GET JORGE POSADA ON THE PHONE...

Russell Martin bolts for the Pirates and leaves the Bronx behind… and now 2 days later Yankeeland is starting to realize that it ain’t no big deal.  Look, it’s good for the Pirates, they have a leader in Martin, but for Martin in New York, he was just another guy surrounded by the world of Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia and Mariano Rivera.  Martin dashed for the money and the recognition.  We know that now, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that when your trying to scrounge for a nut in this crazy world.  You can’t fault him… baseball is a business first and much like we’ve preached here at Bleeding Yankee Blue… fans cheering for you as a player is nice, but the players don’t really care about the fans, so why should we really care about them.  Life Lesson which wasn’t more clear in A Bronx Tale…


As I sit here writing this, I have Bill Conti’s Rocky II Soundtrack playing in my iPod...Conquest.  Not sure what it is, but sometimes when I need inspiration, I fallback to the soundtrack that filled my youth.  Sure, Rocky was fictional, but his drive was real.

When you’re at your lowest, you pick yourself up and much like Marci Hensley said of Ty Hensley, her talented son, you believe.  She told me Ty "'Believe In Yourself'  He writes it under the lid of all his ball caps." (Read THANKSGIVING WITH THE HENSLEYS for more.)

It don’t get much better than that.  Believe.  That word and Jorge Posada go hand and hand.  No one didn’t believe more than Jorge Posada.  No, he wasn’t a superstar, but he was damn close and what made it more inspiring was that he knew he could be the best catcher for the New York Yankees, even when many doubted him. 

It’s nuts to think about, but he’s been out of baseball for only 1 full season and already he seems larger than life to Yankee fans, like Paul Bunyan or something.  In a decade, I can see 10 year olds asking, “What about that catcher Jorge Posada? Was he really as determined as everyone says he was?” The answer is simple… he was.  

That’s why when I casually wrote “Quick... someone call Jorge Posada...." in RUSSELL MARTIN MAKES MAD DASH FOR PITTSBURGH, it resonated quickly and that quote became a discussion for many Yankee fans that day.  Yankee fans love the fight.  Yankee fans love the determination, the heart, the blood, the guts… they love Jorge Posada and when we get blindsided with something like Russell Martin choosing Pittsburgh over New York, it’s hard to understand for that moment. Why? Because we know someone like Jorge would never do that.  He understood the tradition of New York.  He wanted to be a New York Yankee, it was part of his life plan and he understood the love from the fans. He got it. And guess what… he loved us back.  How do I know?  He cried. That’s a man.  Tell me I’m wrong and I’ll tell you to get your head checked.

So yeah, I may have been half joking when I suggested that we needed to call Jorge… but I was also half serious.  Where is Jorge Posada?  Get the guy on the line. Because when it seems like Yankeeland is crumbling, you need to reach back and think about those great ones, the guys that won because they believed in themselves and their team.  Jorge did and there’s one thing I definitely know… if he could come back… he would come back…because no one had as much heart as Jorge Posada and no one will for a long, long time… according to me.

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.