Starry-book
Stephon shows kids the write stuff
Stephon Marbury’s first children’s book, “The Adventures of Young Starbury: Practice Makes Perfect,” is due out this month. Proceeds will go to Marbury’s $4 million pledge to the NYPD, FDNY, EMT and New York City Teachers’ Fund, made two weeks ago.
In the story, 9-year-old “Young Starbury” misses two crucial free throws that would have helped his team win its season opener. His older brother, Eric, advises him that the key to correcting his basketball imperfections is practicing. In the end, after endless hours of practice, Starbury, with his improved skills, receives the opportunity to beat that same team, and this time it’s for the championship.
We won’t spoil the ending.
The series of books, which Marshall Dean is assisting, is designed to promote life’s lessons to children. Marbury has been on a big push to promote reading in schools, donating $10,000 to the Brooklyn Public Library and making it mandatory for players at his annual summer basketball tournament in Coney Island to read three books and submit an essay.
Yanks keep Post-ed
Yankees pitching coach Ron Guidry put the Wednesday Post to use. The back page read, “Mr. Wang-derful,” after Chien-Ming Wang’s seven shutout innings Tuesday against the Twins.
Guidry and third-base coach Larry Bowa decided to have some fun with Wang. Guidry held up The Post as he and Bowa teased the pitcher.
“They’re calling you ‘Wonderful,’ ” Guidry said, holding up the paper. “I couldn’t believe that. You walked four guys!”
Guidry then shoved the paper in the garbage and stalked off as Wang could only smile.
For Johnny Damon, the text messages and phone calls wanted to know one thing: What was the significance of the necklace he wore earlier this week? Was he trying to avoid another injury by wearing the colorful band around his neck? Was it sent by a friend to get him out of a season-long slump?
“It’s part of the Independence Day celebration,” patriotic Damon told George King. “Nothing else to it.”
Space odyssey
NASA astronaut and Franklin Square native Mike Massimino and his family were on the field last night at Houston’s Minute Maid Park to watch the Mets take batting practice. In September 2008, Massimino is scheduled to fly on the space shuttle Atlantis to service the Hubble space telescope, a job that includes two space walks.
Massimino grew up rooting for the Mets and wore a Mets jersey into space in 2002 on a Columbia mission.
“In space I wasn’t nervous, but the Mets asked me to throw out a first pitch before a Yankees-Mets game at Shea in 2003 – that was nerve-racking,” he said.
Massimino has given tours of the Kennedy Space Center to Mets players and executives over the past several years.
“In 2003, a month after the Columbia tragedy, the Mets brought 1,000 people from the Kennedy Space Center to a spring-training game in Port St. Lucie,” Massimino said. “It was probably the first time that some of those people had taken a day off, so it was nice to escape, even if only for a few hours.”
Food for thought
Ron Artest and NBA Players Association director Billy Hunter will lead a contingent to Kenya this week to feed more than 1 million as part of a “Feed the Children” campaign. The union is working closely with Mike Espy, the former Secretary of Agriculture in the Bill Clinton cabinet who now heads “Feed the Children.”
According to the Post’s Marc Berman, Espy got the Taiwanese government to donate 11 million pounds of rice, enough for 44 million meals. NBPA president Derek Fisher, VPs Etan Thomas and Theo Ratliff, and Lakers player rep Maurice Evans also will make the trip, along with attorney Ron Klempner. The NBPA began working with “Feed the Children” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with food giveaways in Biloxi, Miss., Gulfport, Miss., and New Orleans.
“This is the largest project we’ve ever taken on,” Hunter said of the Kenya mission.
Gwynn-ing attitude
Turns out the “Breakfast of Champions” also is the “Breakfast of Hall of Famers.”
Tony Gwynn will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in a few weeks, but he’s working hard to make sure the only big number people notice is his lifetime .338 average.
The eight-time batting champ has teamed up with Wheaties in an effort to get in better shape. Gwynn has lost 13 pounds in the Wheaties Fit to Win Challenge.
“Since my retirement, it hasn’t been easy to stay in shape,” said Gwynn, coach of the San Diego State baseball team. “I want to make sure I look and feel my best for one of the proudest moments of my life.”
You can track Gwynn’s progress at Wheaties.com.
Wright goes batty
During the Mets’ most recent homestand, David Wright sifted through the dozens of bats he owns to find the special few that would be used for games or for batting practice. In a small room off the main clubhouse, he checked the weight, length and grain of the bats to tell how good the wood was.
Since late April, Wright has used a certain model from the Marucci Bat Co., a small, Louisiana-based company founded in 2002. Eighty percent of his at-bats have come with a Marucci in his hands. He also uses a couple of Rawlings models.
“I’m kind of a neat freak to begin with,” Wright told the Post’s Michael Morrissey. “I like to keep everything organized and know exactly what I have.”
Put to Good use
Basketball Hall of Famer and NBA TV analyst Gail Goodrich used his golden left arm to repackage cartons of food during the NBA and WNBA “Day of Service,” when employees gave an assist to the community by contributing their efforts to revitalize parks, cleaning up schools and sorting food. . . . The Knicks City Dancers’ open call is next Sunday at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, where an expected 500 dancers will be vying for one of the 17 spots on the 2007-08 squad. The dancers will be taught choreography from famed choreographers “Nu Stylz,” who have worked with Eve, Mary J. Blige and G-Unit.
C.C. you at the party
Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia will celebrate his 27th birthday tomorrow night on a grand scale. Sabathia, set to appear in his third All-Star game, is having a bash thrown in his honor by Playboy magazine and Crown Royal. Hordes of bunnies, celebrities, VIPs and All-Stars (teammate Grady Sizemore, Angels pitcher John Lackey and actress Alyssa Milano) will flock to the Crown Royal Playboy Lounge at San Francisco’s Galleria Hotel.
Co-host with Sabathia is Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon (below), Playboy’s August cover girl. In addition to donations by Crown Royal and Playboy, all proceeds collected at the door will benefit local nonprofit Save the Bay, the oldest and largest membership organization working exclusively to protect and restore San Francisco Bay.
And Sabathia has a closer. Crown Royal will offer free cab rides to all in attendance to ensure guests arrive home safely.