Former Yankee closer and newest member of the Hall of Fame Goose Gossage took a trip to Cooperstown yesterday in which he was critical of Joba Chamberlain's eccentric celebrations after recording the final out of one of his eighth inning appearances. Gossage saidof Chamberlain's celebratory antics, "There's no place for it in the game and I will stand by that." Gossage went on to say that it is not representative of the Yankee way.
"The jumping and the high-fiving, Roy White brought up a great point to me the other day when we were in a charity golf tournament. Roy said, 'Did you see Melky jumping up and down, doing the pirouette and all? That's not the Yankee way.' It's not the Yankee way."
Weren't Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle intolerable drunks? Gossage isn't talking about the Yankee way, he's talking about the Steinbrenner way, which has been instated every since the Yankees' owner bought the team in 1974. Gossage is referring to Steinbrenner's business-like attitude towards what a clubhouse should be. However, isn't this baseball is simply business attitude one of the reasons the Yankees haven't been able to win in so long? There has been a lack of team chemistry and a lack of energy. They need that boost of energy from the younger players.
Was Paul O'Neill not a Yankee? O'Neill is known as one of the most animated players in New York history for throwing his bat and his helmet and beating the water cooler as if it owed him money. Did O'Neill not follow the "Yankee way"? He must have. George Steinbrenner used to call him a Warrior (so much so that now it's a proper noun). Clearly, he was one of Steinbrenner's favorite players. Shouldn't George get to decide the Yankee way more than Goose Gossage?
If energy is coming from the top, why can't the players have that same fire? Hank Steinbrenner has made numerous comments through the media regarding the Red Sox and other teams, trash-talking them and referring to Yankee superiority. Why is that better than Melky Cabrera doing his signature handshake jump-and-bump high five with Robinson Cano after a win?
I don't understand this comment by Gossage, who is a man who criticized Hall of Fame voters for keeping him out for so long. Was that following the Yankee way?
- D. Spell
1 comment:
I believe the thrust of your argument is correct, especially when you see pitchers throughout both leagues fist-pumping, screaming, and high-fiving. Joba is not unique.
But perhaps what best supports your position is an image I can never get out of my mind. Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, Yankees about to win the game and put the Red Sox on the precipice of a 4-game sweep. And what does the camera show? Johnny Damon, Boston CF, calmly clipping his toe nails in the dugout. The next day on sports talk radio all I heard was how this exemplified how the Sox could never beat the button-down, business-like Yankees.
Wrong! We all know what happened. Long haired, toe nail clipping Red Sox embarrassed the corporate New Yorkers. Maybe the Yankee-way has outlived its usefulness! Girardi should give Damon some nail clippers and maybe they'll start winning.
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