Tino Martinez
September 25, 1996, 25 years ago: Well, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. Let's go back to where we left off in this story:
May 14, 1996: The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-0 at the old Yankee Stadium. Dwight Gooden pitches a no-hitter.
Fans were beginning to understand that this could be a special year for the Bronx Bombers.
That was quite a Summer. I wasn't just watching the Yankees. I had a fantastic radio that was pulling in radio stations from all over the Eastern U.S. Here was the AM dial:
600 CFCF, Montreal, Montreal Expos
660 WFAN, New York, New York Mets
670 WMAQ, Chicago, Chicago White Sox
700 WLW, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Reds
720 WGN, Chicago, Chicago Cubs
760 WJR, Detroit, Detroit Tigers
770 WABC, New York, New York Yankees
830 WCCO, Minneapolis, Minnesota Twins
900 CHML, Hamilton, Toronto Blue Jays
1020 KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1080 WTIC, Hartford, Boston Red Sox
1090 WBAL "Radio 11," Baltimore, Baltimore Orioles
1120 KMOX, St. Louis, St. Louis Cardinals
1210 WPHT, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies
1220 WKNR, Cleveland Cleveland Indians
That's 15 out of the 28 teams then playing. It was easier to get the Red Sox on the Hartford station than on what was then their Boston flagship, 680 WRKO. WTIC had a much stronger signal. Same with the Jays and the Hamilton station over their Toronto flagship, 590 CJCL.
So many great broadcasters. Bob Murphy with the Mets, Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn in Philly, Jon Miller in Baltimore, Lanny Frattare in Pittsburgh, Marty Brennaman in Cincinnati, Ernie Harwell in Detroit, John Gordon in Minnesota, Jack Buck in St. Louis.
*
May 27, 1996: Memorial Day. The Yankees beat the team then known as the California Angels, 16-5 at Anaheim Stadium. Tino Martinez hits a home run in support of Andy Pettitte.
Pettitte had been a rookie the year before, and had endeared himself to Yankee Fans quickly. Martinez was another story. He had been acquired in a trade with the Seattle Mariners, who had eliminated the Yankees from the previous season's Playoffs, and he was a big reason why they had. And he had been put at 1st base, and was thus replacing the most popular Yankee of his generation, Don Mattingly.
The homer was 1 of 3 hits he got on the night, for 5 RBIs. He was batting .256, and the fans began to warm to him, judging him on his own merits, instead of comparing him to the now-departed "Donnie Baseball."
Catcher Mike Stanley had also been popular, but was not re-signed for 1996, and was signed by the arch-rival Red Sox. Joe Girardi had been acquired. He wasn't much of a hitter, but was a good fielder and a good handler of pitchers.
With David Cone recovering from aneurysm surgery on his shoulder, those pitchers included a rotation of Pettitte, Jimmy Key, Dwight Gooden and Kenny Rogers; and a bullpen of Jeff Nelson (obtained in the same trade as Tino), Mariano Rivera (a Panamanian who had a great fastball but had not yet discovered the pitch that would make him great, the cut fastball or "cutter"), and closer John Wetteland.
In the 1970s and '80s, Pacific Coast roadtrips were killers for Yankee Fans' hopes, especially the August edition. The dropped 2 out of 3 away to the Seattle Mariners, and also to the Angels, with the Memorial Day game being the only one they won. But they went up to the San Francisco Bay Area, and swept 3 from the Oakland Athletics.
When the action of baseball closed on Sunday, June 2, the Yankees were in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, 2 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. They had been in 1st when the Strike of '94 hit, but hadn't finished 1st since the strike-split 1981 season, or in a full season since 1980.
And they stayed in 1st place, finishing June 4 1/2 games up. From July 1 to 14, a stretch that included the All-Star Break, they won 9 out of 10, and were 10 games up. As for the All-Star Game, played at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Wade Boggs, the hitting machine who had once won batting titles for the Boston Red Sox, was the only Yankee elected as a starter, and no Yankee hitters were named as reserves. But Pettitte and closer John Wetteland were named to the pitching staff. The National League won the game, 6-0. Maybe more Yankees should have been selected.
The Yankees lost 2 out of 3 to the Red Sox in Boston, the last game a walkoff 12-11 loss on July 17. But while the Orioles were hitting home runs like crazy -- some credited the cozy confines of Camden Yards, some suspected steroids -- they weren't getting closer. After the games of July 28, the Yankees were 12 games up. In all of MLB, only the defending World Champion Atlanta Braves had a better record, and that by only half a game.
There were some wild games. The Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 15-1 on July 26, the Angels 17-6 on August 20, and the Red Sox 12-11 in a walkoff on September 21. But they also lost to the Milwaukee Brewers 16-4 on July 18, 15-2 to the Texas Rangers on July 20, 13-12 in 12 innings to the Mariners on August 18, and 14-3 to the Angels on August 29.
On the 4th of July, his 66th birthday, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, always a sucker for a redemption story (after all, he was in need of his own), signed Darryl Strawberry, who, like Gooden, was a former Met superstar who was trying to put drugs behind him. Cone had also been a teammate of theirs in Flushing, although he had arrived after their 1986 World Series win. And manager Joe Torre had managed the Mets earlier than that. They all needed a redemption season.
Torre was 56 years old. The native of the Marine Park neighborhood of Brooklyn debuted in the major leagues with the Milwaukee Braves in 1960, making him a teammate of his brother, Frank, a member of the 1957 team that included future Hall-of-Famers Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Warren Spahn, and had beaten the Yankees in the World Series, before the Yankees avenged that defeat in the next year's Series.
