Origin Stories

The Colonel and Hug: The Partnership That Transformed the New York Yankees, by Steve Steinberg and Lyle Spatz (Nebraska, 576 pp., $34.95)

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Mystique and Aura still perform their occasional magic for the New York Yankees but are slowing down. “Those are dancers in a nightclub,” Curt Schilling scoffed, before taking the ball and killing their juju in the 2001 World Series. He did it again in 2004, in the most improbable playoff series in the history of Major League Baseball. The reputation of the grand old girls never recovered. As their power to enchant the Pinstripe faithful and terrorize Yankee-haters from Montauk to Malibu gracefully fades away, like an old soldier, let us praise them. They were the glory of their times.

That’s how their story will end. How did it begin? It’s complicated.

Nicholas Frankovich

About the Author

Nicholas Frankovich

Nicholas Frankovich was the deputy managing editor of National Review.

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