Vago Interview

It started back in January or February of 2006. There was an argument over who was a better Second Baseman – Robinson Cano or Chase Utley. Not only did most of the members on the boards choose Cano, but many of them were actually insulted at the idea that someone other than a Yankee player could be the best anything. There were other incidents leading up to this, but this particular poll was the final straw. Gary got tired of all the fans that see the world through “Yankee Goggles”, and decided that the only way to have intelligent baseball conversation was to start his own site. It kind of skyrocketed from there, and before he turned around he had over 1,200 members.

So basically it’s all Gary. And Chase Utley. Me, I’m just the resident computer geek.

MG: What do you feel is your point of differentiation from other Yankee sites/blogs?

EV: I think our main “selling point” is that our members want to talk about baseball, not just the Yankees. We all have a love for the sport, not just for a team, and most of us are able to objectively debate any topic, even if it means criticizing a favorite player. Most fans overreact to what happens on the field, but for the most part our members have a realistic view of the game. The average message board troll doesn’t last long around here, and you won’t see a lot of “Trade Rivera!” threads every time he blows a save.

A side effect of this is that we draw a lot of fans of other teams. We have several Red Sox fans, Angels fans, a Twins fan, some White Sox fans, and I believe a couple of Mets fans. It adds diversity and often brings new angles to our conversations that we wouldn’t have otherwise. All of our members are respected, no matter what fanbase they represent. In fact, one of our moderators is a Red Sox fan, and another is a Twins fan.

I think another reason we’re doing so well is because of our staff. We have what most might see as a large number of moderators, but we’re not just looking to weed out spammers. Our forums are heavily moderated in order to make this not just a website, but a community. Our staff keeps an eye out for arguments between members that start to get personal and we try to resolve them offline. We don’t tolerate personal insults here, if you want to start name-calling, there are other websites that will gladly take your membership, but we don’t do that here. I think for the most part we’ve been successful in that respect. You can’t stop every argument, but if you can prevent most of them, you’re doing OK.

MG: If you could do a one on one interview with anyone in the Yankee organization right now, who would it be and why? What is the one question you would ask them?

EV: Brian Cashman, so I could find out what he thinks he’s doing. Doesn’t he know that fans always know better than the General Manager? On a more serious note, I’d probably ask him the following question: For the last several years, the Yankee franchise has built a team by signing Free Agent players to surround a core of players “left over” from the dynasty years. With revenue sharing affecting the number of players hitting the Free Agent market, how long do you see this method being able to continue before you are forced to rebuild? What are your plans to ease the fanbase and ownership’s transition into rebuilding mode?

MG: How do you see your site evolving in a few years down the road? Are there any features you would like to implement which you haven't already?

EV: We’re going to conquer the world! Seriously, I don’t think either of us (Gary or myself) saw the site taking off the way it did when it first started up. Right now we’ve got a great community and a terrific core group of members. The next logical step is to try to grow our numbers. Personally I’d like to see us become a “household name”, one of the top message boards, like ESPN.com or mlb.com, only better. And not just for Yankee fans, but for fans from all over. I’d love to have a baseball debate with a Royals fan, or a Rays fan, it brings so much more to the table.

As far as new features go, I’m not sure yet. We’ve been tossing a couple of ideas back and forth, but they’re still in the really early planning stages. Usually what happens is that Gary or I will come up with some idea, the two of us will discuss it, and then we’ll argue about how it should be implemented until we reach some kind of realistic compromise. One thing I do see us going ahead with is building up our sections on prospects. We have a lot of members that follow the Minor Leagues very closely, and it adds a lot to our conversations when we have people with knowledge in those areas. We’ve got forums for discussion, but I’d like to see a portion of the site itself devoted to analysis and projections. Knowing who’s coming to the majors is almost as fun as watching them when they get there.

MG: Thanks so much, Esther, for taking the time to chat about NYYankeeFans.com. Goodluck with any future happenings and ventures with your site!