Around the Empire: Yankees news - 9/9/21

MLB.com | Anthony Castrovince: This likely won’t be news to most Yankees fans at this point, but hey, life’s busy these days! If you missed it, Derek Jeter had his long-awaited induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday afternoon in Cooperstown. Jeter’s speech went about 17 minutes, but kudos to his cadence, as it never felt like it dragged. Among the former Yankees on hand for the festivities were fellow Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera, Joe Torre, Mike Mussina, and Reggie Jackson, and in the crowd, Jorge Posada, CC Sabathia, and Alfonso Soriano. Bernie Williams performed the national anthem on guitar.

Oh, and Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Ahmad Rashad were just casually in the second row behind Jeter’s family. Normal stuff.

ESPN | Tim Kurkjian: Just for No. 2, we’ll double down on the Jeter content before moving on. This is a good one, too, as Kurkjian got in contact with Jeter, Torre, Posada, Mussina, and multiple other members of the Yankees and A’s for an oral history of the famous “Flip” play from the 2001 ALDS (which will somehow see its 20th anniversary pass this October). What else do you need? It advertises itself and is one of my favorite baseball memories from my formative years as a Yankees diehard.

New York Daily News | Kristie Ackert: Back to the frustrating Yankees of today, Gleyber Torres found himself on the bench for the second game in a row last night. Aaron Boone elected to start Andrew Velazquez in his place, as Torres has looked poor at both the plate and the shortstop position since returning from the IL. Given that Velazquez made a dumb error himself late in the game last night that led to the go-ahead run, Torres might not be seated for long, but hopefully, it will be a wake-up call to his shoddy play.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: Among many Yankees, Joey Gallo is going through an especially rough patch, and the team is trying to help Gallo break out, including extra work off a high-velocity/high-spin-rate pitching machine and adjusting the timing in his swing — namely keeping him from jumping out too much. The Bombers will need some semblance of Gallo’s first-half Rangers form if they want to turn their September around.