A Baseball Town
© 2007 BestShowTicketsLasVegas.com
Above all other sports, New
York is a first and foremost a baseball town.
It’s true that basketball,
football
and hockey
have their fans, but the sports year begins in the
middle of February and ends in October - preferably
the end of October. And even during the other three
and a half months, the hot stove league consumes the
city’s consciousness, even eclipsing the Jets
and Giants
playoff runs.
This love of the game dates all the ways back to
the 19th century as baseball was played throughout
New York in its earliest forms. The birth of the National
League in 1876 eventually brought the city the Brooklyn
Dodgers and New York Giants and when the American
League set up shop in 1901, the New
York Yankees soon set up shop.
Rooting for a baseball team in New York wasn’t
about what team was better, it was a birthright. People
were born into a fan base and there was no switching
side. As the Yankees established themselves, their
fans came from the Bronx and also attracted the corporate
visitor and tourists.
The
Dodgers and Giants
were different. Working class fans in the first half
of the 20th century tended to back one of the two
National League teams. Giant fans were generally from
Manhattan, while the city’s largest borough
had their beloved Dodgers. Much like the class system
of the early 19th century, which broke down people
by nationality and religion, New Yorkers were identified
with the teams they followed.
The best example of that came in 1951, where the
Dodgers and Giants
finished tied after the 154 game season. A three game
playoff was ordered by the National League, which
culminated with “The Shot Heard Around the World”
by the Giants
Bobby Thompson. Fans fought with each other and until
this day old Brooklyn Dodger fans still feel the pain.
After the Giant
win, they proceeded to be swept by the Yankees,
who had a young Mickey Mantle in the outfield.
The Dodgers had their day in 1955, giving Brooklyn
their only championship, but the days of the Boys
of Summer ended two years later when the Bums and
Giants upped and left for the West Coast.
With only one team in town, the fans of the Dodgers
and Giants
left behind did not back the Yankees, rather they
followed their teams from afar or stopped watching
all together. Only when the New
York Mets were formed in 1962, did these spurned
New Yorkers find a team.
The New York Mets Baseball Team
Much like their predecessors, the Amazins’
quickly established themselves as a people’s
team. Although they were inept, fans flocked to the
old Polo Grounds - and eventually Shea Stadium - to
watch the Mets
and root against the Dodgers and Giants when they
came into town.
The Yankees, meanwhile, just kept winning. Champions
in 1961 and 1962, they lost the Fall Classic the next
two years. Then the bottom fell out. They finished
close to the bottom or last for the rest of the decade,
as the team aged and the mighty farm system went barren.
That gave the Mets
a chance to take the city. And in 1969 they improbably
won the World Series against insurmountable odds.
Led by young pitchers Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman,
the
Miracle Mets won their first the Series 4-1 over
the Baltimore Orioles.
They stayed in contention for the next seven years,
but never got back to the top.
The Yankees
resurged after George Steinbrenner bought the
team and through free agency built the 1977 and 1978
champs. But the Boss’s hand’s on approach
eventually cost those Bombers due to too many bad
moves.
As the Yankees went down, the Mets
came back and in 1986 won the Series again, beating
the Boston
Red Sox in seven games. Much like the team of
a generation before, these NY
Mets were competitive until 1991, but never won
the big game.
But like before, when the Mets
faded, the Yankees came to the forefront. This time
winning four crowns in five years [1996, 1998-2000].
Unlike past teams, these Bombers
were built from within, while cheery-picking the other
talent through free agency and trades. Led by future
Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, the
Bronx Bombers remain a force in the American League.
The Mets
enjoyed a resurgence in 1999 under controversial
manager Bobby Valentine and catcher Mike Piazza. They
even went to the Series in 2000, only to lose to the
cross town Yankees. Then, after five years of mediocrity,
the Mets came back in 2006 behind young stars David
Wright and Jose Reyes and were one strike away from
the
World Series, losing to the eventual champion
St.
Louis Cardinals in seven games.
What makes baseball in New York unique these days
is the rivalry between the Mets and Yankees. The teams
didn’t play each other in non-exhibition games
until 1997 and the Subway Series is the highlight
of every season. Both Shea and Yankee Stadiums get
a mixed but behaved crowd when the two teams play
each other. As both the Met and Yankee fans root for
their teams, you can hear chants for both clubs back
and forth for all nine innings.
And that’s unlike any other sport in the city.
Hockey games tend to have more violent outbursts in
the stands, while games between the Knicks
and Nets
and Jets
vs. Giants
matches could be played anywhere, since the intensity
just isn’t there.
But that’s probably because New York, first
and foremost, is a baseball town.
