7 April 2002
This one's personal.
For years I've heard about how rude and obnoxious and blah blah blah New York Yankee fans are. I guess passionate fans can appear rude when their team is treating you like their bitch year after year. Say what you will, but Yankee fans are the most knowledgeable fans you are ever going to meet.
When the game starts, they're in their seats. They know every player on their team. They know every player on the opposition. They know where the players went to college, what team drafted them, what they hit (or pitched) last year, what they did in their last game, what their season stats are. They know how much your salary is this year. If you're divorced, Yankee fans know you're ex-wife's name. If you're dating someone, they know who. Yankee fans are as quick to jump on their own players as they are the other team's. They might bash their players, but they still root for them (to a point).
Let me give you some examples: I was at a game against the A's (all stories are at the Stadium) in 1998 when Paul O'Neill dogged a fly ball and let it drop for a hit. Now, Paul O'Neill, then as now, is one of the great Yankees in the last fifteen years. The fans love the guy, if you couldn't tell that from Game Five of the 2001 World Series. When he let the ball drop, however, the fans voiced their displeasure. When Chad Curtis made a diving catch in left a few innings later, someone from behind me yelled, "Hey O'Neill, take notes!" In another game that series, someone hit a foul ball down the first base line. Tino Martinez gave chase, but it dropped into the stands. Another guy yelled out, "Hey Tino, anything within six rows you should be divin' for the money you're makin'!" At a game in April '99 versus the Tigers, I was sitting behind home plate just on the third base side. Whenever Greg Jeffries walked to the on-deck circle, this one fan would start a tirade against him, telling him he sucked, that the team that drafted him wanted their money back, etc. Every time he came out of the dugout. It got to the point in the seventh inning, when Juan Encarnacion started going to the plate, and Jeffries was due up next, everyone around him started laughing because they knew what was coming. Encarnacion fouled off a two-strike pitch, the guy stopped his assault to yell, "That's right, Encarnacion, foul off a few more, I'm not done with Jeffries yet."
We also stick by our players. When Chuck Knoblauch botched that play at first in the playoffs against the Indians in '98, everyone jumped his shit, but when the series came back to New York, everyone cheered him. When he was moved to left field last season, he got a standing ovation when he caught a fly ball to end the second inning (at least I think it was the second). When Mariano Rivera came in the game on Saturday, his first appearance in Yankee Stadium since blowing the save in Game Seven of the World Series, he was met with a standing ovation. As we speak, Jason Giambi is having a crap opening of the season, and even though he was booed on Opening Day, yesterday he was welcomed with chants of "Let's go Jason!" every time he came up to the plate. Today he got his first RBI on a grounder up the middle, and the fans came to their feet applauding him. Yep, another standing o. Yankee fans criticize their own, but they stick by their own just the same. Unless you're a piece of shit like Kenny Rogers or Jack McDowell, then they'll hate you until Armageddon.
Yankee fans know everything about the game. I was in line to get a beer last year when the Yankees opened at home against the Royals. Jermaine Dye was up, and me and another guy had a conversation about who was trying to trade for him in the off-season, the Yankees of course being one of the rumors. We know who wants you, we know what the other team is going to give up for you, and we know who's going to get the better end of the deal.
Sit in the stands at a Yankee game, and the talk is about the game. Who's hitting, who's not, who you'd bat third against this pitcher, etc. Go to a D-backs' game (sorry, mom and dad), and the conversation is about where they're going after the game, what inning they plan on leaving, hey did you see the beers they have at the beer garden? Yankee fans go to baseball games because they're baseball fans. D-backs' fans (for the most part, but not to a person) go because it's a place to be seen. Yankee fans go to games dressed in Yankee shirts, hats, jerseys, etc. We dress comfortably. D-backs' fans (at least on the lower level) dress as if they're expecting the paparazzi to come snap their picture and they have to look their best. Maybe it's just the West Coast mentality.
We're not rude and obnoxious, we're honest. We don't say, "Oh, it's OK, chum, keep your chin up, buckaroo!" We say, "What the fuck, Giambi? Loosen up out there, you look like you got a stick up your ass!" Hey, the truth hurts.
We're also the quickest fans you'll meet. When Curt Schilling talked about the "Mystique and aura" of Yankee Stadium saying that Mystique and Aura were strippers, not aspects of a ballpark, more than a few fans had signs that night to the effect of "Mystique and Aura Appearing Nightly." In Game Five of the ALCS against the Mariners, fans started chanting, "No Game Six!" in response to Lou Piniella (ex-Yankee) and his boast that there would be a Game Six in Seattle. They also chanted "Over-Rated!" in reference to their 116-win season.
Admit it. You're just jealous because we have to get a new stadium just for all those World Series trophies we have and the ones we're gonna be collecting soon. It's not that we spend money - we spend it wisely. The Red Sox gave Manny "Can't Field" Ramirez $20 million a year and the Rangers gave A-Rod $25.2 mil per annum, where did that get them? The Dodgers have one of the highest payrolls in baseball and they couldn't beat themselves in the bathroom with a copy of Penthouse. Peter Angelos has deep pockets, but where did that get the Orioles in recent memory? Spending money doesn't win championships. The A's could have had Giambi for only a little less than the Yankees eventually signed him for, but Beane wouldn't give a no-trade clause, so now J.G. dons pinstripes. And let's face it, Yankee fans went 18 years without a World Series title, in which time we spent plenty of money on the wrong people (Pascual Perez, Steve Balboni, et. al.) Of the 25 players on the Yankee roster, 17 are either from the farm system or were acquired in trades (accounting for approximately 70% of their payroll), and of the eight free agents, one doesn't count, because he was a Yankee once (David Wells), and two are reserves (John Vander Wal, Ron Coomer) filling spots of retired players (Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius - both acquired via trade). The money the Yankees are paying out, for the most part, is to keep their own. Salaries have skyrocketed more because of jerkoffs like Dan Duquette than because of Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner.
Just say it: you hate us because our team is good.
