Yankeeology.com

What about the “Hawk”

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

Now that we have opened the door for Jim Rice to enter the Hall of Fame then we must leave it slightly opened for the “Hawk” which has been patiently perched right outside for the last 13 years since he retired in 1996.

By Jose “Pepitone” Reyes

Interleague Play is wrong, nontraditional and basically illegal. Interleague play started in 1997 on June 12th when the Texas Rangers played against the San Francisco Giants in Arlington, Texas. The reason was to generate more Fan Interest and of course generate more Revenue. Just think, how many baseball fans would be so exited in watching, live at home, the world famous Yankees, on their home town field. And that’s just one example, you have the cross town rivals and cross state rivals also. Interesting idea but anti-statistical in so many ways and I will dwell on this later on. From 1997 to 2002 Interleague play only paired off teams that were from the same geological locations, for example; the American League East would play against the National League East, the AL West would match up against the NL West and so on. After the 2002 season and until this present Month, we now have any sort of combination games, any division in the AL against any Division from the NL.

Interesting you might feel? Confusing, for the players sake, I say, because of the rule changes applied. Non-traditional because the shortening of intraleague matches. Illegal, because the MLB system and player stats. Why am I so opposed you may ask? I’ll explain why and I will use the NFL as an analogy, as to compare and prove my negative opinion towards this whole Interleague Play fiasco. It all has to do with the wording and it’s significance. Example, the NFL is a league, with one Commissioner who acts as the sole “President.” In this League they have conferences, the American and the National conferences.There is only One MVP, One Rookie of the Year and so on. So because of this, Interconference Games are allowed in the schedule.

Now, let’s look at Major League Baseball. We have 2 LEAGUES, American and National , there are 2 presidents, one for each league. There is an MVP for the National league and for the American league also, there are 2 Batting Crown winners, 2 Rookie of the Year winners, 2 Homerun Kings, 2 Stolen Base winners, RBI Champs, ERA, and so on. Get the picture? In all the major categories there are awards given out and in both leagues respectively. Also, you have different rules, for example; there is a DH in the American League and DH is not allowed in the National league. The strike zone is another factor, for example; the National league has a lower strike zone, when the American league has a higher strike zone. And because of this handicapping going on with the home field advantages, it’s not fair! Not to mention, to enforce the strike zones, we have American League Umpires and National League Umpires. This is crazy and very confusing, I must say?

Winning can be contagious, they say, and I agree. If you played organized sports in your life, you would agree with me also. Baseball is not all about numbers and situational hitting only. There is the psychological factor and of course the luck factor. And like I mentioned before, it applies to any sport but I am going to concentrate on baseball here and the current Yankee five-game winning streak. The Fans have much to do with it also and it shows! Winning a game is a great feeling and most of all, it is a confidence builder. When you are winning you are happy and confident, not to mention, proud of yourself. You can see it right there on that image, look at the faces of the players. This is exactly what the 2009 Yankees needed and what exactly their cheering fans needed also. This is what Yankee baseball is all about! But real Yankee fans are not showoffs, that’s for sure. We don’t go around parading, bragging and rubbing it to the world. For us Yankee fans, it’s a personal struggle between the Yankee players and us. Yes, our job is to make sure the Yankee players perform to the best of their ability and if they do so, then they will win, simple as that! Yankee fans know very well that it’s the Yankees against the world. You either love them or you hate them. The Yankees are the team to beat, it always seems to be like this, why look at our opponents, look at how they play all-out.