MLB: Past And Present, Yankees Always Come Out Champs

Although it took some breaths away, there really was no doubt. When Mike Piazza's fly ball took off into the New York City air, Met fans hoped for the type of dramatics that belong in movies. The New York Yankees are real life. The ball drifted into the glove of Bernie Williams, sparking a celebration of championship proportions. It was only right that the Yankees win its third straight World Series champions. It's why this team was built, why this team was made, why this team is as expensive as it is. It was built for championships. Nothing else matters. Nothing else ever does. This was called the best team money could buy. Call it now the best team in baseball. There wasn't anything this team lacked. From pitching to hitting, young to old, this Yankees team was built by a general manager, Brian Cashman, who looks so old but yet is young by GM standards, putting up with a volatile Boss and cranking out one key component after another. There is the manager, Joe Torre, who hopefully will take his legacy, forever now to rank among the great managers in Yankee history, and go home to his wife and young child. The manager who let his emotions through, who stuck with his players through sweep or slump. The manager who made New York City feel like a small town as it protected him, almost wrapping its arms around the manager and shielding him from negativity. Torre was the conductor of this title-winning orchestra, smoothing moving from one brush fire to the other, dousing them one at a time, never allowing anything to fully fan into a fire. Torre's influence is most recognizable on the face of shortstop Derek Jeter, 26 years old and still getting better by the year. Alex Rodriguez, this winter, will have money thrown at him from every corner of the country, but while he becomes the richest player ever, Jeter is more valuable. Jeter wins championships. Five years ago, he was a rookie. Now, with four World Series titles, he is at once the All-Star Game and World Series MVP's the first since Frank Robinson to do so. In this age of players switching teams, one thing stands out: Jeter does not know a season without October playoff baseball. Only one in his career has a season not ended with a ring. Talent that few possess, riches and more in the future, Miss Universe at his side. Jeter's life is one to envy indeed. Jeter at shortstop harkens back to the other great Yankees at the position, this championship run naturally making people think of a Phil Rizzuto, the soul of the great Yankees of the 1950s, teams even greater and more dominant that the ones we see today. Yet shortstop is not the only position where a link between past and present can be made. Centerfield at Yankee Stadium was the workspace of Joe DiMaggio, now the territory owned by Bernie Williams. The similarities, once again, striking; the gracefulness of the swing, controlled yet powerful. The defense, making it seem all too easy to run back to the fence, to the alleys. The personality, humble and quiet yet with a burning determination to succeed. Jeter is the modern Rizzuto. Williams, dare it be said, the modern DiMaggio, a worthy successor to the crown. Next to DiMaggio, in right field, there was Tommy Heinrich, a powerful slugger who came through, in the clutch, with injuries screaming out for attention yet constantly ignored. In the present, there is Paul O'Neill. Injuries are a mere happenstance, not even worth recognition. In the postseason, there is no such thing as a slump, only a key hit, an extra 90 feet on the basepaths, screw what the body screams out. On the mound, the Yankees of lore had starters like Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat, Tommy Byrne and Allie Reynolds, relievers like Joe Page. This generation's Yankees has Roger Clemens and David Cone, on the end of their careers but still willing to go out anytime and throw. This generation's Yankees has Andy Pettite and Orlando Hernandez. No matter what the regular season line reads, the October line will be different. The October line will be stunning. The October line will read "W." The October line will read "thrives on pressure." And when the final inning comes, the door is opened from the bullpen, revealing Mariano Rivera. Here lies the greatest change from one generation of Yankees to another; whereas minorities were certainly not fully integrated in baseball's fabric, foriengers were downright invisible. Yet now, here is another Yankee who could lay claim to the Most Valuable Player Award, from Panama. The scene from above even has changed. The Yankees of years past were led by an ownership that cared about the bottom line, who squeezed every penny from players even like DiMaggio and Heinrich, Reynolds and Lopat. The Yankees have present have George Steinbrenner. Say what you will about the man, but one thing is undeniable; no matter what the price, a winner must be constructed. The bottom line matters, but not at the cost of competition. We always hear about Yankees tradition. The old-times come back and the appreciation shown by the present team. We always hear about the Yankees history. The Yankees ideal. It produces champions. It has in the past. It does so now.