ALCS Game 7 2003: The Day the Bambino Returned Again

Hey Yankee fans. I had to write an Art/Sports paper for my expository writing class. Of course, I wrote about the Yankees. One of the best days of my life was being at the famous Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. I sat in the left-center bleachers with my pops, my brother, and my uncle. Here's the paper:

ALCS Game 7 2003: The Day the Bambino Returned Again

In the history of sports, no two teams have been as bitter rivals as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. New York and Boston have easily the most hardcore fans there are in sports, the kind of fans that live and die with their team. As the playoffs started in October of 2003, it was made obvious that the Yankees and Red Sox were destined to face off in what would shape up to be one of the best playoff series in baseball history. Both teams were unbelievably dominant baseball clubs that year, and the matchup was being predicted months in advance. We weren’t able to get our hands on tickets the day they went on sale, but were lucky enough to snag four seats to the “if necessary” Game Seven at Yankee Stadium. The day before that game, the Yankees and Sox had played a day game in the Bronx, which I watched with my brother. It was a close game, and interestingly enough, my brother rooted for the Yankees to lose so we could all go to the final game. I didn’t understand his logic immediately, so I game him a really hard time at first, and my mother had to step in to explain his logic. The Yankees lost the game; and the stage was set: we were going to Game Seven.

I went to the game with my father, my brother, and my uncle. We all met at my grandmother’s house in Queens, and took the subway into the stadium from Woodside, Queens, the last stop on the Long Island Railroad before Penn Station. My aunt and grandmother offered my brother and me dinner, but we had our hearts set on eating a bunch of hot dogs when we got to the stadium. Soon after we arrived, my father and uncle came. Before my dad and uncle came, my two cousins, who are also huge Yankee fans, gave my brother and me a Yankees troll to take to the game for good luck. They had brought it to the 2001 World Series games, which were massive comebacks, and have used it for luck ever since. After we all talked a bit, we left for the station. I couldn’t have been more excited. In 2001, I went to the first playoff game against the Oakland A’s, and sat in the bleachers with my father and my two close cousins. That game felt so electric because it my first playoff game, but it couldn’t possibly touch the electricity in the air of an October playoff matchup between the two toughest teams in the Major Leagues.

Arriving at Yankee Stadium by train never gets old. When arriving at the Yankee Stadium stop on the subway, you see a modern marvel of architecture. All the greats have played there, from Babe Ruth to Ted Williams to Cal Ripken Jr. Outside you see the white façade, the many flags representing the other clubs, and the gigantic lights. Inside you see fifty six thousand blue seats, the bright green grass of the outfield, and the light brown dirt of the infield. There is, however something else when you are in the stadium. You see faces filled with smiles and excitement. This is a place where families have bonded since 1923. Friends have come to enjoy America’s pastime and bond with one another. Here you see true baseball fans. That night, we didn’t see any ordinary game of baseball. It was the baseball of legend: Yankees/Red Sox baseball.

For Game Seven, we had very similar bleacher (hard metal benches painted Yankee blue) seats to our seats for the A’s game from 2001. These seats are located out in left field behind Monument Park. They are over four hundred feet from home plate in left-center field. Monument Park has been a staple of Yankees Stadium for thirty-two years, since the renovated stadium opened up in 1976. The mini-museum showcases plaques of all the Yankees greats, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and many others. The Babe Ruth statue is one of the largest, and we got to see Roger Clemens (The Yankees’ starter for the game) come into the bullpen to rub the Babe’s forehead, which is his pre-game ritual.

