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Book Review: "This Bad Day In Yankees History"

The "Building A Cubs Champion" series will continue next week... on the weekend, I thought we could all use some diversion.

I hate the Yankees.

Well, who doesn't, you're saying. Except for those born and raised as Yankee fans (and a certain senator from New York who adopted them for political expedience, and that's not a political comment, it's a baseball fan's comment about someone born and raised a Cubs fan who switched just to pander for votes), pretty much every baseball fan hates the Yankees and their fans for their arrogant and corporate attitude, the blowhard owner they've had over the last 35 years, and the constant winning.

Oh, wait. That last part? The winning? If it happened to us, I think we could deal with it.

Anyway, if you hate the Yankees, "This Bad Day In Yankees History" is for you. Spiral-bound so you can use it as a perpetual calendar, it contains negative events for the haughty Bronx team for every day of the calendar year, even February 29; on Leap Year Day in 1924, we learn that:

For the second straight year, Babe Ruth is felled by influenza during spring training, a serious matter only six years after an epidemic killed roughly 50 million people worldwide. It is his fourth influenza attack, but he'll recover and save his real health crisis for 1925.

The entire book is filled with gems such as this one from July 29, 1991:

The night begins with Yankee Stadium fans chanting at Jose Canseco about steroids and Madonna. All hell breaks loose in the eighth inning, when someone throws a blow-up doll at him. A barrage of debris follows, along with fights in the stands as fans attack the security guards trying to bust the litterers. So it goes in the Bronx Zoo.

You can read about a Yankee loss each day of the baseball season and about Yankee draft follies, including, in 1978, the Yankees passing on Cal Ripken Jr., Ryne Sandberg, Kent Hrbek, Mike Boddicker, Steve Bedrosian, Kirk Gibson, Bob Horner and Dave Stieb, despite having three first-round picks.

The introduction is written by former Red Sox pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee, who was once quoted as saying, "The other day they asked me about mandatory drug testing. I said I believed in drug testing a long time ago. All through the sixties I tested everything."

And that's the spirit in which this fun book, written by fellow Colgate graduate Gabriel Schechter (class of 1973; I met him at last summer's reunion), who grew up a Mets fan (no wonder he hates the Yankees!) and who now works as a full-time researcher at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He sent me a review copy of the book via Media Mail -- which, if you've ever used it, is cheaper but takes longer -- on October 1, with a note enclosed, dated that day, that read in part:

I'm rooting for the Cubs as this post-season begins. Cubs fans deserve the thrill of winning a title. Good luck to them, and to you.

Oh, well, Get the book anyway. Tons of fun, especially with the Yankees appearing, at the end of 2008, to be entering a period of decline. You can find out more and buy it at his site, Never Too Much Baseball.

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Let me be the first to say

“Yankees Suck!”

I love the old saying, I was 10 years old before I learned that damnyankee was two words.

The day we lose our will to fight - Is the day we lose our Freedom.

by sanantonecub on Oct 11, 2008 11:19 AM CDT   0 recs

that flu epidemic was a huge deal...

…it’s amazing how we forget.

"Just win tonight" - derv

by derv on Oct 11, 2008 12:47 PM CDT   0 recs

It was 90 years ago...

… those kind of things do fade into memory when most living then are now gone.

It could happen again someday if we’re not watchful.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on Oct 11, 2008 12:50 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

It prompted me to do a little research...

check this out…

"Just win tonight" - derv

by derv on Oct 11, 2008 12:51 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

this

"Just win tonight" - derv

by derv on Oct 11, 2008 12:55 PM CDT   0 recs

Babe Ruth's influenza

I know that influenza epidemics were serious problems in the late teens and early twenties, but I wonder if that’s really what The Babe had. Back in those days, it was common for sportswriters to claim a player had malaria when he was actually suffering from a dose of the clap. It’s possible that “influenza” could have been another euphemism for VD.

by Mike Vails Evil Twin on Oct 11, 2008 1:01 PM CDT   0 recs

That's almost certainly what put him out for most of 1925.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on Oct 11, 2008 4:58 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Funny (not really) how diseases used to be considered deadly and now are curable or managable

the Flu used to be a use epidemic. Although people get it, it can be easily managed.
Smallpox has nearly been wiped out.
TB can be managed well now
AIDS is beginning to become easy to manage for years.

In a hundred years, I wonder if people will look back and be like “hmm Cancer, hard to believe it was that awful back then”

2009 Cubs: Well, Seems so far away..

by Chanman25 on Oct 11, 2008 1:48 PM CDT   0 recs

Agreed

Death from the flu? Hard to imagine these days. When I’ve gotten the flu I’ve had a stomach ache and had to throw up but that was the worst of it. Either that particular strain was deadlier and could destroy one’s organs, or they just didn’t have the medications we do these days.

And it would be nice to keep cancer under wraps someday.

Never, but NEVER, put ketchup on a hot dog.

by CaliCub on Oct 11, 2008 2:16 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

I dunno

I still think the bird flu is nothing to dismiss too quickly. Epidemiologists are well aware that we are extraordinarily susceptible to this day. Maybe even more so.

All generalizations are false.

by Emelie on Oct 11, 2008 5:29 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

I don't hate the Yankees

I want to BE the Yankees. I like watching excellence.

