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One of the Yes Network's most aired shows are their Yankee Classics.  Generally, during the regular season on off days and mornings before a game when there was none the day before, you can catch the Yankees Classics.  Then they fill up a lot of the schedule with them during the off-season.  As a Yankee fan, I think it's a great idea, although the ranking of some games as "Classics" can sometimes be questions.

Well, this is an attempt to log as many of the Yankee Classics that have been shown including some commentary and rankings on whether they really are classics or...not so much.

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Regular Season vs. Minnesota Twins
David Wells' Perfect Game
Sunday, May 17, 1998
Final Score: 4-0
Yankee Classic Rating (1 low to 10 high): 3
A no-hitter loses some of it's lustre when you know the eventual outcome, but how about a perfect game? I guess it all depends on the situation. The fact that David Cone repeated the feat the next season takes a little away from what made Wells' game so special. When David Wells tossed this perfecto, no other Yankee had done so since 1956. Sure, there had been no-hitters by Dave Righetti and Jim Abbott at the stadium, but no perfect games for several generations. This was surely a Yankee classic that would hold up for years...right?

Then, incredibly David Cone tosses a perfect game the very next year. A brand new Yankee Classic and another perfect game. At this rate it seemed as if they were becoming standard practice. "Who's going to throw the perfect game this year?" Maybe the Yankees were going to run promotions at the stadium such as Perfect Game Day. When's Kansas City coming to town? Seems like as good a time as any for a perfect game.

On top of all that, by 1999 David Wells was no longer a Yankee. Traded to Toronto for Roger Clemens, David Wells was now on enemy turf. One year, he was the toast of the town and probably the best pitcher on the staff of arguably the greatest team of all-time. Next year, he's exiled North of the Border.

But, the final few nails in the coffin of this former Classic were hammered there by nobody else but Boomer himself. He walks out on the Yankees in Game 5 of the 2003 World Series after one inning. So much for Mr. Tough Guy. Then he skulks off to San Diego, which is fine since it's his hometown and it was doubtful he would ever haunt the Yankees from there anyway.

But, the "pies de resistance" came when he suited up for the ultimate enemy, the Boston Red Sox at the height of the rivalry for the 2005 season.

All this combined to take a lot of the wind out of the sails of that once magical May 1998 afternoon. I find it hard to feel good for Wells anymore when that Pat Meares fly ball settles into Paul O'Neill's mitt. As I said, a perfect game is something special and should enjoy "Classic" status, but there are plenty of classics highlighting the achievements of far better Yankees. "Yankees"...a title that David Wells has been doing his best to hold solely in the record books.
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