As World Series title number 27 found its way into the New York Yankee record book on Wednesday evening the controversial stories started to materialize.

The off season spending spree has surfaced, the mega million dollar deals given to Mark Teixeira, AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia were identified as the reason why the Yankees ended their 9 year championship slump.

Then the focus went to Alex Rodriguez and his admission of steroid use, previous postseason struggles and the feeling of finally being a World Series champion.  A-Rod labeled the 2009 season as one of “many ups and downs” and some say he doesn’t deserve to be a champion.

The new stadium is being talked about, the fact that the old Yankee Stadium opened with a championship and the same honor has been granted to the more modern ballpark.

Being a fan of the “game” of baseball, I tend to pull for the players that stay loyal to their clubs and the game in general. The most appealing story of this 2009 MLB season for me is the core group of 4 true Yankees.

Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera are throwbacks in a game that has become overwhelmed by free agents, ridiculous contracts and players jumping from team to team with no sense of loyalty.

These four players were young men that grew up right in front of us in the mid to late 1990’s.  They won four World Series rings together early in their careers and have since played on high pay roll teams that were always stamped as disappointments.

Jeter, Posada, Pettite and Rivera have been through some tough years together.  Anything but a title is a failure in New York.  They failed for 9 consecutive years and also dealt with the somewhat messy loss of the only manager they ever knew in Joe Torre.

Andy Pettitte moved on to the Houston Astros for a short stretch but came back to his roots in New York, a franchise that creates more pressure for their team than any other in all of sport.  Pettitte is a competitor though and the pressure is what he thrives on, he is a Yankee all the way down to the core of his soul.  The pressure is why he came back.

These four older men now have their 5^th World Series ring together, an accomplishment that may never happen again in baseball.  Baseball is measured by statistics, the numbers tell the story.  I doubt that any of us will ever see four all star caliber players stay together on the same team long enough to win 5 championships ever again, especially over a 15 year period.  Money and egos are sure to get in the way.

I am not a Yankee fan and I never will be, but I know something special when it happens.  This story is special. The special part isn’t CC, AJ or Tex; new ballparks or steroid users. The special ones are the ones that remained loyal and are enjoying a long lost feeling of accomplishment together again.

So if you don’t mind; stop focusing on steroids, free agent contracts and modern ballparks long enough to appreciate the few players left in any sport that are loyal and appreciative to the organization and city that gave them their big break.

I know the city of New York is focusing on these 4 modern day Yankee legends, the rest of the baseball world should be as well.

Send your story ideas or comments to ernie@wvradio.com.