About a month back I was approached on Twitter by a fellow Yankees fan living in the United Kingdom, Ryan Ferguson, about answering some questions for a blog post he had planned about the Yankees brand. The main focus on the article was to research how the Yankees brand had become so universally popular not only in the United States but across the world. Right away he had my attention and of course I accepted. Ferguson has his own blog titled
"Suicide Squeezin'" and is a proud member of the BYB Hub I have been telling you guys to check out all offseason long if you're hungry for baseball opinions and blogs. While browsing the BYB Hub yesterday I ran across this article and noticed that it was finally finished.
Myself, Robert Casey of Bleeding Yankee Blue, Brian Danuff, former Yankees Fans Unite, Greedy Pinstripes and Baseball Essential writer and current 27 Outs writer, Dan Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal and others were asked the questions and our quotes were used throughout the article. Now I warn you, if you just have five minutes before you have to run out the door do not, DO NOT, start this article. This is a long article and you will want to read it from beginning to end in one sitting. I do not want to be the reason you get in trouble with your significant other for being late.
Check it out, not because I am showcased in it (although that obviously helps, duh), but because you can tell Ryan put a ton of heart, work and research into this piece (in that order). Check it out,
HERE IS THE LINK. I'll also give a little excerpt below to grab your attention hopefully.
I began by asking a pool of relevant people, such as Yankee fans, baseball experts, fashion gurus and cultural researchers, one straight-up question: how did the team's brand become so popular? Without exception, my sources pointed to the Yankees' on-field success as the foundation of their commercial dynasty; the team's historical preoccupation with winning making it unfailingly favoured by consumers.
“The brand became successful because the team was successful,” explains Daniel Burch, a diehard Yankees fans who owns The Greedy Pinstripes, a blog chronicling baseball in the Bronx. “Back in the 90s, for instance, New York-born rappers, actors and musicians would wear the gear because the team was good. Now, a whole generation of kids and young adults who grew up idolising these people want to wear the symbols and the gear themselves.”
Similarly, Brian Danuff, Editor of the 27 Outs Baseball network, places huge emphasis on sporting success when attempting to define the universality of Yankees merchandise. “I think the Yankees brand became so popular because it became synonymous with winning and success,” opines the native New Yorker. “I'd say those wearing the Yankees logo probably feel a bit more powerful and confident than those wearing, say, an orange Marlins sweater.”
Indeed, the Yankees are successful. They're perhaps the most successful team in the history of elite sports, having won 27 World Series titles, 40 American League pennants, and 51 postseason berths in the 112 seasons of their existence. The next-best totals within the baseball realm: 11 World Series titles (Cardinals), 20 pennants (Giants), and 27 postseason berths (Cardinals).
