Another New York Yankees tradition is falling by the wayside this baseball season.
After last week relaxing the team’s longstanding policy on facial hair, the Yankees will not be playing Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York’ over the stadium loudspeakers after a loss. The change took effect Sunday after a 4-0 spring training defeat to the Detroit Tigers, when Sinatra’s ‘That’s Life’ serenaded the fans at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
The club said it will still play ‘New York, New York’ after Yankee wins as usual, but ‘will be rotating through a number of different songs’ after a loss, according to a team spokesman.
The musical tradition dates back to 1980 when then-owner George Steinbrenner heard Sinatra’s 1979 recording of the iconic tune at a Manhattan nightclub.
After Steinbrenner wrote a letter to Sinatra and received permission to use his version of the song, the club began playing it regularly at Yankee Stadium after games.
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The change isn’t as stunning as the one current owner Hal Steinbrenner announced last week in amending the club’s ban on beards and long hair, a policy that began in 1976 and continued well after George’s death in 2010.
Though the cosmetic changes won’t have an impact on the games themselves, the Yankees will be looking to revive another somewhat dormant tradition this season – winning the World Series. The storied franchise has claimed a record 27 championships, but none since 2009.