“CHAMPIONSHIP OR BUST” has been the standard set by the front office of the New York Yankees for over a century. Since the 1920s, the Yankees have won more championships than some teams have had playoff appearances. From 1923 to 2009, 31% of the World Championships in baseball were won by the men in pinstripes.
When you watch a movie that takes place in the 1900s, the sports team that is most mentioned in a line of dialogue, no matter what the context is, is the Yankees. Names like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio were more than just names. To an eight-year-old turning on his GE clock radio at night, those names were like mentioning biblical figures to the local altar boy.
Even if you mention Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera to younger boys today, you immediately capture their attention. These legends of the game have been retired, even deceased, for years.
What New York has done better than any other franchise in the history of American sports is sell the consumer on the idea of immortal success. No fancy advertisements, no world-famous pop stars dating one of the players, just the guarantee of winning year in and year out.
We are now a quarter of the way through this century, and to say that this traditional marketing tactic has reached its expiration date might be an understatement.
This team was built to horrify opponents. Now it is built to reassure whoever enters the team store in the stadium. It’s no longer about success with the Yankees; it has become all about the brand.
They did not get eliminated by the Blue Jays this year because of a lack of talent. They did not lose to the Dodgers last year because of analytics. They are not able to get over the hump because the standard this team is held to has become nothing more than a marketing device – one that no longer reflects the product on the field. The expectations set have not been realistic.
Except that’s what an American consumer, much less a New Yorker, has to deal with every day, right? The constant clash of two mindsets: realistic expectations vs. the American dream. A baseball team that is more likely to lose in the Wild Card round than to hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy.
A person moves to New York City, fulfilling their childhood dream, lands a job and rents out an apartment. A few months later, they can’t stand taking the subway every day, their job is boring and their apartment has water dripping from the ceiling.
Dreams and reality suffer a gap that is not unique to city life in America – it shows up everywhere, and the Yankees are no different. You purchase season tickets and buy a $135 jersey, being sold on baseball’s most accomplished team ever. One hundred sixty-two games later, and they are hardly squeaking out playoff victories, wasting the prime of Aaron Judge’s career.
Many Americans experience this today with their media consumption – mediocre products that were solely bought based on their past reputation. The biggest brands in sports, film and music are consistently generating headlines that reflect on how their once prestigious image has grown dull.
When you go to Wendy’s, you aren’t literally expecting to see exactly what you saw in their 30-second YouTube ad. However, it gets the job done, close enough. “Close enough” doesn’t cut it for a Yankees season ticket holder. It’s not even enough for your grandpa, who watches the games on his Roku TV from Walmart.
The fans have been spoon-fed the commercialization of this franchise to the point where they can only be satisfied with something they have not tasted since 2009 – a championship.
If you give your kid nothing but candy, guess what the kid expects? I have run out of analogies.
So who is to blame? How does it change? It starts with philosophy. Hal Steinbrenner has been increasingly criticized for his apparent lack of love for the game compared to his father, George, the team’s owner when they were winning titles. When the man at the top has no intense love and desire for greatness, that trickles down the hierarchy.
I’m not the owner of a baseball team, but I would go back to basics. Stop trying to be the 1927 iteration of your team and help build and promote a new era of Yankees baseball.
The stadium is still beautiful, and the fans will always be there on Opening Day. However, the spark is gone, and the brand is fading. The Yankees need a spike, and hitting the reset button could deliver the jolt they need.
