TRUE YANKEE FANS ARE THRILLED ABOUT TINO BEING HONORED

...and I can't believe we're still talking about this...

If you read BYB enough, you know that I read Jason Keidel's piece the other day about Tino Martinez.  It was titled I Love Tino, But There’s No Way He Belongs In Monument Park. It was pretty critical of Tino being honored with a plaque in the Yankees' Monument Park.

I quickly pointed out the simplest reasoning for the Yankees decision when it was announced. It was my opinion, of course: "The Yankees have had great players over the years.  The best part of these great players is, when the time comes each year, the Yankees will sit down and decide who gets honored. When they do that, and a name pops up you love, you will once again, pay money to go see them get honored.  The Yankees are a machine. This idea was strategic... don't over think it.  The best part is, these players come back to the stadium, they get a proper honoring and then if they are worthy, they also get a plaque. It's the new Yankees.  Sure, the retired numbers are running out, but that's not what this is about.  This is about giving the nod to other great Yankees... just not great enough to have their number retired.  It's an acknowledgment. It's a "Thank you"..."

That was before Keidel's piece came out and it made perfect sense, plus, the understanding is clear; Tino was a great Yankee. No, his number will never be retired, so instead, they honored him. When the announcement went down, some were critical of Tino being put into Monument Park. Again though,  it's about "moments"... it's about Yankee greats at the time.

It's about Tino and his 4 World Series wins.  It wasn't about Tino being benched in 1996 for Cecil Fielder, as Keidel wrote.

Not, let me state that I love reading Keidel.  He touches a nerve and makes me think and I am NOT crticial of Keidel as a writer at all. I'm a fan, we just disagree... and so do some fans apparently.  I wanted to share these 2 comments since I wrote  IF IT WAS "KEIDEL MONUMENT PARK", TINO WOULDN'T BE THERE:

From computermaximus:

"Jason Keidel is clueless. Tino's moments make him a Yankee great. Timely hits over his time here. Tino might have had a postseason batting average of .233, but he had some huge hits. The grand slam in game 1 of the 1998 World Series, the huge game tying HR in the game 4 of the 2001 World Series. Also a bunch of defensive stops over the years that boggle the mind. Keidel thinks that monument park is for legends in time. That is the issue. It is for legends, Yankee legends. You may hit .250 in a Yankee uniform but if that one hit every four at bats was a huge, clutch hit, you earn yourself a spot in monument park."

From Michael Pacholek:

"Plus, Tino won 5 Pennants and 4 rings. The guy he replaced at first base? Zip. Yet he got the full treatment: Plaque and number retired. We are the Yankees: We have a different measure of such things. 

(In Photo: Jerry Grote)
Let the Mets honor their Ed Kranepool's and their Jerry Grote's in their team hall of fame, we should be about winning, and Tino was a winner."

In the end, that was really what it was all about in the Yankees' decision to choose Tino to be honored. No, he wasn't a .300 hitter, but what he offered while he was here, big, timely hits and a solid first basemen, got him picked.

Tino has fans and Tino, while I never thought of him as one of my favorite Yankee first basemen, deserves the nod.  Thanks for your comments guys...

Go Yanks...
 
You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook!