Yankee Tragedy

  

Ever since the ancient Greeks dramas have been classified as either tragedy or comedy. To put it simply in a tragedy things start out well for the hero but then end badly. From Oedipus to Hamlet that has always been the case. On the other hand, in a comedy things start out badly but end up well. It is not a question of laughs. There are very few laughs in Dante’s Divine Comedy, but the hero eventually goes from the depths to the heights.  

I thought of this the other night while watching the NY Yankees blow a five-run lead in the fifth inning of the fifth game of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was not the loss of the game and the Series that was tragic, but the individual tragedies involved. Just as in dramas of old it seemed as if the gods or fate were involved in bringing down not just one but three Yankee heroes. 

The Yankees had lost the first two games in Los Angeles and when they lost the third game at home in Yankee Stadium, it seemed like all hope was gone, especially since Aaron Judge, their best player and league MVP, was not hitting. Nevertheless, they won the fourth game 11-4 sparked by a grand slam home run and base running antics by Anthony Volpe, their young shortstop. Moreover they would have their ace pitcher Gerrit Cole on the mound for game five.

As in all tragedies game 5 started on a high note. Judge broke out of his slump with a two-run homer in the first inning. A couple of innings later he made a spectacular catch against the wall to add to his hero status.  By the fifth inning the Yanks had built up a 5-0 lead. Cole was cruising along, and all seemed well but fate intervened to bring down the mighty.

In the top of the fifth with a runner on first Judge dropped an easy fly ball that any little leaguer could have caught. To say this error was inexplicable would be an understatement. Now there are runners at first and second with nobody out. Still, Cole induces the next batter to hit a grounder to Volpe at shortstop. He attempts a force out at third but throws the ball in the dirt for another error. Now the bases are loaded with no one out. 

Let’s stop for a moment to consider the tragic fate of Anthony Volpe. Since the days of the legendary DiMaggio, Rizzuto, and Berra the large Italian American community in New York’s metropolitan area has always loved the Yankees. Volpe came from an Italian American family and he and his family had always loved the Yankees. His play in the series had brought him to the top of the world but one errant throw brought him down. 

Years ago while listening to a Yankee game being broadcast on the radio by Tom Seaver, one of baseball’s greatest pitchers, and Phil Rizzuto, the legendary Yankee shortstop. A player had just made an error and Rizzuto asked Seaver how he would react as a pitcher. Seaver said that rather than being angry at his teammate, he felt that it was his responsibility to bear down and get out of the inning without any further damage.  In other words, it was his job to protect his teammate from blame.

Incredibly, Gerrit Cole did just that. With the bases loaded and no one out, he struck out the next two batters, including Shohei Ohtani, the Dodger MVP. Then Cole induced Mookie  Betts to hit an easy grounder to first base but then commits his own error by failing to cover the base for the throw. Who knows what could have been going on in this great pitcher’s mind after this misplay? Two hits later and the score was tied. 

In front of 50000 fans and millions of TV watchers, three fine players had fallen from the heights. Even Shakespeare would have been hard pressed to write such a tragedy.

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Aaron Judge: Yankee Superstar

  

                                         

As I write, the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies are tied at one game apiece in this years World Series, but for me the season came to an end when the Astros swept the New York Yankees to win the  American League championship. As long as I can remember, I have been a Yankee fan.

 In 1946, at the age of seven, I became a baseball fan while listening on the radio as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox in a World Series marked by a pivotal run scored by hustling Cardinal Enos Slaughter.  I think baseball is the only game where plays like that remain etched in your mind over a lifetime.

Next year, living in New York  City’s borough of Queens, I became a fan of the Yankees with their great Italian triumvirate of DiMaggio, Berra, Rizzuto. Most of the games then were played during the day, and I recall sitting under the grape arbor behind my grandparents’ home next door listening to the broadcasts. My parents and my grandparents were not particularly interested in baseball, but the kids in the neighborhood and at school were rabid fans. We constantly played all kinds of ball games on the sidewalks, in the streets, and in back lots. We formed imaginary teams and even kept stats.

In 1947 the Yankees won the World Series against the hated Brooklyn Dodgers. I vividly recall, after walking home from school one day, turning on the radio to hear Yankee pitcher Bill Bevens give up a double to Cookie Lavagetto (another Italian) and lose the game as well as a no-hitter in the ninth inning. Nevertheless,  I was hooked. The Yankees were in my blood. They didn’t win the pennant in 1948 but in 1949, they began an incredible streak of five straight World Series victories under legendary manager Casey Stengel.

Now, in my eighties, I still think that baseball is the best of all spectator sports. I am not alone. If you look at today’s lineups, you will see that the World Series is a true world series. Still, I find it difficult to either watch the games on TV or listen on the radio. It’s not just the incessant commercials between innings, but also between practically every pitch: “this walk to the mound is brought to you by xyz,” or “this pitch is brought to you by abc.” More than the commercials, I find that at my age I cannot bear the tension, especially in the play-offs which have become more exciting than the World Series. Nerd that I am, I prefer to study the stats after the games are over. 

Speaking of stats, this year the Yankees’ Aaron Judge had one of the greatest years in Yankee and in baseball history. It was not only that he tied Babe Ruth’s 1927 154 game record for home runs, and beat Roger Maris’s 1961 total of 61 over 162 games, but also his other stats were phenomenal. His 62 home runs, and 131 runs batted in (rbis) led the league by wide margins. His batting average of .311 was second in the league in a year when only a handful of players hit over .300. If you add his 111 walks (many intentional) to his 177 hits, you get an incredible on-base percentage of .425.  

I don’t mean to take anything away from Ruth or Maris but Judge’s performance in 2022 exceeded theirs in 1927 and 1961. In a year when batting averages were down and pitching dominated, Judge’s numbers were way above the baseball average. Just compare his numbers with Shohei Ohtani, the LA Angels star, who is his competition for Most Valuable Player this year.

Ruth and Maris had great numbers, but they never faced the kind of pitching that Judge faced this year. In times past, it was a rare pitcher who could throw over 95 mph, much less 100 mph. If they could, they would lack control. Today, every team seems to be loaded with pitchers who consistently throw over 95 mph with control. In one playoff game, the Yankees’ Luis Severino averaged 97 mph. Moreover, a friend of mine mentioned that the ball was not as lively this year as it was just two years ago. A statistical research firm claimed that if the 2020 balls had been used this year, Judge would have hit over 80 home runs. 

It is true that he stumbled in the playoffs against an outstanding Houston pitching staff, but that should not detract from one of the greatest performances in baseball history.

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