{"id":2326,"date":"2010-02-04T10:57:40","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T17:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2326"},"modified":"2010-02-09T09:11:26","modified_gmt":"2010-02-09T16:11:26","slug":"former-lions-baseball-standout-is-still-swinging-in-pinstripes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2326","title":{"rendered":"Former Lions Baseball Standout is Still Swinging in Pinstripes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"anthony
Anthony Flynn, rear, is the New York Yankees' assistant director of video and advance scouting, Pictured, from left, are Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher, Flynn, Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, and former Yankees catcher Rick Cerone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The New Jersey Athletic Conference\u2019s one-year experiment with wooden baseball bats in 1999 cost many players a lot of points toward their batting average. Not Anthony Flynn<\/strong>. The former Lions third baseman\u2019s batting average rose significantly to .340\u2014a team high among everyday starters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his mind approach and his technique\u2014his mechanics\u2014were very solid,\u201d reasoned Dean Glus MEd \u201902<\/strong>, TCNJ\u2019s head baseball coach, who was an assistant coach at the time. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t as strong as the other kids were, so that wooden bat helped him because he was so sound that he was hitting the ball square all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flynn\u2019s analytical approach and attention to detail helped define him as a TCNJ student-athlete. He planned to put his corporate fitness major to good use as a strength and conditioning coach or in sports marketing until a chance encounter one month before his 2001 graduation changed everything. While working at a restaurant, Flynn met Lonn Trost, the New York Yankees\u2019 chief operating officer. Flynn faxed a resume to Trost the next morning and within a week was hired as an intern to Brian Cashman, general manager of the most storied franchise in sports.<\/p>\n

Flynn\u2019s work ethic, communication skills, and knowledge gained favor while he worked his way up the organization\u2019s ladder. Now as the Yankees try to a repeat their 2009 World Series title, Flynn enters his 10th season as a Bronx Bomber. He\u2019s gone from intern, to baseball operations assistant, to coordinator of major league operations (specializing with budgeting, statistical analysis, and scouting while in the front office), to this\u2014his second season as assistant director of video and advance scouting. He films the Yankees players and breaks down their techniques and tendencies.<\/p>\n

\"anthony
Anthony Flynn. Photo courtesy of Dick Druckman, Gold Medal Impressions, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI would say everybody on the team comes in before the game at same point during the day,\u201d to view film, Flynn said. \u201cAnd there are certain guys who I\u2019ll give a little more. Alex (Rodriguez), for example, likes DVDs of stuff for him to look at, even when he\u2019s away from the ballpark.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the biggest thing (this season) is to try to improve the department and try to improve the video operations.\u2026 Obviously, we got a whole new system at home last year with the new stadium. We\u2019re tweaking that a little bit, making it a little more friendly. We just bought all new road equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being away from TCNJ has allowed the 32-year-old Flynn to appreciate the prestige that surrounds the College. He had attended Providence College on a baseball scholarship for two years before he transferred home to TCNJ (he grew up in nearby Hamilton Township). Rick Dell, who at the time was the Lions head baseball coach, welcomed Flynn with open arms and became an immediate influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing from the (first) day, in particular, that really stuck with me is that Coach was a straight shooter,\u201d Flynn said. \u201cHe told me how it was and he told me what the expectations were, the kind of program that it was and the kind of the school that it was\u2014the expectations both athletically and academically. The one thing from Coach that I always appreciated and always have taken with me is you need to be honest and straightforward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always did the right thing; he was always there and that\u2019s what I try to do now all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flynn, who grew up on baseball under his father Marty, a high school coach, enjoyed great success in a TCNJ uniform, which coincidentally resembles Yankees pinstripes. Over his three seasons from 1998 to 2000, Flynn\u2019s teammates called him \u201cTex\u201d because of his love of country music. Each squad that Flynn was a part of reached the finals of the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament, and the Lions won the 2000 NJAC title in his senior season.<\/p>\n

Although Flynn could do a great impersonation of Dell, when he stepped across the white line he was all business. \u201cHe was a very focused young man,\u201d Glus said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why he\u2019s able to do what he\u2019s doing right now because when there\u2019s something in front of him to get done, he\u2019s very focused on getting the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Flynn traded Lions pinstripes for Yankees pinstripes after graduating in 2001. This season will be his 10th with the Bronx Bombers, and his second as the team’s assistant director of video and advance scouting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-february-2010"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}