Bobby Valentine Attacks the Yankees - The Spin Starts Here

Article first published as Bobby Valentine Attacks the Yankees - The Spin Starts Here on Blogcritics.

Whether you like Bobby Valentine, new skipper of the Boston Red Sox, or not, you have to admit he knows how to stir the pot and cause a commotion. Bobby V (as he is affectionately known here in New York) is a master provocateur, a spin artist of the highest caliber. Bill O'Reilly's famous catch phrase is "The spin stops here." Bobby's might as well be "The spin starts here." Believe it or not, he would not have it any other way.

It has been ten years since Bobby has managed a Major League Baseball team. In that time he has not climbed a mountain in Tibet and become enlightened; no, Bobby hasn't changed one bit. He started talking to the press and you know there is always a game plan. There was some negative press going on about the Red Sox: beer was being banned in the clubhouse, Jason Varitek was retiring, the team blew it last year, etc. What better way for Bobby to spin things his way than to attack the New York Yankees? You can either get agitated about it or sit back and admire how crafty Bobby V can be.

Today Bobby Valentine is splashed across the headlines in the New York papers. Yankees fans are outraged that he spoke about the sacred cow Derek Jeter, and the less than sacred cow A-Rod. Jeter lied about a play being practiced by the Yankees a decade ago; who can even remember what happened last season? Varitek beat A-Rod up; I am not even sure about when or where this happened. For Bobby V the devil is not just in the details - it is the light of his life to get people agitated about them.

As a Mets fan I still like Bobby Valentine. I admire how he managed my team, how he stood up for New York after 9/11, and the way he pushed his team to be the best team it could be (even when that was difficult to say the least). All the other stuff with Bobby V is the package deal: getting thrown out of the game and sitting with a disguise in the clubhouse, for example. Saying things that he knew were going to get people angry or talking. That's Bobby and there's no changing him.

The problem is that Yankees fans now want to break down Bobby's comments and defend their guys. They want to prove that Jeter did practice that play, that A-Rod didn't get beaten up, and on and on. The problem is that is exactly what someone like Bobby wants. You argue about what he says, you get into a debate, you rage against him and the Red Sox, and he thinks he is winning. You know what, since the focus is off his team and on these silly comments, he has succeeded exactly as planned.

So take it from a Mets fan who knows Bobby V's act - the devil is in the details. Yankees fans (and anyone else for that matter) should not get sucked in by what he says. They shouldn't get angry and bothered and want blood, because in that way Bobby thinks he is winning, and maybe he is because it is his fault the spin gets started but it's everyone else's for letting it spin out of control.

One thing is for certain, the baseball season will be a lot more entertaining with Bobby V back in the picture. Welcome back, Bobby Valentine!

Photo Credit - AP

The House That Truth Built: Girardi Reveals Yanks Need Home-field Advantage in Playoffs

This article first appeared in Blogcritics.

The words said by New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi seemed as if they came in a private conversation; however, they were uttered during a post-game interview. As a New York Mets fan listening to the radio, I immediately noticed that this revealed truth is salient and yet seems to be lost on most Yankees fans, and thinking about it I see this as either being the Yankees' greatest strength or ending up to be their Achilles' heel.

What did Girardi say? He spoke candidly about what the team needed to do to have success in the post-season. "We still need to win some games because we want to have home-field advantage." After a follow-up question, Girardi reiterated the obvious: "It's (home-field advantage) real important. I really believe that we were built around this ballpark."

"Aha!" I thought, how true this is because the Yankees have always been built around that ballpark. When the first Yankee Stadium opened with Babe Ruth as the star, a convenient right field "porch" made it possible for the Sultan of Swat to bang lots of homers. Of course, we can argue that Ruth could hit homers in any park, but playing half of his games in Yankee Stadium certainly didn't hurt him. This is also true for Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, and current players like Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira.

Girardi's revelation may not be a surprise to many, but I think it is crucial to understanding the Yankees' success story. When he says that the team is "built around this ballpark" we can understand that he means that Granderson and Teixeira need the dimensions (314 feet down the right field line and 318 feet down the left field line), as do the other players, to succeed. We can only guess about how many championships might have never been if the Yankees played in a different stadium.

