NEW YORK, NY – The New York Chapter Baseball Writers Association of America held their Annual Dinner inside the Grand Ballroom at the New York Hilton Hotel last week.
The event was packed with a bunch of middle-aged men who came to hear baseball’s major award winners read a piece of paper thanking everyone that made the day possible.
A once nice event on a cold winter day has turned into a sham. Starting with the $395 price of admission, where the attitude begins. Security is on guard to stop anyone from getting near the honored studs. Those studs were only seen on the dais, wanting no part of the fan base. Autographs and photo ops were a no-no and the so-called putz of a commissioner was nowhere to be found.
The highlight of the night was the National League Manager of the Year presentation, which went to the Milwaukee Brewers Pat Murphy. His speech had everyone in attendance rolling with laughter. The humble Murphy gave all the credit of his award to his team, who fought back from an opening week shellacking by the N.Y. Yankees to become owners of the best record in baseball.
His real team are his children, Keli, Kai, Austin and Jaxon, who were all in attendance along with his grandchildren, Lucelia and Nayli Rose. Murphy also shared what fashion choice he wished to wear by showing an image of James Earl Jones‘ character, King Jaff Joffer from the movie, Coming to America. An image of Murphy wearing a coat with a tiger wrapped around it brought the house down to the envy of comedian Tracy Morgan, who was up in the dais as a presenter of the William Slocum-Jack Lang Award to Willie Randolph.
For 395 bucks, the audience heard three hours of speeches, was given a plate of slop to munch on, got no gift bag, had no open bar and couldn’t get close to the players they root for. There wasn’t even an after party, the better choice would have been two theater tickets and dinner on Broadway.
