Why Cleveland Indians Fans Despise The New York Yankees
For years now, I have attended games at both Municipal Stadium and Progressive Field (The Jake) when the New York Yankees come to town. One of my biggest headaches in life is looking around at the crowd and wondering who the home team is. No matter which way I turn, there is an overabundance of Yankee merchandise in the stands. Hats, shirts, pennants, babies dressed in one piece pajamas, posters, gold chains, and keychains ~ the stuff is blinding. The applause for the Yankees is even close to the crowd noise on behalf of The Tribe.
The Average Joe would pin this on a loyal fan base, people who traveled West to see the ballgame and maybe go to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame afterwards. Unfortunately, on many occasions, I run into people I know wearing the stuff, and they are from the Greater Cleveland area. They are devout Yankee fans. here are a few observations I have made of this group.
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Most Yankee fans like the LA Lakers in basketball, they root for the Dallas Cowboys in football, the Detroit Red Wings in hockey, and will tell you that Rocky Marciano was the greatest boxer of all time. What all of these “favorites” have in common is that they are winners. These are the Cleveland area fans who just can’t accept losing, so they manipulate the system at a young age and root for traditional winners. Let’s face it, the Cleveland Sports Faithful have not had much to scream about for the past 50 or so years. However, the loyalty of a Cleveland sports fan is so much more praiseworthy to me than the local bandwagon jumping fans of teams that win.
- The argument that Cleveland teams refuse to spend money to keep athletes gets old. Just because the Yankees have so much more to spend does not mean that the Browns, Cavs, and Indians, do not pay well. Let me put it to you this way: When you play monopoly with your friends, give the Yankee fan half of the deeds and three quarters of all of the money that comes with the game. We will call the other players Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Cleveland. They have what is left to divide amongst themselves. This is why baseball sadly needs a salary cap.
This debate has caused grief for many years. I have friends and relatives who are diehard Yankee fans. They will argue that George Steinbrenner spends money to assemble these All-Star caliber teams. I find it ironic that New York has not won a World Series for awhile. I also encourage those who surround me in pinstripes to go pay the $1,000 price to sit behind home plate at the New York Yankees new stadium. Sadly, some will.
25 Responses to “Why Cleveland Indians Fans Despise The New York Yankees”
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Paneech, I like argument but there are contradictory points in the salary cap needed and buying players doesn’t win arguments. I’ll say a Yankees fan, I obviously don’t want a salary cap because I don’t think baseball needs one. And at the same time I don’t want my team buying everyone.
The Yankees success in the 90s was home grown then go out and get a few players to surround them. As those players got older they started buying more players, the Giambis, the ARods thats when things fell apart. They simply got old and didnt retool in the way that got them that 90s success.
Look at the last 5 World Series, only 1 team has had a payroll in the top 5 and that was the Red Sox. It’s been proven you don’t need to spend to be among the best. So like you said buying players, it doesn’t guarantee anything.
So why then do we need a salary cap? There’s no guarantee a salary cap will create any more balance around the league. I think the league has actually become pretty balanced over the league. You have your upper echelon but most teams are in it now till the last couple weeks, which is great for the game.
If anything I think instituting a cap could ruin that balance. Teams that spend money, the $70-90 mil range may spend the extra bucks to get close to the cap and take those couple players that the Yankees, Sox, Mets can’t afford. Which would make them stronger and keep the Royals, Pirates, etc from still competing.
Good read thou Paneech, always enjoy!
Thanks for the comments Paul. You make good points of the salary cap. You kind of exposed the argument to part two of my theory. However, you ignored part one about which other teams you like. Just curious if it is the Rangers, Jets, and Knicks or is it the Cowboys, Lakers and Red Wings?
Rangers, Giants, Yankees.
Have you ever met one Yankee fan who claimed that the Massachusetts-born Rocky Marciano was the greatest boxer of all-time? I would guess the answer “no”. Marciano might be a top-10 all-time heavyweight, but once you start adding Sugar Ray Robinson, Benny Leonard, Carlos Monzon, Willie Pep, et al. to the discussion The Rock drops like his namesake. Let’s try and keep our Yankee-bashing in the realm of objective reality, shan’t we?
What the heck on God’s green earth are you talking about, you nutjob. Yankee fans root for the LAKERS?!?!?!?
THE COWBOYS?!?
You know we have football and basketball teams in NY right?
Most Yankee fans I know wouldn’t urinate on a Troy Aikman if he were on fire. Because they root for The GIANTS! You have no fricking clue what you are talking about.
I mean, it’s funny, the idea that Yankee fans like the Cowboys is just so, well, just such the wrongest thing that has ever been said by anyone about anything. You really should be ashamed of yourself.
At least you didn’t say we like the Eagles.
Dear Up With Evil, In my experience with Yankee fans, the majority I know are Italian. Rocky Marciano was Italian. Hence, Italian Yankee fans will declare Rocky Marciano was the greatest of all times. Ask a fellow Italian Yankee fan. It would not be a false statement, he did retire undefeated, I am simply pointing out that the majority of Yankee fans like all the winners.
