The greatest baseball minds that I have ever known in my 51 years in the sport come from a family called Alomar.
The original was the Yankees second baseman in 1974 named Sandy. Billy Martin used to say that having Sandy Alomar on the team was like having an extra coach. When the Yankees traded for a very young Willie Randolph Billy practically begged George Steinbrenner to keep Sandy so that he could mentor Willie during his rookie season. During those years I used to babysit Sandy Alomar Jr. and his little brother Roberto.
During the 1975 season, we had the great Bobby Bonds on the team. He had a little boy by the name of Barry. Yes that Barry Bonds.
On Saturday nights sometimes the Bonds and Alomar’s would go out to dinner so I was the designated babysitter.
Bobby used to have a ping-pong table in the living room. To watch Roberto play Barry was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. It was like watching two players from China playing.
The hand-eye coordination was amazing.
The other thing I found interesting was that their knowledge of sports especially baseball was unreal even though they were 8 and 10 years old.
I have stayed close to the Alomar family through the years. Sandy Senior has always been like a big brother and Robby and Sandy have been little brothers.
Sandy Sr was actually the first coach hired by Willie Randolph when Willie made history by becoming the first black manager (for the Mets) in New York baseball history. Today Sandy is retired but helps his son Robby periodically by advising him on running a team in the Puerto Rican winter baseball league. Sandy Jr. is a long-time coach with the Cleveland Guardians.
Roberto as the world knows is a Hall of Famer and probably the greatest second baseman of all time! He is also a true fan of the game and follows it closely. When the Yankees made the trade for Jazz Chisholm Robby would call me to say that now he really likes the Yankees’ makeup.
Robby was always a fan of Yankees lead-off hitter and centerfielder of those Championship teams of the 70s Mickey Rivers. He thinks that Chisholm can become that kind of player in New York.
Robby feels that Chisholm is athletic enough that wherever you play him he will be fine however he likes him best in centerfield. His speed game adds a totally different dimension to the Yankees’ overall offense.
Robby says that like all fans he is looking forward to the end result and thinks that it will be very positive.
I personally loved the fact that Jazz is so educated on Yankee history and is such a Derek Jeter and A. Rod fan.
If Jazz Chisholm can achieve half of what Mickey Rivers did in those championship years then the Yankees are in good shape. Robby Alomar’s baseball instincts thinks he can.
