Jane Heller: Confessions of a She-Fan

The story behind the book is well-known. Heller, a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees, vowed to divorce the club early in 2007 when it was in last place. Her "divorce" letter, published in the New York Times, led to an outpouring of emotion from Yankee fans across the country, not all of which was good.
 
And as a result, Heller began a personal journey--both literally and figuratively--that led her to ballparks all across the country, following her team, meeting other fans, trying to score at least one interview with an actual player, and searching for answers as to her true feelings about the Yankees, baseball, and life.
 
Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees is the story of that journey, one she shared with her husband, who must have been an incredibly good sport throughout this whole process. Although spending two months on the road, going from city to city for the sole purpose of watching baseball games actually sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
 
Heller, who is a novelist with a long list of successful books to her credit, is witty, cynical, sometimes crude and irreverent, always funny, and at times, deeply introspective. To Heller, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon is "Pap Smear" and Fenway Park is "unusual . . . and puny, like a toy park," while Yankee Stadium is "regal and imposing." Yet, she also meets a Red Sox fan who is at Fenway for the first time ever, calling it "the best night" of his life--which led her to write, "He shames me with his lack of pretense. I am deeply moved by him."
 
As part of her journey, Heller gives a game-by-game accounting of New York's effort to recover from a horrid start and make the postseason, and the closer the calendar gets to October, the more she learns about the true nature of fandom and what it means to be committed to relationships of any type.
 
The story of Heller's journey was so well publicized prior to the release of the book that I was curious about how she would handle the book's ending. After all, everyone already knows how the season ended, about the A-Rod World Series fiasco, and about the departure of Joe Torre--but I have to say when I reached the end of the book it was a very fitting and satisfying conclusion, and not at all what I expected.
 
Go ahead and read The Yankee Years by Joe Torre (well worth it), but do not make the mistake of dismissing She-Fan. If you are a fan of the Yankees, or of the game itself, you will find Heller's journey worth reading.
 
Jane is also a very popular blogger on MLBlog, you can check it out here. 

I guess it's finally time . . .

The World Series has been over for what, almost two months now?  Soon will be, anyhow, and the thing I've been putting off during that time is, well, congratulating the Phillies.

I guess it's finally time.

So, congratulations, however belatedly, to everyone who was happy when Philadelphia won the World Series. I was not happy, but that doesn't matter.

You see the Phillies beat Tampa to kick off the fall, which was bad enough, but then it's been one financial disaster after another - nothing but bad news on the economy as we head to winter.

I'm happy now though, which is why I guess I'm finally, though grudgingly, able to congratulate the Phillies.

Why am I happy?

Well apparently, at least according to CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and the New York Yankees, the economy is working again. That's great news!

And with the Yankees spending like, well, the Yankees, it feels like order has been restored to the Baseball Universe. Now if Christmas will hurry up and get here, and get over, then we can get on with the New Year's parties and such, and then, finally, spring training will be in sight . . . and then may the baseball gods bring healthy arms and lively bats to everyone in the N.L. East except the Phillies.

www.sportsbythenumbers.com

New York Yankees Foreword by Mike Vaccaro

By Mike Vaccaro

Sports Columnist

New York Post

 

Most of the time, if you are a fan of a sports team, you root for that team. You cheer for that team. Maybe you wear a sweatshirt with their logo on the front, or a hat with team colors splashed prominently on it. If you wander a little close to the frenzied fringe, perhaps you paint your face in the appropriate hues.

 

Sports fans, they care about their teams. They care deeply.

 

And then there are Yankees fans.

 

"Yankees fans," Derek Jeter told me once, with a look of wonder swimming in his eyes, "belong in a separate category all their own."

 

OK: we know what you're doing now, if you happen to reside in a distinctly non-Yankee precinct of this country, in which there are many. You are rolling your eyes. You are shrugging your shoulders. The Yankees take themselves so seriously, and their fans take themselves even more seriously, and this is all supposed to only be about baseball games, right?

 

See, that's where you're wrong. And that's what you miss out on if you don't fall under the umbrella of Yankee fandom. There is responsibility attached to being a Yankee fan. There is a sense of history, and a sense of belonging. What others see as entitlement, Yankee fans interpret as an almost sacred kind of duty, one that reaches across generations and stretches all the way back to Harding Administration.

 

"When you manage the Yankees," says Joe Torre, who managed them with great distinction for 12 seasons from 1996 through 2007, "you aren't only managing this year's team, you're managing for 1996 and 1977 and 1956 and 1941. You aren't only managing players, you're managing ghosts. And I suspect that's what it means to root for the team as well. It's a fascinating thing."

