Archives for May 22, 2022

While We’re Young (Ideas) Examines: Trevor Story

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The marketing mavens and mindless media will overuse the buzzword so much, they’ll be calling him Trevor Narrative.

Back in the non-buzzword real world, Boston Red Sox second baseman Trevor Story is no longer hearing the boos of Brookline Avenue. He had a fabulous Thursday and Friday this week, homering three times on Thursday night against the Seattle Mariners and hitting a Grand Slam on Friday night against those same Embarrassments Under the Sea.

Narrative, err, Story became only the fifth Sox player with 4+ HRs and 11+ RBI in any two-game span, joining Nomar Garciaparra (5/9-10/1999, 7/21-23/2002), Ken Harrelson (6/13-14/1968), Bobby Doerr (6/8-9/1950), and Jim Tabor (doubleheader on 7/4/1939). Story scored six runs in his Thursday-Friday, while Tabor (7) and Doerr (6) were the only others to score 6+ runs over two days.

After a brutal start to the 2022 season and hearing it from the crowds, as Marv Albert would say, Story leads the Red Sox this season in RBI (27), walks (15), and stolen bases (5) and ranks 2nd in HRs (6), and that includes 22 RBI in his last 17 games leading into Saturday.

On Saturday, Story hit a game-tying sacrifice fly in the fifth, his 12th RBI in the last three games as he leads the Sox in RBI (28). Story is one of 12 Red Sox hitters (21st time) to record 12+ RBI in any three-game span. Prior to Story, the most recent occurrences were in 2016, when Mookie Betts recorded 13 RBI from 8/14-16 and Jackie Bradley Jr. did so from 5/9-11 (13 RBI).

Story’s batting average dipped as low as .194 on May 8 and Boston Manager Alex Cora dropped him from hitting second in the lineup to sixth.

Looking back to 2018, Story hit 37 homers and had 111 RBI for the Colorado Rockies while playing shortstop. This year, he’s a second base as Red Sox great Xander Bogaerts commands the shortstop position, at least until the trading deadline. In 2021, while with the Rockies, he had 24 HRs and 34 two-base hits.

Those numbers were sure to rise in hitter-friendly Fenway Park, but the game at sea level proved harder than the thin air of the Mile High City and Story struggled in the cold weather of the USA northeast. But, as the weather has warmed in late May, so, too has Story and that seems to be the latest narrative coming from Fenway Park. Ahem.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The 15th annual Sports Business Awards were held this week in New York, hosted by the good people at Sports Business Journal/and/Daily. Abe Madkour and his staff have seen stiff competition in the world of sports business trade news, most notably from Sportico andFront Office Sports (FOS), but the SBJ/SBD still remains the standard, especially in the daily reporting of news from every corner of the sports industry.

Here’s a list of just some of the winners in this year’s Sports Business award categories:

1. Sports Event of the Year – MLB Field of Dreams game
2. Best in Digital Sports Media – ESPN+
3. Sports Facility of the Year – Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle)
4. Athletic Director of Year – Sandy Barbour, Penn State (retired)
5. Sports Break-through of Year – Crypto.com
6. Best in Sports Media – ESPN
7. Team of the Year – Tampa Bay Lightening
8. League of the Year – UFC
9. Sports Executive of the Year – Michael Rubin, Fanatics
10. Lifetime Achievement – Robert Kraft, New England Patriots

