1996 Yankees Silver Anniversary, Part IV: To Glory Returned

October 26, 1996, 25 years ago: A storybook season for the New York Yankees reaches its proper conclusion. 

The team hadn't won an American League Pennant for 15 years, but finally did it again on October 13, in Baltimore. Then, they had to wait a few days, just to see who they would play in the World Series. It turned out to be the Atlanta Braves, the defending World Champions. And then, they had to wait another day, due to rain.

*

October 20, 1996: Game 1 of the World Series, the 1st Series game at Yankee Stadium in 15 years. The Braves spoiled the party with a 12-1 shellacking of Andy Pettitte and the Yankee bullpen. John Smoltz started and won for the Braves.

Andruw Jones, the Braves' 19-year-old sensation from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, became the youngest player ever to hit a home run in a World Series game. In fact, he hit 2, joining Gene Tenace of the '72 A's as the only 2 players ever to homer in their 1st 2 Series at-bats.

And, as it turned out, Jones was no one-shot wonder: He would go on to hit 434 home runs and win 10 Gold Gloves in a career that, interestingly enough, ended with the 2011 and 2012 Yankees. He is now eligible for the Hall of Fame. Why isn't he in?

After the game, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner barged into manager Joe Torre's office. George yelled about how the Yankees were embarrassed -- which, if we're being honest, they were. But Torre, who had managed the Braves to a postseason berth in 1982, and had just been clobbered in the 1st World Series game of his life at age 56, was unfazed. He told George that they'll probably lose Game 2 as well. "But we're heading down to Atlanta," he says, "and that's my hometown, and we'll win 3 straight there, and come back here and win it."

Joe later said, "He looked at me like I had 2 heads." (Well, Joe's head is rather large.) George later said he thought Joe was nuts, but he appreciated the confidence. That confidence will be rewarded.

But not yet:

October 21, 1996: Torre's unfortunate prediction for Game 2 held: Jimmy Key didn't pitch badly for the Pinstripes, but Greg Maddux shut the Yankees out, and the Braves won, 4-0. The Yankees had been embarrassed in the 1st 2 games, at home, and now had to go to Atlanta in front of 52,000 war-chanting, tomahawk-chopping rednecks.

The outlook was grim. Anybody predicting a new "Yankee Dynasty" at this point sure looked delusional.

October 22, 1996: Because Games 1 and 2 were delayed a day by rain, the travel day in between Games 2 and 3 was eliminated. The Yankees got a desperately-needed win at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, 5-2 over the Braves, behind the gutsy pitching of David Cone, who outdoes Tom Glavine. Bernie Williams drove in 3 runs, and John Wetteland got the save.

October 23, 1996: Game 4. A Braves fan held up a sign referencing the American Civil War:

1864 YANKEES BURN ATLANTA

1996 ATLANTA BURNS YANKEES

At first, it looked like that would be the case. The Braves rocked Yankee starter Kenny Rogers, and backed Denny Neagle with a 6-0 lead. The Yankees closed 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 got 2 runners on, and backup catcher Jim Leyritz came to bat against Braves closer Mark Wohlers. After throwing 98- and 99-mile-per-hour fastballs that Leyritz could only foul off, Wohlers hung 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, knocked it over the left-field fence to tie the game.

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

Not since the 1929 Chicago Cubs, going from 8-0 up to 10-8 down against the Philadelphia Athletics in the 7th inning of Game 4, had a team blown a 6-run lead in a Series game. The Yankees were in serious trouble, but now the Series was tied, and anything could happen. In this 1996 season, lots of "anythings" had already happened for the Yankees.

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 can'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 is about to turn 56 years old, and 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 24, 1996: Game 5. Andy Pettitte, in just his 2nd season in the majors, opposed seasoned  veteran John Smoltz, who was pitching in his 4th World Series. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th, thanks to an error by Marquis Grissom and a double by Cecil Fielder.

