Like many epic enmities, the Yankees/Sox rivalry is fueled by the narcissism of small differences. What makes the competition so acute is the similarity between the two clubs in talent, style and approach, which then throws their slight disparities into sharp relief. To take an illustrative example from my backyard, the storied university rivalry between Harvard and Yale sure isn’t predicated on the vast differences between the two twin Ivy League elites; rather, it stems from their commonalities. Because the two schools are so alike in terms of academics, student body, and culture, their most minute distinctions are put under the microscope in a search for uniqueness and superiority, intensifying the rivalry to the extreme. Every detail becomes a battleground. Each side wants to be the best when it comes to the traits both so dearly prize. So to with Yankees/Sox.
Consider plate discipline. The Yankees grind out every single at-bat, jacking up pitch counts, and working one of the best OBP’s in the league. So do the Sox. Joe West was onto something when he griped that Yankees/Sox games tend to go on far longer than any others in baseball. That’s what happens when you pit the two teams with the best OBP in the American League for six of the past eight years against each other. Indeed, the front offices of both squads have cultivated many of the same virtues both at the plate and on the mound. The result? Nine-inning grinds that exhaust umpires but exhilarate fans.
Consider payroll, where New York and Boston are far and away the highest spenders in baseball, especially in the AL. Consider size of fanbase, where both the Yankee nation and the Red Sox nation leave all other teams in the dust. Wherever you look, what makes the NY/Boston rivalry so potent is the spectacle of two well-matched titans duking it out for supremacy...
I like this argument and it helps me reconcile my love of Liverpool FC (now owned by the Red Sox) my New York Yankees and Plum Island, Massachusetts one of my favourite places in the world.
...
The photograph? Proof that I am man enough to embrace an American hero even if he did bat for the other team. (And, er, get his head frozen.)
25 comments:
You know, there is really no reason not to get your head frozen, if you think about it.
Except maybe the expense. But that's bound to be borne by someone else.
Seana
Fair point, but I do remember reading something somewhere that the lab who froze Ted Williams's head used to take it out from time to time and kick it around like a soccer ball, which isn't so great.
I would say that the frozen kicked around head that laughs last, well, laughs last.
Seana
Poor Ted. The same story says that the bored workers beat him like a pinata. I hope its not true, but I think it is.
Sadly, all the comments are about Ted's head.
One thought about the article. I agree with the basic premise that minute differences can best explain a competition of sorts.
But the history of Red Sox/Yankees rivalry arguably shows a number of differences, not all of which were minor ones. From 1920 through the end of the 20th century, it was pretty much David vs. Goliath (and I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone which team was which.)
Sorry, I'm not "johnsmith"
I didn't read the instructions very carefully. The David vs. Goliath post was from myself, Bill Nowlin.
Bill
Thats just part of the problem. Red Sox fans completely believe that they are David in your analogy but they aren't. A team that has won the Pennant 12 times and the World Series 7 times is not David.
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a true David. The Cubs...but not the Red Sox.
Bill, I'm sure the true sports fans will pop in here soon. I was just getting the head rolling.
I like the whole rivalry idea, but it does make me wonder why identical twins don't end up killing each other as a matter of course.
Yeah, Adrian, I have to agree, why would the Red Sox be considered the Davids?
I wonder if this is true of most rivalries.
Seana
Because they are psychically connected? Too busy being the "teleported man" in magic acts? Always chewing double mint gum?
John
There may be an element of truth. To go to soccer for a moment, why is there no true rivalry between Liverpool FC and Tranmere Rovers even though the clubs are only two miles apart in Liverpool (Tranmere is just across the Mersey)? Because Tranmere has never had the money of Liverpool or Everton. It is literally in a different league and the support and economics of the club are quite different. Whereas Liverpool and Everton, Man United and Man City are pretty similar...
On twins, good theories all, especially the Doublemint one, but still, well, theoretical. I will have to ask one of the twins I know whether an urge to fraticide, or really sororicide has ever seized them.
I'm sure this will go over well.
Adrian,
Did the Red Sox really have a lot less money than the Yankees? Yes, I know, smaller market but the Red Sox didn't have to share with the Giants and the Dodgers and then the Mets.
When gate receipts made up all of a team's revenue did the Red Sox sell that many fewer tickets?
