Monday, November 7, 2016

Yankees Under Presidents

Tomorrow is November 8, Election Day.

Do you want an authoritarian government, with an insane, easily baited, bigoted, clueless business tycoon as its head? Then Donald Trump is your man.

Do you want freedom? Do you want the best possible chance to be who you are, and to become what you want to be, with no one standing in your way of doing so? Then not only is your man for President a woman, Hillary Clinton, but you need to vote a straight Democratic ticket.

Vote for your District's Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. If your State is electing a U.S. Senator or its Governor, vote Democratic in those elections as well. State legislature seats up for grabs? Again, make it a Democratic vote.

Now, I realize that Yankee Fans, if not Democrats themselves, tend to live in 3 States that are traditionally Democratic: New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Think about this: Under Republican Presidents, the Yankees have not won a World Series since 1958. Under Democratic Presidents, the Yankees have won 9 World Series since then -- in that period, no other team has won more than 5.

From 1921 to 1958, the Yankees did very well under Presidents of both parties. But, since then...

* Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican, 1959 and '60: 1 Pennant (1960), lost World Series.

* John F. Kennedy, Democratic, 1961, '62 and '63: 3 Pennants, 2 World Championships (all but '63).

* Lyndon B. Johnson, Democratic, 1964 to '68: 1 Pennant (1964), lost World Series.  By later standards, an aberration.

* Richard Nixon, Republican, 1969 to '73: No postseason berths, not even really a close call.  (Finished 2nd in '70, but well behind runaway Baltimore.  Still had a shot going into September '72 and August '73, but tailed off.)

* Gerald Ford, Republican, 1974, '75 and '76: 1 Pennant (1976), lost World Series.  (Came close to the Division in '74, still had a shot going into September '75.)

* Jimmy Carter, Democratic, 1977 to '80: 3 Division Titles, 2 Pennants, 2 World Championships.  (Only postseason miss was the tragic season of '79.)

* Ronald Reagan, Republican, 1981 to '88: 1 Pennant (1981), lost World Series.  (Lost Division on final weekend in '85, still in race in mid-September in '86 and '88.)

* George H.W. Bush, Republican, 1989 to '92: No postseason berths, losing season all 4 years.

* Bill Clinton, Democratic, 1993 to 2000: 6 postseason berths, 4 Division Titles, 4 Pennants, 4 World Championships.  (Still in race in mid-September in '93, led Division when strike hit in August '94, Wild Card in '95 and '97, went all the way in '96, '98, '99 and 2000.)

* George W. Bush, Republican, 2001 to '08: 7 postseason berths, 2 Pennants (2001 & '03), lost both World Series.  (Not to mention the Curse of the Bambino was broken -- like Bush's election, by cheating.)

* Barack Obama, Democratic, 2009 to '16: 5 postseason berths, 1 Pennant (2009), won World Series.

So, if you're a Yankee Fan, even if you're voting for the lying fascist Trump, you should still want Hillary to win the election. Because she's better for the economy (it was conservative businessmen who crashed it in 2008), she's better on foreign policy (ask Osama bin Laden), and the Democrats have been better for the Yankees.

Hillary grew up as a Chicago Cubs fan, and had to be ecstatic over the Cubs winning the World Series for the 1st time in her lifetime. But when she ran for the U.S. Senate from New York in 2000, she claimed to be a Yankee Fan. Nobody believed it.

Now, Trump has always claimed to be a Yankee Fan. It would be poetic justice if we could deport him to Red Sox Nation! But they don't want him, either!

*

Here's how the Yankees have done under every President since they've been in business, ranked by success (of the team, not necessarily the President), with the years cited being the years in which the seasons were completed, not necessarily contiguous with that President's time in office:

