It was brought up yesterday that it was surprising that the Yankees were ranked this high on my list. I can respond to that with two words...the 80's. I can understand how someone growing up in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 90's, and 00's can have the Yanks as their least favorite team. However, an 80's kid like me didn't constantly think of the Yankees as a threat. They made the playoffs once from 1981-1990 and they wouldn't have done that (in 1981) without the strike because the Brewers won more games that year. Growing up, the Yankees were just another team and during my peak years of watching as a teen the Yankees were around the worst team in the league. I never was inundated with hate toward them as a child because they rarely mattered. Of course they have turned that around, but I still don't have the deep down Yankee hatred that you can only get from childhood. I have a feeling that the children of this decade will have a similar indifference toward the Yankees. Now let's take a look at the second half of the 2012 New York Yankees.
My Top 5 Yankees Cards
1. Alex Rodriguez
2. Mariano Rivera
3. Russell Martin
4. Melky Mesa
5. Darnell McDonald
Like him or not, that Alex Rodriguez card is great. The flying upside-down sunglasses is what makes the image for me. I have no idea how they managed to get in that position unless they flew off his cap. The Rivera card just screams old-time baseball to me with the throwback uniform and the Fenway scoreboard in the background...just classic. The Russell Martin is a nice catcher's fielding shot with the added bonus appearance of an on-deck Mike Trout. The Melky Mesa is a nice shot of a base runner than went a wee bit too far. Finally, the Darnell McDonald reminds me of why I don't like the Yankees. That photo (the only one I could find of him as a Yank) was taken of him in the clubhouse right after cutting off his trademark dreadlocks in accordance with team appearance policy. McDonald was released ten days later.
Make sure you join me next week for the final three teams in this countdown. I will do my best to try and stay civil regarding those teams, but I can't promise there won't be a zinger or two here and there.
Thanx for reading.
2 comments:
That "Mo" card is fantastic. I don't know that I've ever seen a better throwback/scoreboard combo.
Is the Melky Mesa picture from his MLB debut when he missed 3rd base and wasn't able to score the game winning run in the 14th inning?
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