After 20 years of lip-service within the Yankee/YES propaganda factory, Flaherty will go silent in 2026. His contract ran out, and the franchise will go with the younger Ryan Ruocco as utility back-up - sorta the Oswaldo Cabrera of the booth.
The 2026 YES lineup will feature the Four Horsemen of the Pocked Lips:
1. Michael Kay, the relentless, ever-churning, fake-outrage, word machine.
2. Paul O'Neill, the jolly ex-jock and lover of the team.
3. David Coen, the celebrity everyman, who actually remembers the Violent Femmes.
4. Joe Girardi, the professor and master strategist.
Overall, the YES announcers are affable, experienced and always appreciative of the Steinbrenner family for paying them to talk.
In retiring Flaherty, it's not as if the Yankees just disappeared Alexie Navalny. "Flash," as he was known, provided a kindly, self-depreciating voice of experience, similar to that of Ken Singleton, (who was retired in 2021.) Flaherty was a rarity - the ex-jock who mastered the art of play-by-play announcing - which in the modern Yankee era includes the art of gushing about a product that viewers have become increasingly sour of.
The YES team will sternly criticize any player who fails to hustle, and it will directly challenge any backfiring move by manager Aaron Boone. But that's where the vinegar stops. Whatever Brian Cashman says or does is considered the final word on any matter. And the team verbally genuflects in the direction of anybody with the last name of Steinbrenner.
That won't change. YES is the OAN of baseball. The Steinbrenners own the main media that covers them, and we will never again know a Red Barber or Joe Garigiola - (or even a John Sterling sometimes) - anybody with the clout to say what needs to be said. The closest we'll get - Jack Curry - is 15 years out from his days of actual journalism. Now and then, Kay climbs his soapbox to grandstand on an issue - but it's always safe, and it never touches the owner's box.
I'll miss Flaherty. Over 20 years, he never disgraced himself, or for that matter, the Yankees. A 20-year run is longer than most announcers ever see. Dunno who will catch the Old Timers Game, but since Mariano blew out his knee this summer, I doubt anybody cares.
As for Flash, his reaction was the sorta classy nothing-burger you'd expect. He told The Athletic:
“I was kind of prepared for it so I think that helped. It quickly went from, the reality that you are not going to be back to what a great run for 20 years to go right from retiring as a player to right into the booth in 2006 and stay with the same network for 20 years. I just became very grateful for what a long and great run it has been at YES and being connected with the Yankees all those years.”
Let's wish him the best. And maybe, next August, when everything is dull and tired... they bring him back for a series?
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16 comments:
Will miss his post game analysis. He was low-key, but informed and affable.
But 20 years is a good run.
YES is the OAN of baseball—perfect, Duque.
And yes, the SNY team doesn't exactly rip management a new one, and it was Michael Burke who canned the actual Red Barber for daring to mention the fact that only 413 people showed up for a game with the last-place, 1966 Yankees—the most disgraceful firing in the history of sports broadcasting.
But still. This is petty and stupid. This is...Life in Hell. Not Matt Groening's life in hell, but Brian Cashman's. What a twit.
It's almost like the Yankees don't care anymore about baseball. Nah...no way that could be true.
wah . . . what ?
Oh, wait, never mind, yeah, I understand, 99.8 % in agreement.
Unless we're wrong.
Incorrect.
Misguided.
Jaded, and
Disillusioned.
Happy Halloween.
May post a Halloween post, Bitty.
You know . . .
. . . for kids
One more thing from yesterday: NY must be cursed by scouting reports. Take the Rangers as an example. In 2019, they drafted Kaapo Kakko number 2 overall in the NHL draft. While he became a depth player on the roster, he was more like Kaapo Krappo or Kaapo Kaaka than what one expects from a #2 pick. But it got worse. The following year, they won the number 1 pick in the entire draft after drawing the one-in-twelve chance red ball in the draft hopper. They chose Alexis Lafreiere, who, by all scouting reports, was a no-brainer, a future Mario Lemieux, an NHL superstar. Well, after 5 years in the league, he's become a complete bust....a marginal hockey player. He leads the team with a whopping -11 after only 11 games! The point being that "can't-miss" scouting reports on certain olayers are frequently completely wrong. Heart, desire, and the willingness to devote the effort are tough to quantify. And the NY teams seem to have more than their share of busts. Perhaps being owned by nepo offspring with poor management skills has a lot to do with the results.
Oh, did I mention the Knicks' top choices of Frederick Weiss, Pacôme Dadiet, and Obi Toppin? Or the Giants' recent first-round choices of Evan Neal, Erik Flowers, and Will Jalen Hatt?
Or the Jets' picks of Zach Wilson, Mekhi Becton, and Sam Darnold?
Will " The Paver" Hernandez and Jalen Hyatt*
I beginning to think following the Yankees is like a Batman episode. The original one.
HAL is Burgess Meredith as The Penguin.
Pal and Bonehead running around with plain black shirts labeled "henchman".
All scheming to get rich by depriving all the good citizens of Gotham any little joy they have left. Creating a new circle of hell not even imagined by Dante. Sort of like the Manfred Man in the 10th.
Good scouting is just another component to good baseball. It’s difficult to argue against the idea that Brian does not recognize, nor does he want good baseball people. They are a threat to him.
A reminder of why he's probably gone...
https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1faubm6/michael_kay_and_john_flaherty_get_into_spat/
I'll miss Flaherty. Especially after hearing that recording on Reddit. Kay obviously thinks that TV announcers should blather on and fill the airtime, which is annoying apparent when he works with O'Neill.
Cone is great, usually, and certainly a towering intellect next to O'Neill--who should be sent back to Yahooville--and Kay, whose voice has become one of the most grating things on the air. Girardi is good, no complaints there.
I really can't stand the too-often paired O'Neill and Kay. God, what a duo. They play off of each other in the worst possible way, and that "Hick and The Fat Man" routine is an embarrassment.
Well, at least I can mostly avoid them by living in Europe.
Ryan Rucco is an annoying Geek to me. He probbly gets off bwfi=rw ech anem thinking of his useless stats. His voice is annoying. I liked Flaherty. Yes proabably was ttring to save monwy from his salary.
Speaking of the Violent Femmes, here's a story that defies the odds:
In the mid-90s, I went to a party at their house. 2 things about it were very unusual. Originally from Milwaukee, they happened to live in the Huntington section of a small town, Shelton, CT, where I also resided at the time. Moreover, my Hippee cousin, who lived in Woodstock and was dating Gordon Gano, the lead singer's brother. When she realized how close I was to their house, she asked them to invite me. Great party and super-nice people.
the lead singer Gordon Gano's brother*
I think that you are on to something here, RTF.
And I kinda like it.
(my fear, however, is when Cashman squeezes into the catwoman costume. there would be no cure for that)
Carl - good story.
Flash - Hopefully he lands another gig. It's too bad that he and Kay clash because I'd much rather him than Paulie.
Also, how come Kay never get's called out for being a dick to Meredith?
He is so tiresome.
Ranger, good post. But I'm undecided whether it was good-natured ribbing/ballbusting banter that they both are frequently involved in, especially Kay, or if it was a very toned-down argument that could have intensified during the commercial break. Kay seemed to get overly sensitive about the topic.
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