I was thinking back this afternoon as I watched the Yankees win there second game in what seems like a month. I was thinking about that team in 96, thinking about the lineup, the rotation and the pen. I don't remember it containing any superstars, do you? I mean this was the New York Yankees, yet with Mattingly having retired, Henderson playing elsewhere, and Winfield long gone, who was the "big name, big time" bat in the lineup? Tartabull? Nope, Barfield? please.
In looking back at that lineup I found that in fact, the team did have several big name players, a number of those who at one time or another were discussed in debates over hall of fame credentials. They had the former Red Sox great, Wade Boggs leading off and playing third. A DH spot the mid to late eighties and early nineties big hitters. Guys like Ruben Sierra, Darryl Strawberry, Cecil Fielder and Rock Raines were those high priced players, the big names in the club house. And on the hill? Anybody making a quarter billion, or whatever would equate to such a price-tag in 1996?