The worst beer I had was pretty good.

by Worf on Oct 11, 2008 2:19 PM CDT   0 recs

naDevvo' yIghoS

Well, Next Year is here .. and Jack's century's gotta end some time .. GO CUBBIES!

by cubnational on Oct 11, 2008 2:22 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

I'll take being the Yankees

if it doesn’t involve buying a souless team. If it’s the Yankees who won late last century by building a farm system and spending wisely, I’m all for it.

I love to play baseball. I'm a baseball player. I've always been a baseball player. I'm still a baseball player. That's who I am. - Ryne Sandberg

by Trey2317 on Oct 11, 2008 3:12 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Souls are overrated

If the Cubs won a World Series by spending $500 million on horrid contracts and gutted the farm system, I’d do it in minute.

The worst beer I had was pretty good.

by Worf on Oct 11, 2008 4:00 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

I'd enjoy it

but it wouldn’t have the same feel as if the Cubs built a team from smart decisions and a strong minor league system.

I’d rather have a situation like the Yankees did in 1996-2000 or the Red Sox now versus the 1997 Marlins or any of the current Yankees teams.

By throwing money everywhere, you don’t necessarily build the chemistry necessary to win.

I love to play baseball. I'm a baseball player. I've always been a baseball player. I'm still a baseball player. That's who I am. - Ryne Sandberg

by Trey2317 on Oct 12, 2008 4:39 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Which the Yankees should have learned over the last eight years.

When they won the WS four of five years from 1996-2000, their team had good but not great stars and role players like Paul O’Neill and Scott Brosius.

When they started to break the bank with all the pitcher deals and A-Rod… well, they’ve been good and in the playoffs most years, but no titles.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on Oct 12, 2008 4:51 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

The Yankees' Success Correlates to Steinbrenner's Involvement

Getting kicked out of the game in the early 90s allowed the baseball guys to revise and replenish their farm system (Jeter, Posada, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera). Then when he became meddlesome again after Y2K, the farm began being sacrificed at the cost of veteran acquisitions.

Never, but NEVER, put ketchup on a hot dog.

by CaliCub on Oct 12, 2008 8:55 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Lifelong Yankee Fan

I don’t hate any team in Baseball, I’ve been a loyal fan of the game all my life and I have many fond memories like going to World Series Games in the Bronx celebrating World Series Victories, going to ticker tape Parades. I would like to see the Cubs in the series more than anybody, GO CUBS GO.

by NYCUB FAN on Oct 11, 2008 2:53 PM CDT   0 recs

+1

What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. ~Harry Caray

by collies-n-baseball on Oct 11, 2008 5:15 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

I would love to see

someone create a Cardinals version of this book. I would buy many, many copies.

by Neifi Puppy on Oct 11, 2008 3:21 PM CDT   0 recs

Go for it.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on Oct 11, 2008 4:59 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

METS FANS

I was at a Tigers-Indians game last summer in cleveland ….( thing we do each summer with old college buddies) …there was a group of Mets fans seated behind us that were doing their own little baseball tour…..what neat guys once we started telling stories about the Yankees and what total hate they had for the yankees …..Sorry Ronnie none of this group was there in sept of 1969…..We can no longer blame the Mets for any of the Cubs problems……

by cubs north on Oct 11, 2008 5:07 PM CDT   0 recs

Thanks, Al!

This Bad Day is a perfect Christmas present for my Yankees-hating niece. I immediately ordered a copy. Keep ’em coming :D

All generalizations are false.

by Emelie on Oct 11, 2008 5:26 PM CDT   0 recs

The Peripheral Stuff Attached To The Yankees Drives Me Crazy

Their radio announcers are Hawk-like when it comes to obnoxious homerism. Their owner and his father act like a couple meatheads. National sports networks revolve themselves around trivial stuff like what Joba had for breakfast and ARod’s appointment at the hair salon. Book store shelves are lined with twenty different versions of the same books on The House That Ruth Built and Babe Ruth biographies. And they retire too many numbers!!!

Never, but NEVER, put ketchup on a hot dog.

by CaliCub on Oct 12, 2008 11:02 AM CDT   0 recs

Yes on all counts...

Next year they are going to 3-digit players’ numbers.

Tommie Agee was out.

by Weeghman Park on Oct 12, 2008 7:13 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Numbers Worth Retiring (and the ONLY ones worthy of the honor)

3 – Babe Ruth
4 – Lou Gehrig
5 – Joe DiMaggio
7 – Mickey Mantle
8 – Yogi Berra & Bill Dickey
15 – Thurman Munson
16 – Whitey Ford
37 – Casey Stengel

Never, but NEVER, put ketchup on a hot dog.

by CaliCub on Oct 12, 2008 8:58 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

As much as I don't like that team, that's a heck of a list.

I’m re-reading a biography of Casey Stengel and it’s nice to get immersed into “the old days” as an escape from reality, just like baseball was when we were still playing (before the NLDS). I also appreciate the respect Steinbrenner showed for the game and his players by keeping Thurman Munson’s empty locker all these years. I guess that will go away next year with the new, new Yankee Stadium.

In the same stream of consciousness, it’s nice to see Scott Eyre pitching for the Phillies. Don’t care who wins.

Tommie Agee was out.

by Weeghman Park on Oct 12, 2008 9:15 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

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