When the Yankees unveiled their most recent prized possession yesterday with Mark Teixeira at the Stadium, the flashbulbs popped as the new Yankee first baseman tried on his very own set of pinstripes for the first time. His later comments, smile, and swagger could only remind of one other first baseman in recent Yankee lure, and no, I'm not talking about Jason Giambi.
Coincidently, Teixeira grew up idolizing former Yankee captain Don Mattingly and has worn number 23 as he has grown through the system and into a superstar. Due to the retirement of Donnie Baseball's number just a few years ago, number 23 is out of commission for Mark here in New York, but I think he's OK with that. Instead he'll wear number 25, Joe Girardi's old number as a player.
While these press conferences are certainly very overdone and over publicized, yesterday's convention of an introduction gave Yankee fans a good feeling about who this guy is. For one, he showed us that (despite value of a small country that the Yankees are giving him), that he wants to be here. Yes, whenever anyone signs with the Yankees they say the same thing, but I guess I just got a good vibe from Teixeira yesterday. You can take that for whatever you think it's worth, but I'm sticking to it.
I get the sense that he is going to bring that Don Mattingly feel back here. It's been a while since they have had this type of player, especially at first base. Here is a player who truly does it all: the capability to play a gold glove first base, hits for power and average, and has the promise to get on base as well. Remind us of anyone? Comparing just some of the numbers, he does mirror Mattingly in a few ways.
Backing away from the comparison a bit, Teixeira still has very much to prove as a Yankee. Obviously, he needs to show that he's worth this amount of money (if anyone really is). I say this in terms of bringing his talent to the brightest stage in sports: putting up his numbers, hitting in the big spots, showing up in the big game, etc. I am also interested to see how (or if) he takes his role as a "secondary type of leader" if you will, behind the Captain of course. From watching him play in the past and now having him here to play first for the Yankees is interesting. The Jeter years are sadly winding down and I think we could see this become Teixeira's team once those days are actually over.
I think all Yankee fans can agree that the Donnie Baseball figure can never be matched or even equaled here in New York, but I think this guy is the closest that we have been, and might ever be, to seeing this kind of player at first base.
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Sportsmoneymanagers.com Staff writer
