THE 1969 MIRACLE METS: THE IMPROBABLE STORY OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST UNDERDOG TEAM by Steven Travers Read Free Book Online Page B

DiMaggio.
    Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford are two players
whose places in baseball history are greatly enhanced by the fact
that they were Yankees. A catcher like Ernie Lombardi of
Cincinnati, for instance, was probably near Berra’s equivalent. A
pitcher such as Detroit’s Jim Bunning was as effective as Ford. But
they wore the pinstripes. It was Berra and Ford who made up the
winning battery in countless World Series victories. They were the
ultimate winners.
    The manager of those Yankee teams was Casey
Stengel. His body of work as a player and manager is extraordinary,
but other than his perceived “clown act” in Brooklyn before and
with the Mets afterward, he would be a nominal figure in the game’s
history were it not for his 11 years at the Yankee helm. Among
sports coaches, only Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics and John
Wooden at UCLA matches his record of dominance during this
time.
    Reggie Jackson is a player worthy of
inclusion, even though he was a free agent superstar who made his
name first in Oakland and again in Anaheim after his tumultuous New
York years. There were the arguments with Billy Martin, another
strange contender with pedestrian statistics, whose personal
foibles are enough to deny him entrance. Reggie bad-mouthed Thurman
Munson. He was somewhat overshadowed by Dave Winfield, a great
athlete whose bid for inclusion fell way short. But Reggie had five
years and shone brightly. He was a Hall of Famer who earned the
moniker Mr. October with a 1977 World Series performance against
the Dodgers that is unequaled before or since. He was larger than
life, in all ways the ultimate true New York Sports Icon.
    The Yankees of the late 1990s and 2000s have
enjoyed one of their most impressive runs and in fact have had a
host of superstars as impressive as their greatest teams. This is a
result of the free agent era, in which Yankee riches have been able
to purchase the best club money can buy. In the past, the Yankees
settled for journeymen players, often in trades with Kansas City,
who may not have been great stars (with a few exceptions, such as
Maris) but were solid enough to give them the pennant-winning
edge.
    Are Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera worthy of
inclusion? Yes. Each has played on four World Championship teams.
Jeter has not won any MVP awards and it is arguable whether he
pulled ahead of the other great shortstops of his era; Nomar
Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada and Alex Rodriguez. However, he has been
the team leader and symbol, as well as the ultimate class act in a
place where it is not so easy to be classy.
    Rivera is on the shortest list of those
contending for the title greatest relief pitcher of all
time ; a list that includes Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley and
very few others. Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens are mercenaries,
so calling them true New York Sports Icons is problematic, but in
the free agent era we are faced with such conundrums and must deal
with them.
    Neither can be denied. One overriding factor
stands out in analyzing both of them. Like it or not, each has the
potential of consideration for being the very best at what he does
who ever played the game; A-Rod the finest all-around player,
Clemens the greatest pitcher. A healthy A-Rod will some day pass
Barry Bonds as the number one home run hitter ever. He was one of
the slickest-fielding shortstops in baseball until coming to New
York, when he had to move to third base in deference to Jeter.
Bonds stole more bases. Mays would be considered a better center
fielder than A-Rod at either shortstop or third base, but the
simple fact that Rodriguez was a shortstop - arguably the
most important defensive position on the field, one traditionally
handled by light hitters – works in his favor. He has never won a
World Series, but neither has Bonds (or Ted Williams for that
matter). UP-DATE
    Clemens played on the 1999 and 2000 World
Championship teams, although he was not at his most dominating.
Those were his years were in Boston,