Sports are a great pastime for their fans. We have football season, soccer season, baseball season, and so on. The last of these is especially popular in New York. Different fans will tell you why they like different teams, but what is it about baseball that New Yorkers are so drawn to?
Well, it’s pretty much ingrained in our culture. Yankee Stadium can be considered a landmark for the Bronx, with several notable moments in baseball history occurring there, according to Britannica. These moments include Reggie Jackson’s three home runs, Lou Gehrig’s July 4, 1939, goodbye speech, and Don Larsen’s 1956 World Series perfect game. Practically a piece of history for those invested in the baseball world, it’s something to share with generations of baseball fans to come.
The Mets and the Yankees, one of the biggest rivalries in Major League Baseball (MLB), play for New York. The question of “Are you a Mets or Yankees fan?” is something every New Yorker has heard at least once in their life. I still remember the thumbs up/thumbs down gestures made in elementary school when “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” mentioned either team. While fans of opposing teams like to feud with each other, so long as it’s kept under control and doesn’t turn violent, it can add to the fun.
On the opposite side, sharing the same favorite team with a group of people also adds to the appeal of baseball. Kids either become fans of a particular team through their family or later on, choosing which team to root for. Either way, it’s a way for family and friends to connect on a deeper level and to form new friendships either at or watching a game.
“Fans” of different teams act as their own little family in a sort of way, supporting whoever they root for against the current competition. We’re humans, and with that comes a desire to find a place where we feel as though we belong. Having a favorite team to root for is just one of the ways New Yorkers may find this need being satisfied. Even if the question of “which team do you root for?” can get hectic in New York, or probably anywhere, there’s no denying that the Big Apple loves baseball and the community that surrounds it.
