October 27, 1986: The Mets Win the World Series

October 27, 1986, 40 years ago: The New York Mets win the World Series. I was not happy about this.

They have not done so since. I am very happy about that.

After escaping from the nether regions of the National League with a 2nd-place finish in the Eastern Division in 1984, and nearly winning the Division in 1985, Met fans began to treat the winning of the 1986 World Series as inevitable: They bragged to Yankee fans that the would win the '86 Series, even before the '85 Pennants were decided.

The Mets, celebrating their 25th season with an anniversary patch, began the 1986 regular season 2-3, then rattled off an 11-game winning streak to the end of April, lost 1, then won another 7 in a row. So they went 17-1 from April 18 to May 10, at which point they already led the NL East by 5 games over the Montreal Expos. Already, anybody who couldn't stand the Mets was sick of the commercials used to drum up ticket sales, with the "Baseball Like It Oughta Be" and "We got the teamwork to make the dream work" songs.

A 10-1 run from June 6 to 16 put them up by 11 1/2 games over the Expos. Around this time, I was at the Woodbridge Center Mall in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey, and The Sports Corner, a store that sold sports memorabilia, and also served as a Ticketron outlet (Ticketmaster bought them out in 1991). One of the items they were selling was a T-shirt that read, "New York Mets, 1986 World Series Champions." The World Series was still 4 months away.

Come the All-Star Break on July 13, they were 13 1/2 in front of the Expos. Pitcher Dwight Gooden, catcher Gary Carter, 1st baseman Keith Hernandez and right fielder Darryl Strawberry were all voted in as starters for the National League in the All-Star Game at the Astrodome in Houston. Pitcher Sid Fernandez was selected as a reserve. But the game turned out to be a minor embarrassment for the Mets: Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers hit a home run off Gooden, and the American League won, 3-2.

By August 23, the Mets were 20 games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies. On September 6, I had been invited to attend a game at Shea Stadium, my 1st live National League game. The Mets trailed the San Diego Padres, 3-2 going into the bottom of the 8th, but Carter hit his 2nd home run of the game, and the Mets won, 4-3. They led the Phillies by 20 1/2.

"The inevitable" began to take shape on September 17. The Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 4-2 at Shea, and clinched the Division title with 17 games to go. It was their 1st postseason berth in 13 years. Gooden went the distance for the win. The fans rushed the field, and one was already in fair territory before the final out reached Hernandez's 1st baseman's mitt. The field was ripped to shreds, and the Mets had a day game scheduled for just 16 hours later. Somehow, the grounds crew got the field in playable shape, not that a forfeit would have mattered.

After what the British would call "pitch invasions" at Met clinchers in 1969, 1973, and this night, and Yankee clinchers in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1981, Mayor Ed Koch, invoking the City's ownership of both ballclubs' stadiums, ordered mounted police to come on the field and surround the field at each clincher, and announced that punishments for charging the field would be more severe.

The Mets needed a walkoff home run from Lenny Dykstra to win Game 3 of the NL Championship Series. They led the series, 3 games to 2, but the 2 losses were to Mike Scott, an ex-Met who found success with the split-fingered fastball, and they had to avoid facing him in Game 7 in the Astrodome. So Game 6 was a death struggle, going back and forth for 16 innings before the Mets finally won it to take the Pennant. It was on the road, so fans charging the field was not an issue.

The World Series was against the Boston Red Sox. There were 3 men in uniform who had been in uniform for the Mets' previous World Series win, in 1969: Manager Davey Johnson had been the 2nd baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, and had made the last out; '69 shortstop Bud Harrelson was now the Mets' 3rd base coach; and former Met ace Tom Seaver was playing out the string with the Red Sox, unable to pitch in this Series due to injury, but got a huge ovation when introduced before Game 1.

The Red Sox stunned the Mets in the 1st 2 games of the World Series, leading the New York Daily News to reference Boston's nickname of "Beantown" with the headline "BEANS!" The Mets won Games 3 and 4 in Fenway Park, but lost Game 5 there. So they had to win Games 6 and 7 at Shea to win. Game 6 was an epic, with the Red Sox taking a 5-3 lead in the top of the 10th inning. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th, a message on the Shea scoreboard congratulated the Sox. Sox pitcher Bruce Hurst was named the Series' Most Valuable Player. Then came the comeback/collapse of all time, and the Mets won, 6-5.

Game 7 was pushed back a day by rain. In its place, NBC aired the baseball-themed movie The Natural, as part of its usual NBC Sunday Night Movie show. Despite airing on a Monday night, when another New York team, the Giants, were playing on ABC Monday Night Football at the same time, this game got more TV viewers than any Major League Baseball game ever: 60 million people. (The Giants beat the team then known as the Washington Redskins, 27-20 at Giants Stadium.)

The Red Sox actually seemed to be shaking off the historical, hysterical Game 6 loss. They led the Mets, 3-0 in the bottom of the 6th inning. Hurst, with an extra day's rest, was doing just fine. The Sox chased Ron Darling. Sid Fernandez relieved him. The Sox were just 12 outs away from their 1st World Championship in 68 years after all.

But these were the pre-steroid Boston Red Sox, and they couldn't hold it. The Mets tied it up in the 6th. Manager John McNamara brought in Calvin Schiraldi, who choked in the 10th the night before, to pitch the 7th, and Ray Knight led off with a home run. The Mets made it 6-3 by the inning's end.

The Sox made it 6-5 in the top of the 8th, so there was still hope. But Al Nipper served one up to Strawberry, and he hit it out, and took a leisurely stroll around the bases. NBC could have run a commercial.

The Mets let reliever Jesse Orosco bat for himself, and he drove in another run, and he got the last out by striking out Marty Barrett. Mets 8, Red Sox 5. Orosco hurled his glove high into the Flushing air.

The bullpen gate was opened, and mounted policemen came onto the field. The fans stayed in the stands. They had obeyed the Mayor. No New York clincher since has seen a pitch invasion. So I guess we should thank Koch for that.

The Mets had won their 1st World Championship on October 16, 1969. It took them 17 years and 11 days, but they had now won their 2nd World Championship. Anyone then thinking that they wouldn't win their 3rd World Championship for at least another 40 years would have been asked what he was smoking.

But, tonight, exactly 40 years later, the Mets are still looking for that 3rd World Championship. They've won just 2 more Pennants and just 2 more World Series games since that night -- 1 in 2000, and 1 in 2015. To make matters worse, following the 1st of those Pennants, they went on to lose to the Yankees in the World Series, 1 of 5 the Yankees have won since 1986.

October 26, 1996: The Yankees' Return to Glory

October 26, 1996, 30 years ago: New York Yankees 3, Atlanta Braves 2, clinching the Yankees' 23rd World Championship, their 1st in 18 years, at the original Yankee Stadium. The Yanks scored all 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, including a triple off Greg Maddux by catcher Joe Girardi.

Now that Girardi has come and gone as the Yankee manager, it's easy to forget what kind of a player he was. He was a good defensive catcher, Maddux won more games than any pitcher alive through the 2022 season, 355, including more games in the 1990s than any other pitcher, 176. Girardi hitting a triple off Maddux in a World Series game was really unexpected. It wasn't quite the U.S. college kids beating the "amateur" hockey players in their 30s put up by the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics, nor was it quite Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990. But it was a shock. A beautiful shock.

When Mariano Rivera, then the "bridge" reliever, was on the mound in the 8th, Fox announcer Tim McCarver said, "There's not a lot of secret as to what you're gonna get from Mariano Rivera: A lot of high gas." It would be the next year, when Mo succeeded John Wetteland as the closer, that he developed the cut fastball that made him the greatest relief pitcher of all time.

When Mo got a strikeout to end the 8th, McCarver and Joe Buck wisely didn't say a word, and let the roar of the crowd be what took them to commercial. Those cheers seemed to contain not a word, but they spoke volumes. Some who were there said that the old Yankee Stadium actually shook at that moment.

