[Dynasty]

Get those damn Yankees out of Lowell, MA

I love this.



Don't want to be a Yankee, kid? How about a Spinner?
By DAVID PERRY, Sun Staff

Even before spring training, the Yankees are being eliminated.

At least from the ranks of some area youth baseball and softball leagues.

The Lowell Spinners, the Red Sox' Class A affiliate, are making an offer to Little League organizations in Red Sox country: We'll replace the Yankee uniforms with Spinners outfits. And takers get a chance to play at LeLacheur Park before a Spinners game.

Leagues in Lowell, Tewksbury, Chelmsford and Methuen have already signed on. A call came in from Swansea yesterday.

They want to shed the brand, the scarlet letter, of the Evil Empire.

"This helps us, too," says Tim Bawmann, general manager of The Spinners. "We're not kidding ourselves or anyone else. It's another way to brand our name."

Bawmann, a New Englander for just three years, has a son, 7, and a daughter, 11. He has been "amazed" at how quickly his kids have taken to the Sox and how deeply some kids loathe being picked as Yankees.

He says the promotion is "all in good fun," an "appeal to Red Sox Nation in New England."

The Bronx Bombers aren't biting.

"The Yankees have no reaction," team spokesman Richard Cerrone said yesterday.

Rich Levasseur, a coach and member of Tewksbury Youth Baseball's board of directors, says the league was all too happy to swap its four Yankees teams for the Spinners brand.

Because of Red Sox fans who take it too far during the annual opening day parade.

"You see these 5-, 6-, 7-year-olds in the parade, in their Yankee uniforms and new hats," says Levasseur. "And they're getting booed along the parade route. That's just not right. These are the Yankees of Tewksbury Little League, not the New York Yankees.

"We wanted to put the fun back in it for them. You want them to be proud of wearing their hats around town. And some of the kids weren't enjoying it."

It's more complicated for the Highlands Little League, says league president John Romano.

"To some extent, there still are Yankee fans here, so we didn't want to offend anyone. As it is, our Little League Yankees have won the city tournament three of the last four years, so we didn't want to just yank the name from under them."

But they did want to be associated with The Spinners, "who have been very good to us."

Monday night at the league's board meeting, they compromised. Two of the league's four Yankees teams (t-ball and girl's softball) will become The Spinners. The Little League and minor league Yankees will keep the name.

A year ago, a softball coaching job opened up for Karen Vergakes of Dracut. Her daughter Nikki, now 10, was moving up from the Red Sox of the minors to the Dracut's junior league.

Just one problem with the team's name. Yankees.

"And there was no way I was coaching a team by that name," says Vergakes.

She called a league official about a name change.

No problem. "Just let me know before we have the shirts printed."

Vergakes called John Goode, the Spinners' director of corporate communications.

Fine, he said.

When Vergakes called the team veterans to introduce herself and the new moniker last spring, three mothers thanked her for changing the name.

"I don't think any team should be called the Yankees," says Vergakes. "My daughter was going from the Red Sox in minors to the Yankees. You just can't make that leap."

Goode sprints with ideas. His previous promotions (including the Jack Kerouac bobblehead doll) have drawn national attention.

"This can't be the only team where this is happening," thought Goode after talking to Vergakes.

Around the same time, Goode spoke at an elementary school in Andover.

"Any Little League players in here?"

He pointed to one kid.

"What team are you on?"

"The Yankees," said the kid.

"Oh, cool," said Goode.

"No," said the kid, "not cool."

Goode says it was "the most serious face I've ever seen on an 8-, 9-year-old kid."




Go Spinners!