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One of the reasons the Yanks have been so successful is that their veteran players don't put up with bad attitudes and lack of focus or effort. Joe Torre hardly ever sets foot in the player's clubhouse. He knows that O'Neill or Brosius or now Jeter will take care of these problems. They just don't put up with any crap. Now that O'Neill and Brosius are gone, the Yanks addressed this loss of leadership by signing Giambi, who is known to be a leader who commands respect among his players.
I believe this has been one of our problems in the past. We've had selfish players who aren't always focused: First Belle and Baerga, then Manny, then Gonzeles and Robbie and Bart.
Ellis Burks is known to be a leader. maybe he's been reluctant to really assert himself, with the likes of Gonzales and Robbie around. This year, he has to set the tone.
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The Teacher
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The much-maligned Ricky is also said to be the kind of guy who can do this. (ducking for cover from the Ricky-bashers...) http://www.hostboard.com/ubb/wink.gif
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I would have to disagree with your assessment of the Yankees. They had no overt clubhouse leader. Think about it, I don't think ONeil or Brosius goes in the clubhose and rallies the troops. ONeil cared too much about his next at bat and things like that.
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that's good to hear about ricky. One of hart's biggest blind spots is team chemistry. He's doing it again in Texas: Putting a hot temptered white racist together with a hot tempered black racist along with a moody pitcher (Park) who's known for his lack of motivation... not to mention Irabu, who was last heard from getting blind drunk the night before a rehab assignment.
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The Teacher
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I don't have the source or link, but I read this stuff about torre and O'neill and brosuis in SI or someplace. Torre has said that the team has O'neill's character. He's not a rah-rah type of leader, but he leads by example: working hard, playing hurt, doing whatever it takes to win. And he and Brosius and Clemens do indeed get in a player's face if necessary.
Believe me if a Yankee pitcher had taken an all night trip away from the team to attend a rock concert, and lost the following day, he would have heard about it from his teammates, especially Clemens.
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The Teacher
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I don't have the source or link, but I read this stuff about torre and O'neill and brosuis in SI or someplace. Torre has said that the team has O'neill's character. He's not a rah-rah type of leader, but he leads by example: working hard, playing hurt, doing whatever it takes to win. And he and Brosius and Clemens do indeed get in a player's face if necessary.
Believe me if a Yankee pitcher had taken an all night trip away from the team to attend a rock concert, and lost the following day, he would have heard about it from his teammates, especially Clemens.
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The Teacher
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Teacher,
I think that is exactly what Burks does. I don't think anyone can complain about his work ethic and his integrity about the game. And he takes the additional step of mentoring younger players. So in terms of leadership, Burks does what he needs to do. If you were talking about productivity wise, from what I saw in Burks before Dotel nailed him, if he can bring that back then I will be satisfied.
Funny thing is, what gave Brosius any right to get in anyone's face?! He had one good season...geezus.
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