Why is it literally every time I see a Yankee hit a home run, he takes a curtain call? When did this start happening???

Even when they are totally meaningless homers, it is now routine for Yankee fans to expect a curtain after a home run.

I swear to God, if I'm managing against the Yankees, I'd hit them until it stopped. I don't care if I got suspended. Its embarrassing, and if I was a Yankee fan, I'd be embarrassed.

Walk off HR? Fine. Milestone HR? Fine. Even maybe a big late inning home run. But a Giambi HR in the 3rd inning of a 5 run game? No. Not ok.

Just flat out obnoxious. I'm glad in Boston, we EXPECT our stars to come through in the clutch, we don't feel the need to give Papi a curtain call every time he hits one.

Hey, if Bernie gets hit by a pitch here and a run scores, it's worthy of a curtain call.

This is definately ugly game!! and I cannot stand Joe Morgan as a broadcaster and A-Rod is being cocky as usual! glad I got six pack samuel adams for this evening! for this mets/mfy game, I prefer to watch "classic games" on NESN!!!!

I've seen them doing it a lot this year, but I'm not sure about past years. There should not be a curtain call before say the 8th inning. 4th inning curtain calls are just embarrassing for everyone involved. Like they say in sports all the time "Act like you've been there before".

Act like you've seen someone hit a HR before, I know its nice to hit the ball far but it happens every game.

Well apparently curtain calls in MFY land are equivalent to Stewart Smalley's motto "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it, people like me!"

The Yankees fans have turned the curtain call into the Tomahawk Chop for the new millenia: an automatic response that the rest of baseball sees as a tired cliche.

The Fenway fans gave one to Kapler the other night, but hell, it's his first one since blowing out his achilles. The only other one I remember was back in 77 or 78 when George Scott hit one - and boomer didn't even take it; Louie Tiant put on a batting helmet and went to the top step to wave in his place.

I don't understand why they do it for every single home run. I think it's part of the same mind set as that roll call they do at that start of each game, where the bleacher fans keep calling a guys name until he waves or something to acknowledge them.

a tale of two curtain calls

MFY fans sure are funny. They have such high standards that any season that ends short of a world championship is a failure. And yet, they demand a curtain call for meaningless Yankee home runs at the Toilet while most intelligent fans will save such a request for truly momentous accomplishments.

JD

you have got to be kidding me??? theres other curtain call! A-Rod tipped his helmet to MFY fans ( 2nd HR ) 16-5 now! GROSS

Want to know the best way to stop curtain calls? Don't give up home runs. Who cares if a player is called back out by the crowd? It's the same thing as Manny and Ortiz posing for home runs, Josh Beckett's fist pumps after a strikeout in the sixth inning of a 5-1 game, and all of the other stuff that goes on during games. Why does it matter if a player is called out for a curtain call? I mean, is it damaging the ever precious "integrity of the game" or something?

It will stop the second one of them trips over a bat on the way up the steps and goes on the DL.

Classy guy. Duly noted.

This is the most brutal baseball game I have seen in quite some time. The announcing is ten times worse than it is on any other given Sunday. A 15 minute conversation about whether or not Randolph should have pulled Soler earlier? Are you f***ing kidding me? Just awful, awful.

Oh, and MFY fans are the only people in the world that could ever make me feel sorry for Alex Rodriguez.

That was a joke, JTB.

('cept for ARod).

Its just obnoxious, Caspir. It doesn't bother me in an 'integrity of the game' sort of way, I just think it makes both the Yankees and their fans look pathetic. See, we're so excited that Andy Phillips just put us up 8 runs that we have to call him back out so he can tip his helmet to the crowd!

Its just LAME.

Jorge Posada, who first exposed this bum Soler with one off the facing and made it 4 - 1, actually didn't get a CC. I was surprised.

I'd give RJ a curtain call if he could throw 97 mph again. I'd give Pavano a curtain call if he could find his way to the mound without a map.

Did A-Rod get any curtain calls? If so, it would have been sweet if he didn't acknowledge the cheering fans. They boo him all the time, yet cheer him to no end when he hits a big home run.

Bloody hypocrites. Apparently, this was part of the reason why Ted Williams stopped tipping his cap to the fans. They would boo him when he didn't get a hit, yet cheer him when he got the big hit. He said "enough of this" and stopped tipping his hat.

