In Fact and Song, Fiendish Yankees

By PAT BORZI
NYT

MINNEAPOLIS — Until Tuesday, the Minnesota Twins shortstop J. J. Hardy had never heard of “Damn Yankees,” the hit Broadway musical from 1955 that was made into a movie starring Tab Hunter and Gwen Verdon. But an explanation of the story, and how it applied to the Twins’ American League division series with the Yankees, intrigued Hardy, who was born 27 years after the show opened.

Set in the 1950s, the show introduces a frustrated Washington Senators fan, Joe Boyd, who makes a Faustian bargain with the devil, selling his soul so his hapless team can finally snatch the pennant from the mighty Yankees. The deal turns Boyd into Joe Hardy, celebrated in song as Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo., the home-run hitter the Senators desperately need.

Boyd’s beloved Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins in 1961. Since 2002, the Yankees have dominated the Twins as they did the Senators, winning 54 of 72 games and rolling to division series victories in 2003, 2004 and 2009.

That is where the coincidence stops. Neither of J. J. Hardy’s initials stand for Joe; he is James Jerry Hardy. Born in Arizona, not Missouri, Hardy has hit only six home runs this season, his first as a Twin. “I haven’t made any deals with the devil,” he said before Minnesota’s morning workout at Target Field.

(More here.)