Evil knows no bounds

Anti-Yankees fever grips youth leagues

30 teams want to change name

By Chris Forsberg, Globe Correspondent | February 16, 2006

In the future, when kids ask their parents why none of the teams in their local youth baseball and softball leagues is named the Yankees, they will be told the story of a blood-thirsty rivalry and two persistent 9-year-old girls.

Therein lie the seeds of the so-called ''Yankee Elimination" movement sweeping though the region.

The Lowell Spinners, the Red Sox Class A affiliate, announced last week that they would foot the cost of jerseys for any youth league that was willing to change the name of its Yankees squad to the Spinners.

The response has been overwhelming. At the start of the week, the Spinners had been contacted by more than 30 baseball and softball leagues from 25 communities across Massachusetts.

On Monday morning, a call came in from Rochester, N.Y., where a team wanted to join the fun and the Spinners were happy to oblige on their rivals' home turf.

The HORROR, the HORROR !