The New York Yankees: The New Red Sox

Being a Red Sox fan, I know that making comparisons between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox is blasphemy at its finest. Yankee fans want nothing to do with Red Sox comparisons and vice versa. It’s like comparing an elegant, captivating, and downright gorgeous woman (Red Sox) to her ugly, monotonous, and downright rod-shrinking sister (Yankees). It’s like comparing George Carlin to Carrot Top. Lastly, it’s like comparing the IQ’s of women who date Derek Jeter to the women who date Tony Romo (Jessica Simpson has dated Tony Romo... I rest my case). But for as much as it pains me to say this, the personalities of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have switched. It’s almost like that movie Freaky Friday, except I’m sure that the Red Sox and Yankees switching personalities would make a better movie. The New York Yankees, who at one time were rigid, boring and business-like, are now vivacious, enthusiastic, and happy to be playing baseball. Oppose that to my Red Sox, who at one time were happy-go-lucky, playful, and carefree, now seem tightly wound, serious, and way too intense.

Prior to this year, whenever you thought of the New York Yankees, you always thought of the type of team that was led by manager Joe Torre. Where the players were always clean shaven, showing no enthusiasm, and acting as though they were at work instead of playing a kid’s game. For as boring as those teams were, the formula seemed to worked. The Yankees won four World Series titles in a five year span (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000) and was definitely the baseball team of the nineties, and maybe the best professional team in the nineties. The New York Yankees team of the oughts (crappy name for the 2001-2010 era I know, but nobody has come up with a better name for it yet) definitely had the same personality, but not the same success. They made it to the World Series in 2001 and 2003 but came home empty handed both times. If that wasn’t painful enough, in 2004 they were the first professional baseball team to ever lose a playoff series after winning the first three games. Oh, and by the way, did I mention that they accomplished this feat against the hated Red Sox. (That little occurrence I like to call either “And The Pamela Anderson Award for Blowing The Big One Goes To...The New York Yankees” or “The New York Yankees...Defining Deep Throating Excellence by Choking Under Pressure.”) So the business all the time, epitome of professionalism Yankees didn’t seem to have the magic touch they did in the nineties. But then something unthinkable happened, something that I never thought I would see. The captain of the Yankee vessel, Joe Torre, stopped being the manager of the team. It wasn’t exactly at that moment, but the wheels were in motion for the Yankees to take on a different personality. It started with the hiring of a new manager, who was a former Yankee catcher, that transformed the Yankees into a different bunch. A group that took on more characteristics of certain “idiots”, rather than the boring Yankees of old.

In 2008, The New York Yankees hired Manager Joe Girardi, who only two years prior almost led the Florida Marlins ($14 million payroll) to a wild card birth. Also in 2006 Girardi was named National League Manager of the Year for the Marlins. When Girardi took over in 2008, it just seemed to me that the Yankees were a different ball club. They didn’t seem as rigid as they previously did under Joe Torre. But that didn’t turn into results right away and for the first time in 14 years the Yankees did not make the postseason. A lot of people wanted Girardi’s head on a platter, but General Manager Brian Cashman and what was left of George Steinbrenner were patient with Girardi, and that definitely paid dividends for the Yankees this year. During the 2009 season, the Yankees went on to win 103 games and the American League Eastern Division. They eventually turned a division title into a World Series title, beating the Philadelphia Phillies in 6 games to win their 27th World Series title.  Something was significantly different about the way the Yankees won games, it seemed as though they were enjoying what they were doing. From Nick Swisher keeping everybody loose in the club house, to A.J. Burnett throwing shaving cream pies into the faces of players who had game winning hits, to even Yankee captain Derek Jeter cracking a smile from time to time. They New York Yankees actually acted like...ball players. Even Alex Rodriguez, who has always looked nervous to be in his own skin, never mind in Yankee pinstripes, looked comfortable. There was even a point in the season where Derek Jeter pointed at Alex Rodriguez and smiled, so you knew that this was a different Yankees team.  It seemed as though that the hated Yankees have switched personalities with my beloved team, who have gone from carefree and enthusiastic to business like and monotonous. 

From 2004 to 2007, the Boston Red Sox were probably the most entertaining team to watch , not only in Major League Baseball, but in all professional sports. It looked as though this team consisted of a bunch of big kids going out on the baseball diamond and just having fun. Look at the 2004 team and the characters that were on that ball club. Let’s start off with first baseman and outfielder Kevin Millar. If there was ever an “idiot” to signify “the idiots,” it was that “idiot.” It looked as though the only care that guy had was the menu selection at the next buffet. But with that carefree attitude came a sense of leadership; I know that statement is a bit of an oxymoron but hear me out. It didn’t matter how bad a situation looked, Millar always seemed to keep the clubhouse loose and not let guys get too tight. For example, when the Red Sox were down 3-0 to the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, it was Millar who coined the name “The Idiots” for the team. That name was almost the Red Sox’s rallying cry for the rest of the postseason, and from then on they went 7-0, winning the first World Series for the Red Sox since 1912. Now let’s look at the 2007 team; I would say the two characters on this ball club were David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia. David “Papi” Ortiz was on the 2004 team as well and continued his vibrant and optimistic personality into the 2007 season. With his warming smile, gapped grin, and round shape, Ortiz looked more like a teddy bear you found on a 6 year old’s bed than a baseball player playing in the hot stove of Boston. With every game that the Red Sox won, and with every home run that Papi hit, his grin got wider and his personality more vibrant. Next is Dustin Pedroia, who’s first full season was in 2007. Dustin Pedroia is listed as 5’8”, which is similar to Pat Williams for the Minnesota Vikings being listed as 340 pounds, in both cases the number was a vast misrepresentation of what the actual number was. But for as small as Pedroia is, he made up for it in confidence, hustle, and grit. During that season the Red Sox played the San Francisco Giants, and it’s reported that when former Giant Barry Bonds was on second base, Pedroia went up to him and said “I’m sorry I broke all your records.” Pedroia and Bonds both played at Arizona State University, and did in fact have more hits, runs and doubles than Barry Bonds. Pedroia hustled everywhere, even to first base after a walk. It was his personality, almost cocky but willing to back it up, that helped the Red Sox build their team character in 2007. This aided the Red Sox to another World Series title, sweeping the Colorado Rockies to their 2nd title in 4 years. These type of personalities made up the Red Sox, a cast of characters that people seemed to gravitate towards and follow with a vast dedication. 

However in the last couple of years, the Red Sox have lacked the luster that made them media darlings in 2004 and 2007. Gone were the endearing personalities, and in there place their were robotic players who didn’t have any personality whatsoever. By this time the team had let go of outfielder Johnny Damon, who might have embodied the carefree spirit of the 2004 Red Sox better than anybody. By the World Series, he looked like that millennium version of Jesus and was the leader of “the idiots”. The Red Sox replaced Damon with players like Jacoby Ellsbury and JD Drew, who are very skilled players, but have the personalities of white bread. There was nothing exciting about them, they didn’t have the Damon carefree spirit or the Millar goofy sense of humor. Even the players that were on the 2007 team lost their luster. In the second half of 2008 and the first half of 2009 David Ortiz went through a slump of massive proportions. Ortiz looked like a shell of his former self, gone was the smile, gone was the endearing person Red Sox nation grew accustomed to. The former teddy bear Sox fans knew in 2004 and 2007, now looked as though he didn’t have any stuffing inside of him and all that was left was the skin. Then it was revealed that Ortiz was on the 2003 list of players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Any hope of seeing the old “Papi” vanished, and we have yet to see 2004 or 2007 David Ortiz in quite a while. Dustin Pedroia, who always seemed to have a smile on his face, seemed way too intense this season and didn’t seem like he was having fun. It looked like Pedroia was just going through the motions, not playing with any passion or spirit. Even Kevin Youkalis, who always plays with intensity, seemed to be arguing and yelling at umpires more often this year. The 2008 and 2009 Red Sox didn’t seem to have fun playing the kid’s game of baseball. They seemed like the Joe Torre, monotonous Yankees of old. Perhaps since the New York Yankees have won their first World Series title since 2000, maybe this will light a fire under the Red Sox. Because as of late, it seems as though nothing else has done the trick.