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The New York Yankees organization owes George Costanza an apology — and it’s also not too late for Derek Jeter to finally take some private lessons for his swing.

In all 121 years of the Yankees’ history, there has been no more controversial a near-executive than Seinfeld’s George. As the assistant to the traveling secretary, George held a position that few baseball fans ever consider as consequential for the team’s on-field success, but his influence on the ball club under the eccentric and erratic owner George Steinbrenner’s tenure is still paying dividends all these decades later as the team prepares to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series.

While most of the credit for the Yankees’ ongoing success this season will go to the players — and, perhaps, to whichever short, stocky bald man elected himself to be their hitting coach — baseball is a game that’s won on the margins through careful planning and crafty decision making. To understand the secrets of the 2024 Yankees’ success, look no further than the breathable turtlenecks that many players on the current squad brought back nearly three decades after the trailblazer who first introduced cotton to the ball club was unceremoniously booted from the organization.

Any Seinfeld fan who has seen the classic Season Six episode “The Chaperone” knows that, in the end, George’s breathable cotton uniforms met their own end because, like George, they suffered from water-induced shrinkage that limited their performance. While it’s hardly George’s fault that the 1994 Yankees’ equipment staff didn’t know how to properly wash and handle cotton garments, it certainly left a stain on the traveling secretary’s reputation. Then, when Steinbrenner traded George to Tyler Chicken in exchange for a concessions deal, George’s Yankee legacy seemed all but erased.

But now, as the Yankees eye their 28th World Series championship, George’s genius innovation and selfless service to the organization goes sadly underappreciated while Aaron Judge and Juan Soto strut around in comfortable, breathable cotton from years past. If the Yankees pull out a series win, they’d better at least consider engraving a championship ring for the most impactful assistant to the traveling secretary in baseball history — especially if they do it in fewer than six games this time.

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