An inning later, Wetteland, who became the 1st reliever ever to save all 4 of his team's wins in a World Series (and remains the only one) and was named MVP, got Mark Lemke to pop up to 3rd base, and Charlie Hayes caught it. As John Sterling said on WABC (the Yankees' radio station at the time), "Hayes... makes the catch! Yankees win! Theeeeeeee Yankees win!" He didn't start adding "Ballgame over!" until the next year, and didn't start adding "(name of series) over!" until the next.

Derek Jeter was the last active player from the 1996 Yankees, playing until 2014.

Also on that Saturday, Rutgers beat Temple, 28-17 at the new Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. In their season opener, Rutgers beat Villanova at home. In games that were against teams in Philadelphia's "Big 5," RU were 2-0. In all other games, they were 0-9.

And Princeton lost to Harvard, 24-0 at Palmer Stadium. Opened in 1914, Palmer Stadium hosted its final game on November 23, and Princeton lost to Dartmouth, 24-0. The stadium was then demolished, and Powers Field at Princeton Stadium opened in 1998.

In 1997, Princeton played a "home game" at Giants Stadium, and another on the campus of The College of New Jersey -- ironically, using the original name of Princeton University. That school, in Ewing, had previously been known as Trenton State College. Otherwise, the Tigers played all official away games.

The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. The Devils got goals from Bobby Carpenter, Randy McKay, Dave Andreychuk and Bill Guerin.

Also, Arsenal beat Leeds United, 3-0 at Highbury in North London.  

October 26, 1951: Joe Louis' Last Stand

October 26, 1951, 75 years ago: Desperate for money to pay a mounting tax bill, Joe Louis, who stood as Heavyweight Champion of the World longer than anyone (12 years, 1937-49) and defended the title more than anyone (25 times), climbs into the ring at the old Madison Square Garden for a purse of $300,000 – about $3.8 million in today's money.

He fights Rocky Marciano, then a rising contender who comes into the fight at 37-0. He idolized Louis: telling the press, "This is the last guy I want to fight." It had nothing to do with his own ability, or whatever Louis had left.

It is a mismatch: Marciano is 28, is in superb shape, and has a sledgehammer for a right hand; Louis is 37, struggles with his weight, and his arms and legs, once the fastest in the fight game despite his being a heavyweight, have terribly slowed. Marciano actually knocks Louis out of the ring in the 8th round. Ruby Goldstein, maybe the best referee in the business and himself a former lightweight contender, wisely stopped the fight at that point.

Marciano went back to his dressing room, and cried over what he had done to his greatest hero, and even went over to see him, and said, "I'm sorry, Joe." Sugar Ray Robinson, then Middleweight Champion, was in Louis' dressing room to console him, and was also crying.

Eleven months later, Marciano knocked Jersey Joe Walcott out to become the Heavyweight Champion. He held the title for 3 years, then retired undefeated at 49-0. Louis, still needing money, humiliated himself as a professional wrestler, and not a very good one.

Both men's lives ended badly: Marciano's in a plane crash in Iowa in 1969, just before his 46th birthday; Louis' in a wheelchair, unable to pay his medical bills, with Frank Sinatra hosting a benefit concert for him in Las Vegas in 1978, which kept Louis afloat until he finally passed away in 1981, at 67.

As a Sergeant in the U.S. Army in World War II, he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, on the order of President Ronald Reagan, and with Sinatra delivering the eulogy. Marciano was interred in a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

*

October 26, 1951 was a Friday. William "Bootsy" Collins, bass guitarist for George Clinton's P-Funk Empire, was born on that day. 

October 25, 1986: The Bill Buckner Game

October 25, 1986, 40 years ago: Dave Henderson steps to the plate at 11:59 PM, and hits a home run off Rick Aguilera, to give the Boston Red Sox a 4-3 lead over the New York Mets in the top of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the World Series.

