1996, a great (baseball) year

For me, as a Yankee fan, 1996 was a great year. Not only because of the birth of my oldest daughter, but also because the Yankees won their first World Series since 1978. Back then I wasn’t even aware of baseball in America. That notion would only come in 1981.
There was only one tiny mishap. I got unemployed in October. Despite the perfect timing, I have never felt this useless in my life.
Anyhow, the timing was great. It gave me the opportunity to watch the extended summaries that the Dutch television aired.

Of course the start wasn’t great. The Yankees fell twice at home vs the reigning World Champions, the Atlanta Braves. At the time I thought that the Braves were the big favorites to win the World Series for the second year in a row. I liked the Braves as well, with their home grown team and their great rotation. Losing two games at home… I wasn’t hopefull that my Bronx bombers would get back into the series. Especially when you look to the result of game one: 12-1 Braves. Andy Pettitte and Jimmy Key were supposed to be the key stones of the Yankee rotation, but they couldn’t stop the Braves’ offense.

Then the whole circus moved to Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. David Cone was solid in six innings (one run on four hits, four walks and three strikouts). Mariano Rivera also allowed one run in 1.1 innings. He fanned one and gave up one free pass. Then the Giraffe, Graeme Lloyd. The tall Australian pitched 0.2 innings in which he didn’t allow a hit and struck out one. John Wetteland did what he was hired for: slamming the door. In one inning he retired the side. Despite striking out eight, Tom Glavine gave up two runs in seven innings to be tagged with the loss.

At the day of game four, in the morning, I had to do some errands. Of course I wore my Yankee cap. On my way back home, I saw a guy walking in the opposite direction. The guy wore a Braves cap. When we passed each other, we only looked at each other and grinned. We didn’t need words to understand what the other was thinking.

Then game four. The Braves were on the brink of a decisive 3-1 lead in the series, when they had a 6-0 lead after five innings. Kenny Rogers was a disaster that game. The Braves jumped on him in the first two innings, scoring five runs on his pitching. But the Yankees refused to give up. The Yankees got back into the game when they scored three runs in the top of the sixth. With no outs, with Jeter on second and Williams on first, Cecil Fielder drove the ball to right field. Jeter and Williams scored and Fielder advanced to second on an error by Jermaine Dye. Jim Leyritz drove in Fielder on a sharp line drive to right field.
In the fop of the eighth inning, with runners on the corners and one out (Mariano Duncan hit the ball into a force out. Luckily Rafael Belliard didn’t field the ball cleanly, so he was only able to make the out at second base instead of a double play), Jim Leyritz showed wat Yankee heroics is all about. Mark Wholers, one of the best relievers of his time, gave up a melon with a 2-2 count. Leyritz didn’t hesitate and jacked it over the left field fence to tie the game at six.

Nothing happened in the ninth, so extra innings were needed. With two outs in the top of the tenth, Steve Avery gave up a walk to Tim Raines followed by a single hit by Derek Jeter. An intentional walk given to Bernie Williams loaded the bases. But another (unintentional walk) to Boggs drove in the go ahead run for the Yankees. That was the end of Steve Avery in this game. He was pulled in favour of Brad Clontz. Ryan Klesko replaced Fred McGriff at first base, which appeared to be a bad move. Charlie Hayes hit a pop up towards Klesko who dropped the ball. Derek Jeter scored on the play and all runners were save.
Graeme Lloyd stayed in the game entering the bottom of the tenth. He fanned Ryan Klesko for the first out. Then John Wetteland entered the game and gave up a single to Andruw Jones. But eventually he retired the next two batters for the win.

Game five would be a genuine pitchers duel. John Smoltz lasted nine innings for the Braves, while Andy Pettitte lasted 8.1 innings. Pettitte allowed five hits and struck out three. Smoltz was masterful. He allowed four hits, walked three (just like Pettitte) but retired ten. The Yankees would win this one with the smalles possible margin: 1-0.  That run came in the fourth inning when the Yankees showed (with a little luck) how to produce a run. Charlie Hayes led off with a hit fly ball to center field but what should have been an out turned out to be the game winning run. An error by center fielder Marquis Grissom allowed Hayes to advance to second base. Hayes scored the opening and game winning run on a line drive double  hit by Cecil Fielder.
Once again John Wetteland slammed the door, but not after Andy Pettitte gave up double to Chipper Jones, who advanced to third on an unassisted ground out by Tino Martinez, hit by Fred McGriff. Wetteland retired the first hitter that he faced. Javy Lopez hit the ball into a 5-3 ground out that kept Jones at third. Wetteland gave up an intentional walk to Ryan Klesko before Luis Polonia hit a fly out to right-center field for the final out.

The series would go back to New York again.

During game six TV showed a banner which made me laugh very hard. It said: Gone with the win. Yankees burn Atlanta. Later I realized that it wasn’t quite so funny knowing what had happened to Atlanta in the Civil War.
Jimmy Key started the game. During the game he wasn’t stellar, probably because he was battling a minor injury, but with some rubber bands and duct tape the Yankees could hold him together for five innings. Just long enough for the win.
Anyhow, the Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third. The Braves didn’t give up and scored a run in the fourth. Entering the top of the ninth trailing 3-1, the Braves had to face John Wetteland again. Wetteland retired the first batter by fanning him but then gave up consecutive singles to Klesko and Terry Pendleton to put runners on the corners. Wetteland then struck out Luis Polonia before giving up another single to Marquis Grissom that allowed Ryan Klesko to score from third. The next batter, Mark Lemke, fought his way through a number of pitches. With a 3-2 count he sliced the ball into fould territory. Charlie Hayes chased it but fell into the Braves’ dugout as he failed to catch the ball. The next pitch was fouled off again but this time it was an easy prey for Charlie Hayes. Final out. The Yankees had won their first World Championship since 1978. I was in extacy and so were the players.    
They dogpiled in the infield and who will ever forget Wade Boggs riding on the back of a police horse. Boggs was in tears. He accomplished something with the Yankees what he never had done with the Red Sox.

It all couldn’t be more dramatic. During the World Series, Joe Torre’s brother, Frank, was in the hospital for a heart transplant. Of course several banners said “Win it for Frank.”
One thing is sure. The 1996 Yankees would be the foundation of a new Yankee dynasty. The 1996 Yankees were the result of the ban of teamowner George Steinbrenner. He wasn’t allowed to run the business. Thanks to this decision by Fay Vincent, the Yankees could build their farm system instead of trading away prospects. Even when Steinbrenner was allowed to get back in 1993, he left the day-to-day decisions to Gene Michael. Eventually this resulted in the foundation of a team that would win five pennants between 1996 and 2010.

Despite the various championships that would follow, the 1996 World Series win was the best that I have experienced. Why? Because it was the very first that I experienced since turning to the (evil) empire.