Gerrit Cole Wine aficionado’s new home
Gerrit Cole, the new New York Yankees pitching ace, was partly influenced to sign with the Yankees due to a personal touch the Yankees applied to the negotiations. Brian Cashman and company brought with them a couple of bottles of an exceptional wine that Cole and his wife Amy had enjoyed in a recent European trip. Cashman got the clue from a clubhouse manager that Cole frequently talked with. The move by the Yankees really impressed Cole and his wife.
As it turns out Cole is quite a wine aficionado. He grew up with wine during family meals, and his interest in wine has only grown and has become only second to his love of baseball. Gerrit’s father, Mark, has recently become a certified sommelier, and his mother, Sharon, would frequently host big Italian dinners each week as he was growing up.
Cole considers his love of fine wine a hobby. But when talking with him, you can see he studies it and really knows his stuff.
“I’ve gotten to know a good handful of producers,†Cole said. “As technical as you can get with some of the ways we can grow grapes, especially in the U.S., some of the best wines in the world are still made by the hands of small organic farmers in the middle of Burgundy or in the middle of Bordeaux. It’s always a good topic of conversation. We’re always looking for something else to talk about other than just baseball.â€
With the locked down baseball season due to the coronavirus outbreak and no baseball, Cole has been spending his time at his new home in Greenwich, CT. He has been staying in form by pitching to his Athletic wife and with New York Yankee Manager Aaron Boone, who lives nearby. We assume his new $5.6 million home has a wine cellar, and he and Amy have been enjoying some of their cherished bottles. Cole indicated that he hadn’t uncorked the special bottles obtained from the Yankees, he is saving them for a special occasion, possibly for the birth of their first child in June.
Yesterday via Twitter, we got a look at Cole’s new Greenwich home that is just a 30-minute drive to Yankee Stadium on a good day. The home is on two acres with five bedrooms and six and a half baths.
50 players team up, offer kids millions of meals
The initiative is by all 30 MLB teams and over 50 major-league players, including New York Yankees Brett Gardner and DJ LeMahieu, as ambassadors. So far, they have raised just short of 1 million dollars in the effort to feed kids. The initiative is to provide 4 million meals for kids that rely on school meals that are not available due to school closings.
The move is part of the Home Plate Project, which is a partnership between major league baseball and Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation and Big League Impact, founded by pitcher Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals. The group is now led by Wainwright and Texas Rangers pitcher Kyle Gibson. Baseball players from around the country reach out to each other to secure donations that are then contributed to the project. Garth Brooks said:
“We at Teammates are honored to be partnering with Adam and Kyle and the heroes of MLB for another year and another Home Plate Project. Last year’s impact was so great, and this year’s will be even better. I’m really proud of the players who are participating in this project, now when it’s needed most. It’s a joy and a privilege to be part of the healing.â€
Longtime Yankee Scout Cesar Presbott retires
The 71-year-old Cesar Presbott is hanging up his baseball cap after 45 years as one of the countries foremost baseball scouts. For the last 22 years, he has been a baseball scout for the New York Yankees, taking part in procuring the likes of Dellin Betances, among others.
Yankees amateur scouting director Damon Oppenheimer, Presbott’s boss since 2005, said of Presbott:
“He gave us somebody with the Yankees in New York City that had the patience and the work ethic and the knowledge of almost anybody who plays and comes through New York. It gave a comfort level for a scouting director that he was going to lead us to the right guys and know the players and the family.”
Presbott is not leaving his love of baseball; he wants to work with kids that hope they have a future in baseball. “I want another experience in baseball, the opportunity to talk to kids. I get calls from parents, kids, and coaches asking about the draft and school. I can help so many kids in different ways.’’
New York Yankee pitcher David Wells gives us a tour of some of his baseball memorabilia
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