Yankee4Life

Ok, thank you. I'll try to keep this in mind when I watch the games next year.

What are matte batting helmets?

All of these uniforms are coming along wonderfully!

I can send you my catalog file of you want to see it.

PM sent.

Yes it is. It took me as long as this site has been around to do this. I have the discs cataloged on this wonderful free utility called Gentibus CD. Now if you go and download that and let me know when you do it I can upload the file where you can see what is on all seventy of those discs. I certainly do not want PC baseball games lost to time. I keep these CD's in cases and put away at all times unless I need to grab something for someone. I also must confess I don't know what the cloud does, how to access one, how to get one and how to use it. All I know about a cloud is it stores stuff. And here is your file. I grabbed it last night. Included in this zip file is the read me file. Triple Play Player Editor.zip

I stand corrected. Sorry I misspoke there. Just unzip the TiT program and place it in the main directory of MVP 2005.

English only in here. Thank you.

The directions provided with this utility are very helpful. Remember to install the TiT mod in the main directory of Mvp 2005.

Yes I do. KC, I have 70 DVD's full of mods and I doubt if I have the time for something like that. Besides, I've never done cloud storage. The DVD's are mods from Mvp '04, Mvp '05 and the '05 mods include mods that were only hosted on EAmods, High Heat 2002, 2003 and 2004 along with some stragglers. Also are backups of different versions of season mods and things of that nature.

Before the Yankees? Really now. I don't know what else to say.

Don't worry about stuff like this. Your work and home life come first and whenever you do your uniforms or work on your season mod is secondary.

Mcoll I can't answer your question but I have to thank you for bringing to my attention that Out of the Park baseball is still around. I have not heard a lot about it the past few years.

