Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 664 - 18: Butterfly Effect

Located in the Bronx District of New York, Stan's Sports Bar is the headquarters for New York Yankees fans. Every time the Yankees have a game, a large number of fans gather here:

Because this bar is located near Yankee Stadium, when it's a home game day, many Yankees fans heading to the stadium will come here for a drink before or after the game, sharing the joy of the team's victory or the frustration of their loss;

But on away game days, the bar tends to be much quieter; after all, watching the game live and watching it on TV are two completely different experiences.

But today is different. Even though today's game is an away game, Stan's Sports Bar is still packed to the brim, with Yankees fans in pinstripe jerseys taking up every inch of space—because it's a fierce rivalry game against the Boston Red Sox!

As soon as the game started, when Lin Guanglai hit that triple that crashed into the left field home run wall, and Aaron Judge followed up with his seventh home run of the season clearing the bases, the Yankees fans in the bar all raised their beer glasses, celebrating with friends and strangers alike.

After the celebration wound down, many of the older Yankees fans gazed at the youthful faces on the TV screen and couldn't help but express their heartfelt emotions.

"This Yankees team may not be the strongest, but it's definitely the one I've loved the most in recent years—having so many talented young players, watching them crush the Red Sox in pinstripes, it's just fantastic!"

"Lin is a genius, and Aaron is a genius too—we now have two top young stars, the veterans are performing excellently this season, could it be our year? Just thinking about it, it's been nearly ten years since we last made it to the World Series..."

"The season is just starting, it's such early days! Don't be popping the champagne just yet... I think since we have Lin and Aaron, we should take these years to spend some money to boost our strength and chase the championship—did you hear? Hal Steinbrenner is reportedly planning to cut the team's budget, what's that all about?" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Everyone present are die-hard Yankees fans, and most of them have heard about this matter; as a result, the discussion on this topic quickly ignited the whole Stan's Sports Bar.

"Of course I've heard about it... Ah, if only old George were still here! His son doesn't even have half the ability of the old man—we spent so much money these past years, yet only made the playoffs once in four years and got swept in the wildcard game... damn it, now that things are finally looking up, you're telling me the boss wants to further cut the budget... when have we Yankees fans who lived through the 'Evil Empire' era ever put up with this nonsense!"

"Anyone with eyes can see, we now have Lin, Aaron, Gary, and Severino, all these talented young players, our farm system is ranked second, and we have plenty of young players as trade chips; A-Rod and Mark retired at the end of last season, CC's big contract is about done, we can say we have both the talent and the funds, not to mention the Yankees' reputation, we could sign any superstar!"

"That's right, and Lin and Aaron's current contracts are completely mismatched to their abilities, taking advantage of the rookie bonuses now to reinforce for a championship, are we supposed to wait until the bonus period ends and then spend more unnecessary money?"

The fans present expressed their dissatisfaction with Hal Steinbrenner, particularly the operation style he implemented after taking over as boss, something many old-school Yankees fans couldn't accept.

As a cultural symbol of the United States, the first giant of world baseball, during the time George Steinbrenner was the owner, the New York Yankees were called the "Evil Empire" by their rivals, because old Steinbrenner managed the team with extreme aggression and didn't care about costs, following an extreme belief of "it's either world championship or bust," willing to fling money around to achieve his goals.

During that time, the Yankees had only one goal every season, which was to win, and whether it was the manager, coach, or player, someone had to take responsibility if the team lost, and whoever was underperforming had to go immediately—according to old George, the New York Yankees only needed the best people.

Such a tough approach and management style gave Yankees fans infinite pride and confidence, because they knew that the team they loved was always on the right track, and even if they experienced ups and downs for a season or two, they would eventually return to the top.

When George Steinbrenner passed away in 2010, his son Hal Steinbrenner took over the team, everything seemed to change: the "Evil Empire" tradition disappeared, replaced by a kind of rational, restrained corporate management.

Yankees fans' dissatisfaction with young Steinbrenner isn't that he's unwilling to spend money, but that despite having the most profitable team in the league, the biggest market, and a fanbase with the strongest spending power, he insists on penny-pinching like a small-market team:

Completely different from his father, who was willing to spend lavishly and didn't care about costs to achieve goals, Hal Steinbrenner is more concerned about financial structures and long-term planning.