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.

Harold Reynolds-- Baseball Commentator extraordaire

Harold Reynolds has worked this World Series (2015) as part of the Fox Sports team. He has to be the best baseball analyst events. Reynolds played second base for the Seattle Mariners and was a big league ballplayer from 1983-1994. He was born in 1960. At age 54, Reynolds has developed a comfort level with the microphone and a mature understanding of communicating with the baseball audience.

A few examples... New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals

Game 1: Reynolds notes that Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores was proving to be a difficult out for Chris Young, the behemoth Kansas City relief pitcher. Young stands 6' 10" and looked like a dominant force. Reynolds added Flores "has great eye-hand coordination, the best on the Mets along with Daniel Murphy." He added that Chris Young "does not have the stuff to get Flores out." Sure enough Flores fouled off multiple pitches, eventually got a walk and trotted off to first base.

Game 1: Reynolds also noted the way Curtis Granderson, another Met player, deftly moved out of the way of a fastball headed right at him. "He's seeing the ball extremely well." Granderson's ability to dodge the pitch indicated to Reynolds that the batter had established a strong position in the batter's box, a nice insight to share with the viewers-- not related to any statistical data. The pitcher avoided serving up any good pitches to Granderson.

Game 2: Reynolds contrasted how the Kansas City Royals hitters have deviated from conventional baseball wisdom by going after good pitches in an aggressive manner. He explained further. The Kansas City hitters never stand passively in the batter's box and take pitches. The attempt to tire pitchers out by lifting the pitch count in not the KC style. Instead, they seek to hit the ball and knock the pitcher out of the game by superior ball contact. They certainly have done that effectively in Game 1 and Game 2 of the Series.

Reynold's grasp of what to share about the finer points of the game truly amazes. He avoids the sports cliches but doesn't not get into minutiae or belabor the statistics. Baseball has a notorious love affair with stats-- and now you can follow the pitch count, review the ball's position as it moves through the batters box, watch the spin on the pitch thanks to super slow motion technology and countless other details. Reynolds is like a breath of fresh air. He tells you what is really happening at keep moments of the game.

Moneyball, the baseball book by Michael Lewis, recounts the absolute tyranny that numbers have claimed over the game of baseball. And, of course, most of the number crunchers never could play the game of baseball beyond the Little League level but have been elevated by virtue of their mastery of big data. Reynolds played the game but does not overstate the case for his real life experience. He offers commentary with clarity and modesty. Reynolds allows the fans to absorbs insights without any showboating or ex-jock braggadocio.

Did baseball cause global warming?

Remember back in the days when World Series, the October classic, was actually played in October? For you non-baseball fans, the World Series, a best of 7-games contest, took place in the month of October back when October was an autumn month. Fans were satisfied in those days with a 6 month long regular baseball season. And the weather always seemed to be cool on those October days 'cause that was back when we had an autumn season of the year. You had to wear a sweater or jacket to those early October World Series games of yesteryear-- maybe even a coat. The weather got cooler in mid-September in those days. That was before global warming added an entire extra month of summer to most of the United States. I just got back from Montana on Oct. 12th and it was still balmy up there.

For example, the 1961 World Series pitted the New York Yankees (American League) against the Cincinnati Reds (National League). The series only lasted 5 games. The Yankees won four of five games and the last game was played on October 9th! Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record that year by hitting 61 home runs.

But now let's check out the weather changes between 1961 and 2015! Temperatures have increased dramatically. Now we can play baseball all the way to November.

From the official weather records for New York City:  "The hottest day of 1961 was July 26, with a high temperature of 87°F."

Here are your temperatures for a single week this summer in New York City for the 6 days from July 26-- July 31, 2015.

July 26: 90 degrees
July 27: 86 degrees
July 28: 95 degrees
July 29: 96 degrees
July 30: 87 degrees
July 31: 89 degrees

New York City temps in the final week of July 2015 exceeded the 87 degree high temperature for New York City for 1961-- on just about every day! That's hot, hot, hot...

Today is Oct. 14, 2015 and we are in the midst of playoffs, the preliminaries to the World Series. But not to worry. Conveniently, thanks to global warming, the temperatures will likely stay warm for the next three weeks. The World Series will be played between Oct. 27-- Nov 4, and fans can watch comfortably anywhere in North America.

Conceivably.... we might see the Kansas City Royals play the New York Mets or Chicago Cubs. Baseball in  those cities on Oct 27? No problem. Maybe you'll need a sweatshirt for the game. You'll be fine. Or maybe not? Major League Baseball seems confident the temps will be plenty warm enough.

The only logical conclusion-- baseball is causing global warming!