The “Yankees Way” Is Obsolete And Getting In The Way Of MLB
The Yankees have this thing they refer to as Yankee Pride that has served them well resulting in more World Championships than any other franchise in baseball. But more and more, the Yankees Way is driving fans away from and not toward the sport of baseball. And there’s no way that can be judged as good.
The Yankees battle over hair with Clint Frazier this spring, and going back further with Don Mattingly when he played, is a microcosm of a battle that is taking place in baseball everywhere. In New York, though, it’s back page news fodder, and it always comes down to the same thing.
If you want to play for the New York Yankees, there’s a certain way that you need to dress, act, and groom yourself. Beg to differ; there’s the door.
To be clear, this is not a matter of management exercising their right to establish rules for their employees. That should be a given. But instead, it is a question of what comes out the other end when rules like the Yankees policy on hair – which by the way – isn’t written down anywhere – interferes with the growth of the game of baseball.
These numbers should be alarming to anyone who loves and follows the sport of baseball. And it’s not just Yanks Go Yard, it’s everywhere.
Because that’s exactly what I see happening. And it’s not only the Yankees. The Dodgers still have their “Dodger Blue” Tommy Lasorda rah-rah thing going on, and no one can tell me that’s not the main reason why Mattingly fled from the Dodgers to the city of Miami.
I’ll share something with you that will hopefully illustrate what I’m talking about. As an editor for Yanks Go Yard, part of my job is study numbers that tell us about our readers. We do that to be able to provide a better product. Now, consider what you see in this chart that portrays YGY readers and the age group they come from:
Age Group | Percent |
18-24 | 7.4% |
25-34 | 13.1% |
35-44 | 16.2% |
45-54 | 16.8% |
55-64 | 25.5% |
65+ | 21% |
These numbers should be alarming to anyone who loves and follows the sport of baseball. And it’s not just Yanks Go Yard; it’s everywhere.
What The WBC Experience Can Teach Us
In the recently concluded World Baseball Classic, a debate raged throughout about how the game” should be played.” On the one hand, we saw the emotional and emoting Puerto Rican and Dominican teams led by Yadier Molina and Jose Bautista playing their brand of baseball, with fans in the stands waving flags and having a good ole time.
The chart that appears above tells the whole story in a nutshell. Baseball needs to attract young fans into its fold if the sport has any chance of maintaining its status as our National Pastime. And the only way to accomplish that is by catering to what young fans want to see, whether us older folks like it or not.
The Times They Are A Changin’
I’ve into my sixth decade as a Yankees fan. I can recall the Yankees teams where Mickey Mantle, the carousing and wild original Joe Namath ruled the streets of New York, played alongside Bobby Richardson, an ordained minister who played the game the way he preached. And I’ve witnessed the self-professed hot dog himself, Reggie Jackson, sell his candy bars with edicts proclaiming to be the “straw that stirs the drink.” Jim Bouton, Billy Martin, Sparky Lyle, and Derek Jeter have all wore the Yankees uniform.
And if Jeter had one moment of a disservice to the game of baseball, it’s that he was too good. And I know that’s going to rile some of you, but it’s true in the sense that baseball was in a state of flux leading to the changes we see today. And those changes passed the Yankees by, even until today with Frazier thing and the Yankees sticking to their time-worn tradition of hair styling.
It shouldn’t matter that Clint Frazier looks, shall we say, “odd” with that red hair all over the place. And it shouldn’t matter that Dallas Keutchel looks like he just escaped from Amish Country with the beard he wears (no offense intended), and not the second coming of Sandy Koufax when he’s right.
What should matter is that Frazier has had this hairstyle probably since he was in Junior High School. Does he hit home runs with his hair? That’s how ridiculous the discussion has become, especially with the Yankees.
How Much Is Too Much?
Baseball is a pastoral sport. From its inception during the Civil War, it was a “Gentleman’s Game” that was played beyond the battlefields as an escape from the scourge of war. Over the years, baseball has sought to maintain that image, and for the most part, it has succeeded.
Professional Baseball is not the NBA and NFL with its endless taunting of opponents with trash talk and gang signs being thrown instead of well-placed passes. And as fans of the game. We should be proud and stand tall in supporting a sport that has not given in to those cultural tendencies that mark our society today.
But at the same time, what wrong with a little bat flip? Or a few jumps in the air after one of your teammates has made a catch going over the wall, or even when a critical strikeout is registered in a crucial part of the game.
Anyone who has ever played the game knows that feeling and the sound when the ball meets the sweet part of the bat. It’s baseball’s answer to an orgasm during sex. And it’s a moment that should be celebrated, wildly in some cases like a walk-off home run.
And after all, if there’s booming fireworks going off from the scoreboard as we see at many parks, or the loud siren that whistles during Yankees home games when a home run is hit, why can’t there be fireworks on the field as well?
Players and pitchers especially need to adjust to a changing game in changing times. The same batter that they “fist-pumped” in the third inning when they struck him out has a legitimate right to say, “Gotcha this time, didn’t I” when he corks one high and deep in any way he likes.
Where Have All The Young Fans Gone?
There’s no need to celebrate the answer to the question above, but truth be told the 18-24 and to a lesser extent 25-34 group of Americans, have gone the way our society has gone because whether we like it or not, they ARE our society now and we are not.
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Each generation faces the turmoil of giving way to the next generation. In my time, this meant demonstrations in the streets and tear gas in my eyes during the tumultuous 1960’s. Over time, we “won” and Archie Bunker lost. And now, Archie is back in the name of Donald Trump. Things change, and we all have to roll with it.
And so, speaking as one of those Old Timer’s I don’t have to welcome the flamboyant changes we see coming about in baseball. But I do need to accept them as a sign that the diversity of cultures and countries that participate in MLB as something that’s required if our game is going to retain its popularity and growth.
And whether they like it or not, the Yankees are in the middle of this thing. And they need to give a little to get a little. Because if the Yankees don’t loosen up a little, that chart is only going to get more skewed with us old farts clogging up the top while the younger crowd continues to run away from and not toward the game of baseball.
It’s the player’s game. Let them police themselves as they’ve always done. They’ll figure it out.