If you’re a jerk, people here let you know about it.
But you’ve done something right when you come up to bat against the Yankees in the Bronx and see more “I Love You” signs for you than Derek Jeter and get louder cheers than most of the boys in Pinstripes. And you know you’ve really touched a few thousand hearts when you hit a home run against them at Yankee Stadium and that ovation gets even louder.
Such was the case yesterday when the Cardinals’ Tino Martinez blasted the first of two home runs against the Yankees in a 13-4 throttling by his former team.
“There’s great fans here,” said Martinez, who went 2-for-4 as the St. Louis designated hitter. “It’s awesome. It’s a great feeling, to be honest.”
It would be a cold day in the underworld when former Yankees like Chuck Knoblauch, Mike Stanton or Hideki Irabu received the same kind of welcome as Martinez has in the last two days at the Stadium. And it would be even more ridiculous if the bleacher seats chanted their names when those opposing players imperiled the home team with a big at-bat or whiffed a Yank to kill a rally.
“You get what you deserve,” manager Tony LaRussa said.
For Martinez, they yelled their throats out. And we’re not talking sympathy cheers, in no way a thanks-for-coming salute to the former Yankees first baseman.
They were real, live cheers for the most loved Yankee since Don Mattingly when the 55,174 jumped and pumped their fists as he hit his 89th career home run at Yankee Stadium. No. 90 came in the ninth inning when he took reliever Jason Anderson deep with the game well out of hand.
“These fans, you play hard for them – and obviously win – they remember it and they let you know it,” Martinez said. “It’s kinda weird, but it’s awesome.”
In the seventh inning, they should have passed out throat drops when Joe Girardi (with Yankees from 1996 to 1999) followed Martinez to the plate in his first-at bat of the series and just his second appearance of the year.
He also had his name chanted, but went 1-for-2 on the day with a single in the ninth following Martinez’ second homer.
“It makes you feel pretty good,” Girardi said.