Like others before me, I moved from the west and settled in New York.
Once there, it didn't take me long to become a dedicated Yankees fan.
Later, they put a baseball team in my home town of Phoenix, but this
barely registered on our family of Born Again New Yorkers. Mark Twain
identified himself with New York in a way that was not matched by any of
his other places of choice. It's no coincidence that his funeral was
held in Midtown and not St. Louis or Hartford. While he was a champion
of the underdog, he also admired success - look at the roster of people
at his 70th birthday party. Think he wouldn't have been swayed by the
26-time success of the team in the city he loved? It's all there if you
look at it dispassionately: Mark Twain - Yankee Fan.


Terry Ballard
Quinnipiac University