Which teams are "small market" is a big conversation here in Toronto where our previous GM insisted we were a small market and the new GM says (rightly) that we're not.
Is there any reason the Red Sox couldn't have been Everton all along? They were the last major league team to integrate so they lost out on all those Negor League players, but that was their own decision. How many years did they lose out because of that?
We also have this endless debate in Toronto about how the Maple Leafs are no longer Montreal's biggest rival because the Leafs have been so bad for so long - but it's their own fault.
John
Yeah Red Sox Nation encapsulates all of Massachusetts and all of New England except for the western half of Connecticut. That seems like a pretty big market to me.
I'm not completely sure about this...but I think its also true to say that the only two teams to pay the luxury tax this year were the Red Sox and Yankees.
I'm so glad that the Freudian reference in my post was spotted and appreciated. It's not something one typically finds in baseball analysis, so I didn't know if anyone would take notice. Thanks for taking the time to write about it!
To respond to one of the criticisms above, I'd agree that the Yankees/Sox rivalry has not always been about the narcissism of small differences. Given the constraints of the format, I did not get to make my argument in broader historical perspective. As such, rather than categorize all the stages of the rivalry - and delineate more generally Mthe different types of sports rivalries that I have observed - I merely attempted to characterize the current state of the Yankees/Sox rivalry, which I think goes back for around two decades and is founded in large part upon similarity.
Another supporting example for the Freudian conception of rivalry that didn't fit into my post: Harvard (Boston) competes with Yale (Connecticut) - but not MIT, despite it being an elite school and right down the block. Similarity drives rivalry, while difference (in this case between a science-oriented institution and broader-based university) prevents it from taking root.
Yair
Thanks for dropping by!
No I like the historical symmetry too becaue the Red Sox (at least until 1953) were the big boys in town and the poor relations were the Boston Braves franchise, just like the Yankees with the Giants and Dodgers.
And yes your MIT analogy works because even though MIT is just brisk walk away the mindset and ethos is utterly different.
All I can comment on is the old Brooklyn Dodgers, the stars of the 1950s, heroes of my family which had moved to Chicago and missed New York at that time.
Kathy
Well the Dodgers left too.
From CNN International:
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Fear of anarchy and looting lingered in Egypt on Sunday, with many streets in the nation's capital left without security after police stopped patrolling.
"It seems that every major square and every small street in Cairo was basically taken over by communities ... people are parading the streets, walking around with baseball bats and knives," said Ahmed Rehab of the Council on American Islamic Relations from Cairo. "We didn't get any sleep all night."
Terrible about the riots obviously but its got to be encouraging for Bud Selig that even in non baseball playing countries the baseball bat is not only readily available but the weapon of choice. I imagine these are aluminium bats not Louisville Sluggers, but it would be interesting to find out. In Ireland too baseball bats make an appearance during rioting and Ireland doesnt have a tradition of baseball either.
In Al Guthrie's Scotland set novel, "Kiss Her Goodbye" the Louisville slugger is fearured - in fact it's on the cover of some editions. But even Al has admitted it would be hard to find one in Aberdeen.
And Yair makes a good point about rivalries changing over time. I went to a Rangers-Celtic game at Ibrox and the rivalry was, well "healthy" isn't the right word, but alive and well even though to an outsider like me it seemed based on similarities - they were all white guys from Glasgow - but I think to them it was all about differences.
Noticing the baseball bat in the midst of an article about the Egyptian riots/protests/revolution is a very McKintyesque thing to do.
Now you've got me wondering why they were there in the first place.
John
I suppose a cricket bat would be equally difficult to find in Scotland. They're not big cricket fans up there either.
Seana
It just seems weird that a bunch of kids in Cairo are walking around with baseball bats. Where did they come from? I think baseball bats are the one the thing left in the world that arent made in China. Maybe there's some guy turning them out on a medieval lathe? Malcolm Gladwell should investigate.
Undoubtedly the Gladwell piece would confound our expectations, because that is sort of his trademark.
I was watching one of the last episodes of the second season of Breaking Bad the other night, and it turns out even the kid partner of that dynamic duo had a baseball bat conveniently to hand. One thing for sure and that is that character hasn't played baseball for a long time.
As a Red Sox fan, I love Plum Island,too.
Post a Comment