My son-in-law John Spraggins gave me a nice gift recently when he took me along with Shannon and Jake, to see the Braves play the New York Yankees at Turner Field. It was a real treat and I enjoyed myself immensely.

As a youth I at one time hated the Yankees and then at another time I adored the Yankees. There was only one Game of the Week shown on TV coming on Saturdays and normally including the Yankees.

I remember Dizzy Dean and a host of sidekicks thatincluded Buddy Blattner and Pee Wee Reese broadcasting those games and I recall ole Diz bursting out in his own rendition of The Wabash Cannonball. Then when CBS bought the Yankees, the New Yorkers were all we saw on TV. You had to form an opinion about them. Ah, good memories!

As I settled into my seat at Turner Field and watched pre-game warm-ups I thought, “this just has a different feel from the other games I come to here”.

These are THE NEW YORK YANKEES! This is the greatest franchise in all of sports! Even as a visiting team the Yankees just had an aura about them.

Now I’ll admit that these are not the DiMaggio, Mantle, Mans, Berra, Ford Yankees of the 1950’s and 60’s. Those were the pinstripers that I remember best and we all either loved or hated. This was a bunch trying to regain their glory with the pocket book and not the farm system. Free agent signings like C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and A.J. Bumett have moved the Yankees’ payroll to over $200 million a year and normally that is not the best way to build a winner.

All of a sudden the Braves’ PA announcer blared out, “Welcome to Turner Field. Let’s give a big southern welcome to the New York Yankees.” When he said “the New York Yankees” he kind of slowed down and talked in a deeper voice. It just sounded different. These were the boys from the Bronx who are baseball! I just felt that I was in the presence of baseball majesty.

The Yankees were not in their home pinstripe uniforms but rather their road grays with a simple NEW YORK written in block letters across the chest, the same basic uniform that has been around since the days of Ruth and Gehrig. The Yankees aretradition and changing their uniforms is not an option.

There was Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, long-time Yankees who will go down in team annals as two of their best players. Jeter will surely eventually have his #2 uniform number retired to go along with Billy Martin’s #1, Babe Ruth’s #3, Lou Gehrig’s #4, Joe DiMaggio’s #5, Mickey Mantle’s #7, Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey’s #8, Roger Marts’ #9, Phil Rizzuto’s #10, Thurman Munson’s #15 and so many more. As time goes on Joe Torre’s #6 may be retired also and if that happens every number from one thru ten for the Yankees would be retired.

It’s hard to find a number to wear with the Yankees with so many retired. You know, the Yankees were the first team to put numbers on the backs of their player’s jerseys and they did it according to where the player hit in the batting order. Thus, Ruth got #3 and Gehrig, as the cleanup hitter, got #4.Well, I enjoyed the game as Braves’ rookie Tommy Hanson, with the help of

three hits from Brian McCann, set down the Bronx Bombers on the way to a 4-0 Atlanta win. Oh, no doubt I was rooting for a Braves’ victory and it felt good to beat the best.

I’m pretty sure that most of my readers are not Yankee fans. I do know that my other son-in-law Erik Rechtorovic and good friend Terry Logue are big Yankee fans but there very few in the Deep South. Most folks don’t like the way they throw their money around. I love the Yankee tradition and the Yankees teams of yore but not so much their present-day financial dealings.

My trip to the ball park was a great one and it certainly brought back memories of the night that I saw Mickey Mantle play at old Fulton County Stadium. The Yankees came through Atlanta at the close of spring training in 1967 or 1968 and it was the only time that I ever saw him play in person. He singled and struck out in two at bats before Bobby Murcer replaced him.

So, love ‘em or hate ‘em you have to admit, the name New York Yankees just has a different ring. 26 World Championships will do that!