Official Yankee fan thread

[Kccitystar]

Phil Mushnick's take is contrarian click-bait. CC's been my guy through those post-championship years so I got something to say:

CC’s No. 52 isn’t being retired because of nostalgia alone. From the moment he arrived in pinstripes in 2009 through 2012, he was the Yankees’ ace. Literally the workhorse who shouldered more innings and October pressure than anyone in the rotation. In an era where the Yanks were transitioning out of dynasty mode, he gave the team stability: Cy Young contention, October starts, and tough outs when they mattered. He was far from Ruth or Gehrig, of course, nobody is arguing that, but to pretend he didn’t define an era for this team is revisionist garbage.

This guy leans on strawman arguments like “grandfather didn’t remember the number” and personal attacks about weight and temperament instead of actual baseball context. That’s like saying a fastball is “too heavy”, like it’s an opinion with no connection to the facts on the field. Sabathia’s Hall of Fame induction, his 3,000+ strikeouts, and his impact on Yankees pennant runs are baseball qualifications, not fluff. Then he starts dragging in BS about "what the game has become,” or random politics, or comparing Sabathia to non-baseball figures? That’s garbage grievance projection. If Phil had any writing talent and made his column truly about merit, it would compare Sabathia’s WAR, innings, postseason impact, and franchise significance to other retired Yankees. Instead, this joker pulls cheap shots about weight and attitude, which have zero bearing on whether his number belongs in Monument Park.

IMO if we’re going to criticize Sabathia’s number retirement while ignoring how the franchise has already honored other post-dynasty greats like Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, or Paul O’Neill, then we’re just throwing shade. The bar has shifted in the modern era, yes, not because of Sabathia’s play but because the Yankees haven’t had a multi-title core since the early 2000s. Fans are frustrated, and that frustration is real, but Phil's trying to ride that frustration without offering real insight. At the end of the day, Sabathia’s number isn’t being retired because he was Babe Ruth, it’s being retired because he was the keystone starter for the Yankees’ first competitive run after the dynasty and most fans understand that as a legit reason. Not this guy though.

[sabugo]

He does sound like an angry old man, that's for sure. I'm not a fan of Rapinoe, and I can't see how she relates to this matter, but anyway.

I think he makes some fair points though. The bar for having your number retired is lower for sure. I don't think that's CC's fault though. If I remember correctly, he got hurt when he tried to trim down. I wrote about that on the shoutbox at the time. 
I agree that CC had a few too many bad seasons. 

Harsh words, again, can't disagree on the general point that it feels like a watering down of the number retirement process. Can't disagree that the Yankees are taking advantage of this to make some money, selling tickets and special merchandise.
 

[Kccitystar]

1 hour ago, sabugo said:

He does sound like an angry old man, that's for sure. I'm not a fan of Rapinoe, and I can't see how she relates to this matter, but anyway.

I think he makes some fair points though. The bar for having your number retired is lower for sure. I don't think that's CC's fault though. If I remember correctly, he got hurt when he tried to trim down. I wrote about that on the shoutbox at the time. 
I agree that CC had a few too many bad seasons. 

Harsh words, again, can't disagree on the general point that it feels like a watering down of the number retirement process. Can't disagree that the Yankees are taking advantage of this to make some money, selling tickets and special merchandise.
 

 

When you grow up with Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra, Ford, when you inherit Monument Park mythology, anything short of inner-circle immortality feels like a downgrade.

 

The part people are skipping is that the standard didn’t really drop with CC. All of this basically shifted after the dynasty. The Yankees already retired numbers for Bernie, Andy, and Paul O'Neill. None of them are Ruth-tier, obviously. None of them are even inner-circle Hall of Famers. They’re just era-defining Yankees and I find that that’s the modern standard the team has been looking at.

So if the bar ever felt lower, it’s because the Yankees haven’t had a multi-ring core since 2000. Like that’s not a Sabathia problem, that’s a franchise results problem.

[Yankee4Life]

On 3/2/2026 at 7:13 PM, sabugo said:

I think he makes some fair points though. The bar for having your number retired is lower for sure. I don't think that's CC's fault though. If I remember correctly, he got hurt when he tried to trim down. I wrote about that on the shoutbox at the time. 
I agree that CC had a few too many bad seasons. 

Harsh words, again, can't disagree on the general point that it feels like a watering down of the number retirement process. Can't disagree that the Yankees are taking advantage of this to make some money, selling tickets and special merchandise.
 

 

Harsh words? Maybe. Also, true. This retirement of the numbers in recent years has really like you said watered down the entire thing. Here is a list strictly from me and me alone that I believe were all players who were very good but at the same time not Monument worthy. And I can hear KC now. Don't worry man, I am getting to your post.

 

Reggie Jackson: Yeah, yeah. World Series hero. But he only was a Yankee for five years. Not enough time to get your number retired.

 

Billy Martin: Marginal player, 1953 World Series hero. Was an embarrassment as a manager due to his antics.