In the bottom of the 6th, the Braves put 2 runners on with nobody out. A bunt was attempted by Mark Lemke, but Pettitte snared it, and threw lefthanded to Charlie Hayes at 3rd base, nailing the lead runner. The next batter, Chipper Jones, hit a comebacker to Pettitte, who threw to Derek Jeter covering 2nd base for one, over to Fielder on 1st, and it was an inning-ending double play.

That was the Braves' last threat until the last out, when John Wetteland came on to face once and future Yankee Luis Polonia, who lined a shot into the gap, but an injured Paul O'Neill somehow caught it, to save the 5-hit shutout.

The Yankees had taken all 3 games in Atlanta, and take a 3 games to 2 lead back to Yankee Stadium,

just as former Brave player and manager, now Yankee manager, Joe Torre predicted to owner George Steinbrenner.

This was the last game ever played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, after 30 major league seasons (plus 1 preceding season in the minors), as the Braves moved into Turner Field for the next season. By a weird coincidence, Torre had also hit the 1st home run in the stadium's 1st major league game, on April 12, 1966.

October 25, 1996: On the travel day back to New York, Joe Torre got a call that his brother, Frank Torre, had gotten the heart transplant he was waiting for. Frank had gotten to the major leagues before Joe, and had helped the Milwaukee Braves beat the Yankees in the 1957 World Series, including hitting a home run in Game 6. But the brothers were never teammates: Frank was sent down to the minors at the end of June 1960, and Joe made his major league debut with the Braves on September 25.

The surgery took, place at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, which was built on the Upper Manhattan site of the Yankees' 1st ballpark, Hilltop Park. Frank recovered quickly, and lived 18 years on his new heart. He even served as one of Joe's coaches when he managed the American League team in the 1997 All-Star Game.

*

When we look at the footage of the 1996 World Series now, it looks so up to date, so modern. Like it could have happened yesterday.

It was 25 years ago. A quarter of a century. As close as it seems now, it was a very different world.

There were 28 teams in Major League Baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays only existed on paper. The Washington Nationals were still the Montreal Expos. The Milwaukee Brewers were still in the American League, and the Houston Astros were still in the National League.

The Nationals, the Brewers, the Astros, the Cincinnati Reds, the Detroit Tigers, the Minnesota Twins, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals, the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants, the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers and both New York teams have all opened new ballparks. The Braves have opened two: Turner Field replaced  next-door Fulton County Stadium the following April, and Truist Park, in the northwestern suburbs, replaced Turner Field in 2017.

The Diamondbacks, the Astros, the Expos/Nationals, the team now known as the Miami Marlins, and the team now known as the Los Angeles Angels had never won a World Series. The San Francisco Giants hadn't won a World Series since 1954 when they were still in New York, the Boston Red Sox since 1918, the Chicago White Sox since 1917, and the Chicago Cubs since 1908. The Diamondbacks, the Astros, the Marlins, the Angels, the Rays, the Rangers, the Expos/Nationals and the Colorado Rockies had never won a Pennant. The Cubs hadn't won one since 1945. All of those facts were true then, but not anymore.

Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Duke Snider, Richie Ashburn, Ralph Kiner and Bobby Thomson were still alive.

Derek Jeter was about to be named the American League Rookie of the Year. Alex Rodriguez still qualified as a rookie. David Ortiz and Jimmy Rollins had made their professional, but not yet their major-league, debuts.

Albert Pujols and CC Sabathia were in high school. David Wright, Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer were in junior high. Buster Posey was 9 years old; Clayton Kershaw and Stephen Strasburg were 8; Madison Bumgarner and Freddie Freeman were 7; Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Altuve and Gerrit Cole were 6; Nolan Arenado and Mike Trout were 5; Christian Yelich, Kris Bryant, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts and Bryce Harper were 4; Gary Sanchez and Blake Snell were 3; Corey Seager, Clint Frazier and Carlos Correa were 2; and Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto hadn’t been born yet.