I don't blame the fans too much- they've just been subjected to some basic conditioning. People generally repeat the actions that they're rewarded for. The problem is that the players keep stepping out for the curtain calls at meaningless points in the game. It's like the game can't be appreciated for what is it anymore- there has to be a running highlight film mentality as a way to continually reinforce the notion that the Yankees are just so amazing. It's like John Sterling's home run calls. He attempts to make a call in real time, pauses, and then bellows some hackneyed, pre-scripted crap planted there just to spice up the highlights in the post-game show. The lack of context is shocking when you listen to the game. Very similar to the way the curtain calls seem completely out of place and self-indulgent.

I blame the fans, not the players. The players are simply giving the home crowd what they want. I'm not real enamoured of most of the folks who go to Yankee Stadium these days, so I'm not shocked that so many of them insist on curtain calls.

Then again, I won't lie to you - the fact that it bothers Sox fans so much may be reason enough to enjoy them.

I assume it would be an issue for baseball fans in general, not just Red Sox fans. That being said, I don't have the time or the inclination to make the effort to determine if it is a baseball or a Red Sox issue. Regardless, it cheapens curtain calls. An all too common occurrence in a number of arenas today, including those outside of sport.

I'm fine with curtain calls (and I - gasp! - agree with BBtB on this one that it's more on the crowd than the player), if the homer means something. For example, you hit a home run to take the lead/tie the game, by all means, the crowd can call for a curtain call. But I've seen curtain calls in blowouts, and that's just silly to me.

I also agree with Caspir. No Homers = no curtain calls.

Oh, I don't doubt that fans of other teams get really annoyed at curtain calls as well. But other teams aren't bitter rivals in our division.

I don't know that it cheapens anything. I think it's mostly a non-issue. If it's becoming tomahawk chopish, so be it. I honestly don't waste a lot of time gnashing my teeth over the chop.

And how many times did Joe Morgan ask the truck to replay ARod's first HR? Six? Over and over again, we had to hear him say how majestic it was, how soul-enriching, how mind-blowing...

Actually, considering how shaky and tentative in his pitching Alay Soler was, I'm not surprised at the score of the game in those first 3 innings, no matter WHO hit the GS and other HRs.

Specifically about ARod hitting for 7 RBIs? Considering he's been anointed "the best player in baseball" currently playing (if you ignore Albert Pujol's existence) and is the "reigning MVP", I'd expect nothing less from him given the quality of the Mets pitching last night. It may have been a great load off his chest to flex his muscles in front of the home crowd, but he's EXPECTED to annihilate mediocre-and-less pitching, isn't he? (and of course, so are other Superstars).

He said "We needed to win this game. We don't have a 10-game lead like they do," after the game.

Yeah, it would have been embarrassing if the Yanks didn't, under the circumstances (atrocious Mets pitching). But it's pretty weird to imply that the Mets could afford to lose a game because of their 10-game lead. I don't think that was Willie Randolph's intention, but Willie isn't the only braindead manager in the major leagues, either.

It is definitely a fan issue. You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I don't know how you can say it doesn't cheapen the concept of curtain calls.

Because I don't hold the concept of curtain calls all that sacred.

I guess that doesn't have anything to do with how they are dolled out in the Toilet.

Considering that after every HR, no matter the score, the Yankee players get a curtain call they should just get it out of the way and do a lap of the field after every HR.

Some of the Yanks players actually look embarrassed to be called out by the fans. Have you ever looked at Giambi? He looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but standing there waving his helmet.

And some others lap up the attention, giving the fans the eye contact, pirouetting around to wave to another quarter of the stadium. It's pretty funny, really. The whole issue, of course, is on the fans, but what makes me laugh are the players who act like they're on the stage of the Met.


To quote myself...

Take a look at this pic. In those many repeat shots of the GS, it was clear that Soler just about put that 91MPH ball on a tee for ARod. That ball had HIT ME all over it.

The curtain calls are lame as hell, but you can NOT blame the players. They arent the ones chanting their names. What are AROD and Giambi supposed to do? Shun the fans? They would never live it down. Its the awful fans who are making the curtain call a meaningless and lame event at Yankee Stadium.

You know, I watch a lot of the Sunday night games, despite Joe Morgan's sledge hammer commentary, and I really, really like K-zone. I don't recall ever seeing a the diagram before of a homerun pitch perfectly over the center of the plate, not too high, not to low. I mean, if you were going to set it on a tee, that's where it would be. That is evidence of quite possibly the worst pitch of the year.

The mets are up by a ton on their division, but they are a frigging joke.

