SPEAK UP, SUZYN
Waldman should address MLB’s abuse issues
Suzyn (Ma Pinstripe) Waldman and John (Pa Pinstripe) Sterling are about to enter their 17th season together in the Yankees Radio Network booth. Will it be their last? The question has been asked before. It never seems to matter. They defy space and time. Like those old clown punching bags, Ma & Pa keep popping up for more. On the air they are tireless. Ageless too. No matter he is 82 and she is 74. As of last season, one infected by coronavirus, the components of their quirky brand were still intact.
Sterling still pontificated. His gratuitous Yankee home run calls were again delighting members of the pinstriped pom-pom crowd, a crew that pays homage to Sterling’s Bronx-slanted sonatas. He was still a baseball bon vivant, a raconteur of the microphone whose stories could easily revolve around a Broadway stage as they could about Brett Gardner still being important to the Yankees. The gaffes were there too, exacerbated by the duo broadcasting all away games remotely from the Stadium booth. Nonetheless, the pomposity was intact.
“Ya know Suzyn,” Sterling would smugly say. “People love to knock.”
Waldman too stayed the course under the circumstances. She offered her analysis and reeled Sterling back to reality providing a safety net.
Like Sterling, much of her life has been baseball. Yet from the outside looking in we wonder how long Waldman wants to continue in the booth?
One of the changes during COVID-19, baseball mandates reporters to, outside of Zoom calls, have no contact with the players. This is inhibiting.
A major part of Waldman’s broadcast game, is establishing player contacts and developing them. This allowed her to add much insight and even some “inside” stuff to her radio analysis. That’s all gone now.
And it would be no surprise if limited player access will continue post pandemic. This might not bother analysts and broadcasters who don’t work the clubhouse, but it’s Waldman’s bread and butter.
Even in the face of this frustration, or any other problems, there’s a more important reason for Waldman to continue yakking. She broadcasts for a team employing, as far as we know, two
players — Aroldis Chapman and Domingo German — who physically abused women. Waldman’s been around long enough to know the endless amount of sexual/ abuse harassment that has coursed through baseball’s veins and sports in general.
The stories of the twisted exploits ofa Jared Porter ,ora Mickey Callaway, or others going public could not have surprised Waldman. As a pioneer, she has always been outspoken when talking about the hard road women travel in the sports business. Remember, this was a woman once fired on a whim from WFAN for, well, just being a woman.
Baseball on the radio is made for story telling and preaching. This season, each and every night, Waldman will have the Yankees radio microphone at her command and, when the timing is right, she should enlighten listeners on the abuse/ harassment and how MLB needs to continue focusing on cleaning up a mess that’s mostly been swept under the carpet.
And if the suits at Entercom or the Yankees don’t want her dealing with the subject, she can remind them that by censoring her, they are also responsible for an ongoing problem.
ACTING OUT
If this was staged, Don La Greca displayed acting chops worthy of an Academy Award. If it wasn’t, DLG showed brass-coated onions.
The set-up, on ESPN-98.7 s “The Michael Kay Show,” was DLG and Pete Rosenberg trying to convince Kay to use them on a YES (it simulcasts the K-Show) Bombers exhibition telecast. On Wednesday, Kay said “it would never happen.”
On Thursday, DLG/Rosenberg persisted. Kay went to a higher authority, YES prez/production and programming John J. Filippelli, (DLG/Rosenberg technically work for him too) bringing him on the show. He was asked if DLG/ Rosenberg could do a game with Kay. “No,” Filippelli said. “I want to keep the integrity of the (daily) simulcast…. I don’t want to dilute the brand.”
Spies say Filippelli was informed his appearance on the K-Show was to be a tongue-in-cheek. Either DLG didn’t get the memo or was shooting for that Academy Award. He immediately pulled the rug out from under Filippelli, going high audio dynamite. DLG was filiblustering, rattling off his broadcasting credentials insinuating the YES suit was condescendingly looking down at him from an ivory tower.
DLG wouldn’t come up for air. According to a Gnome working for Kay, DLG interrupted Filippelli at least 13 times. Staged or not staged?
No matter, it was quite a performance.
CAN’T KNOCK KNICKS
Shhhhhhhhhhh. Don’t dare get caught criticizing the Knicks in public.
Hey, since the new regime, featuring Tom Thibodeau, has arrived everything is coming up Roses (funny, right?) Not only are things sweet for the Knicks, remember, according to multiple Gasbags, they also still “own the city.”
That team in Brooklyn, with the Three Amigos, well, according to the same Bloviators, they have yet to captivate local Hoop Heads. It’s all so strange. Forget about it for a moment. The lamest feature of Knicks University is its faculty of Gasbags who now make excuses for the ‘Bockers when they lose.
Like WFAN’s Maggie Gray. After the Knicks lost to Golden State, Tuesday night with fans in the Garden, Gray went on the radio Wednesday morning and actually said the Knicks may have “been nervous” playing in front of fans. She contended this could have played a part in the loss.
If nothing else, give Gray a passing grade for creativity.
NO GARDY PARTY
Another cat who is the subject of media genuflection is Brett Gardner, the High Priest of Hanging On.
When the scrappy Gardner, a “much needed voice in the clubhouse,” inked a new deal there was joy in the Valley but it was not unanimous.
Even before Gardner signed, FAN’s crusty Chris Moore was verbally banging a bat on the dugout roof in protest.
“Let’s stop pretending Gardner is the glue that held together this championship team,” Moore said on the air. “They haven’t won jack. I don’t understand why Gardner has achieved this sainthood. If he’s so good, why has no one else signed him.”
To make his soliloquy even more righteous, Moore did not reveal whether he “tweeted this out” earlier in the day, something many of his peers feel compelled to regurgitate. Moore actually saved his opinion for the radio audience. Could that get him fired?