In Appreciation of the 2003 New York Yankees
Press Action
Sunday, October 26, 2003
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/mickeyz10262003/
By Mickey Z.
I’ve got plenty of years behind me as a Yankee fan. My Dad first brought me to the Stadium in 1966 where I watched Harmon Killebrew go deep to lead the Twins to a 2-1 victory. Two seasons later, my uncle got us seats directly behind home plate. It was from that vantage point that I witnessed Mickey Mantle’s final home run. Number 536 rose like a tiny white pill into the right field stands as another dismal Yankee season came to an end.
You never heard the phrase “hallowed ground” when Horace Clarke was playing second base and the words “mystique and aura” were not bandied about much in the days Roberto Kelly roamed center field. However, the Torre-era Yanks live in a different universe and are judged by a previously unheard of standard. Nothing short of a world championship is acceptable. Does anyone around here remember 1965-75? What about 1982-94?
I can remember feeling so happy that Billy Martin got the Bombers back to the Fall Classic in 1976, even though the Big Red Machine took out the Yanks in four straight. When Reggie came aboard next season, all of New York reveled in the return to Bronx glory and my friends and I convinced our principal to let school out early so we could attend the ticker-tape parade.
We appreciated Bucky’s homer, we wept for Thurman Munson, we cursed George Brett, and we kept waiting for Dave Winfield or Don Mattingly to lead us to the promised land. Then Joe Torre came to town, with mystique and aura in his suitcase.
This season, Derek Jeter and company won their sixth straight AL East title and played in the World Series for the sixth time in eight years ... winning four. The Yankees have made the playoffs for nine straight seasons and will surely be there again in 2004. Any team in any sport, even “storied” franchises like the Celtics, Canadiens, and Packers, would trade places with these Yanks ... and their fans would be appropriately thrilled. Sure, the overpaid Bombers have holes but, judging from the last three Series winners, they’re nothing that Gary Sheffield and Bartolo Colon couldn’t fill. Don’t break up the Yankees…
Editor’s Note: As a long-time Baltimore Orioles fan, I found it difficult to publish this homage to the 2003 Yankees. But since Mickey Z. is such a great guy and because he’s still recovering from the Yankees’ unexpected loss to the Marlins, I decided to publish this piece in honor of him, not the Yankees. I only wish a Washington, D.C., major sports franchise would show signs of a dynasty so I could wax eloquent about its feats.