October 16, 2003: Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Pedro Martinez vs. Roger Clemens. In his 1st game at Yankee Stadium since he tried to kill Don Zimmer, Pedro gets the hell booed out of him – and that's a lot of hell. But the Sox take a 4-0 lead over the Yankees in the 4th, before Joe Torre lifts Clemens and brings in Mike Mussina. Making the 1st relief appearance of his career, Mussina stops the bleeding.
Jason Giambi hits 2 home runs to make it 4-2 in the 7th, but David Ortiz – not for the first time, and certainly not for the last (cough-steroids-cough) – hurts the Yankees by blasting a home run off David Wells. It's 5-2 Red Sox.
Pedro gets the 1st out in the bottom of the 8th, but then… Derek Jeter doubles. Then Bernie Williams singles, scoring Jeter to make it 5-3. Pedro is over the 100-pitch mark. From pitches 1 through 99, he throws like Sandy Koufax; from pitch 100 onward, he throws like Sandy Duncan. Red Sox manager Grady Little goes to the mound, but decides to leave Pedro in.
Big mistake. Hideki Matsui hits a ground-rule double down the right-field line, moving Bernie to third. Still, Little does not pull Pedro. Jorge Posada hits a looper into short center, scoring the tying runs. Just 5 outs from the Pennant, and the greatest victory the Red Sox would have since, oh, 1918, and they have choked yet again.
Mariano Rivera pitches the 9th, 10th and 11th for the Yankees. He pitches the top of the 11th pretty much on courage alone. The Yankees need to win it in the bottom of the 11th, because the bullpen situation doesn't look good.
Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballer who won Games 1 and 4 of this series, is on the mound. Leading off the inning is Aaron Boone, the Yankee 3rd baseman.
You know where I was at this moment? I was going from place to place watching the game, and I decided to get on the Subway and head up to The Stadium. Win or lose, I felt I had to be there. But the Subway was crawling, seeming to take forever. I forgot that it was after midnight. Frustrated, I
got off at the 50th Street station of the A train.
Next thing I know, I’m standing in front of 220 West 48th Street, the Longacre Theatre. Do you know who built (in 1912) and owned this theater? Harry Frazee. The very man who broke up the Red Sox and sold off so many of their players to the Yankees, including Babe Ruth. What a place to be standing in as the Yankees and Red Sox battled for the Pennant.
In 1935, Clifford Odets' play Waiting for Lefty debuted at the Longacre. Sox fans were still waiting for Alan Embree, the lefty that Little refused to bring in for Pedro.
It was 12:16 AM, actually October 17, 2003, but since the game started on the 16th, it goes down in history as October 16.
I had my headphones on, and on WCBS 880, I heard Charley Steiner say this:
There's a fly ball, deep to left! It’s on its way! There it goes! And the Yankees are going to the World Series! Aaron Boone has hit a home run! The Yankees go to the World Series for the 39th time in their remarkable history! Aaron Boone down the left field line, they are waiting for him at home plate, and now he dives into the scrum! The Yankees win it, 6-5!
Together, Steiner and John Sterling yelled Sterling's tagline: "Ballgame over! American League Championship Series over! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!" Steiner: "I've always wanted to say that!"
The Longacre is at the northern end of Times Square. It sounded like a million car horns went off at once. People poured out of the restaurants and bars in the Square. People were slapping each other on the back, giving high five after high five.
By the time I finally got home at around 2 in the morning, my hair was soaked with sweat, my eyes were aching from being up too late, my voice was shot from screaming, my hands throbbed from shaking and high-fiving, my legs and feet throbbed from all the walking.
I've never felt better in my life.
Boone joined Tommy Henrich (1949 World Series vs. Brooklyn Dodgers), Mickey Mantle (1964 WS vs. St. Louis Cardinals), Chris Chambliss (1976 ALCS vs. Kansas City Royals), Jim Leyritz (1995 AL Division Series vs. Seattle Mariners), Bernie Williams (Game 1 of ALCS in both 1996 and 1999), Chad Curtis (1999 WS), Alfonso Soriano (2001 ALCS) and Jeter (2001 WS) as Yankees who have hit walkoff home runs in postseason play. (It's since been done by Mark Teixeira, 2009 ALDS; and Raul Ibanez, 2012 ALDS.)
