Watching History

My friends know I am a diehard Yankees fan. I have not always been a diehard fan. I used to find baseball very boring. I've only been interested in baseball in the last decade or so. But, make no mistake, I have always been a Yankees fan. Which is no surprise. I grew up 3 1/2 hours from New York City. The Yankees are big in NY State. My father is a Yankees fan. So of course, I am a Yankees fan. (My sister for many years loved baseball, but was a Mets fan. She has since realized the error of her ways!)

One of the books I downloaded for free on my new Nook Color was 'The Last Boy'. It is a biography of Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle is the reason my father (and probably many men my father's age) is a Yankees fan. Mickey Mantle played for the Yankees from 1951-1968. My father was born in 1954. The years Mickey was smashing balls out of ballparks and creating records were the impressionable years of my father's youth. Mickey was an idol to the young boys playing in sand lots and front yards across the country.

My grandfather is a Mets fan. Although the Mets were formed in 1962, so before that he must have been either a Dodgers or a Giants fan (before both teams moved to California). I'm not sure who he liked before the Mets. I know he has never been a Yankees fan, which made it more interesting when my Dad threw his loyalties behind the Yankees. My father is not a fairweather fan. He is diehard- through the good times and the bad. He has taken his share of ribbing when his teams aren't doing so well, and he is ecstatic when they are.

Reading the book about Mickey Mantle has given me some insight into Dad's childhood idol. I didn't even realize Dad was a big Mickey Mantle fan until we went to Yankee Stadium a couple of years ago and went to Mickey Mantle's restaurant in NYC. We were on a bus trip, and many of the people were Dad's age. They started reminiscing about Mickey Mantle, and I learned quite a lot. But Mantle played 50 years ago, I know very little about him, except that he is considered one of the greatest Yankee players, and that he was an alcoholic.

The book is written by another Mantle fan, and she writes of her struggle to balance the real man with the childhood hero. I'm more than halfway through the book, and I think she's done a good job. I've learned that he wasn't the most clean-cut person. It seems he was always injured, and it's a wonder he could play ball at all. Then I look at what he accomplished, and it's easy to see why he remains an idol.

I've been reading this book as the greatest Yankee of my generation, Derek Jeter, has been marching towards 3000 hits. The 3000 hits is a milestone in itself, but of all the amazing men who have worn the Yankee uniform over the years, Derek Jeter is the first to reach 3000 hits. In the midst of this story, two of Jeter's teammates, Granderson and Teixeira are hitting home runs similar to the summer of 1961 when it was the M&M boys (Maris & Mantle) on a home run marathon. I know that I've been watching history being made, and I can't shake the feeling that in another couple of decades, they'll be talking about the summer of 2011 with the same reverence that they currently use for the summer of 1961.

It is exciting, watching all of this. Of course, today I'm watching it on color TV, with play by play announcing. I don't have to wait for the paper to come in the morning to check the box score (which my father said he did). I can even follow things on the Internet. But it is still exciting, it's a very heady feeling. And it's a great summer to be a Yankees fan. This must have been what it felt like when Dad was a boy. Maybe people even felt this way back when Babe Ruth was playing. Someday Sydney and Drew will ask us what it was like to see Derek Jeter play.

I know there is more to life than baseball. There is also hockey and college football. Of course, I am kidding. Sports is not the only thing in life. It is one of my hobbies, and makes an otherwise dull Saturday afternoon so much more interesting. It's also a good excuse to stay inside in the air conditioning! So congratulations to Derek Jeter on hitting #3000 today. You have been an incredible role model for the next generation. It's nice to know a good guy can still be a hero.