Tampa Bay Devil Rays FORFIET?

[Blitz]

Commissioner Selig,

This letter is a formal request for Major League Baseball to award the Yankees a victory by forfeit due to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' failure to show up on time for a scheduled Labor Day doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. The Devil Rays claim they could not reach New York on time due to Hurricane Frances. We do not consider that excuse sufficient.

The infamous Hurricane of 1938 that struck New York and New England killed 700 people, left 63,000 homeless and registered winds as high as 120 miles at the Empire State Building. But it didn't postpone the Yankees game or stop Lou Gehrig's playing streak. Granted, the Yankees were playing in Chicago that day, but the point remains: A hurricane wasn't enough to stop Gehrig and the Yankees then, and it isn't a sufficient excuse to postpone a Yankees game now.

A hurricane may be reason enough to take a day off for a losing team that has never finished anywhere but last place, but it is not the Yankees' way to postpone games due to climactic conditions hundreds of miles away. The way of a true champion is to play on, no matter what the weather conditions are anywhere else.

There are hurricanes, tornados, cyclones, typhoons, monsoons, floods, avalanches, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions all over the world, but the Yankees play on. There are starving children in Ethiopia, Liberia and Sudan who would be happy to play in a hurricane, and thus are inspired by the manner in which the Yankees take the field each night despite their suffering. There are wars all over the world. Our brave troops are risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Reserve units are being forced to extend their service time for month after trying month.

Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter and the Yanks play through rain, snow, sleet and hail.

And the Yankees honor their sacrifices by suiting up every night.

The U.S. Postal Service does not deliver on Sundays and holidays, but the Yankees play. USA Today does not print on weekends, but the Yankees play. There are entire weeks during which the New Yorker and Sports Illustrated don't publish, but the Yankees play.

We played the night that NBC aired the final episode of "Friends." We played the night that Mariah Carey's movie "Glitter" opened. We played the night "Cats" closed.

And the Devil Rays cannot overcome a hurricane?

We played the time Don Zimmer couldn't get through the stadium's metal detectors. We played the night David Wells drank all the beer in the concession stands. We played the night Darryl Strawberry snorted the third base line.

And the Devil Rays can't show up on time?

We played the night Alex Rodriguez's limo broke down on the Major Deegan. We played the night Jason Giambi cut the cheese on the team bus and everybody had to get out and walk the rest of the way. We played the night Ruben Rivera stole Joe Torre's hubcaps.

And the Devil Rays can't get to the airport on time?

We played the day the air conditioning didn't work right in the team hotel. We played the night Derek Jeter couldn't find his little black book. We played the day there were those really bad solar flares and we couldn't get decent cell phone coverage. We even played that one night it looked like it was going to rain really, really hard only it didn't.

And the Devil Rays don't reach the ballpark until six hours after the original scheduled start?

The facts of the case and your decision are clear. You must issue a forfeit. Baseball teams cannot willy-nilly decide on their own not to show up for scheduled games just because it is slightly inconvenient. The Yankees do not play that way and they expect no less from their opponents.

Indeed, Kevin Brown got a bad night's sleep and woke up in a very bad mood this morning, and yet the Yankees have no plans to cancel our current homestand.

Sincerely,

Randy Levine

President

New York Yankees

[Guest NYJetFan86]

I'm a Yankee fan and i laughed my ass off at that but in all truth I tend to doubt that was true. Yes the Yankees did ask Bud Selig for a forfeit but I doubt they sent a letter like that to the commissioner's office

[Ol' Spanktooth]

Indeed, Kevin Brown got a bad night's sleep and woke up in a very bad mood this morning, and yet the Yankees have no plans to cancel our current homestand.

[gunnar hendershow]

On a serious note, this disgusts me. Asking for a forfeit? Ughhh... it makes me sick. To think, the Devil Rays had to risk their lives in the midst of a hurricane to even make the trip to New York. Some had to stay back in Tampa with their families. It just makes me mad that the Yankees organization seems to take this little baseball thing a tad bit too seriously. I could go on and on, but this pisses me off incredibly.

EDIT- I know the letter is fake... but the Yankees DID ask for a forfeit. That's where I'm coming from with my complaint.

Edited September 9, 2004 by damshow

[ROC]

It's fake. When you read the letter, it seems oh so obvious.

[Agent Risktaker]

The real sad part is that Blitz actually thought it could be real.

[Blitz]

I figured it was fake, but I didn't know for sure. The fact that it was on ESPN was the only reason I thought it could be real.

[DMN in the House]

The asked for a forfeit, but due to backlash, dropped it. Their playing two tonight.

[sahyder1]

The asked for a forfeit, but due to backlash, dropped it. Their playing two tonight.

←

[Lowerdeck]

And hell, there may be MORE rainouts. More rainouts for the Tri-State.

It's kind of sad when the Yankees need Tampa to forfeit to get a win.

[Guest kijlhumt]

By the looks of things, they might have to play a quadruple header.

Start at like 8AM and just keep playing.

[Blitz]

This is crazy, just go play the game in Japan. .

[LygerMark]

I had no respect for the Yankees before and I have even less for them now (negative numbers people!). The fact that they ask for a forfeit during a hurricane is fucking stupid and the fact that ITS THE FUCKING DEVIL RAYS makes it twice as bad. Yankees = pieces of shit.

[Lowerdeck]

Luckily for the D-Rays, they now play on the road for the next week. Won't have to deal with Ivan.

The Marlins play 4 games in 3 days (Mon-Wed) agianst the Cubs in Miami.

[JStarr]

Another example of the Yankees and their "Us > Baseball" attitude. If a freak blanket snowstorm shut down all of New York's airports and the Yankees couldn't get out of town to play a road series, they'd be crying all over TV, demanding that the games be rescheduled "because we're the Yankees, dammit!"

Anyway, so yeah...I don't really care too much for the Yankees. Just in case it wasn't clear.

[K]

I don't understand baseball, but that's the funniest thing I've ever read.

[grind your soul]

We played the night Darryl Strawberry snorted the third base line.