Tom Hanks lied
by rick olivares
Maybe this was the perfect ending. The World Series had to go to a sixth game so the New York Yankees could wrap up their 27th title in the stadium that George Steinbrenner built.
Oh, the delicious stories in it -- a new crew with a new manager in a new stadium with a new Steinbrenner in the front office. Aww… and the new stadium still has that wonderful old feeling of aura and mystique. Once more, it’s Christmas in October, er, November.
And that leaves me with one thought… Tom Hanks lied!
In the most memorable line from the great Penny Marshall baseball film A League of Their Own, Hanks, as Jimmy Duggan, the irrepressible manager of the Rockford Peaches yelled at one of his players: "Are you crying? There's no crying! There's no crying in baseball!"
The line is in the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest film quotes of all time and as much as I love it… it’s utterly false. But I have to admit that I was teary-eyed when the film version of the Peaches lost the AAGPBL World Series to the Racine Belles. After all, who didn’t fall in love with Geena Davis as Dottie Hansen in the movie? And who knew that this comedy-drama would have you reaching for the Kleenex? Sniff. Sniff.
I have to admit though that when it comes to crying in baseball, no one shed more tears in October than former New York manager Joe Torre. When he came to New York, the press labeled him as “Clueless Joe” since he never won anywhere prior to coming to the Yankees. After the Bronx Bombers lost the first game at home in the 1996 Fall Classic, he told Steinbrenner that they could possibly lose Game Two but win it in Atlanta. The Boss turned pale as he looked at his manager then walked out. New York did lose Game 2 but won three at Turner Field against a very good Braves team to take it back to the Bronx.
The day before the Yankees closed out that World Series against Atlanta, Torre’s older brother Frank received a heart transplant that saved his life. After New York third baseman Charlie Hayes caught a pop fly in foul territory for the final out, Torre burst out into tears for the whole world to see. In fact, he turned crying into a Fall Ritual when the Yankees won in 1998-2000 and when they lost in 2001. Where is it written that only the losing team has to shed tears? Crying is a phenomenon!
Yes, the Yankee clubhouse has more people who contradict Hanks. Paul O’Niell teared up during his father’s untimely death before the final game of the 1999 World Series when New York this time swept the Atlanta Braves who are not Major League Baseball’s Team of the 90s. As Paulie walked off the Stadium turf one last time as a player in 2001, he was in tears when the crowd was chanted his name. I was too! If you could watch game tape of that you would be in tears too.
You’re not a Yankee fan, you say?
I have it on good authority that everyone in New England was in tears and crying an ocean when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. I cried too because the beat New York after being down 3-1 to move to the title game against the St. Louis Cardinals. So crying, you know, isn’t limited to Yankee fans.
And when was the last time you saw a reporter cry? Long time it was apparent that we had seen the last of Torre in 2007, it was long-time Yankee radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman cried following a difficult defeat in 2007 during Torre’s last year in the Bronx.
Nine years later today, it’s Alex Rodriguez and Joe Girardi who shed tears of joy. A-Rod because people said, he’d never win the big one. And the same for Girardi who many thought (including myself) that he wouldn’t last the season after the squad hit rock bottom in the first few months. Oh, guess what he did? After he left the Stadium in the early hours of the day, he stopped to help a car accident victim! This had me welled up like the end of the movie My Dog Skip.
Heck, I cried because it feels good to win one again. I had to endure those damned Florida Marlins celebrating in the middle of Times Square in 2003 while I and many others had to hold our peace. And there’s those Red Sox…
Oh, I choked up because we proved that no bad deed goes unpunished. And yes, that refers to Gino Castignoli, that Bronx construction worker who attempted to jinx the new stadium by burying the jersey of Red Sox slugger David Ortiz in its foundation. Okay. Now I’m done with my one moment of gloating.
And I’m happy because for the first time in years, my father and I weren’t at odds on the teams we were rooting for. For years I had to endure him tearing at Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. But like Michael, I had the last laugh as the Bulls won six NBA titles and I refrained from taunting my pop. But deep inside, “Take that, dad!”
So here we were just like in 2000 watching the World Series from my uncle’s pad in Queens. No Mets fans here! All pinstripes in our soul. The family that cheers together stays together.
Hideki Matsui, who probably played his last game in New York (sob), had six RBIs to tie former Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson who knocked in the same in a losing effort in 1960.Godzilla didn't destroy New York. He saved it.
But in that forgettable series, Pirates’ second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit the series-winning home run in the ninth inning that ended the great run of the old perfesser Casey Stengel in the Bronx. Richardson was voted World Series MVP even if he was on a losing team and he consoled the great Mickey Mantle who sobbed in the locker room after the loss. And Stengel uttered that famous phrase, “I’ll never make the mistake of being 70 again.” And he shuffled off tearfully into retirement.
Yes, there was and always will be crying in baseball. And you know, Tom Hanks, it’s okay. I’m still a fan. But the Yankees, in baseball championships and crying, are a league of their own.
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