Why I Hate the Yankees

by Kevin O'Connell, Josh Pahigian

Overview

Why I Hate the Yankees offers a humorous take on the most beloved—and at the same time, most reviled—franchise in American professional sports. The book attempts to answer the question: Do we hate the Yankees merely because they always win, or is there more to it than just that? The authors deconstruct the origins of the so-called Yankee mystique, offer countless examples of Yankee arrogance, and critique the Yankees' easy-way-out business model whereby they merely outspend other teams for talent. The authors leave no one exempt from blame, parodying the Yankees' fans, players, and overbearing owner, and questioning the motives of the national media and Major League Baseball. The tongue-in-cheek narrative is interspersed with revealing quotes from Yankee players, fans, media members, and other writers. A must-read for any hater—or lover—of the Yankees.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592287635
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2005
Series:	Why I Hate
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 6.50(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Kevin O'Connell was born into the baseball abyss that was the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest of the 1960s. He supported the San Francisco Giants as a youngster, and then the hapless Seattle Mariners expansion team. His conversion was finalized when Edgar Martinez arrived in Seattle. He and his wife now reside in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Josh Pahigian swore off baseball for the first time at age twelve when the ball went through Buckner's legs. He rejoined Red Sox Nation the following March when the Red Sox won their first spring training game. Currently, he covers collegiate and high school sports for the Portland Press Herald in Portland, Maine, where he lives with his wife, Heather. O'Connell and Pahigian are the authors of The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip.

Read an Excerpt

"George Steinbrenner is the center of evil in the universe." ~ Ben Affleck "One's a born liar, and the other's been convicted." ~ Billy Martin, on Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner "After Jackie Robinson the most important black in baseball history is Reggie Jackson, I really mean that." ~ Reggie Jackson "This is my 24th year of doing this, and the Yankees' payroll has been 'dangerously high' 24 of 24. They've been the Goliath of the game, and I don't expect their position to change." ~ Scott Boras, player agent "I wasn't trying to turn around the outcome of the game. I was just trying to get a ball. I'm starting to understand what it did. It struck me this morning when I woke up. Wow! I may have really helped the Yankees win." ~ Jeffrey Maier, a 12-year old fan who interfered with a fly ball hit by Derek Jeter in a 1996 ALDS game against the Orioles, turning a fly ball out out into a home run. "I thought it was the ball." ~ Roger Clemens, after throwing a broken bat at Mike Piazza in Game 2 of the 2000 World Series. "Is it me, or was the last home-grown prospect to stick in the Yankees' locker room Jason Giambi's and Kevin Brown's intestinal parasite?" ~ Bill Scheft, Sports Illustrated Excerpt 1: To understand how out of whack things have become, consider the 2004 season during which the Yankees spent $184 million on player salaries. The next closest payroll belonged to the Red Sox at $125 million, followed by the Angels at $101 million. After that, the figures fell off dramatically, with the mean payroll of the average major league team settling at $63 million, about a third of what the Yankees spent. The bottom five teams on the list-the Marlins, Pirates, Indians, Devil Rays, and Brewers-combined to spend a total of $172 million, still $12 million less than the Yankees. What's a Detroit Tigers fan to do? fs20Excerpt 2: In 1974, Steinbrenner found himself in hot water when it was revealed by federal prosecutors that he was being investigated for his role in the Watergate scandal. Steinbrenner eventually pled guilty in federal court to charges of making illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon, and of obstructing justice. He was given a $15,000 fine, which amounted to a slap on the wrist. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn made a strong statement that there was no room in baseball for illegal, immoral characters when he handed Steinbrenner a two-year suspension from the game. The ban prevented the Yankee boss from attending major league games and from participating in the operations of his team...Finally on March 1, 1976, Kuhn commuted Steinbrenner's sentence, allowing him to return to the game after a 16-month hiatus. Columnist Red Smith continued to refer to the Yankee owner as "convicted felon George Steinbrenner" in the New York Times. Amidst a public dispute with Yankee slugger Dave Winfield in the 1980s, Steinbrenner paid $40,000 to Howard Spira, a renowned gambler from the Bronx, to fabricate incriminating evidence against Winfield. In 1990 Commissioner Fay Vincent handed Steinbrenner a "lifetime ban" from baseball. When it was announced during a game at Yankee Stadium that Steinbrenner's involvement with the team was essentially finished, the fans in attendance responded with a 90-second standing ovation. But in 1993 Vincent inexplicably allowed Steinbrenner to resume his previous post at the Yankees helm. Talk about second and third chances...and we thought MLB's drug policy was lax. (Insert your own Steve Howe joke here.)

Table of Contents

	Authors' Introduction	vii
1	Yankee Baseball, Yankee Business	3
2	Family Ties: One Family's Contentious Baseball History	19
3	George Steinbrenner: The Man, The Myth, The Felon	25
4	Trader Josh	37
5	Over-Played, Over-Hyped, Overrated	41
6	Film Review: Damn Yankees	55
7	Yankee Fans-Just What Makes 'em Tick	63
8	The Sad Case of Mr. Salvo	79
9	Yankee Pride, Yankee Arrogance	85
10	No Day at the Ballpark	101
11	The Axis of Baseball Evil-It Wasn't Always This Way	107
12	The Yankees Always Get You in the End	121
13	The Yankee Mystique-The Mystery Unraveled	127
14	Into the Heart of Darkness	141
15	Yankee Imperialism	153
16	The Greedy Glutton's Curse	169
17	An Open Latter to Yankee Fans	177
18	An Open Letter to George Steinbrenner	191
	Bibliography	201
	Acknowledgments	205
	About the Authors	207

Editorial Reviews

"George Steinbrenner is the center of evil in the universe." — Ben Affleck

From the Publisher