Club Diamond Nation Announces Its Pre-Launch with a Charity Challenge

Club Diamond Nation Announces Its Pre-Launch with a Charity Challenge

Fans Get the Chance to Support Their Favorite Star’s Charity and Win a One-On-One Training Experience

Flemington, NJ, May 17, 2012 – Club Diamond Nation (www.clubdiamondnation.com), a virtual baseball and softball academy, premieres with the first-ever Club Diamond Nation Charity Challenge. The site’s resident stars will compete to win $25,000 for their selected charities.

Club Diamond Nation will launch Summer 2012 offering playing tips, personalized feedback and fully-produced webcasts from Major League Baseball players, Olympic softball players and coaches.

In a sneak peek to the site’s launch, Club Diamond Nation is asking fans to vote for Barry Larkin, Tom Glavine, Jennie Finch, Kevin Long or Jack Cust Jr.’s aligned charity, simultaneously entering for a chance to win a one-on-one training experience with that star.  The five are affiliated with Club Diamond Nation and will be the hosts of the site’s webcasts.

“I firmly believe success in baseball is dependent upon a strong foundation of fundamental skills,” said Barry Larkin. “I’m looking forward to working with the Club Diamond Nation community to offer unique player development opportunities, educating players and fans.”

Today through July 15, 2012, fans can visit Club Diamond Nation (www.clubdiamondnation.com) and vote for the site’s stars. The star that receives the most fan support will win $15,000 for his or her selected charity, while the other four charities will each receive a $2,500 donation. The selected charities are:

• Barry Larkin – The David Maus Foundation (www.davidmausfoundation.org)
• Tom Glavine – CURE Childhood Cancer (www.curechildhoodcancer.org)
• Jennie Finch – Women’s Sports Foundation (www.womenssportsfoundation.org)
• Kevin Long – Jorge Posada Foundation (www.jorgeposadafoundation.org)
• Jack Cust Jr. – American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org)

“Part of our core mission at Diamond Nation is giving back to the community, so we feel there’s no better way to launch the new Club Diamond Nation site than with a good-natured competition among the site’s sport stars for charity,” Keith Dilgard, President of Club Diamond Nation said.

The site is designed to improve the quality and enjoyment of baseball and softball by providing its members with an online social experience that is both educational and entertaining.

To vote or for more information, visit www.clubdiamondnation.com, follow Club Diamond Nation on Twitter at @clubDN, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/clubdiamondnation.

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About Club Diamond Nation: Club Diamond Nation is a virtual baseball and softball academy that looks to take a player’s game to the next level. Club Diamond Nation offers:

• Inside tips on how the pros excel at every aspect of the game

• A social platform where players can share their passion for baseball and softball

• An entertaining and educational environment that caters to a participant’s desire for competition, improvement and achievement

From its starting lineup of instructors to informative videos and webisodes, Club Diamond Nation gives users access to expertise not found at any other site. 

About Diamond Nation: With its indoor and outdoor turf field facilities that can house 12 games simultaneously, Diamond Nation has become a prime developmental destination for amateur players throughout the Northeast and is the largest turf complex in the nation. Its domed facility is believed to be the largest amateur indoor field in the world. Diamond Nation is home to both the Jack Cust Baseball Academy and the Jennie Finch Softball Academy.

About Barry Larkin: The newest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame was the National League’s MVP in 1995. After batting a career high of .342 in 1989, he hit .353 in the 1990 World Series as the Reds won the world championship.

About Tom Glavine: One of only six left-handed 300-game winners in the history of MLB, Tom twice won the NL Cy Young Award and was the MVP of the 1995 World Series, the Atlanta Braves’ only world championship.  He’s a 10-time All-Star.

About Jennie Finch: The most famous softball player in history, Jennie was 119-16 as a pitcher for the University of Arizona.  She earned a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and a silver in 2008, and went 36-2 for the US National Team.

About Kevin Long: The New York Yankees hitting coach since 2007 Kevin is respected as one of the best in the game.  He’s the author of Cage Rat: Lessons from a Life in Baseball, which tracks his journey to the majors.

