Love or Hate the Yankees?
April 4, 2010 | Posted by Johnny Sacks 
When it comes to the New York Yankees, baseball fans either love ‘em or hate ‘em. There is no in-between. Today I have a post on The Casual Observer titled “Why I Love the Yankees”, while Kosmo—the founder of The Casual Observer—will discuss why he hates the Yankees on this site. While it pains me to posts this blasphemy written below, I will post it because it should strike up some good conversation.
Why Kosmo Hates the Yankees
Derek Jeter is overrated
OK, people, please put down the pitchforks. I’m not suggesting that Jeter isn’t a fine player. I’m not even suggesting that he’s not Hall of Fame caliber. I’m just suggesting that he’s placed on a pedestal a bit higher than what might be appropriate.
Even before A-Rod’s strong 2009 post-season, the “choker” had a higher career post-season OPS than Jeter. He currently has a .977 career OPS in the post-season, compared to Jeter’s .863. Jeter has many more post-season highlights than A-Rod, you say? Well, of course he does – he has 638 post-season plate appearances, compared to 238 for A-Rod. Jeter is more “clutch” than A-Rod? If “clutch” is an actual skill (and there is debate on this issue), there’s a lot of value is the guy who puts a team on his back during the season, too.
During the 2009 season, much publicity was given to the fact that Jeter became the all-time leader in hits for the Yankees. While this is a nice feather in his hat, I’m not sure how significant it is in the history of baseball. 2,747 hits is a nice total, but the amazing thing to me isn’t that Jeter has more hits than any other Yankee – it’s that no other Yankee has ever topped 3,000 hits. There are good reasons, for this, of course. Babe Ruth (2,518 hits as a Yankee) didn’t start his career with the team. Lou Gehrig (2,721 hits) had his career tragically cut short. Joe DiMaggio (2214) lost three years to World War II. Mickey Mantle (2,415) was out of the game by age 37. Couple these with the tendency for the Yankees to acquire much talent via trade, and the team record for hits is lower than it is for a lot of other teams. If someone wants to make a run at the Tigers record for hits, he’d need 3,901 to top Ty Cobb.
Then there are the two deficiencies in Jeter’s game. He’s a very fine BA/OBP guy. His power is a bit lacking, though – he has averaged just 12.9 HR per 500 AB for his career. On the defensive side, in spite of the three gold gloves, many defensive analysts rate his defense as, er, “less than stellar”.
Does this prevent Jeter from being a fine player? No. Does this prevent him from being The Greatest Player of Our Era? Yes.
They are beneficiaries of a flawed system
Everything that is broken in baseball seems to benefit the Yankees.
In the draft, the Yankees are able to pounce on players who slip because of financial demands. If they’re at the 25th spot in the draft, they can often nab a player with top-10 talent. Why don’t the teams higher in the draft simply trade the pick in order to maximize their value, instead of wasting a top 10 pick on lesser talent? Oh, right. Because baseball handcuffs them by forbidding the trade of draft picks.
The system of free agent compensation is supposed to reward a team that loses a player. However, there’s one wrinkle in the plan. If a team signs a type A free agent, they lose their first round draft pick. If they sign two type A free agents, they lose their first and second round draft pick. If they sign three, they lose their first, second, and third round draft pick. The marginal costs of a type A free agents drops appreciably. With the money the Yankees spend on players, they typically nab one of the top free agents. Once you’ve already sacrificed your first round pick, your costs for acquiring a lesser type A player – in terms of draft picks – is lower than that of a team that hasn’t signed on of the elite players.
In the 2009 draft, the Brewers got the Yankees’ 2nd round pick (73rd overall) for losing CC Sabathia. The Blue Jays got the Yankees’ 3rd round pick (#104) for losing AJ Burnett. Why the low compensation? Because the Braves got the Yankees’ first round pick as compensation for losing Mark Teixeira. If the Dodgers had signed Burnett instead, the Jays would have received the #17 picks (instead, it went to the Diamondbacks as compensation for a considerable lower rated player, Orlando Hudson).
They are in the American League
I’m a bit of a traditionalist. I yearn for the days of yore, when a pitcher struck out the side, then grabbed a bat and rapped a single into center field to start the next inning.
I consider the designated hitter to be a travesty inflicted upon the game by Bowie Kuhn. I consider DHs to be half a player, and dislike the American League for including his mutant position on their teams.
