arod sounds like he finally gets it.....maybe

It will be hard for A-Rod to match his 2007 season, when he hit .314 with 54 homers and 156 RBIs.
Just days after agreeing to a gargantuan contract after his gargantuan season that should result in his being named MVP Monday, Alex Rodriguez said Saturday he has "some unfinished business in New York."

Presumably, he's not talking about simply signing the 10-year, $275 million contract he and the Yankees negotiated late in the week.

Rodriguez, in his first public comments since he and the Yankees reunited, told MLB.com - the Web site for Major League Baseball - that he and his wife, Cynthia, finally feel like New Yorkers and New York "is a place we want to be a long time.

"I love New York," Rodriguez said. "My family has felt very comfortable in New York. The last four years have been sometimes rocky, sometimes amazing, but after knocking our heads into the wall for three years, we felt we figured it out.

"I have some unfinished business in New York."

The 32-year-old Rodriguez, who hit .314 with 54 home runs and 156 RBI this year, spoke at a youth baseball clinic he conducted at the Southwest Miami Boys and Girls Club, where he grew up playing baseball.

Rodriguez had been mum since a statement last week acknowledging that he had reached out to the Steinbrenner brothers to rekindle talks to keep him in pinstripes. The Yankees had been saying for months that they would not negotiate with Rodriguez if he opted out of his previous contract and Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras, triggered the clause during Game4 of the World Series, seemingly ending the marriage between A-Rod and the Yanks.

Insiders say Rodriguez was stunned by the backlash in the baseball industry against both him and Boras. He ultimately followed advice from billionaire investor Warren Buffett to contact the Yankees himself. Rodriguez, through intermediaries from Goldman Sachs, which owns part of the YES Network, got word to the Yankees that he wanted to stay and went to Tampa last Wednesday with Cynthia to meet the Steinbrenner brothers and other Yankee officials.

The sides are still discussing contract language, specifically about how A-Rod and the Yankees will deal with money generated by Rodriguez's likely pursuit of Barry Bonds' all-time home run record. Rodriguez has 518 homers; Bonds has 762.

Rodriguez said he felt it was important to speak to Hank and Hal Steinbrenner face to face because "it's the best way you can do things.

"I felt sometimes the messages can be mixed up and you may be getting information that is not 100% accurate," Rodriguez said. "I took it upon myself."

Rodriguez didn't shed much further light on his tumultuous offseason, but, he promised, the full story will be told "when the time is right and I have a proper forum....It's important for my fans, for the New York Yankee fans, to realize exactly what happened from A to Z."

Asked how much image concerned him, Rodriguez replied, "You're talking to the wrong guy. I probably don't have the greatest image in the world and that's OK."

If he completes his "unfinished business," he'll never have to worry about image - at least in New York - again.

The 1996 New York Yankees

interesting to remember mariano duncan played 2nd base,only had 9 walks the whole season..joe girardi hit over .290...and wade boggs played third and hit over.300...

