One cannot love baseball and hate the Yankees

[WilliamPitt]

The concepts are antithetical. I love baseball. I absolutely despise the Yankees. But I do not hate them. Ruth. DiMaggio. Maris. Etc.

Well done, Yankees. Well done. We will see you next year. Of course.

[Resistance]

1. One can love baseball

and hate MLB, however.

[Uzybone]

2. Well said...again

awesome effort by Boston.

[JackDragna]

3. The hell with that!

I'm a White Sox fan. The Yankees kick us around like a soccer ball. I'd hate them no matter what their payroll. I hate them even more considering the stories my father told me..the Sox would be decent in the 50's and 60's during the season. Then the Yankees would come to Comiskey and beat the hell out of the Sox, sending the Sox into a season-long tailspin.

Bleah. I'll hate anyone! I hate kittens! Cheese puffs! South Dakota! Arrrgh!

[SmileyBoy]

5. I hate South Dakota too!!!!

North Dakotan here!!!:-)

[HEyHEY]

11. I have no previous problem with South Dakota

But if you guys hate em so do I!

[WilliamPitt]

8. Hate the cheese puffs on your own time

The Yankees ain't cheesepuffs. They win for a reason. When I figure out what that reason is, I will certainly let you know...

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. You have not figured that out yet?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Loyal]

18. Whatever

The yankees did not always have the highest payroll, you know, and they did rack up WS's before 1980.

[Resistance]

22. Whatever

are you really trying to argue that $$$ is not a factor?

[Loyal]

47. The Red Sox

have a pretty big payroll, too, buddy. It's not like they're the Devil Rays.

Game, set, match.

You're outta there!

[JackDragna]

16. I know why they win.

They have a high payroll that allows them to keep both their own talented players and fill in gaps in their team with good free agents. They don't always go get the big names, either: they get role-players meant to plug weaknesses. The Yankees also have some excellent coaches..few teams are better at scouting opposing hitters or working pitchers deep into the count.

There. There's my bit of rationality.

[SOteric]

4. It was a heck of a game.

the Sox are to be congratulated on fine play, as are the Yankees on their victory.

[soleft]

6. Thanks Mr. Pitt, it was a great battle right to the end

[MaineDem]

7. Wanna bet? (n/t)

.

[baby_bear]

9. It's always those Damn Yankees, eh, Will?

That's how I feel. I grew up hating them and loving to hate them, which made baseball all the better and more fun. Nothing has changed.

My true grief is when the season is over. Baseball is my only sport. I always yearn for April and dread the end of October for that reason.

What an incredible series this was. I am grateful for 14 wonderful games, and I saw every inning, every game, work be damned!

Sorry to you Red Sox fans. I'd like the Mariners to get that close some day.

Here's to a 7-game World Series. I don't have a favorite, just want to see good baseball.

s_m

[WilliamPitt]

14. Well...

We're a prisoner of the division, so...

[baby_bear]

29. "prisoner of the division" is a pretty new phenomenon

I could say the same about the Mariners -- having to play and beat the Athletics and Angels (okay, the Angels were crummy this year) --
but it's not like the Central...

Nevertheless, the concept of the Damn Yankees both precedes and supersedes the division concept.

I just take enjoyment in the game, and rue the end of the season.

s_m

[Loyal]

12. Don't forget

Gehrig and Mantle!

Well done to you and your Sox too, Will. I truly enjoyed watching every minute of this series.

Clemens had a kinda crappy game, but it was still nice seeing the standing ovation he got at Yankee Stadium. I know that he would have gotten one, too, at Boston. :)

Cheers! :toast:

[WoodrowFan]

50. Gehrig and Mantle!

a momma's boy and an alkie. good role models. :spank:

[Bake]

13. I know that hurts you to have to say it, Will!

But you're right. I used to hate the Yankees. But Torre IS the Chess Master! The Yankees are, and ever will be, the Boys of October! Gotta love 'em.

Gotta give it up for the Red Sox too! They fought like hell to the last. They did NOT choke like the Cubbies did! Valiant effort! Martinez just pitched to one batter too many--up to that point he was the Dominator!

Bake

[WilliamPitt]

19. Oh, I'll say it

I'm not one to fudge things when the truth comes down. The Yankees won this year, fair and square.

We'll be here next year.

[VelmaD]

21. This is why I love sports...

there's always next year. How many days til paitchers and catchers report for Spring training? :-)

[WilliamPitt]

24. February

...counting the days...

[VelmaD]

26. Jesus h christ...

that's only 4 months away. And then we get to do this all over again. All the hope and frustration. We must be gluttons for punishment. :-)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. Well I am proof that

you are wrong.

[FlemingsGhost]

17. I know this is the most pathetic of sports clichés, but...

it really is a shame someone had to lose tonight's game.

Boston has every bit the heart of the Yankees team, and both sides left all they had on the field.

I simply cannot ask for anything more from a sporting event.

[VelmaD]

20. Hate may be a little strong...

but I sure don't like 'em.

I love baseball...and I'm rooting for the Marlins. ;-)

[SOteric]

25. Yeah. WooHoo Marlins!

[markses]

23. Much props to Pitt and Boston!

I was gonna post this post either way. I'll admit to turning off the TV during the Red Sox ups in extra innings. Yes, that bad.

What a friggin season for the Sox. And their great fans, including those here on DU. It's been a pleasure going back and forth with you folks!

Now, START SPREADING THE NEWS....

Go Yankees!

[HuckleB]

27. Incredible game! Incredible series!

Congratulations to the Yankees and their fans!

Condolences to the Red Sox and their fans!

[Resistance]

28. Wow, the Yankees spent the most money!

Weee what a thrill.

[HuckleB]

32. Wow! You've posted that drivel everywhere!

Please. This was a great night of baseball. The playoffs have been absolutely beautiful this year. Sore loser baloney is going to get you nowhere.

Please note that I am a Cubs fan. I'm not whining, though I am a bit sad. The Marlins won. Congrats to them.

I suspect it's going to be one heck of a World Series! Woo Hoo! I can't wait to watch some more great baseball.

[WilliamPitt]

55. Wow, the Sox spent the second-most money

Payroll roster in order of spending:

1. Yankees
2. Red Sox

[FlyByNight]

30. All in all, a great series

But it's so friggin' hard to be philosophical when the Yankees win, yet again, in spectacular fashion and, conversely, the Sox lose in spectacular fashion.

I feel awful... :(

[NewYorkerfromMass]

31. Spectacularly bad managing

I guess Pedro convinced Little he was god.

[FlemingsGhost]

33. Yeah... taking the AL champs to the very limit

What a bad manager.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

35. the true AL champs are going back to Boston

and the team it was given to is going to Fla. Sorry to be so bitter but it is readily apparent that Grady f'd up.

[HuckleB]

38. Grady is a member of the Red Sox, no?

Thus, the Sox are not the "true" champs. Come on, be a good sport. The Yankees won. Offer your congratulations and move on. The rest of us have done so.

There is no sniveling in baseball!

[FlyByNight]

37. The second-guess heard 'round the world...

Damn, Little's going to take some serious heat in the off-season.

[44g]

34. FUCK THE YANKEES

But if your favorite player from your favorite team is now a Yankee I guess it would be okay to route for the Yankees. Red Sox, Reds, A's, Blue Jays, Cuban National Team fans can find a reason to root for the Yankees since Massa George bought players from the previously mentioned teams because they could not afford to keep Roger, Aaron, Jason, David, and Jose.

[HuckleB]

39. Give your cliches a rest.

The sour grapes are turning into rotten eggs.

[pnb]

60. Give it a rest dude...

That's the nature of the game today...virtually all teams have guys they got from other places. Look at all the home grown guys the Yanks got...

Jeter
Soriano
Pettitte
Posada
Williams
Johnson
Rivera

How many teams can boast players like that that they groomed themselves?

Useless whining.

Go YANKEES!!!

[Liberepublicat]

36. True...

... I can't love baseball and hate the Yankees... but my wife can. So, I let her.

[jafap]

40. As of right now, I hate baseball too

There I was hoping for a Cubs-Sox series and instead I get the complete opposite. How heartbreaking and disgusting.

The Yankees are the herpes virus of baseball - they always come back. It is like a metaphor for life - the Goliaths always win.

Oh well, it always was a better game to play than to watch.

[HuckleB]

41. Give it a rest.

In sport, things often don't work out how we'd like them to. That's just part of the entertainment. If you don't like sad endings, don't watch.

Baseball is still the king in my book. No sport offers more tight competition or a more exciting playoffs than baseball, with the possible exception of World Cup Soccer, which only comes every four years.

[jus_the_facts]

42. Will.....ya can't forget Ron Guidry.......

LOUISIANA LIGHTNING!!!

[NYYFan]

43. It was one helluva game

:loveya: Will :-)

[regnaD kciN]

44. Dear Will...oh, yeah?

Be assured that I love baseball and hate the Yankees...and always will.

:grr:

After the '86 Series, I came to a sad realization: that, no matter how long I lived (I was 30 at the time), I was never going to see the Sox win a world championship.

For about half-an-hour last night, I had the slightest hope that I might have been wrong.

Then reality set in.

As usual. No, make that "as always."

:-(

[OneBlueSky]

45. whomever you were rooting for . . .

that was one helluva baseball game! . . . maybe the best I've ever seen . . . shame that someone had to lose, since both teams played their hearts out . . . say what you want about MLB, they put a great product on the field in this series . . . I used to live near Boston and supported the Sox, so I know what kind of fans they have up there . . . I really hope that you guys will get to the Series someday soon and win it . . . just won't be this year . . . still, congrats on a great season, a great game, and a great team . . . :)

[VermontDem2004]

46. Aaron Boone of all people

I said to myselfs when I seen the 3 batters to start the 11th inning I said to myself the Red Sox should be able to get out of this inning without any runs. Boy I was wrong, first pitch and he smashes it.

[realFedUp]

48. Pedro did keep the Sox at bat

He's a great pitcher.