 

Jorge Posada: Now look, I am going to be questioned on this due to the fact that I was and never will be a Posada fan but this guy does not belong in Monument Park with those other catchers there due to his career statistics.

On 3/2/2026 at 8:45 PM, Kccitystar said:

 

When you grow up with Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra, Ford, when you inherit Monument Park mythology, anything short of inner-circle immortality feels like a downgrade.

 

 

I did not grow up with any of these guys but like you heard and read about them. and they are exactly what you said, Monument Park mythology.

 

On 3/2/2026 at 8:45 PM, Kccitystar said:

The part people are skipping is that the standard didn’t really drop with CC. All of this basically shifted after the dynasty. The Yankees already retired numbers for Bernie, Andy, and Paul O'Neill. None of them are Ruth-tier, obviously. None of them are even inner-circle Hall of Famers. They’re just era-defining Yankees and I find that that’s the modern standard the team has been looking at.
 

 

I agree. The standard just extended over to Sabathia. I kind of feel the Yankees had to get someone because they already grabbed all of the dynasty member players. There was no one else to get. And since that time Sabathia was the only worthwhile one.

[Yankee4Life]

Yankees can relate to fans’ streaming frustrations: ‘Everything’s about money nowadays’

 

 

By Gary Phillips, New York Daily News

 

SAN FRANCISCO — As Netflix prepared to stream Wednesday’s Opening Day matchup between the Yankees and Giants, Ryan McMahon wondered if fans would have an easy time watching.

 

“I hope everybody can find the game tonight,” the Bombers’ third baseman said.

 

McMahon was joking when he said that, as Netflix and Major League Baseball spent plenty on advertising to ensure that the general public knew the first game of the season could be found exclusively on the streaming service. But his tongue-in-cheek comment came as he and teammates discussed a larger point with the Daily News: watching sports has become increasingly complicated.

 

In 2026, Yankees fans may need access to 10 networks and five or more subscriptions to see all of the team’s games should they play deep into October, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. If they want to watch all of those games legally, it could cost nearly $1,000.

 

“That’s brutal,” Yankees reliever Tim Hill said. “I can empathize with them. That sounds terrible.”

 

And those are just Yankees games. If fans want to watch other MLB teams and other sports, they’re gonna have to spend a ton of money, download more than a few apps and avoid regional blackouts.

 

“It’s tough,” said McMahon, who primarily uses ESPN+, Amazon Prime and YouTube TV to watch sports. “All of the TV stuff, it’s over my head, but as a player, I feel like you want the fans to be able to see all the games.”

 

“Ideally, it could all be in one place, right?” added Cody Bellinger, who gets his football fix through YouTube TV and Amazon Prime. “As a fan, I wouldn’t want to buy a bunch of different subscriptions.”

 

Even Aaron Boone can relate to the plight of the present-day sports fan.

 

Asked about the abundance of streamers and the dispersion of games, the Yankees manager recalled how there was an NBA matchup he was excited to watch over the offseason. He figured that wouldn’t be an issue, as he has NBA League Pass. But much to his chagrin, he learned that he needed Peacock to see that game as he sat down to watch that night.

 

“I was like, “Oh, man,” Boone said, noting that he’s not sure how many subscriptions his household has racked up over the years. “I have Netflix. That’s what I watch every day. But as a family, I’m sure, in some way, shape or form, we got them all.”

 

But even if someone has all the subscriptions under the sun, McMahon noted that finding a game can be a separate challenge.

 

“Even the WBC games, I couldn’t figure out if I had the channels or not,” he said. “Most of the time I did, but I couldn’t find them. I missed a couple pitches.”

 

When asked what could be done to make life easier on modern consumers when a surplus of media rights deals are making a mess of the viewing experience, McMahon didn’t have any suggestions.

 

“I’ve got nothing,” he continued. “They got people a lot smarter than me trying to figure all that out.”

 

Boone couldn’t come up with a solution, either.

 

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m an old head, as my kids would call me.”

 

Fortunately, Michael Kay, the Yankees’ play-by-play man for the YES Network, has an idea.

 

The broadcaster suggested that all the streamers need to get “under one tent” and offer a bundled sports package, similar to a cable bundle.

 

“You’ve got to somehow unify everybody, maybe get all the games under one streaming umbrella,” said Kay, who was disappointed that YES wasn’t airing the Yankees’ season-opener for the second straight year.

 

Asked why these companies would do that, the announcer mentioned public frustration — and that it’s not good for the networks or leagues if fans become more comfortable with missing games because they lack access.

 

“I think people are getting to the point where they’re angry now,” Kay said. “If they can’t see certain games on a streamer and they go, ‘Ah, I actually lived to see another day,’ that’s how you wean people off of the thing that they love. So that’s a concern of mine.”

 

Perhaps the parties involved will take Kay’s advice, join forces, and find a way to make watching sports a little easier sometime soon.

 

Then again, there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical with billions already being made from an ecosystem that is stretching fans’ wallets.

 

“Everything’s about money nowadays,” McMahon said, “and sometimes it just shouldn’t be.”