New York Yankees sluggers: Mantle, Maris, Jackson and Judge

I asked my 22 year old nephew, a Long Island college student, what he thought were the biggest New York sports stories of recent years. He mentioned "Lin-sanity", Jeremy Lin's remarkable debut with the New York Knicks in 2012. Lin was unstoppable in his first 12 games and electrified the long-suffering New York basketball world. I said, "how about right now?" My nephew answered, "Judge." Aaron Judge, New York Yankees new arrival in right field. Judge at 6'7" has the dimensions to be a one-of-a-kind phenomenon. He has already stunned the hearts and minds of the most cynical New Yorker by hitting 30 home runs in his rookie year before the All-Star game. Judge broke Joe DiMaggio's home run's by a rookie record and it only took him half a season! Aaron Judge struggles now with a slump, but already set the tone for kicking Yankee baseball and New York sports to a higher level of excitement.

So, just how do you become a New York Yankee legend? The best way is by belting home runs-- long home runs, hitting clutch home runs and doing so year-after-year in a New York uniform. After the heroic Babe Ruth, the template for transcendent sluggers, you get Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggion brings us to Post WWII era, the modern era of sports.

Top 3 Modern Sluggers creating Yankee history:

Mickey Mantle-- 18 years with Yankees (competition with Roger Maris-- 1961)
Roger Maris-- 7 years with Yankees (broke Ruth's record-- 61 homers in 1961)
Reggie Jackson-- 5 years (Mr. October, World Series champions 1977&1978)

Certainly other great power hitters have come down the pike for the New York Yankees. Alex Rodriguez arrived on the scene in 2004 and brought high hopes. His home run production happened mainly during the regular season and was marred by poor post-season performance and steroid use.

Mickey Mantle had many transcendent moments in his career-long tenure with the Yankees, including a Triple Crown season in 1956. Longtime Yankee fans will never his mano-a-mano competition with Roger Maris to reach or surpass Babe Ruth's record on 60 homers. Though Mantle came in second, with 54 homers that year, the drama playing out between two teammates to enter the rarefied air of Babe Ruth kept fans transfixed to the scene unfolding in Yankee stadium. The sustained drama, covering an entire season, makes Mantle the most legendary home run hero of the modern era. Roger Maris's relatively short stay with the Yankees, along with the fall-off in production in every other year with the Yanks, leaves him behind "The Mick." Maris will forever be honored as a pioneer, the first player willing to dare tread on the legacy of the Bambino.

Reggie Jackson may be the greatest clutch hitter of all-time, certainly the greatest clutch home run hitter of all-time. His nickname, "Mr. October," says it all and maybe that's the best nickname every bestowed upon an active player. Reggie lead the team to two world championship in 5 short years, along with a third World Series appearance. Jackson's amazing feat of hitting 3 home runs in game 6 of the 1977 World Series stands as a transcendent moment, never to be forgotten by the Yankee faithful. Jackson had a flair for the dramatic off the field-- and his charged relationship to manager Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner adds fuel to Jackson's charged baseball reputation in the Big Apple. Reggie could handle pressure of all types and the big moment appealed him to him, the spotlight pulled the best out of Mr. October.

Aaron Judge stunned the baseball world with an amazing Home Run Derby this season-- poking 57 home runs out of the park. The achievement seemed to throw him off. He created his own monster in terms of expectations for future performance. He immediately slipped into a hitting funk. Judge has the admiration of his fellow players and fans. This differentiates him from Alex Rodriguez. Mickey Mantle had a self-deprecating, country boy,.... "aw shucks" sense of humor about himself. Mickey kept a sense of balance despite the New York pressure cooker. Alcohol was Mickey's demon, maybe his way to decompress. Somehow, heavy drinking and all, he kept the New York Yankees in good competitive stead and grew his legend through it all.

Looking for a Christmas Story

Went to New York City a few weeks ago and the temperatures were in the mid-60s. Hard to think of Christmas with spring like weather, but I wanted to find a Christmas story. My favorite A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published way back in 1843. You remember, Scrooge gets visited by some ghosts and finds his way from being a cheapskate egomaniac to a new life embodying the Christmas spirit of giving. Could I find a story to rival the Dickens' masterpiece in some corner of Gotham, home of Wall Street bankers and subway strap-hangers?

Guess what? I found a story and it did take place in New York City. Remember Insanity? That two week period in Jan- Feb 2012 when Jeremy Lin, an Asian-American basketball player, sparked the New York Knicks to an amazing run of victories. Lin's name blazed around the world as he didn't fit the expectations of a NBA superstar. He rose from anonymity to super stardom in two weeks-- something never done before or since by anybody in a NBA uniform. Jeremy Lin has continued as an NBA player. He's having a great season with the Charlotte Hornets this year.

I watched the Netflix documentary entitled Linsanity produced by Evan Jackson Leong. The movie entertains with the life story of Jeremy Lin, the middle son of a Chinese-American family living in Palo Alto, California. My pleasant surprise, my Christmas story, happened around a minor character in the film, a fellow Knick player named Landry Fields.

Landry Fields made room in his apartment when Lin arrived in New York. Jeremy Lin, slept on a couch in Landry's place, a couch not quite long enough to contain Lin's 6' 3" frame. Coincidentally it was Landry Fields who the Knicks drafted with the 39th draft choice in Round 2, a spot Lin had high hopes of obtaining. Lin did not get drafted. Landry played at Stanford. Lin wanted to play basketball at Stanford but the coach showed no interest in giving Jeremy Lin a scholarship. Lin played at Harvard and surprised the skeptics. Lin bounced around the pros, showed some potential and found his way to the same team as Landry Fields. The two became teammates and temporary roomies.

Landry Fields impressed me in the margins of the Linsanity film. Most viewers will hardly notice him. I perceived something special in Fields' excitement and enthusiasm for Jeremy's history-making run of basketball stardom. Fields would congratulate Jeremy with chest bumps and genuine joy as Lin's last-second shots fell through the hoop. Landry's enthusiasm defied the competitive world of professional sports. For Landry there was no jealousy, no sign of holding back in the way Landry Fields shared those celebrations with Jeremy Lin.

I checked out Landry Fields on Wikipedia and noticed he has suffered injuries since his Knick days. The NBA is a tough, heartless business. You stay on the roster only if the team benefits. Your career ends when your skills diminish or you no longer serve the team's success. Landry Fields has struggled in recent years. Landry Fields does not show up on a NBA roster this year. But Landry showed the true spirit of giving in his friendship and appreciation of Jeremy Lin's meteoric rise. Landry Fields is my Christmas story