By Any Means Necessary...

Focus

Ryan Howard and AG. in DC

Power

Respect

"I done played the underdog my whole career, I've been a very good sport haven't I, this year..."

Kayne West - Barry Bonds

Basketball has done so much for my life. From my early days on the playgrounds to the first time I played on the hollowed floor of Madison Square Garden. Of course my playing days are over, and while I still compete, the games are just for fun, not meaningful wins or losses. Basketball is something that I have trouble putting into words. I love it, but to tell you what that means is tough. On days when things are out of order, I can always find an answer on the court. However there is another sport that I love…baseball. It’s just something about it. First team to record 27 outs wins, and while it may look easy, looks can be deceiving.

It’s not checkers, it’s chess.

A BASEBALL DIAMOND IS FOREVER

Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby have changed baseball forever, and throughout the years since then many stars have followed in their footsteps making history of their own…most recently the Philadelphia Phillies slugger, Ryan Howard. I recall hearing about him while he was a minor leaguer with the Reading Phillies in 2004. Within a year he was called up to the big leagues and by July he was playing as the everyday first baseman…by the way he won the NL Rookie of the Year award (2005).

Growing up I collected baseball cards, and that experience of buying packs and looking for some “good” cards is something that I cherish. In fact, I still purchase cards from time to time, looking for a special insert or All-Star player. But it wasn’t there that I fell in love with the national pastime that would happen many years later once I got to college.

I’m from Philadelphia, but it was the New York Yankees that opened my eyes to what baseball was all about. Without crossing the line of allegiance, I have two teams that I cheer for, my hometown National League, and that American League team in the Bronx. For the sake of this column, I’ll spare the details and stick to the script. I first met Ryan Howard 2-years ago. He had just won the NL MVP award and he immediately became the toast of the town.

Sunday, November 12, 2006, is the day I met Howard, as we were both in attendance for the Eagles vs. Redskins game. I had heard that he amongst some executives and without anything to lose, I located the suite, walked in, saw him speaking to a group of admirers,
and like the patient man that I am, I waited for an opportunity to introduce myself. Unbeknownst to me Ryan and I had more in common than we knew…upon figuring out
that we were both into sneakers, we exchanged information and the rest has played out into not only this story, but also a decent friendship.

This story was also built on another friendship…the one of the Philadelphia Phillies Media Relations Assistant Kevin Gregg and I. Naturally our jobs put us in contact with one another but his father, longtime NL Umpire Eric Gregg and my mother, went to West Philadelphia High School and graduated in the class of ’68 together. Pretty interesting huh? Nevertheless, I respect history and I respect sports, so to have the synergy that I did in preparing this column, made it one to remember.

Thursday, August 16, 2007 was the day, RFK Stadium – Washington DC was the place where I would attend my first baseball game as a member of the press. I arrived early and I ventured into the depths of the arena. Next thing I know, I’m in the visiting clubhouse. I enter, and there is Howard sitting on a couch, watching the St. Louis Cardinals game...so here I am feeling like I’m 10 years old on Christmas, and I have to pretend to be smooth like Paul Newman in the movie Cool Hand Luke.

I was so hype about baseball that we didn’t even talk about sneakers. Sorry about that, but I did ask him about everything else…here is the final score on our conversation…batter up!

So how did you begin playing baseball?
“Well it all started in front of the TV watching games, my pops told me that he used to watch me imitating the players. I had my little red plastic bat, and I just stood up there and started swinging like them. It was fun, and my mom always said that I would hit the ball higher and further than other kids my age, and my parents saw something there. I was just enjoying it, playing in the dirt…getting dirty.”

You have such a natural talent, can you talk about that?
“My parents brought us up to remember that no matter what you do, always do the best in what you do, if you are going to go for it, go all out. Actually baseball wasn’t my first love, it was basketball, but baseball worked out in how I was able to go to college. I was on a baseball scholarship and the rest is history.”

What in your opinion is the greatest record in baseball?
“When you think about it, you have to say the homerun, and then the [Joe] DiMaggio 56-game hitting streak.”

Talk about your SUBWAY commercial with Jared:
“It was cool, and it was different. It was a different element, Jared was real cool, and everyone on the set was cool, and I had a lot of fun. I would do it again, but I have a new respect for actors and actresses because I was there for 3 or 4 hours, for a 30-second commercial.”

Remember it’s all about respect, and you must give it to get it.

