Well the New York Yankees are going for their 27th World's championship. Notice I said World's not World their is not World Champion in Baseball. The World's Series is named after the New York World Newspaper which initiated the series in 1903. Anyway I think this is a proper question in a non-soccer thread in a a soccer message board. How do the Yankees stack up in terms of popularity and success with the great soccer teams of the world? If possible how would you compare their imprint on the world's sporting life with Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Juventus?
Probably the key commonality between the Yankees and the soccer teams mentioned above is that mostly it is the Yankees logo - the distinctive interlocking "NY" -- that ranks with Man U's Red Devil or Real's purple & gold "crown" badge as one of the most recognizable sporting logos in the world. It is an internationally recognized symbol representing New York. Now as far as the team, however, that's another matter. The number of people in the world who recognize who Ryan Giggs and Ruud van Nistelrooy are likely dwarfs the number of people who know who Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi are. Or how about John O'Shea vs. Karim Garcia? No contest there.
Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. Plus, I'm willing to bet that half, if not more of the people outside the US wearing the NY hats don't realize that they're wearing the Yankees' logo.
Re: Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. Unless you're a Japanese fan following Hideki Matsui that is. Otherwise it's just a "fashion" statement to them.
Re: Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. I think more probably know that we give credit for. The name New York Yankees has long been part of Americana and it's a very well known logo.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. You know what? You're right. I should amend my previous post to say that they'll recognize the name "Yankees" but I'd be surprised if someone from a non-baseball playing country could name a single player from the current Yankees roster.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. Definitely. Most Americans, besides big baseball fans, probably wouldn't be able to name more than a couple.
FWIW, I've had my Yankee hat ID'd in Osaka, Bali, and Amsterdam. And I can name the entire roster, though being a fan & living 7 stops on the D train from the stadium helps. I don't know how many French/German tourists wearing the hat around times square could get past 2 players, if that far, though I'm not sure how many could get past RVN and Beckham into the ManU roster, be it last year's or this years. Soccer is a bigger sport than baseball, no doubt, but I think the Yankees logo is a more prominent logo than either ManU or Real. You see the "NY" and you think of America, New York, the team and the American sport of baseball. You see ManU or Real's logo and I think you think of the team first, the country/city second if at all. To me Real and ManU's logos stand for their teams (and how immensely popular they are), whereas the Yankees has gotten to mean more that just the team. 60 years ago guys were wearing Yankee hats around Germany and the Pacific during WW2. I have come across any records of ManU or Real jerseys making the trip, though my readings are mostly American (and of course Spain wasn't in WW2). Personally, I think Barca's logo is more distinctive than Real or ManU, though the other teams are more popular.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. That doesn't mean anything. AFLette couldn't name a single player that plays for Manchester United, but she sure as hell knows their world-wide appeal. Not following a team closely, or even knowing who is on the team, in no way diminishes their global impact.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. True. But it is indicative of another point that - while sports fans recognize the NY Yankees logo, they're most likely unfamiliar with the actual product on the field and their knowledge is probably limited to the fact they're fairly successful, if that. In contrast, most sports fans (non-North American, anyway) not only recognize the brand ManU and Real, but also have some understanding of their on-field products. Of course I'm just guessing because I haven't had the opportunity to talk to every sports fan in the world.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. I was commenting on everyone's response to the original question of simple popularity of the Yankees in the world. Really, to think that Real Madrid is as popular in this world (America, of course) as ManU is simply not right. While, true, most sports fans may know both, only ManU are known to some non-sports fans. I bet you're one of those wierd freaks that like to check his facts before spouting off on a subject, too. Aren't you? I base all my arguements on the information I gather from the fifteen or twenty people I see on a regular basis. And I'm always right.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Worldwide impact of NY Yankees. to take it a step further, I'd say that although a lot of people recognise the logo, they don't realise it's the logo of a sports franchise, let alone which one. The letters NY would just be associated with New York. I'd say a lot of people over here are quite familiar with the names of the bigger American sports franchises (even if they'd struggle to list them off the top of their heads) but that's more to do with numerous media references to them in films etc, rather than exposure to the sports.
Ah, but the New York Mets also have the NY letters on their hat... But in terms of logo recognition, the Mets are like City to the Yankees' United.
When I was in London, people would ask me where I was from. As soon as I said Dallas, I was faced with a barrage of questions about the Cowboys. I'm sure it's not much different with the Yankees.
I'll refer you back to the second paragraph of my reply. I'm pretty sure even in the early 80s, before there had ever been any American football on TV over here, I'd heard of the Dallas Cowboys. It's all to do with film/TV references. If 90% of the films Americans watched and 25% of the TV shows you watched were British, and that had been the way all your lives, the average American would know a lot of English football team names and a number of the most famous English players, even if their interest in soccer was zero.
Yea I'm gonna have to agree with Jamison on this one.... Go Yanks.... Although I think there were more Brooklyn hats walking through Europe and the Pacific during WWII then the Yanks Just from listehning to my grandfather (Yanks fans) tell me so during his time in the service...
Yup. Same here. The name New York Yankees is famous, but most people over here don't know what it is. Baseball, Am.football, basketball, hockey, a famous theatre etc. It could even be a donut shop to some people. I had a San Francisco 49ers cap many years ago, but it took me 5 years to realize what SF49ers really was. I thought SF49ers was a clothing brand like Levi's or Lee or something.
Aaron Boone... What is up with that guy? I mean the last couple of games have been awful for him! MG! I hope he improves and shows his true potential! Cause after all he is my favorite baseball player! Props to Derek Jeter! Showing why hes captain! GO DEREK! and GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!