The New York Yankees in Popular Culture

How did Reggie Jackson go from superstar to icon? Why did Joe DiMaggio’s nickname change from “Deadpan Joe” to “Joltin’ Joe”? How did Seinfeld affect public perception of George Steinbrenner?
The New York Yankees’ dominance on the baseball diamond has been lauded, analyzed and chronicled. Yet the team’s broader impact on popular culture has been largely overlooked—until now. From Ruth’s called shot to the Reggie! candy bar, this collection of new essays offers untold histories, new interpretations and fresh analyses of baseball’s most successful franchise. Contributors explore the Yankee mystique in film, television, theater, music and advertising.

David Krell is a noted baseball historian who brings a passion for the cultural aspects of the national pastime to his writing. He’s the author of several books and a regular speaker at baseball conferences.

Edited by David Krell

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 239
Bibliographic Info: 17 photos, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2019
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7464-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3654-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
The Pride of the Yankees (Jeanine Basinger) 5
Lost in the Wilderness: The New York Yankees, Corporate Ownership
and the ­Anti-Establishment Era from 1964 to 1973 (Ron Briley) 21
The Yankee Brand
Part 1: The Brand of Champions (Ron Coleman) 33
Part 2: That Damn Yankees Cap (Martin S. Lessner) 40
From Ruth to Rivera: The Core Four, Yankee Dynasties and the Making of Legends (Erin DiCesare) 47
Paragon vs. Prodigy: The Cultural History of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle as Yankee Brand Icons (Duke Goldman) 57
Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and the Cultural Impact of Yankee Excellence (Duke Goldman) 70
The Yankees as a Metaphor for the 1970s (Louis Gordon) 92
Mr. October: Cheers, Reggie! Everybody Knows Your Name! (Paul Hensler) 103
How Do You Solve a Problem Like the Yankees? (Jeffrey M. Katz) 118
Of Calzones and Costanza (David Krell) 131
The Underworld to the Rescue: Ban Johnson, Frank Farrell and the Installation of the American League in New York (Bill Lamb) 143
Ruthian by Design: The Shared Monumentality of Yankee Stadium
and Babe Ruth (Rolando Llanes) 159
Yankee Stadium as the People’s Cathedral (Dashiell Moore) 169
Mystique and Aura in the Zeitgeist (Richard Pioreck) 182
E-61* (Matt Rothenberg) 197
About the Contributors 217
Index 219