WHAT IF THE YANKEES THREW CLASS OUT THE WINDOW?

In real life, the New York Yankees have been the ‘white knights’ of professional baseball. Never playing dirty... always about class.  Yes, they are sometimes ridiculed and sometimes hated, but generally they are revered and respected.  Even in the cinematic world, the Yankees, even though often the favorite, are given that blue collar underdog feel.

Gary Cooper played Lou Gehrig.  Gary Cooper! The sheriff from ‘High Noon’ played one of baseball’s most beloved players.  But in one fictional world, the Yankees are a little "grey-er."  No... I’m not referencing ’Fifty Shades of Grey,’ that would be gross.  I mean like their road uniforms.  I’m talking about the Yankees of the film Major League.

Major League is one of my favorite baseball films, and in this world, while still on top, Clu Haywood stands at first base in New York!  Before Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, Haywood was your reigning Triple Crown winner. 

 “How’s your wife and my kids?” That's Clu Haywood saying that... played by A.L. Cy Young winner Pete Vuckovich. On the mound, you had “The Duke,” Duke Simpson who, according to Harry Doyle may have thrown at his kid during a father/son game. These Yankees were bad ass... and dirty.

But these Yankees were the antithesis of what the real Yankees were in some ways. But who among us didn’t get tired of the hero doing the right thing or the same thing over and over again?

What if…?

Remember when people got tired of Hulk Hogan telling us to take our vitamins? Then the unthinkable happened.  Hogan got tired of us and became “Hollywood” Hogan.



You see what I mean?

Maybe it was Harry Doyle’s announcing that had me so intrigued with Haywood, but haven’t you ever wondered once what the real Yankees would be like as the bad guys?



What if the Yankees had the meanest players and an ‘I don’t give a crap’ attitude? You gotta wonder. What if class and professionalism went out the window? 

“I'm hung over, my knees are killin' me and if you're going to pull this s***, at least you could've said you were from the Yankees.” – Jake Taylor

I doubt the boys in pinstripes will ever give up tradition and honor, although it's fun to think about.  In the end though, what works best for the Yankees is their class and tradition.  Heck, it’s worked 27 times...and it will continue to be part of their amazing franchise...

But what if…?




Wolfgang Von Bunt
BYB Staff Writer
Twitter: @WVBunt



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WHY THE 'A' MATTERS

Does a logo on a hat matter when someone goes into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Yup. No doubt about it.

In the case of Randy Johnson, a.k.a. “The Big Unit”, it mattered more to me than many things that have happened to the Arizona Diamondbacks these past few seasons. I'm an Arizona native after all.

Look, I hope it isn't just me, but it would physically bother me if Johnson entered Cooperstown with any other logo on his hat than that ‘rattlesnake A’ we so proudly sport here in the Grand Canyon State.

I would have also accepted that rattlesnake in the shape of a "D" logo we rocked on those black hats in ’01.

But I wouldn’t have accepted a Montreal ‘M,’ which I barely figured out was a stylized ‘M’ 3 years ago, or even that Houston star.

And while the Yankees interlocking ‘NY’ looks good on most, it just didn’t fit the 6’10” Cy Young icon. 

Oh yeah... and I could NOT live with the Seattle Mariners ‘S’ adorning his brow.  They gave up on him before his prime.  His real PRIME!  I know he was there ten years, but he was only celebrated for a short time in the great northwest.

The man is a Diamondback! He was a large rattlesnake who breathed fire on the mound!  He made the organization, and all his moments, his glory, it all happened when he wore purple or black.

Randy Johnson was the hometown hero; he lived here in the off-season.  We needed him... and it’s only fair that the Arizona fan base gets him as their first Hall of Famer.

It bugs me that Yogi Berra has no Yankees logo on his hat, probably a product of what he felt when he was disrespected by the organization he became synonymous with. The DBacks almost did the same thing to Johnson, depriving him of finishing his career and reaching 300 wins in Arizona and forcing him to call San Francisco his home for a year.

But the past is the past, and I take pride knowing that a man who slightly looks like my uncle Roy, but never went to prison, is going to the Hall of Fame and he’s sporting my home team’s colors and logo!

