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February 08, 2008
Tino Martinez Returns to the Yankees as a Special Instructor
David Cone isn't the only former member of the World Championship winning Yankees teams of the late 90's to return to the Yankees fold; Tino Martinez has also returned to the team (again), this time as a special instructor. Tino has already been working with first baseman Shelley Duncan at the Yankees's minor league complex in Tampa, and he'll also be assisting the team during the season as well. Tino will also continue to volunteer as an assistant coach for the University of South Florida's baseball team.
I used to be a huge fan of Tino's. No question that for a while he was one of my favorite Yankees along with David Cone and Paul O'Neill. However, along the way while I've remained just as much of a fan as ever of Paul and especially David, my enthusiasm for Tino definitely faded. Not that I stopped being a fan of his - I'll always like Tino, take an interest in what he's doing and wish him well, however there's no question that the way I feel about him has changed over the years, similar to how the way I feel about Steve Park has changed.
Of course in some people's eyes it makes me a bad fan that I'm less of a fan of Tino and Steve. After all, fans are supposed to be loyal, passionate and supportive of their favorite athletes no matter what. And to some degree I'm still that way. But my way of being a fan of both of them is just different than it once was. And I don't feel ashamed about that in the least. Things change and people change.
With Tino it started when he left the Yankees. I think that part of it didn't have as much to do with Tino as much as it had to do with being burned out by the Tino-Giambi wars on NYYFans.com. I got really sick of having to moderate people for arguing over Tino and whether the Yankees were making the right move by signing Jason Giambi to replace him. Some of the viewpoints that were expressed on both sides were extreme and flat out ridiculous, and I really don't have much patience anymore for extreme fandom anymore (when I mean extreme I mean people who hate athletes, who live in fantasy worlds, who harass other fans in the name of their fandom, are stalkers, are obsessed with the object of their affection, or otherwise act inappropriately).
Beyond that, what really changed the way I viewed Tino was when I met him at an autograph signing a year or two after he left the Yankees. How an athlete interacts with fans is pretty important to me and I didn't think he was particularly fan-friendly. In fact he almost seemed indifferent to those who were there for the signing which I thought was the wrong attitude to have when people were spending a minimum of $100 to get his autograph and had been waiting in line for hours. I'm one of the most understanding people there is when it comes to the reality that sometimes athletes are going to not be feeling well, have things on their minds or otherwise not be in the right frame of mind at an appearance. But I've heard other stories about Tino not really being particularly friendly towards fans at signings so I knew that this probably wasn't just a one time thing. He may be a nice person who is well-liked by everyone he plays with, but there was something about my encounter with him that left a bad taste in my mouth.
With Steve, I'm still a pretty big fan of his, I just know that he's no longer even close to being my favorite driver like he once was. As anyone who has read this space in the past couple of years can surely tell I've been extremely disappointed in Steve's attitude towards certain things. As accepting as I am that drivers are going to have opinions and make choices that I don't necessarily agree with, and that I can still like them anyway, it's been hard to overlook some things. I've been frustrated about his approach towards racing at times, and there are a few other things that bother me. Maybe some of this might not be an issue for me if there was more positive things that had happened for Steve the past few year because there'd be more to cheer about, but instead there seems like there's been a lot of disappointment and negativity. Now that Steve has a Camping World East ride maybe my attitude will improve... but I tend to doubt it because no matter how well Steve does in that ride some of the same issues will still be there.
There's some athletes I'll always be a fan of and I don't anticipate that changing. David Cone and Paul O'Neill will always be favorites of mine. I discussed some of David's virtues in an earlier post, and Paul will always have my admiration for the way he played the game, for how he helped the Yankees win and for what he brings to YES broadcasts now that he's retired. I also anticipate always being a fan of Michael Waltrip - I've talked about the many things I admire about him in this space, he's always been great to me when I've seen him in person, and the majority of his fans, particularly the Wal-Nutz are really outstanding people.
So yeah, I'm happy that Tino's back with the Yankees but maybe not as happy as I might have been in the past.
Posted by silverdsl at February 8, 2008 10:40 AM