BRONX, NY – There was a time when the NY Yankees Old-Timer’s Day event was a hot ticket. Time has passed and names like Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Phil Rizzuto, and Joe DiMaggio have made their way to Baseball Heaven.
Last Saturday the Yanks held their 78th annual event of stars from their past. The legends who have passed have been replaced by Todd Frazier, Johnny Damon, Nick Swisher, Dellin Betances and Adam Ottavino just to name a few.
Another thing that has changed were the fans in attendance. They’ve been replaced by empty seats. The alumni game was played before the Yankees hosted the Atlanta Braves and The Stadium had as many fans before the main event as the Staten Island Ferry Hawks draw on a daily basis.
Even the current Yankee players along with the visiting Braves were AWOL from the dugout, showing absolutely no interest. Except for pitchers Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers checking out the scene from the dugout, the current active players couldn’t have cared less for the players from the past. For one of the Yankees Old-Timer participants, this day always meant something to him. Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera said, “When I was playing, this day to me was special. It wasn’t just conversations. It was something I could apply to my game.” I would ask Whitey Ford, ‘Whitey, how’d you do this thing? You did it before us.’ I was grateful for that.”
It just shows you the culture of today’s Major Leaguers, along with the coaches who never played on any pro level, that they simply don’t care.
I constantly joke that if I took each current Yankee out to centerfield and asked them to identify the player that wore one of twenty-two retired numbers that are enshrined above the left field bleachers, the response would be comical. I would title this imaginary Q & A session, “Clueless in Pinstripes!” The genius that’s in charge of this once prestigious event forgot that this year marked the 50th anniversary of the first pennant under the George Steinbrenner era. It was barely mentioned and the unveiling of a plaque for Monument Park depicting Chris Chambliss’ walk-off homer in the clincher was a no-brainer. The mystique and aura that the Yankees franchise was known for has quickly evaporated these last few seasons.
After witnessing the close to 45,000 empty seats in this year’s Old-Timer’s Day event, it’s only a matter of time that names like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Casey Stengel, Roger Maris and Elston Howard will disappear the way the fans have.
