I admit it: when I first heard about Cliff Lee signing with The Phillies and not my beloved Yankees, my first instinct was to do him the ultimate injustice; compare him to Lebron James. In my defense, it does seem partially similar at first glance. Superstar athlete turns back on close to home, marginal contender to go to big-market team with already star-studded rotation, and more recent success. Superstar passes on New York, the richest city in the country, the one that will take him to the next level of superstar status, and quite possibly be his ticket to the hall-of-fame. I wanted to hate him so badly. I wanted to turn on SportsCenter and see pundits tearing him to shreds, and angry fans burning Cliff Lee jerseys in the streets. But it’s not the same Yankee fans. It’s not the same Rangers fans. You really can’t blame Cliff Lee.
As a baseball fan, you grow accustomed to hearing about the money. In a league where a player can make any amount of money on God’s green Earth, it tends to be the major factor in free agency. You can point to C.C. Sabathia who turned down his beloved home-state California for the extra $40 million The Yankees outbid The Angels by. You can point to A-Rod who opted out of his Yankees contract to apparently explore other options before coming back days later with his tail between his legs, and saying he wanted to play for The Yankees all along. Cliff Lee was a different story. In turning down The Yankees, Lee left a gargantuan 7 years and $160 million collecting dust on the table. His deal with the Phillies – the team he told many was the team he wanted to play for – is for a comparatively small 5 years and $120 million. Baseball fans: I don’t care how bad you wanted Lee because no matter how you look at it, what he did was admirable. A superstar baseball player like Cliff Lee picking a team simply because it’s the team he wants to play for is something you haven’t seen in a long time, and won’t see again for time to come. As for the Phillies already big-name rotation, such things don’t guarantee you anything (see Yankees 2001 through 2009) and Cliff knows that. Sorry Texas but you aren’t Cleveland and he ain’t Lebron. Cliff Lee was just doing what was in his heart.
As for us Yankee fans, after the showing in the papers these last couple of weeks did we really think a good old Arkansas boy like Cliff Lee was going to want to come anywhere near us. Half the reason he probably went to the National League is so he wouldn’t have to come here on the road (sorry Met’s fans. Queens doesn’t count). I’m sure Lee has heard all the awful legends of the New York media, but not only did he get to experience it first-hand, but he saw us in rare form. Cliff read stories about his vs. his wife’s wishes, half-baked theories about him trying deliberately to pin teams against each other. I won’t even mention (Ok I will) that a little over a week ago we were nailing future hall-of-famer Derek Jeter to a pinstriped cross. Speaking of his wife by the way, if you really believed that nonsense about her getting spit on at Yankee Stadium not affecting Lee’s decision, I have a Derek Jeter hit-by-pitch to sell you (zing). Yeah it sucks and I know it’s hard to accept but for once there is unfortunately nobody to blame. New York, you fudgeed up. Texas, he was just a hired gun anyway and he’s only a private jet ride away from the family in Arkansas. Sorry non-Phillie fanatics, Cliff Lee is no Lebron James. You really can’t blame him.
