The New York Yankees want you to think they are America’s team, and they’re probably right.
They are inarguably the most successful American franchise in any of the four major sports, having won more championships than any other team. They’ve been populated over the years with the biggest stars in baseball, and have done their best to remind us of that by retiring nearly as many numbers as the next two baseball franchises combined.
Polls have shown that they are literally viewed as “America’s Team” more than any other, even the Dallas Cowboys. According to Forbes, they’re the most valuable sports franchise in the world besides the Cowboys, but by a staggering gap of nearly 50% over the next-closest baseball team, the Dodgers, a margin the Cowboys could only dream of approaching in football. They’ve had Broadway shows named after them, songs sung about them, and candy bars named for their biggest stars (even though one of the candy makers denied it). They’ve permeated American culture more than any other team, to the point that someone once wrote a doctoral thesis based on the entire Yankees franchise being a cultural icon. They’ve even put Uncle Sam’s hat into their official logo.
So it should come as no surprise that this most American of all sports franchises has had a string of remarkable events fall on the nation’s birthday, the Fourth of July. What follows isn’t an exhaustive list, but it hits the franchise’s highlights, sort of like the grand finale of a fireworks display.
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