[WoodrowFan]

49. You are insane, alas.

One can not love baseball and NOT hate the Yankees. A team that uses it's extreme advantage in money to buy championships is the anthisis, um, atntithesi, um, the OPPOSITE of the compition that makes baseball so much fun. They are evil, evil, EVIL.


And they're an EXPANSION TEAM!*




*expansion team, founded after 1869.

[returnable]

52. Buy championships??

So I guess Boston "bought" second place, eh?

There sure wasn't a lot of homegrown talent wearing Sox uniforms last night...

Say what you want about George and his spending habits, but at least he invests in his team. What's evil about rewarding your employees???

[WoodrowFan]

54. LOL

They simply outbid the other teams cause they can. If I had more money than anybody else in town I could buy the biggest house? Does that mean I have a bigger house cause I'm 'better"? Nope. It just means I had the most money. That's all the Yankees championships mean, they had more money, more often.

[returnable]

58. Uh... riiiight

So Oakland has dominated the West for the last 3 years cuz they outspend the rest of the Division.

And Minnesota owns the Central cuz they can outspend the Sox and Indians.

And the Marlins just flipped the Cubs cuz they spent more on payroll.

Yep. I see. It's all about money and has nothing to do with strategy, execution, and performance.

:eyes:

[THUNDER HANDS]

51. Are people allowed to hate George Steinbrenner?

Because it's kind hard to hate him, but not the Yankees. He, essentially, IS the Yankees.

[DinahMoeHum]

61. I LOATHE "Baron Von SteinGrabber", but I LOVE the Yanks!!

and my dislike of Steinbrenner stemmed from his shit-ass games of managerial musical chairs he played in the 1980's and early 1990's.

In fact, when Joe Torre started managing in 1996, I used to joke to friends: "if Torre is still manager after this year, it will be a major Yankee victory". Happily, I was proven wrong that year.

And the rest, they say, is history...

:kick:

[LoneStarLiberal]

53. Boone~Arnott

I despise the Yankees. I despise the cold, hard, unassailable economic fact that they were one of only a handful of teams that could assume Aaron Boone's salary in order to trade for him for their stretch run.

But I cannot argue that Boone's hit last night was anything other than the stuff great baseball. Poor hitting, replacing Enrique Wilson, walk-off home run in extra innings of Game 7 of ALCS.

That moment for me was like Jason Arnott scoring the Stanley Cup-winning goal back in 2000 against my beloved Dallas Stars. I am enthusiastically unimpressed with the Devils and always had (and still do now that he is a Star!) considered Arnott to be a financially-pampered underachiever, but that extra-time one-on-one breakaway goal on Ed Belfour was the stuff of hockey legend.

Those few seconds, like Boone's walk-off last night in the lineup last night, encapsulated EVERYTHING that drives us to play the games and love the games from the times we are children through the bruises, skinned knees, possibly through the knee surgeries and shoulder surgeries and always the broken hearts.

It was classic.

[bif]

56. Oh yeah?

I love baseball and have hated the Yanks all my life.

[11 Bravo]

57. Au contraire Sir William.

I have had a love affair with baseball since I was 5. I played Little League, Babe Ruth, High School and American Legion ball. I attend 5-10 games a year (major and minor league) and I coach both of my son's teams. I also hate the New York Yankees like I hate Republicans, genital warts, and broccoli.

[ArkDem]

59. There are more on the way, I'm afraid

Yankees Hall of Famers

Players
Bold Face indicates a Hall of Famer elected as a player, others were elected as managers or executives.

Player Years with Yankees
Frank Baker 1916-1919, 1921-1922
Yogi Berra 1946-1963
Frank Chance 1913-1914
Jack Chesbro 1903-1909
Earle Combs 1924-1935
Stan Coveleski 1928
Bill Dickey 1928-1943, 1946
Joe DiMaggio 1936-1942, 1946-1951
Leo Durocher 1925, 1928-1929
Whitey Ford 1950, 1953-1967
Lou Gehrig 1923-1939
Lefty Gomez 1930-1942
Clark Griffith 1903-1907
Burleigh Grimes 1934
Waite Hoyt 1921-1930
Catfish Hunter 1975-1979
Reggie Jackson 1977-1981
Willie Keeler 1903-1909
Tony Lazzeri 1926-1937
Mickey Mantle 1951-1968
Bill McKechnie 1913
Johnny Mize 1949-1953
Phil Niekro 1984-1985
Herb Pennock 1923-1933
Gaylord Perry 1980
Phil Rizzuto 1941-1942, 1946-1956
Red Ruffing 1930-1942, 1945-1946
Babe Ruth 1920-1934
Joe Sewell 1931-1933
Enos Slaughter 1954-1959
Dazzy Vance 1915, 1918
Paul Waner 1944-1945
Dave Winfield 1981-88, 1990


Managers
Bold Face indicates a Hall of Famer elected as a manager, others were elected as players or executives.

Manager Years with Yankees
Yogi Berra 1964, 1984-1985
Frank Chance 1913-1914
Bill Dickey 1946
Clark Griffith 1903-1908
Bucky Harris 1947-1948
Miller Huggins 1918-1929
Bob Lemon 1978-1979, 1981-1982
Joe McCarthy 1931-1946
Casey Stengel 1949-1960