Yeah, they're up by a ton on the still dominate Atlanta.

They're basically shoo-ins to make sure the WS Champions still come from the AL. I'll take a curtain call on that one.

It is funny watching this curtain call mania infecting Yankee Stadium.

When did it become so pervasive?

Some time since the last Yank WS title, in the last century.

And these guys getting curtain calls today aren't your WS-winning Yanks. Not too discriminating, those Yanks fans...

I don't care WHOSE fault it is, its got to stop is all I'm saying. I think if some of the alledged leaders of the Yankees didn't respond to the curtain call, the fans would probably be more judicious. But some of these fans "chanting" haven't exactly been a tidal wave, but its like the Yankee players are programmed to do it anyway. Many times it would have been easy for them to let it die down and stay in the dugout.

If enough of them did that, perhaps it wouldn't happen so much.

You wanna know the worst thing about that MEATBALL Soler threw? The pitch before was the the same pitch, in the same location-- A-rod scorched it down the right field line..but it sliced foul into the seats. It was almost like that fat-meathead Soler said.."Oh gee A-rod..you just missed that one,,,,Here have another try." I cannot believe he threw the same d@mn pitch.

Arod looks like he is "pirouetting" in the box in that shot. Not as drastic a pirouette as when he misses, but a pirouette none the less.

Edit - Let them have their cheesy curtain calls, they'll make a mockery of themselves in the end.

More on the topic of curtain calls by Yankee players:

Last night during "Baseball Tonight" (at least I think that's when I saw it), there was some kind of ESPN ad, probably for the All-Star Game, that featured hoary old clips of past Yankees, including Dave Righetti and Lou Gehrig.

The context for the Righetti clip was that he'd just pitched a no-hitter against the Red Sox. In the clip Righetti was shown bowing to each quadrant of Yankee Stadium and waving his cap to the crowd. That was in 1983.

I dunno about Lou Gehrig. After his "luckiest man in the world" speech he probably had to give curtain calls, too.

Granted, both of those are on monumentous occasions. Indeed, the criteria for curtain calls seems to have slipped more than a few notches in the minds of Yankee fans.

Over the past, I'd say, 2 or 3 seasons, curtain calls have really seemed to lose their meaning. It used to be reserved for those really special plays that had a bigger meaning than just what it meant for the game at hand. A big moment against the Sox, big homers in the post season, milestones for players, big plays by rookies. But now its gotten to the point that a homer against KC in front of a big crowd gets you a curtain call. As a Yanks fan I'm just upset because like I said before, its losing its meaning.

Giving curtain calls is not a bad thing. Giving them every day is.

This, we agree on. As much as I hate the Yankees, the volume of recent curtain calls makes me sad for baseball and for the tradition associated with the Yankees franchise. The whole idea of a special moment meriting a curtain call has been cheapened and co-opted. It's something I'd expect to see in Tampa or Kansas City, not New York.

What I find odd about this is that Yankee fans do both the coolest and lamest things during games. As much as I hate to admit it, the roll call from the fans in the bleachers is awesome but the curtain calls have to stop.

I like the roll call, too.

Maybe the scoreboard soon will start telling the fans when to have a curtain call (afer every hit) as well as the roll call.

You just touched on a very important point: the fans were able to start a cool tradition without any help from the scoreboard. Yet, they still use their scoreboard(s) to alert fans that there are two strikes on an opposing hitter and that they should start applauding, or chanting Moooouuu-se. If I wanted a scoreboard to tell me when to cheer, and what to cheer, I would go to a Lakewood BlueClaws game.

I think curtain calls are overrated anyway, no/less annoying than standing at home plate and waiting for a home run ball to land which seems to be happening throughout the league.

In case anyone missed it, JD had a two homer performance, and predictably had a curtain call.

This is getting on my nerves. I'll bet there are some that wouldn't get a CC for a 3 homer performance.

Just get over yourselves NY....

Couldn't agree with Carlos more:

"I hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh. We were ahead by two," he said. "Every time you do something good you have to go out to the top step? That's not baseball."

David Wright:

"It's not my decision, but I'm gonna back him either way," David Wright said. "He's old school. He's very aware of not showing the other team up. He's a little more reserved, a little more laid back."

Perhaps the most interesting, the man that has witnessed a multitude of cheapened and shallow curtain calls as a coach with the Yankees:

"I think a curtain call should be special. A ninth-inning homer, an event, something to be remembered," Randolph said.

ESPN Link