WHY THERE'S A FORMULA FOR A PERFECT YANKEE TEAM

I’ve always believed that the perfect combination of a true championship team is a mixture of gritty veterans with young guys that come together as 1. the old timers play the way they've always known being around the game for so long, and the young guys are anxious and willing to learn like a sponge and do pick up everything they can from the older guys. Yes, it sounds pretty obvious but let me explain.

I remember 1996 with the Yankees and specifically thought about guys like Mariano Duncan and Cecil Fielder. For those you who don’t remember, Mariano Duncan was our second baseman and Cecil Fielder was playing a hell of a lot more than a younger, Tino Martinez.

Mix in guys like Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter and you saw a team forming. We reached the playoffs and I remember no one in the media believed in Joe Torre and his past losing managerial record. We were all but written off when we finally made it to the World Series. At that point, the mighty Atlanta Braves were king of the mountain... they were Goliath and we were David. But, with the mixture of our guys like Jimmy Key and David Cone and Cecil Fielder, Jeter, Rivera and even guys like Luis Sojo… a championship happened.

(In photo: Tino Martinez, left, Chili Davis)

I think back to 1998 and Chili Davis. Another veteran on the downside but he rode the bench and hit when we needed him, all the while being a mentor to younger kids coming up in the Yankees organization like Ricky Ledee and Shane Spencer. There were guys that had been around the block like Darryl Strawberry who were given a second chance... well, the Yankees rallied and we won again, and again, and again in 2000.

You can talk about the Pittsburgh Pirates of the 1970’s and Willie Stargell bringing a true Pirates championship together and all that is true, he brought a whole group of young and old together and won big, but the Yankees won too... 4 championships in 5 years was no fluke. George Steinbrenner helped by putting the best guys on the field and a lot of what Cashman did worked. Bringing in older guys that could contribute here and there and teach the young guys a thing or 2 helped a lot.

Which brings me to 2012, another year of Yankee baseball and the team is different, but the formula and tools are always the same. Eric Chavez may be on the down side of his career but there is no doubt his toughness is needed to prove to kids that you just have to love the game and work hard and you can succeed. Andruw Jones was a kid when he homered against the Yankees back in 1996 and now he is a Yankee and happy to be there. Eduardo Nunez knows he’s sitting with greatness and no doubt will ask questions and learn from these guys, like the king of New York himself, Derek Jeter and leaders like Robinson Cano. There is no doubt in my mind that the Yankees can win it all this season. The formula works and has always has worked in baseball history, brains and experience of the veterans mixed in with athleticism and hunger of the kids and just a true grittiness to get their team there every single time. You have to understand it, know it and feel it… I like what I see this season in my New York Yankees... it reminds me a lot like the teams of years' past, the teams that made it all the way....a perfect formula.

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