Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

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First Tex, Now A-Rod

August 7, 2016

Well, this caught me by surprise when I woke up today. I heard there was a press conference called for 11am and sat glued to the TV while A-Rod announced his retirement/release, his new status with the team, his “reporting to Hal,” and his freedom to do whatever he wants after his last game as a player on Friday.

Since Alex has been such a polarizing figure throughout his career, it’s not surprising that today’s announcement has generated such intense discussion on Twitter and Facebook. Some are in the “Good riddance” camp. Others are in the “Oh no” camp. I’m somewhere in the middle.

While I have found his actions to be genuinely despicable over the years, both on and off the field, I can’t seem to summon up the hatred and scorn that many are heaping on him. Maybe it’s because he’s a Yankee and contributed to the team. Maybe it’s because I try to figure out flawed characters rather than condemn them. Maybe it’s because he’s an athlete, not a presidential candidate. Or maybe – just maybe – when he was at his non-cheating best, it’s because he was so gifted.

With today’s announcement, the Yankees not only paid him well and insured that he gets every insane penny owed him, but they managed to release him “with dignity,” free up a roster spot and continue their efforts to rebuild with younger players. A win-win for all concerned.

Now if Cashman would retire, I’d really be happy.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: A-Rod, press conference, retirement

Tyler Kepner sums it up: “The Yankees are interesting again”

February 12, 2014

From today’s NYT, here’s the article that best articulates my feelings about yesterday’s Tanaka press conference and the Yanks in general. I loved Tanaka’s swagger. I loved that he didn’t look awed by the situation. I loved that he thinks he belongs on the mound on Day 1. It really should be an exciting season. Read on……..

Masahiro Tanaka, standing next to Joe Girardi, was introduced in a private dining room on ground level of Yankee Stadium. Nobody sells hope like the Yankees. Nobody has such easy access to it. With their money and their marquee, they are a magnetic draw to an overseas sensation like Masahiro Tanaka, who buttoned up a No. 19 pinstriped jersey on Tuesday, tugged on that famous navy blue cap and proclaimed, in English, “I’m very happy to be a Yankee.”

To Tanaka’s right, on a dais before more than 200 reporters in a dining hall at Yankee Stadium, the team’s top executives clapped in delight. After missing the playoffs with an ancient, brittle roster, they had faced the prospect of a long, cold, lonely winter if they wanted to adhere to the goal of reducing their luxury-tax rate. Instead, they invested $470 million, and the penalties, in new talent.

“We know what our fans expect,” Hal Steinbrenner said. “They expect us to field a championship-caliber team, every year, as best we can. I think we’ve got a very good team. We have to stay healthy; that’s a given. But with a normal year of injuries, we’re going to be a force.”

Steinbrenner may be right. At worst, the point is debatable, but that really does not matter. What matters is that the Yankees are interesting again — and for pure baseball reasons, not the dark specter of an Alex Rodriguez controversy. How many homers will Brian McCann send over the inviting right-field wall? How will Jacoby Ellsbury energize the top of the lineup — and how will he play against his old team, the champion Boston Red Sox? How will Carlos Beltran perform on this side of town? Admit it. If you’re a baseball fan, you’re interested in those story lines. You will tune in again and maybe even buy tickets. And of all the stories, none is as compelling as Tanaka’s.

At 25, he is by far the youngest impact player on the Yankees. He showed a star’s flair with his arrival Sunday at John F. Kennedy International Airport on a rented 787 that transported only six passengers, including his pop-star wife and his poodle. It cost him an estimated $200,000. Tanaka said Tuesday that he chose such an extravagance because he wanted to arrive in top physical condition and had few other options. He mostly slept on the flight, anyway.

A more telling revelation was his reason for joining the Yankees. Tanaka sidestepped a question about the offers from other teams; the Yankees have already said that they outbid the field with their seven-year, $155 million deal. Money mattered, of course, but so did the stage. “I’ve heard this place could be very harsh to you at times,” Tanaka said through an interpreter. “I just wanted to put myself, though, in this environment and try and see where I can get to with my ability.”

The Yankees have tracked Tanaka for years. General Manager Brian Cashman said the scouting reports would “dance and sing” as they came across his desk. When Tanaka was finally cleared to meet with interested teams last month, the Yankees dispatched eight people to see him. Cashman said no other team sent more. Cashman compared Tanaka to Orlando Hernandez, who brought a winning swagger from Cuba in 1998. Randy Levine, the Yankees’ president, said Tanaka’s self-assurance reminded him of Hideki Matsui, the Japanese outfielder whose 2003 introduction was the only news conference to attract more reporters than Tanaka’s, the team said. “We went out to L.A. and met him and talked to him, to try and say, ‘This is where you need to be, you’re a great star, the biggest franchise, the biggest brand, the biggest city,’ ” Levine said. “He said some other teams had wanted him to transition in, and he didn’t like that. He wanted to take the ball on Day 1. That told us a lot about him.”

