WHY I NEED TO MEET SUZYN WALDMAN

It’s a selfish conquest, but important to me none the less. Yes, it’s true, when I finally complete my mission, I’ll get laughed at, picked on and mocked but I don’t care what anyone says… I have the need to meet Suzyn Waldman. Why? Because believe it or not, she is part of Yankees history.

Waldman has been with the Yankees in the booth with John Sterling since 2005 and to be honest, I never thought much of it. But one thing you need to say about Suzyn Waldman, she’s a staple in the Yankee family and has been for years. She’s been doing sports broadcasting for 20 years, and without her around Yankee Stadium, we may never have ever seen Yogi Berra again. What? Wait… you don’t know what I’m talking about? Let me explain.

Yogi Berra, no doubt was one of the greatest Yankees ever, numerous championships and a Hall of Famer. After Yogi Berra and George Steinbrenner had their falling out in 1985 when Yogi was fired as the Yankees Manager, Yogi was pissed because it wasn’t Steinbrenner himself but the GM who gave Berra the message. Berra swore he’d never step foot in Yankee Stadium again, and didn’t for a long long time.

As the story goes, in 1999, Suzyn Waldman was able to get both George and Yogi together for a "sit down". Some real Tony Soprano stuff. The "sit down" was a huge success and Yogi came back on a huge day at Yankee Stadium honoring Yogi. They did it right, Don Larsen threw out the first pitch to Yogi and in Yankee style; David Cone followed that day pitching his perfect game. Bottom line, that chain of events would have never happened without Suzyn Waldman.

Now, you know my feeling about John Sterling and Suzyn together in the both. It’s manageable in my mind but I’ve never loved the duo. Yes, by now, the 2 of them in the booth is a good team, and many of us grow accustomed to them being there, but, let’s not gloss over it. The moment Roger Clemens was in "George’s box" was the day I said loudly, “I have to meet Suzyn Waldman.” No one in any other lifetime could be that excited about Roger Clemens coming back to the Yankees, including Roger Clemens… except of course for Suzyn Waldman. Yes, her excitement was ridiculous, but it was the passion I loved.

Look, she may not be the greatest color commentator in sports, you may not like her, but you need to respect her. Suzyn Waldman has opened doors and mended friendships that no one even knows about. Do you think it would be easy for our favorite Yankees chick Kimberly Jones to just get a job with the Yankees? Suzyn Waldman’s presence before Kim certainly helped. That’s no slap against Kim Jones, she feels the love and she's incredible at what she does. My point is, Suzyn Waldman is a veteran woman in broadcasting and because of her acceptance, more people opened their eyes, more gave other women a chance. You have to love that.

So yes, it’s true, in a sport driven by men; one woman broke through to take a stand and do her job to the best of her ability and helped with a little Yankee history along the way.

Again, you may not care for her style, you may not love her in the booth, but there is no doubt, you need to respect the job she does because… bottom line… no one does it like Suzyn… Goodness gracious… no one.

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THE ART OF ART DITMAR

Speaking to my friend David about Art Ditmar, you'd think he was the shining light and driving force behind the New York Yankees in the late 50's, early 60's. He wasn't, but he was a pretty good pitcher with a couple tough breaks while on the Bombers. The first break was being overshadowed by an already talented rotations during his years in pinstripes. The second was losing 2 World Series starts in terrible fashion, yet, Art Ditmar did what every great New York Yankee does in their career; He tried to compete and tried to win, every time. That's all you could ask for and that's why David loved Art Ditmar so much.

Art Ditmar was a right handed pitcher and quite good, for a short amount of time. More importantly, he was quite consistent which makes for a heck of a pitcher, especially when you are in a rotation that consisted of greats like Whitey Ford, Don Larsen, Bob Turley, Ralph Terry and Bobby Shantz. Yes, Art Ditmar was in rotations with those guys and because of it, he didn’t get to pitch a lot during his stay in New York. He did however get 15 wins, a career high for him back in 1960.

(In Photo: Ditmar, left, Casey Stengel, Bobby Shantz, right)

Ditmar had 3 pitches, his fastball, slider and curveball. His fastball was by far the best of the 3 pitches. During his span with the Yanks, Ditmar won 47 games. Those years were from 1957 to 1961. During that 5 year span, Ditmar was apart of 1 World Championship team, and that happened in 1958 against the Milwaukee Braves. As far as American League pennants are concerned, the Yankees won in 1957, 1958, 1960. In the 1960 World Series though, Art Ditmar started and lost both Game 1 and Game 5 for the Yankees. Those 2 games he put an absolutely horrible display only pitching 1/3 of an inning in Game 1 and 1 1/3 in Game 5. Horrendous doesn’t even begin to describe it. The story goes like this, Casey Stengel wanted Ditmar to start Game 1 instead of Whitey Ford because he thought Whitey would be a better matchup in Yankee Stadium. Read it HERE. We all know what happened, the Yankees lost that World Series to the Pirates 4 games to 3.

Ditmar played 9 years in the Major leagues. During that time, he first played for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1954 and compiled an American League record high 22 losses. After that season, he went to the Yankees and then to the Athletics again, this time to the Kansas City Athletics from 1961 and 1962. His career numbers are 72-77 with a 3.98 ERA and 552 strikeouts.

The most interesting tid-bit I found out about Art Ditmar is something that really isn't about Ditmar at all. It's about Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. Back in 1954, Art was with Philadelphia Athletics and he defeated the Yankees 8-6 in the last game at Shibe Park in Philly. This was before the team moved to Kansas City. the nugget comes here; In that game, Yogi Berra played his first and only game at third base and Mickey Mantle played shortstop for the Yankees. That's right...Mickey Mantle.

So, while Art Ditmar doesn't have an outstanding career in pinstripes, he sure has a unique one. And while there are thousands of Yankees players over the years, everyone has a favorite or one they loved to watch play. I guess that one for David, was Art Ditmar... and that's alright by me.

Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.