(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
We all have a special place in our heart for that one special team. One where when you think back about them, it will always put a smile on your face. As a fan of the New York Yankees, I love them all. Although I was not alive for a hefty portion of them, the stories I have read and the film I have watched have made me appreciate each and every single one.
Everyone has their reasons for their one particular team. A New York Yankees fan has quite a few options. Maybe it’s the 1927 Bombers because of their all around greatness. Or the 1961 team because of the home run race between teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Whatever your reasons are, no one can debate it as the choice is simply yours, a matter of opinion.
At 17 years old, I am part of the fan base’s younger generation. Many of the older generation call us spoiled, as we have witnessed four World Series and six pennants since 1996. Yet for those born when I was, we have not witnessed a Yankee’s title since the age of nine, just when most of us begin to gain memories that will last us a life time.
Although I know I followed baseball before this, my religious worship for the New York Yankees began during the 2001 season at the age of 10. As a young kid who had just witnessed the team win three straight titles, I had no reason to believe they could not do it again.
I knew early on that this team wasn’t as talented as some of the teams from a few years before. Yet who was? Even if they lacked that big bat in the middle of the order, they had that “it factor” something all of the previous championship team’s possessed under manager Joe Torre.
Man, did that team just grind out victories. The 95 wins they had during the regular season was quite an achievement, considering they hit only .267 and finished a mediocre fifth in the American League in runs scored. Yet the stalwarts seemed to always come through when it mattered.
With the exceptions of Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada, the rest of the hitters had mediocre seasons at best yet it seemed the likes of Paul O’Neil, Scott Brosius and Tino Martinez always found a way to get the job done, even if the stats did not show it.
If the team’s offensive production did not meet up to the team’s sky high standards, the same can definitely not be said about the pitching staff that season. Thirty-eight-year-old righty Roger Clemens finally pitched to his sky-high expectations and won 20 games.
His 3.51 ERA was nothing special, and although saber metrics freaks probably disagree with the selection, I’m here to give them a vote of confidence, whatever that’s worth. He didn’t always win pretty, but like the entire team he simply got the job done.
Yet the phenomenal pitching efforts the Yankees got that season extended beyond Clemens. Two other starting pitchers, newcomer Mike Mussina and holdover Andy Pettitte each were fantastic winning 17 and 15 games respectively while both posting ERA’s under 4.00. Although the No. 4 and No. 5 spots in the rotation were a question all season, it really didn’t matter with those three workhorses pitching every day.
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