There were times during spring training when George Lombard Jr. found himself sitting next to Aaron Judge.
.”I always had great conversations with him,” Lombard said. “I always remember several times, talking about focusing on the process, eliminating the noise, the things that may be going on around you that’s fully out of your control. Just make sure your homed in on your process, your work and becoming a better baseball player.”
That was some sound advice, you might say, from the Yankees’ captain. Lombard, still a teenager when he reported to big league camp in Tampa, generated a buzz, going 6 for 26 with two homers in 14 fragmented games, and soon even Judge was effusive.
“The tools are all there,” Judge told reporters in Tampa. “He doesn’t say much. He shows up and does what he needs to do. And the power he’s already showing; he’s gonna be something special.”
A first-round pick, No. 26 overall in 2023, Lombard got $3.3 million to forgo plans to play at Vanderbilt. He is in Double A less than two years removed from prep school in Miami, an impressive young man with baseball pedigree and on the fast track. After hitting .329 in 24 games at Class A Hudson Valley, the Yankees moved him to Somerset, the Yard Goats’ opponent at Dunkin’ Park this weekend.
“It’s kind of the same thing at every level, guys are little bit older, more experienced,” Lombard said. “It’s just slowing the game down at each level you go up.”
At each level, Lombard has started slowly, but quickly caught on. In the Eastern League, where pitchers throw much sharper breaking stuff than the lower levels, he came to Hartford with a .203 average, but he was drawing his walks (34) and stealing bases, 14 in 16 tries. Invited to the All-Star Futures Game in Atlanta, Lombard was 1-for-2 with a double, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.
Lombard’s father, George Lombard Sr., was a big league infielder and is now the Tigers’ bench coach. George Jr. has been playing shortstop most of the time at Somerset, third base once a week, started at second base in the Futures Game. It was no coincidence the Yankees had him lockering near veterans like Judge and Paul Goldschmidt during camp, or that he was assigned Derek Jeter’s No.2 in the minor leagues.
“Getting to be in the same clubhouse with those guys, having conversations, having breakfast together, guys that have been around the game so well, it’s super rewarding and beneficial,” Lombard said. “I learned a ton. It gives you that sense of confidence being around those guys.”
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If he is to be a face of that franchise, like Jeter or Judge, Lombard, who turned 20 on June 2, will have to get used to the glare in his eyes, the target on his back.
“I’m blessed to be in this situation, lucky enough to have people who want to talk, want to hear what I have to say,” Lombard said. “I pride myself on always carrying myself like a pro no matter how I’m doing. I think that’s a really important part of the game.”
With the trade deadline approaching, Lombard will be demanded by teams from which the Yankees want to pry a veteran, but the most likely scenario would place him back in spring training next season, this time to compete for an infield spot. Scouts covering the league are seeing Lombard, 6 feet 2, 190 pounds, as raw, maybe overmatched for the moment by Double A pitching — he is 2.1 years younger than the average Eastern League player — but he appears likely to fill out and grow into a legit power, to go with his speed. A righthanded hitter, he has shown flashes of opposite-field power, and he doubled off the screen in right at Dunkin’ Park on Friday.
“I focus on my work, my business, what I have to do to get ready to play every single day. Let everything else take care of itself,” Lombard said. “The biggest thing for me is being where your feet are and staying present.”
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Prized collection
Michael Osacky, president of Chicago-based “Baseball In The Attic,” a firm that views and evaluates sports memorabilia collections for auction or insurance purposes, was in the Greater Hartford area this week on a rare mission.
A man, who wishes to remain anonymous, asked for an appraisal for his remarkable collection of baseball and football cards. “This was not a typical collection in that it was so complete,” Osacky said.
There were complete sets from as far back as 1932, passed down to the owner when he began collecting cards in the 1950s. So there are Ruths and Gehrigs in there. From the 1950s, there were complete sets of every year from every major producer so, yes, the famous Mantle rookie card from 1952 was present.
“I have to view a collection in person to determine condition and verify the authenticity,” Osacky said. “Then I go back and write out my report for appraisal.”
When all is said and done, the collection, which is not for sale, will certainly top $1 million, Osacky’s best guess.
Folks often overvalue their collections because they’ve had the stuff so long, Osacky said. Condition matters, though some cards are so rare they have value even in poor condition.
