There are few things in sports I like more than the New York Yankees’ old-timers day.
It’s the parade of legends that does it for me. I don’t care about the game, or the smiles, or seeing Reggie Jackson pretend to be a humanoid. No, I simply love the introductions; the trotted out onto the field of one yesterday hero after another yesterday hero.
Like Whitey Ford.
Like Willie Randolph.
Like Ron Guidry.
Like Bernie Williams.
Like Scott Kamieniecki.
Wait. What?
To celebrate the event, I visited Newsday.com, which promised an extensive photo gallery from the day. And, indeed, the website did not lie. Image after image brought the legends to life in all their pinstriped splendor. But what made me chuckle (OK, guffaw) is that the gallery begins not with Ford or Randolph or Reggie, but ol’ Scott Kamieniecki, that magnificent righty who from 1991-96 gave the Bombers a 36-39 record, a 4.33 ERA and memories to last a … eh, I forget. What was I saying?
Oh, right.
I’ve been in many a newsroom, and while this isn’t the sort of decision that gets one fired, it often results in a stern talking-to. “Bob, what in the world were you thinking, putting Scott Kamieniecki at the top of the photo gallery? Why not Reggie Jackson?”
Bob: “Who’s Reggie Jackson?”
•••
One other quick thought from the day: I don’t know this for certain, but the afternoon may well have been the only time the two greatest leadoff hitters in baseball history, Tim Raines and Rickey Henderson, stood on the same field in the same uniform.
Which I find awfully cool.
