Yankees Win...What’s New???

Another notch in the New York Yankee’s belt... the “2009 World Series Championship”. It seems like the Bronx Bombers always find a way to get to the big game and then more often than not win it as well. Some younger folks may think this started in the 90’s with Joe Torre and Steinbrenner but it goes back much farther than that. Back to the time of Casey Stengal, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig,Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio of course. In my generation, and remember I was a Tigers fan, I used to hate the guys from New York. They had a line up from 1 to 9 that could batter your brains out. Billy Martin and Tony Kubek in the infield with Mantle and Maris in the outfield were a consistent potent weapon. Add to that Yogi Berra behind the plate and Bill Skowron at first base and bam! You were in trouble. Over the years these guys were replaced by other stars such as Clete Boyer,Bobby Richardson Chris Chamblis, Elston Howard and on and on. The list of pitchers also seems endless when you start with Whitey Ford, Ryne Duren, Bob Turley, Goose Gossage, Louisiana Lightning (Ron Guidry) and many many more. The thing is I believe the Yankees have something that no other team possesses which makes them perennial winners. You could make an argument that it is the scouts and the farm system when you consider that 4 of this year’s senior core were home grown boys such as Petit, Posada, Jeter and Miriano Rivera. Or you could say that the millions spent on hiring the best free agents certainly didn’t hurt ie. CC Sabathia, AJ Burnette, Hideki Matsui, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodrigues tipped the balance in favour of the Bombers. Those things are definitely a part of the formula but they also have the one thing that all dynasty’s have and that is “the expectation of winning”. What you say is this nonsense? Trust me this is a fact. I have been involved in sports for over 45 years and I have seen how powerful this “expectation” can be. It starts within the management of the team where owners and managers have only one goal and that is to win, Not revenue, not profit, or balancing the budget drives these people, only the taste of victory. The field manager is also a critical factor in instilling this set of expectations into his players so that nothing else is more important that the team’s victory, not their stats nor their salaries must ever interfere with this one objective. The Yankees win more often than others because they come closer to maintaining this ideal of “a winning expectation”. Other teams may try and they may be successful for one season, maybe two but they never seem to make this “expectation” a living part of their organization that is passed on from generation to generation. The only other sports teams to ever come close were the Montreal Canadiens in hockey and the Green Bay Packers in the NFL. They gradually drifted back with the average teams over the years but not the Yankees. They have kept the fires burning for decades and I say “fantastic” even though I still hate em’.