Updated to 11-24 ...For those of you reading this edition of Random Thoughts you may want to breeze past this first passage since I plan on getting my Yankee bashing out of the way before I move on to other more important things. It has been over a month now that the Yankees were eliminated in the ALCS and I'm not even close to being over it, which should surprise no one. I am as curious as anyone else to see what they will do in these coming months but the only thing that I am certain is that whatever happens this winter and when spring training starts do not believe the hype that this team will try to start selling you when they get the Tampa next February. But I am happy that C.C. Sabathia will no longer be pitching anymore. He had a 5 - 8 record with a 4.95 ERA in 107 1/3 innings for the Yankees but also was on the disabled list four separate times. That means he lasted a little over twenty-six innings on on the mound before he got hurt again. I'll never accuse the guy of being a bad teammate because he wasn't but his body quit on him over the season and the Yankees were still obliged to send them out there. Having him retire improved the pitching staff immediately. I wish him a lot of luck and the next time I hope I see him out on the mound at Yankee Stadium will be at an old timers game. I’m glad they parted ways with Jacoby Ellsbury and Greg Bird because we all know how much those two helped the Yankees win games over the past two seasons. But I have a feeling that as soon as Bird signs with another team he will suddenly get healthy and hit .320. I’ve said enough about Sanchez. The Yankees won’t get rid of him because like everyone else they are in love with the home run and as long as this slug can keep doing that he will keep playing. I’d like to see them nab Gerrit Cole but I am not optimistic. All I want for them to do is not do anything stupid and there is a better chance of it being 85 degrees with a warm breeze on Christmas day than for this to happen. ...There is something I don't understand about what happened at the World Series last month with those two girls who lifted up their shirts to show everyone what they had hiding underneath them. They were thrown out of the ballpark and were banned from attending any major league game for the rest of their life. I read one article where it said baseball had to do this because of the kids watching the game. I don't know if the baseball official who said that said it with a straight face but I can just picture someone like Joe Torre saying that to a reporter because he can say this crap with a straight face and believe it. Baseball does not care about the kids because this happened in the seventh inning of game five and they were in bed long before this little peep show took place. This was all about their image and kids had nothing to do with it. Anyway on with my question. How is major league baseball going to enforce the permanent ban of these two women? The way I see it there is no way they can. If they want to go to a game someone else would buy the tickets. I can see that happening because all they got to do is not lift their shirt up again and they will be able to sit in the box seat tickets or anywhere else and if they want to make sure that they are not recognized all they have to do is dye their hair. The point I'm trying to make is baseball has more security issues that they have to go through for every game than looking for two bimbos who showed their natural assets on national TV. ...From all I have heard about the investigations on the sign stealing cheating scandal that the Houston Astros were involved in is that they are going to be facing some very stiff penalties handed down by baseball. I will believe that when I see it because I have a hunch that whatever the Astros are going to be slapped with the one thing everyone is going to agree to is that they got off easy. My idea was to have a representative of Major League Baseball sitting in their dugout for all of their games for the next few years or so making sure that everything was on the up-and-up there and no cheating took place. And if the Astros complain that only they are having a MLB babysitter the answer to that would be that they were the ones who did the cheating and they should try to win a home game without the aid of someone banging on a garbage can. ...Because of the Astros sign stealing issue the news about how Tyler Skaggs died and what led up to it has almost been forgotten. Almost. Mark my words we are going to hear a lot more about this and probably before the start of next season. When it was discovered that one Angels employee gave Skaggs oxycodone and along with taking the drug with him he provided federal investigators with the names of five other players who he alleged to be using opiates. So what we have are five players out there who are waiting to be questioned by federal authorities about the abuse of oxycodone and their possible link to Skaggs' death. Something like that makes sign stealing a very minor offense. When Skaggs died many wonderful things were said about him and I'm sure he deserved all of it. But the last time I checked the age of twenty-seven is old enough to know what a person is doing and if it is right or wrong and it also made me wonder how many of those guys on his team when they found out what happened knew exactly why he died? There is no way some if not all of his twenty-five teammates did not know what was going on. Maybe they were protecting Skaggs' image and the five players who were also doing this by staying silent. So far it's still working but eventually it's going to stop. ...What is it with professional sports and the city of Oakland? Now baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is warning the Oakland city officials to drop their lawsuit over the Coliseum land sale to the Athletics or they can risk the team moving to another city. The commissioner pointed out that Bay Area fans will soon be going to Las Vegas to see the Raiders and that unless things changed, Bay Area fans may be going to Las Vegas or elsewhere to see the A's as well. If that doesn't sound like a form of extortion I don't know what does. Oakland has already lost the Raiders and the NBA Warriors. Many years ago they even had a hockey team called the Golden State Seals. That team moved to Cleveland to become the Barons and then they merged with the Minnesota North Stars and now that team is now known as the Dallas Stars. Maybe Oakland didn't want them but neither did anybody else. If the A's leave Oakland will have nothing and even if you aren't a fan of any of their teams you have to see the injustice in that. ...Of all the major sports leagues the National Football League has probably the most rules and most of the dumbest ones. I'll give you one example. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was fined $5,000 by the NFL for wearing an Apple watch on the sideline in a game he didn’t play in and could not have played in after the season-ending elbow surgery that he had. All he was doing was watching the game and keeping one eye out to make sure that no one knocked him over. Roethlisberger was upset about the fine because he didn’t receive advance warning that he had violated a rule. All he got was the letter stating he’d been fined. But that's how the NFL works. Fine first, answer questions later. If I can ask the NFL one question about this it would be this. How come they can see a watch on a man's wrist but cannot see a blatant pass interference call? ...Oh and that reminds me have you ever noticed when you are watching your favorite NFL team play that just about every time the opposing team throws a long pass and it gets broken up or the ball was overthrown that a pass interference call will be called? But when your team does the same thing no flags are ever thrown? I think I have seen this and every single Oakland game I have ever watched in my life. ...Lately I have been watching an old 1980s crime drama called Crime Story. It was only on for two seasons and that was only because NBC, for reasons known only to them moved the show to Tuesday nights opposite Moonlighting, which was a very successful show on ABC at the time starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard. Anyway I bought the complete season on Amazon for $15.99. It's pretty rare you get a good deal on a series like this but that's because after over thirty years a lot of people have never heard of it. The show starred Dennis Farina, a man who had a scowl they can intimidate an entire room and Anthony Denison who later starred in The Closer and Major Crimes. A lot of famous people today guest starred on this show like Julia Roberts, Gary Sinise, Andrew Dice Clay and many more. Many shows have been described as being before their time but this one really was. So if you're looking for something different to watch this winter give this one a shot. It won't even cost you twenty dollars. ...Colin Kaepernick tried again to rejoin the NFL fraternity recently and once again was given a polite thanks but no thanks by the big shots who run the league. If he plays again or not is not my concern because I am neither on his side or the NFL’s. The league promised him he’d have a workout in Atlanta where twenty-five teams were going to show up to see if he had anything left worth looking at but before that took place they wanted him to sign a waiver that went beyond the standard injury protections that are typically afforded to the NFL and its teams. In that waiver they snuck in some legalese that may have ended up giving the league reason to argue that he would also sign away some of his employment protections. In other words if he took a kneel again they could give him the boot. Kaepernick did not sign the waiver and his workout was moved sixty miles away and instead of twenty-five teams showing up only eight decided to make the hour-long trip. During the workout Kaepernick wore a Kunta Kinte t shirt that made me ask myself if he actually knew who Kunta Kinte was. (Watch the ABC miniseries Roots from 1977 to find out who he was or read the book.) You see, it is hard for me to be sympathetic to an athlete wearing the name of a slave on his shirt when he has earned forty-three million dollars in six years playing for the 49ers. The NFL has done their best keeping this guy out of uniform for the past 2 1/2 years and in the end they’ll probably win because it’s their game and their ball and you can’t play unless you play by their rules. It may not be right but it is going to be very hard to find someone to go against what the NFL wants because the pressure they’d apply is something you’d never read in the papers. ...As if his life was not screwed up enough, Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Felipe Vazquez, who was arrested back in September for soliciting a child for sex now has received twenty-one additional child sex-related charges during the investigation into his contact with minors. We all know what that means concerning his future in professional baseball. Babe Ruth has a better chance of suiting up next year than Vazquez and he’s been dead for seventy-one years. Despite all that I still expect someone to request a cyberface for Vazquez sometime during this off-season. ...It’s about time, Dept: To the San Antonio homeowners association that sent a letter to one of their neighbors demanding that they take down their Christmas decorations until it got closer to the holiday, THANK YOU!!! The neighbors in question decorated their front lawn back on the first of November and I don't care how much holiday spirit you have that is way too early for anyone to have to look at Santa and Rudolph and company every time they go out and throw out their trash. Every year Christmas is pushed on us earlier and earlier in the last thing anyone needs to see is a plastic Frosty waving at them for two months. ...Finally, the Thanksgiving day football schedule because it’s never too early to change the channel. As usual it's a lousy one but that really isn't a surprise. The NFL owns this holiday so why bother attempting to make it interesting? The first game is the Chicago Bears at the Detroit Lions. The way these two teams are playing their own fans may not even watch it. Next up the Buffalo Bills go to Dallas to take on the Cowboys. I think it bears repeating but I think it's good that Dallas plays on Thanksgiving because when you're done with dinner you can sit in front of the TV and have the Cowboys put you to sleep. Works for me every year. And finally the night game is the New Orleans Saints at the Atlanta Falcons. A lot of tickets remain for that game in Atlanta because all the good 'ole boys down there will be hunting deer instead of watching football. Have a good Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your weekend!

