Power and Pinstripes by Jeff Mangold & Peter Botte

Author:Jeff Mangold & Peter Botte [Mangold, Jeff & Botte, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-13T00:44:04+00:00

11. A Nice Ring to It

After the 1998 regular season the New York Yankees had just completed, we were starting to get almost a rock band following wherever we went—whether that was getting on and off the bus at the hotels or during batting practice. Even though the Yankees always had enjoyed a massive following anyway, this was special. This was different.

At the same time, it almost felt like during the regular season, even though we had a record-setting year, as if we were an afterthought in many ways. That’s because that year really was all about the home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in the National League. It was almost as if the playoffs marked the first time the media outside of New York was paying attention to the Yankees because of how we cruised through the 162-game slate. We had such a big lead in our division, and now all of a sudden it was like, okay, these 114 wins mean nothing if we don’t seal the deal.

You could just feel the immediacy of things getting ratcheted up in Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers. Getting off to a good start and getting things going in the right direction were paramount. Another thing I can’t forget is that a day or so before the playoffs started, we found out that Darryl Strawberry was suffering from colon cancer. That really floored the team, but it also served as an unforeseen rallying cry. Several players were quite close to Straw. Chili Davis was from the same part of Los Angeles as Straw. Tim Raines also was really tight with him. A lot of the younger guys were, too. His teammates looked up to him for all he’d overcome in his life, namely the battles with drugs from earlier in his career with the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He’d also contributed monster offensive numbers to our lineup that year with 24 home runs and a .542 slugging percentage in only 295 at-bats. When we swept the Rangers in Arlington, Raines got the whole team together for a toast and said, “This is for Straw!”

That clinching Game 3 actually was rain-delayed for hours. It was like a monsoon. It absolutely poured. They had a state-of-the-art drainage system in Texas, though, so no matter how much it rained, the field would be fine, and it was. It was incredible. Eventually, David Cone pitched a gem, Shane Spencer and Paul O’Neill went deep, and I’ll never forget the guys chanting “Dar-ryl, Dar-ryl” in the clubhouse afterward.

The Cleveland Indians were up next in the American League Championship Series, and it was a shot at redemption for our guys after losing to the Indians the previous fall. What a lineup they had with Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, David Justice, Travis Fryman, Sandy Alomar Jr., Omar Vizquel. You just knew that these guys could blow you out of the water at any time.

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