MLB Franchise Notes: Yankees' HOPE Week Chronicled On "Today"

Jeter Discusses Yankees' HOPE Week Initiative During Profile On NBC's "Today"

NBC's Peter Alexander profiled the Yankees’ HOPE Week initiative and said, "This is a side of pro athletes that you do not always see." The concept was "part of unprecedented effort by one of sport's most famous franchises to make a difference for fans and ultimately, they hope, to help create a movement of goodwill on and off the field." The report chronicled the visits by various Yankees players and manager Joe Girardi to different groups, with one group being treated to a game at Yankee Stadium and then a "carnival" on the field afterwards. Alexander: "Every sports team gets flooded with special requests for tours, tickets and autographs and as often as they can they oblige. But this season (Yankees Dir of Media Relations) Jason Zillo wanted to do something more: Getting every player involved." Zillo: "It's people just giving and caring and showing love for each other." Alexander noted the Yankees are “hoping the rest of baseball will follow their lead" ("Today," NBC, 7/24).

WHAT'S THE GAME PLAN? In Cincinnati, Paul Daugherty wrote when the Reds' current ownership group "assumed control four seasons ago, the hope was there would be a plan." Daugherty: "Maybe there is. It'd be good to unveil it one of these days." Patience "should be in the first sentence" of the team's plan, but patience "was a word for 2006." The Reds were just six games out of first place in the NL Central prior to Friday's games, but the playoffs "might as well be on Mars." Meanwhile, Daugherty noted the money available for payroll next year "might be less than this year," given the "lousy economy and flat ticket sales" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 7/22).

POSTER BOY: The Dodgers will create an limited-edition poster featuring LF Manny Ramirez' pinch-hit grand slam during Wednesday's game against the Reds. The posters, compliments of KLOS-FM, will be distributed to the first 20,000 fans attending the August 5 Brewers-Dodgers game. The poster is the third in a series featuring moments at Dodger Stadium during the '09 season (Dodgers).