Why are Yankees Fan's as well as The NY Franchise always hated?

[Jackmannii]

Anti-Yankees feeling can’t rationally be explained by the team itself - there are and have been great players who conduct themselves well (Jeter, Matsui and Williams among recent examples) and Joe Torre is a class act. Management has been less obnoxious recently with Steinbrenner relatively detached and the team emphasizing talent development more. So you’re left with the fans, the reporters and the broadcasters. Which are quite enough to inspire loathing.

@astorian

Look, I understand and accept that in every sport, there’s one team everybody adores or despises. In the NFL, that’s the Dallas Cowboys. In the NBA, that’s the Celtics. In the NHL, it’s the Canadiens. In college football, it’s Notre Dame. And in baseball, it’s the Yankees. Each of those teams inspires ridiculous, irrational love AND hate. And the nice thing about being a fan of one of those teams is, you really don’t CARE what other people think.

But of course the fans of these lightning rod teams care; they glory in the attention.

I mean, if you’ve been a Red Sox fan over the past few decades, you SHOULD have blamed your teams problems on their racist scumbag owner, Tom Yawkey, for refusing to sign the black players who COULD have brough championships to Boston.

While true, this even better describes the Yankees and the resulting Bronxian Dark Ages of '65-'75.

[What_Exit]

@Jackmannii

While true, this even better describes the Yankees and the resulting Bronxian Dark Ages of '65-'75.

This is very true, it is always important to remember the Yanks passed on Willie Mays. No reason except that the Yankee Talent people were racist at the time, second only to Boston in fact from all accounts I read.

Silenus, I am confused, I thought NYC was the Center of the Universe, are you sure it is not? One of our fellow posters even uses it as his location.

Jim

[astorian]

@What Exit?

This is very true, it is always important to remember the Yanks passed on Willie Mays. No reason except that the Yankee Talent people were racist at the time, second only to Boston in fact from all accounts I read.

Silenus, I am confused, I thought NYC was the Center of the Universe, are you sure it is not? One of our fellow posters even uses it as his location.

Jim

There is some truth to this, certainly. George Weiss, the architect of the Yankees teams of the Fifties, was definitely a racist. He spent years trading away any black minor leaguer who showed the potential of making it to the big leagues (Vic Power was one good example). He finally ccepted one black player, Elston Howard, in 1955… but made sure Elston was about the ONLY black player on the team (except for Suitcase Simpson, I suppose).

Sometimes, success is dangerous. As a wise man once said, we only learn from failures; success merely confirms our prejudices. The Yankees were so successful for so long with a lily-white team, they didn’t see the need to integrate unti long after most other teams had seen the light. When you’re winning pennants year after year, you don’t feel compelled to change things.

What was Tom Yawkey’s excuse? Certainly not that the Red Sox had been cruising along just fine for decades without blacks!

[Ichbin_Dubist]

Speaking as a Mets fan: please, everyone across the country, write to ESPN and FOX and complain about all the New York and Boston games they pick up. I hate it when Mets games aren’t on the local station. ESPN’s booth is pretty bad, and Fox always moves Sunday afternoon games to 8 PM and then you have to listen to goddamn Joe Morgan grouse pointlessly about nothing for 3 hours.

Mets fans hate Yankee fans because they can dish it out but they can’t take it. 50% of them, anyway. That, and that for very long stretches Mets fans have nothing to dish out. Yeah, the Dave Mlicki game, take that, Evil Empire!