Team Batting

Pos Player Ag G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS GDP HBP SH SF IBB OPS+
---+-------------------+--+----+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
C Joe Girardi 31 124 422 55 124 22 3 2 45 30 55 .294 .346 .374 13 4 11 5 11 3 1 82
1B *Tino Martinez 28 155 595 82 174 28 0 25 117 68 85 .292 .364 .466 2 1 18 2 1 5 4 108
2B Mariano Duncan 33 109 400 62 136 34 3 8 56 9 77 .340 .352 .500 4 3 10 1 2 5 1 112
3B *Wade Boggs 38 132 501 80 156 29 2 2 41 67 32 .311 .389 .389 1 2 10 0 1 5 7 98
SS Derek Jeter 22 157 582 104 183 25 6 10 78 48 102 .314 .370 .430 14 7 13 9 6 9 1 101
LF Gerald Williams 29 99 233 37 63 15 4 5 30 15 39 .270 .319 .433 7 8 7 4 1 5 2 88
CF #Bernie Williams 27 143 551 108 168 26 7 29 102 82 72 .305 .391 .535 17 4 15 0 1 7 8 131
RF *Paul O'Neill 33 150 546 89 165 35 1 19 91 102 76 .302 .411 .474 0 1 21 4 0 8 8 123
DH #Ruben Sierra 30 96 360 39 93 17 1 11 52 40 58 .258 .327 .403 1 3 10 0 0 7 11 83
Jim Leyritz 32 88 265 23 70 10 0 7 40 30 68 .264 .355 .381 2 0 11 9 2 3 3 86
*Darryl Strawberry 34 63 202 35 53 13 0 11 36 31 55 .262 .359 .490 6 5 3 1 0 3 5 112
#Tim Raines 36 59 201 45 57 10 0 9 33 34 29 .284 .383 .468 10 1 5 1 0 4 1 114
Cecil Fielder 32 53 200 30 52 8 0 13 37 24 48 .260 .342 .495 0 0 7 2 0 2 4 108
*Andy Fox 25 113 189 26 37 4 0 3 13 20 28 .196 .276 .265 11 3 2 1 9 0 0 38
Ruben Rivera 22 46 88 17 25 6 1 2 16 13 26 .284 .381 .443 6 2 1 2 1 2 0 107
*Mike Aldrete 35 32 68 11 17 5 0 3 12 9 15 .250 .338 .456 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 98
Charlie Hayes 31 20 67 7 19 3 0 2 13 1 12 .284 .294 .418 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 77
Matt Howard 28 35 54 9 11 1 0 1 9 2 8 .204 .228 .278 1 0 2 0 2 1 0 27
Luis Sojo 31 18 40 3 11 2 0 0 5 1 4 .275 .286 .325 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 54
Pat Kelly 28 13 21 4 3 0 0 0 2 2 9 .143 .217 .143 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 -6
Robert Eenhoorn 28 12 14 2 1 0 0 0 2 2 3 .071 .167 .071 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 -37
#Jorge Posada 24 8 14 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 .071 .133 .071 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 -46
*Dion James 33 6 12 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 .167 .231 .167 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3
Tim McIntosh 31 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -100
*Matt Luke 25 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
---+-------------------+--+----+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
TOTAL team age - 30.0 162 5628 871 1621 293 28 162 830 632 909 .288 .360 .436 96 46 153 41 41 72 56 100
Rank among 14 AL teams 11 9 6 9 9 12 8 13 2 3 9 7 6
---+-------------------+--+----+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
Ag G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS GDP HBP SH SF IBB OPS+

* - bats left-handed, # - switch hits, ? - unknown, else - bats right-handed
OPS+ does not include pitcher's stats.

Team Pitching Glossary

Player Ag G ERA W L SV GS GF CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO BFP WP HBP BK IBB ERA+
---+-------------------+--+---+------+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+---+---+--+---+---+
SP *Andy Pettitte 24 35 3.87 21 8 0 34 1 2 0 221.0 229 105 95 23 72 162 929 6 3 1 2 129
SP *Jimmy Key 35 30 4.68 12 11 0 30 0 0 0 169.3 171 93 88 21 58 116 715 2 2 0 1 107
SP *Kenny Rogers 31 30 4.68 12 8 0 30 0 2 1 179.0 179 97 93 16 83 92 786 5 8 0 2 107
SP Dwight Gooden 31 29 5.01 11 7 0 29 0 1 1 170.7 169 101 95 19 88 126 756 9 9 1 4 100
SP David Cone 33 11 2.88 7 2 0 11 0 1 0 72.0 50 25 23 3 34 71 295 4 2 1 0 174
SP Ramiro Mendoza 24 12 6.79 4 5 0 11 0 0 0 53.0 80 43 40 5 10 34 249 2 4 1 1 74
SP Scott Kamieniecki 32 7 11.12 1 2 0 5 0 0 0 22.7 36 30 28 6 19 15 120 1 2 0 1 45

CL John Wetteland 29 62 2.83 2 3 43 0 58 0 0 63.7 54 23 20 9 21 69 265 1 0 0 4 177
RP Jeff Nelson 29 73 4.36 4 4 2 0 27 0 0 74.3 75 38 36 6 36 91 328 4 2 0 1 115
RP Mariano Rivera 26 61 2.09 8 3 5 0 14 0 0 107.7 73 25 25 1 34 130 425 1 2 0 3 239
RP Bob Wickman 27 58 4.67 4 1 0 0 14 0 0 79.0 94 41 41 7 34 61 358 3 5 0 1 107
RP *Dale Polley 30 32 7.89 1 3 0 0 9 0 0 21.7 23 20 19 5 11 14 103 0 3 0 1 63

