The New York Yankees and Ira Riklis

One of the things that Ira Riklis appreciates about his favorite American League team, the New York Yankees, is that they’re about much more than just playing baseball (though, of course, they do that VERY well). The team has just announced that as part of Major League Baseball’s commitment to Stand Up to Cancer, the team will host three special events this month to raise cancer awareness and provide free cancer screenings for fans attending those games.

This Sunday, the fans can get a free screening for skin cancer between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. prior to the start of the game with the Blue Jays. Two days later, on the 7th, men over 40 can receive a safe, simple and free screening for prostrate cancer as part of partnership between the team and Ed Randall’s Bat For The Cure charity. And on Wednesday the 22nd, the Yankees will team up with the New York Blood Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital as part of the Be the Match Registry drive for bone marrow transplant donors. This last event in particular strikes a chord with Ira Riklis, who’s long been registered as a willing bone marrow donor. All that’s required is a simple cheek swab to provide a tissue sample that will be recorded in the registry as a potential match sometime in the future for someone in need of a life-saving bone marrow transplant.

Long-time Yankees fan Ira Riklis has fond memories of the old Yankee Stadium, which saw its last game at the end of the 2008 season. But what nostalgia he has about it is tempered by his feelings for the great new stadium they built just across the street. It boasts all the latest amenities, including a state-of-the-art scoreboard, good seats and great food. If you’d like to see for yourself during the light of day, later this week would be a good time to do it.

Starting Thursday, the defending World Series champions will play six day games in seven days. It’s a rare event; the last time it happened was back in April of 2004! Best of all, it looks like the weather will be near perfect (other than a chance of some rain Thursday and Friday). We’re due for a break from the sweltering days of 90 degrees plus; the forecast calls for upper 70s and sun. So why not grab a friend or loved one and head out to the “old ballgame”? Who knows, Ira Riklis might be there!

The Yankee’s recent road trip was a little bumpy at the beginning. Fans like Ira Riklis watched with some concern as their team lost three out of the first four games. But like the champions they are, they re-grouped and bounced back to take the most recent series with the White Sox and go .500 for the trip. Now they’ve returned for a home stand where they hope to improve on their already league-leading record.

They persevered on the road in spite of a number of injuries to key players. First baseman Mark Teixeira sat out Sunday’s game with a bad bruise on his right thumb. Pitcher Andy Petitte remains out, though looks like he will soon be ready to step back into the lineup, just in time for the September bush to the pennant. In their places, Ira Riklis and other fans were happy to see players like Marcus Thames provide some power at the bat and brand-new pitcher Ivan Nova pick up his first win by shutting down the potent White Sox offense for 5 2/3 innings. It’s the type of teamwork the Yankees are known for and which makes them such a great team.

Yankees fans like Ira Riklis are wondering whether this is the year second baseman Robinson Cano could win a Golden Glove award for his outstanding defensive play. Actually, many people, including manager Joe Girardi, thought he should have won it last year. Girardi specifically cited Cano’s strong throwing arm and his special ability to accurately throw a blazing strike across his body, turning what often seems to be a sure base hit for an opposing batter into an unexpected out.

This year, Cano’s stepped up his already stellar game another notch. To date, he’s committed just three errors in 632 plays, a sizzling .995 fielding percentage. That includes a team record 81-game errorless streak earlier in the season. A-Rod has said that Cano has “the strongest and most accurate arm I’ve ever seen on a second baseman.” He went on to echo what Ira Riklis and other fans are feeling, saying: “He’s slowly but surely become one of the elite players in our league. Everyone talks about hitting, but what he’s doing power-wise in big situations and defensively, there’s no question he’s the best second baseman in baseball.”

After recording his league-leading 17th victory yesterday on a soggy Sunday afternoon in New York, Yankees ace C.C Sabathia told reporters: “I’d rather win the World Series than win a Cy Young.,” He should know, having already won both in his career. It’s just another example of Yankee spirit, putting team goals ahead of personal ones. But fans like Ira Riklis don’t feel like it’s an either-or situation. Why not win both?

Both goals are certainly in reach. C.C. is in a three-way tie for most wins in the majors. And the Yankees’ 10-0 shellacing of the Mariners yesterday put the team 30 games over .500 with major-league-leading 77-47 record. The future looks promising, even with A-Rod on the 15-day disabled list. Robinson Cano has been filling in admirably for him at the clean-up spot with four home runs in the last six games including a grand slam yesterday as part of his career-high six RBIs. Ira Riklis knows that there’s still a ways to go this season and that anything can happen, but like other fans, he’d be happy to see C.C. holding up both awards at the end!