COMMENCEMENT WORDS of WISDOM: While contemplating this week’s Parting Words & Music section (see below), I was very close to shunning another selection of music and sharing an incredibly important address given by Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the Class of 2019 at Johns Hopkins University. In doing so, it was decided that this is far too important a speech and I list it here as a MUST WATCH, a very rare and the highest recommendation I ever list when creating content for this e-News, or for Facebook, Twitter, or Digital Sports Desk. … Jeffrey Goldberg grew up in Malverne, Long Island and attended the University of Pennsylvania where he began his career in journalism. From Penn to the Washington Post to The Jerusalem Times to The New Yorker to The Atlantic, where he now stands as Editor-in-Chief, all he’s done is to report, investigate, dig for the truth, sometimes at great personal risk, travel to dangerous sites and report the news. He is famous in the world of top-notch journalism to us all, but some might simply remember him as the writer to broke the controversial “Trump: Americans Who Died in Wars are ‘Losers and Suckers’ story.” … It shook the USA, especially the Armed Forces as the Commander in Chief of the US military could somehow have such a viewpoint. … Three years ago, almost to the date, Goldberg gave the commencement address at Johns Hopkins University and he was fabulous, much to the credit of one of his opening salvos that “there is no such good thing as a 20-minute commencement address and no such bad thing as a 10-minute commencement address.” … He also noted that by lunchtime, the very next day, no one in attendance would remember what he said. … That is wrong and I share his (15 minutes) and do so at a time when we can look back at the astonishing disinformation that we’ve been subjected to since May, 2019. … By the way, there is a connection to sports in this section, as the address was given at Baltimore Arena, the site of many a New York Knicks vs. Baltimore (then) Bullets games, and I could remember the days of Earl “The Pearl” Monroe lighting up the Knicks in the tiny but wonderfully renovated Arena in downtown Baltimore, a mere 10-15 minutes from the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins. I give it to you for free on YouTube, noting that we, as a family received every single cent worth of some $250,000+ for the right to view this in person with thanks for a lending hand from “Daddy Bloomberg.” … Best wishes to all the 2019-to-2022 graduates at all the schools across the USA. You all faced difficult times, the most difficult since the Classes of 1918-19-20.

In seriousness, I can say this address is well worth 15-minutes of your Sunday morning:

TID-BITS: Where does the time go? It was 50 years ago the Indiana Pacers won their second of three ABA titles (1970, ‘72 and ‘73). … Do you remember some of the names/players, like Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, Rick Mount, George McGinnis, Bob Netolicky and Freddie Lewis? … They were coached by Bob “Slick” Leonard, one of the all-time greats. … Big time rivals, the New York Nets, went on to win in 1974 and ‘76. … J.J. Redick played 139 games over four years at Duke University and then enjoyed a 15-year career in the NBA. Now, he should probably do two things: 1). Go back to school. 2). Head to NBAE Entertainment and watch as much old NBA game film as he can get his hands on. … Redick made the colossally stupid remark when discussing the talents of Hall of Fame guard Bob Cousy and his opponents on “First Take.” … “He was being guarded by plumbers and firemen,” Redick retorted, claiming players from the 1950s-60s era can’t be compared with those of today. … Cousy decided to speak softly on a reply: “People with less talent will always try to make a name for themselves by criticizing other people and hopefully getting some attention and perhaps increasing their credibility,” Cousy said. “So when you respond to something like this, you play into their hands. I won’t do that, but I will defend the firemen and the plumbers that he referenced. And I’ll just give you a few of the names of these firemen that I played with and against during those years. … “How about Bill Russell, the aforementioned, not too bad a player,” Cousy added. “Wilt Chamberlain, remember that guy? He wasn’t bad. I guess he must have fought fires as well. … Cousy is 100% correct of course but he might’ve mentioned a few of the guards or small forwards who would’ve shut Redick and nearly every player of his era down, cold. Here are just a few: Oscar Robertson, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bobby Jones, and Norm Van Lier, just to name a few. Certainly, Van Lier’s teammate, the late Jerry Sloan, might’ve broken Redick in half. … During his appearance, Cousy also noted the greatness of Elgin Baylor and how it is oft overlooked. … Cousy said, “In (his) judgement, Elgin Baylor is still the greatest small forward to ever play the game.” … Note to J.J. – Baylor was not a plumber or a fireman and your NBA chops/credibility is now shot. … More importantly, Get Well Soon wishes go out to Boston sports tv legend Mike Lynch (WCVB-Channel 5/ABC) who suffered a stroke earlier this week but is expected to make a full recovery after a rehab sting at Spaulding in Boston. … It’s the same country in summertime, right? It’s 39-degrees and snowing in Denver, 55-degrees, windy with 78% humidity at Southern Hills for the PGA Championship in Tulsa, OK, and temperatures will be soaring to 95-degrees over the next 24 hours in the northeast (Boston). Meanwhile, the NHL is playing an ice-hockey series in Tampa and Sunrise, Florida where temperatures will be a comfortable 75-80 degrees at game time. … Early Voting won The Preakness Stakes in Maryland. The headlines will write themselves! Just wish they would’ve named the horse 11,780 Votes. … Kentucky Derby long shot winner Rich Strike will be back for a run at The Belmont. … Edmonton’s Connor McDavid recorded his NHL-leading 20th point in the ninth Oilers game of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs and is producing at a pace last seen 30 years ago. Mario Lemieux had 22 points in the first nine games of the 1992 NHL Playoffs.