Peace to my family, Satchel Paige, “Cool Papa” Bell, Buck O’Neil, Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Bob Gibson, Ernie Banks, Lou Brock, Frank Robinson, Campy, Don Newcombe, Willie McCovey, Pops, Reg-gie Jackson, Willie Randolph, Joe Morgan, Tim Raines, Dave Winfield, Garry Maddox, Tony Gywnn, The Hawk, Barry Bonds, Big Hurt, Crime Dog, Kirby Puckett, Kenny Lofton, The Sheff, Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Jimmy Rollins, Juan Pierre, Dontrelle Willis, Derek Lee, and Torii Hunter.

Black Ice

1st on the ice, but not the last
An interview with O'Ree, an NHL icon
AG and Willie O'Ree in West Philadelphia

“No great poet has ever been afraid of being himself.”

The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain – Langston Hughes

I have been blesed in my career as a journalist. I have interviewed some of the great names of our past, present, and future. However there are those few instances on the job when I am both honored and humbled. If I had an assignment to interview Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Althea Gibson, Buck O'Neil, or Roberto Clemente, I wouldn't hesitate as they have inspired millions the world over, in life and death. Willie O'Ree integrated the National Hockey League in 1958, and during his visit to Philadelphia yesterday, I not only followed his every move, but I also did my best to give him the respect that he so very well deserves. 

Below is a conversation between he and I of history, respect, dedication, and hard work:

On being the first to integrate the National Hockey League:
“I never thought about it…it didn’t register until later on. I was really excited to play against the Montreal Canadians, who were winning the Stanley Cup during those years. Now I faced a lot of racism, and bigotry, but I always knew who I was. I fought a lot when I played…not because I wanted to, but because I had to. People wanted to know what I was made of.”

On the early years:
“My brother was not only my mentor, but he was also my friend, and if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have become a professional hockey player. During my last year of Junior Hockey…in the 1st period a slap shot hit me in my right eye. The doctors told me that I lost 90% of my vision in my right eye and that I would never play hockey again. I’m a left-hand shot, a left wing, so I always had to turn my head to see everything. Back then, the team doctors never checked my eyes, and they never gave eye exams. If they did I would have never played, and I think that today people don’t know that I played on the professional level for 21 years.”

What was it like living in Boston during your playing days?
“I lived in Roxbury, a predominantly black neighborhood, and it was great. I scored my 1st NHL goal on New Years day, January 1, 1961 in the old Boston Garden. The fans there were great…it was when I played on the road in places like New York and Detroit that I experienced racism. And I'm still a [Boston] Bruins fan...a diehard!"

The media created a comparison to Jackie Robinson, talk about that:
“I met Jackie Robinson in 1949. I was 14-years old and he was playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers. I told him that I play baseball and hockey. He said that he didn’t realize black kids played hockey, and then he told me, that in whatever I do, to be sure to work hard at it, because there is no substitute for hard work. I then met him again in 1962, at an NAACP luncheon in Los Angeles, and he remembered me.”

Talk about your friendship with Snoop Dogg:
“He is great. Snoop Dogg went on the ice with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and I was asked to attend…after that I had dinner with him and his sons, and we watched the game. His camera crew was there from his show and we had a really good time. He wants to learn the game and start a hockey league. I told him it would take a little time to master and that whatever he needs from me that I’m here to help.”

Watch the video for more on Willie O'Ree:

Batman

The Kid is now the MAN

Another day at the office

Junior Griffey an outfielder and a gentlemen

The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.

Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

-Langston Hughes, My people

Ken Griffey Jr. is my favorite baseball players, so when I had the opportunity to interview him, there was no doubt that I would be there. I love baseball, and while the game is often passed down from generation to generation, I taught myself the game at the precocious age of 13. I used to watch NBA Inside Stuff and one commercial for Upper Deck trading cards used to stand out, as it showed Griffey Jr. robbing some unlucky hitter of a home run. His grace, swing, and number 24 intrigued me, so I begin to watch the Seattle Mariners, as I learned the game through the American League. Now I cheer for the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, however that is another story.

Junior Griffey is a very respectful, humble, and talented person. I was honored to interview one of the true legends of the Major League Baseball. Below is the conversation we had around the diamond, during the Phillies batting practice:

Talk about your relationship with Nike:
“[Big smile] It started with my first pair of Air Jordan…actually I had Nike before then, but I remember getting them. My brother had the red and black and I had the red, black, and white Air Jordan. We tried to talk my dad into Nike…he was into Converse, but we finally got him to go with Nike, and we have been a Nike family ever since. When I got to pro ball, I signed a contract…in the minor leagues I got 3 pairs of shoes, and when I got to the big leagues it was $1500 dollars, with $750 in merchandise and $750 in cash.