No pitcher in major league history has posted a record as dazzling as Tanaka’s for the Rakuten Eagles last season: 24 wins, no losses. His 1.27 earned run average last season would be the best by a major league starter since Bob Gibson in 1968. His save in the final game of the Japan Series, after his start the night before, evokes Randy Johnson against the Yankees in 2001. The Yankees have cautioned against overhype. Pitchers from Japan must get used to the hitters, a slightly larger ball and a less rigorous throwing program. (Kei Igawa, a spectacular failure a few years ago, confounded the Yankees by throwing against a fence, on his own time, unsupervised.) But Cashman’s assertion on ESPN Radio that Tanaka has merely the potential to be a No. 3 starter was hard to believe. If the Yankees wanted a No. 3 starter, they could have signed Matt Garza and saved about $120 million.

“How he’ll settle in in the States, at least in fairness, I’m going to say — especially in the first year — a No. 3 starter,” Cashman reiterated Tuesday. “And if we get more, all the better. We think he’s got a great deal of ability. We’re excited to have him join this franchise. We’ve got a lot of high-end talent we brought in, including him.”

True enough, but Tanaka is the only notable addition to a pitching staff that lost Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera and has questions everywhere. C. C. Sabathia allowed the most earned runs in the majors. Hiroki Kuroda, 39, fell apart down the stretch. Ivan Nova has struggled to be consistent. Michael Pineda has not thrown a major league pitch since 2011. In other words, Tanaka needs to be elite, right away, for the Yankees to have much of a chance. He would not label himself an ace, but he seems to share his new fans’ expectations.“ When I take the mound,” Tanaka said, “I feel like I like to win every single game.”

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Masahiro Tanaka, press conference, Yankees

Tyler Kepner sums it up: "The Yankees are interesting again"

February 12, 2014

From today’s NYT, here’s the article that best articulates my feelings about yesterday’s Tanaka press conference and the Yanks in general. I loved Tanaka’s swagger. I loved that he didn’t look awed by the situation. I loved that he thinks he belongs on the mound on Day 1. It really should be an exciting season. Read on……..

Masahiro Tanaka, standing next to Joe Girardi, was introduced in a private dining room on ground level of Yankee Stadium. Nobody sells hope like the Yankees. Nobody has such easy access to it. With their money and their marquee, they are a magnetic draw to an overseas sensation like Masahiro Tanaka, who buttoned up a No. 19 pinstriped jersey on Tuesday, tugged on that famous navy blue cap and proclaimed, in English, “I’m very happy to be a Yankee.”

To Tanaka’s right, on a dais before more than 200 reporters in a dining hall at Yankee Stadium, the team’s top executives clapped in delight. After missing the playoffs with an ancient, brittle roster, they had faced the prospect of a long, cold, lonely winter if they wanted to adhere to the goal of reducing their luxury-tax rate. Instead, they invested $470 million, and the penalties, in new talent.

“We know what our fans expect,” Hal Steinbrenner said. “They expect us to field a championship-caliber team, every year, as best we can. I think we’ve got a very good team. We have to stay healthy; that’s a given. But with a normal year of injuries, we’re going to be a force.”

Steinbrenner may be right. At worst, the point is debatable, but that really does not matter. What matters is that the Yankees are interesting again — and for pure baseball reasons, not the dark specter of an Alex Rodriguez controversy. How many homers will Brian McCann send over the inviting right-field wall? How will Jacoby Ellsbury energize the top of the lineup — and how will he play against his old team, the champion Boston Red Sox? How will Carlos Beltran perform on this side of town? Admit it. If you’re a baseball fan, you’re interested in those story lines. You will tune in again and maybe even buy tickets. And of all the stories, none is as compelling as Tanaka’s.

At 25, he is by far the youngest impact player on the Yankees. He showed a star’s flair with his arrival Sunday at John F. Kennedy International Airport on a rented 787 that transported only six passengers, including his pop-star wife and his poodle. It cost him an estimated $200,000. Tanaka said Tuesday that he chose such an extravagance because he wanted to arrive in top physical condition and had few other options. He mostly slept on the flight, anyway.

A more telling revelation was his reason for joining the Yankees. Tanaka sidestepped a question about the offers from other teams; the Yankees have already said that they outbid the field with their seven-year, $155 million deal. Money mattered, of course, but so did the stage. “I’ve heard this place could be very harsh to you at times,” Tanaka said through an interpreter. “I just wanted to put myself, though, in this environment and try and see where I can get to with my ability.”