“The T-206 Honus Wagner card, which is the Holy Grail,” he said, “you’re not going to find one that’s a 10, but even a 1, which is the worst possible condition, is still worth $4 million.
Osacky’s been at it for decades. The one thing he would like to see, if it exists, is an American Tobacco Company Ty Cobb card, signed. It used to be autographed cards were considered defaced and lost their value, but that’s not the case any more.
If you have a prized collection, Osacky recommends it be kept in a cool, dry environment, in an acid-free shoe box. Storing in plastic is not the best option; it retains moisture and, over time, can leak oils into the cards. You can contact Osacky through his website, Baseballintheattic.com.
Depth perception an MLB issue
Had a fascinating conversation with an long-time baseball scout recently, who has found that some MLB players position themselves poorly because it makes their defensive metrics look better. An outfielder’s range evaluation, for example, is rewarded for balls caught near the wall, regardless of where he started pursuit, but he is not penalized for balls that drop in front.
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So, sometimes at the urging of an agent, he may insist on playing deeper than he should, especially if he is heading to arbitration or free agency or has a bonus clause tied to metrics, or Gold Gloves, which are now awarded largely on those metrics.
An infielder may play too deep because he’s rewarded, by the metrics, for getting to ground balls even if he doesn’t throw the runner out. This may explain some of what we’ve been seeing.
… Come to think of it, maybe “fascinating” wasn’t the word for this conversation.
Milestone for Mike Gminski
One of the great basketball players ever to come out of Connecticut, Mike Gminski, 66, who played at Masuk-Monroe, then Duke, where he was an All-American, and 15 years in the NBA, scoring nearly 11,000 points, passed a milestone this week.
“By the grace of God, in gratitude and humility, I celebrate five years of sobriety today,” Gminski posted on social media this week. “Thank you to my son, Noah, my guys here at Sana Recovery, and all of you who have been an endless source of love and support!”
Gminski, an analyst for the ACC Network and CBS Sports, has been open about his struggles with alcohol, which began as a teenager.
At the urging of his son and his circle of friends, he sought help in 2020 and now celebrates July 14, his sober day, as another birthday. Let G-Man’s story serve as an inspiration.
“I’ve found sharing my story and my issues to be empowering,” he told the Charlotte Observer last December. “So you have to say ‘I need help’ to someone you trust. And, if you think someone needs help, approach them.”
Sunday short takes
*Kemba Walker and fiancé, Atlanta R&B artist Marissa, tied the knot this week in Trenton, Ga. Groomsmen included Shabazz Napier, Jeremy Lamb and Donnell Beverly from UConn’s 2011 national champs, and coach Jim Calhoun — who agreed to wear a tux, as Kemba requested.
*Among the state players taken in the MLB Draft this week were third baseman Daniel Bucciero of Ridgefield, by the A’s in the ninth round, and outfielder AJ Soldra of Amity, who played for Seton Hall last year and transferred to UConn, in the 16th round by the Dodgers. Virginia Tech catcher David McCann, from Easton and Avon Old Farms, signed with the Yankees as an undrafted free agent.
*During the mid-1960s, Giants manager Alvin Dark said “They will put a man on the Moon” before his future Hall of Fame pitcher, Gaylord Perry, hit a homer. On this date, July 20, in 1969 Perry, in his seventh season, hit hit first major-league home run. Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon 20 minutes earlier. As they say, how can you not be romantic about baseball?
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*Hartford’s Sidney Jones, who played football at Capital Prep and SCSU, was on the D-line for the Beaumont Renegades, champions of the National Arena League. The Renegades beat Omaha for the title last month.
*Dan Iassogna, who came out of Andy Baylock’s umpiring course at UConn many moons ago, was the home plate umpire at the All-Star Game, where ABS (Automatic Ball-Strike system) was used. Players challenged five pitches and four were overturned. There were 247 pitches thrown in the game. “I think that Dan got a lot of the calls right,” NL manager Dave Roberts said.
Last word
If MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wants to fight again for a salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement, a good way to spark a work stoppage, understand this: Baseball has far, far better competitive balance than other sports that have hard caps. Some of its least successful franchises are in “big markets, and no one franchise has dominated these last 25 years because high payrolls guarantee nothing. If the owners want a cap to keep salaries down, say so. A cap is not going to help the Pirates, Rockies or Athletics, unless there is a hard floor to go with it — and they get smarter management.