About Jack Cust Jr.: The number one draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1997, Jack went on to star for the Oakland Athletics, with six home runs in his first seven games and 97 over the next four seasons. 

About David Maus Foundation: The David Maus Foundation focuses on helping children with life-threatening illnesses and their families through contributions to charities in Central Florida.

About Cure Childhood Cancer: CURE Childhood Cancer in Atlanta, GA is a nonprofit cancer research foundation dedicated to finding cures for childhood cancer.

About Women’s Sports Foundation: Founded in 1974 by tennis legend Billie Jean King, the Women’s Sports Foundation is dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity.

About Jorge Posada Foundation: The Jorge Posada Foundation provides families and children affected by Craniosynostosis with emotional support and financial assistance.

About American Cancer Society: The American Cancer Society is a nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem.

TALKIN' YANKEES: Quips, Quotes, Asides, Philosophy and More (Part I) - by Harvey Frommer

    They are baseball's greatest franchise, a team of legends, ghosts, marker moments, odd characters. So much has been written about them and the talk stream stretches out through many decades. Herewith, a small sampling of some of the more memorable observations, enjoy. 
        On the Yankees
 "I would rather beat the Yankees regularly than pitch a no-hit game." - Bob Feller
 "It was a death struggle every day being a Yankee ­ you either won or you lost. There was no second place. Half of us were nuts by the end of a season." - Jerry Coleman
 "When I was a player and we would play the Yankees in spring training, even though the game didn't mean anything, it was a special day." - Joe Torre
 "I wish I'd never see them again. I wish they'd disappear from the league." Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox  
 "Hating the Yankees is as American as pizza pie and cheating on your income tax." - Columnist Mike Royko
 "Hating the Yankees isn't part of my act. It is one of those exquisite times when life and art are in perfect conjunction." -  Bill Veeck
  "Going north from spring training, we'd pass through small towns and people would be out there early in the morning as the train went by, waving to us. I don't know how they got the word ­ but we'd be having our breakfast in the diner and they'd be there." - Jerry Coleman 
 "You kind of took it for granted around the Yankees that there was always going to be baseball in October." -  Whitey Ford
  "This isn't just a ball club! This is Murderers Row!" ­ sportswriter Arthur Robinson, 1927
 "There has never been anything like it. Even as these lines are batted out on the office typewriter, youths dash out of the AP and UP ticker room every two or three minutes shouting, 'Ruth hit one! Gehrig hit another one!' "   - sportswriter Paul Gallico 
 "I was known as a Yankee killer. My best year against them was 1953.  I beat them five times and shut them out four times.  You just played a little harder against them." - Mel Parnell
 "Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel." - Joe E. Lewis 
 "Rooting for the Yankees is like owning a yacht." - Jimmy Cannon
 "The majority of American males put themselves to sleep by striking out the batting order of the New York Yankees." - James Thurber
 "They have, what, 26 World Series titles? But that doesn't 
mean they are going to beat us. We deserve to be here as much as they do. I'm not trying to get Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig or Mickey Mantle out. I'm trying to get the Yankees' lineup out today." - Curt Schilling of Arizona, before Game One, 2001 World Series 
 "Somebody told me that we beat the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth! I still don't believe it!" - Mark Grace, 2001 World Series
 "When my Yankee career is over I'll play anywhere, but I'm positive that I'll never find a team quite like the Yankees." -Bernie Williams 
 "These are your Yankees. They leave their hearts on the field for you."  - Joe Torre 
    
 
 