Willie Randolph Willie Randolph was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh round of the June 6, 1972, free-agent draft. He started out with the Class A Gulf Coast League Pirates in 1972, appearing in 44 games and batting .317. The following year he was with the Charleston Pirates of the Class A Western Carolinas League, where he batted .280. By 1974 he was with the Thetford Mines (Quebec) Pirates of the Double-A Eastern League. He finished that season with a batting average of .254, an on-base percentage of .397, and a fielding percentage of .966. He played his final minor-league baseball in 1975, with the Charleston (West Virginia) Charlies of the Triple-A International League, batting .339 with a fielding percentage of .965. He was called up by the Pirates in July of that year, and made his major-league debut on July 29 at the age of 21. He appeared in 30 games for the Pirates in 1975, batting only .164 but posting an on-base percentage of .246. He played in two games against Cincinnati during the National League Championship Series, going hitless. Cincinnati won that series. On December 11, 1975, the Pirates traded Randolph and pitchers Ken Brett and Dock Ellis to the New York Yankees for pitcher Doc Medich. Randolph was the Yankees’ starting second baseman in 1976, appearing in 125 games. He had a batting average of .267, drew 58 walks, and had an on-base percentage of .355. He would remain the Yankees’ starting second baseman through 13 seasons, until 1988. During those years with the Yankees, Randolph was a consistent batter, especially with runners on base, a patient hitter who drew a lot of walks, and an excellent fielder. In 1976 his batting average was .267, his slugging percentage .328, his on-base percentage .356, and he had 37 stolen bases. He did not hit well during the ALCS or the World Series that year, but he was named to the American League All-Star Team and the Topps All-Star Rookie Team, and won the Yankees’ James P. Dawson Award, which is given to the best rookie at the end of spring training. In 1977 Randolph’s numbers improved, and he posted a batting average of .274, an on-base percentage of .347, and a slugging percentage of .387. He was once again named to the American League All-Star team, and set an All-Star Game record for most assists (six) by a second baseman in a nine-inning game. During the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals, he had five hits and 2 RBIs in 18 at-bats. In the World Series he had four hits and scored five runs as the Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers. Randolph continued to play well in 1978, getting 139 hits and 36 stolen bases in 134 games. His batting average was .279, his on-base percentage .381, and his slugging percentage .357. In 1979 he appeared in a career-high number of games (153), and had 682 plate appearances and 574 at-bats, both career highs. He had 155 hits and had a career-high fielding percentage of .985. He was first in the American League in putouts at second base (355), assists (478), and double plays by a second baseman (128). In 1980, Randolph’s batting average was .294, his on-base percentage .427 (second in the American League), and his slugging percentage .407. He led the American League in bases on balls with 119. He scored 99 runs, the most in his career. In the ALCS against Kansas City, Randolph batted .385. He was named to the American League All-Star team and won the Silver Slugger award among second basemen. Between 1982 and 1984 Randolph was a consistent player, with a batting average between .279 and .287, an on-base percentage between .361 and .377, and a slugging percentage between .348 and .349. In 1984 he had a career-high 162 hits, and led the league in double plays by a second baseman (112). His numbers remained in the same range in 1985, when he tied his career-high fielding percentage of .985. In a game against the Oakland A’s on September 5, 1985, Randolph had four hits, including two home runs, in four at-bats. In 1986 he had a batting average of .276, an on-base percentage of .393, and a slugging percentage of .346. He did, however, lead the league with a career-high 20 errors. On November 12, 1986, Randolph became a free agent, and the following January he re-signed with the Yankees. In 1987 he had his best year as a Yankee, driving in a career-high 67 runs, scoring 96, and sporting a batting average of .305. His slugging percentage was the highest of his career, .414. He was once again named to the All-Star team. He played his last year with the Yankees in 1988, appearing in 110 games with a batting average of .230. His on-base and slugging percentages remained high, however, standing at .322 and .300 respectively. At end of his career with the Yankees, he ranked among the team’s all-time leaders in games played (1,694), runs (1,027), hits (1,731) and stolen bases (251). He was also valuable to the team in other ways. According to T.J. Quinn, although Randolph was very quiet, he was a major key to motivating the team. During his 18-year career with six different teams, he appeared in 2,202 games and had 2,210 hits (including 316 doubles and 54 home runs), with 687 RBIs, 1239 runs scored, and 271 stolen bases. His batting average was .276, his slugging percentage .351, and his on-base percentage .373. His fielding percentage was .979. Randolph never committed an error in a postseason game. Three times during his career with the Yankees he had four hits in four at-bats, and twice he drove in five runs in five at-bats. Once with the Yankees and once with the Dodgers, he had three doubles in four at-bats.