Yankees Now and Then

I first remember rooting for the NY Yankees during the 1964 World Series which they lost in 7 games to St. Louis. For the next 12 years the Yankees were not very good, and they taught me what it means to be loyal to your favorite team.

The Yankees of my youth had Mickey Mantle in his declining years, where I saw him at Yankee Stadium hit some line drives that invariable would fall short of being home runs. It was hard to watch him struggle and do his infamous trot back to the dugout after making out. In addition to learning the meaning of loyalty I also learned something about compassion.

The final lesson I learned from rooting for the Yankees in my younger days was that not all people are endowed with the same skills and talents. If you ever saw the ragtag bunch who donned the Yankees pinstripes in the mid-1960s and early 1970s you will know what I mean. There were some diamonds in the rough like Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer but most were very average guys like Horace Clarke, Jerry Kenney, Danny Cater, Gene Michael, to name a few. It's not that they didn't try, only that they had a tough act to follow. The teams which had preceding them had been very good for 40 years and as everybody knows that sort of dominance can't go on forever.

Now that my team has won its 27th World Championship I'll savor it for a while. I won't forget the disappointments of my youth and the hard lessons which they represent. These sort of things provide guidance and help us endure the inevitable hardships to come. Though for now I am counting the days until Spring Training, when my team will defend its crown. This choice of a favorite team was made in my youth and now seems so logical. Of course there were times when I questioned it. I can't exactly say why I stayed the course but it is days like today when I am glad I did.