 

That fascination has likely brought you to this book. If you are a Yankees fan, that makes perfect sense, because what you're going to find in the coming pages is an absorbing collection of facts, of figures, of trivia and of history. Some of it you'll already know, because Yankees fans are nothing if not ardent students of history. Much of it will add to your knowledge. Some of it will surprise you. All of it will delight you.

 

And if you aren't a Yankees fan?

 

Then you are proving the very point that all Yankees fans make whenever they present their valedictories for why the Yankees are the most important team in American sport. Because even if you swear to loathe the pinstripes, even if the thought of a 27th championship banner flying high above the Bronx someday makes you somewhat queasy, you certainly understand the Yankees. You certainly appreciate them, even if you may be slow to use that word.

 

For it is impossible to tell a tale of baseball across the last century and not include the Yankees. Similarly, it is impossible to be a fan of the game and not be, even silently, even cryptically, a fan of who the Yankees are, what they've done, the excellence they've maintained, fairly regularly, for 87 years.

 

The Yankees matter.

 

But you already knew that. You've already started perusing this wonderful book. And soon, you'll dive into this wonderful yield by the good folks at Sports by the Numbers and you will lose yourself in baseball, in history, in numbers, and in the New York Yankees. I envy you. I can't think of a better way to pass the next couple of hours.

 

Enjoy.

 

New York Yankees: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports

Random Numbers: Tiny Bonham -- NYY #902

902 The number of batters (902) Tiny Bonham faced in 1943. He was 15-8, and he made his second consecutive All-Star team. Bonham was remarkably consistent from 1942-43, as he made 28 starts and pitched 226 innings both seasons. He gave up 199 hits in 1942, and he gave up 197 hits in 1943. Bonham gave up 57 earned runs and posted an identical 2.27 ERA both seasons. He also struck out 71 batters and hit one batter in both seasons. The big difference for Bonham though was the way both seasons ended. The Yankees lost the 1942 World Series in five games to the St. Louis Cardinals, but the Yankees beat the Cardinals in five games during the 1943 World Series.

 

Sports by the Numbers Series

Random Numbers: Boston Red Sox -- NYY #2

2 The most familiar position (2) in the standings for the Boston Red Sox. New York won 39 pennants and 26 World Series titles from 1920-2003, while Boston managed just four pennants and came up empty in the World Series each time. Best of all for New York, the rival Red Sox have finished second in the standings during a season the Yankees came in first a mind-boggling 15 times, including eight consecutive seasons from 1998-2005.

 

More NYY numbers.

Random Numbers: Lou Gehrig -- NYY #731

731 The World Series slugging percentage (.731) for Lou Gehrig. He batted 119 times during seven trips to the World Series and picked up 21 extra-base hits. Gehrig batted .361 overall with ten homeruns, and he ranks among the top five leaders in post-season history for homeruns, triples, slugging percentage, total bases, walks, and RBI.

 

More NYY Numbers.

Random Numbers: Babe Ruth -- NYY #59

59 The number of homeruns (59) for Babe Ruth in 1921. Harry Stovey hit 14 homeruns for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1883 to set the professional record. His team hit only 20 homeruns on the season, and his record lasted only one year as Ned Williamson hit 27 homeruns for the Chicago White Stockings in 1884. Williamson hit only 64 homeruns in his career, and never hit more than nine in any other season, but his record stood until Babe Ruth hit 29 for the Boston Red Sox in 1919. Ruth shattered his own record with 54 homeruns for the Yankees in 1920, and his 59 homeruns in 1921 set yet another record. It is the only time in history the homerun record was broken in three consecutive seasons, and Ruth did it each time.
 

"Bedlam" in Philly

Joe Blanton became the first pitcher in 34 years to homer in the World Series and Ryan Howard hit a pair of shots - giving him three in two games since the series shifted from Tampa to Philly - leading the Phillies to a 10-2 victory and putting the club on the verge of what Howard described as "absolute bedlam."

 

Blanton.jpgThings are going so well for Philly at home that Blanton's blast was actually the first extra-base hit of his career - making him the first player in baseball history to notch a World Series homer for his first career extra-base hit.

 

And more importantly he was the winning pitcher in Game 4, giving his team three chances now to close out the series.

 

One of those chances comes at home tonight. With Cole Hamels taking the mound (4-0 this postseason) and the way Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena are swinging the stick for Tampa (combined 0 for 29 in the series) you have to think the odds are in favor of Philly.

 

If the Phillies do win this series it would be nice to see them go ahead and clinch it at home - not that I'm pulling for that, being a Florida resident and longtime Rays' fan and all - but Philadelphia fans deserve it.

