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The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are battling it out for the American League pennant. But for the Red Sox, the Texas Rangers before them and all the others who come up against the Yankees, it is much more than a team they battle. It is also a matter of heritage, a mystique. Part of the Yankee mystique is the Curse of the Bambino, the Subway Series, the Five O'Clock Lightning, Murderer's Row and the Bronx Bombers. It is the Springfield Rifle, the Big Cat, the Bull, the Scooter, Yogi, Goofy, the Goose, Moose, Old Reliable, Donnie Baseball, Iron Horse, Sultan of Swat, Ellie, Slick, King Kong, Bulldog, the Yankee Clipper and Joltin' Joe, the Pride of the Yankees, Mr. October and Mr. May. The mystique is also The Oklahoma Kid and the Commerce Comet, Sailor Bob, the Almighty Tired Man, Billy Ball, Blind Ryne, the Count, Puff, Pepi, the Battle of Broadway, Superchief… October is big time Yankee mystique time. It is Reggie Jackson hitting home runs into the chilly nights, the Babe blasting the ball, Mickey Mantle ripping the tape-measure shots, Don Larsen soft tossing the perfect game. The mystique
is Casey Stengel racking up the English language and other
teams, Joe McCarthy pushing all the right buttons, DiMag
hitting in 56 straight, Bucky hitting the tin in Fenway,
Chris Chambliss hitting it out off Littell.
Casey Stengel: "If I'da known I was going to live this long, I woulda taken better care of myself." Roger Maris: "If all I am entitled to is an asterisk - that will be all right with me." Lou Gehrig: "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Col. Jacob Ruppert: "Yankee Stadium was a mistake, not mine but the Giants." It is players from other teams coming into Yankee Stadium and being awed and intrigued by the monuments and plaques. They stroll out before a game and gawk. It is the sound of the cultured voice of Bob Sheppard, the public address announcer who has been on the scene since April of 1951 - "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Yankee Stadium." It is Buck Showalter acknowledging: "Every kid growing up has dreamed of lining up at Yankee Stadium and having Bob Sheppard announce his name." There is also George Steinbrenner, also part of the mystique, Omnipresent, vocal, always hovering about, and the ultimate hands-on owner. There is the famed opera singer and Yankee Stadium national anthem singer Robert Merrill who became a Yankee fan when he was eight years old and saw Babe Ruth play. There is Frank Sinatra singing: "...If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere... " That too is a part of the scene, a part of the mystique. About the Author: Harvey Frommer is the author of 33 sports books, including "The New York Yankee Encyclopedia, "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," "Growing Up Baseball" with Frederic J. Frommer and "Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Line." His "A Yankee Century: A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball's Greatest Team" will be published in paperback Sept. 2003. This
Article is Copyright © 1995 - 2003 by Harvey
Frommer.
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Web Links: Yankees Fan Network UltimateYankees Fast Facts: Betcha' didn't know On May 24, 1936, Lazzeri became the first player in history to hit 2 Grand Slams in one game. He did it against the Philadelphia A's in a 25-2 win while driving in 11 runs for an American League record. On June 17, 1978, "Louisiana Lightning", struck out 18 against the California Angels, setting an American League record for a left-hander. "When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a baseball player and join the circus. With the Yankees I have accomplished both" Graig Nettles Reggie Jackson, upon signing with the Yanks in 1976 Trivia: Joe Torre is the 4th man to manage both the Yankees and Mets. Name the other three. Answer In Next Issue Have a trivia question? Email it to us and maybe we'll use it in an upcoming issue. Fan Feedback: Cartoonist Wanted! We have received several emails suggesting the addition of jokes and baseball cartoons. |
