Team Traditions & Celebrations #TTC-YD Y.M.C.A Dance

Team Traditions & Celebrations: Y.M.C.A. Dance

Card Number: TTC-YD (Trading Card Database)

Team: New York Yankees

Division: American League East

Baseball: View of grounds crew members singing YMCA song on field wearing No 42 t-shirts to honor the final home game for New York Yankees Mariano Rivera (42) during game vs Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium. Bronx, NY 9/26/2013 CREDIT: Porter Binks (Photo by Porter Binks /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

Photo Date: September 26, 2013

Photographer: Porter Binks (Website)(Instagram)

I have never been to Yankee Stadium so this team tradition was new to me. I believe infields are generally dragged by the grounds crew at most stadiums after the third and sixth innings to keep that dirt light and fluffy. I feel like most teams are doing something on the jumbotron or maybe some mascot shenanigans to divert attention from this task but I guess the Yankees have embraced and make the grounds crew a part of the show. After twenty plus years, this tradition probably isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Team Traditions & Celebrations - TTC-PR Racing Presidents

Team Traditions & Celebrations: Racing Presidents (Nationals Website) (Wikipedia)

Card Number: TTC-CH (Trading Card Database)

Team: Washington Nationals

Division: National League East

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 25: The presidents race during the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 25, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)

Photo Date: July 25, 2013

Photographer: G Fiume (More Getty Images)

The Nats are my local team and I remember there was a big campaign for the Teddy character to finally win a race. He lost his first 525 races before winning on the last day of the 2012 season, the first time the Nationals had made the playoffs since moving from Montreal. The Wiki page I linked above is a good read on this race. Apparently a lot of thought goes into these races that many see as just a fun diversion between innings.

The back of the card makes reference to seven presidents thought George Washington, Abraham Lnocln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt are the core four and have been around since the beginning. William Taft was around from 2013-2016, Calvin Coolidge just 2015, and Herbert Hoover just 2016.

Something weird I noticed is that this card is "numbered" as TTC-PR, as in Presidents Racing, but the card is actually titled Racing Presidents. Shouldn't it be TTC-RC? There was one other "R" card but it uses TTC-RM.

Team Traditions & Celebrations #TTC-CH Clydesdale Horses - St. Louis Cardinals

Team Traditions & Celebrations is another great insert set. A lot of teams have multiple traditions (I can think of several for the Cubs that could be included), but this may be a one and done set. But then again, this was only a 15-card set, so maybe the other half of the teams will be done next year?

Team Traditions & Celebrations: Clydesdale Horses (Wikipedia)

Card Number: TTC-CH (Trading Card Database)

Team: St. Louis Cardinals

Division: National League Central

Caption coming soon. Getty Images website down for maintenance when researching this post.

Photo Date: April 13, 2017

Photographer: Jeff Curry (Twitter) (Personal Website)

I've always associated the Clydesdales with Budweiser commercials during the Super Bowl, but apparently they are a big part of Opening Day at Busch Stadium. Here they are in action last year: