So Manny was roided up all along huh? Well, I’d like to say that this information doesn’t make me feel a little bit better about that 2004 colossal collapse by the Yankees against the Red Sox and everything that’s gone on in recent years with the Yanks Bosox rivalry, but I’d be lying. I’d like to say that Bill “The Sports Guy” Simmons’s worst nightmare doesn’t make me quietly giddy. I’d like to be able to say that I’m so much of a true baseball fan that something that hurts the integrity of the game as much as this, hurts me. But, that simply wouldn’t be true. The honest truth is I’m more a Yankees fan than I am a baseball fan. Maybe its because growing up and attending PS 20 in Brooklyn we got free tickets from Mr. Marcus for dressing out everyday for PE. I still remember going to games on week nights. Just me and my mom and a bunch of classmates with their parents. Catching that train the Bronx, sitting in the upper deck singing Take Me Out to The Ball Game during the seventh inning stretch. Begging my mom to let us stay 15 more minutes outside of the Yankees player entrance to wait and see if we could catch a glimpse of Donnie Baseball and Wade Boggs leaving the locker room. Or maybe its because of that special summer afternoon game that my brothers 5th grade teacher Mr. Cantos took us to in the summer of ‘93, right after my dad died and right before we moved from Brooklyn to New Orleans. The batting glove, the baseball cap, and the cards that he bought to make sure we had the best game experience ever: all things I’ll never forget. I’ll say that pretty much sealed the deal. A Yankees fan for life (no disrespect to those Mets teams: Doc Gooden, Straw and HoJo were staples of my childhood along with that “Lets Go Mets, Do it Again!” chant). Through thick and thin, I am forever a die hard Yankees fan.
Three years later when Joe Torre took the ‘96 Yanks on that special World Series run with his brother Frank in the hospital with cancer it was just so special. I had followed the Yanks the whole season because I had just got internet access. Knew the lineup even down to Mariano Duncan at second base, and Luis Sojo and Charlie Hayes as infield reserves. Such a special team, such a special season. From there the Yanks went on one of the greatest runs in sports history winning four out five World Series from ‘96-‘00 and playing in six out of eight World Series from ‘96-‘03. But everything ended in ‘03 when the Marlins took us down. By this time the Yankees have morphed into the evil empire, as we were branded by the BoSox and most of baseball at this point baseball. The model that was built by Buck Showalter and Gene Watson, which relied on developing our farm system (it produced Rivera, Jeter, Williams, Pettite and Posada among others), was replaced by the old Steinbrenner way of doing things- trading away the farm for over priced aged veteran All-Stars. (Ironically the Watson and Showalter method was only implemented because of Steinbrenner suspension in 1990 due to the Dave Winfield scandal- hate to think what life as Yankee fans would have been like if Steinbrenner was never suspended). This all culminated with the Yanks fielding a team with the least heart in baseball (see the Arod signing) and experiencing the most monumental collapse in sports history, coughing up a 3-0 series lead. The BoSox won the series that year and the Yankees haven’t been back since. As a Yankees fan sometimes I feel like the curse of the Bambino was transferred over to us that year or something (especially with all these new stadium issues).
So folks naturally as a true Yankees fan hearing this news about Manny allowed my mind to run wild. What if Manny was juiced all along. What if Manny and Big Papi both Dominican born ball players were both juicing and the guys responsible for the greatest come back in sports playoff history were basically Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire batting in the heart of the line-up. I mean is this really so far fetched. Dominican players are known for having easy access to a wide array of substances that aren’t available in the states. And if Manny and Big Papi were on it, what about others. Trot Nixon and Kevin Millar maybe. I mean really where did those guys come from? And even better question where did they go after the Red Sox magical run? (I feel like that’s a question we may be asking about Big Papi in the not too distant future).
So I should feel all better right. I mean once we crack the code on the Manny situation and trace back to his supplier we should uncover another pipe line, maybe not of BALCO fame, but one that may lead us to some other athletes (likely some of his Red Sox teammates). Then I should be able to rest easy knowing that the breaking of the curse was a fraud. I mean thats fair right. The Yanks got caught up in the scandal and had the organizations reputation smeared when Red Sox minority owner George Mitchell helped create a report that implicated half the notable Yankee players of the late 90's while only naming one Red Sox minor leaguer and now we find out the most notable Red Sox player of the last 10 years was juiced. Karma right. Everything changes now right. Maybe this even comes with a re-institution of Yankee dominance.
But the reality of it all is that nothing changes. The more steroid scandals that break, the more I try to determine when this steroid thing really took of. When did it enfultrated the Yankee organization? Did it begin with Clemens and McNamee? Surely my ‘96 Yankees weren’t tainted. Then I start to wonder what about Tino Martinez and Scotty Brosuis and the 98 team. Where did these guys come from, and where did they go? I swear, if somebody tells me that everything I witnessed from Bernie and Jeter was fraudulent, I may shed a tear. I mean you can't just reach into my childhood memories and grab a big chunk out of it and think thats okay. For better or for worse, Jeter and Bernie's late game heroics are as much a part of my childhood as John Starks' 2-18 performance in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. As a New York sports fan you can't have one without the other. You lived and died on every shot and you lived and died on every swing thats just the way it was and still is. And thats really the shame of it all. The thought that the nights spent up past your bed time hanging on every pitch could possibly be a fraud is just too much to handle. I mean if thats the case can we agree that John Starks' 2-18 game was a nightmare and somebody shake me wake me up and make the New York Knicks the 1993 NBA Champions. Fair is fair right??? Wrong. And thats the one thing that I do know. That in sports these days fair is not fair. Because at the end of the day, the Red Sox fans, the Yankee fans, the Dodger fans, we're the ones left wondering. Left wondering what and who to believe. Wondering if the money we spent on tickets was worth it. Wondering if the nights we stayed up were worth it. Wondering if what we witnessed with our own eyes was real. The players in most cases aren't asked to return back pay checks or better yet pay the fans back for the card, jersey, and ticket money spent. And the players definitely aren't asked to return MVP trophies and World Series rings. So if this whole situation teaches me anything, its that the baseball that I watched was never about me the fan, and I for one think that thats not fair.
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