New York Yankee fans asking, "Where have you gone Ramiro Mendoza?" as high priced free agents yield more drama than success.

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? 

Well they had the Gambler, and Doc.  They had Jimmy Key and David Cone, but were these by any stretch of the imagination the aces of the mid 1990's.  These guys were years past their prime, but they were hungry.  Not for money or endorsement deals and certainly not for their rightful place as the best pitcher or ballplayer in the league.  A status now assumed to be based on your salary.  No these guys wanted to win, had something to prove, were past all the glamour of Major League Baseball. They had all gone through their struggles, had their dark days and their crowning individual achievements.  Now each simply felt a lot like most of us entering our thirties probably do.  The partying and the meaningless relationships, the irresponsible behavior and the immaturity all had created fond memories, but is that what we want to look back on, take pride in and share with our children? 

On the field in 1996 the Yankees were led by some hungry veterans and some youngsters who hadn't the chance to get caught up in the "stylin" part of the game.  Our 20 game winner?  A 24 year old lefty named Andy Pettitte (21-8).  Our big bats? A couple of transplanted Yankees Tino Martinez (25/117) and Paul Oneil (19/91) along with another relatively young Yankee, Bernie Williams (29/102).  There was a former Dodger at Second, in Mariano Duncan (.340)and as earlier mentioned Boggs at 3rd (.311). Behind the plate was Joe Girardi and Jim Leyritz both splitting time, grooming a young catcher by the name of Jorge Posada.  In the pen were guys like Jeff Nelson and Bob Wickman. Ramiro Mendoza made spot starts and came in for long relief.  The Closer? John Wetteland (43 saves) occasionally the set up man would come in and earn a save, a position Mariano Rivera would become famous for in later years. And at shortstop was a rookie named Jeter.  A rare breed, with expectations that warranted one of two single digit jerseys available in the Yankee clubhouse, the other went to the new skipper, Mr. Joe Torre.   

That was the beginning of my "Yankee Era". While some remember Reggie and Guidry or Mantle and Maris, Yogi and Whitey or Dimaggio, Gehrig and Ruth I remember Charlie Hays, a free agent signing, but in my mind a Yankee nonetheless.  I guess what I'm trying to say is these guys are all Yankees in my mind, they may have come from other teams but what they had, the work ethic or the desire, whatever it was, they had "IT".  We won titles with guys named Sojo and Brosius, Spencer and Ledee. Behind the pitching of Wells, "el Duce" and Stanton. 

Like the Chicago Bulls of the 1990's they had their Jordan in Derek Jeter but the team also carried a John Paxon, a Bill Cartwright or a Luc Longley.  It wasn't an all-star lineup, but more a lineup of guys more concerned with getting the runner to third base than getting their picture on the latest XBOX 360 cover.  They won because its a team game and they never forgot that.  What will it take to get all these individual superstars to remember the one thing so many seem to have lost sight of, "If winning isn't that important, then why keep score?"

Since abandoning the average, past their prime, part time player on most team, but hungry to win, off season signings  that created the "teams" of the mid to late 90's and the early years of this century things haven't compared.  We've taken a new approach, a new simpler method of finding the missing pieces each year.  Instead of relying on scouting, considering personality or searching for character we open the paper, look to see who the biggest free agent will be, see if he is in fact labelled the greatest whatever position of this generation and we open up the checkbook.  

Giambi, Damon, Abreu, Matsui, Clemens, Farnsworth, Clemens again, A-Rod and most recently Swisher, Texeria, Burnett and Sabathia, All-Stars yes, but also guys content to some degree being the big fish in their little pond.  This isn't a little pond, this is New York City, as ponds go its the equivalent of the Atlantic Ocean.  Why can't they understand how much greater they'd be in the eyes of the baseball world if they just left the ego in the locker-room of the team they just bolted from?

And if the "me" attitudes performance isn't bad enough, what is that care free "we just got swept, but I had a good series" BS doing to the development of our new generation of Yankees.  Cano and Cabrera could be the next generation but are they more concerned with everything off the field that being a Yankee provides them than they are with what is expected on the field?  At times even Joba, a virtual true Yankee lock in my mind appears to be more like a professional baseball player, than a Yankee.  

I'll end my rambling with a couple opinions and a theory.  First an opinion on the new park; yes its beautiful, yes its a magnificent venue, worthy of the Yankee Stadium Name.  But is it just me or was there something about the old stadium that just seemed somehow magical.  The new stadium is every new park recently built, but when the builder talked about upgrades, the Pirates and the Padres, the Mariners and the Reds picked and chose which ones to take, the Yankees took everything.  Yet even with all the flash, the history the architectural advances, much like these "not yet" Yankee players, until it hosts a series in October, it won't be a Yankee.

My other opinion isn't really an opinion, more of a series of questions.  How do you think the changes in the clubhouse have worn on the four Horsemen, Jeter, Mo', Andy and Posada? These guys were raised by true professionals who had it right and now watch as their teammates, guys with no clue how to win are tagged as the missing link, given the keys to the city and yet fail to display the attitude all four of the real Yankees have always known.  You ever see Jeter look frustrated after an 0 for 5 night?  Maybe if we lost?  But if you start to talk about individual achievement or lack there of, look out, The Captain tends to get a little hot under the collar if a reporter mistakenly questions the performance of any individual Yankee.  See Jeter doesn't care about the stats, doesn't care about the spot light.  That's what makes you go into the second row after a foul ball, that's what Yankee fans expect.  Who cares about your 500th homerun, we're looking for our 27th title.  You think Posada finds any part of loosing by 16 runs funny? If you saw the interview after the Nick Swisher outting in Tampa, you know the answer.  Posada is probably the one most frustrated as he is committed to taking charge on the field, expecting A-Rod and Texeria to do the things guys that were second nature to guys like Shelley Duncan and a young Alfonso Soriano.  I don't know how many times I thought he was gonna drop Farnsworth in front of everyone.  You think Mo' ever blew any of Georgie's advice off?  Rivera strikes me as a guy who doesn't say to much, maybe he feels like the dad who can't relate to his sons music.  Anyone see too many other closers working a 2 inning save late in their careers?  And Pettitte, Pettitte is the only free agent signing we've gotten right lately, we just never should have let him leave.

These guys have been to the mountain top, won their titles, and are now forever linked with the Yankee Mystique.  If anyone should be a "me" guy, it should be these four.  But other than the 25th guy on the bench, trying to stay with the club a few more weeks, I bet no one runs the groundball out any harder, than Derek Jeter.  No one focuses on every hitter like Posada.  No closer is more focused and understands the importance of a save in May like Rivera.  And I am certain, no starter takes a poor start worse than Pettitte. These guys learned it right, they want to earn their money.

And the theory.  The trade of Babe Ruth is attributed to causing the Red Sox century of futility.  Could our acquiring A-ROD now be looked at in a similar light?  Have we purchased the reverse Red Sox curse? Will I be explaining to my Grand children how great the Bronx Bombers once were?............NAWWWWW  its still early, we'll be fine!!!! We're only,.........................................(gulp) five and a half back? Already?

Every one considered a Yankee (with the one exception of Mattingly) has earned it in October.  It's scary to think that some of these non Yankees are signed for quite sometime.  Now we know how Mike Paggliarulo must have felt.