All Things Bubba

Because how can you not love a baseball player named "Bubba"?

Thursday, August 02, 2007

It was long ago and it was far away...




The photo is the Yankees' Opening Day 2004 picture. (Click for a larger version.) That was the year they were in Japan, and New Yorkers had to wake up at 3am if they wanted to watch the game. Technically, it was a Tampa Bay Devil Rays home game, even though it was played in Tokyo. (They bribed the Rays to give up the profits of a real home game against the Yanks.) But the Japanese fans wanted to see the Yankees in their famous pinstripes. Road grays just wouldn't do. Tampa agreed, so the Yanks wore their home uniforms for an "away" game.

Bubba went along on the trip, though IIRC, he still hadn't officially made the team. Darren Bragg also went to Japan, and he and Bubba were battling it out for the last spot on the roster. Everyone (except maybe Darren Bragg's mom ;-) thought Bubba had clearly won a place on the team, but with Torre in charge, everyone was half-expecting Bragg to get it. (Amazingly, they would eventually make the right choice and pick Bubba.)

Anyway, Bubba is in the photo. He's in the second row, on the right side. Here's a detail:


And speaking of Bubba, he is reportedly back in Sarasota, working with the training staff there to rehab his shoulder. I guess that means things are going well.

Reminder: If you want to send Bubba get well wishes or birthday greetings (his birthday is August 11), and you're too lazy to use snail mail, you can e-mail me your message, or post it to the Bubba-Crosby.com Guestbook. I'll print it out and snail-mail it to Bubba. Get them to me by tomorrow.

A couple of links...

Jose Canseco has rather sleazily hinted that A-Rod's done 'roids. Ugh. I hope not.

Pete Rose is not a guy you want talking to your kids.

posted by BubbaFan, 9:18 PM

6 Comments:


Yeah, and when those jackasses send down Shelley Duncan in a few days to make way for another "vet'rin superstar", I bet it'll remind more than a few people of Bubba.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, August 04, 2007 4:01 AM  
The righty bat is more valuable... And let's see the mighty Giambi fill in even half an inning out in RF for Abreu sometime. Hell, let's see him fill in at 1B.

Yankees should be bringing more young guys up; not sending what little they've got down.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, August 04, 2007 4:12 AM  
Unfortunately, the Yankees don't have much choice. They are locked in. Veteran stars like Giambi can't be sent to the minors unless they agree, and releasing them would be ridiculously expensive, because they'd still have to pay their salaries.

I expect Shelley will be sent down if needed because he still has options. He'll be back up when rosters expand, or when someone else goes on the DL. (Which was how it went for Bubba for the two years he had options with the Yankees.) Andy Phillips is out of options, so they can't do that with him any more. They're going to have some tough choices to make next spring (assuming they don't make some trades in the off-season).
commented by Blogger BubbaFan, August 04, 2007 6:54 AM  
Do like the Marlins just did with the overpriced, piece of junk, Kim. Start putting these guys (Abreu, Damon, Giambi) on the wire, and see if anyone claims them.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, August 04, 2007 7:13 AM  
I cheered more for Bonds (which wasn't much) over A-Rod. Still, I'll take an Andy or Shelley HR any day over those high priced prima donnas.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, August 05, 2007 6:03 AM  
It's funny how Bonds and A-Rod both struggled to finally hit their milestones, then when they did it, it happened on the same day.

A-Rod's hit would be big news on any other day. But Bonds has totally eclipsed him. The news is barely mentioning A-Rod.

It may be just as well. I get the feeling A-Rod isn't comfortable with the glare of the media spotlight, even though he's in it so much.
commented by Blogger BubbaFan, August 05, 2007 6:52 AM  

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