NEWARK -- Prosecutors in the federal corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez this week invoked the names of Bruce Springsteen and the Yankees to drive home a point about the bribery charges.

Among the 12 counts against him, the Menendez is accused of accepting bribes in the form of free rides on the private jet of Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen to the Dominican Republic.

Defense attorneys argued that a couple of the trips can't be bribes because the Democratic lawmaker paid his own way - flying commercially - from New Jersey to Florida, before boarding the doctor's jet.

That didn't sit well with prosecutors Amanda Vaughn and J.P. Cooney.

On Monday, as Vaughn raised objections over a chart of flights defense attorney Abbe Lowell wanted to show the jury, she dropped the name of a baseball franchise near and dear to the hearts of many New Jerseyans.

"If a public official is bribed with box seats to the Yankees, it's no less of a bribe if he drives there," Vaughn argued.

Two days later, during closing arguments, Cooney made that same argument directly to the jurors, but he changed the entertainment source.

"Now here's a common sense moment, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "Arguing that those flights can't be bribes because Senator Menendez flew himself to West Palm Beach is like arguing that Springsteen, front row tickets to a Springsteen concert, can't be a bribe because the public official drove himself to the concert."

Defense attorney Jonathan Cogan later told jurors Cooney's Springsteen concert analogy "doesn't make sense" as it applies to Menendez's trips.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.