Sorry Seattle, you’ve got Pearl Jam, you have Nirvana and you should get Griffey Jr. too. But “The Big Unit” is our hero and our champion!

Thank you Randy Johnson for putting Arizona on the sports map. Congratulations on the Hall of Fame.

Wolfgang Von Bunt
BYB Staff Writer
Twitter: @WVBunt

 

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WHAT I LEARNED FROM "HENRY & ME"

At the end of the Summer the New York Yankees released a bold new venture that like everything else the organization does relied heavily on tradition and the belief that Yankee baseball is filled with moments that it’s fans can only describe as ‘magical’.

A few weeks ago, I took the time to unwind and experience this animated feature that took us back to the last Yankee championship in 2009 and beyond.

(In Photo: CC Sabathia recording for Henry & Me)

‘Henry & Me’ wouldn’t be an easy sell to the kids if you described the plot, especially non-Yankee fans, but the movie fits into some of the classic baseball films that have inspired younger generations.  It’s about something everyone will experience in one way or another… adversity.

In the case of the movie’s main character that adversity comes in the form of life threatening cancer.  A boy on verge of giving up is inspired by the game he loves and the heroes from his beloved team to believe in the unseen and push himself to live.

“It’s not over,” the sick Jack tells the magical Henry about the game the team is losing just as the kid goes in for surgery.

Henry, voiced by Richard Gere, takes Jack on a magical journey that sees him playing ball with Babe Ruth, Lefty Gomez, Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson and more.

The movie made news before it was released due to the fact that Alex Rodriguez’s involvement in the Biogenesis scandal forced the filmmakers to make his role in the project less prominent.

What I saw was a well intentioned classically animated feature that explored baseball lore and looked to inspire those who face adversity to ‘believe’ and never give up.

Half of baseball is hoping and believing that in the end things ‘go your way.’

Luis Guzman as Lefty Gomez was amazing and Cyndi Lauper’s role is unmistakable.

The movie does carry a heavy-handed homage to “The Boss” George Steinbrenner but in the animated world of ‘Henry & Me’ it makes perfect sense.



I think this film belongs in any fans home baseball video library.

 
Wolfgang Von Bunt
BYB Staff Writer
Twitter: @WVBunt

 

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IF THE GIANTS WIN, ARE THEY A DYNASTY?

 
“I was made for loving you baby.  You were made for loving me. And I can’t get enough of you baby.  Can you get enough of me?”

Everything that James Taylor or John Denver were as songwriters, KISS was not. Let’s just say KISS wasn’t about romance.  I mean before they released this song their last album was titled Love Gun.  But I digress...

The reason I have brought up the band KISS is not because I am buying Arena Football League tickets.  It’s because that song was called “I Was Made For Loving You” and it appeared on an album released in 1979.

This album name is a word that evokes emotion in sports fans and in particular Yankee fans.

DYNASTY.

Dynasty! Music clicks with me and I identify things big pop culture moments with music. When it became clear to me yesterday that the Giants, if they won Game 6 (which they didn’t) or Game 7 (they could) would have been Champions 3 of the past 5 seasons, the vocals of Paul Stanley began to take over my mind and the word “dynasty” appeared before me in big chrome letters.



In basketball you can argue about the San Antonio Spurs and their championship runs might be one, before them the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers three-peated the hell out of the NBA.

In the NFL the Dallas Cowboys of the early 90s (3 championships in four years) were a spectacle and during the end of that decade and the beginning of the 00s we had the New England Patriots who brought in a period of prosperity for Boston teams with 3 rings and 5 appearances.  Both runs are undisputed dynasties.

In baseball, not since ’96 and ’98 through 2000 has the baseball world experienced a dynasty.  A rookie Derek Jeter getting his first ring, Paul O’Neil,Bernie Williams, Joe Torre beating cancer, there was so much to love about that time.

It was a dynasty.

Say it out loud.  It sounds dirty, a little naughty like the song lyrics above.

Are the San Francisco Giants.... if they win Game 7… a dynasty?


 
Wolfgang Von Bunt
BYB Staff Writer
Twitter: @WVBunt




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BACK TO THE 80s

Those light blues the Royals, Phillies and Cardinals wore.  My mom and dad played baseball and softball and they had at least half dozen jerseys that color when I was growing up.