Take my suffering New York Mets and their home ballpark. Citi Field is like the Grand Canyon of baseball parks compared to the home run friendly Yankee Stadium. How many homers are lost in the field that Citi helped build will never be known, but just take a look at David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay, and others whose power has diminished while playing there.

Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks coined the phrase "the friendly confines" when referring to Wrigley Field. We can well understand his liking the park where he had so much success (512 career home runs), but imagine someone like Willie Mays who went from the Polo Grounds in New York to a place like Candlestick Park in San Francisco, where he lost so many homers in the wind. How many homers would Mays have hit if he had played in a more homer friendly arena? In my humble opinion he would have had more than Hank Aaron, who for many years played in a very homer-friendly Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta.


So Joe Girardi revealed a truth which may or may not be ugly, depending on your point of view. Yankees fans will no doubt scoff at the notion that their team's history of success is based on the dimensions of Yankee Stadium, but most everyone else knows the truth: the House that Ruth Built was designed to have Ruth and other Yankees players hit lots of homers.

Certainly, opposing players might be seen to have the same advantage, but I beg to differ. I think that many great opposing players came into Yankee Stadium salivating for the chance to chip the ball into the short right field porch, but the execution of that is not so easy as it is for those Yanks who play eighty-one games a year there. Trying to pull the ball many hitters came up short, just as many guys who tried to poke one over the Green Monster in Boston's Fenway Park found out.

By the way, Girardi got his wish. By sweeping the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and with the Boston Red Sox losing to the lowly Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees have clinched the division. It seems Girardi is going to get what he wants: to have the home-field advantage during the playoffs. Now we have to see if that will be a deciding factor in the Yankees going all the way. Girardi got what he wanted; for the rest of us, it seems that is the reason why they are known as those Damn Yankees!

Photo Credits: NY Daily News

New York Teams Observe the Tenth Anniversary of 9-11

Article first published as New York Teams Observe the Tenth Anniversary of 9-11 on Blogcritics.

For those who may remember September 21, 2001, the first professional sports game after 9-11 took place at Shea Stadium between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves. Ten days after the attacks that brought down the Twin Towers, the city was looking for any reason to feel something good again. Mike Piazza stepped in and socked a a two-run homer against the Atlanta Braves. I'll never forget that homer, and Piazza still recalls the moment fondly as the roar of the crowd shook the old stadium. The Mets went on to beat the Braves in that game, and so New Yorkers had something to cheer about again.

All these years later the city still needs things to help it get through the tenth anniversary of the attacks. It is very comforting to see our sports heroes take the time to recognize the day in tangible ways. I remember seeing the Mets wearing those FDNY and NYPD caps ten years ago, and it still gives me chills. Now the New York Mets will hold a ceremony before their home game against the Cubs on September 11, and the New York Jets will also be observing the tenth anniversary at the Meadowlands.

In truth this is more than just the right thing to do, and both organizations seem honored to have the opportunity to be playing home games on September 11. Last week the New York Yankees also had a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary. It is notable that the teams have opened their arms to the city in an effort to assuage what are still significantly deep wounds even after all this time.

These "remembrance ceremonies" are substantial moments in sports history. Chilling as Lou Gehrig's farewell speech at Yankee Stadium, these events become part of our collective memories, and reflect sports at its very best.

The Mets and Jets will be honoring the first responders, those lost, the rescue workers, and their families. The Mets will specifically involve families from Tuesday's Children (who lost parents on 9-11). We will watch and feel the tugs on our hearts and the tears on our cheeks, all the while knowing that this is not only marking the importance of this day but the integral relationship of our sports teams with the city and the fans.

This will be a long and emotional day for most of us. By the time former American Idol star Pia Toscano sings "God Bless America" tonight at Citi Field, we are all going to be exhausted but exhilarated too. Hopefully the Mets and Jets will win these games, but that really doesn't matter as much as what is happening on the field before play begins.

