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MONTH of OCTOBER  |
The month won't be normal
without the Yanks around
By MAURY ALLEN
of TheColumnists.com
T. S. Eliot penned “April is the cruelest month” in his classic poem “The Waste Land.”
What did he know about October baseball?
October is for Columbus Day parades, orange
colored trees, falling leaves, happy Halloween costumes and sweet
candy, chilly college football games and, of course, the Yankees
in playoff baseball on the way to another World Series.
How could this possibly be October with Yankee Stadium shuttered
forever, soon to be falling concrete as the new Stadium arises
across the street, Mariano River at home in Panama instead of
sitting in the Stadium bullpen, Alex Rodriguez not even attracting
any press about his latest divorce news and Derek Jeter hidden
on some Florida beach instead of at shortstop?
The Yankees have won 39 pennants and 26 World Series and even
pushed one Series in 2001 into November as a result of the trauma
and delays caused by the 9/11 attacks.
In the greatest success streak in baseball history the Yankees
made the post season every year from 1995 through 2007. They
last won a Series in 2000 against the hometown Mets and last
got into the October classic in 2003. They lost that Series to
Florida.
When the Yankees failed to get past Cleveland in October of 2007,
the Steinbrenner boys, the sons of owner George Steinbrenner,
decided manager Joe Torre was the culprit. He was offered an
insulting contract and soon resigned the position.
Joe Girardi was named the team’s new manager with an edict
for October success. He will be sitting home in Florida instead
of leading his team in New York when the fall leaves turn rapidly
in the northeast.
Will Yankee fans survive this October emptiness?
The Yankees romanced their fans and a national television audience
for the final game at the Stadium by bringing back Babe Ruth’s
daughter for a first ball throw and showed off the heroes of
the past--Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Don Larsen, Reggie Jackson
and so many others.
The Yankees are so good at that. It all began on July 4, 1939
when a dying Lou Gehrig pronounced himself “the luckiest
man” as his playing days ended with illness. No team has
ever been able to duplicate those emotions generated by Gehrig
and Ruth at that event almost 70 years ago.
The farewell to the Stadium was a sweet outing, especially for
the widows of fallen Yankees including wives of Catfish Hunter,
Thurman Munson, Billy Martin, Elston Howard and Bobby Murcer.
The aging former players all followed the guidelines by saluting
the fans and cherishing their last moments on the old field.
Since none of the original Yankees of 1923, when the Stadium
opened, were available, members of the grounds crew or security
guards wore their uniform shirts in a tacky display.
All of this hoopla was capped off by a farewell march around
the outer ring of the stadium by the current team, led by Jeter,
who always does the right thing, and the players of the current
team, Jason Giambi, Rivera, Johnny Damon and the rest, in a romantic
farewell to their home park.
It had a sense of nostalgia but also a sense of commercialism,
a reminder that even though 2008 would be a year without a Yankee
October, it would still be possible to spend more money for next
season’s Yankee tickets at the park across the street.
The Yankees deserve some credit at least for the naming of the
new park again as Yankee Stadium. The Mets, who are tearing down
their Shea Stadium, will move into a field supported by a bank
called Citi Field. It is hoped the bank is still in business
next spring and the name does not turn into the Houston fiasco
of selling naming rights to a cheating company named Enron.
As the playoffs begin and I’m rooting hard for the Chicago
Cubs to win a Series after a hundred years, there is an emptiness
in New York.
It always seemed easy to measure the year by spring training
in February, hot games in July and playoff baseball in October.
The Yankees, especially in the wondrous tenure of Joe Torre,
always made the playoffs, always were contenders for another
title to their long list.
Not this year. The streak is over. The Yankees are out of the
playoffs and October baseball hardly matters to millions.
T.S. Eliot could identify April as the cruelest month. Not so.
October, without Yankee baseball, hurts a lot more.
©2008 by Maury Allen.
The Maury Allen caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The cartoon
illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco
Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first
posted Sept. 29, 2008.
TO ACCESS MAURY ALLEN'S ARCHIVE OF COLUMNS
ON THIS SITE, CLICK HERE: ALLEN ARCHIVE
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