The "True Yankee" List (Part 1)
By Jose Reyes 5/1/2005 "True Yankee Fan"
There has a been a lot of 
talk about the New York Yankees lately on sports radio
concerning the term "A True Yankee". Alex Rodriguez hit 3
homeruns the other day and had 10 RBI's, all in 1 game, pretty amazing, I must
say, but the New York sports tabloids wrote several articles explaining that
just because he had such a great night with this incredible achievement, that
this would not put him over the hump with the Yankees fans, the "True
Yankee Fans" that is, and make him a "True Yankee", overall, in
Yankee history. Well, of course not! He's got a long way to go and in my
opinion, he will never get there. I made the mistake before, but only once, it
was when the Yankees picked up Tino and let go of "Donny Baseball" Don
Mattingly, well he retired or wasn't re-signed, who knows but anyway, he was
gone. I was listening to ESPN Radio and the Yankee fans were calling in and man,
I heard a lot of phony fans, who probably jumped on the Yankee bandwagon in
1996, give me a break, they were actually
saying that A-Rod
was a
"True
Yankee",
it made me sick! This prompted me to write this article
and make a
list, because after all, I am a "Super True Yankee Fan", but before I
go any further with my list, I will have to clear up some things here and I will
define what a "True Yankee Fan" really is and remember, if you are not a
"True" Yankee fan, then you would not be able to identify a "True
Yankee".
A "True" Yankee Fan (Rules & Regulations)
1. To be a "True" Yankee fan you must have a "Yankee Bloodline" of some kind, it's pretty simple. You must be a Yankee fan for all your life, since you were born. That would mean that your Father and/or your Mother and your Grandfather and/or your Grandmother were Yankee fans also and passed it down to either or both of your parents. That goes for Stepfathers and Stepmothers also, just in case you were neglected from your non-Yankee parents or you ran away from home when you were very little and were picked up by loving Yankee fans. Yankee parents would never do something like that because they are winners!
2. Uncles and Aunts apply also but only if neither of your parents don't like baseball at all and never did. This will qualify you as a "First Generation Yankee Fan", check rule #4.
3. Now, if you are a parent and have kids and you are a Yankee fan or your wife is, your kids will be Yankee fans also unless they don't like Baseball or they decide not to be Yankee fans because the parent who is not a Yankee fan brainwashes the child towards the Red Sox or the Mets or any other useless team. Now if either parents or both do like baseball and they aren't Yankee fans, then they are probably "Losers" but the poor kid still has a chance because they will fall into the category of "First Generation Yankee Fan", read rule #4. This very rarely happens, but if this does happen, find a "True" Yankee fan, explain your situation to them and they will accept you, they will understand because they are cool people, they'll see the "Winner" in you.
4. You might be a "First Generation Yankee Fan", that means that your Parents and there Grandparents or your Uncles or Aunts, collectively, never got into baseball. A generous " True" Yankee fan will understand the situation and accept you into the "Circle of True Yankee Fans".
5. You might be an immigrant or a refugee from a country where baseball is not played at all or you don't get ESPN, then you would qualify also, as long as you make the Yankees your first and only team of interest as soon as you learn the rules to the game of baseball.
Characteristics of
a "True" Yankee Fan
Yankee fans are different from other baseball fans and very fortunate also because of the numerous world championships (26) and pennants (39) they have won but with all these riches comes a whole lot of pressure. Pressure is the "name of the game" if you play for the Yankees, the "True" Yankee fans are always sharing that pressure with the players themselves, pitch by pitch.
"True" Yankee fans are not cocky, they are always concerned about the outcome of their beloved team. They understand that anything can happen in any game of baseball but they are very confident and never lay down like dogs. We know exactly what each of our Yankees can and can't do but what we appreciate the most is "Effort" and if we see one of our Yankees not give it 100 percent then we let them know it. A "True" Yankee fan doesn't boo a Yankee player, they curse them out, when we boo somebody, its either an opposing team player, team or an umpire, remember that!! So these fake, self ordain, wanna-be Yankee fans, bandwagon jumpers are not "True Yankee fans. These phony fans are the first to jump ship when the Yankees start to lose.
