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.
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