The pitching matchup of the game was one of the best you could ask for: Roger Clemens versus Pedro Martinez, two of the best pitchers of the last twenty years. Unfortunately for us, the Sox jumped out to an early lead. Clemens was taken out of the game during the fourth inning, after giving up three runs. Mike Mussina, another Yankee starter, came in for relief of Clemens. He pitched through the sixth inning, not giving up any runs. After six innings, the Red Sox were winning 4-1. It wasn’t looking good for awhile, but for some unexplainable reason, I felt an air of confidence, that although it was getting late in the game, the Yankees would ultimately win. Jason Giambi, the Yankees’ first baseman, kept the Yanks in the game by hitting two solo home runs to right field, one in the fifth inning, and one in the sixth. Slowly but surely, the Yankees wore down Martinez, a pitcher who usually got knocked out of games early due to his one-hundred pitch limit, usually taking him through the sixth or seventh innings. The eighth inning was when the monumental Yankee comeback started. Pedro Martinez was still in, and gave up a double to Derek Jeter (The Yankees captain) with one out. The Jeter double was followed up by a Bernie Williams single to centerfield, which scored Jeter, making the score 5-3 Red Sox. During the increasing offensive onslaught by the Yankees, my brother and father shook the troll my cousins gave to us before each important at-bat, laughing at its positive effect. Next, Hideki Matsui doubled to right field, bringing catcher Jorge Posada to the plate with one out, and base runners on first and second. Posada doubled to center field, scoring both Williams and Matsui. That single at bat was the point of no return. There was absolutely no way the Yankees would lose the game after coming back against one of the best pitchers in baseball and tying the game.

The game stayed stagnant for a while, as the game went into extra innings. Pitchers came in, and were called back out by either Managers Joe Torre (Yankees) or Grady Little (Red Sox). Mariano Rivera, the Yankees’ closer, and the best reliever in baseball history, came in during the ninth inning. This indicated to me that Joe Torre was going for the proverbial throat of the Red Sox. Teams don’t usually put the closer in when the game is tied, but circumstances being what they were, it was the obvious and right choice. Batters came up to the plate, and batters left. Rivera was dominant. To this day I have never seen a more dominant pitching performance. The scary parts of the game at that point were when the Sox’s great hitters: Johnny Damon, Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz came to the plate. Rivera ended up pitching three scoreless innings, into the eleventh inning. That was when Red Sox starting pitcher and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield came in the game to face Yankees’ third baseman Aaron Boone. A knuckleball is a pitch that isn’t thrown very fast, but breaks in such unpredictable vectors that it can really baffle hitters. This matchup would become legendary in a matter of minutes.

Wakefield’s first pitch could have stopped time. The first pitch to Boone was thrown, causing Boone to swing at a trajectory that I’d seen millions of times in my life. He swung upwards at a diagonal angle that if timed right could knock a baseball out of the park. Boone connected, and what a shot it was. I’m sure the hearts of many people around the country felt like mine did. It felt as though my heart stopped, but in reality it was probably beating uncontrollably. As Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling undoubtedly said, “It’s a shot deep to left! It is high! It is far! It is-gone! Game over! American League Championship Series over! The Yankees are going to the World Series! Yankees win! The Yankees win!” After Boone’s home run went over the left field wall, madness ensued in Yankee Stadium. I was jumping up and down on the bleacher bench, yelling, “We’re in the World Series! Oh my god, we’re in the World Series! Dad, we’re in the World Series!” We were all giving high fives to people we never met, it was such insanity. I lost my voice that night, and my hands were perpetually red from clapping much harder than any human being should ever clap. On the subway ride back to Woodside, people would approach us because of the Yankees hats and shirts we were wearing, saying what an incredible game it was.

The game was on a Thursday night, so the next day at school I got to brag to all my friends and schoolmates that I was at the best playoff game of all time. This game, to this day, is one of my favorite memories. I have been a Yankee fan as long as I can remember, and being there, witnessing a game on the caliber of those my father has seen, increased my love for the Yankees. The way the fans came together was something you had to witness firsthand to appreciate. I haven’t been able to go to a playoff game since, but hopefully this year will be different. Part of Yankees tradition is the way they win crucial games like this. This was one of those moments, and the spirit of the Bambino returned again.