Joe was still with the Braves when they moved to Atlanta in 1966, and hit the 1st major league home run in Atlanta (although the Braves lost the 1st game). He had been traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, and won the NL's batting title and Most Valuable Player award in 1971. In 1977, while still playing with the Mets, he was named their manager, but had little to work with. In 1982, he managed the Braves to the NL Western Division, but couldn't lead them to the Pennant.
He became a broadcaster for the Angels, and was shown in the broadcast booth in the movie Taking Care of Business, which showed the Chicago Cubs, who hadn't won a Pennant since 1945 or a World Series since 1908, winning the World Series over the Angels, who had been playing since 1961 and had never won a Pennant. He then managed the Cardinals, but was fired in the middle of the 1995 season.
He had now managed every team he'd played for, and been fired by all of them. "I thought I was done as a manager," he told a reporter. "I'd run out of teams."
But Steinbrenner wanted him to manage the Yankees. His bench coach was Don Zimmer. He had been a decent player, helping the Dodgers win the World Series in Brooklyn (1955) and Los Angeles (1959), and was an original Met (1962). But he had infamously been the manager of the Red Sox in 1978, when they had the terrible collapse that the Yankees took advantage of, and Sox fans had blamed him for it ever since. He did win an NL East title with the Cubs in 1989, but hadn't won a Pennant as a manager.
Torre's staff also included a pair of players from the Yankee teams of the 1976-78 Dynasty, Chris Chambliss and Willie Randolph; and Mel Stottlemyre, once a great Yankee pitcher, and the pitching coach on the 1980s Mets, and thus a man trusted by Gooden and Cone.
But there was a cloud over Torre's season: His brother Frank, now 64 years old, was in mortal danger, in need of a heart transplant. And then, on June 21, he got a phone call from his sister, Marguerite, a nun: His brother was dead. Not Frank, which wouldn't have been a surprise. Another brother, Rocco Torre, who was 69 years old, and wasn't even thought to be sick. It was an awful blow. But he managed on.
On July 31, the Yankees traded moody slugger Ruben Sierra and minor-league Matt Drews to the Detroit Tigers for jolly slugger Cecil Fielder. Cecil's career had stalled, and was now revitalized. On August 22, the Yankees picked up another member of the '95 Mariners, backup infielder Luis Sojo. The next day, they traded relievers Bob Wickman and Ricky Bones, and the outfielder who was once their leading prospect, Gerald Williams, to the Brewers for shortstop Pat Listach -- not really necessary due to the fine rookie season of Derek Jeter -- and the very tall Australian reliever Graeme Lloyd. A week after that, they traded a minor leaguer to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 3rd baseman Charlie Hayes.
The Yankees were still 10 games up on August 6. But they began to slide, and the Orioles began to improve. By August 25, the Yanks were only 6 games up, and they went on their 2nd Pacific Coast trip of the season. They got swept 3 straight in Seattle, spilt 4 in Anaheim, and won 2 out of 3 in Oakland. They ended the trip on September 4, 4 games up.
That trip included September 2, against the A's at the Oakland Coliseum. It was Cone's return. No one knew what to expect, either from his arm or his mind. They needn't have worried: He pitched 7 innings, allowing no runs, and no hits. He walked 3, but struck out 6. He threw 85 pitches, but Torre was too worried about Cone's arm to pitch him beyond the 7th. He sent Rivera in, and he lost the no-hitter with 1 out in the 9th, but the Yankees won 5-0. New acquisitions Fielder (not surprising) and Hayes (a little surprising) hit home runs.
The Yankees dropped 2 out of 3 at home to the Jays, and were only 2 1/2 games up on the Orioles. Was this an epic choke in the making? No: They went to Detroit and took 3 straight from the Tigers, outscoring them 28-14. Then they took 3 out of 4 from the Jays in Toronto.
The September 18 game may have been the key to the season. It was the 1st of 3 against the Orioles at home. Pettitte pitched well, but Scott Erickson pitched better, and the Yankees trailed 2-1 going to the bottom of the 9th. But Paul O'Neill and Fielder drew 2 leadoff walks, and Bernie Williams singled O'Neill home. That was all they could get, and the game went to extra innings.
No "ghost runner" back then: Jeter led off the bottom of the 10th with a single. Hayes bunted him to 2nd. Tim Raines, the former leadoff superstar for the Montreal Expos, grounded to 2nd, sending Jeter to 3rd. And Ruben Rivera, in what turned out to be the biggest moment of his career, singled Hayes hom. It was a 3-2 win, and the Yankees were 4 games up. They split the next-day's doubleheader, winning 9-3 and losing 10-9.
September 25, 1996, 25 years ago: The Yankees sweep a doubleheader from Brewers at Yankee Stadium. David Cone went 6 innings in the opener, and was backed by a furious attack that included homers by Tino and Raines. The Yankees won, 19-2.
The nightcap was started by Kenny Rogers, and he didn't finish the 6th inning. But he got a home run from Strawberry, and the Yankees won, 6-2. They were now 5 games ahead of the Orioles with 4 games to play. They had clinched the American League Eastern Division Championship, for the 6th time, but the 1st in 15 years.
The Yankees finished 92-70. It was the fewest games they had ever won in a full 154-game or 162-game season and still finished 1st. But they were still in the Playoffs, where anything could happen. So who cared what their record was?
As their radio broadcaster, John Sterling, put it, "They're not a great team, but they're a team that plays great together."