Ira Riklis’ New York Yankees are a team of great tradition. This week, they marked the second anniversary of one of their latest traditions: their HOPE (Helping Others Persevere and Excel) initiative. Each day this week, players and management saluted a different person or group. Yesterday they welcomed young ball players from the “Beautiful People” organization, an Orange County group that provides adaptive sports opportunities for children, ages 5 to 21, with disabilities.

The truly beautiful children truly stole the show last night at Yankee Stadium, warming the hearts of players and fans alike. Each Yankee carried a personalized sign cheering on the children. In their games, each child has a chance to bat and each gets to round the bases and reach home plate. They joined the team on the field for the National Anthem and watched from a suite as the Yankees bombed the Tigers 11-5. Once the game was over, the team joined them for an on-field picnic to wrap up the evening. It was just one more beautiful thing about the Yankees that fans like Ira Riklis appreciate about their team.

Over the years, Yankee players have set many memorable records. Many players have become legends of the game, and at least some current players are on their way to becoming the legends of tomorrow. It’s one of the things that fans like Ira Riklis appreciate about their team and its great history. Already this year, A-Rod has surpassed the 600 career home run mark. Perhaps next in line for a personal record is Derek Jeter, who needs just one hit to surpass Babe Ruth’s total of 2,873 and rise to 38th place on the career major league hit list. Beyond that mark is 3,000 hits, considered to be one of baseball’s most notable achievements.

But Jeter isn’t thinking about the next hit or the next 136 hits. He’s thinking about helping the team get its next win and about winning it all again this October. In his words: “My whole thing is to try to win. And he can do that even without getting a hit as witnessed in the 9th inning last Friday night. Batting against Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, he kept fouling off pitches before earning a walk and forcing Papelbon into a 23-pitch inning which could have rendered him less effective in the next game. It’s the little things like that, the selfless acts, that make the Yankees a great team and which earn the respect of loyal fans like Ira Riklis.

Ira Riklis has been a Yankees fan for a long, long time. He first made his entrance into Yankee Stadium in 1954, and he’s been enjoying games there ever since. Well, up through 2008 that is. The old stadium closed for good at the end of that season, to be replaced by the new, improved Yankee Stadium at the beginning of the successful 2009 season.

As with many, many long-time Yankees backers, Ira Riklis felt a certain nostalgia with the passing of the old stadium which held many, many happy memories. And like many fans, he felt no small measure of sticker shock when he saw the ticket prices for seats in the new stadium—they were downright SCARY! After considering his options, he opted out of buying season tickets. Instead, since he can usually attend just few games, he splurged and got really good seats in the Legends Suite for just three games. Not only are the seats great, there’s ready access to an air-conditioned clubroom with loads of free food as well as to a restaurant catered by some of the best chefs in the city. It’s a place where Yankee legends like Babe Ruth—the Sultan of Swing and one who enjoyed comfort and good food—would have felt right at home!

Just two days ago, the Yankees seemed to be in a bit of a tailspin. Fans were waiting (and waiting and waiting) for A-Rod to blast his 600th career home run. He’d had 46 at bats, more than twice as many as it took the “Say Hey Kid” Willie Mays to go from 599 to 600. Worse than that, in fans minds, was the fact that the Yankees had fallen into a slump and dropped out of first place. But as Ira Riklis knows, there are ups and downs in sports as well as in business and you just have to wait them out.

The wait didn’t take too long in this case. Wednesday night in the first inning at Yankee Stadium on his 47th at-bat since hitting 599, A-Rod crushed a two-run homer to deep center for number 600. The blast spurred the team to a 5-1 victory over Toronto, which, combined with a loss by the Tampa Bay Rays, brought the Bronx Bombers back into a tie for first place. There will certainly be many more ups and downs over the final months of the season, but fans like Ira Riklis figure it will be a fun ride!

As a dedicated Yankee’s fan, Ira Riklis is awaiting the milestone event of Alex Rodriguez hitting his 600th Major League career homerun. But the fact that it’s taking A-Rod longer to go from 599 to 600 than any of the six players in history who have done so, is really of little concern. Patience in baseball, as in business and other aspects of life, is generally (although perhaps not always) a virtue. Teammate Derek Jeter put it best: “He’s going to hit a home run. Whether it’s tomorrow, next week, next year — I guarantee you he’ll hit a home run. People want him to do it and get it over with, but it’s not easy to hit a home run.”

Of more concern to Yankees fans at the moment is the team’s current slump. They’ve lost three in a row and four out of their last five. In the process, the surging Tampa Bay Rays have taken one game lead in the American League East standings. But as Ira Riklis knows, this also calls for a bit of patience and not a bit of panic. Teams go through ups and downs over the course of the season. The Yankees have been up most of the year and are still right at the top as we enter the dog days of August. It’s all part of what makes September so interesting for teams and their fans.