That smiling orange bird… I remember smiling when I saw it as a kid.  I bought a hat last year with the Baltimore Orioles logo and my niece, who at the time didn’t know anything about baseball, had the same reaction I did.

Add this with a prolonged conversation with a teenager about Arianna Grande and myself arguing the significance of Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” and you can only come to one conclusion… the 80s are finally back.

Nearly 30 years after their lone world championship, a new Kansas City Royals have been reborn.  Built with the spirit of legendary Hall of Famer George Brett.  The pine tar home run at Yankee Stadium and his reaction is forever burned into my baseball loving brain.

And on the other side are the very orange, very positively happy birds known as the Orioles who in recent years have made rumblings in the AL East.  Now they’re the division champs, rocking a classic look.

The only negative is that the 80s weren’t a good time for the Yankees with only one appearance in the “big show” in 1981 losing to the Dodgers.

What’s this mean? Simple Minds sang, “Don’t You (forget about me)”  and this American League Championship Series is a reminder that once again baseball is changing.  What’s old is new.




The O’s have proven to be part of the conversations the past few seasons and while New York and Boston have history and iconic figures of the sport… prestige won’t guarantee you anything. It’s time for the teams who’ve dominated the past few decades to stop and look at how competitive every franchise, except the Houston Astros, really are.

Teams are plotting out their future and making their moves.  Last years champions are in last place a year later. New teams from the past have awaken.  They have risen hungry and have found different ways to compete. Didn’t we learn anything from ”Red Dawn” people?

I enjoy seeing this 80s throwbacks, the hardworking small ball Royals or the “get it done,” we don’t wine that our better players are hurt or suspended Orioles.

It’s a hat tip to a very competitive decade in the sport and a living example of a time when players were real ballplayers… tough, gritty and full of character. Like neon and pop music, baseball is having a nostalgic period.

So dust off your Duran Duran cassettes, put on your neon clothing and enjoy the show. Let’s go back in time with the Royals or the Orioles.

Tears For Fears once sang “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.”




When I watch these teams play… I believe that.

Wolfgang Von Bunt
BYB Staff Writer
Twitter: @WVBunt



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MISSING MARIANO: THE NEED FOR AN ICONIC CLOSER

During my time in the Big Apple in 2004 my work colleague took me to (Old) Yankee Stadium to catch a game against the Oakland Athletics.

I don’t remember the exact day… it was my first Yankee game and my first time somewhere other than Bank One Ballpark (later Chase Field). Remember, I'm from Arizona...

It was a chilly and windy day in the left field upper level. I can’t tell you much about the game.  I know Eric Chavez was playing for the A’s and the Yankees were winning. But one of the most exciting and coolest things I’ve ever seen in sports happened that day.  The Yanks had the lead in the top of the 9th and went to the bullpen.  A familiar song began to play on the stadium sound system.

One of the most iconic songs in the history of music began to play. That song was “Enter Sandman” by heavy metal God’s Metallica.

A Latino man from Panama would leave the bullpen and make his way to the mound as the James Hetfield growled the words “Say your prayers little one…”

Mariano Rivera and his walkout song were so synonymous that Metallica went to (New) Yankee Stadium last year to play it live for the game’s best closing pitcher ever as he said farewell.

They basically honored Metallica as well. Why did the song get its due and get its lyrics written in baseball lore? Because the song was a BAD ASS song, written by BAD ASSES.  When you combine that with Mariano, who was a BAD ASS, it adds up to magic. The song was iconic before he was. Rivera lived up to the song.

Let’s put this in perspective.

MMA/UFC champion Brock Lesnar came out to the same song and it scared people. A 300lb. monster, he could lift someone the size of Bartolo Colon with ease. Lesnar could have become synonymous with the song as well but after he got knocked out, had some medical issues and made a tentative comeback to fighting, he didn’t use the song.



It didn’t have the same meaning. Had Mariano been awful, the song would have been a joke.  I miss that song and Mariano.  But they should retire that song league-wide for Mariano like they retired Jackie Robinson’s number.  It wouldn’t feel right with anyone else.

