Once a Year, a Chance for All That History to Come Alive

Nobody sells history like the Yankees.
Not the Boston Red Sox or the Boston Celtics. Not the Green Bay Packers or the New York Giants.

Nobody.

Saturday’s 64th Yankees Old-Timers’ Day was a masterpiece of why.

The deaths of Bob Sheppard last Sunday and George Steinbrenner on Tuesday gave Old-Timers’ Day an added depth and meaning this year — part memorial service, part family reunion.

Introductions are by far the best part of the day; on Saturday the Yankees outdid themselves.

Each was introduced along with a biographical sketch and a photograph of the player in his prime. Oscar Gamble, shown with his signature gigantic Afro, is now bald.

The Yankees’ 1950 world championship team was also introduced, without Yogi Berra, who, according to Yankees officials, fell in Montclair, N.J., on Friday night and was unable to make the game.

The Yankees have won 27 World Series titles, and that’s what they sell. Aside from championships, an underlying Yankees theme is death, especially of those who died before their time — Lou Gehrig, Thurman Munson, Catfish Hunter, Bobby Murcer. On Saturday, the team introduced the widows of the Yankees Billy Martin, Elston Howard, Munson, Murcer and Sheppard, the team’s longtime public-address announcer.

There was a roll call of Yankees employees and extended Yankees family who died since last season’s Old-Timers’ Day. Finally came a recording of the national anthem sung by Robert Merrill, who died in 2004.

For those watching around the country, the Yankees’ preoccupation with their past comes off as narcissism. In many ways, it is. The Yankees’ promotion of championships reflects an if-you-can-make-it-here-you-can-make-it-anywhere mentality.
source:www.nytimes.com
A PAKISTAN TIMES