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As a Yankee fan, I was deeply saddened by the Yankees’ loss to the Cleveland Indians in the first round of the playoffs. They had the best record in Major League Baseball since the All-Star break and I genuinely felt that they would make their first run for a World Series since losing to the Florida Marlins in 2003. However, this was the first season I chose to support them since their last World Series victory in 2000. Their loss helped me to realize an important fact.
Since the 2001 season, the Yankees chose to cut, or forget about, franchise players such as Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, Bernie Williams, Chuck Knoblauch and Paul O’Neil. Since then, the Yankees have made countless acquisitions of big name players season after season, because of their intrepid desire to win – or, should I say, George Steinbrenner’s desire to win. In acquiring all-star lineups with the likes of Alex Rodriquez, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon, the Yankees negated team spirit and fellowship.
Now it’s taken 10 years for the Yankees to realize that stacking up all-stars has cost them not only their integrity as a ball-club, but has also caused Joe Torre’s job to be in jeopardy. This idea of team camaraderie is what carried the early Torre teams in the late ’90s and made Torre one of the best managers in Major League Baseball. The Yankees have been the main reason for baseball’s slow decline over the past 10 years, as owners are vying for big name players, giving teams a stack of ego-minded individuals, rather then team-spirited players.
Look at the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs. Both teams have star-studded lineups but fail to deliver in the playoffs. This season we see three young ball clubs thriving – the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks are vying for the National League Pennant and the Cleveland Indians have vanquished the Yankees in the Divisonal playoff.
What players do baseball fans know on these teams? Maybe fans that watch MLB extra innings religiously may know them, but I sure as hell do not. I mean, I’ve heard of Todd Helton and Matt Holliday, but have you heard of Troy Tulowitzki? He is apparently an NL Rookie of the Year contender. Arizona is starting four rookies in the NL Division Series with at least six players including Alfono Soriono and Kerry Wood of the Cubs having ideal playoff experience.
But what these teams lack in name recognition or experience, they make up for in talented young athletes who compete devotedly for the team’s benefit and not their own. These teams echo the great Yankees team of the late ’90s, whose players were not real big names, but they were all stars. The Yankees, Cubs and Mets’ payrolls are all staggering at $75 million or more. Both the Diamondbacks and Rockies have $50-55-million-dollar payrolls, which are in the bottom 20 percent of all MLB payrolls.
These teams obviously have the patience and discipline to raise home-grown talent, rather then spending millions in acquiring players that are out of their prime or don’t perform well in the playoffs. Alex Rodriguez has batted less than .100 in over 80 at-bats with the Yankees, and during none of those at-bats did he drive in a run. Multi-million-dollar contracts for Carl Pavano and Mike Mussina have been wasted as Pavano is injured and Mussina threw for a 5.83 ERA.
The fact is these young, unknown players carry not only their teams, but the heritage of baseball itself. For in baseball, we see the strength and utter determination of athletes who fight for every run. They only care about winning and not about stats or being remembered. It’s special to see these players perform and execute the way they have this season.
Hopefully George Steinbrenner and other team owners may realize that the problem is not with their managers, but in their failure to create from scratch teams that doesn’t necessarily care about winning the World Series, but about each game itself.
Kyle Kernan is a sophomore English major.
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