Our New York Yankees, 1915-2019, R.I.P.

Whoomp, there it is, Yankees fans.

The two best, young free agents in the history of un-bondaged baseball labor, gone off to sign with teams in San Diego and Philadelphia—teams that have mascots, for cryin' out loud—and not even a Yankees bid on either one.

It's over.

Time to go home and put on that scratchy old record of Cat Stevens' "Wild World" that you first played when you broke up with that girl in seventh grade.

Now that I've lost everything to you
You say you want to start something new
And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'—

Hey, we'll get over it, just as we did back then.  A little quiet sobbing up in the bedroom, Mom leaving a plate of cookies just outside your door.  Dad taking you to the ballgame that Saturday.  You knew it was gonna be all right.

So will this.  It's just the new order of sports.  Hell, we've seen it all.  We rooted for the New York Knicks.

But I want to be clear:  this ain't my New York Yankees, anymore.

My Yankees came into existence when the colonels bought the team.  Before that, they were an interesting little ball club, owned by two of the most colorful and corrupt men in New York City history.

I don't hold that against them.  Frank Farrell and Big Bill Devery wanted the original Yankees to win all right—just not enough to NOT do things such as rent out their home field, Hilltop Park, to a Columbia-Williams football game at the climax of a heated pennant race.  With the Red Sox.

And that's where we're back to.  Hal and the Family Steinbrenner want to win, all right.  Just not enough.  Not if trying to do so risks, in any way, even the smallest percentage of their money.

For 104 years, this team was owned by some of the coldest, most ruthless men in baseball, including Old George, the Mad King.

They didn't always make the best decisions—especially old George.  They were tyrants, and fools, and even racists.  Pretty bad.

But...they were genuinely trying to win.  Always.  That was their priority.

Were they trying to make lots of money?  Absolutely!  But rightly or wrongly, they thought they would do that by winning first.

Not anymore.

Call them whatever you want.  Call them, as I think somebody suggested, the Bronx Halligators.  I'm jiggy with that.  I'll even watch them play, and hope they beat the Red Sox.

But let's not kid ourselves.  These are not Our New York Yankees, anymore.  This is not a team going all out to win.

But if you wanna leave take good care
Hope you make a lotta nice friends out there
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware—