The author, Joel Stein, is most definitely a hardcore Yankees fan. His intentions are proving the Yankees worth and showing that no matter what people may think of their brand, they are superior. He doesn’t really treat the opposing perspective fairly because he kinda arrogant in his approach. Some rhetorical context in this writing that he refers to, is the players pay wage and also makes a comparison to other companies that have been crushing it recently. The intended reader is definitely for baseball fans but maybe even some Yankee haters, since he felt such a need to state their worth. Some values that are common in the reader and writer is the whole concept of success in an organization. He even k used the idea of how America runs and it’s success as an appeal in this piece. An illustration the writer used was in his statement “The Yankees are the real America.” I think was able to back up his point by comparing the team to the idea of America being a “melting- pot”. Because where else could blacks, white, asians and hispanics all work together in a 180 million dollar team. In my opinion, the author starts out with a more narrow minded approach then builds on it to help the reader see his point of view. He makes comparisons that the reader can understand. Joel Stein appeals to reason because he makes insights about how America works and links it to his idea of the Yankees standing out and being a great example for other teams to follow. I think the author uses our country to invoke such emotion and convey his meaning of what a strong, profitable organization should look like.