This is an example of sports at its very best. It is also a reflection of our city, though bruised and battered as it has been, New York has risen from the ashes of 9-11. The world will be watching today, and we are ready to show our best at the World Trade Center site in the morning and in our ballparks tonight. This is what New York City is all about, and we can thank our teams for doing their part to make the Big Apple shine brightly on this day and all the rest of the days of this season and many seasons to come.

Photo Credit - AP

Hope Springs Eternal for Old Brooklyn Dodgers Fans

Article first published as Hope Springs Eternal for Old Brooklyn Dodgers Fans on Blogcritics.

For old Brooklyn Dodgers fans, 1957 is not long ago and far away; it is like yesterday. That is when their team packed up and went to Los Angeles. To them these last fifty-four years have been sort of a long hiatus. Some became NY Mets fans in 1962, and others chose to pull up stakes and follow their Dodgers to California, but there still are those who cling to the mystique of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who believe that a new field could spring up somewhere in the borough and that their Dodgers will be coming home.

Admittedly, they will tell you it is a long shot, but they still keep dreaming of that day. Recently, with the financial troubles of Dodger owner Frank McCourt in the news, these fans have something to stoke the flames of their kindled dream. They hear rumors of Major League Baseball taking over the Dodgers, and some will come out and tell you that is the beginning of the Dodgers coming home to Brooklyn.

While I don't take much stock in these fantasies, I have learned that these Dodgers fans are sometimes so earnest and determined that perhaps anything is possible. They talk about the Dodgers building a new field on the spot where Ebbets Field used to be. The existing housing on the site is not seen as an impediment; they are certain eminent domain can be used to get that new stadium built.


Others think the Dodgers could share Citi Field with the Mets. "Why not?" they ask. The New York Mets and The New York Yankees once shared Shea Stadium for two seasons while the old Yankee Stadium was being rebuilt, so anything is possible. They see the fact that Citi Field was built to resemble Ebbets Field as an omen, yet another reason why the Dodgers will be coming home.

Even if MLB does take over the Dodgers, I doubt that Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig would ever condone having three teams in one town. A long time ago New York had three teams, but these days I don't imagine that would work for most people. New Yorkers might be pleased, but there are many other towns looking for a MLB franchise.

It does break my heart to listen to these old Dodgers fans talking. In between hearing them mention names like Branca, Hodges, Reese, and Robinson, they will discuss the "what ifs" they have been discussing since 1957. They know what happened but still can't believe it. As a Mets fan, I kind of understand their hopes and dreams and know what it is like to be kicked in the teeth again and again by the team you love.

So for the record, Brooklyn Dodgers fans, your team is not coming home. It is staying in LA for now and I am sure for many years to come. Hold on to the dream if it makes you happy. I still keep thinking about the Mets being in contention this year, so I know all about impossible causes.

If it makes you feel any better, there is the one thing we Mets fans and Brooklyn Dodgers fans have in common: the hope of next year. Mets fans can dream of an injury free season and a chance for the play-offs; Brooklyn Dodgers fans can keep hoping for that miracle of a return engagement. It probably will never happen, but back in 1955 after Brooklyn beat the Yankees in the World Series, did anyone ever think their team was moving to LA?

Keep dreaming, old Dodgers fans, and hang in there!

Photo Credits:
Ebbetts Field - nyc.gov.
Citi Field - NY Daily News

Subway Series Part II: This Time It's Personal

Article first published as Subway Series Part II: This Time It's Personal on Blogcritics.


Okay, I'll admit that I was kind of down on the Subway Series the last time around, but that is not the case now. Why is that? Because back then the Mets were playing like they were in the Pee-Wee Herman League and the New York Yankees were doing their best Incredible Hulk impersonation in the American League East. Since then the Mets have incredulously bounced back from adveristy (even with key players on the disabled list) - with Jose Reyes taking the part of The Flash while his teammates, even the AAA Buffalo contingency, are looking like superheroes in training. So now it is at least interesting enough for this old Mets fan to put on his blue cap with the orange NY and brave the Number 7 train to get out to Citi Field.