 

Plus, after so much was made of home field advantage in the build-up to the postseason (e.g. Tampa posting the best home record in baseball and the A.L. winning the All-Star Game) the Phillies are 6-0 at home.

 

Home records for postseason teams that made early exits: Angels (0-2), White Sox (1-1), Cubs (0-2), and Brewers (1-1).

 

The Red Sox were 2-3 and the Dodgers were 2-2 at home in two playoff rounds.

 

Tampa split two games at home vs. Boston and two so far against Philly - but those diehard Philly fans have yet to see their team lose a game at home this postseason, which explains why their team is just one win away from "absolute bedlam."

Lamest walk-off ever . . .

"It might have took a little squib roller down the third-base line, but at the same time it's better to be lucky sometimes than to be good," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
 
That sounds about right.
 
A hit batter, wild pitch, throwing error, two intentional walks, and "a little squib" in the ninth inning gave the Phillies a 5-4 victory and a one-game advantage over the Rays - this after B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford very nearly stole a W for Tampa, quite literally.
.
Instead, now I imagine Carlos Ruiz - the Phillies 29-year-old catcher who got the "game-winning hit" - in about 25 or 30 years. He's sitting around, telling his grandchildren about his first World Series. About how he won Game 3 in walk-off fashion with a hit that very nearly was ruined by a diving Evan Longoria.
 
Never mind that it was the lamest walk-off ever . . .
 
If you want some real walk-off shots, check out Chad Curtis, Bernie Williams, Scott Brosius, and more . . . here:
 
 
 
 

Cole "Clutch" Hamels -- Philly Wins

Well-deserved congratulations to Philadelphia, Cole Hamels, and Phillies fans everywhere on a convincing Championship Series victory vs. LA. Here are some of the numbers that tell the 2008 NLCS story.

2 The number of strikeouts (2) for Ryan Howard. Perhaps the most surprising number of the series - no homers for Howard, but only two Ks - and he was 6 for 20 with two RBI and three runs. This is the same Howard who struck out 199 times in the regular season - for the second year in a row.

3 The number of postseason leadoff homers (3) for Jimmy Rollins. He now has a leadoff homer in three consecutive postseason series dating to 2007. Rollins has led off both of the Phillies series' clinching wins in 2008 with a home run - and his blast leading off against Chad Billingsley in Game 5 vs. LA, with Cole Hamels on the mound, set the tone for the rest of the game.

5 Brad Lidge is still perfect. He has (5) saves in the postseason, including three against LA, after converting all 41 opportunities during the regular season.

14 The number of innings (14) for Cole Hamels. In two starts he gave up 11 hits and three earned runs - while striking out 13. The Series MVP won Game 1 and the deciding Game 5, posting an impressive 1.93 earned run average. Take away Manny Ramirez and the rest of the Dodgers' lineup produced just eight hits and one run against Hamels.

34 Philadelphia's other four starting pitchers recorded just (34) outs while giving up 14 earned runs in 11-plus innings of work. The good news is that by clinching in five games the Phillies rotation will be rested, set, and ready to go next week. Anyone think Moyer is in line for another start?

333 The batting average (.333) for Pat Burrell. It is impossible to overstate the significance of his sixth inning home run in Game 1. Chase Utley tied it, Burrell gave them the lead. Burrell also had the two-homer game in the clincher vs. Milwaukee. Anyone disagree that this guy is a temperamental, streaky hitter? He struck out seven times vs. LA, but this is a guy who the eventual AL champion better not look past.

500 The slugging percentage (.500) for Shane Victorino. He hit only .222 but who cares, he had a triple, a homer, and six RBI - but perhaps even more important is the way he plays the game. I love his emotion, his intensity, and his reaction to Hiroki Kuroda throwing at his head. He later said, "Someone was bound to get hit - the situation called for it. Just don't throw at my head." The next night he came back and hit an eighth inning homer that tied the game and set the stage for Matt Stairs.

984 The winning percentage (.984) for Joe Torre managed teams in the postseason when holding a two-run lead in the eighth inning or later - prior to Game 4, Shane Victorino, and Matt Stairs. Torre was 62-1 before the Phillies handed him loss number two in that situation - and it was a huge comeback for Philly, scoring four in the eighth and averting a series tied two games apiece.

1000 The batting average (1.000) for Matt Stairs. Seriously, this guy is still playing? Apparently, because in his only at bat of the series he hit a two-run blast that won Game 4. Stairs later said, "My whole career, even back in the early days, my approach was try to hit the ball out of the ballpark - and it's something I've enjoyed doing. I try to hit home runs and that's it. I'm not going to hit a single and steal second base."
.
Click here to order Major League Baseball: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports with a foreword by The Baseball Collector Zack Hample.
Next Entries »