By the time he crosses the plate, it's 12:00 midnight, October 26. The Red Sox will extend their lead to 5-3 before their half of the inning is over. All they need now is 3 more outs in the bottom of the 10th.

They get the 1st 2. You know the rest. But do you really remember? Red Sox pitcher Calvin Schiraldi, an ex-Met, allows a single to Gary Carter. Then he allows a single to Kevin Mitchell. Carter to 2nd. Then he allows a single to Ray Knight. Carter scores, Mitchell to 2nd, 5-4 Red Sox. Then Sox manager John McNamara pulls Schiraldi, and calls on Bob Stanley, once a very good reliever, but by this point in his career a lost cause.

Stanley faces William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson, and gets to 2 strikes. There were 13 separate pitches that could have ended this game in victory and a 1st World Championship in 68 years for the Red Sox. The 13th of these almost hits Mookie in the ankle. He jumps out of the way, and it rolls to the backstop. Wild pitch. Mitchell scores, Knight to 2nd, 5-5 tie.

For the Mets and their fans, Christmas had come 2 months early: The Red Sox had given them the game. They had royally blown it. According to Dan Shaughnessy, the Boston Globe columnist, in his book The Curse of the Bambino, somebody later calculated that the odds of the Red Sox blowing a 2-run, 2-out, 2-strike lead at that point were 320-1.

Three hundred and twenty to one. Think about that for a moment: A baseball regular season lasts 162 games. So if you had those conditions every single game -- 2 outs, 2 strikes on the batter, and you're up by 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, or later -- the odds are that you would win every single game in a season, and nearly every single game in a 2nd season, up to Game 158 of that 2nd season, before you would lose one.

Another source said that the Mets' chances of winning the World Series were:

* 5 percent when the bottom of the 10th began;
* 0.8 percent when they were down to their last strike
* 2 percent after Carter's single;
* 5 percent after Mitchell's single;
* 11 percent after Knight singled home Carter;
* and 35 percent after Stanley's wild pitch tied the game.

In other words, even after the lead was fully blown and the game was tied, there was still a better than 2-to-1 chance that the Red Sox would win the World Series.

Well, some teams have meltdowns that last 2 months, like the 1978 Red Sox, the 1969 Cubs, and the 1995 California Angels. Some teams have meltdowns that last 1 month, like the 2011 Red Sox, the 2007 Mets and the 1951 Dodgers. Some teams have meltdowns that last 2 weeks, like the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies. Some teams have meltdowns that last 1 week, like the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays. Some teams have meltdowns that last less than a week, like the 2004 and 2012 Yankees. The 1986 Red Sox had a meltdown that lasted 10 minutes.

You'll notice that there's a name I haven't mentioned yet: That of Red Sox 1st baseman Bill Buckner. The Red Sox had already blown a lead that is the closest any team, in any of the 4 major league sports, had ever been to winning a World Championship without actually getting it. Even the Bayern Munich soccer team that allowed goals in the 91st minute to Teddy Sheringham and in the 93rd to Ole Gunnar Solskjær to blow the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final didn't come that close to winning before losing.

The Sox had blown what should have been an insurmountable lead, and Bill Buckner had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Then Stanley threw Mookie another pitch. It was, as Los Angeles Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully, leading the broadcast team for NBC, described, a "little roller up along first." It remains the most famous defensive miscue in the history of sports, over Fred Snodgrass' 1912 "$30,000 Muff," over Mickey Owen's 1941 passed ball, over any missed tackle in football, over any goalie's mistake in hockey or soccer, over any hockey or soccer player's own goal.

Buckner had injuries on both legs, and, as Yogi Berra might have said, even when he could run, he couldn't run. He was not going to beat Mookie to the bag, and Stanley hadn't run over to 1st to cover the base and take a throw. Mookie would have made it to 1st, and the bases would have been loaded. Granted, the next batter was light-hitting shortstop Rafael Santana, but, at that point, no one would have bet against the Mets. Scully was right: "If one picture is worth a thousand words, we have seen about a million words tonight!"

