A bit of Bad News

Today I bring a bit of bad news. This was announced a few days ago, so you guys may already know, but Bob Sheppard will not be ready for opening day. The man who will not reveal his true age, but is believed to be about 98, dealt with a bad case of pneumonia last year and is still dealing with it so he, his family and his doctor believe he needs more rest and should stay home on opening day.

Sheppard has been the voice of the Yankees since before the invention of baseball I believe. This is sad news because all of us grew up with Mr. Sheppard, but, obviously, his health is the most important thing so I wish him all the best with his recovery. On a side note, if and when Mr. Sheppard is healthy enough, obviously he will not be well enough to do it on a consistent basis, he can make some very special guest-appearances, so the Yankees need to hire a new full time announcer other then the Faux-Sheppard they had last year. That man was trying to re-create the voice of the Yankees and it was not working. There is no other Bob Sheppard so the Yanks should go in a completely different direction. Maybe a woman? Corey Sobel? Uncle Johnny? All work, as long as its not the guy from last year.

Mr. Sheppard, I wish you, your friends and family, and your grandmother Helen Brown, all the best of luck and support.

2 Side Notes: Yankees acquired Charles (No relation to Nick) Nolte today for a player who because of the Rule 5 Draft, wasnt even on their team. Its confusing, but if anyone is interested in how this happened, let me know and I will fill you in. Nolte played in Low-A ball last year and had a 2.05 ERA. He will prob never see major league time with the Yankees, but hey, its better than having a 5.00 ERA. Secondly, Girardi will name his opening day center fielder either tomorrow or Monday so he can use his Regular-Season line-up during the last week of Spring Training. Through comments he has given recently as well as Brian Cashman, Gardner has all but locked up the job. As long as I'm not getting too far ahead of myself, this time, they got it right.