The Right Tune

While we wait for someone to be the next Rivera, which no one can predict, the only thing we can do is pick a couple of songs that could hold up for the closer, the next Mr. Automatic. My good friend, (name drop) Dan Soder, a successful stand-up comic who’s been on Conan among other things, would discuss this topic with me on occasion.



Here’s what he emailed me the other day:

“I think if I were a bad ass closer I would want to walk out to Semisonic's 'Closing Time.' Why you ask? Because if you were a really bad ass pitcher people would laugh at you coming out to such a soft song but then when you threw 9 straight strikes and retired the side people would start thinking it was bad ass.”



Not bad Mr. Soder, not bad.  But no Eve 6!  I on the other hand have different ideas.

If I went the Soder route I’d pick Annie Lennox’s “Why.”  Why you ask?  Because the next shut-it-down closer may ask himself… "Why do I have to bother with these jamokes?"




Motörhead needs a place in baseball.  The game is in hand; you call in your closer… BLAM!  Overkill plays.  This guy is so good that it’s overkill.  It’s just not fair and it’s so metal.




Last but not least… you’ll have to hear me out on this one.  The Yankees are up 1-0 in the top of the 9th.  Joe Girardi calls for his closer.  It’s a cool evening and the sultry voice of Sade says…

“Smooth Operator.”



Tweet me your BAD ASS closer song. I'm at @WVBunt.


Wolfgang Von Bunt
BYB Staff Writer
Twitter: @WVBunt



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!

MR. NOVEMBER

 #ThankYouCaptain via #BYB

I'm from Arizona. I'm not exactly a Yankee fan.

Everybody is talking about Derek Jeter’s highlights; his walk off home run last night, the dive, the flip, five championship rings.  I want to write about a ring he didn’t get.

In 2001, the Arizona Diamondbacks became world champions.  At the time the Yankees had won the “Fall  Classic” 26 times, while my snakes had only existed for four years.

9/11 evoked strong emotions from me during that series but I was a hometown boy and at the time a bit of a Yankee hater.  No one was walking away with our trophy.

But during that series, before the bloop single by Luis Gonzalez in Game 7 and the great pitching by Randy Johnson, and Curt Schilling, there was Game 4.

The clock struck midnight in extra innings and November had arrived, significant because the series had never been played that late.  Just weeks before the stadiums in New York City were used to house dead bodies, victims of the greatest act of terrorism America and the world had ever seen.

The Yankees were down two games to one and the game was do or die.  The situation in some ways mirrored what New Yorkers and many across the country were feeling.

To many, America was down and out.   NYC had surely been knocked down. Baseball can sometimes reflect life and I like many felt it did that night.  I remember Jeter’s at-bat in the bottom of the 10th for two reasons, because I was in shock and because I couldn’t be angry about the end result.  Number 2’s 3-2 walk-off homerun lifted New York and lifted a nation.

Down at the end of the game the boys picked themselves up and their leader, their shortstop sent them home and evened the series.  The crowd at old Yankee stadium popped like Hulk Hogan had just come out to punch the Iron Sheik.

It felt like the end of Return of the Jedi.  I almost expected Ewoks to start dancing with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.  Derek Jeter was Luke Skywalker with Han Solo’s swagger.  Talk about magic.

Keith Olbermann and the media don’t get it now and probably didn’t get it then.  They’re crapping on Derek Jeter because they think he’s “hurting” the team in 2014?  Really? I wonder if they were watching last night.

The guy’s special.  He’s always there at special times when his team or fans needed him and he’s never given them a reason to be embarrassed.  Mickey Mantle was a heavy drinker and Babe Ruth was a maniac.  Jeter did his job like they did and the worst thing he’s ever done is maybe bang Mariah Carey.  But he did it before Glitter, so what?

Sure the Yankees lost that World Series but they won every home game and fought valiantly.  That’s what Jeter is doing now by continuing to play the position he’s always played in his final season.  He deserves it.

I want to see Jeter go out on his shield, not on the bench.

I remember that early November morning in 2001, shaking my head at a barrel cactus out front.  I didn’t like losing but there wasn’t the bad aftertaste that usually came with defeat.

I felt like Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco:

“If it was gonna be anyone, I'm glad it was him.”




Wolfgang Von Bunt
BYB Staff Writer
Twitter: @WVBunt



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!