In spite of how much many Yankee Fans already hated them, it would take the Nomar/Pedro/Papi Era, 1998 to the present, for the Red Sox to truly become The Scum. But, retroactively, they deserved The Buckner Game.

In 1975, the Red Sox won a World Series Game 6 that was a game for the ages. But for 36 years now, you can say the words "Game Six" in New England, or to a New Englander wherever he might be, and, instead of bringing a smile to his face, you would bring him to say, "Which one?"

At least now, with his death in 2019, Buckner will never have to face any more questions about it.

In 2010, the MLB Network listed this game at 3rd on their list of MLB's 20 Greatest Games -- limited in scope, due to the availability of surviving videotape, to 1975 onward.

World Series By State

Note: When 2 teams are from the same State, the State is counted twice.

1. New York, 69: New York Giants, 1905, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1951, 1954; Brooklyn Dodgers, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956; New York Yankees, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2024; New York Mets, 1969, 1973, 1986, 2000, 2015.

2. California, 29: Los Angeles Dodgers, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1988, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2024, 2025; San Francisco Giants, 1962, 1989, 2002, 2010, 2012, 2014; Oakland Athletics, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1988, 1989, 1990; San Diego Padres, 1984, 1998; Los Angeles Angels, 2002.

3. Missouri, 24: St. Louis Cardinals, 1926, 1928 1930, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1987, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013; St. Louis Browns, 1944; Kansas City Royals, 1980, 1985, 2014, 2015.

4. Pennsylvania, 23: Pittsburgh Pirates, 1903, 1909, 1925, 1927, 1960, 1971, 1979; Philadelphia Athletics, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1929, 1930, 1931; Philadelphia Phillies, 1915, 1950, 1980, 1983, 1993, 2008, 2009, 2022.

5. Illinois, 16: Chicago Cubs, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1945, 2016; Chicago White Sox: 1906, 1917, 1919, 1959, 2005.

6. Massachusetts, 15: Boston Red Sox, 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2018; Boston Braves, 1914, 1948.

7. Ohio, 15: Cincinnati Reds, 1919, 1939, 1940, 1961, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1990; Cleveland Indians/Guardians, 1920, 1948, 1954, 1995, 1997, 2016.

8. Michigan, 11: Detroit Tigers, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1934, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1968, 1984, 2006, 2011.

9. Texas, 8: Houston Astros, 2005, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022; Texas Rangers, 2010, 2011, 2013.

10. Maryland, 6: Baltimore Orioles, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1979, 1983.

11. Georgia, 6: Atlanta Braves, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2021.

12. Florida, 5: Miami Marlins, 1997, 2003; Tampa Bay Rays, 2008, 2020, 2026.

Not a State: District of Columbia, 4: Washington Senators, 1924, 1925, 1933; Washington Nationals, 2019.

13. Wisconsin, 4: Milwaukee Braves, 1957, 1958; Milwaukee Brewers, 1982, 2026.

14. Minnesota, 3: Minnesota Twins, 1965, 1987, 1991.

Canadian Province of Ontario, 3: Toronto Blue Jays, 1992, 1993, 2025.

15. Arizona, 2: Arizona Diamondbacks, 2001, 2023.

16. Colorado, 1: Colorado Rockies, 2007.

All Other States, 0.

October 23, 1996: The Jim Leyritz Game II

October 23, 1996, 30 years ago: Game 4 of the World Series, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Atlanta Braves rock New York Yankees starter Kenny Rogers, and lead 6-0. The Yankees close to within 6-3, but in the top of the 8th, they are 4 outs away from being down 3 games to 1 in the Series, their great season coming to a very disappointing close.

But they get 2 runners on, and backup catcher Jim Leyritz comes to bat against Braves closer Mark Wohlers. After throwing 98- and 99-mile-per-hour fastballs that Leyritz can only foul off, Wohlers hangs an 86-mile-per-hour slider. Leyritz, a postseason hero for the Yankees a year earlier with his 15th-inning walkoff homer in the Division Series against Seattle, knocks it over the left-field fence to tie the game.