Brian Boehringer 27 15 5.44 2 4 0 3 1 0 0 46.3 46 28 28 6 21 37 205 1 1 0 2 92
Jim Mecir 26 26 5.13 1 1 0 0 10 0 0 40.3 42 24 23 6 23 38 185 6 0 0 4 97
Mark Hutton 26 12 5.04 0 2 0 2 5 0 0 30.3 32 19 17 3 18 25 140 0 1 0 1 99
Dave Pavlas 33 16 2.35 0 0 1 0 8 0 0 23.0 23 7 6 0 7 18 97 3 1 0 2 213
Dave Weathers 26 11 9.35 0 2 0 4 1 0 0 17.3 23 19 18 1 14 13 90 1 2 0 1 53
*Steve Howe 38 25 6.35 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 17.0 19 12 12 1 6 5 76 2 1 1 3 79
Wally Whitehurst 32 2 6.75 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 8.0 11 6 6 1 2 1 36 0 0 0 0 74
Ricky Bones 27 4 14.14 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.0 14 11 11 2 6 4 41 0 1 0 0 35
*Billy Brewer 28 4 9.53 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.7 7 6 6 0 8 8 32 0 0 0 0 52
*Graeme Lloyd 29 13 17.47 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5.7 12 11 11 1 5 6 35 4 0 0 1 29
*Paul Gibson 36 4 6.23 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 4.3 6 3 3 1 0 3 19 0 0 0 0 80
*Mike Aldrete 35 1 0.00 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0
---+-------------------+--+---+------+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+---+---+--+---+---+
TOTAL team age - 29.3 162 4.65 92 70 52 162 156 6 9 1440.0 1469 787 744 143 610 1139 6289 55 49 5 35 108
Rank among 14 AL teams 5 2 13 1 12 1 10 1 3 1 7 2
---+-------------------+--+---+------+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+----+---+---+--+---+---+
Ag G ERA W L SV GS GF CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO BFP WP HBP BK IBB ERA+

From New York magazine:

Joltin' Jew

Ex-Yankee and memoirist Ron Blomberg is in the record books for being the first DH. (That doesn't stand for Designated Hebrew.)

• By Mark Jacobson

(Photo: Courtesy of the Topps Company. Inc.)

Early-seventies New York Yankees rosters are littered with the names of the forgotten: Fred Beene, Steve Blateric, etc. But the name Ron Blomberg stands out. Picked No. 1 overall in the 1967 draft, Blomberg was touted as the next Mickey Mantle. Injuries wrecked his career, but he did, by the luck of the draw, gain distinction as the first designated hitter in major-league history. “I was the DH, all right,” Blomberg says, “Designated Hebrew”—which happens to be the title of his recently published autobiography. He spoke to Mark Jacobson.

What was it like growing up as a Jewish athlete in the Deep South during the fifties?
Sometimes it seemed like half my teammates were in the KKK. They had their robes, and after the games they did their cross-burnings.

You always wanted to be a Yankee?
We had the minor-league Atlanta Crackers, which was really their name, but the Yankees were always on the Game of the Week. I fell in love with the pinstripes back then.

How did the Jewish community react when you first got to New York?
To be able to play in front of 8 million Jews! Can’t beat it. I lit everyone’s candles for every bar mitzvah in the city. It was like I was related to everyone. They named a sandwich after me at the Stage Deli.

What were the guys like back then?
There were definitely some anti-Semites on those teams, believe me. But we had crazy times, like when Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson switched families, wives, kids, the whole thing. Then Reggie came. Even now, at Old Timers’ Day, guys don’t talk to Reggie. But I liked him. [In spring training] he hit fourth, and sometimes I’d be fifth. He’d hit a homer and make a big deal out of it. So I knew I was going to get drilled. I lived in Riverdale, in the same building with Willie Mays. Since I was a Jewish guy, I knew people in the garment center. Willie and I went down there in his pink Caddy with the say hey written on the side, and we got some free clothes. I took three, four suits. But Willie took 300, 400. All polyester. Orange and purple. He looked like a Goodwill explosion.

How do you feel about the game now?
Everyone’s making so much money, but it’s so corporate, I don’t think they’re having fun like we did.