NEW YORK — The Yankees’ celebration of Paul O’Neill with the retiring of his No. 21 last week was a response to the overwhelming popularity of one of their most respected players ever and pretty much completed the honored presence of the 1996-2000 Joe Torre dynastic Yankees in Monument Park.
Now it is time for the Yankees to rectify a long overdue — and mysterious — Monument Park omission by honoring the greatest (clean) third baseman in their history, Graig Nettles, with a plaque. And while they’re at it, another plaque for Tony Lazzeri, the greatest second baseman in their history.
The Yankees are one of the most storied sports franchises in the world and it is both incomprehensible and unconscionable that they don’t even understand or acknowledge their own history in ignoring two of their greatest position players ever all these years. It kind of makes Monument Park a bit of a farce when two of the greatest Yankees of all time are nowhere to be found out there.
