Those Damn Yankees: The Secret Life of America's Greatest Franchise

In 1998, baseball fans thrilled to Sammy Sosa & Mark McGwire's home run slugfest & the Yankees won more games in a season than any team in Major League history. Chadwin looks at the Yankees' 1998 season & questions whether the foundation of the team's victory, unmatched TV revenues being used to buy the best players, might not spell the end of competition & declining public interest in the game. Points out the unequal competition between the haves & have-nots of the Major League. He takes an irreverent journey through the Yankee legend: a century of fan misbehavior, the roots of statistical obsessions, the corrupt ties between the game & the media, & fraught attitudes toward race & sexuality which continue to haunt the franchise today. Photos.