Charlie Voelker

Some days, sports stories will hit closer to home for our radio show, The Drive with Charlie & Dan, than others. Tuesday was one of those days. Our producer jumped into the studio announced, "The Ferry Hawks needed a pitcher for a double-header and Figgy is taking the hill!" The room broke out in cheers and applause for "our guy Figgy!"

Bill Madden of the Daily News joined The Drive with Charlie & Dan today and stated that Major League Baseball, and specifically Commissioner Rob Manfred, publicly attempted to minimize David Ortiz's positive test result for PED's, in addition to the slugger's close relationship with a suspected PED drug dealer from the Dominican Republic. Madden backed up his claim as information documented in the book 'The Baseball Cop' written by former Major League Baseball investigator, Eddie Dominguez. The Daily News baseball columnist said that Major League Baseball will one day 'regret' David Ortiz' induction.

New York Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter owns a World Series ring for every finger on one hand. #2 is unquestionably one of the greatest champions of all time. But how much did Yankees fans get to know their "Captain"? Jeter has always been a very private and measured person. The Pinstripes faithful struggled to get an inside look at their beloved shortstop. That changes on Monday.

Some guys set themself up for a little ribbing when they get caught doing something funny. Former New York Mets pitcher, Noah Syndergaard, aka Thor, is one of those guys. On Sunday, in a brawl between Thor's new team, the Los Angelas Angels and the Seattle Mariners, the 6'6" right-hander did something that has Mets fans and Twitter abuzz!

Major League Baseball can be a cruel business. Sometimes the timing seems awful. A former budding star for the New York Yankees found that out again on Friday at the Stadium.

Petco Park is the home of the San Diego Padres. The stadium opened in 2004 with some 1400+ Padres home games having been played. Yet in that time span, no Major League Baseball player had ever hit for "the cycle" (a single, a double, a triple and a home run in one game), until Monday night.

The New York Jets last won a Super Bowl prior to Apollo 11 astronaut, Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon, nearly 53 years ago. Yet, the NFL franchise still honors players that prospered during the 5 plus decades of Gang Green championship futility. The trio being honored during the 2022 season did their very best to bring the Jets faithful a Lombardi Trophy and came sort of close twice.

Aaron Boone and the New York Yankees would rather forget this past weekend. Yes, losing two of three to a team that you handled at their place last weekend stinks. But, that certainly wasn't the worst of it for the Yankees manager. When your weekend is filled with questions about your team involving Tommy John surgery, struggling closer, blown saves and a racial comment, it's easy to forget that you have a 5 game lead in the American League East.

The saying, "we learn from our mistakes," is as old as time. Look back in your life ten years and I'd be surprised if you didn't wish you handled certain situations differently. When you are in a starting pitching rotation for the New York Yankees and for the first time in your career things are really rolling, it's hard when those mistakes are maliciously revealed.

As we reported last week, 4th grader Lazar LaPenna, of Long Beach, New York, suffered a fatal seizure after hitting a baseball and running to first base. There was no injury caused by a baseball. Lazar suffered from epilepsy for several years and was on medication for seizures. LaPenna loved baseball and the Mets. His dad was his coach. The baseball world and others took notice of this awful tragedy and even took to Twitter to recruit everyone to pay tribute to the little boy from Long Island.