The Yankees load the bases in the 10th, and Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Wade Boggs, whom Torre had benched in favor of Charlie Hayes due to his usual magnificent hitting having failed him, is sent up to pinch-hit. Boggs draws one of the most important walks in baseball history, and it's 7-6 Yanks. An error makes the final score 8-6 Yanks.

Not since the 1929 Cubs, going from 8-0 up to 10-8 down in the 7th inning of Game 4, had a team blown a lead of 6 or more runs in a World Series game. The Yankees were in serious trouble, but now the Series is tied, and anything can happen. In this 1996 season, lots of "anythings" have already happened for the Yankees.

The next night, Game 5 was, regardless of result, the last event at Fulton County Stadium, as the Braves were moving into the next-door Turner Field the next season, and the NFL's Falcons had moved into the Georgia Dome after the 1991 season. The Yankees won, 1-0. Two nights later, they won Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, 3-2, completing their remarkable comeback, and winning their 23rd World Series.

The Yankees traded Leyritz in 1997. He helped the San Diego Padres reach the World Series in 1998 -- against the Yankees. In 1999, the Yankees reacquired him, and he helped them with another World Series, hitting what turned out to be the last home run of the 20th Century in Game 4. This led NBC's Bob Costas to say, "You could send this guy to a resort in the spring and summer, as long as he comes back for October." His career ended in 2000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Leyritz has had his ups and downs since. In 2006, he admitted that he'd used amphetamines while playing -- legal at the time, and not nearly as performance-enhancing as steroids. (So if you want to invalidate the Yankees' 1996 and 1999 World Championships because of this, you shouldn't.) In 2007, he killed another driver in a drunken crash. He ended up serving 10 days in jail and a year's probation. In 2009, he was charged with domestic violence for hitting his wife, although she later dropped the charges (but also dropped him through divorce -- they had 4 children).

In 2011, he was a coach for the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League. In 2012, he worked for the Yankee front office. He lives in the Orange County suburbs of Los Angeles, with his new wife, Michelle, his 3 kids and her 2. He co-hosts a radio show in Los Angeles for SB Nation Radio.

October 22, 2001: 116 Wins and No Pennant

October 22, 2001, 25 years ago: Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez hit home runs, backing the pitching of Andy Pettitte, and the New York Yankees win Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, 12-3 over the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium, and take their 38th Pennant.

The Mariners had beaten the Yankees in the 1995 AL Division Series, before losing the ALCS to the Cleveland Indians. Still, it helped to save Major League Baseball in the Pacific Northwest, by convincing people to vote to approve a new ballpark. Safeco Field (now named T-Mobile Park) opened in 1999. In 2000, the M's got back to the ALCS, but, this time, the Yankees beat them.

In 2001, the M's got off to a 20-4 start, and were 9 games ahead of the rest of the AL Western Division. By May 17, they were 31-9, and 12 games up; by June 16, 52-14, and 20 games up. Their fans were going into Internet chat rooms with screen names like "Seattle Mariners 2001 World Champions."

The All-Star Game was set for Seattle that year, on July 10. The Mariners were 63-24, leading the Division by 19 games, and had 8 players selected for the game: Pitchers Freddy Garcia, Jeff Nelson and Kazuhiro Sasaki; designated hitter Edgar Martinez, 1st baseman John Olerud, 2nd baseman Bret Boone, center fielder Mike Cameron, and, in right field, Ichiro Suzuki.

With his first name, and former Mariner ace Randy Johnson's number on his back, "ICHIRO" and 51, he had a cannon of a right arm, and would finish the season leading the AL in batting at .350, hits with 242, and stolen bases with 56.

Though he had played in Japan's Pacific League for 9 seasons, and the game in question was played on his 28th birthday, he was named the AL's Rookie of the Year, and became only the 2nd player, after Fred Lynn in 1975, to win either League's Rookie of the Year and its Most Valuable Player awards in the same season.

