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A Whole Team that Belongs in the Hall

© Joseph J. Checkler

Halls of Fame are reserved for individuals and their accomplishments. Compiling statistics, changing the way things are done, and setting records warrant consideration for induction. But if there were a hall of fame for entire teams, the New York Yankees would have a wing all to themselves.

Now I'm not just talking about the current Yankee team, a veteran club driving for its fourth consecutive championship in the post-dynasty era. I'm talking about all Yankees teams, since their inception in 1903. The team with the 26 world championships, the holy stadium, and the understandably cocky fan base. Every year, the Yankee mystique seems to grow.

The Yankee mystique lies in the 1-0 shutout by Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera against Oakland, aided by a Dimmagioesque play by Derek Jeter. The Yankee mystique is the knowledge that the Athletics two run lead in game five of that series would disappear as quickly as a Mickey Mantle fly ball into the Bronx night. The Yankee mystique is the collection of coincidences, the all in the family feel of everyone that's worn the pinstripes.

It's Phil Rizzuto, well into his eighties, emulating Jeter instead of routinely throwing out the first pitch for a game. It's Whitey Ford, talking about the joy he gets watching this team win World Series after World Series. The mystique is in Monument Park, an area in left-center field that Roger Clemens visits before every start, just to wipe his sweat on the Babe's statue.

But mystique is not only about the past. It's about the present, and future too. It's the feeling opponents have when they play the Yankees. The feeling that they don't just have to get Bernie and O'neill out, but that Gehrig and Munson are waiting on deck. When they talk about how tough the Yankees are to beat, they aren't just talking about Mussina and Pettite, but Ford and Raschi.

Teams that play the Yankees will always try to downplay the mystique. "It's a different year," they'll say. "We don't worry about their history." Tell Mark Wohlers that. Ask him why he hung a slider in the 1996 World Series when Jim Leyritz couldn't get around on his fastball. Ask Mike Torres why he left the Yankees, and found himself giving up a three-run homer to Bucky Dent the next year. The mystique wins just as many games as the players. Put that on the plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame for the New York Yankees, the greatest franchise in the history of sports.

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