MLB History

July 18, 1999 was Yogi Berra Day at Yankee Stadium.

When my son Scott had told me in June that we were going to the game, there was the slightest hint that something special might happen.

An Inexplicable Feeling

It was a hot, humid day, with the temperature reaching 98 degrees. As soon as we entered the Stadium, Scott and I had an inexplicable feeling about the game that intensified when Don Larsen threw the ceremonial pitch to Yogi Berra.

We looked at each other but didn't speak a word.

Pitchers and catchers have reported to Spring Training and opening day is just around the corner!

In Arizona, Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee have the baseball world abuzz with anticipation of the impact they can make on the landscape of Seattle baseball.

Will they answer the call to arms with a team monopoly in the pursuit of the American League Cy Young Award?

Brit Annie Spares is not fond of many New York Yankees.

She has said on more than one occasion that she didn't like Joe DiMaggio, but she followed that up by telling anyone who would listen that she admired him more than any player she had ever seen.

Brit Annie recalls some anecdotes her mother told her about DiMaggio's great hitting streak in 1941.

Let's get it straight. I didn't like Joe DiMaggio. He was stand-offish, prideful, and, to use a modern term, too full of himself.

Jo Bydin was a young baseball fan when the Yankees 18-game winning streak was broken by the St. Louis Browns on June 16, 1953.

Jo rooted for the New York Giants, and any day that the Yankees lost was a good day for Jo Bydin.

The St. Louis Browns

The New York Yankees had high hopes of becoming contenders in 1966 after their disastrous sixth place finish the previous season.

Jo Stac recalls that after the disastrous 1965 season, the New York Yankees were finally considered "just another team."

She read many articles about how the "pride of the Yankees" belonged to the past. Jo was pleased.

I have rooted for the Cleveland Indians since 1951. Today's fans don't know that the Indians, not the Boston Red Sox, were the New York Yankees' main competition during the early and mid-1950s.

Today, my travels took me to the local Wal-Mart where I picked up some packs of 2010 Topps Baseball Series 1 and landed four Million Card Giveaway redemptions.

Unfortunately for me, the booty wasn't good today, so I've chosen the best of the bunch–1988 Von Hayes.

Every Yankee fan knows the feeling. Walk anywhere outside of New York wearing the blue and white, and we're greeted with chants of derision. However, unlike what fans of the Red Sox or Mets might endure, we endure insults that challenge not our team, but our fanhood.

"Front-runner."

"Bandwagon-Jumper."

People who have heard these sorts of insults know that they hurt more than other ones, such as "Yankees suck" or chants of that ilk. At least there is a reasonable comeback to that, and inane arguments about whose team is better are a major part of being a sports fan.

The "Aughts" have come and passed already, with plenty of great baseball played. Between reversing the curse in Beantown, the White Sox finally getting their title, Barry Bonds breaking the single-season home run record, the retirement of players like Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, and Greg Maddux, and the demise of the careers of the steroid-era stars, there has been no shortage of headlines in the past ten years.

I just can't get enough of the Topps Million Card Giveaway.

Today, my travels took me to the Modell's by Grand Central Station where I scooped up 11 packs of "2010 Topps Baseball series 1" in search of Million Card Giveaway redemption cards, hoping to pull that elusive 1952 Mickey Mantle.

Out of the 11 packages, I scored three redemption cards (none of which was the Mantle (sigh)), and was lucky enough to "unlock" this 1958 Enos "Country" Slaughter, then of the New York Yankees.

Pitchers and catchers reporting tomorrow down in Orlando (or "Dark Star" as Dave O'Brien of the AJC has so cleverly coined it)  has a welcoming ring to it.

Every trade, every signing, every prospect, and every rumor has been dissected and bantered about throughout this hot stove season to the point where the only thing really left to do is the most important of all: play ball.