Larry Mahnken
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Larry Mahnken (born Donald Lawrence Mahnken on April 13, 1977 in Bay Shore, New York) is the publisher of the ([1]) Replacement Level Yankees Weblog, and a staff writer for ([2]) The Hardball Times.
Mahnken started publishing the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog (RLYW) in May 2003 as an outlet for his opinions on the New York Yankees and baseball in general. The title of the blog is a self-deprecating joke, "replacement level" indicating a level of quality that can be obtained at minimal cost.
During the summer of 2003, the RLYW grew in popularity thanks to exposure through the website Baseball Think Factory and article mentions by Providence Journal sports editor Art Martone. Mahnken became known for his quirky sense of humor, wild mood swings that corresponded with the fortunes of the team, vocal criticism of "sacred cows" Joe Torre and Derek Jeter, as well as his insightful analysis and conversational writing style. His generally objective analysis of the Yankees has made him popular amongst fans of the archrival Boston Red Sox.
Despite his criticism, Mahnken has asserted repeatedly that he is a fan of Jeter, but feels he has been overrated by the mainstream. He has, however, been outspoken in his distaste for other Yankees players, including Juan Acevedo, Aaron Boone, Enrique Wilson, and Tony Womack.
In the summer of 2003, Mahnken jokingly blamed the Yankees' failure to win a World Series in two seasons on former reliever Jeff Nelson, who had departed the team after their last World Championship in 2000, and he jokingly dubbed that failure "The Curse of Jeff Nelson", a reference to the "Curse of the Bambino." When the Yankees reaccquired Nelson just over a week after Mahnken's comments, Mahnken revised the curse, renaming it, "The Curse of... Oh, Let's Say, Clay Bellinger", Bellinger being a former utility player on the Yankees' last championship team.
In the fall of 2003, the RLYW was named the fifth best sports blog by Forbes.com, ranking tops among all baseball blogs, though Mahnken himself concedes that this honor was likely due in large part to the reviewer's lack of exposure to other baseball blogs. Nonetheless, the baseball blogging community considers this honor to be not undeserved.
In March 2004, Mahnken joined several prominent baseball bloggers, led by ultra-popular Minnesota Twins blogger Aaron Gleeman to launch the webmagazine The Hardball Times. In November 2004, the site published its first book of the same name, with Mahnken contributing several articles.
On the morning of January 24, 2005, Mahnken's apartment was destroyed by a fire. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the online community came together to help Mahnken rebuild his life. After an extended hiatus, Mahnken returned to regular writing in the late spring of 2005.