1. 1933-44 Franklin Roosevelt, Democratic: 7 Pennants, 6 World Championships
2. 1945-52 Harry Truman, Democratic: 5 Pennants, 5 World Championships
3. 1993-2000 Bill Clinton, Democratic: 6 postseasons, 4 Pennants, 4 World Championships
4. 1953-60 Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican: 6 Pennants, 3 World Championships
5. 1923-28 Calvin Coolidge, Republican: 4 Pennants, 3 World Championships
6. 1977-80 Jimmy Carter, Democratic: 3 Division Titles, 2 Pennants, 2 World Championships
7. 1961-63 John F. Kennedy, Democratic: 3 Pennants, 2 World Championships
8. 2009-16 Barack Obama, Democratic: 5 postseasons, 1 Pennant, 1 World Championship
9. 1929-32 Herbert Hoover, Republican: 1 World Championship
10. 2001-08 George W. Bush, Republican: 7 postseasons, 2 Pennants, lost both World Series
11. 1921-22 Warren Harding, Republican: 2 Pennants, lost both World Series
12. 1981-88 Ronald Reagan, Republican: 1 Pennant, lost World Series, 2 2nd-place finishes
13. 1974-76 Gerald Ford, Republican: 1 Pennant, lost World Series, 1 2nd-place finish
14. 1964-68 Lyndon Johnson, Democratic: 1 Pennant, lost World Series
15. 1903-08 Theodore Roosevelt, Republican: No postseasons, 2 2nd-place finishes
16. 1969-73 Richard Nixon, Republican: No postseasons, 1 2nd-place finish
17. 1909-12 William Howard Taft, Republican: No postseasons, 1 2nd-place finish
18. 1913-20 Woodrow Wilson, Democratic: No postseasons, closest finish a strong 3rd
19. 1989-92 George H.W. Bush, Republican: No winning seasons

Doesn't quite correspond to the Presidents' success or failure in office. But the Yankees have still done better under Obama than under any GOP President of the last half-century.

Something to think about -- that is, if you still haven't decided between the lying tax-cheating misogynistic racist warmongering economic predator Donald Trump... and the woman who inspired the world as both First Lady under Bill Clinton and Secretary of State under Barack Obama.

UPDATE: You people didn't listen to me. And, in the 1st season under Trump, 2017, the Yankees fell 1 game short of winning the Pennant. In the 2nd season under Trump, 2018, the Yankees lost the AL Division Series. To the Red Sox.

*

Days until the 2016 Presidential election: 1. Tomorrow: VOTE!

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 3, this Thursday night, at 7:00, away to Perth Amboy, in an NJSIAA Consolation Game. I understand why we're playing Amboy: They have the same record that we do, 1-7, a similar enrollment, and they're fairly close. What I don't understand is why we're playing them on a Thursday night.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 4, this Friday, 7:45 PM, home to arch-rival Mexico at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, in a CONCACAF Qualifying Match for the 2018 World Cup. This match will be followed 4 days later by another Qualifier, away to Costa Rica.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 5, this Saturday at noon, away to Michigan State University. This past Saturday, they blew a 4th quarter lead and lost at home to Indiana University, 33-27. They are 2-7. Who is the mental acrobat who thought getting Rutgers into the Big Ten was a good idea?

Days until The Arsenal play again: 12, on Saturday, November 19. at 7:30 AM U.S. Eastern Time, away to Manchester United and their equally evil manager, Jose Mourinho. Arsenal had a snippy 1-1 draw with North London arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur yesterday, and are now in an international break, or "Interlull."

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving game: 17, on Thursday morning, November 24, at the purple shit pit on Route 9. 

Days until the New Jersey Devils play another local rival: 34. Their 1st game this season with the New York Rangers will be on Sunday night, December 11, at Madison Square Garden. Their 1st game this season with the Philadelphia Flyers will be on Thursday night, December 22, at the Prudential Center. By a quirk in the schedule, the New York Islanders, a team they usually play several times a season, don't show up on the slate until Saturday night, February 18, 2017, at the Prudential Center.

Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: Unknown, but if schedule patterns hold, it will be on Sunday, March 5, 2017, which is 118 days from now. Yesterday, they were eliminated from the MLS Cup Playoffs by the Montreal Impact.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": Unknown. We may not see the 2017 MLS schedule for weeks, so we don't know when we'll next play New York City FC, the Philadelphia Union, D.C. United or the New England Revolution.

Days until the Yankees' 2017 season opener: 146, on Sunday, April 2, at 8:00 PM, away to the Tampa Bay Rays. A little under 5 months.

Days until the Yankees' 2017 home opener: 154, on Monday, April 10, at 1:00 PM, home to the Rays.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series: 169, on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at 7:00 PM, at Fenway Park.

Days until the next North London Derby: 173, on Saturday, April 29, 2017, at White Hart Lane. Under 5 months. It could be moved to the next day, Sunday, April 30, to accommodate the TV networks. It is also possible that Arsenal could face Tottenham again sooner than that, through an FA Cup pairing.

Days until the next World Cup kicks off in Russia: 584, on June 14, 2018. A little over 19 months. The U.S. team will probably qualify for it, but with Jurgen Klinsmann as manager, particularly in competitive matches such as World Cup Qualifiers, rather than in friendlies, you never know.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Mariano Rivera: 805, on January 9, 2019. A little over 2 years, or 26 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 1,157, on January 8, 2020. A little over 3 years, or 38 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 1,355, on July 24, 2020. Under 4 years, or 45 months.

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