When the New York Yankees opened Spring Training in February of 1996, the bitter taste of their 1995 ALDS loss to the Seattle Mariners was still burning in the mouth of the proud franchise and their followers.
Up 2-0 in the series, New York would lose three straight road games and be sent home for the winter. During the offseason, they parted ways with manager Buck Showalter, shifted Gene Michael into a role as the team’s VP and director of scouting, and hired Bob Watson as GM.
On the heels of owner George Steinbrenner’s suspension from baseball, Watson and Michael had been slowly rebuilding the team with a mixture of homegrown talent, trades and modest free agent signings.
New York won 88 games in 1993, had the AL’s best record when the 1994 players’ strike hit in August and used a 26-8 finish to claim the AL’s first-ever wild-card berth in 1995.
One of Watson’s first moves was to hire Joe Torre as Showalter’s replacement. Dubbed “Clueless Joe” by the media at the time of his hire, the move would later be looked at as one of the many right buttons Watson pushed while becoming the club’s first black GM.
The early remnants of the “Core Four” were already on the roster and making contributions. Outfielder Bernie Williams, along with pitchers Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera had become stalwarts.
But there was one other piece added to the roster as well.
The team’s No. 1 draft pick from 1992, shortstop Derek Jeter was brought up at the end of the 1995 season. A year later, the sixth overall pick became the team’s starting shortstop when incumbent Tony Fernandez fractured his right elbow during spring training.
Other key acquisitions during the off season were first baseman Tino Martinez from Seattle to replace the retired Don Mattingly, outfielder Tim Raines from the Chicago White Sox, and former Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden.
The former Met was suspended for the 1995 season after a positive drug test while serving a prior suspension. After pitching poorly in April and nearly getting released, he was sent down to the minors where he worked on his mechanics and soon returned with a shortened wind-up.
Gooden’s early woes were reflective of New York’s struggles as well. While New York won on Opening Day in Cleveland behind Jeter’s first MLB homer, the Yankees started slowly, winning just 11 of their first 21 games.
However, they won nine of 10 as April turned to May and moved into first place for good.
One of the biggest wins came on May 14th when Gooden no-hit the Seattle Mariners 2-0 at Yankee Stadium. It was the first by a Yankee right-hander since Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series and the first by a Yankee right-hander during the regular season since Allie Reynolds’ second no-hitter in 1951.
As soon as the calendar flipped over to June, though, things really started clicking for New York. Ripping off three wins in a row to start the month – and four in a row dating back to May – the Yankees would ride their hot offense to an 18-11 record.
The Yankees then carried that success into July, as they started the month by winning nine out of ten games leading up to the All-Star break. However, Watson did not stand pat with the roster during the month.
Another former Met, outfielder/DH Darryl Strawberry was signed as a free agent on July 4th while toiling for the minor league independent St. Paul Saints. Slugging first baseman Cecil Fielder was acquired on July 31st from Detroit for outfielder Ruben Sierra and a minor leaguer.
They also reacquired third baseman Charlie Hayes from the Pirates on August 30th for a player to be named later. Even though the club struggled during the month (13-17), New York rebounded in a huge way in September going 16-11 with a +55 run differential for the month.
The Bronx Bombers were keyed by Fielder combined with a resurgent Strawberry to provide serious second-half pop at DH. Eventually, they would win the AL East by four games over the second-place Baltimore Orioles.
New York rolled over the Texas Rangers in a four-game Division Series, then beat the Orioles in a five-game ALCS, aided by 12-year-old fan Jefftey Maier snagging Jeter’s game-tying home run in the eighth inning of the opener.
The ALCS triumph was even more meaningful for manager Torre as it was his first Fall Classic after 4,110 games between his playing and managerial careers. He would also go against his former team, the Braves in the World Series.
The defending World Champions’ bats came out guns blazing to start the series, dropping a combined 16 runs on the Yankees in Games 1 and 2. The Hall of Fame duo of John Smoltz and Greg Maddux were just as good as their team’s bats, throwing 14 innings of one-run ball.
Despite being down 0-2 and going on the road to Atlanta, the Yankees stunned the baseball world to take four straight games. In keeping with their trend of playing close games throughout the playoffs, the margins of victory for the Yankees during the World Series were three runs, two runs, one run, and one run respectively.
In the clinching victory back in the Bronx, it was one of the acquired MLBbros that put an end to the Series. Atlanta fought to the end, stroking three singles off John Wetteland to cut New York’s lead to 3-2.
Mark Lemke stepped in, aiming to drive home Rafael Belliard from second base with the potential tying run. Lemke ran the count full, and the sixth pitch of the at-bat drifted foul, sending Charlie Hayes tumbling into the visiting dugout.
Hayes dislocated a finger but told no one, jogging back to his position. Lemke lofted the seventh pitch in a similar area, but this time it remained in play, soon to become October lore.
The series win – their 23rd World Series title and their first since 1978 – proved to be a prelude to a budding dynasty as the Yankees would start one of the most magical stretches in the franchise’s storied history.
And it was a group of prominent MLBbros that were right in the middle of it for the Pinstripes.
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