Current Yankee manager Aaron Boone was in the Reds' farm system. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was an assistant coach with them. Lindy Ruff of the Devils was an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers. Gerard Gallant of the Rangers was the head coach of a minor-league team on Prince Edward Island, the Summerside Capitals. Barry Trotz of the Islanders was the head coach of a minor-league team in Maine, Portland Pirates. Steve Nash of the Nets was a rookie with the Phoenix Suns. Ronny Deila of NYCFC was playing for Odds BK in his native Norway. Gerhard Struber of the Red Bulls was playing for FC Austria Salzburg in his homeland, the team now known as the Red Bulls' parent club, FC Red Bull Salzburg. Robert Saleh of the Jets, Joe Judge of the Giants, and the last holder of the currently vacant Mets' managerial job, Luis Rojas, were in high school. And Walt Hopkins of the Liberty was 11 years old.

As I said, the Braves were the defending World Champions. The title holders in the other sports were the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, the Chicago Bulls in the NBA, and the Colorado Avalanche in the NHL. On the day of Game 1 of the World Series, D.C. United beat the Los Angeles Galaxy for the 1st-ever MLS Cup.

Brazil were the holders of the World Cup. Juventus of Turin, Italy won the UEFA Champions League that season. And Manchester United swept England's Premier League and its FA Cup, "doing The Double." The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Mike Tyson, but Evander Holyfield was about to take the title away from him.

The Olympics have since been held in Japan twice; and once each in America, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Canada, Britain, Russia, Brazil and Korea. The World Cup has since been held in France, Japan, Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.

The President of the United States was Bill Clinton. He was about to be re-elected over Bob Dole. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, theirs wives, and the widow of Lyndon Johnson were still alive. George W. Bush was the Governor of Texas. Barack Obama was about to be elected to the Illinois State Senate. Joe Biden was about to be elected to a 5th term as a U.S. Senator from Delaware. Kamala Harris was a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County (Oakland), California. Donald Trump was considered washed-up a joe reduced to playing himself on sitcoms like Suddenly Susan.

The idea that two people of the same gender could marry each other, with all the legal benefits of marriage, was considered a long way off. On the other hand, the idea that corporations were "people," and entitled to all the legal benefits thereof, was considered ridiculous. Only 2 Justices then on the U.S. Supreme Court are still on it: Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer.

The Governor of the State of New York was George Pataki. The Mayor of the City of New York was Rudolph Giuliani. The Governor of New Jersey was Christine Todd Whitman. The current holders of those offices? Kathy Hochul was a member of the Town Board in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg, New York; Bill de Blasio was an aide to Congressman Charles Rangel, and his likely replacement, Eric Adams, was a police Lieutenant who had recently founded 100 Blacks In Law Enforcement, seeking to improve opportunities for African-Americans in the field; and Phil Murphy was running the European headquarters of Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt, Germany.

Osama bin Laden had just gone public with his jihad. Sarah Palin had just been elected Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Marjorie Taylor Greene had, somehow, just graduated from the University of Georgia. Monica Lewinsky was in the middle of her "affair" with President Clinton, but hardly anybody outside D.C. knew her name. Steve Bannon was a film producer, and few people outside Hollywood knew his name. Few people outside Texas had heard of Karl Rove, then a political operative for George W. Bush. Even fewer outside Texas had heard of Alex Jones, then a rookie radio show host. The assault weapons ban was in effect, and there were hardly any mass shootings.

There were still living veterans of World War I, the Easter Rising, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Mexican Revolution, the March On Rome and the Beer Hall Putsch. There were still people who, as children, survived the Johnstown Flood of 1889, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the General Slocum Fire of 1904, the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

The Prime Minister of Canada was Jean Chrétien, and of Britain, John Major. The monarch of both nations was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed. The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Francis, was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Titular Bishop of Oca, in Spain. There have since been 5 Presidents of the United States, 6 Prime Ministers of Britain, and 3 Popes.

The Nobel Peace Prize was about to be awarded to 2 men who had brought a peaceful end to the conflict in East Timor: Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, a Catholic bishop; and José Ramos-Horta, Foreign Minister in the new nation's provisional government, and later its President.

