Given the time difference between the East Coast and New Mexico, my viewing was possibly in conjunction with the death of the creator of the "Evil Empire"--George Steinbrenner died sometime Monday evening of a heart attack at 80 years old. Possibly while I was watching Luke remove the mask from Vader so his father could view him "with [his] own eyes." Such are the currents and eddies of the space-time continuum in which we humans exist...........
So what????
Well, I'll tell you what----I'm a baby boomer, coming of age in the '50s and '60s. I grew up in southern Connecticut, not far from New York City. I was a serious Yankee fan my entire youth. I so applauded Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series adding to the glory of "the Mick"'s triple-crown season. And I so cried when Bill Mazeroski, 2nd baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates (yes, Virginia, they really used to get to the World Series) had that walk-off home run in Game 7 in 1960. Barely cleared the fence as I recall. He was a lifetime .260 hitter, hitting .273 in the 1960 season. And he beat my Yankees!!!! And I loathed Roger Maris for getting that 61st home run. We all wanted Mickey Mantle to be THE ONE to break Babe Ruth's record. Maris was from the Kansas City A's, which weren't much better than a farm team for the Yankees back then.
Then Steinbrenner bought the Yankees. Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, A-Rod. Money and mediocrity. Jeter's number 2 may one day hang near Mickey's 7, Yogi's 8, Roger's 9. He's the only one of the crop Georgie bought who might deserve that honor. My allegiance shifted to the Red Sox and I've never looked back. How fitting that the owner of the Evil Empire in the Bronx may have met his end as I watched Darth meet his.
Rumor has it Darth's middle initial was "G" for "George."
3 comments:
Ah, Billy, it takes a real genius to connect the dots.
wow, almost rush limbaughesque I'd say. George had his faults but he brought the Yankees back to the prominence we wanted by giving the money he earned back to the game. One cannot forget the illegal campaign contributions or the Spira issues but we will never know all the charity he provided to people - college tuitions, school books etc, etc. He might not have been a great man but deep down he was a good person...
FP, you are looking at this with pin-stripe glasses while I'm viewing George as if from the Monster seats!!!!!
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