Growing up in a Westchester County, N.Y., neighborhood populated by Mets fans, my seven siblings and I were anomalies as Yankees supporters.

In the '60s and '70s we coveted Yankee greats baseball cards including Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard and Phil Rizzuto.

We repeatedly watched "Pride of the Yankees" on TV.

Childhood highlights included attending several Yankees games with box scores kept in still-treasured programs.

Our dad, who grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, even claims lifelong loyalty to the tradition-laden pinstripes, who generate tremendous excitement and interest.

Fast forward 30-plus years amid today's World Series fervor: Our family e-mails the past few weeks reveal an in-law strongly proclaiming himself as a "45 year WHIPTY (WHoever Is Playing The Yankees) fan."

He says that America's team is "the new millennium's only multiple World Series champions, your Boston Red Sox."

Well, not anymore, dear in-law!

Yankee fans vs. Yankee haters -- two proud American traditions.

-- C.A. Fleming, a reader in Roanoke