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Mr. Girardi Goes to Washington

In my lifetime the Yanks have only won the World Series with a Democrat in the White House: in 1977 and 1978 with Carter, ‘96, ‘97-2000 with Clinton, and 2009 with Obama. Republican administrations have signaled dark ages for Yankees teams over the last 40+ years in ways that I think reflect the spirit of those administrations: the decaying franchise of the Nixon/Ford years, the overpaid underachieving teams of the Reagan years, the rebuilding-almost good-but not quite-teams of the Bush Sr. years, the misconceived and woebegone teams (Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, Jeff Weaver, Carl Pavano) of the Bush the younger years.

This coincidence of history doesn’t hold for the past, the Yanks obviously dominated in the 1950s with Eisenhower in the White House, but it holds for my lifetime and sets up well with my politics. So I particularly enjoyed the Yankees White House ceremony yesterday, not least because for once we have a Democratic president who is a legitimate sports fan. When he cracks jokes about the Cubs as losers, or calls out players for their onfield achievements (like Rivera) or off field philanthropy (Posada, Texieria) it’s naturally, none of the forced fed speech-written gags other Dem presidents and presidential candidates have tripped over in the past (remember John Kerry in Wisconsin talking about “Lambert Field”?).

Listening to the sounders from the ceremony yesterday I also thought about Babe Ruth’s famous quote when he was questioned about having a higher salary than President Herbert Hoover. “I had a better year than him,” the Babe famously quipped. Well, Obama had a politically tough year in 2009, but if in 2010 he signs health care reform, banking reform, and immigration reform that will have been one hell of a year in terms of legislative agenda for any president. Let’s hope the Yanks can beat that!

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By Jason Chervokas
April 27, 2010

View Comments

  • Tom K
    I remember being excited to witness the first YS start of the Great Hope for the Future, Scott Kamenicki.
  • JasonChervokas
    You're right, the Bush I years were better for the country than for the Yankees....I do remember being able to take the train up to the stadium after work those years on the day of the game getting a walk up seat behind the plate only to watch Bo Jackson hit 3 HRs off Andy Hawkins or something like that. I remember once thinking w/ Bo at the plate and the bases loaded--they'd be better off intentionally walking him and giving up one one run!
  • Tom K
    "the rebuilding-almost good-but not quite-teams of the Bush Sr. years, . . ."

    Got to call you out on that one, but in a way that actually supports your basic premise.
    All the Yankees of the Bush years were stinkers:

    1989 New York Yankees AL East 161 74 87 0 .460 5th of 7
    1990 New York Yankees AL East 162 67 95 0 .414 7th of 7
    1991 New York Yankees AL East 162 71 91 0 .438 5th of 7
    1992 New York Yankees AL East 162 76 86 0 .469 4th of 7

    In 1988 and 1993 they won 85 and 88 respectively, marking the Bush I years as by far the worst four-year period in the Steinbrenner era, even if you were free to pick any four years without matching them to an administration; indeed, even if you were free to pick four non-consecutive years.

    While you can chart an arithmetic progression from 1990 to the glory years of the 90's, the four or five wins picked up in '91 and '92 are marginal, at best. The teams were still awful, and their win totals looked like improvement only compared to the trough of 1990. Real hope did not return until 1993: coincidentally, the first season of the Clinton administration.

    So you're wrong, in that you understated how right you are.
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