Major novels of 1996 included Primary Colors by Joe Klein, listed for most of the year as "Anonymous," because he was too much of a coward to risk his career to make his point that he hated President Clinton. Not afraid to write novels about corrupt Presidents, although not necessarily basing them on Clinton, were David Baldacci with Absolute Power, and Tom Clancy with Executive Orders.

The year also included Bridget Jones's Diary, starting Helen Fielding's franchise; A Game of Thrones, starting George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire franchise; The Green Mile by Stephen King; How Stella Got Her Groove Back by Terry McMillan; We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates; Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara; Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt; and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. That last one, I don't want to talk about it.

The 1st novel in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series would be published 8 months after the 1996 World Series; the 1st in the Twilight series and the 1st in the Lisbeth Salander series, both 9 years; the 1st in the Hunger Games series, 12 years.

Major films of the Autumn of 1996 included American Buffalo, Big Night, The First Wives Club, Last Man Standing, 2 Days in the Valley, That Thing You Do!, The Chamber, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Looking for Richard, Michael Collins, If These Walls Could Talk, and Baz Lurhmann's modernization, with the original Elizabethan Era dialogue, of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Not major at the time, but gaining attention as the year went on, and even more as the next year's Oscars approached, were Secrets and Lies, Bound, and a documentary about the 1974 Muhammad Ali-George Foreman fight, When We Were Kings.

Recently debuting on television were The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Arli$$, Kenan & Kel, The Steve Harvey Show (his earlier sitcom, not his later talk show), 7th Heaven, In The House, Malcolm & Eddie, The Jamie Foxx Show, Blue's Clues, Access Hollywood, Everybody Loves Raymond, Judge Judy, Spin City, Men Behaving Badly, The Pretender, Suddenly Susan, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Early Edition, Profiler, Hannity & Colmes, The O'Reilly Factor, Arthur, Hey Arnold!, The Crocodile Hunter and Millennium. 

Dean Cain was still playing Superman. Val Kilmer was the most recent live-action Batman. Lynda Carter was still the most recent live-action Wonder Woman. Nicholas Hammond was still the most recent live-action Spider-Man. Pierce Brosnan had begun playing James Bond. Paul McGann had starred in a one-shot movie version of Doctor Who a few months before, but it was not picked up as a new series.

The Number 1 song in America was still that damn "Macarena" by Los del Rio. Tupac Shakur was shot and killed. Meg White married John Anthony Gillis, who becomes Jack White, and, together, they formed The White Stripes. Country singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, son of baseball pitcher Tug McGraw, also got married. Slash quit Guns N' Roses. The Stone Roses and Crowded House broke up.

Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $1.75 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 32 cents, and a New York Subway ride $1.50. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.23, a cup of coffee $1.79, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $5.69, a movie ticket $4.42, a new car $18,525, and a new house $171,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the previous day, a Friday, at 6,007.01).

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia had just become the tallest buildings in the world. There were mobile phones, and lots of people had them, but they weren't "smart phones" as we now understand that term. The Internet existed, but most people weren't on it yet. The 1st tablet computer had been released. But there was, as yet, no iPod, no iPad, no iPhone, no Wikipedia, no Xbox, no Skype, no MySpace, no Facebook, no YouTube, no Pinterest, no Instagram, and no TikTok. There were birth control pills, but no Viagra.

In the Autumn of 1996, the Taliban captured the Afghan capital of Kabul. a North Korean submarine ran aground in South Korea, and its crew were killed as spies by the South Korean Army. There were deadly plane crashes in Peru, Brazil, Nigeria, India and Ethiopia. A cyclone killed over 2,000 people in India. And, in Japan, Bandai introduced Tamagotchi.

In America, North Carolina was struck by Hurricane Fran. Under Armour was founded. Nintendo introduced the Wii. Time Warner bought out the Turner Broadcasting System. And, ominously, Fox News Channel was launched.

