a Yankee fan’s plea

To the editor

NY Times

4.9.09

 

Three years ago my wife and I moved from New York City to a lonely outpost of civilization called Sebastian, Florida. An exercise in culture shock to be sure. Sebastian is a small riverside town practically devoid of anything resembling culture, outside of sports fishing and Harley Davidson riding, and we have clung to a few personal citified habits and rituals which keep us rooted to our past lives and socially-politically “involved.” One thing I brought along with me is my love of baseball and my passion for the Yankees. Growing up in the Bronx and living almost my entire adult life in Manhattan, I have been a devoted Yankee fan since the age of 6 when my dad gave me my first bubble gum playing card (to my eternal disappointment it was a Richie Ashburn – not a Mickey Mantle – but it was only the first of thousands). To be able to watch Yankee games I got a dish. It costs me but I can get my Derek Jeter fix all season long.

 

Another ritual was Sunday breakfast with the New York Times. For me that means sports page and crossword puzzle. In fact, we get the Times delivered everyday so that we can be as in touch with our spiritual home as possible.

 

What’s the point? Well, it’s simply that my newspaper of choice and my interest in my beloved Yankees don’t seem to go together in the Florida edition of the Times. Everyday I pick up the paper and I expect to be able to read something about my team. After all, it is the New York Times and not the Boston Globe. But, alas, I am so often thwarted by your sports editors that I am seriously considering a switch to one of the tabloids for my baseball fix. There are simply too many articles about other teams and other players and other sports. I’m not negating the importance or the appropriateness of these stories but it’s baseball season and the Yankees are the team from New York so how about more coverage of the hometown team! By the way, the same could be said about your coverage of the Mets.

 

A perfect example is yesterdays and today’s editions. Wednesday, the 8th had a feature article on Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox (the Sox for crying out loud!), an article on Met’s ticket prices and a small 8 paragraph article about Hideki Matsui and Koji Uehara of the Orioles. Today we get a cover story on Rocco Baldelli (Red Sox alert!!!!) and not one article about either the Yankees or Mets. Unacceptable I say! If I want to read about the Red Sox stars I’ll buy the Boston Globe. It seems that when there is an feature article on the Yankees it is usually about the cost of the new Stadium (relevant) or A-Rod’s psyche (enough already).

 

I am aware of a certain disdain for the deep-pocketed patrician team from the Bronx by those who are not Yankee fans, including several of the writers on your staff. I don’t care how you cover them, I only ask that in your out of town editions you cover them more so that the disenfranchised New Yorkers who depend on your paper for a little daily taste of home can come away feeling like they just had a bagel and coffee at their favorite Village diner with a morning dose of local baseball color.

 

I’m begging you!

 

Sincerely,

Barry Shapiro

Sebastian, FL