Make no mistake - the Yankees have to be favored today. They just steamrolled over Milwaukee, but these are the Brewers and not the Boston Red Sox or the Philadelphia Phillies. When you put the pitching poor Yankees up against those types of teams, they wilt and that is what they will have to face once again in the playoffs this year. Of course, at least they can say they have the playoffs in their future, but that is still a reality for Yankees fans; too bad Sabathia can't pitch every day.

The Mets led by Reyes and much lesser names like Turner, Murphy, and Hairston, are definitely going to be David going up against Goliath in the Subway Series, but we all know how that turned out. Truth be told, the Mets are playing like the Mets of old - most notably the 1973 version - and that team was the little engine that could, knocking out the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati and taking the Oakland A's to the seventh game of the World Series.

I'm not saying anything like that can happen this year, but there is hope in Flushing and the Mets fans can invoke the old Tug McGraw mantra of "Ya Gotta Believe" again, so in that way it becomes very personal for me (and most Mets fans). And don't forget, these are the dreaded Yankees, the minions of Darth Steinbrenner who once circled the city in his Death Star thinking he could rule the baseball galaxy.

So break out your old copies of Return of the Jedi if you need inspiration, Mets fans, and "you gotta believe" the force is with these young Met padawans. Jose Reyes is wielding that bat like a light saber, and maybe, just maybe, some Yankee heads will roll this weekend. So yeah, it's personal this time, and Mets fans have to get out there and cheer this underdog team for no other reason than they are New Yorkers who are not Yankees' fans.

Let's go Mets!

Photo Credit: NY Daily News

A Celestial Celebration: The Giants Win the World Series

Article first published as A Celestial Celebration: The Giants Win the World Series on Blogcritics.

"Old New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodger fans don't die, they just become Mets fans."
-my grandfather in conversation.

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series in Texas last night, fifty-six years since they did so as the New York Giants playing in the Polo Grounds. It has been a long time coming for old New York Giants fans, who like their cross river National League cousins the Brooklyn Dodgers, see this as a victory for them as well as those cheering people in the city by the bay.

There was no logic or reason in being a Giant or Dodger fan back in those days, except as a defiant and perhaps illogical stand against those damned Yankees from the Bronx. I asked my grandfather if he ever thought about becoming a Yankee fan after the Dodgers left in 1957, and he shook his head sadly. "Not a chance."

Old Fred and my uncles Matty and Charlie were under the assumption that the Yankees and their fans had made a pact with the devil, and something like the play Damn Yankees could only confirm that for them.

My grandfather said of 1957 that "I cried me a river of blue" when the Dodgers left, and my uncle "cried him a river of orange" for the Giants. This eventually "washed out to sea" as he saw it, but somehow or other came back in 1962, swirling around the waters of Flushing Bay, and a nascent team crawled out of those waters in blue and orange and called itself the Mets. Fred and his brothers were back in business, having a team to root for that was not the Yankees.


Now all this time has passed, and the San Francisco Giants were dancing around with the World Series Trophy in Texas. They are a spunky team, with no big guns like the great Willie Mays, but they have great pitching and lots of heart, and sometimes that stops the big guns dead in their tracks.

So this was a win for those Giants fans who have long passed on, but were no doubt watching in the celestial place they call home. All that noise we heard last night over New York wasn't thunder, but the sound of champagne corks popping in paradise.

At one time the gods of baseball deemed New York City as its own Mount Olympus. Can you imagine having three center fielders like Duke Snider, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle all playing in the same city at the same time? There is simply no comparison today in all of sports. It was too overwhelming to be real but it was real nonetheless.

Many years later, I had asked my grandfather about rumors I heard regarding a "big trade" that involved Mickey Mantle for either the Duke of Flatbush or the Say Hey Kid. My grandfather shook his head as he would do. "Mickey Mantle could have never played for Brooklyn or the Giants, and the Duke and Willie could have never been Yankees. It wasn't in their blood."