Bim Bim, Thanks for your entertaining comments. You may be right in regards to Yankee fans in New York, however, everywhere else in the country, the trend is to root for the winning teams.
[…] like some Cleveland fans are a little pissed off about something. (h/t BTF) * Most Yankee fans like the LA Lakers in basketball, they root for the […]
I love the Yankees. I hate the Cowboys. I don’t care for the NBA. I don’t care for boxing (does anyone?).
Your comments about Italian Yankee fans (I am one!) and Marciano are also a little misguided. The love for Marciano most likely has to do more with the “Italian” part of “Italian Yankee fans” than the “Yankee” part.
Yes, all Yankee fans are Eye-talian. And we love Ragu.
Also, I would like everyone to ignore the fact that New York is the largest metropolitan area in the country, and the diaspora of fans from this area is massive. After all, I was born in NYC and raised in NJ, but since I live in the Bay Area my Yankee fandom is of the bandwagon variety. So pay no mind, please continue your bitter sour grapes assumptions.
Love,
A Stereotypical Eye-talian Yankee fan
“Dear Up With Evil, In my experience with Yankee fans, the majority I know are Italian. Rocky Marciano was Italian. Hence, Italian Yankee fans will declare Rocky Marciano was the greatest of all times.”
If you’re going to go by ethnicity, Guglielmo Papaleo, better known as Willie Pep, has a much better claim to being the greatest boxer of all-time than Marciano. I’ve never heard anyone make this claim for Marciano, ever. It’s akin to claiming most Indians fans consider Jesse Owens to be the fastest man in history.
The question, though, wasn’t, “Who is your favorite boxer?” Your statement was, “…and will tell you that Rocky Marciano was the greatest boxer of all time. ” If you had said favorite, than you might have an argument. Personally my favorite boxer is Sonny Liston, my favorite baseball player is Ricky Ledee. The GREATEST of all time probably is Marciano and in baseball, Babe Ruth. Ethnicity or liking a winner has nothing to do with saying he was the greatest, the dude was undefeated.
So you can blame the lack of salary cap for the fact that the Indians don’t win world series. But what exactly is the reason the Browns and Cavs(if it werent for 1 player – Lebron) don’t win???
Sounds like your problem is with frontrunners. I like the Yankees because they’re the local team. Everyone was into the Mets when I started following baseball. I also like the Giants, Devils, and Nets.
No complaints from me if you fired everyone who’s a Yankee/Laker/Cowboy/Notre Dame/Duke fan into the sun.
The idea that a Yankees fan would ever root for the cowboys is simply inane. There may be folks out there who like those teams, but they are not yankees fans or lakers fans etc., they are bandwagon friends. I would piss on them just as soon as I would on Troy Aikman (even if he were on fire. just so I cold ignite it again).
Paneech,
I am sorry that seeing Yankee fans in Cleveland bothers you. As you may know, the Yankees have a long and storied history and have many fans throughout the country. I am a third generation Yankee fan in Boston, for instance.
On who Yankee fans root for — I do not think that you have a clue. The vast majority of Yankee fans would support the Rangers, Knicks and Giants, as I do. And while the success of the 1990s may have led to some jumping on the bandwagon, most Yankee fans support their team in good times and bad, just like most Indians fans do. On the ethnicity of Yankees fans … well, I do not think that is even worth a retort.
The salary cap issue is an incredibly complex topic, but the short answer is that I do not think that baseball either wants it or needs it. On the first point, revenue sharing and the luxury tax means that teams like the Yankees effective support the lower payroll teams — some of whom actually spend less on payroll than they receive in revenue. On the second point, the diversity of World Series winners (Florida twice in the past 11 years, for example) argues against it. As does the last of post-season success for the Yankees since 2001.
It is great that you support your team, and it is fine to root against the big, bad Yankees (many fans do), but you might want to think before you shoot off your mouth next time.
I am a die hard Yankee fan and have been since as far back as I can remember. I think you grouping Yankee fans and Yankee bandwagoners together is just wrong. The Yankees have a ton of bandwagon fans, I am not denying that, but to act like the majority of us are front runners is just crazy and wrong. In your experience most may be, but I would be willing to bet most of us are die hard New Yorkers supporting our team. I go to dozens of games every season, most Yankee fans I come across are not front runners in any sense of the phrase.
I am not trying to be an ass, I am just saying how I feel. I mean I understand what you are talking about, it must suck to go to your home team’s park and feel like you are at the other teams park. Most people who are Yankee fans who go to ball games not in the North East or Florida are probably bandwagon fans, but the majority of us are not.
So not only is this column ignorant and biased but it’s also promoting stereotypes and prejudice? Well done.
Cleveland has a very unhealthy obsession (hatred) for New York that really needs to calm down. I guess no one has noticed the green, red, blue and pink hats appearing in every stadium with two red socks on them.
Every city has bandwagon fans. Don’t blame New York for it. Get a grip on yourself. The Tribe beat the Yanks in the playoffs in ’07.
And Muhammad Ali is the greatest boxer of all-time. That’s not even debatable…wherever you’re from. If Rocky Marciano is the greatest boxer of all time, then you’re the greatest writer of all time.
