One is veteran Gammonite Bill Madden of the Daily News. Yesterday, he called for the Yankees to trade a bunch of their best prospects to San Diego for the over-priced third-baseman, Chase Headley. Reading it, I couldn’t help but be transported back to 1982, the year when everything collapsed.
Gather around, children, and I’ll
tell you about it. This was the time before Harry Potter and vampires, before
bagged salads and garlic hummus, even before Don Mattingly, when the storied
Yankee franchise was as sure a winner as IBM. This was a mini-dynasty with
Reggie, Thurman, Catfish, et al, and nobody – not even a young Bill Madden –
imagined a complete collapse, a team losing more games than it won, finishing
fifth and launching what Yankeestorians now call the 14-year barf.
Lou Piniella was 38. Tommy John,
39. Graig Nettles, 37. Bob Watson and Bobby Murcer, both 36. Here’s the lineup:
C Rick Cerone (28); 1b John
Mayberry (33); 2b Willie Randolph (27); ss Roy Smalley (29); 3b Nettles (37); lf
Dave Winfield (30); cf Jerry Mumphries (29); rf Ken Griffey (32); dh Oscar
Gamble (32)Our best starter, Ron Guidry was 31. Our stopper, Goose Gossage was 30.
Look at those numbers, and two points jump out.
1) Compared
to today’s lineup, this hell-condemned team was young.
2) There
are no rookies, no ascending players. The stars were past their sale dates. (Dave
Righetti emerged on the pitching staff, Mattingly was buried in the system.) A
team on the downfall.
By the way, the 1982 Yankees were
baseball’s most expensive team. But Griffey, Mayberry, Nettles, Smalley and
Gamble were done. We just didn’t know it.
And that’s the takeaway. Right now,
some stars on the 2013 Yankees are done, and we don’t yet know it. We’d be
lucky to find a Dave Righetti this season. The farm system is barren. We can tout
Melky Mesa, but he’s pushing 27 and didn’t hit at Triple A. He has the stench
of Kevin Maas all over him. I say this because we should not only remember 1982, but more importantly, what happened afterward. George, furious at the team, began trading prospects for quick fixes. In 1983, we added free agents Steve Kemp and Don Baylor, but the drain on our farm system was overwhelming. Soon, we were trading McGriff and McGee, even Al Leiter, letting the system be raided by other teams.
Yesterday, Madden – who has a real blind spot for the old days under George - called for the Yankees to trade prospects. God save us. It’s going to be a tough year. Let’s hope it doesn’t last a decade.
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3 comments:
Three things that will make this season more exciting to watch:
The Mariano (and let's face it, probably Andy too) Farewell Tour.
Praying for the retirement or career-ending injuries of enough players to make the Quest For 189 a reality.
And of course debating which Yankees team the 2013 squad resembles more, 1965 or 1982.
The 2013 Yankees: One Mo Time! (formerly Yes We Canzler!)
Ah yes, the ill-fated Bronx Burners. I can still remember old timers like Piniella and Nettles taking "sliding lessons" down in Florida. Griffey and Collins were supposed to restore speed to the base paths. Whoops. Then George panicked and traded for the lumbering Mayberry. Good times.
I recall that Opening Day was canceled by a freak snowstorm, forcing us to play a double header against the Chisox the next day--losing both ends. A portent of things to come.
How many of our recently highly touted prospects have turned out to be any good? Why not trade some of our future disappointments for a young star like Headley instead of the washed-up kind of guys we got in the 80s?
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