, wooden baseball bat engraved with the initials LG on its handle in his school’s basement. When Lou recalls that the most famous graduate of his school, Public School #132 in New York City, was Yankee great Lou Gehrig, he immediately sets off on a mission to prove that the bat once belonged to “The Pride of the Yankees.” Lou’s search sends him on a journey of triumph, tragedy and discovery when he finds out that when he uses the bat he magically becomes an amazing hitter.

13606975 1066187330142700 2018216670673888888 n

THE STORY OF THE 100 YEAR OLD BAT

In April 2000, I was fortunate enough to purchase a 100 year-old, wooden baseball bat at a bargain price. When the old Spalding® bat arrived, I immediately displayed it on the wall in our family room. I never imagined the bat would generate a story. Here’s what happened:

The bat’s unique, old-fashioned shape and brown patina mesmerized me. I noticed there were initials – RM – carved on the bottom of the bat. I wondered who RM was. How old was he when he received the bat? Did he hit any homeruns with it? What if RM became a major league player later in life and this was his bat when he was a kid?

That last question hit me like a line drive between the eyes. I imagined that the bat once belonged to Lou Gehrig when he was a kid. I then imagined what would happen if a child had the bat today and started using it in his games. Could the bat have special powers in the hands of an imaginative child?

The result of all this imagining is HITTING GLORY – A BASEBALL BAT ADVENTURE

https://www.robertskead.com/hittingglory.php

Posted on

RHS Baseball players and their dads will be heading down to play some ball, but more importantly, to bring donations !

RHS Baseball players and their dads

November 27,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood

Ridgewood NJ, The annual trip to the Dominican Republic is fast approaching. RHS Baseball players and their dads will be heading down to play some ball, but more importantly, to bring donations of new or used baseball gear to the children of the village and much needed supplies to the local orphanage. We are looking for baseball clothing, gloves, cleats, batting gloves, diapers, wipes, cans of tuna, and vitamins. All donations are greatly appreciated. The deadline is 1/20/17 and drop-off locations are 519 Fairfield Avenue or 226 Phelps Road. Thank you in advance for your continued generosity.

Posted on

Little League Softball: Ridgewood’s run to Junior East Regional finals a team effort

14U softball team for winning the Junior Softball State Championship!

BY RON FOX
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Little League rules mandate that every player on a team’s roster must have at least one at-bat in a game.

That was no problem for Tony Barbera, manager of the Ridgewood Under-14 Little League softball team, which roared to district, sectional and state championships this summer and missed by one game of moving on to the Junior Little League World Series in Kirkland, Wash.

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/girls-softball/ridgewood-s-run-to-regions-a-team-effort-1.1640298?page=all

Posted on

Youth Baseball: Ridgewood squad resumes last summer’s success

RBSA

BY MATTHEW BIRCHENOUGH
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Just over 11 months ago, the Ridgewood Raiders 14U baseball team returned to a hero’s welcome in the village after the squad’s successful season culminated in a trip to the Junior League World Series.

The same group of boys had another strong campaign this summer but without any of the fanfare that accompanied last year’s triumphs. That was perfectly fine with them.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/village-team-resumes-last-summer-s-success-1.1636940

Posted on

Ridgewood Baseball Softball Association

Ridgewood   12U boys take the District 4 Little League title!

Ridgewood Baseball Softball Association 12U boys take the District 4 Little League title!

13620048 10207067886644106 3088185680203689713 n

13U Raiders win the 2016 NJ Section 1 Intermediate (50/70) Championship!

13645263 1141088882625184 1666846992448839270 n

14U take the District 4 Junior League title in a 1-0 thriller

13680490 1140669036000502 4378251776299304415 o
14U Girls are Section 1 Champions!

Posted on

Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Palmer will be appearing Wednesday at Bookends in Ridgewood

Nine Innings to Success

June 1,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

June 1st @ 6:30pm  at Bookends in Ridgewood

Jim Palmer, will sign his new book:
Nine Innings to Success

Click on the link below to pre-order:
https://squareup.com/store/bookends

Ridgewood NJ, Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Palmer will be appearing Wednesday at Bookends in Ridgewood. James Alvin “Jim” Palmer (born October 15, 1945) is a retired American right-handed pitcher who played all of his 19 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Baltimore Orioles (1965–67, 1969–84) and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990. Palmer was the winning pitcher in 186 games in the 1970s, the most wins in that decade by any MLB pitcher. He also won at least twenty games in each of eight seasons and received three Cy Young Awards and four Gold Gloves during the decade. His 268 career victories are currently an Orioles record. A six-time American League (AL) All-Star, he was also one of the rare pitchers who never allowed a grand slam in any major league contest.

