When the Yankees first got Gio Urshela from the Toronto BLUEJAYS for 25 thousand dollars, they thought they were getting …

The Gio Urshela all stars got to visit Yankee Stadium for the first time as a team. The kids come from the Bronx and extend all the way to Connecticut. Once at the stadium I get to take the kids around the ball park and I explain how everything works. They got to visit monument park and learn about all the greats there. They learn about the history of the retired uniform numbers then they get to visit the Yankees museum. While there I love talking to them about the story of Thurman Munson’s locker.

The Yankees may not be playing like we are accustomed to seeing them play at the moment however they never forget Thier responsibilities to Thier fans off the field. Yes the number one priority is to win but ever since George Steinbrenner purchased the team in 1973 he always found it important to do the right thing for the people of New York.

This is graduation week in New York. This is always one of my favorite time of year because I usually get invited to different schools throughout the city to deliver important messages to the students that are graduating. Yesterday I got to be the key note speaker at The College Academy ( formerly George Washington high school) in Washington Hight’s. The reason I was invited there was because the school is predominantly Hispanic with kids from Dominican, Puertorican and many other Latino backgrounds.

I have known of Tony Melendez since the 1970s. He was a terrific baseball player in the neighborhood with aspirations of playing in the big leagues. He was an even better disco and salsa and mambo dancer. To me he was the Mambo King before the making of the great movie The Mambo Kings which stared Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas.

There are few people, let alone players, who have embodied the Yankee mystique than Lou Gehrig did. “The Iron Horse” embodied professionalism, integrity, and grit, always putting the team before everything, even as a cruel disease robbed him of everything he worked for at such a young age. From his youth in Manhattan, through his days at Columbia University through all those great Yankees teams and even into that last iconic speech, Lou was, and still is, “The Pride of The Yankees.”

Out of respect to Cope 2 and Slone, two of the greatest graffiti artists of all time, I must admit that I was not doing graffiti art when I was caught by George Steinbrenner in 1973. I was doing a simple interlocking “NY” with blue spray paint on the wall outside Yankee Stadium on a dare from the guys that I was with. It was a true case of peer pressure.

To say that this first week of spring training was very positive would be an understatement. All the questions going into camp were answered during the course of the week. First there was the question about Gary Sanchez and his overall game. Well let me say this, even Stevie Wonder could see that Gary’s defense has improved from last year.

Bronxnet’s number one program, “Reachout with Ray and Steve” continues to show why.

Yesterday, one of the stars of the award winning film, “Freedom Writers,” Bronx’s own April Lee Hernandez (Castillo) joined the show to talk about the making of the film. The incredible message it sends and how that message is received today is even more important.

Today, I honor the man that Yankees’ Captain Thurman Munson would give, arguably, the most famous sports nickname to, Mr. October, Reggie Jackson.

Let me just put it this way. During the Steinbrenner era, the most exciting player to put on a Yankee uniform is without a doubt Reggie Jackson.

Today, I would speak to Sandy Gomez, the wife of Pedro. Even though her husband had just died, she would console me because I was crying. I guess they were a perfect match because that is exactly what Pedro would have done. That is exactly what came to my mind.

During black history month, I want to acknowledge all star first baseman Bill While.

During the 1960s he was one of the best players in the game. Terrific hitter with power who also won 4 gold gloves for an excellent St. Louis Cardinals team.