Well, all these years later, I think my grandfather was right. He is no doubt raising an ethereal glass of the bubbly with my uncles. Besides that one time when Bobby Thomson's homer caused a spat between them, they basically always rooted for each other's teams because they hoped they would win and beat the Yankees. I am so happy for them up there, and all those people out in San Francisco too. As a Met fan, born from Dodger blue and Giant orange, I could never see it any other way.

 

It's Over: The Fat Lady Sings for the Yankees in Texas

Article first published as It's Over: The Fat Lady Sings for the Yankees in Texas on Blogcritics.

Okay, I'm not going to lie about it. I took a little pleasure in turning on the TV the other night and seeing that the New York Yankees were down 5-1 to the Texas Rangers in the sixth game of the American League Championship Series. Oh, come on, you could say, you're a New Yorker and you want those Texas boys beating your Yankees? Hey, they aren't "my" Yankees and never will be. When Texas beat them, why wouldn't I be happy about it?

When manager Joe Girardi sent Mariano Rivera out to pitch the bottom of the eighth, you knew he knew it was over. This doesn't mean that the Fat Lady is singing just about this championship series, but the whole Yankee era of Jeter, Rivera, Posada, and the ghosts of Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams and all those other Yankees who played for Joe Torre along with them. After this year and this loss, things will never be the same.

After the game Girardi said something about it not being easy to see the other team celebrating after a loss in a postseason series. Well, it only reminds me of Jeter and company celebrating at Shea back in 2000 when they beat my Mets. We Met fans all had to suffer through seeing that one, on our sacred ground no less, where Seaver, Agee, Jones, McGraw and all the rest played and won two World Series titles in 1969 and 1986. It was hard to see the Yankees whooping it up back then, so it felt great to see Jeter staring out at the field in something like disbelief. Keep looking Derek, because you're 36 and probably might never see another World Series ring.

One thing this series taught me is that all the king's money and all the king's men couldn't put the Yankees back together again. The highest paid team in baseball couldn't hit Texas pitching. Beside Robinson Cano (who had four homers in this series against the Rangers), the Yankees looked like guys I see up at the park hitting those softballs into the dirt. A-Rod hit a buck ninety and had no dingers. Swisher did a lot of swishing (struck out seven times), and the pitchers might as well have been soft tossing those big softballs the way Texas was whacking the ball (the Yankees staff ended with a 6.58 ERA in the six games).

I'm sorry to have to say it, but the Yankees actually got lucky in this series. They almost got swept. If they hadn't come back and won that first game, it would have been a clean sweep. Yankee announcer - and bloviator par excellence - Michael Kay pronounced the series "over" after the Yankees came back and won the first game. Can you believe that guy? Hey, Michael, what do you have to say about that now? And how about the most annoying announcer in baseball, the Yankees' John Sterling? Could he maybe do a prolonged "The...Yankees...lose; The...Yankees...lose" just to make every Mets fan's day?

So, yes I know we Mets fans have to wait until next year. I know we didn't even make the playoffs and lost 83 games. I know, I know, I know, but guess what? Yankees fans have to wait until next year too, and some of the Yankees players will have to wait forever.

This winter Andy Pettite is probably going to talk about retirement as many times as Brett Favre, and Jeter needs a new contract. A-Rod is starting to act his age without the joy juice flowing through his veins, and Mariano Rivera, now 40 years old, just might be feeling the years as well. Posado will be seeing a lot more DH next year or perhaps not catch at all, and the team has to be thinking free agent outfielder sooner or later. Swisher better take a good look around while cleaning out his locker; the trade winds are in the air.

Will the Yankees make a run for Cliff Lee? Uh, I can hear the Steinbrenner brothers unlocking the family safe as I type this thing. The Yankees need pitching, they need hitting, and they need something that my guys across the river have in abundance: humility; but waiting for the Yankees to lose that inherent arrogance is like waiting for a train in the New York City subway system. You hope it is coming but you have no idea when it will get there or if it will even stop when it does.