   Yankee Stadium
 "When I come here, it's like standing on hallowed ground." ­Cal   Ripken 
  "It was so large and the fans there were so rabid. It was amazing for me to go out there and stand on the mound and look around and realize that was the place that Ruth built." -Bob Feller
 "Most guys won't admit it, but it can be an intimidating thing your first few times there. All the lore of the stadium and the mystique can be difficult to deal with."  -   Al Leiter 
 "It is the most magical ballpark ever built. Playing there as a Yankee was like being in the Marines, the feeling that you were in a special ballpark, special town, special uniform, special history." ­ Phil Linz 
 "When I went to the American League as an umpire, I had never been to a major league ballpark . This was 1963. You went out of the umpire's dressing room and down the hallway and up the ramp and stepped out onto the field. Here's this kid from Little Rock, Arkansas standing in New York City in Yankee Stadium. It was a pretty incredible thing."  - Bill Valentine
  "I loved Yankee Stadium because I was left-handed. I usually faced mostly right-handed hitting teams there. The fence in centerfield was 461 feet away, and left centerfield was 457 feet. As long as you kept the hitters from hitting the ball down the line, it was a great park to pitch in." - Whitey Ford
 "Being from New York, it meant a lot for me to play in my hometown. I knew every nook and cranny there, and we had the fans behind us. Back then, you had the monuments in the outfield and that was unbelievable." - Phil Rizzuto
 "The cathedral of baseball." - David Cone
 "Baseball heaven." - Randy Johnson
 "The stadium is a part of the Yankees and the Yankees are a part of the stadium. That will never change." - Chuck Knoblauch 

 "I was in the right place at the right time." -- Mel Allen

   
    Ed Barrow
  "You ought to know that you're making a mistake." ­ to Red Sox owner Harry Frazee on the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees 
    Yogi Berra 
 "Congratulations on breaking my record last night. I always thought the record would stand until it was broken." ­to Johnny Bench who broke his record for career home runs by a catcher.
 "I didn't say the things I said "
 "The other teams could make trouble for us if they win." 
 "If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
 "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." 
  "He must have made that before he died." --on a Steve McQueen movie, 1982
 "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore." 
 "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." 
 "The future ain't what it used to be."
 "A home opener is always exciting, no matter if it's home or on the road."
 "I take a two hour nap between 1PM and 3PM." 
 "90% of the putts that are short don't go in." 
 "Baseball is 90-percent mental. The other half is physical." 
 "You have to give 100 percent in the first half of the game. If that isn't enough, in the second half, you have to give what is left." 
 "Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded." 
 "It gets late out there early," referring to the bad sun conditions in left field at the stadium.
 "He is a big clog in their machine."
 "I've been with the Yankees 17 years, watching games and learning. You can see a lot by observing."
 "Baseball is the champ of them all. Like somebody said, the pay is good and the hours are short."
 "All pitchers are liars and crybabies."
 "Bill Dickey learned me all his experience."
 "I want to thank you for making this day necessary." -- to fans in hometown St. Louis for giving him a day in 1947 at Sportsmen's Park.
 "I've known this guy so long. Can't he spell my name right?" -- after receiving a check that said "Pay to the order of Bearer"
 "I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house." 
   "If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, nobody's going to stop them."
 "Pair off in threes." 
         "The other teams could make trouble for us if they win." -- as Yankee manager 
 "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours." 
 "We have very deep depth!"
 "It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much."
 When asked what time it is -- "Do you mean now?" 
 When asked what he would do if he found a million dollars - "If the guy was poor, I'd give it back" 
 When asked by a waitress how many pieces she should cut his pizza into -- "Four. I don't think I could eat eight." 
 When asked why the Yankees lost the 1960 series to Pittsburgh--
"We made too many wrong mistakes."
 When told by Yankee manager Bucky Harris to think about what was being pitched to him  -- "Think? How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?"
 When told Ernest Hemmingway was a great writer -- "Yeah, for what paper?"
 When asked what his cap size was at the beginning of spring training -- "I don't know, I'm not in shape.""
 "It's deja vu all over again." 
 "It ain't over until it's over." 

    On Yogi Berra
 "You can't compare me to my father, our similarities are different." - Dale Berra 
 "They say he's funny. Well, he has a lovely wife and family, a beautiful home, money in the bank, and he plays golf with millionaires. What's funny about that?" - Casey Stengel
 "He'd fall in a sewer and come up with a gold watch." - Casey Stengel
 "Where he was especially dangerous was in the final two innings. You couldn't pitch to him. He had no weaknesses. He was the most dangerous hitter ever." ­Jerry Coleman 
 "Not only was he lucky, he was never wrong." ­ Whitey Ford
 "Yogi's face is his fortune." Mike Stanley