Now just a damn Yankee minute . . .

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Oct 26, 2009

No doubt you’ve noticed Phil Lawler’s absurd On the News entry, consisting of a cheer for the Philadelphia Phillies. This has nothing to do with his name. Phil lives in Red Sox land. I had a pastor once who introduced himself at his first Mass in our parish as being “from Boston, where God lives.” So you can see how they think up there. Anyone but the Yankees. It’s scandalous.

On the other hand, even at World Series time, I am proud to maintain that unbiased, clear-headed approach to reality which is the hallmark of CatholicCulture.org. I am rooting for the Yankees, but only because it is so eminently sensible.

This has nothing to do with the fact that I grew up in the 1950’s and early 1960’s near Buffalo, New York when there was only one New York team. After all, Buffalo is a long way from New York City. I barely noticed during those years that people like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Roger Maris where active on the Yankees’ roster, and that the inimitable Casey Stengel was managing. I can hardly remember their names after fifty or so years. As for Whitey Ford, Tony Kubek, and Bobby Richardson, well, I don’t even recall whom they played for.

Nor does this have anything to do with the fact that, during my formative years for baseball (age 8 through 15), the Yankees played in seven out of eight World Series and won four of them. And no, I did not have a transistor radio plugged into my ear during the school day on October 16, 1962. It was my freshman year in high school and, sure, the Yankees did hold on to beat San Francisco one nothing in game 7. But you wouldn’t have caught me listening in, if you see what I mean.

So, Phil, give it a rest. Some of us have standards.