I'll admit, I don't like change. I spent the first 17 years of my life a Mets fan, untill the day they traded David Cone to Toronto. By then, I had already acquired a healthy respect for the Yankees and as they added remarkable players in the years that followed (O'Neill, Bernie, Tino, Girardi) I was 100% a Yankees fan the day my father picked me up from my job as an electronics dept. clerk @ Bradlees and told me they'd signed David Cone. Nothing could ever make me happier.
I was away at college the first time they went to the play offs in 1995. I wore my Yankees cap every moment I couldn't be watching the games on TV. I cried with Cone when he gave up the walk that basically eliminated them.
But as David Wells pointed out last night and I've never agreed with him more. His favorite team was 98 if I remember correctly. They were a team of 25 guys who went to dinner and hung out and enjoyed being together. It shows in what they were able to accomplish. But the key is THEY WERE A TEAM. Not 25 prima donnas. They worked hard, they respected their manager and each other.
I'm sure fans of the Babe or Mantle have never found the same caliber of players to replace their idol. That's where I am. I still pledge my allegience to Jeter and Pettite and especially Rivera and Posada who once upon a time drove me insane. Jorge was affectionately known as dumbass for his inability to remember how to run the bases and his lack off effort when it came to BLOCKING the plate. Now they are 2 of my all time favorites.
No matter who the revolving door of a bench held, the core guys remained the same. It had to be difficult for Tino to replace Mattingly, but seeing as Mattingly played at a time when I loathed the Yanks as a Mets fan, I had no allegience to him. And as far as Giambi, I was threatened with a beer bottle smashed in my face when I calmly explained that the Yanks had no real need for him. I still believe it, although Nick Johnson who was supposed to replace Tino didn't appear to live up to the hype. But then neither did "The Toad," Kevin Brown or Carl Pavano.
I am sure as this season winds down I will have even more insights in the Yankees, the stadium and my strong attatchment to baseball and its players. but right now, that will have to wait.
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out..."
--- "Falling Slowly"
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