Palmer appeared in the postseason eight times and was a vital member of three World Series Champions, six AL pennant winners and seven Eastern Division titleholders. He is the only pitcher in the history of the Fall Classic with a win in each of three decades. He was also the youngest to pitch a shutout in a World Series at age 20 in 1966. He was one of the starters on the last rotation to feature four 20-game winners in a single season in 1971.

Since his retirement as an active player in 1984, Palmer has worked as a color commentator on telecasts of MLB games for ABC and ESPN and for the Orioles on Home Team Sports (HTS), Comcast SportsNet (CSN) Mid-Atlantic and the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.

Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.

While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed.  We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.

Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ   07450   201-445-0726

Posted on

Play Ball ,Ridgewood Baseball/Softball Association Opening Day

RBSA

April 23,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Baseball & Softball Association (RBSA) held its 66th annual Opening Day Parade and Family Fun Day today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Weather held and the parade started at 9 a.m. leaving the Ridgewood train station and heading down  East Ridgewood Avenue to Veterans Field. Grand Marshal Jim Griffith led the procession of over 1,000 players from the village’s youth baseball and softball teams . Opening ceremonies were held at Kasschau Band Shell, where Ridgewood High School senior Morgan Mastrangelo sang the national anthem.

New York Mets mascot Mr. Met made a special appearance and he was followed by a visit from the New Jersey Jackals mascot, Jack the Jackal.

Lots of food was available though gourmet  food trucks that were brought in . The lineup included the Mac Truck, Pizza Vita Brick Oven Pizza, Jersey Johnny’s Grill, Empanada Guy, Thai Elephant, the Taco truck, Waffles de Lys and Ben & Jerry’s.

As has been the custom in recent years many activities were available for children will including music, carnival games, face painting, spin art and a jumbo inflatable obstacle course and slide. In addition, Veterans Field will have a pavilion showcasing 40 vendors with a mix of unique wares and sports-related items.

Ridgewood Police shut down East Ridgewood, Maple Ave and Franklin Ave by 9am for the Baseball Parade for approximately 45 minutes. This in turn backed up NJT buses and caused a few delays for passengers.

Posted on

Dan Schlossberg and Erik Sherman at Bookends in Ridgewood Saturday

Bookends Ridgewood

April 22,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Dan Schlossberg will sign his new book: When the Braves Ruled the Diamond along with Erik Sherman with his new book: Kings of Queens. Bookends in Ridgewood , Saturday, April 23rd @ 1:00pm.

13043484 10153434180505776 3768542343916431351 n

Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.

Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.

While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed.  We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.

Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ   07450   201-445-0726

Posted on

Ridgewood youth baseball playing with shortage of fields

Zabriskie-Schedler_Property_theridgewoodblog

NOVEMBER 24, 2015 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015, 11:45 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

(This article is the second of an ongoing series examining the Schedler property and the issues surrounding it.)

In the springtime, a common sound heard around the village’s parks is the distinct metallic “ping” of an aluminum bat making solid contact with a baseball.

With a robust baseball program, Ridgewood is home to many ball fields at its numerous parks scattered all around town, but the need for one specific size field has become entangled with one of the village’s most sensitive issues.

The Ridgewood News has already explored the concerns held by residents in the neighborhood that plays home to the historic Zabriskie-Schedler house and property, where a full-size 90-foot baseball field has been proposed.

However, it may be the last place remaining to install such a field, driving the Ridgewood Baseball Softball Association (RBSA) to donate money to the village as part of a matching grant opportunity from Bergen County that would allow the proposed Phase One portion of the project, which consists of a cleanup in the woodlands on West Saddle River Road, to begin.

While there has always been a need for more fields in Ridgewood, the completion of the state-of-the-art track and field complex at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in 2011 put a tremendous strain on the resources available to the RBSA, said President Jim Albano.

Previously, that field was home to one of the village’s two “60-90” fields – a diamond consisting of 90-foot basepaths and a pitcher’s mound that sits 60 feet, 6 inches from home plate. BF was also home to a smaller, multi-purpose field with a dirt infield.

https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/leagues-playing-with-field-shortage-in-ridgewood-1.1461690

Posted on

Yankees legend Yogi Berra dead at 90

p-30218-yogi-berra-mickey-mantle-joe-dimaggio-new-york-yankees-16x20-photo-ssg-uyb-16d

By Don Burke

September 23, 2015 | 2:26am

Yogi Berra, a three-time MVP who was the backbone of a record 10 world-champion Yankees teams in the 1940, 50s and 60s and who became one of the most beloved figures in franchise history despite a lengthy estrangement from the team, died Tuesday night, according to the Yogi Berra Museum. He was 90.

