Yankee Fan Stereotype

Being a Yankees fan isn't as easy as one would think.  Now, before you respond to that opening sentence with expletives, hear me out.

No matter where you go, no matter what you stand for, if someone hears that you're a fan of the New York Yankees, you are automatically assumed to be, well a -insert insult here-.  In some cases, that insult is rightly earned.  I know a ton of people that want the Yankees to acquire a superstar player at every given choice.  When it comes to some of them, they won't be satisfied until the #5 starter is Josh Johnson and the backup outfielder is Matt Kemp.  Yup, some Yankee fans are extremely spoiled and intolerable to the point that they resemble Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.  Some of them want that Oompa Loompa now & he had better be a five-tool stud who's off day is going 2-for-4 at the plate. 

Those types of fans disgust me & almost make me feel obligated to apologize on behalf of the New York Yankees fan base.  Not every single fan is like that though, certainly not to the point where other fans should approach total strangers and start belittling them at random.  I can't even begin to get into the amount of times that some Joe Schmo has given me crap because of the stereotypical attitude displayed by what they feel is representative of all Yankees fans.  There are stereotypes everywhere with all fan bases but being a snob and that the World Series is their birth right, is an unfortunate stereotype that Yankee fans deal with.  From people that I work with to people I meet at the local bar, from Baltimore and Boston to San Francisco, I've heard it all and it is exhausting.  I've even had my chops busted at a small pub in Rome.  That completely threw me off because who would expect that?

Some of you may not want to believe it, but there are large amounts of Yankee fans out there that don't subscribe to the "World Series or Bust" mantra.  You are only familiar with the type of fan that ESPN broadcasts to increase their ratings.  There are tons out there like me who preach patience and develop from within as the proper way to go.  If there is a legit stud on the open market that fills a pressing need, then yeah go ahead & lock that guy up.  C.C. Sabathia is a shining example of a necessary big money signing to fill a dire need but Mark Teixeira was not.  That signing was overkill and now the Yankees are once again saddled with a huge, long term contract at top dollar.  Yeah it fed a short term need in the 2009 World Series but the last two seasons, he's been underwhelming to put it nicely considering the contract he was signed to.  He was signed to be elite for a long time, not just an all or nothing home run hitter with a nice glove at first base.  Contrary to popular belief, there are fans that do think about the long term success of the Yankees and think the "What have you done for me lately?" attitude is dated and inaccurate. Also, it's going to make you look stupid if that's your opinion.  Everyone has an opinion but if that is yours....yeah, then it really is stupid. 

I'm not a Homer.  I don't feel that the Yankees should be a strictly home grown team.  They should make trades and free agent signings that fill needs.  What they shouldn't do is acquire a player just because he's elite & on the market.  If they truly need that player, like I said, go out and get him.  If not, let him be someone else's albatross of a contract.  The system is deep and there are impact players there at every position.  From starting pitcher to any infield position to the relievers, the system is stacked.  The quick fix high salary star should not be the initial thought for the Steinbrenner brothers.  But the point of this post is that fans throughout baseball need to realize that there are Yankee fans out there that don't want the top dollar mercenary by any means necessary.  Not all of us are going to stomp our feet because the Yankees didn't win the World Series.  Show me progress of young talent on the ML roster and of impact prospects in the minor league system and I am content.  I will mark out over a World Series title like a teenager at a Jonas Brothers concert though, don't get me wrong.  I detest that "World Series or Bust" attitude and I always will.

If you're going to approach a Yankees fan blindly thinking something negative, there's an excellent chance that you will look foolish for that assumption by the end of the conversation.

-Trev

Twitter: @trevwolff

National Geographic's "Break it Down: Yankee Stadium"

The show wil air on Thursday April 28th at 10:00 PM. Here are some video previews via National Geographic:

Heritage Field/Old YS Update

It's been a while, but with the new season underway I felt it would be a good time to check in with the construction of Heritage Field on the site of the real Yankee Stadium. Below are 8 shots, including three new artists renderings of what the park will look like. All photos via RAB & Baseball-Fever.com

RIP Freddy

Another sad day in Yankeeland......

From the Daily News:

Freddy "Sez", a Yankee Stadium staple for the last 20 years, has died at age 82, according to friend Chuck Frantz.

At almost every Yankee game, Freddy could be seen outside Yankee Stadium with his daily message for the Yanks and a frying pan he banged like a drum. He also let other fans bang it as well.

I'd also like to quote Ben from RAB, who wrote this earlier today:

His pan and spoon are now in Cooperstown. “This is what keeps me going,” he said to Times reporter Manny Fernandez back in 2006. “This is why I’m doing it. Probably if I stopped, I’d probably be buried already.”

The 2006 piece is chock full of stories about Freddy. The Upper West Sider lost his eye in a stickball accident at age 9 and his teeth because he owned a candy store. The constant banging he endured as the holder of the pan left him hard of hearing, but he did it for love of the game. The Yanks even flew him out to Arizona for Game 7 of the 2001 World Series to serve as the team’s good luck charm. “If Freddy isn’t there with his pan,” Rudy Giuiliani once said, “it doesn’t feel right. It feels like there’s something missing.”

When I was a kid there were three sounds of the stadium that always stuck out; Bob Sheppard on the PA, Eddie Layton on the organ, and fans hitting a pan with a spoon. All of that is now gone.

Being On Yankee Stadium Field: Damon Runyon 5K

About two months ago, I was online at my internship looking at random facts about Yankee Stadium on a website (I didn't do much at my internship). I read that a 5K took place at Yankee Stadium in 2009 for cancer. The organization is known as the Damon-Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The organization was established in honor of Damon Runyon, a newspaperman and writer about Broadway in New York City, back in 1946. He was 66 when he passed away due to cancer. As the foundation has grown, publicity for it has grown as well. Anyways… in 2009, they were granted access to use Yankee Stadium as a spot for a 5K run. Over 2,500 people showed up and it was a great success.

I came across a sign up for the 2010 race and immediately signed myself up as well as my girlfriend. The date of the race was August 15 and I figured this would be an amazing opportunity to gain a unique perspective on Yankee Stadium on a date in which there would be no game. My girlfriend is a far superior runner to me, and I am the far superior swimmer. I had no idea what to expect going into Yankee Stadium yesterday. 4,000 people were signed up for the race and I figured some of them were there to sprint the whole thing and win for bragging rights. I simply wanted to just run around the stadium and enjoy the views. Quite frankly, I was a bit nervous. I’ve never even RUN a 5K before.

The way the race worked was this… heats of 300-400 people were sent off at a time. The first heat of the day began at 9:30 and they continued until 12:00pm when the last heat was sent. The first heat was a 7:00 minute pace per mile, the second heat was 8:00 per mile, so on and so forth. The last six heats were all for walkers only. I figured, since my father passed away from cancer, the least I could do was run it with pride.

My girlfriend and I were signed up for the second heat. I was freaking out. We checked in at Gate 4 to get the numbers we pin to our shirts and we got on line for heat two. We slowly entered into the Great Hall and waited in a “holding pen” as the people in heat one enthusiastically began their run. I anxiously stood at the starting line behind hundreds of people thinking of what was to come. As the horn sounded, we were off!

We started on the field level and ran around it twice. After finishing the second time around, we headed down a ramp towards the lowest level of the field. We ran through tunnels and hooked a hard right. What I saw before me was the most beautiful sight my eyes have ever seen. As I proceeded forward, my feet hit dirt. I was on Yankee Stadium field. I ran two laps around the warning track of Yankee Stadium. It was one of the most awesome experiences I have ever been a part of. To wear my father’s name with pride on the back of my shirt while running around the Yankee Stadium warning track and running for cancer; I felt incredible. I touched the walls and the scoreboards and the bullpen. I bent down to touch the grass to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be down there when the stadium is at full capacity. We jogged up stairs to the second level, jogged around and up more stairs to the grandstand/terrace level. Ran around that, down the ramps all the way to the bottom level, and then back up to the terrace and back down the ramps again. As I crossed the finish line, I felt so accomplished. I never even thought of walking a part of it and jogged/ran the entire thing. Although I don’t know my time, I’m sure it was fairly fast. I was so amped on adrenaline that I could do anything.

I just wanted to let everyone know that this was a spectacular opportunity and I highly recommend that you run it next year. It was so much fun and I’m overjoyed that I participated. It’s truly something I will hold near and dear to me for the rest of my life.

How About a Demolition Update?

Since all parts of the structure have been gone and cleaned up for a few months now it's been a while since we last checked in with the demolition of Yankee Stadium. But I recently came across these photos from Baseball-Fever member DN4L and they show that the old stadium is now a walkway, well, at least part of it. Here, take a look:

(click to enlarge)

The "Voice of God" Has Been Silenced

It's a very sad Sunday in Yankeeland, because legend and long-time PA announcer, Bob Sheppard, has passed away.

He died earlier this morning at his home in Baldwin, N.Y. He was 99.

R.I.P. Mr. Sheppard. You will be sorely missed.

Here are three of our last memories of Sheppard at Yankee Stadium. The first in his final live lineup announcement, the second is his speech about Yankee Stadium prior to the final game, and the third is the lineups from that night.

This final video is from a CNN report from Joe DiMaggio day back in 1999. In it you will here Sheppard call the lineups for Game 6 of the 1951 World Series, between the New York Yankees and New York Giants.

Cleanup Time

The demolition of Yankee Stadium has now officially turned into the cleanup of the site of where Yankee Stadium once stood. Not a single piece of America's most famous sports venue remains. This photographic proof comes to us from loyal reader Chris Neville, who was at the game on Friday and snapped these photos.....

(Click on photos to see full size, and for the main demolition updates page, click here.)

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5/19 Demolition Update - Clean Up Time

Here are 20 new shots from Baseball-Fever member DN4L. They show the cleanup process beginning as well what's left of the gate 6 staircase. Click on image to enlarge and click here for the main demolition updates page.

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