Head to "Maple Street" for some great Yankee writing

Writer/editor/Yankee fan extraordinaire Cecilia Tan of Why I Like Baseball fame was nice enough to get Squawker Jon and me copies of the Maple Street Press annuals on the Yankees and the Mets. (She edited the Yankee edition.) Here's my look at the Yankee annual for 2010.

The Maple Street Press annuals are kind of like a magazine, yearbook, and reference guide all in one. There are also a ton of great articles, all well worth leading, from writers Howard Megdal, E.J. Fagan, Vince Gennaro, Dan McCourt, Keith R.A. Candido, Joe McDonald, Wayne McDonnell, Greg Fertel, Cecilia Tan, Matthew Sisson, Chip Greene, Louise Herring-Jones, Ron Kaplan, Dan Graziano, Mark Healey, and David Vincent.

The whole magazine is worth checking out, but here are some of the stories I particularly enjoyed from this year's Yankee edition:

* Dan Graziano's "2009: A Yankee Year." Graziano was one of my favorite Yankee writers when he covered the team for the Star-Ledger, and it was a real treat to read his article about the many turning points - and twists and turns - of the 2009 season. It made me wish that he was writing on the Yankees full-time again!

* Mark Healey's "The Making of a Manager": This was a look back at Joe Girardi's season, and his most controversial moves. The article talks about how the media criticized Girardi going to a three-man rotation in the playoffs, and noted one critic who pointed out how neither Burnett and Pettitte had shown that they could pitch well on three days' rest. That naysayer was Squawker Jon! The article called him "Josh Lewin" - I think the writer may have confused Jon's name with the baseball broadcaster Josh Lewin - but it mentions Subway Squawkers, which is awesome!

* Ron Kaplan's "Koshering the Yankees: A Trip to Fantasy Camp": Ever wonder what it's like at Yankee Fantasy Camp? Kaplan has the scoop - but with a twist. He attended an special edition of the camp last winter that featured "exciting Kosher and Shabbat options" for Orthodox Jewish fantasy campers. It's a fun article to read because it gives you insight as to what the fantasy camp experience is like.

Anyhow, the Maple Street Annual is $12.99, and available at bookstores, or by going to the Maple Street Press website. It's good stuff - I got so engrossed in the magazine that this Subway Squawker nearly missed my subway stop while reading it!