I'm betting on Texas over the Giants in six games. Cliff Lee, best pitcher in the universe, will lead the way. Will he be in pinstripes next year? Yankees players and fans will be wondering that as they watch the Series on TV. Keep dreaming, Yankees fans. The Mets fans and players will be watching too, and maybe the Wilpons will finally open their own safe, drag out some of that cash that Bernie Madoff didn't swipe, and give the Yankees a run for their money for Lee.

The way things are it will be a long and cold winter for Mets and Yankees fans, and by Christmas the thought off Cliff Lee in either uniform might be better than sugar plums dancing in their heads, but don't bet on Lee having to get himself a MetroCard. If he goes on to win the whole enchilada with Texas, the Rangers' owner Nolan Ryan could find the money and incentives to keep Lee in the Lone Star State for a long time, and that just might make Texas the new sheriff in the American League. Yippee ki-yay, Yankee fans.

A New York Mets Fan Remembers George Steinbrenner

Article first published as A New York Mets Fan Remembers George Steinbrenner on Blogcritics.

When Marcus Antony gives his famous oration over the corpse of his good friend Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare's brilliant play, he says, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." As a Mets fan and a New Yorker, I cannot think of better words to be said over a man that I and many of my fellow city dwellers loved to hate.

Whatever I think and feel about the New York Yankees is all because of Mr. George Steinbrenner, who died of a heart attack today at 80 years of age. Before he swooped in and bought the team in 1973, the Yankees were pretty much a faded flower in my town. The New York Mets had won the World Series in 1969 and almost did again in 1973, while the Yankees seemed to be perpetually out of it in the AL East.

Along came a big fat spider named George, and he spun more than a few webs to get his team going in the right direction. He spent lots and lots of money through a new thing called "free agency," while the Mets sat on their hands and then went about trading away members of the team I loved, including the still unforgivable deal that sent Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds.

Anyway, sitting on the other side of town and seeing the team that I hated win the World Series in 1977 (and again in 1978), well, what could a good Mets fan do but grumble about how George bought the championship - which he did - and set the Yankees on course for greatness once again.

Steinbrenner, with the help of general manager Brian Cashman, extended the old Yankee dynasty into the 1990s, when they captured three championships, and then in the 2000s, when they won it all in the year 2000 (against my beloved Mets) and again in 2009.

Most New Yorkers (Yankees and Mets fans) got into the soap opera of "As Steinbrenner Turns" because it was the stuff back page headlines are made for. How many times could he fire Billy Martin? As many as he could hire him: five. How many threats could he make about firing players? How far would he go to get the dirt on one of his own players (think Dave Winfield)? Oh, how the drama played out and how the fans sucked it up.

Despite all his faults and his cementing of the Yankee blue blood mentality and legacy, we working class Mets fans have to hand it to the old coot. He was a feisty old general who got the troops moving and winning battles, and sometimes ultimately, the war. NY Daily News sports cartoonist Bill Gallo even created an alter ego, General Von Steingrabber. This barking orders German general was featured in many hilarious cartoons in the paper. Apparently, Steinbrenner appreciated the humor behind it and Gallo's supreme talent for capturing the essence of the man and the events of the time.

George was the guy we liked to blame for everything. He was at fault for all the wrongs suffered by the Mets and their fans. He stole everyone from Catfish Hunter to Reggie Jackson to A-Rod over the years in our minds (and probably in the minds of plenty of other baseball teams' fans too). He was like the Darth Vader of baseball, and you could just imagine those confrontations with Billy Martin, battling each other using light sabers (to make the vision complete).

Through it all, George did something for baseball that, if nothing else, made it exciting and stirred up controversy galore. He was responsible for giving baseball a much needed shot in the arm, and the whole modern era of free agency and the shape of the way teams are today are thanks to him.

Of course, then we get back to that evil Shakespeare thing. There are those who think (and not just Red Sox and Mets fans) that George is the cause of the lack of balance in the game today. There will always be the haves and have-nots in Major League Baseball, based on money. If we want to blame anyone for ruining baseball with buckets of cash, we can look no further than to George Steinbrenner, the King of Cash, for doing just that.