Berra, whose wife of 65 years, Carmen, died in March 2014, had been in failing health for some time. His death was announced by the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, N.J., to which Berra had devoted himself in the final years of his life.

Berra died of natural causes Tuesday at his home in New Jersey, according to Dave Kaplan, the director of the Yogi Berra Museum.

“While we mourn the loss of our father, grandfather and great-grandfather, we know he is at peace with Mom,” Berra’s family said in a statement released by the museum. “We celebrate his remarkable life, and are thankful he meant so much to so many. He will truly be missed.”

Berra, a catcher who was named the A.L.’s most valuable player in 1951, 54 and 55, led the Yankees to five consecutive world championships (1949-53) and also led a team that included Mickey Mantle and, for three of those seasons, Joe DiMaggio, in RBIs for seven consecutive seasons (1949-55). Berra was an 18-time All-Star, a member of a record 14 A.L. pennant winners and a 1972 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame. That was the same year his uniform No. 8 was retired by the Yankees.

Berra, who dropped out of school after the 8th grade to help support his family, is nearly as well known for his unique use of the English language as he is for his baseball career. His wit and wisdom — “It’s never over til it’s over.” “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” “If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.”— have not only found their way into the American lexicon, but also into Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.

https://nypost.com/2015/09/23/yankees-legend-yogi-berra-dead-at-90/

Posted on

Old plans could present solution for Schedler

zabriskieschedler_theridgewoodblog

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Print

Old plans could present solution for Schedler

To the Editor:

There can be a sensible alternative to construction of a 90-foot baseball/multiuse field in a heavily wooded area on the Schedler property, and with little cost to the sports groups or the village. There is an existing 80-foot field at Pleasant Park that can be expanded to 90 feet. An existing plan, before the purchase of Schedler, might well be a solution.

In fact, both Veteran’s Field and the Pleasant Field were slated to become 90-foot fields as replacements when the field at Benjamin Franklin Middle School was turned into a track. A 2007-08 report on our Parks and Facilities by Schoor-DePalma-CMX (“Comprehensive Parks, Facilities and Recreation Plan”), paid for by the village, was presented to the council in 2008 recommending that the 80-foot existing baseball field at Pleasant Park be expanded, as well as Veteran’s Field, which now has a 90-foot field.

Of course, this report was written before the Schedler property was purchased.

After Schedler was purchased, the Pleasant Park extension was discarded. Reasons for the change by the village were soil conditions, objections by neighbors, permits from the DEP, etc. But no studies were ever done, and to my knowledge, no correspondence with the state.

The Pleasant Park neighbors are right to be concerned that a 90-foot field brings lights, noise, and traffic that could disrupt the Lawns neighborhood. But why are their concerns more important to the town than the residents on the east side.

Why not revive the idea of adding just a few feet to the existing 80-foot field at Pleasant with the following restrictions: no lights, no turf, and strict penalties for loud and disturbing behavior. As long as the players and fans play by the rules, the neighbors should be glad to help out. We would balance the loss of less than an acre of trees versus over 5 acres of trees at Schedler.

Sure, it would be nice to go across town to an area of east side residents near the Schedler property, put up a field, put in over 70 parking spaces and create problems on a narrow roadway, not to mention cutting down acres of trees that buffer the view and sounds of Route 17.

A traffic study in the middle of August on a residential street is not the right time to see what traffic is really like when school is out, when rush hour occurs, etc.

If this village is concerned about money, how would they justify an outlay of at least $1 million to level 5 acres at least, in an area that is uneven at best, put in a field, create a large berm around most of the property as buffer so trucks or cars don’t crash into the field?

The solution, a much less expensive solution, one that was proposed in the report, paid for by the village, is to extend the field at Pleasant.

Ellie Gruber

Ridgewood

 

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-ridgewood-should-revist-old-plans-1.1412615

Posted on

Quid pro quo or just a coincidence – RBSA $100k donation

RBSA
September 11,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Is it just a coincidence that the Village Council’s approval, by a 3-2 vote, of a controversial 90 foot baseball field at Schedler came less than 30 days prior to a $100k donation from the Ridgewood Baseball Softball Association, in the form of matching funds for a Bergen County Open Space Grant, or is this a classic case of quid pro quo?  What say you?

And why were some Village Council members kept completely in the dark as to the grant application and the donation?