101 Reasons to Love the Yankees (Revised) , livre ebook

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174 pages

English

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Since their early days at the Polo Grounds, the Yankees have been destined for greatness. As baseball's most successful team, the Yankees have a devoted legion of fans who have endless reasons to cheer them on year after year.This revised and updated edition of 101 Reasons to Love the Yankees is a rousing celebration of the Bronx Bombers told through historic and contemporary photos, baseball cards, trivia, sports lore, and memorabilia. The book captures 101 highlights of this baseball dynasty: the pinstripes, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Yankee Stadium, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi-isms, Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, the subway series, legendary closer Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, George Steinbrenner, the championships. The Yankees captured the hearts of past generations--and continue to do the same for the newest generation of baseball lovers.

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Béisbol

Baseball

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Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	19 juillet 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781613127919
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	18 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0900€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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THE ESSENCE OF THE YANKEES IS THAT THEY WIN.
-Dave Anderson, The New York Times

Introduction
It has been more than four decades since I was a seven-year-old growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, a nice southern town that had no idea it would one day be home to its own major-league sports franchises with their own heroes, heartbreaks, and allegiances. Despite the years, I can still remember sitting in the barber s chair one Saturday afternoon, wishing I had the kind of hair that would allow me to wear a flattop while also thinking how lucky I was that my age matched Mickey Mantle s uniform number.
The Mick was on a flickering black-and-white television that afternoon and happened to hit a home run, and it was hard to find anything wrong with the world. That s an example of how the New York Yankees touched my generation, just as they touched generations before and after. They were not just New York s team, they were-to borrow a hackneyed phrase-America s first team. You didn t have to be from New York to love the Yankees. And you still don t.
I should have been a Minnesota Twins fan, because their Class AA farm team was based in Charlotte and I spent dozens of summer nights at the old Griffith Park, watching Tony Oliva and others pass through on their way to the majors. But I loved the Yankees, largely because of Mantle, but not solely because of him. There were so many reasons-from the Babe to Lou Gehrig to Joe DiMaggio and beyond. And, of course, they won.
They still do. And they don t just win games and world championships. They win summer nights and the dreams of kids and grown-ups everywhere who imagine roaming center field in Yankee Stadium just as Mantle used to do.
1 Pinstripes
Red Ruffing, Joe Gordon, Bill Dickey, Charlie Keller, and Joe DiMaggio
2 The Highlanders
Before they were the Yankees, they were the Highlanders. For 10 seasons beginning in 1903, the Highlanders played their games in Hilltop Park, which seated approximately 15,000 fans. It all began when American League president Ban Johnson decided to move an existing team from Baltimore to compete with the New York Giants. Frank Farrell and Bill Devery were the original owners, and they paid $18,000 for the franchise, which drew its name from its ballpark s location at the highest point in Manhattan.

Jack Chesbro
3 Jack Chesbro
Chesbro was known as Happy Jack, the nickname that s on his plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame. One of the finest pitchers of his era, Chesbro was known for his spitball, which frustrated hitters for years as it dipped and darted near the plate. Chesbro owns the distinction of pitching the first game in Yankees history, on April 22, 1903, but his legacy is one of extended success and one remarkable season. Chesbro won 154 games from 1901 to 1906, and he led each league in winning percentage. It was his 1904 season that will probably remain unmatched. In that season, Chesbro won 41 games, completed 48 of the 51 games he started, and pitched 455 innings.

4 The Polo Grounds
Among the great stadiums in baseball history, few evoke as many wistful memories as the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. It was the home of three different teams over a span of more than 50 years, including a relatively brief time as the home of the Yankees. When the Highlanders moved to the Polo Grounds in 1913, they changed their name to the Yankees. They shared the park with the New York Giants, and with its short left- and right-field lines, it soon became a dream park for Babe Ruth. The right-field line was only 258 feet deep, while it was 277 feet to the left-field foul pole. Center field, however, was a canyon, the wall 455 feet from the plate. When the Yankees began outdrawing the Giants in the stadium they shared, Giants owner Charley Stoneham decided he d had enough. He evicted the Yankees, and after the 1922 season they moved on-to their own place called Yankee Stadium.