It’s not a company, it’s more of a family, and I think they have been through the ups and downs with me as far as my getting hurt, and all that I have been through. When I broke my wrist, I had to get a plate and 9 screws, and they [Nike] had a little small wall and everybody wrote get well soon. I detached a hamstring and one of the guys, Lynn Merritt who I’ve known since I was 19 came and visited me for a few days. I went to a basketball game and I sat between LeBron [James] and Phil [Knight]…it’s really just more of a family than it is a business relationship and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When my family needed something Nike was there.

On the commemorative 600 home runs sneaker:
“Yeah we are working on that, I just have to hit it [laughs]. Nike has taken care of my family…they always send a gift for Christmas, or a fruit basket, and the same thing on mother’s day and father’s day. Everybody that wears Nike, even if they play for the other team, we know all about them.”

Talk about your signature line and which sneaker is your favorite?
“The first one...it’s always the first one. What’s really interesting is that my son always gets my shoe before me. His baseball season would start off a month before mine, and I’d look at his shoes and say ‘man they look nice, I can’t wait to get mine…and he’d give me a look like yeah! He would get the shoes, and even now he gets them before me. If I come home and he has on the 600 home runs shoe, I’m going to look at him like he’s crazy, [laughs]. He’s my son and I can’t really argue.”

What was it like filming that baseball commercial with Michael Jordan and Spike Lee?
“My main man Spike! [Laughs] It was fun. I got to meet Spike Lee and I was so nervous…because I couldn’t wait to say ‘my main man Spike! You get nervous when you meet certain people and he is one of them. It wasn’t so much about meeting Mike…Mike was easy, it was just the fact that meeting Spike Lee and all of the things he has done, and I got a chance to see him this past off-season and I asked him if I could get that 3-movie deal [laughs]. I would like to one day go behind the scenes and sit there and watch him, because I think that is more entertaining than his actual work. His creativeness, how the Michael Jordan concept came about, etc., all the people that are a part of Nike is family. I can call Spike right now…his wife called my wife a couple of weeks ago, talking about getting together.”

When you look at 600 home runs what do you see?
“I start laughing; you have to understand that growing up in my house was a lot differently than other houses. Most people have to relate to their kids through sports…not in my house. Because my dad played sports, so we had other things to talk about. It wasn’t sports, it was how are you, how did you do this, and how did you do that? I knew how my dad did and that was the last thing we talked about. It didn’t matter if he went 0-4 or 4-4 he always came home with the same attitude. It was our turn, its was ‘hey lets go play, let’s do whatever. Now there is so much emphasis on the individual instead of the team. I remember going to the games and over 50% of the people in the stands had a program so they could mark down how the team was doing, they kept score; how many people are doing that now? You don’t see it anymore.”

So why do you wear the number 3? You used to wear 24, and I wore that number because I was born on October 24th:
“Really, October 24th…that’s my wedding day! I hit 24 home runs in one year, and one of my favorite players growing up was Ricky Henderson and he wore 24, and I really didn’t think about that…and growing up having guys around like Joe Black, Willie Mays, Chuck Harmon Sr., you know all these guys in my house day in and day out…I got a sense of history…a sense of history early, and what an African American had to go through and what they had to do for guys like me now to put on a uniform. I remember laughing because my dad would tell me stories, ‘I walked in the snow to school 12-miles, up hill both ways, you know that sort of thing. I grew up on those stories, and you say that didn’t really happen, that didn’t happen, and then you start listening to the other people talk and then you think…that really did happen. Maybe I should start believing it. And they would always make the stories funny, and some of the stories they told, I would start cracking up. When I check into hotels, a couple aliases I used were Joe Black; I tried to mix it up every now and then. I have 3 kids, I picked 24, 14 home runs and then 10 home runs in summer ball and in school, and then it was 30 for my dad, and then I picked 3 for my three kids. My oldest is Trey, which means 3, my daughter we named a boat after her, Taryn and we have another boat named the Chosen One because my youngest [Tevin] is adopted. So Trey asked me why I don’t do anything for him, so it’s for him and because I have three kids.”

What was it like playing with your dad in 1990?
“It was a lot of fun, but it was different. Everyone would talk to him and say ‘hey Ken how are you doing, and I would say hey dad let’s go…where are we going to eat? It was always dad, dad, dad. On the field he would say this is your team go out and play, have fun…I’m here to help you. He didn’t treat me like his son, he treated me like I was his teammate and I learned a lot by watching him and what he did. He was a guy that didn’t hit very many home runs, but he knew how to set up pitchers. He helped me out in the long run, I wouldn’t take certain pitches and then the next one, I’d hit it because I was looking for it. I miss those days.”