Bill Monroe, and Spiro Agnew, and tennis legend and clothing designer René Lacoste died. Zendaya, and Lorde, and Devin Booker were born.

That's what the world was like on Saturday night, October 26, 1996, 25 years ago, when the New York Yankees took the field at the old Yankee Stadium, to play the Atlanta Braves in Game 6 of the World Series, and clinch the World Championship.

*

Jimmy Key started for the Yankees. He got Marquis Grissom to fly to left, Mark Lemke to ground to short, and Chipper Jones to fly to right. Greg Maddux started for the Braves. He got Derek Jeter to ground back to him, Wade Boggs to fly to right, and Bernie Williams to ground to 1st.

In the 2nd inning, Fred McGriff grounded to short, Javy Lopez drew a walk, Andruw Jones struck out, and Jermaine Dye flew to right. Cecil Fielder grounded to 1st, Tino Martinez struck out, and Darryl Strawberry grounded to 1st.

The Braves threatened in the top of the 3rd. Terry Pendleton reached on an error by Mariano Duncan, the 2nd baseman who had given the Yankees' their slogan: "We play today, we win today, das it." But Pendleton tried to steal 2nd, and Yankee catcher Joe Girardi threw him out. Good thing he did: Jeff Blauser doubled, and would have driven him home. But Grissom grounded to short, and Lemke flew to center, and the game was still scoreless.

It would not remain so. Paul O'Neill doubled to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. Duncan grounded to 2nd, moving O'Neill over to 3rd. And Girardi, batting against Maddux, mind you, launched a drive up the gap in right center. O'Neill scored easily, and Girardi managed a triple.

After seeing Girardi as the Yankee manager from 2008 to 2017, it's easy to forget what kind of a player he was. He was a good defensive catcher, but 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.

Jeter singled him home, and stole 2nd. Williams singled Jeter home. Fielder hit a weak grounder that Lopez, the Braves' catcher fielded, and was thrown out. But the damage was done; Yankees 3, Braves 0. Torre replaced Duncan at 2nd with Luis Sojo.

The Braves responded: Chipper flew to left, but McGriff drew a walk. Lopez and Andruw singled to load the bases. Dye drew a walk to force McGriff home. But Key got Pendleton to ground to short, where Jeter fielded the ball, stepped on 2nd, and threw to 1st for the double play. Yankees 3, Braves 1.

The game quieted down, but the crowd definitely did not. Tino flew to center, Darryl struck out, and O'Neill grounded to 2nd. In the 5th, Blauser lined to short. Grissom singled, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double, and Braves manager Bobby Cox argued the call with 2nd base umpire Terry Tata. He then agreed with the crew chief, Tim Welke, umpiring at 3rd. Welke threw Cox out of the game. It would be 23 years before another manager was thrown out of a World Series game. Lemke flew to center to end the half-inning. Sojo flew to right, Girardi singled, and Jeter grounded into a double play. After 5 innings, it was still 3-1 New York.

Chipper led off the 6th with a ground rule double. McGriff grounded to 2nd, getting Chipper to 3rd. Torre decided to replace Key with David Weathers. He struck Lopez out, and then walked Andruw. Torre brought in the tall Australian, Graeme Lloyd. Braves manager Bobby Cox sent Ryan Klesko up to pinch-hit for Dye, but Lloyd got him to pop up to 2nd. Klesko was went to left field, and Andrew to RF, where Dye had been playing.

Boggs grounded to 2nd. Bernie flew to left. Fielder singled, but Tino lined to 2nd. In the top of the 7th, Torre brought Charlie Hayes in to play 3rd base, and Mariano Rivera to pitch. He walked Pendleton, but got Blauser to pop to 2nd, Grissom to ground to short, and Lemke to fly to center. Darryl drew a walk, but O'Neill grounded into a double play. Sojo hit a ground rule double, but Girardi grounded to short. Still 3-1 Yankees.