The "True" Yankee fan gets tough and becomes more of a fanatic, we
live and die with our Yankees. When a "True" Yankee fan asks another
"True" Yankee fan
this question, "What do you think about the Yanks" and they are on an
8 game losing streak, the answer would be, "They Suck!", why?, because
we know they are better than that. "True" Yankee fans have their own
special language that only they understand. If two "True" Yankee
fans are arguing and putting the Yanks down, talking about how much they
suck and a non-Yankee fan friend jumps in to add to the argument, the two
Yankee fans will turn on this jerk and curse him or her out out for getting
involved in a "True" Yankee fan, Yankee disagreement. We love our
Yankees!!
One is either a Yankee fan
or not a Yankee fan. You either love them with a
passion or you hate them with a passion, there's no in between. One cannot be a
Yankee fan and then become a fan of another team that is playing great at the moment and
then come back to being a Yankee fan again, that is utterly ridiculous and in my
book, this person would fall under the "Bandwagon Law". Do not try to
fake it, a "True" Yankee fan will easily catch your bluff. A person
who is a fan of another team and becomes a Yankee fan and lies about it, is not
only a phony but you should not be hanging around with him or her anyway because
he or she is probably an all-around phony. It's easy to find out if they are
"True" Yankee fans. Here are some questions you can ask.
Questions to ask
Note: If they never heard of "The Iron Horse" or Joe "D" then you don't have to go any further.
-If they say they are Yankee fans for about 40 years ask them "What number did Tom Tresh wear?"
-If they say they are
Yankee fans for about 35 years, ask them " What position did Horace Clark
play?"
-If they say that they are Yankee fans for about 30 years, ask them "What number did Roy White wear?"
-If they say that they are Yankee fans for about 25 years, ask them "What number did Greg Nettles wear?"
-If they say they are Yankee fans for about 20 years, ask them "What number did Dave Winfield wear?"
-If they say that they are Yankee fans for the last 15 years, ask them "What number did Jim Leyritz wear?"
-If they say that they are fans for the last 10 years which means, this kid you are talking to is about 15 years old now, was born here or is from another country, knows the rules of baseball and had ESPN at home, ask him or her "What position did Charlie Hayes play?"
These are all dead giveaways to catch them all.
Remember, there age determines
how many years back you are going to go back and of course, your age is
important, but you should have plenty of knowledge past down to you from your
Parents or Stepparents or Uncles and Aunts or another "True" Yankee fan.
I doubt that anyone who is not a "True Yankee Fan" has read up to this point of the article, so I will show you my list of "True Yankees" in Part 2. I am going to read down this list of the New York Yankees All-Time Player Roster AtoZ , courtesy of MLB (Major League Baseball) and pick the players that I feel are "True Yankees". I'm sure the "True Yankee Fans" out there will agree with me.
"The Yankee Bandwagon Law"
The dictionary meanings of joining "The Bandwagon" are:
Dictionary.com: "Bandwagon"
1.A cause or party that attracts increasing
numbers of adherents.
"Young voters climbing aboard the party's bandwagon".
2.A popular trend that attracts growing support.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: "Bandwagon"
1.A popular party, faction, or cause that attracts growing support -- often used in such phrases as " climb on the bandwagon"
2.A current or fashionable trend.
When one jumps on the Yankee Bandwagon or any other sports team' s bandwagon
that means that they are giving up on there beloved team and there is no excuse
for that at all. There is no possible excuse even if you hate Steinbrenner or
"Steinvader", like I call him, because he will be gone one day but the
Yankees will always be there
and so will the "True Yankee Fans", remember that.
I will have the list of "True Yankees" in Part
2 very soon.
