THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY OF THE YANKEES

I'm a traditionalist and a guy who always remembers the Yankees long forgotten. I've written about guys like Danny Pasqua (read WHY I ROOT FOR THE ITALIANS ) and Wayne Tolleson (Read BRETT GARNDER: BIG DOESN'T MEAN BETTER ), even Bobby Meacham (Read "WHO ARE YOU... BOBBY MEACHAM?" ) There are so many Yankees that have come and gone. For me though, other than the late 70's and the Mattingly era, I remember the lonely late 80's and early 90's as a strange time, yet comforting. I fondly remember guys like Don Slaught, Eric Plunk and guys like Pascual Perez and young pitching phenom Brien Taylor. Many people wouldn't even think twice about these guys, I do.

Being a Yankee is a good thing, It's an honor and you are held at a higher standard.  After all guys like the great Lou Gehrig, and Phil Rizzuto, Don Mattingly and Ron Guidry all wore the pinstripes...and of course there are plenty others...there's a long history of great players and great traditions.

But where is the good in being a New York Yankee, there also can come the bad and the ugly of it as well, the unfortunate and the disappointing that sometimes happens when your name is connected to a major sports team like the Yanks.  Now, let me be clear, I am in no way blaming the Yankees for anything I'm about to write about, but I can say that when you are with the big dogs, you become a target, or in the case of Brien Taylor, you ride the wave alittle too soon, not because you need to, but because you think you've made it, even before you have.

When news broke about the apparent murder of Pascual Perez yesterday, read HERE, it saddened me. Couple that with news of Brien Taylor facing up to 40 years in prison for drugs and drug trafficking and it was clear, that sometimes terrible things happen in life that are beyond our control, Hurricane Sandy is a great example. And sometimes, you CAN control your own destiny, but don't. Again, the bad and the ugly.

Pascual Perez was killed by a group of thugs that apparently broke into his home, whacked him in the head and then stabbed him, according to reports.  The New York Times writes: "...Perez, who last played in the majors for the Yankees in 1991, was found with a severe head wound in a town west of Santo Domingo, and there was evidence at the scene to suggest that whoever killed him had been searching for money..." It's just terrible.

Brien Taylor, who had struggled since he hurt his arm in a fight kept falling down the dark path of self-destruction. Read HERE.  As CBS reports: "In March 2012, a 40-year-old Taylor was charged with cocaine trafficking after undercover narcotics agents said they purchased a large quantity of cocaine and crack cocaine from him over a span of several months.

Taylor was federally indicted on trafficking charges in June and faces 5-to-40 years in prison after pleading guilty to cocaine distribution..."  A sad, sad story.

But, I'm not going to sit here and judge these two individuals. Sure Perez had drug problems and was never a superstar, but he did play major league ball for 11 years racking up a 3.44 ERA, a 67-68  record and 822 strikeouts in his career.  Taylor on the other hand, never played a major league game and got wrapped up in the glory before it even began. We've seen it time and time again, but for all of us who knew the story of Brien Taylor, it was very surprising. After all, we were anticipating a true superstar when he finally went pro. That never happened.

I just wanted to say I'm very sorry to hear about these 2 and their unfortunate ends. No one needs to go through this.  Not them and not their families. All I'm saying is, know what you have in life and run with it. Be cautious, but courageous and do your best as a person. That's really all I wanted to say. It's a sad post, but there's a lesson here.

Good Luck Brien Taylor... Rest in Peace Pascual Perez.

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