And he joined Enos Slaughter (1946 Cardinals), Lou Boudreau (1948 Cleveland Indians), Bob Gibson (1967 Cardinals), Joe Morgan (1975 Cincinnati Reds), and, collectively, the 1978 Yankees (especially Bucky Dent) and the 1986 Mets as Red Sox postseason tormentors.
Jeter said, "We've got some ghosts in this Stadium."
In 2009, it sure looked like they'd made the trip across the street. Now, I'm not so sure.
Clemens, Wells, and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre walk out to the Babe Ruth Monument, and offer the Big Fella some champagne. Clemens slaps the plaque on the tablet, and says, "He's smiling! He's smiling! He's smiling, Mel!"
Grady Little was not smiling. He was fired as Sox manager within days.
The next day's Daily News headline read, "THE CURSE LIVES." For the Sox… once again, it was "Wait Till Next Year."
No, no. Really. They meant it this time.
Boone got hurt in the off-season, leading the Yankees to trade for Alex Rodriguez. Injuries and a heart ailment ended his career after the 2009 regular season, after which he was an analyst on Fox’ postseason broadcasts as the Yankees won their first Pennant since his walkoff.
Jason Giambi hits 2 home runs to make it 4-2 in the 7th, but David Ortiz – not for the first time, and certainly not for the last (cough-steroids-cough) – hurts the Yankees by blasting a home run off David Wells. It's 5-2 Red Sox.
Pedro gets the 1st out in the bottom of the 8th, but then… Derek Jeter doubles. Then Bernie Williams singles, scoring Jeter to make it 5-3. Pedro is over the 100-pitch mark. From pitches 1 through 99, he throws like Sandy Koufax; from pitch 100 onward, he throws like Sandy Duncan. Red Sox manager Grady Little goes to the mound, but decides to leave Pedro in.
Big mistake. Hideki Matsui hits a ground-rule double down the right-field line, moving Bernie to third. Still, Little does not pull Pedro. Jorge Posada hits a looper into short center, scoring the tying runs. Just 5 outs from the Pennant, and the greatest victory the Red Sox would have since, oh, 1918, and they have choked yet again.
Mariano Rivera pitches the 9th, 10th and 11th for the Yankees. He pitches the top of the 11th pretty much on courage alone. The Yankees need to win it in the bottom of the 11th, because the bullpen situation doesn't look good.
Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballer who won Games 1 and 4 of this series, is on the mound. Leading off the inning is Aaron Boone, the Yankee 3rd baseman.
You know where I was at this moment? I was going from place to place watching the game, and I decided to get on the Subway and head up to The Stadium. Win or lose, I felt I had to be there. But the Subway was crawling, seeming to take forever. I forgot that it was after midnight. Frustrated, I
got off at the 50th Street station of the A train.
Next thing I know, I’m standing in front of 220 West 48th Street, the Longacre Theatre. Do you know who built (in 1912) and owned this theater? Harry Frazee. The very man who broke up the Red Sox and sold off so many of their players to the Yankees, including Babe Ruth. What a place to be standing in as the Yankees and Red Sox battled for the Pennant.
In 1935, Clifford Odets' play Waiting for Lefty debuted at the Longacre. Sox fans were still waiting for Alan Embree, the lefty that Little refused to bring in for Pedro.
It was 12:16 AM, actually October 17, 2003, but since the game started on the 16th, it goes down in history as October 16.
I had my headphones on, and on WCBS 880, I heard Charley Steiner say this:
There's a fly ball, deep to left! It’s on its way! There it goes! And the Yankees are going to the World Series! Aaron Boone has hit a home run! The Yankees go to the World Series for the 39th time in their remarkable history! Aaron Boone down the left field line, they are waiting for him at home plate, and now he dives into the scrum! The Yankees win it, 6-5!
The Longacre is at the northern end of Times Square. It sounded like a million car horns went off at once. People poured out of the restaurants and bars in the Square. People were slapping each other on the back, giving high five after high five.
By the time I finally got home at around 2 in the morning, my hair was soaked with sweat, my eyes were aching from being up too late, my voice was shot from screaming, my hands throbbed from shaking and high-fiving, my legs and feet throbbed from all the walking.
I've never felt better in my life.
