The Changing of the Guard
September 15, 2004
by Michael Walls

As far as parallels go, equating the New York Yankees/Boston Red Sox American League battle with the Bush/Kerry American Presidential battle isn’t that big of a stretch. In fact, there are so many similarities that I’m convinced we may be looking at one of the most pivotal Octobers in the history of politics and baseball.

The Boston Red Sox and John Kerry have a lot in common. Aside from sharing the same state and city, the Red Sox represent a gentler, more friendlier face of baseball – the working man’s baseball team. A team of hard working, common men, playing the game the way it’s suppose to be played – as a team, representing their city and their fans. Not as a collection of hired guns and hotshots, as the Yankees are, looking to impress their boss – hoping to get that big contract for the next four years.

Comparably, John Kerry represents the common man – or as well as a multi-millionaire can. He certainly appears to want to represent me better than George W. Bush, who prefers to represent the common millionaire businessman. Kerry also seems to represent a kinder, more sympathetic, and more intelligent America – an America that will think before it acts, and treats all of its citizens equally.

The New York Yankees and the Bush Administration also have a lot in common. Aside from both being led by a man named “George”, the Yankees have been pegged as the “Evil Empire” and are universally despised outside of the tri-state area. (Except for those NYC transplants in other cities.) George Steinbrenner is a very uptight businessman, with no finesse or style, who doesn’t tolerate or respect anyone else’s opinion, and feels that the only way to win is to bully and intimidate others. Yet, talk to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Anaheim Angels and the Florida Marlins (the last three World Series winners) about what it takes to win and you’ll see a different approach.

The Bush Administration, despite calling other countries “evil”, is pretty much despised by most other nations, as they have led America using an arrogant and ambiguous approach. George Bush is a very uptight leader, with no finesse or style, who doesn’t tolerate or respect anyone else’s opinion, and feels that the only way to win is to bully and intimidate others.

Both teams, the Yankees and Bush Administration, do have some fan favorites though. Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Colin Powell and (although not on the same team, but in the same league) Senator John McCain – all stand apart from their teammates as upstanding citizens, with hints of compassion and respectability. But these traits are often suppressed in favor of team unity.

Almost as if sensing the parallel of their plight with baseball’s longest rivalry, the two political parties choose New York and Boston for their convention pep rallies. I’m surprised the Dems and Reps didn’t ask Manny Ramirez and Orlando Hernandez, respectively, to speak on their behalfs – they certainly would have generated more interest than Hillary Clinton and Zen Miller. Of course neither Manny nor Orlando speaks much English, so the messages would be short.

Meanwhile, as October approaches, we will see these two rivalries go head-to-head in grand public fashion. Whether it be the American League Championship Series or the Presidential Debates – there will be home runs and missed opportunities, fork-tongued barbs and down-and-out-right lies. The media blitz will be relentless as heros will emerge and goats will be roasted, and we, the American public, will have to support who we think is the better team, and hope they come out on top.

This writer believes that if the Boston Red Sox and John Kerry win, it will signal a new dawn, a fresh start, proof that the curse is dead, and show that finesse and style can triumph over arrogance and force.

If the New York Yankees and George Bush win? Well, it will once again show that money can buy anything and that the dreams of Americans will rest with two teams who don’t think the world should be an even playing field.

(Michael Walls is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine and is seeking therapy for his baseball alliances issues.)

Response from: Scott Klein, New York
September 30, 2004

Hm. Couple problems with your essay:

The Red Sox represent the second biggest salary pool in baseball. Their stars don't come from their own minor league system: Manny, Pedro, Ortiz, Schilling, etc. You can hardly fault the Yankees for being a bunch of hired guns without pointing a finger at the Sox. Might I add that hall-of-fame locks Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams are all products of the Yankee farm system?

If Pedro and Manny are common men, I gotta get more common. Manny makes 20 million a year and can't be bothered to break a sweat to run to first to make an infield hit. Pedro takes the Sox's 17.5 million and calls the Yankees his Daddy. The Yanks have their share of big salaries, too, but Gary Sheffield is on his way to an AL MVP season with a shoulder so painful he can't lift his arm to catch fly balls.

Look at the attendance numbers of almost every non-Yankee/Sox AL team. See how miserable they are almost every game of the year, except when the Yankees come to town, when they'll regularly sell out. Yankee-haters? Maybe. But outside the tri-state area, they sure turn out to watch when the Yankees come to town.

Colin Powell? The guy who knowingly lied to sell the Iraq war to the UN? John McCain, the pro-life, pro-Patriot act, pro-Iraq War right-winger? How many people have to die before their political loyalties seem uncompassionate?

Steinbrenner and almost-Red-Sock Alex Rodriguez give money to Bush, I'll admit that. The Sox management gives money to Kerry. But except for Carlos Delgado, I don't think there's much stomach among any of these guys for real political activism.

Manny grew up in Washington Heights, here in NYC. I'm sure his English is spectacular.

Pedro pushed an old man to the ground, after saying he was gonna pitch at a guy's head. That's just plain classless.

That all having been said, I think your Kerry/Sox vs Bush/Yankees analogy might still be worth pursuing. Kerry, like the Sox, would like to think he's scrappy and working class, but in fact he's the same old corporate logo feigning the hoi-polloi.