Does anyone agree with this?

[Spiegs1106]

I would like to see ur coments...

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/sports/artic ... 1309990001

[MMoNeY24]

I agree with it from a money standpoint, not so sure for the game itself though. You could get into a whole 'nother issue with the winning and buying championships (which they've never actually done yet, they won with the real team players), but that's beyond the point from a baseball economic perspective. The Yankees alone bring in so much revenue from not just the US, but almost everywhere else. I think I read somewhere that the most sold hat across the country is the regular blue Yankee hat with the interlocking NY, just that alone just shows how much interest they draw. Adding a guy like Matsui a few years back added even more to the worldwide hype, especially when they played that series in Japan in 2004. The more attention the Yankees draw, the more attention the MLB on a whole will draw IMO.

[SuptownSpartans34]

I do think that the baseball does need the Yankees, but I could care less to see them in the post-season again, and I'm as big of a baseball fan there is.

[blankman]

Baseball surely does need the Yankees. Just look at what they do on the road. Teams like Tampa Bay more than double their attendence when NY is in town. People need a team to root against and a team to root for and the Yankees fill both of those needs. Whether baseball needs them to win, I don't know about that.

[warrick95]

True. If they don't keep on winning, they obviously become less of the "Evil Empire." Baseball needs to have their fans following this storyline.

[j_d_mcnugent]

they took it a step too far. its nice to have good teams in baseball but that doesnt mean its in the best interest of baseball to have the yankees win every year or even most of the time.

[Kingctb27]

Baseball surely does need the Yankees. Just look at what they do on the road. Teams like Tampa Bay more than double their attendence when NY is in town. People need a team to root against and a team to root for and the Yankees fill both of those needs. Whether baseball needs them to win, I don't know about that.

I agree with this, without the Yankees and Redsox baseball wouldn't be as popular as it is today. Without them I don't know if I would watch as much baseball as I do.

[Tavish]

Every other baseball team feeds off the Yankees.

The ignorance and irony of that quote all wrapped up in one makes the article almost worth reading. No team in baseball is any more important than another team. If the Yankees were not to exist there would be another team right there ready to lay claim to the "most important" title.

The importance of the Yankees is 100% self-created. Of course they are going to have great road crowds, they are a modern day barn-storming All-Star team. Put a half dozen future HoFers on the D-Rays and I guarentee you that they would draw amazingly well on the road. Whether owners realize it or not, the league is still about the players and their performances not about the emblems on the jersey.

[Half Massed]

I agree in part with saying the Yankees are good for baseball, but I think it would harm baseball if they won every time. A big part of baseball for any team, bad or good, small market or big market, is the hope at the beginning of the year and the "This is the year" mentality. If one team dominated every year it would take away much of the excitement and novelty that is baseball. Yankee's fans might love it, but it seems to me that this author overlooks the fact that there are other fans. I think the possibility of failure makes the game more interesting. A perfect team is boring. One could argue that the Yankee's not being a sure thing this year, with all their holes and flaws makes people get more involved and caring than if they were so good that they had clinched the division already.

[curious_george_43545]

I agree that it's more inclining to watch a game when your favorite team is facing the yankees because if your not from New York, it's so sweet to watch the Yankees lose.

Really though the Yankees aren't very important to baseball except it might get a few more fans to watch baseball if say the Red Sox and Yankees meet in the ALCS, because of the huge buildup of the series on Sportcenter and things like that.