The first major-league game featuring both Alex Gordon and Joba Chamberlain turned out to be a win-win occasion.
JOHN MABRY / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, September 7, 2007 7:00 pm
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alex Gordon thought it only fair that Joba Chamberlain throw him nothing but good, old-fashioned heat the first time the two squared off as major-leaguers.
“I called him (Thursday) night and told him if he faces me he’s got to throw me a first-pitch fastball,” said the former Husker who now starts at third base for the Kansas City Royals.
Who’s Joba to disappoint a fellow Lincoln Rebel?
“I’m a man of my word,” said the former Husker who now pitches sterling relief for the New York Yankees.
With no one on and two outs in the bottom of the eighth Friday night at Kauffman Stadium, Chamberlain delivered a first-pitch fastball, all 100 mph of it. Gordon couldn’t catch any of it. Strike one, and one big moment in Lincoln baseball history.
Two rookies in The Show — one the latest big thing in the Big Apple; the other a really large fish in a small-market pond.
Both from Lincoln, Nebraska.
The first major-league game featuring both Lincoln boys turned out to be a win-win occasion. Gordon had two hits, including a single off Chamberlain, and Chamberlain pitched two scoreless innings in a 3-2 victory for the Yankees.
Gordon had a second-inning double, his 30th of the season, making him just the fourth Royals rookie to reach 30 doubles in a season. Chamberlain, who just picked up his first victory Wednesday, allowed just two hits in two innings and has yet to allow a run in 141/3 innings as a big-leaguer.
Both had many supporters in the crowd of 27,462. You could hear the chants of “Go Big Red” when Chamberlain prepared to face Gordon in the eighth.
Joba definitely heard them.
“I had to step back and take a deep breath not to get too overexcited,” he said.
With the count 1-1, Gordon hit the third fastball he saw from Chamberlain to left field for his second hit of the night.
“Sometimes you get lucky,” Gordon said. “I just somehow made contact and it found a hole.”
No one in the crowd could have enjoyed the festivities as much as Joba’s dad, Harlan Chamberlain.
Harlan has heard a lot of nice things these last few weeks. Plenty of well-wishes, congratulations, all of that. But none of it could have sounded as sweet as what he heard at 9:42 Friday night.
Now pitching for the Yankees … No. 62 … Joba Chamberlain.
And what made it really special? Accurate pronunciations.
“I was thinking they were going to say Joe-ba,” Harlan said.
It was Harlan’s first chance to see Joba pitch in the majors in person, and you could see his eyes glisten when his son, the Yankee, kept his scoreless streak alive by getting Billy Butler on a long fly-out to end the seventh.
You can’t dream this stuff.
Hard to believe, but that was really Yankees megastar Alex Rodriguez who walked by Harlan on Friday afternoon, introduced himself and said, “He’s a good boy.”
That was really Joe Torre who told Harlan to “Please call me Joe” after Joba’s dad addressed the Yankee manager as “Mr. Torre.”
“This kid is very special,” Mr. Torre told Mr. Chamberlain. “Not just his ability, but the way he carries himself.”
And that was really Gordon, the Southeast grad already drawing comparisons to George Brett, who lined a double down the right-field line in the second.
“Here you have two young men from varied backgrounds who worked hard, had a passion for the game and went for it,” said Harlan Chamberlain. “For kids in Lincoln or Nebraska to try to emulate that should speak wonders for the future of baseball in Lincoln and Nebraska.”
Nebraskans have had plenty of chances to see Gordon in the majors this season. He was in the Opening Day lineup in Kansas City and has made great strides to get his batting average up to .252.
But this was the closest Chamberlain has come to Lincoln since joining the Yankees. For health reasons, his father has been unable to get to New York, but Harlan said he plans to make the trip later this month.
Wallace Gant, a longtime friend of the Chamberlain family, said it was quite an event to have Gordon and Chamberlain in uniform in the same big-league park.
“Oh, it’s outstanding,” Gant said. “Oowee, are we fired up.”
So, too, was Floyd Colon, a Lincoln Northeast graduate who was happy to proclaim his status as a member of the Rocket team that won the school’s only state baseball championship — 50 years ago.
Colon is a member of the Nebraska Yankees, a pinstriper fan club that is sure to grow in numbers.
“Joba did in six months what it took me 30 years to do …,” Colon said, “and that’s turn (Harlan) into a Yankees fan.”
From Sherman Field to a major-league diamond. From highlights on the local sports to highlights on “SportsCenter” and “Baseball Tonight.” What a deal.
Gordon and Chamberlain visit regularly, often with cell-phone text messages. With a laugh, Gordon said one recent correspondence went something to the effect of “quite throwing at guys’ heads.” That was a good-natured reference to Chamberlain’s suspension for putting two fastballs over the head of Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox.
There were lots of No. 7 Alex Gordon jerseys in the crowd at Kauffman Stadium. There was one “Hot Joba” shirt, and you can bet those No. 62 tops will get bigger and bigger in the Bronx.
Yankees slugger Jason Giambi believes the Northeast grad is the real deal.
“Not only does he throw 100, but he’s got an unbelievable slider, and he has an idea how to pitch,” Giambi said. “In my years of playing ball, I don’t know if I’ve seen anyone with that kind of stuff.”
Reach John Mabry at 473-7320 or jmabry@journalstar.com.