In the top of the 8th, Chipper flew to center, McGriff grounded to short, and Rivera blew Lopez away on a high fastball. Some who were there said that the old Yankee Stadium actually shook at that moment. It would be the next season, and his replacement of John Wetteland as the Yankees' closer, that he discovered the pitch that would turn him from a young reliever with a great fastball into the greatest relief pitcher who ever lived: The cut fastball.

In the bottom of the 8th, Jeter struck out, Hayes grounded back to Maddux, and Bernie singled. Cox finally took Maddux out, and brought in Mark Wohlers. Bernie stole 2nd. But Fielder grounded to short to end the chance.

The Yankees needed 3 more outs, allowing less than 2 runs, to win their 1st World Series in 18 years. To put that in perspective: In 1977 and 1978, my parents sent me to bed well before the last out of the World Series. In spite of rooting for the most successful team in the history of North American sports, I was about to turn 27 years old, and had never seen my team win a World Series. Not as it happened, anyway.

Torre brought in Wetteland, who was aiming to become the 1st pitcher ever to save all 4 games that a team won in a single World Series. He struck Andruw out swinging. Then he allowed back-to-back singles by Klesko and Pendleton. Rafael Belliard was sent in to pinch-run for Pendleton, a good hitter but chunky and not a good runner. Luis Polonia was sent up to pinch-hit for Blauser, but Wetteland struck him out. But Grissom singled home Kelsko, and got Belliard to 2nd. Now, it was 3-2. It was Wetteland's game to win or lose.

Lemke was the batter, and he hit a pop-up down the 3rd base line. Hayes went for it, but couldn't get it, and fell into the visiting team dugout. He was all right, though. On the next pitch, Lemke again popped it up in foul territory by 3rd base. This time, it remained within the field of play. 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.

Sterling was interviewed on Eyewitness News the next day. He was not yet known as the hyper-partisan, victory-yammering "Pa Pinstripe" that he later became. We did not yet think of him as "the Voice of the Yankees" like we did Phil Rizzuto, and generations before thought of Mel Allen.

And he knew that this team had won just 92 games in the regular season, faced a tough challenge from the Orioles to win the AL East, lost Game 1 of the ALDS to the Texas Rangers and were losing in Game 2 before they came back to win that, Game 3 and Game 4; and then had the Jeffrey Maier incident in Game 1 of the ALCS and lost Game 2 before sweeping 3 in Baltimore, and finally coming back from 2 games to 0 to take the next 4 of the World Series against the Braves.

This Yankee team's greatness was not in their numbers or in their star power – remember, Derek Jeter was a rookie, so was Jorge Posada (and he wasn't even the starting catcher yet), and Rivera and Andy Pettitte were both in Year 2 – but in their performance, their courage and their resilience. As George Steinbrenner said afterwards, "They're battlers, and New York is a city of battlers. You battle for everything in this town: For cabs, for a seat in a restaurant, everything."

And Sterling summed the '96 Yankees up: "They're not a great team, but they're a team that plays great together."

Beautiful. Then in 1998, the Yankees became the greatest single-season team of all time.

Key and David Cone had won the World Series in 1992, with the Toronto Blue Jays. O'Neill and Duncan had won it in 1990, with the Cincinnati Reds. For the rest of them, it was the 1st time.

Boggs had come so close in 1986, with the Boston Red Sox. One of the defining images of that Series is of him sitting in the visitors' dugout at Shea Stadium, pink and puffy with tears as his Boston Red Sox blew a sure win to the Mets. Now, 10 years later, one of the defining images of the Series is of him riding a police horse to celebrate his long-awaited title.

The 1996 season remains one of the most treasured in Yankee history, because it was a title that wasn't expected. And because it launched a Dynasty: While the Yankees only got the AL Wild Card in 1997, and lost in the AL Division Series, they won the World Series in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and additional Pennants in 2001 and 2003.

But all that could only be guessed at as we watched the ticker-tape parade up Broadway. For now, we were happy just to have the title again. 'Twas glory was sought, and to glory we were returned.