Baseball and Books 20 Years on

This morning we find ourselves thinking about things twenty years on, thinking back to the autumn of '99.

We lived in Northern Virginia in a condo off of King Street/Route-7. This time 20 years ago we were entering our third month of unemployment and really starting to feel it. By then we had a routine figured out, at least. Take Mrs. Stroock to work, read for a little while, work out, read some more. We were biting off pieces of history books 25 pages at a time.

We we read about US presidents, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Jackson, and the American Revolution, a decision which would lead to us eventually getting an MA in same. This was a mistake, we should have majored in Civil War Studies, which is much more publishable.

It was  (and is) baseball playoff time and we were hanging on every pitch. The Yankees swept Texas and then were off to Boston for an explosive series against their greatest rival, the Red Sox. The Yankees took the series in five games and went on to sweep the hapless Atlanta Braves in the World Series. The Braves never did figure out what it took to win in the post season. This was our favorite Yankees WS victory.

Last night the Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins to advance to the American League Championship Series, and we didn't watch a single inning. We couldn't care less.

Tuesday Commercial Break

I give you the New York Yankees ad campaign from 1998.

All the late 90's aesthetics are there. Dark footage, out of focus camera, ironic TV, uncool people being uncool; all in the service of the New York Yankees.

A word on the history here .Even you goddamn foreigners have heard of the New York Yankees. They're greatest sports franchise in North America. But they didn't win much in the 1980's and collapsed in 1990. For five years they totally sucked. But in the mid 90's the Yankees had turned back into the Yankees and won the World Series in 1996, then again in 98, 99, and 00.

But the fans did not come back. New York City is a hell of a town and there's always something to do. It hosted the Super Bowl a few years ago and actually swallowed the game. Besides, New Yorkers are jaded and skeptical. 'So you won the World Series, huh? Big deal.' 

That's Hall of Fam short stop Derek Jeter on the right, and center fielder Bernie Williams the left. I'd try to find equivalent positions in Soccer, or 'Football' as you people call it, but doing European things makes me feel like a merry-boy, so no.

Anyway, they came up with the above ad campaign which is quite clever. All we had to do is search 'Ansky' and it came right up.

Below, Derek Jeter's greatest homerun, World Series, 2001, aftermath of 9/11, my greatest night as a baseball fan:

Home call:

Twenty, Ten, Forty-Four

So the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians to advance to the American League Championship Series.

Interestingly 20 years ago the Indians beat the Yankees to do the same.

As noted elsewhere we weren't watching then, we were banning baseball over the disastrous strike of 1994.

Not till the next spring would we come back.

This current Yankees team is kind of interesting. They've been rebuilding these last few years and are actually ahead of schedule. They're loaded with young players and a few others acquired via trades and free agency. The Yankees also have a few holdovers from the old era.

It was about ten years ago that we became bored with the Yankees.

Interestingly 10 years ago the Cleveland Indians beat the Yankees to advance to the American League Championship Series.

That Yankees team, as all Yankees teams of that era, was loaded with expensive free agents. The Yankees fielded an allstar team, no joke. Every position player 1-8 was an all star.

It just wasn't very much fun anymore. Who cares about finding a gem in the minors or resurrecting a player whose career was over when you have Robby Cano bating 9th?

The current Yankees are fun.

Do we have any thoughts about last night's game? Not really.

Twenty years ago we were 24 years old. A few years later during the great championship run we stayed up till midnight and one AM watching the games.

Last night we fell asleep at 10.

So no.

20 Years ago, 3 Years Scorned

So  last  night we watched the wildcard play-in game between the NY Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. It's the first Yankees game we've scene all year.

The Yankees victory had us thinking back to our baseball fandom 20 years ago.

Actually, we had no baseball fandom.

Or more properly we were no longer a fan.

On August 12th, 1994 the baseball players went on strike, thereby cancelling the baseball season. The 1994 baseball season ended at 112 games and no World Series.

[You need more than 112 games to finish a season? Bloody Yanks,-Ed]

We were mad about that. We were even madder about how unapologetic the owners, the players and the league were when they went back to work in the spring of 1995. Their whole attitude seemed to be, 'Ok, we're back. Lucky you.'

Like about 20% of baseball fandom we told MLB to go fuck themselves. Ours was the fury of a lover scorned, for we loved baseball. For three seasons we banned the game. We missed the Yankees 1996 world championship as a result.

We regret nothing.

There was a lot going on in our lives back then. We were living in DC, Northern VA properly, going to school, getting engaged, watching our life plans implode. Heck, during the swinter of 1994, we met a girl and that summer took her to Yankee Stadium. Whether or not she remembers, I'll ask her tonight.