Last night, Brett Gardner delivered the christening moment, dousing Carlos Beltran with Gatorade in the aftermath of the walkoff homer.It got me to a-thinkin':
Who else could have taken it upon himself to give such a shower?
Jeter? Of course. But that's not his style.
Tex? Nah. He's a slugger, not the firebrand.
Everybody else is too new. Gardner is the one.
So who would be the likeliest person to be the next Yankee captain? The easy answer is to say nobody; after Jeter retires, they'll hold the spot open for at least a year. But over that season, who would be the one Yankee most likely to maintain the status of Captain?
Tanaka? Possible, but there's the language barrier. Robertson? Nah. It can't be the closer. It needs to be a guy on the field all the time. The answer always comes back to one guy: Gardner.
I think there should be a long hiatus before filling the captain role! The title of Yankee Captain shouldn't be given out just because it's vacant. It took a leader like Thurman Munson to bring it out of mothballs after The Iron Horse died. There was a long (proper) gap after Thurman died too. We need a new leader, who can also back it up with his bat in clutch moments before that honor is bestowed again.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Colleen, those are very wise words indeed. Most likely it will be years before someone is ready to step into those shoes, tho we could sure use them now,,,,
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm a HUGE fan of Gardner. He's the king of hustle on this team, puts his all into every inning of every game, he's a true blue Yankee, in every sense!
A-Rod, of course. After Jeter, he's the only Yankee with experience in the job; the Texas Rangers made him captain right before they traded him to NY.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Mustang. We know how much experience counts. Veterans are almost always preferable to youth, until their brittle parts break down and force the issue. To that point, maybe we should start stretching out Thornton for that fifth spot in the rotation. Just a thought.
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