Opining on managerial ejections, gambling woes, legendary golf, softball honorees from Rochester

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Aaron Boone has a long, long way to go before any New York Yankees fan mentions him in the same breath as Hall-of-Fame Bronx Bomber managers Casey Stengel, Joe McCarthy, or Joe Torre. But he’s rapidly staking his claim as the franchise’s all-time fieriest, game-day skipper.

Sunday afternoon, Boone was ejected a fifth time this season, giving him 31 heave-hos in his five-season Yankees career. Now, if I were to ask you who is the Pinstripes’ all-time leader in getting the thumb from umpires, you’d probably answer Billy Martin. Or maybe Ralph Houk. Or Lou Piniella. And you’d be wrong. Boone already has left that trio in the dust. The hot-tempered Martin was sent to the showers 15 times, good for fifth with the Yankees, while Houk is third all-time with 24 ejections, followed by Torre’s 22. With five more early departures, Boone will break Joe Girardi’s ignominious mark of 35. Boone led Major League Baseball with nine thumbs last season – the Yankees single-season record – and he’s on pace to eclipse that mark, with a projection of 9.6 ejections over 162 games in 2023.

The MLB record is 11, shared by four managers – Bobby Cox, John McGraw (twice), Bill Dahlen and Paul Richards.

Former Rochester Red Wings manager Earl Weaver’s best (or should that be worst?) total was 10 in 1975 while guiding the Baltimore Orioles. Weaver’s reputation as an umpire’s worst nightmare was firmly established before he showed up in Rochester to lead the Wings to the International League pennant in 1966. While managing the Orioles’ Eastern League team in Elmira, Weaver became so incensed with a close call that went against his team that he yanked third base from its moorings and stomped off the diamond with it after being ejected. Because Elmira didn’t have another set of bases, the umpire instructed the poor bat boy to go to Weaver’s office and retrieve the base. After Weaver unleashed a string of four-letter adjectives that can’t be reprinted here, he returned the base and the game resumed.

Weaver’s hot-tempered rep was fortified during his two seasons managing the Wings as he was ejected 21 times, believed to be a Rochester record. The Earl of Baltimore ranks fourth on MLB’s managerial eject list with 96 – a distant 66 behind Cox, the career leader.

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Is anyone truly surprised with the news of more NFL players being suspended for wagering on sporting events? Gambling has never been more accessible or promoted, so these developments were inevitable. And mark my words, it is only going to get worse. Don’t be shocked if there is a gambling scandal to top all gambling scandals within the next decade. Something that could make transgressions involving the Black Sox, Pete Rose, Paul Hourning, Alex Karras, and the college basketball point-shaving crimes seem like small potatoes.

Remember when sports organizations were scared to death about what gambling might do to the integrity of their games? The hypocrites were so fearful they suspended Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle for becoming casino hosts while at the same time allowing team owners to operate horse racetracks? Once the powers that be realized there were billions to be made, they quickly tossed their moral indignation into the rubbish bin and climbed into bed with the sports books. This may be just the tip of the iceberg.

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Our region’s lush golf history is well-represented with this year’s Rochester District Golf Association Hall of Fame class, which will be formally inducted on July 11 at the Ravenwood Golf Club. The class features Jeff Sluman, the second Rochester-born golfer to win a major title, the 1988 PGA Championship; Craig Harmon, who spent 42 years as the club pro at Oak Hill Country Club; Linda Hampton, who oversaw the vast majority of the 38 LPGA tour stops in Rochester; Chip Lillich, an eight-time winner of the RDGA District Championship/John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial; Wilson Fitch, who spent more than a quarter century as an RDGA administrator, and Jean Giambrone, a sportswriting pioneer who spent 42 years writing for the Rochester Times-Union and opened numerous doors for female writers, athletes, and coaches in our area and beyond.

I’ve had the pleasure of writing extensively about Sluman, Harmon, Hampton, and Giambrone, and am looking forward to the honor of being on hand to posthumously induct Jean, one of my journalism heroes and friends. Besides being a gifted storyteller, Jean also was quite the golfer, winning numerous women’s club championships at Locust Hill and Genesee Valley. She was always a delight to be around, and she would have been truly humbled and thrilled to share in this honor, particularly with fellow inductees whose stories she told often and well.

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Speaking of posthumous recognition, the Rochester Softball Hall of Fame plans to celebrate Dan Guilfoyle before its annual All-Star Games at Irondequoit’s McAvoy Park on Saturday morning, July 15 at around 9:30.

Guilfoyle, who died at age 79 on June 5, had a tremendous appetite for Zweigle’s hot dogs, music, baseball, softball, his family, and life. He possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of doo-wop and performed for three decades with the popular acapella group, The Showvinistics. Danny also had a huge heart, serving on the boards of numerous charities, including the Rochester Press-Radio Club.

I had the good fortune to work with him on several boards, and also play softball with and against him. He truly was a larger-than-life character. The close-knit Rochester senior softball community numbers more than 600 players, and Danny, a softball Hall-of-Fame inductee, was a huge part of it, so the setting for this celebration of life is quite appropriate. The ceremony and games are free and open to the public.

Best-selling author and nationally honored journalist Scott Pitoniak is the Rochester Business Journal sports columnist.