I guess the way I'll remember him is when he hosted Saturday Night Live. Man, did that take a lot of courage even for a guy with an ego as bloated as his. I will also remember him as he was lampooned in Seinfeld by Larry David, making him seem more cartoonish than Bill Gallo. But the bluster was all in good fun. And maybe that is the nicest way to remember the man who changed the face of baseball forever, even if he left more than a few casualties in his wake.

Remembering the Mayor's Trophy Game in New York

Article first published as Remembering the Mayor's Trophy Game in New York on Blogcritics.

The Mets and Yankees are preparing to battle this weekend in what is always billed as a “subway series,” which is technically possible because you can take the train to the game. However, in the true sense of the historic notion of a subway series (first involving the Yankees and either the Dodgers or Giants), it should really be a playoff game that comes after the regular season. In keeping with that tradition, the last real subway series happened in 2000 between the Mets and Yankees.



I have never really understood the reason for inter-league play. It started out as something new and was a bit exciting, but I think it has become something more than it should be (at least here in New York). I went to some Mets-Yankees games at old Shea since inter-league play started in 1997, and the fans on both sides became increasingly obnoxious over the years to the point of the game no longer being a pleasure to watch. Though I had a chance for tickets this weekend at Citi Field, I passed them up. I found myself longing for a simpler time, a time when games between the Mets and Yankees didn’t count but were a lot more fun.

The thing I wistfully recall was called the Mayor’s Trophy Game. According to Baseball Reference.com, the Mayor's Trophy Game originally took place between the Yankees and the Giants. Eventually, the Yankees also played the Dodgers in these exhibition games. Besides playing for bragging rights, “The games were played primarily to benefit sandlot baseball in New York City, with proceeds going to the city's Amateur Baseball Federation.”

In my lifetime the Mayor's Trophy Game was played between the Yankees and the Mets (1963-1979). The games were not played during 1980-1981 seasons because of some differences between the two organizations, but both teams didn’t let that stop them from donating money to the Amateur Baseball Federation. The games came back in 1982 and 1983, but after that they were suspended because of dwindling attendance, and I suspect there were other reasons never made public.

I can remember these games as exciting ones because, since they were played once a year, the competition was real but the outcome was not. Believe it or not, the Mets held their own over the years, with the Yankees winning ten times, the Mets winning eight times, and there was one tie in 1979 (game called because of rain).

My friends were mostly all Mets' fans in those days, but we knew a few Yankees' fans in the neighborhood, and we liked to take the opportunity to brag about how our Metsies were going to beat the Yanks. It seemed Yanks' fans were never really fond of this once a year contest because, if their team lost to the Mets, they felt it was a fate worse than death.

I remember seeing pictures on the back page of the newspapers in town, with the winning team holding up the trophy each year. There was something innocent about it back then, and they were playing for a good cause. Now it has become a different animal, one with big fangs and scary claws. People seem genuinely on edge during these games, and the city becomes a place swimming in people dressed in Mets or Yankees gear as the days grind on sometimes insufferably.

Certainly, as a Mets fan, I like it when the Mets win, but I don’t appreciate either side turning it into a battle for the city. It does seem that this is what these games have come to, and I wish that inter-league play could end because I don’t see how it is good for baseball, good for my team, or good for my city. It is obviously meant to be a commercial success, and I am sure that it is, but the three days at Citi Field followed by another three days at Yankee Stadium are just too much for this old town.

I long for the simpler days when Ed Kranepool could shake hands with Horace Clarke, and then they would go out there on the field and watch as two farmhands (usually called up just for these games because neither team wanted to waste a real pitcher in an exhibition) pitched like the game mattered.

In the end it was lots of innocent good fun, one team got the Mayor’s Trophy, and the real winners were the kids who benefited from the money raised for sandlot baseball. Ah, to get on the subway and go out to the park for one day to see a game that didn’t inflate a pitcher’s ERA, or deflate a hitter’s batting average. The players were out there having fun and doing something good for New York. Now, that wasn’t a true subway series, but it sure was better than the volatile inter-league games we are stuck with today.