The Important Lesson Learned from Joey Gallo

Overtime Heroics Editorial

215 days ago

Joey Gallo played 140 games in a Yankee uniform, and boy were they disastrous. There is no other way to word it. During this pose games Gallo recorded an astonishing 194 strikeouts and 67 hits. Yet, despite being a few months and two teams removed from the Yankees, Gallo continues to talk about his time in the Bronx. In a recent interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Gallo made waves by sharing the following:

"I think every baseball player at some point is like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this s**t anymore,""

Joey Gallo the Yankee

Gallo’s time in New York did damage to his mental health, and I believe Yankee fans severely underestimate the effect they have on players. I am not going to attempt to defend Gallo’s performance, because that is impossible. What I will point out, however, is how the Yankee fandom as a whole did not create an environment for him to improve himself.

I believe there comes an arrogance and narcissism to booing an underperforming playing on your own team, especially one with a good personal reputation. If you are a Yankee fan, you should want a struggling player on your team to know they have fan support, and to feel as tho the thousands of fans around them hope that they succeed. This creates a good mental state, which is a great first step towards physical improvement.

es, Joey Gallo is an adult who does not need to be coddled like a child. But to have a stadium of his supposed supporters consistently booing him, and to observe media hounding about his disappointment has to do damage to him without a shadow of a doubt. It would to anyone.

For any fan to call him "mentally weak" is arrogant to imply that they themselves would be unfazed by such stimuli. The mistreatment of one’s own players for underperforming is a plague in Yankees fandom. Yes, you bought a ticket so yes, you can cheer or boo whomever you want, but the choice you make on how to express emotion to a struggling player is a reflection on personal character.

Challenge to Yankees Fans

My message to fellow Yankee fans is the following: Can we please be better? Can we please create an atmosphere that builds instead of destroys? Can we please show support before disapproval?

"But that’s just New York" some would say. No it’s not. New York is a place where people melt together and raise each other. That’s the way it’s been since colonial days of New Amsterdam. That’s not New York, that’s you choosing not to be the best you can be.

Main image credit Embed from Getty Images