YOU MAKE IT BIG WHEN YOU MAKE IT IN NEW YORK

As a follow up to the post I wrote last week, WHY THE YANKEES ARE THE IVY LEAGUE OF BASEBALL, and as I wrangle with all of the signings and movement of players from team to team during this off season and particularly over the last month, I can’t help but think that when a player makes it to New York, they really are something special.  I mean, you don’t get here by being mediocre; you get here because you truly have something valuable to contribute.

(In Photo: Tino Martinez)
Everything is bigger in New York- the media, the ballpark menu, the legend suite, the salaries.  And why wouldn’t a player want a long-term deal to play here?  And if not a long-term deal, any deal- any way he can to be a Yankee.  We are the Broadway of Baseball, the Ivy League College, the prestigious Waldorf Astoria, and the glorious St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  We have the tradition, we have the reputation, and we have the best fans in baseball. 

"Sometimes I get up to the plate and I hear them say, 'Now playing left field, Ichiro Suzuki for the Yankees,'" he said. "And sometimes it takes me a while to think, 'Oh, yeah, I am on the Yankees,’” said Ichiro shortly after joining the club in August, (Read HERE.)  It is sort of like, “I always wanted to be a major league ball player and specifically, I want to be a Yankee.”  And even if that is not necessarily the career path, you have to admit a ball player wants to win and wants to win badly- badly enough to switch sides.  “"I never thought I'd be on the other side of the rivalry," the former Red Sox star (Kevin Youkilis) said. "But we thought the New York Yankees were the best fit going forward to try to win another World Series." (Read HERE.) Yes, he joins Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs as one of the keynote players who wanted to win so much that he would even come to New York. 

Even the most Bah Humbug person, the Scroogiest of them all wants to be a Yankee.  As the word humbug suggests (HERE),  “a humbug means a fraud or impostor.”  So that to me would say that even though a player or team wishes ill on the Yankees, in reality, he just wants to be a Yankee.  He is just jealous or envious that he is not wearing Yankee Blue.  I think this is true for small market players who will always be haters.  I think this is true of fans of these small market teams.  I also think this is true for teams like the Red Sox or even the Mets who will never hold a candle to their New York Yankee big brother.  No one can replace the amazing legacy of 27 championships and when you make it to the Bronx, really there is no place else to go but out or down. 

According to a number of sports blogs and posts circulating the Internet, there are basically five reasons why fans hate the Yankees (check this out HERE):  too much media attention, payroll, we the fans, ARod and 27 championships.  I say Humbug to them all, because they are just sad that they are us. 

And according to the book published in 2005, 1939 Baseball’s Tipping Point by John Grisham, “the role models of 1939 have stood the test of time as authentic heroes.” These role models include people like Gehrig and Ruth and DiMaggio.  These guys exemplify what greatness was, what it can still be.  When you make it to New York, there really is no turning back.  You are the best you could ever be.  You have reached self-fulfillment for the Yankees are the biggest and greatest team not only in baseball but in sports yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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