To those who abhor New York, Mark Teixeira is a perfect emblem of the modern Yankees. The product of a spending spree, a player groomed by another team only to be hand-delivered to Darth Vader.
Yet Teixeira is also a symbol of something else. Always ready to play, play hard, and with the old-world nobility that still appeals to the masses. And someone whom even the most ardent Yankees hater couldn’t quite get himself to hate.
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Maybe Teixeira came too late to be a minted member of the Core Four, but he surely played with their collective spirit.