Baseball needs a salary cap because it has worked so well in the other sports. If only baseball had a salary cap then the indians could be as good as the Browns.
In response to the many comments, let me start by saying I am a full-blooded Italian. I grew up around my full-blooded Italian relatives in the Cleveland area, who root for the Yankees. People from New York are not understanding where I am coming from, it is the Cleveland area people who are the frontrunners by rooting for only teams that win. My relatives, friends, acquaintances, and Cleveland area residents are who the article targets as frontrunners.
If that’s your target then what’s up with the giant anti-Yankee logo?
I have been a Yankee fan since I was a little kid. The Yankees lost every year until 1976 when Chambliss put them back in the series. The Orioles were the team then. Not all Yankees fans jump on the band wagon. My favorite teams are the Yankees, Giants and the Knicks. When I was a teenager the Islanders won 4 cups in a row. I am from LI and it did not make me a fan. I am just not into hockey, I rooted for them but I was not a fan.
The fans you speak of are not “true” Yankees fans. Stop disparaging all Yankee fans. The Knicks have not won in almost 30 years. How long did the Giants stink? Remember “The Fumble”? Give me a break. True fans are fans because they are generational fans… I did not decide to to be a Yankee fan. It is just how it turned out.
I do believe I am the “Yankee Fans” Paneech refers to as the norm. Let me explain.
Paneech is seeing the Yankee fan who goes to Indian games thus seeing, generally, a non-NYC Yankee fan. I am one of these. I first visited NYC in August of 2001 at the age 31. I had been a Yankee fan since 1981 my first memory of this was listening to the 1981 WS after a cub scout meeting although I could hardly be called a fan at that point since I THINK I knew who Reggie Jackson was. I had attended 5 Yankee games prior to my trip to NYC in either Seattle or Oakland with the first being in 1984. That summer of 2001 was my first trip to Yankee Stadium. Further, my favorite teams are; Yankees, Steelers, Celtics & UNC in college basketball and my local Boise State Broncos in what ever they compete in.
Bandwagoner right? Well I live in Boise Idaho and the nearest ML city is 350 miles away being Salt Lake. The nearest MLB city is 500 miles away in Seattle. So, if you permit me, I’ll like who ever the heck I want to since there are no requirements to follow the closest out-of-state professional team that I’m aware of. While I didn’t
Why did I start to like the Yankees? I don’t know, maybe it was the Reggievision commercials. Their history and legacy definitely appealed to me later on. I started following them the in 1982 and didn’t experience a playoff game for 13 years so I earned my fan card thank you. In that late summer of 1995 I spend over a thousand bucks to get DirectTV so I could get MSG and the Yankee games, the next year was the advent of the MLB package. 🙁
As for my other teams: My affinity for my local BSU Broncos should be as obvious as yours for your local teams. My dad was a big Celtic fan from the old days and I loved watching Larry Bird play. I don’t really like the one-on-one game of the NBA today but I still loved watching my C’s rebirth last year. I probably like the Steelers, (you REALLY hate my ass now don’t you Paneech!), because they were in the last of their first 4 SB’s when I watched my first one. I think it had a lot to do with how cool their uni’s looked compared to the Rams being that I was 9. 😉 UNC is due to Michael Jordan and the UNC vs. Georgetown NC game. That was the first college basketball game I can remember watching and have followed UNC ever since.
To sum up: What teams did I pick to like having no local teams? The ones that were good and that I took a liking to. I’m not going to apologize for that because I chose my teams at the ages of 10 and 11 and have stuck with them through good times and bad.
Paneech, you might want to consider my story when thinking ill of those “Cleveland fans” that have the audacity to pull for the visiting team in Cleveland. Maybe they’re not Cleveland fans at all but fans that have re-located to the area or have traveled to see the game. If they’re implants what kind of fans would they be if just changed teams with their zip code?
If it helps you, think of all the money they just gave your team by going to the games against the Yankees and think about how that money might help your Indians actually BEAT those Yankees sometime.
The point is not, I’m Italian so, I’m a Yankee fan, nor is it I’m from New York or my Mom’s from New Jersey so, I root for the Yank’s or the Giants.No bashing,you are the true fan.I’ll respect you for that,we can agree to disagree.
But, when a team ,any team starts winning, I see that guy (and we all know at least one) going out buying a new hat to slap on his front running balding scalp and a new jersey to cover his beer gut! These are the same guys that wore Steeler jerseys during the Bradshaw days and then a 49er jersey when Montana and Young ruled the roost.Bet they have a dusty Patriot’s and Giant’s jersey in their closet right next to the new Steeler hat and terrible towel.This guy is going out right now and getting himself a wine and gold # 23 to wear as I type,even after they told you they would never cheer for a lousy Cleveland team.
These fans are jokes and are the ones that I believe Paneechis referring to. Attending Cleveland games in that off colored clothing cheering for the visiting team (unless he’s going to a Cavs playoff game). I got one thing to say,just go away and keep your opinions to yourself…us true fans really don’t care.
By the way love the logo…nothing better than loving to hate the Yankees.