NEW YORK — They don't call Cinergy Field baseball's Cathedral, and they don't record songs called "Joltin' Joe Carter," and they don't make movies called "Pride of the Astros," and they don't stage plays called "Damn Mariners."
If they're going to glorify baseball, they're not going to make it anywhere; they're going to make it in New York, and with very good reason: The Yankees are the most successful, most tradition-filled and most decorated franchise in professional sports.
They will be going for their 24th championship when they open the World Series against the San Diego Padres in Yankee Stadium tonight, four days after beating the Cleveland Indians for their 35th American League pennant.
Only one other franchise in the four major professional sports, the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, can even approach the Yankees' track record, having won 23 Stanley Cups--at least one in every decade dating to the 1917-18 season in 32 trips to the finals.
The Boston Celtics, who have won 16 championships, and the Lakers, who have won 11 titles in Minneapolis and Los Angeles, are the class of the NBA, and the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers have each won five Super Bowls.
But how many times have you heard someone called the "Bill Russell of Soccer," or the "Guy Lafleur of Football," or the "Joe Montana of Hockey"?
When you're the best, you're called the "Babe Ruth of" whatever you're the best at, because it was the former Yankee slugger who was considered the ultimate professional athlete, the benchmark for a nation that adores its sports heroes.
And that's how the Yankees have always thought of themselves--as the team that sets the standard by which others are measured.
"When you go to other parks, they hang banners for winning the wild card or for being East or West division champions," Yankee designated hitter Chili Davis said. "Around here, they don't hang anything unless it's for being world champions."
It has been this way since then-Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert got Ruth from the Boston Red Sox for $120,000 in 1920, a move that helped transform a fledgling franchise in the nation's fastest-growing city into a dynasty.
Ruth, who hit 714 home runs, led New York to its first World Series title in 1923, and the Yankees went on to win 16 World Series championships in 27 years from 1936 through '62, including five in a row from 1949 through '53.