On August 5, 2001, the Cleveland Indians accomplished a historic 12-run comeback, defeating the Mariners 15-14 in 11 innings, after trailing 14-2 in the 7th inning. This remarkable victory, known as the "Great Return," tied a major league record for the largest comeback in a game, featuring five runs with two outs in the ninth inning.

But Mariner fans shook it off. The team won its 100th game on September 5, over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, having lost only 40. When MLB paused after the terrorist attacks on September 11, the Mariners were 104-40, and in the 5th game of what turned into a 7-game winning streak. They clinched the Division on September 19, 5-0 over the team then known as the Anaheim Angels, with Jamie Moyer pitching a shutout.

On October 5, they beat the Texas Rangers at home, 6-2, to win their 115th game of the season, breaking the AL record set by the Yankees in 1998. On October 6, they won their 116th, beating the Rangers, 1-0, on a shutout by Joel Piñeiro, tying the major league record set by the 1906 Chicago Cubs.

They could have set a record with a 117th win the next day, but lost to the Rangers, 4-3. Like the August 5 loss to Cleveland, it didn't seem like a sign at the time. M's fans went into the ALDS, also against Cleveland, full of confidence that this would be the year for their 1st-ever Pennant and World Championship.

But the Indians won Game 1 in Seattle, 5-0. The Mariners bounced back in Game 2, 5-1. Then, the Indians won Game 3 in Cleveland, 17-2, one of the biggest blowouts in postseason history. The Mariners won Game 6-2, to send it back to Seattle, where they won Game 5, 3-1. This was the first time all season that they had really been tested. Maybe it would help them.

But the Yankees had been tested time and time again, including coming from 2-0 down at home to take 3 straight ALDS games from the Oakland Athletics. And, having beating the M's in the ALCS the season before, they weren't going to be intimidated by 119 wins (counting the ALDS). After all, in 1998, counting the postseason, they'd won 125, and a lot of those '98 Yankees were still there in 2001.

Again, the home teams fell short in this series. The Yankees stunned the Northwesterners by winning 4-2 and 3-2 in Seattle. But in Game 3 in The Bronx, the Mariners won, 14-3. Game 4 was scoreless through 7 innings, but each team scored a run in the 8th. With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, closer Sasaki gave up an infield single to Scott Brosius, and Alfonso Soriano then hit a game-winning home run, 3-1 New York.

After the game, the Mariners' manager made a bold statement to the media: "We're going home for Game 6." He was, essentially, making a guarantee. He was tempting the ghosts of Yankee Stadium. He should have known better, because he was one of them: His name was Lou Piniella, and he had played on the Yankees' 1976-81 dynasty.

Game 5 was put away early. The Yankees scored 4 runs in the 3rd inning, with 2 coming on a Bernie Williams home run. Paul O'Neill added a solo homer in the 4th. The Yankees tacked on 4 more runs in the 6th, and it was 9-0.

Yankee Fans chanted, "One sixteen!" "O-ver-RA-ted!" and, for Ichiro -- I'm sure most of them didn't realize it was his birthday -- "SAY-o-NA-ra!" (Japanese for "Goodbye.")

Ichiro went on to collect 3,089 hits in the North American major leagues. This included 2,030 in the 2000-09 decade, to lead all players. And that included 262 in 2004, a new single-season record.

The Mariners did score 3 in the top of the 7th, but the Yankees came back with 3 in the bottom of the 8th, and won, 12-3. For the Yankees, it was their 5th Pennant in the last 6 years, and a tremendous lift for the City of New York after the events of last month.

For the Mariners, it was a crushing defeat. They had tied an all-time major league record with 116 wins, but had totally flopped against the Yankees. They did reach the postseason again for 21 years. With the Washington Nationals winning one in 2019, the Mariners became the only active team in Major League Baseball never to have won a Pennant. The last Seattle-based team to win a Pennant was the Seattle Angels, in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, in 1966.