EVERY BIG LEAGUE PLAYER AND HIS WIFE SHOULD TEACH THEIR CHILDREN TO PRAY: GOD BLESS MOMMY, GOD BLESS DADDY, AND GOD BLESS BABE RUTH.
-Waite Hoyt
5 Babe Ruth
Even now, more than 70 years since he played his last game, Babe Ruth remains the most famous name in baseball history. He dominated a team, baseball, and the Golden Age of sports in America with his oversized personality and style. He was the player everyone wanted to see.
Baseball changed because of Ruth. Though he was an extremely effective pitcher-helping the Boston Red Sox win the 1916 and 1918 World Series-Ruth became a home-run hitter when he came to the Yankees in 1920. From then on, baseball-and the Yankees-were never the same.
The Babe s numbers:
- 714 home runs
- 2,213 runs batted in
- The first player to hit 30, 40, 50, and 60 home runs in a season
- .342 career batting average
- Averaged 50 home runs, 155 RBI, and a .354 batting average from 1926 to 1931

Babe Ruth and Ban Johnson
6 The Curse of the Bambino
It was the stuff of legend or witchcraft or skulduggery. It inspired plays and songs and stories. There are those who will tell you it was the single most important event in baseball history, and there are others who will say it was just a coincidence. But if there is any question why the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry may be the most intense in sports, it s not so much what happened in December 1919, but what happened-or didn t happen-after that.
It was on December 26, 1919, that Boston owner Harry Frazee agreed to sell Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $125,000 and a $300,000 loan. At the time, the Red Sox had won five of the 15 World Series played, three of them with Babe Ruth on their team. The Yankees had not won a World Series. Since that day, any member of Red Sox Nation can tell you Boston went 86 long years between World Series titles. The Yankees, meanwhile, have won 27 through 2009.
7 Bobby Veach
He pinch-hit for Babe Ruth on August 9, 1925, the only time the Babe ever had a pinch-hitter.

8 Yankee Stadium
Considered the most famous stadium in the world, Yankee Stadium sits on a 10-acre site in the Bronx that cost $675,000 when it was purchased. Situated between 157th and 161st Streets, Yankee Stadium opened April 18, 1923, having cost $2.5 million to build, and it came to be known as The House That Ruth Built. The remodeled Yankee Stadium reopened in 1976 (after the Yankees spent two seasons playing in Shea Stadium) and remains one of the most recognizable structures in the world. Prizefights, football and soccer games, and papal visits have also taken place in Yankee Stadium.
When the original Yankee Stadium opened, its roofline was encircled by a copper art deco frieze facade that became one of its most recognizable features. Through the years, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle played under the facade. Painted white in 1967 because it had begun to turn green, the facade was removed when the stadium was remodeled in 1976. A replica of the old facade was placed along a 550-foot stretch above the center-field bleachers. Just beyond the facade in center field, the number 4 train rumbles by on its run from Crown Heights in Brooklyn to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The elevated tracks are as much a part of the place as pinstripes and the facade.
In 2009, the Yankees moved into a new state-of-the-art facility next door. While much of the existing stadium was torn down, parts were retained as a monument to over eight decades of Yankees history.
9 The Bat
Located near the front of Yankee Stadium, the 120-foot-high bat is actually a boiler stack painted to resemble a Louisville Slugger. With Babe Ruth s signature on it, the bat is a favorite spot for fans to have their photo taken.

I SWING BIG, WITH EVERYTHING I VE GOT. I HIT BIG OR I MISS BIG.
-Babe Ruth
10 The Short Porch
The right-field bleachers in Yankee Stadium have always tempted left-handed hitters. When the stadium originally opened, the right-field foul pole was only 295 feet from home plate. It has since been lengthened to 314 feet.

Joe DiMaggio batting

Miller Huggins
11 Miller Huggins
He was known as the Mighty Mite because at only 5 feet 6 inches tall, Huggins was a feisty man who wasn t afraid of anyone. A second baseman for 13 seasons in the majors, Huggins came to New York after a stint as player-manager for the St. Louis Cardinals. He managed the Yankees from 1918 through 1929 and led them to six pennants in an eight-year stretch.