In Case You Missed It

To quote Billy Joel: "I've loved these days."

I made an announcement last Friday night but, I admit, I buried it in another post

The news is that I'm not going back to the Renegades this year.

It was by design. It was news that I've been sitting on for basically two months. I had run how to say it through my mind a bunch of times.

I was going to do a fake press conference.

I was going to do a fake press release.

I was going to say nothing.

I was going to say something.

Patience was required in the process. I had told a few people quietly. I needed time to process it along with allowing the holidays to get out of the way (I found out in December). Then we were supposed to meet in January but life gets busy. So I just stayed quiet.

Let me be clear: the team said they loved me and wanted to keep me around. Maybe one day that conversation will happen. That tends to keep me from taking any of this personally. This is really just the side of the business that is, frankly, dirty.

So, despite my staying mostly quiet, the last few weeks have brought varying degrees of chatter and, as such, I felt it was finally time to say it.

As I watched a busy day at Brunswick last Friday, and after talking with the Bruins' baseball coach, I felt like I found a way to say it and move on. So that's what I did.

I got some reaction to the post, with one of them pointedly being that I should have given the announcement its own post.

With that said, here we are. I've decided to simply reprint what I wrote last week. I also announced it on "Doubleheader" today.

Life is funny. I'm realistic but you never know what will happen so I close no doors. I leave them we walking back in can happen again.

So, friends, here we are. As I wrote last Friday, I will hopefully have a full spring of Brunswick baseball (and more)...

And what it leads me to finally come out and say -- deep breath -- is that I won't be calling the Hudson Valley Renegades in 2022.

I'm actually surprised nobody caught on to my social media accounts. I changed each and every one of them by the time I exited I-84 for the Taconic Parkway back on Dec. 21. I expected a phone call or text that night.

Yes, Christmas was a little gloomier, if I'm being 100% honest. I'll miss it more than I can possibly describe. Simply working with Sean was priceless, let alone being a "voice" in the Yankees organization.

I'm still hurt. Sad. Bummed. Let's not sugarcoat it. 

But I treasure the whole ride of 2021. I'm proud of every one of those 61 broadcasts. It wasn't enough but it never is. I really wanted the chance to do it all in a "normal" year but that's not where the road will be leading me. 

I put heart and soul into it, as I do with everything. I still believe we put on the best broadcast in High A East if not all of High A. That's a testament to a great crew. I just talked.

I'm grateful to literally everyone involved and now look forward, though I'll look back at magical memories from time to time. I thought it was a thing I'd do for years but that wasn't reality.

I have many friends there, including my own son who will likely continue doing games for them. That's his decision.

As for me, 2022 will be paved differently. I'll be on a plane to London as the first home game is being played at Dutchess Stadium. I can't think of too many better places for me to be.

There are friends who want me to pursue some other baseball jobs and I just wonder if my time is done. I'm 53 and that's been made abundantly clear to me.

Right now, my focus is on my next broadcast and the search for a place to live and making money to afford that place to live and cleaning the place I currently live in and...

So there we go. It's gotten its own post. Its own mention. 

I visited the great Mel Allen's grave before the season started last year and promised to honor those before me in the world of Yankees broadcasters. I've done that. I did my best and received very favorable reviews.

All good. The news is now out there. My emotions are still all over the place. I can actually see some good.

It's done.

With that said, now we move on.