Jason and Tino

This past Friday, April 5 was opening day at Yankee Stadium. It was a cold, windy, raw day better suited for football than for baseball and the fans’ attire confirmed that fact. The Yankees were playing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a team that is so bad its only claim to success is that, unlike the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins, it will not be “contracted” at the end of the season ---unless Commissioner Allan “Conflict of Interest” Selig changes his mind.

The home team Yankees not only will be around again next season; they have an excellent chance to regain lost glory this season. A major reason for that is Jason Giambi, the Yankees’ new first baseman, a player who was soundly booed by Yankees fans in his first game in the Bronx.

Giambi is an outstanding offensive player who is adequate defensively. When the Yankees signed him, there no longer was room on the team for Tino Martinez, the man who succeeded Don Mattingly. Tino had huge “shoes to fill,” since Mattingly was second only to Lou Gehrig as the greatest first baseman in Yankees history. He filled them.

Tino Martinez became a Yankee December 7, 1995. He, Jeff Nelson and Jim Mecir went from Seattle to New York for Russ Davis and Sterling Hitchcock. It was an excellent trade for the Yankees and helped to create the teams that won the World Series in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000.

Tino batted .279, hit 175 home runs, and batted in 690 runs during his six seasons as a regular. In five World Series, he has batted .268, hit 3 home runs, and batted in 14 runs, which is good, but far from outstanding. However, in 2000, against the New York Mets, Tino batted .364 and was instrumental in defeating New York’s “other” team.

Most Yankees fans love Tino and Yankees fans are fiercely loyal to their players. Tino wanted to remain a Yankee but circumstances made that impossible. Giambi wanted to play first base and not be a designated hitter, which meant Tino, who had become a free agent, was free to make a deal elsewhere. On December 19, 2001, he signed with St. Louis.

Giambi did poorly in the Yankees first three games in Baltimore. It is inaccurate to state he got off to a slow start because when there are 162 regular season games, three games are a small sample. Giambi simply had a few sub-par games. This leads back to Friday and opening day.

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