A New York Yankees baseball riddle is:
Q: What’s the difference between a New York Yankees fan and a dentist?
A: One roots for the Yanks, and the other yanks for the roots.
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1963.
“What baseball team do dentists root for?”/“The Yanks” is a related riddle.
Wikipedia: New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Bronx, New York City, New York, that competes in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Yankees are a member of MLB’s American League (AL) East division. The Yankees are one of two Major League clubs based in New York, the other being the New York Mets.
Google Books
December 1963, Boys’ Life, “Think and Grin,” pg. 96, col. 2:
Q: What is the difference between a loyal New Yorker and a dentist extracting teeth?
A: One roots for the Yanks while the other yanks for the roots. — Thomas Cron, Red Bank, N.J.
Google News Archive
3 July 1965, The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), “Fun Time—The Riddle Box,” pg. 12, col. 2:
What’s the difference between a loyal New Yorker and a dentist?
One roots for the Yanks, the other yanks for the roots.
Google Books
Laughs, Hoots & Giggles
By Joseph Rosenbloom
New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company
1984
Pg. 91:
What is the difference between a New Yorker and a dentist?
One roots for the Yanks, the other yanks for the roots.
Google Books
The Ticklish Tooth Book
By Gregg Mason
Surfside Beach, SC: Toothland Company
1989
Pg. 6:
What is the difference between a New York Yankee fan and a dentist?
ONE ROOTS FOR THE YANKS AND THE OTHER YANKS FOR THE ROOTS!
17 January 1999, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “The Kids’ Reading Room: Pint-Sized Punch Lines,” pg. 5:
What is the difference between a dentist and a New York Yankee fan? The dentist yanks the roots and the fan roots for the Yanks! (Andrew Israel, 7, West Hills, West Valley Christian Church School)
Twitter
NatalieEmbryCardwell
@natshea
@Julie_South RT @ComicTwit: difference between a Yankees baseball fan & a dentist? One roots for the yanks, & the other yanks for the roots.
6:15 PM - 19 Oct 2009
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of One-Liners
By Geoff Tibballs
London: Constable & Robinson Ltd
2012
Pg. ?:
What’s the difference between a New York Yankees fan and a dentist?
One roots for the yanks, the other yanks for the roots.
Twitter
Andrew Hegstad DDS
@HegstadDental
What’s the difference between a Yankees fan and a Dentist?
One roots for the Yanks and the other yanks for the roots.
9:16 AM - 14 May 2015
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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