When he’s not unfairly attacking the Yankees, Kosmo is an aspiring novelist, vehement opponent of the designated hitter, student of true crime, and plays the keyboard for The Casual Observer – an eclectic, team-written web magazine.
Kosmo would like to give readers of Living With Balls a discount at his store as a bit of an olive branch. During the next month, use the coupon code BALLS20 to get a 20% discount on all items (excluding writers’ tip jars).
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Categories: Baseball, Sports | 
Tags: Baseball, guest post, New York Yankees | 
8 Comments »
Baseball definitely has flaws, as you point out. I guess Yankee fans could say it is sour grapes (and I guess in a way, it is), but really they should be competing for a championship every year. This isn’t to say it is their fault- it’s not like we can expect them to turn all that money down. But it is baseball’s fault, and baseball needs to do something about it.
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Don’t kick me off your site or anything, but I hate the Yankees. Not because I’m a Mets fan (that’s probably part of it though), but because they’re the Hugh Hefner of professional sports. Instead of dealing with their 80-year-old roster, they go out and get 20 year olds with their jillion-dollar payroll. Also, their fans are incredibly annoying. They’re always screaming about their 27 championships and God forbid they don’t win? The fans won’t shut up about how they were “robbed.”
Also, the Yankees are always the team that girls who don’t really like baseball always go to in order to impress guys. You know the ones- “I love baseball! I like when Derek Jeter scores a goal in the Superbowl!” Derek Jeter and A-Rod are always the only players they know because they’re “hot”, but try asking these idiots what positions they play. They’re always wearing the stupid pink sparkly Yankees hats and midriff tops at games. Ugh.
And that is why I hate the Yankees.
.-= ThatAintKosher´s last blog ..iPad Just About Enough Of This Crap =-.
I hate the stupid pink Yankee hats more than anyone and those people do not represent true Yankees fans…but from what I’ve seen there are more Red Sox fans in pink hats than Yankee fans.
.-= John ´s last blog ..Love or Hate the Yankees? =-.
WHY YOU CAN’T HATE THE YANKEES
1) Many girls who are Yankee fans are NOT like this. Those are not Yankee fans, those are bimbos. I am a female and have shared many of John’s nostalgic moments watching the Yankees with my grandfather and uncles… Yankees were a bloodline. I watched Chuck Knoblouch screw up many easy plays in the outfield, Scott Brosius, Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill and countless others that I “fell in love with” prior to Derek Jeter ever becoming the name he is today create magic memories. TO THIS DAY, one of my favorite Yankee memories is watching the 1996 World Series with my family…
2) If you notice, these “female fans” are becoming the trend among all baseball teams because bottom line girls who want impress guys and besides sex, baseball is a man’s turn-on. For the Mets, David Wright and Dan Murphy have become to the male icons for female sexual fantasies (and of course, girls studying aimlessly about their history to impress a guy). I’m sure it’s not as evident because the Yankees AND their fan base are more under the microscope than any other baseball… or sports organization… in the world. Just to give you an idea, I know quite a few people that work for the Mets Organization that are females that are David Wright fans not because of his stats but because of how his ass looks in his pants, and how he “sticks it out while at bat.” They also probably couldn’t name more than 4 more pple on their team either.
3) Many people hate the Yankees simply because they are the best franchise in sports history. Ever. 27 world championships IS A BIG deal, and cry about it if you can’t stand it. Derek Jeter’s record may not be impressive to you, but from a PERSONAL standpoint seeing him break the record with 2,722 on September 11, 2009 and making his name with all the Yankee greats is probably one of the greatest moments I have experienced in Yankee history. Something about breaking the record in his own stadium, being there on a date which is very difficult to bear in the hearts of most New Yorkers and to see his face placed among all the Great Bambino, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle. Yes, while you bring up valid points about their hitting records, is it not a fantastic fortune for the Yankees that they have decided to keep Derek Jeter around to craft this fine accomplishment?? While it may not be 3,000 Derek Jeter is still a sprightly player that probably has a few years to accomplish this feat. Even if he never reaches 3,000, there are many other reasons that should celebrate the accomplishments of Jeter.
