When the Yankees first got Gio Urshela from the Toronto BLUEJAYS for 25 thousand dollars, they thought they were getting a player that could help their triple a team (Scranton – Wilkes Barre) and at the same time in an emergency could help the big club. On the 1978 Yanks we had a player like that by the name of Fred Stanley. We use to call him Chicken because he walked like one. Chicken was a very valuable utility player who would play Short Stop, second base or third. You never really got much from his bat but as Billy Martin would say, if you have to depend on Chicken to get a big hit then I didn’t use my players right. Well, that was the same thought process with Urshela. We did not get him to be a big bat in the lineup. Just be Chicken Stanley when given the shot.
A month after the 2019 season started Miguel Andujar got badly hurt and Gio was given the third base job until someone better came along. That season Gio would hit 315 with 21 homers and 70 runs batted in. In the pandemic shortened season Gio would go on to hit 298 and this season at the all-star break he is hitting 275, which is the second-best average on the team behind All-Star Aaron Judge. Gio has 11 homers and 37 runs batted in. The one thing that I’m leaving out is the incredible defense that he gives the Yankees every day. The last time that I saw an all-round Yanks third baseman like this his name was Graig Nettles. In talking to Alex Rodriguez recently ( not to shabby a third baseman himself) I asked him his feelings about Urshela. Alex said that from what he has seen all throughout baseball Urshela is the best third baseman in the game. Not bad considering Gio was only supposed to be a Fred Stanley type player. To go all the way to a Nettles caliber player tells me that our scouting department is either very good or we hit the lottery with Gio Urshela. Oh, and by the way, he is a tremendous individual off the field. He is a very philanthropic person who has gone to schools, hospitals, and youth organizations to help those in need. He was a leader during the Pandemic by delivering hand sanitizers (H20ne hand sanitizers) all throughout his homeland in Columbia and the schools in the Bronx. I’m very proud to say that Gio Urshela will be receiving the Thurman Munson Humanitarian Award on August 19th at the Paterson Country Club in Fairfield Connecticut. I think if Thurman knew Gio Urshela he would approve. Thurman Munson was truly like a big brother to me, so I can say that I do Approve.
