The 1990's Edition

Although many of you rely on the Yard to sift through the worldly events that our staff randomly chooses to sift, reminiscing about the 1990’s has been a media darling of late. UCLA football was thumping USC for eight straight. The Dodgers were only a few years removed from their last World Series title. The Giants had never won anything during their half century in San Francisco. Those were heady days for a young sport’s myopic. The Yardlets were coming growing up and asking about the world as it related to them. Bill Clinton showed the world that a twangy governor from Arkansas could rise up and become the leader of the free world. He also provided many unique parenting moments. The children of the Yard are millennials. They were rarely without a cell phone and the Internet once they were old enough to decipher a dial pad or key board. Sex is pervasive in our culture and at times not transparently. Not sure if we ever had “the talk” but the Clinton impeachment news every night on the television did much of that for us. Sex is a large, nebulous subject but when Billy Bob attempted to justify his actions of only having oral sex with that woman it was an awkward dinner bomb. It was not a dinner topic. It was on the evening news regarding our hillbilly leader and his first captured post-election transgression that was being revealed to the public nightly at 6:00 PM. Adolescence is as tough to navigate as it is to explain the subset of sex that is oral sex. We chuckled at Clinton for his creative interpretation of infidelity and reviled him for shaming the office formerly known as the leader of the free world. It still is a surprise how the former governor of Arkansas is so revered by many as an elder statesman. Obama trotted him out at both national conventions and the crowds went wild. We are certain the oral sex he enjoyed with his staff intern in the Oval office was not his first transgression or his last. Either way, Hillary knew she was off the hook for providing those services forever. Both Clintons were relieved with that outcome. Baseball players and fans got one more chance to cheer Derek Jeter in his final All-Star appearance of his storied career this past week. The Yankees have always been the hated ones in Dodger history. Going back to Brooklyn, the Bombers have beaten the Dodgers eight times in the World Series. There were two particularly ugly series in 1977-78 that forever stitched Yard sanctioned hatred for the pinstripes. Jeter has been on five championship teams but never got a chance to beat the Dodgers in the Series through no fault of his own. The Doyers have not been in the Fall Classic during Jeter’s career. When the Yankees retire his number in the coming years, that will leave only the lonely number 6, unretired in the single digits. The Yankees were the first team to put numbers on the players jerseys so that fans would buy programs with the numbers listed. It is no coincidence that in the early days Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were numbers 3 and 4. It was also their places in the batting order. Derek always batted leadoff and wore number 2. He is an old school contrarian who is respected by fans, team mates, competitors and umpires. In the rich history of the Yankees, from Ruth to DiMaggio, Mantle and all of the other retired numbers, he is the only one to have 3,000 hits. He did it with a solo shot in July 2011 with the understated flair that is the hallmark of his career. He is humble and gracious laced in genuine ilk. Contrast him at shortstop with the supreme narcissist A-Rod playing third in their salary busting infield. Jeter is the most beloved and Rodriguez the most hated players since Barry Bones. Jeter is fortunate to not have to play with A-clod this season or ever again. In the summer of 1999, we had our first opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the house that Ruth Built. It was in those heady times when one could work for a firm named Coyote Technologies and claim to succeed. The Yankees were a championship team while Coyote was lowering the bar faster than what had been explained to us in the comp plan. The Yard and the Yankees have always reviled each other with the Yard maintaining all knowledge of this rivalry. It was subway ride to a bucket list game. The Yanks won that night which they did often from the first season Derek Jeter started at shortstop. The Yankees and Jeter won four World Series championships in Derek’s first five seasons. The Yanks would sweep the Braves in the 1999 World Series. On that summer night in August 1999, Derek Jeter showed to a pre-Yard adult who he was and all he was going to be. Jeter made a play that we had never seen in an MLB game before or since. Some long forgotten Yankee right fielder lazily caught a fly ball and causally flipped the ball on one hop into a waiting Jeter hovering near second base for the second out of the inning. It was a meaningless play with no one on base. Jeter grabbed the ball and fired it back at the right fielder. He banged his glove on his head while barking at his teammate to make a better throw. The startled outfielder made a much better throw into a demanding Jeter. We have never seen a coaching moment like that except in the Pasadena Southwest Little League. We have remembered no other impactful play with less meaning in our strident study of baseball. The Yankees won three straight titles from 1999-2001 with a 26 year old Derek Jeter leading a veteran team. He may be the last of his kind as the wolves get closer to his campfire. Not sure if the Yanks have the starting pitchers to make a run in his final campaign but it does nothing to diminish his legacy. He has more hits than Mickey and has been banging more solid Manhattan trim than the Mick ever imagined. Jeter had enough sense not to get married as the anguished Mrs. Mantle was to the Mick. Extra Innings: Dodgers and Giants this weekend in a pivotal series. It is a long season that is getting shorter each week. Giants are winning just enough to stay in first and the Dodgers are just not winning enough. Neither team looks good enough to win a championship although no MLB team does right now. It all might be about getting hot in September or who gets David Price at the trading deadline.