4) An overrated Jeter??…. well quite simply, that’s ludicrous. In the last 10 years, which name would you say carries more debate and celebration than this individual? Certainly we have seen the rise and fall of many other players in the steroids scandal which Jeter is not associated, the affairs, the drug use, beating of wives, player rivalries, the betting scandals… everything far and wide and in between and Jeter remains, as I believe John had mentioned, the constant in baseball. His demeanor and his attitude and his overall persona has exemplified why America still continues to love baseball despite all of the negative attention it has received in recent years. When Jeter helps to win a game, it is the TEAM’S WIN…. when Jeter pops up in the bottom of the 9th in a Yankee loss, when Jeter misses an easy catch, overthrows an out, or can’t turn a ball into a double play, it is HIS loss. He embodies the term captain more than any other baseball player today…. overrated or underrated, Jeter represents the epitome of baseball and what it should be.
5) As a Met fan, let’s look at how your organization spent their monies the last 5 years in order to do exactly what you claim the Yankees have done which is buy championships. (Buying 20 year olds to make up for their 80 year old roster… Franco, anyone?) The last upstanding season produced from the Mets is probably the Epic 3rd pitch past Beltran in the 2006 Division Championships… the pitch heard round the world. From 2007 to 2009 the team has seen an epic collapse. I for one have worked at the Met Organization last year, and do you know what chorus echoed in the former Shea stadium and current new Citifield? “Yankees suck.” Despite adding another title to their tally, I believe Met fans have much more to worry about than how the the “Yankees suck.” The Mets suffered one of the most epic collapses in history last year after Sports Illustrated projected them as the World Series champions, after going out and buying and trying player after player while more injuries plagued their staff, after widespread hirings and firings of coaches, trainers, and everything in between… no one can still fight that the Mets have had their share of overpriced contracts in which most of these individuals still sit on the DL list…. Beltran and Reyes still remain out in the beginning of 2010…and Murphy has recently added to that list. And SINCE I was a Yankee fan that supported the Mets organization, I watched all of the behind-the-scenes footage of what the Met organization is and what it is trying to be. Despite the fact that you and every other Met fan may disagree, the Mets Organization is trying to make the Mets the Yankees version 2.0… from building a stadium filled with nostalgia of their epic past, a Rotunda that houses a player that has no affiliation with Mets baseball (only simply because shea/citifield are off the Jackie Robinson pkwy) trying to implement a “no smoking policy” in the beginning of 2009 in the birth of Citifield which was thrown out quicker than Bobby V when he argues a call, and possibly the best, Fred Wilpon suspending 2 employees last year for putting fans in a shot with shirts that read, “I’m still calling it Shea.” I’m sorry, but shouldn’t the Mets fans be allowed to celebrate the good memories about their baseball history? Not if you are Wilpon, focus on their future which up to this point has not looked so good.
6) If you think a Yankee fan is annoying, you should really see how Met fans operate when Yankees win in games that have NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR OUTCOME. If you walk out of Yankee stadium during a Yankee loss, people may cry “we were robbed” but you won’t hear us screaming “Mets still suck” because in the long run, the Mets or Yankees have no bearing in the outcome of their seasons, The only time this rivalry should ever reach this level is when the Subway Series makes its way round. EVERYTIME I walk out of Citifield or Shea there is always some Met IDIOT fan screaming “Yankees suck”… I’m sorry did I miss something? This is not like the Rangers and Islanders playing in the same league and directly affecting each other , and you certainly do NOT hear Giants or Jets fans screaming Giants suck or Jets suck… and I have COUNTLESS MET FAN FRIENDS that watch EVERY Yankee game with the opportunity to write “Let’s GO Boston, or F–K THE YANKEES” on their facebook page, their away msg, their bbm status, their Myspace page, or Twitter it for the next 3 days….” HELLO?!?!?! As a Yankee and baseball fan in general, I find it quite humorous that SO MUCH ATTENTION is put into the Yankees if they are truly an overrated team. Let’s not forget, that overrated team also put a halt to your Championship dreams in 2000.
BTW… if you think there are a lot of girls wearing midriffs and tube tops rooting for the Yankees, you should see how many of those exact same female Met fans exist screaming “Yankees suck” because their creatine-filled boyfriends are dong the same…. and how many of them are wearing heels and dress. I know because I went to the opener yesterday, and there is quite a few…
Derek Jeter is a true fuckin’ Yankee. Unlike that purple-lipped fag A-Rod!
I never said ALL female Yankee fans, I pointed out the select idiots. And to say “Why You Can’t Hate The Yankees?” I didn’t know it was illegal.
It’s an opinion site. Jesus, calm the fuck down.
.-= ThatAintKosher´s last blog ..iPad Just About Enough Of This Crap =-.
George Costanza was the greatest Yankee hire EVER…