Conference noted::yankee

I was out sick for awhile so I'm just now entering something following the
Yankees Fan Festival, held 1/31-2/2.

I attended with my brother-in-law and our sons, and generally we were a
little disappointed.  They cap this event at 5,000, but without *ALL* of
the stars there, the lines for the few *key* players in attendance are
very long.

Bernie, Jeter, Pettitte, Strawberry, Cone, O'Neill, Girardi, and Raines
were the only BIG-name players there.  As you might guess, Bernie's and
Jeter's lines were closed almost IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE DOORS OPENED.
Understand that while Bernie was there at 9am, Jeter wasn't scheduled
to arrive until 2pm.  That meant that some people stood in his line
for 5-7 hours just to get his autograph, speak a few words, and take
a snapshot.  We wouldn't do it.

We immediately decided to get "the best of the rest" and our one BIG-guy
would be Pettitte.  Among the others were Fox, Ruben Rivera, Jorge Posada,
minor league *prospect* Ricki Ledee, Ramiro Mendoza, Don Larsen, Mickey Rivers,
Randolph, Chambliss, Zimmer, Stan Bahnsen, Johnny Blanchard, Phil Linz,
Joe Pepitone...and more that I am forgetting now.

We met Torre, Larsen, Ledee and Pettitte (3 hrs in his line) in 6 hours.
That's it.  They're all close together, so we have pictures of others.
The players were very friendly, and seeing the kids' faces when they
were face-to-face with these guys made it worthwhile.

Another highlight was taking a picture of the boys standing in front
of the World Series trophy.

There were plenty of memorabilia and souvenir vendors, a batting cage,
pitching cage, radio booth...but the main focus is meeting the players,
and it was just disappointing that logistically it was next to impossible
to meet even half the players you wanted to.  It would have helped if
they had more BIG-name guys there, but that's not likely to happen.

One other comment:  The two players who stirred the crowd (even at the
mention of their names when it was announced when they would arrive)
were Strawberry and Jeter.  Both were greeted with a lot of cheer
when they walked to their booths.  Jeter was received like a movie/rock
star, with girls screaming...  Oh, to be 22, RoY, a World Series champion,
and the toast of the town in New York City.

    
    Actually, I don't know if you guys caught the ESPYs on Monday night,
    but I was surprized how many cheers Dwight Gooden received when they
    showed his picture, nominated for the "Comeback Player of the Year"
    award.  He didn't win, though.  Some boxer won it.   ;^)   I don't know
    why they made such a big deal of this guy...  ;^)  ;^)
    
    -Mike
    
    
    PS  Wish I could've been at the fan fest
    

    
    Kind of quite in hear, we pass the sox and bluejays this weekend and
    still no entrys.....?  any word on Irabu??  heard a rumor he wants 10
    mil a year....who is this guy to demand such a price, or does he think
    the Yanks are fools?  also heard that if they don't sign him by June 1
    the trade is null and void for the players but we loose 1.5 mil of the 
    3 mil paid.....can anyone close to this hear the exact info...?
    
    thanks...../westy
    

Don't have anything further on Irabu, other than he rejected a 3-yr, $9m
offer the Yanks made over the weekend.  Gotta believe it's going to get
done.  The Yanks' staff is in need of repair, despite Torre's rhetoric.
Rogers' is close to being sent to the bullpen, and Mendoza still hasn't
shown he can be consistent, or that he has ML stuff.  The media keeps
an eye on Gooden, but I'd like to think of him as a 5th starter and
know we have an adequate backup (ie: not Mendoza).  Right now we have
just 3 reliable starters:  Cone, Pettitte and Wells.  And the bullpen
is still in a state of confusion with Rivera, Nelson and Lloyd the only
ones you can *expect* to last the season.  Despite all the b*llsh*t we've
heard from the coaches and players, this team still needs more pitching
if it's going to make the playoffs.

It's interesting that the statistics show some improvement over last year's
team stats.  We were only 11th in runs scored last year and so far we're
#1 in the AL.  Quite a turnaround.  Defensively, we allowed the fewest HRs
in '96, and we've dropped to 6th best so far in '97.

	Offense			Defense

	BA	#3		BA	#6
	Runs	#1		ERA	#3
	HR	#6		HR	#6
	SLG	#2		SO	#1
				CG	#2

It's early, but the expectations were that the Yanks' offense would be
better this year (full season with Fielder, Hayes, Raines, Straw, addition]
of Whiten), and that the starting pitching would be better.  So far the
offense does look better, and the pitching has mixed results.