Boone joined Tommy Henrich (1949 World Series vs. Brooklyn Dodgers), Mickey Mantle (1964 WS vs. St. Louis Cardinals), Chris Chambliss (1976 ALCS vs. Kansas City Royals), Jim Leyritz (1995 AL Division Series vs. Seattle Mariners), Bernie Williams (Game 1 of ALCS in both 1996 and 1999), Chad Curtis (1999 WS), Alfonso Soriano (2001 ALCS) and Jeter (2001 WS) as Yankees who have hit walkoff home runs in postseason play. (It's since been done by Mark Teixeira, 2009 ALDS; and Raul Ibanez, 2012 ALDS.)
And he joined Enos Slaughter (1946 Cardinals), Lou Boudreau (1948 Cleveland Indians), Bob Gibson (1967 Cardinals), Joe Morgan (1975 Cincinnati Reds), and, collectively, the 1978 Yankees (especially Bucky Dent) and the 1986 Mets as Red Sox postseason tormentors.
Jeter said, "We've got some ghosts in this Stadium."
In 2009, it sure looked like they'd made the trip across the street. Now, I'm not so sure.
Clemens, Wells, and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre walk out to the Babe Ruth Monument, and offer the Big Fella some champagne. Clemens slaps the plaque on the tablet, and says, "He's smiling! He's smiling! He's smiling, Mel!"
Grady Little was not smiling. He was fired as Sox manager within days.
The next day's Daily News headline read, "THE CURSE LIVES." For the Sox… once again, it was "Wait Till Next Year."
No, no. Really. They meant it this time.
Boone got hurt in the off-season, leading the Yankees to trade for Alex Rodriguez. Injuries and a heart ailment ended his career after the 2009 regular season, after which he was an analyst on Fox’ postseason broadcasts as the Yankees won their first Pennant since his walkoff.
A lot can change in 18 years. We have now seen Aaron Boone become the Yankees' manager, taking us to the Playoffs 4 straight years, but never getting us closer to a Pennant than Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS. And, among the less pleasant things, we have seen the Red Sox win 4 World Series, breaking the Curse of the Bambino. And we have now seen them beat the Yankees in not one, not two, but, counting this past Tuesday night's AL Wild Card Game, three postseason rounds (if not "series").
But we have also seen them exposed as dirty rotten cheaters, multiple times, and continue to lie about it, meaning we can no longer chant, "NINE-teen-EIGHT-teen! (Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)."
But we can still write "1918*."
*
October 16, 2003 was a Thursday. The National League Pennant had been decided the day before, when the team then known as the Florida Marlins won Game 7 of the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, aided by an 8-run 8th inning in Game 6, which will forever be remembered, fairly or otherwise, as the Steve Bartman Game.
This was before the NFL seemingly had a regular-season game every Thursday night. But there were 3 college football games played:
* North Carolina State beat Clemson, 17-15 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* Louisiana-Lafayette beat New Mexico State, 26-24 at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana. Lafayette is the hometown of Yankee Legend Ron Guidry, and he graduated from the school under its former name, the University of Southwestern Louisiana. It became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1999, and have called their teams "the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns" since 2017.
* And Colorado State beat the Air Force Academy, cross-State rivals 30-20 at home at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins.
The NBA season wouldn't start until October 28. But there were 10 NHL games played that night:
* The New Jersey Devils, defending Stanley Cup Champions, and the Toronto Maple Leafs played to a tie, 2-2 at the Brendan Byrne Arena. Jay Pandolfo opened the scoring for the Scarlet & Black, then the Leafs scored twice. With goaltender Martin Brodeur pulled for the extra attacker, Sergei Brylin scored with 2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. But neither side could find a winning goal.
* Across the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers at Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers also couldn't find a winner in 65 minutes, or even a single goal. They played the Atlanta Thrashers to a 0-0 tie. The New York Islanders were not scheduled for that night.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 at the Bell Centre.
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-1 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. (It's now named the Amalie Arena.)
* The Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville. (It's now named the Bridgestone Arena.)
* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild, 5-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. (It was then temporarily known as Rexall Place.)
* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the San Jose Sharks played to a 0-0 tie, at the HP Pavilion at San Jose. (It's now named the SAP Center.)