Damien Doran's Baseball Blog

DAMIEN WEARS RED SOX

29-08-2007

Birmingham's only Oldham Athletic fan Damien Doran understandably craves glamour and excitement in his sporting life, so he's headed off to Boston this week to indulge his other great sporting passion - rounders. Or as the Yanks call it, baseball.

Heres a challenge. Next time you're in Birmingham try and go for a day

without seeing someone wearing a baseball cap or some other item of clothing bearing the initials N and Y superimposed on each other.

Most people believe this represents the sign of the city of New York, but its not. This familiar everyday sight is the corporate logo of The New York Yankees baseball team.

In a way which Manchester United can only dream about, The Yankees have a totally global brand that dwarves the city in which they reside and even the game that they play.

The Yankees revenues may be similar to United's at $302m but that is nett after Major League Basketball compulsory revenue sharing for branded merchandising and national TV income - and also after having paid $26m in 'luxury tax' for exceeding the league's total salary threshold.

However, in addition they have monies from a major stake in their own TV company which shows their games live on pay per view.

The Yankees get the best players and pay the most money. Their payroll for 2007 is estimated at over $195m and their highest paid star, Alex Rodrigues (A-Rod to his friends), earns $27.7m. By contrast the entire payroll for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays is $24m.

To top it all they will soon move from their historic Yankee Stadium, where over 4 million fans watch baseball each season, to a new $1bn super stadium.

Astonishingly the new ground will have 5,000 fewer seats but, of course, more executive boxes.

Even more astonishing is that in addition to tax breaks and public funding they will get a 'revenue sharing break' from the league's little teams to an estimated $300m!

No wonder their enemies refer to them as the 'Evil Empire'.

The Yankee 'Dynasty', as they prefer to call it can be traced back to 1920. This was the year they purchased the most famous baseball player ever, George Herman Ruth Jr - "Babe Ruth".

In the years before Ruth's arrival the Yankees had never won a World Series. They have been baseball's champions 26 times since and been runners up many times. That they haven't won it since 2000 is testament to the resilience of the other teams and to the league's revenue sharing and draft systems.

The Yankees arch rivals are the Boston Red Sox.

They play in the same division and to reach the play-offs the Red Sox have to finish above the Yankees. The Yankees haven't finished second for 12 years.

Can you remember Newcasle United being 10 points clear in the Premierhip and Kevin Keegan's meltdown on TV as Man U caught them to win the league? For the Red Sox and their fans its like that every year.

The Red Sox 'curse', as they like to refer to it, can also be traced back to 1920.

Before then, they were the most succesful team in baseball winning 5 world series. Then their owner, Harry Frazee, sold their star player - Ruth - to the New York Yankees.

The 'Curse of the Bambino' saw no more world series wins for the Red Sox but many heartaches. The phrase defeat from the jaws of victory could have been invented for the club, its players and long suffering fans

It changed, momentarily, in 2004 when, having qualified for the play offs for the second year in a row through the best-of-the rest 'wild card' system, the Red Sox once again faced the Yankees in a best of 7 games to decide who goes to the World Series.

A year earlier, the Yankees had won 4-3, once again in crushing heartbreak fashion. It looked the same story again in 04, when the Yankees were 3-0 up and winning in the final innings of the fourth game, but the Red Sox staged a dramatic fightback to claim an unlikely victory.

Incredibly, they also went on to win the next three and claim the World Series.

They become the only team in history to come back from a 3 game deficit and it was such a shock to New York to lose to Boston that the Daily Post ran the front page banner headline: 'HELL FREEZES OVER'.

This is the nearest America gets to a rivalry based on intense hatred, and while it may not be of football intensity, it can get nasty with punch ups on the pitch and, occasionally, in the stands.

The two square up to each other this week in The Bronx for three league games and normal service has been resumed. The Red Sox have streaked ahead and the Yankees are now catching them up cutting the lead from 13 wins down to 5. History says they will win all three and then go and finish the job in Boston next month.

This is a hugely important series for both clubs. Tickets have been sold out for months and the teams are lining up their 3 star pitchers and I will be lucky enough to be there, cheering on the Red Sox - but how loudly will depend upon whether Tony Soprano is sitting next to me.

Follow Damien's adventures on The Stirrer. And to check out his previous article - about Lee Hughes' arrival at Oldham - click here )

Do we have any other baseball fans in the house? Please enlighten us as to why anyone would travel 3 miles to see it - never mind 3,000.