The Yankees have tracked Tanaka for years. General Manager Brian Cashman said the scouting reports would “dance and sing” as they came across his desk. When Tanaka was finally cleared to meet with interested teams last month, the Yankees dispatched eight people to see him. Cashman said no other team sent more. Cashman compared Tanaka to Orlando Hernandez, who brought a winning swagger from Cuba in 1998. Randy Levine, the Yankees’ president, said Tanaka’s self-assurance reminded him of Hideki Matsui, the Japanese outfielder whose 2003 introduction was the only news conference to attract more reporters than Tanaka’s, the team said. “We went out to L.A. and met him and talked to him, to try and say, ‘This is where you need to be, you’re a great star, the biggest franchise, the biggest brand, the biggest city,’ ” Levine said. “He said some other teams had wanted him to transition in, and he didn’t like that. He wanted to take the ball on Day 1. That told us a lot about him.”

No pitcher in major league history has posted a record as dazzling as Tanaka’s for the Rakuten Eagles last season: 24 wins, no losses. His 1.27 earned run average last season would be the best by a major league starter since Bob Gibson in 1968. His save in the final game of the Japan Series, after his start the night before, evokes Randy Johnson against the Yankees in 2001. The Yankees have cautioned against overhype. Pitchers from Japan must get used to the hitters, a slightly larger ball and a less rigorous throwing program. (Kei Igawa, a spectacular failure a few years ago, confounded the Yankees by throwing against a fence, on his own time, unsupervised.) But Cashman’s assertion on ESPN Radio that Tanaka has merely the potential to be a No. 3 starter was hard to believe. If the Yankees wanted a No. 3 starter, they could have signed Matt Garza and saved about $120 million.

“How he’ll settle in in the States, at least in fairness, I’m going to say — especially in the first year — a No. 3 starter,” Cashman reiterated Tuesday. “And if we get more, all the better. We think he’s got a great deal of ability. We’re excited to have him join this franchise. We’ve got a lot of high-end talent we brought in, including him.”

True enough, but Tanaka is the only notable addition to a pitching staff that lost Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera and has questions everywhere. C. C. Sabathia allowed the most earned runs in the majors. Hiroki Kuroda, 39, fell apart down the stretch. Ivan Nova has struggled to be consistent. Michael Pineda has not thrown a major league pitch since 2011. In other words, Tanaka needs to be elite, right away, for the Yankees to have much of a chance. He would not label himself an ace, but he seems to share his new fans’ expectations.“ When I take the mound,” Tanaka said, “I feel like I like to win every single game.”

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Masahiro Tanaka, press conference, Yankees

Oh, Mo. I Understand. But Still.

March 9, 2013

Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images via WSJ.com

The above photo was taken a few years ago and it’s missing a son, but it appealed to me because it shows Mo walking off the field with his family, which is what he officially said he’ll be doing after the season.

His press conference this morning was bittersweet. It was great to see the Yankees brass and team turn out for the event, just as he’s turned out for plenty of press conferences for others over the years.

He was as classy as ever. So respectful of the franchise and his teammates. So humble. And so honest – he said he just didn’t have the gas in the tank to keep traveling and continue the daily grind and would rather stay home with his family. I found it interesting that when asked about staying in the sport in some capacity, he said he wasn’t interested in the big leagues but rather in the “rookies.” What a great mentor/coach he’ll be for the kids in the minors.

When it was mentioned that others have retired only to un-retire (yes, Andy, he was talking about you), he ruled that out. This is a man who knows himself and who has purposes in life other than baseball. It’s what makes him such a compelling person and player. There will never be anyone like him – on the field or off. Not even close.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Mariano Rivera, press conference, retirement, Yankees

Hip Hip Farewell

January 24, 2012

Well, we knew after the last game of the 2011 season that Jorge would be emotional…

http://youtu.be/ix5zBkfPSqc

And while he got through the beginning of his press conference at Yankee Stadium today without choking up, he did shed a tear (as did I) when he spoke about his parents.

A few random thoughts as I watched the proceedings:

  1. I’ll miss Jorge a lot, obviously. He’ll always be a True Yankee. Even Jason Varitek said so. (Check out boston.com. I don’t have the link handy.)
  2. Mrs. Munson was the essence of grace and dignity, and I loved her speech.
  3. I was glad the Steinbrenners showed up.
  4. Jeter looked like he’d been hit by a truck; I thought he’d cry for sure.
  5. Mo was dapper in one of those Italian suits he wears in the magazine ads.
  6. Where was Andy?
  7. I couldn’t believe one of the writers asked if Jorge would be making a comeback. LOL.
  8. They really should have done the presser with subtitles for those of us who don’t speak/understand Spanish.
  9. There’s no way not to cry during the retirement announcement of a great Yankee. No way at all.

 

 

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Jorge Posada, press conference, retirement, Spanish, Yankee Stadium, Yankees

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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