What did the Negro Leagues mean to you?
“It means everything! Guys went out there and they didn’t have the same opportunities nor the same equipment…I can sit here all day and the stories that Willie [Mays] told me…he said they used to wash their clothes, and then put them in the window on the bus and close the window to let the clothes dry in the wind. And I’m like ‘nah, and then I saw a picture, so those guys never gave up on their dream of being a professional athlete, and whatever they had to do they did it, and a lot of people don’t see that. Jackie Robinson took a whole lot of punishment so we could be here, and every generation gets farther and farther away from it, because they don’t know those stories. I had a dad that watched those games, and I grew up with people in my house that played in the league and against each other. I have a 1956 World Series baseball that Joe [Black] gave me, and it’s sitting in my house. He wanted to give it someone that would respect it and understand it. I was 22 when he gave it to me and I understood, but then I started reading about it and learning. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to go out and live my dream. The only thing that makes me upset is that Buck [O’Neil] should be in the Hall of Fame. They asked him to speak about the importance of the Negro League and he did it, but he should have been in there. That’s the only thing that I am upset about with the Hall of Fame because that man has done more for baseball…one man, than anybody, other than Jackie Robinson. He has carried the torch for African-Americans hands down!”

Black Diamond

                                  The best of the best

                Ryan Howard is the most known unknown

               Derek Jeter the Captain and AG the writer

Last night while flipping channels around the 10 o'clock hour, I stumbled upon the show Costas Now on HBO. The sports coverage on HBO is top tier and the telecast on Wednesday was no different, as they did a special on the legends of baseball. 

I absolutely LOVE baseball, and as a black man I respect it more than any other sport. Baseball is considered America's pastime. However when I study the game it shows the history of black people in America, therefore I am not only entertained, it also serves as moments of enlightenment. I have often heard that baseball is a thinking person's game, and does it ever get my gears turning.

During the episode, David Winfield, Jim Palmer, Henry Aaron, and Willie Mays were interviewed and it was truly amazing to hear their stories and struggles within the game that has served as a metaphor for life, for them and countless numbers of fans. One point that Willie Mays made was that, had he not served in the Army during the Korean War, he would have surpassed the home run record (714) that was once held by Babe Ruth. Mays lost approximately 2 seasons away from the San Francisco Giants, and finished his career with 660 home runs. 

Henry Aaron is best known for his playing days in Atlanta as well as having actually breaking Ruth's record and he expressed how trying those times were for him and his family. In fact instead of looking back upon those days with fondness, he actually is more relieved that it is over and that his family survived unscathed. He had to not only play the game, but he also endured death threats, hate mail, and disrespect at the highest power. I don't get it, and it is really a shame that these instances were a part of his life and the game. My grandmother says that when the Brooklyn Dodgers used to come to Philadelphia, that the fans through a black cat on the field because of Robinson. Imagine something like that in today's game?

David Winfield is the ultimate athlete, as he was drafted, yes drafted by teams in 3 professional sports...Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the NBA. I best remember him as a member of the New York Yankees, and during an interview I had with Derek Jeter he recalled watching Winfield. As Jeter spoke, he lit up like a Christmas tree when speaking about his childhood hero. He wanted to emulate him both on and off the field because of Dave Winfield's athletic ability and his work within the community. 

In the modern game of baseball the black hero is there in people, like Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Torii Hunter, Curtis Granderson, Juan Pierre, and Ken Griffey Jr. However the major problem is that no one within the black is looking up to them. In this day and age the children want to play basketball and football first, and sports like tennis, soccer, baseball, and swimming are last on the list or not at all. 

Things have really changed from yesteryear. From the Negro Leagues and the greatest man in baseball Buck O'Neil, to April 1947 when Jackie Robinson was called up to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

What happened to the soul of the game? 

I really do not know how to answer this question, but I love baseball and all that it has meant to my culture over the generations. I couldn't imagine Major League Baseball without black players...and I hope that it never comes to fruition. 

Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies is currently leading ALL players with 28 home runs, yet he wasn't in the All-Star Game on Tuesday. If he wasn't tops among league leaders it might not have been an issue, but it was the final All-Star Game to ever be played in the old Yankee Stadium. That was an opportunity that he should not have been denied. 

Somethings in life just don't seem fair. 

Did you know that the top home run leaders of all-time are black? Where would baseball be had Jackie Robinson and Larry Dolby not integrated the sport? 

The only thing constant in this world is change, and in this case, the change was as good as it was necessary.