Yankees are champions but not the Bronx Bombers anymore

[Reuter / Gary Hill]

NEW YORK (Reuter) - They're still baseball's richest team in
tradition and good old-fashioned cash, but the New York Yankees
who won the 1996 World Series are something new in pinstripes.
They're not the Bronx Bombers anymore.
The club, whose trademark used to be big bullying bats and
bigger bullying egos, beat the Atlanta Braves in the World
Series on guts and ``little ball.''
After being dominated in two defeats at home, 12-1 and 4-0,
the Yankees hit the road against the defending champions
seemingly with no chance of their first title in 18 years.
``We were throughly embarrassed the first two games,'' said
David Cone, who pitched New York's first win in Game 3. ``Our
pride was wounded. We had something to prove.
``We wanted to show that we belonged and that we can beat
these guys. People were talking about the Atlanta Braves and how
super they were and their place in history. That was motivation
for us.''
Said Yankee manager Joe Torre: ``We haven't been intimidated
all year by anybody. We have a lot of heart.''
John Smoltz, who pitched a magnificent Game 5 for Atlanta,
yielding just one unearned but still losing to Andy Pettitte
said: ``I just give them all the credit. They just flat-out took
the Series. They were down. They were out.''
``Andy Pettitte sort of set the stage for their staff after
getting ripped here in New York and they came right back and
showed us what they were made of,'' said Atlanta manager Bobby
Cox.
It helps to be lucky, and the breaks, bounces and umpires'
mistakes all seemed to go the Yankees' way.
But Cox, who was ejected from the deciding Game 6 for
arguing with the umps, said: ``There's no excuses. We don't
blame the umpires, we don't blame bad hops. We don't blame
anything. We simply got beat.''
They were beaten by a team that relied not on the longball
that was the main weapon of most of the previous Yankee World
Series champions, but on moving one base at a time. Torre called
it ``little-ball.''
``We weren't the Bronx Bombers. We were the boppers for a
while, we were the runners. We did whatever we had to do to
win,'' Torre said.
Thus the veteran Wade Boggs, a likely Hall of Famer, had his
biggest at-bat ever when he drew a bases-loaded walk in the 10th
inning of Game 4 -- off the bench.
Both starters at the corners, Boggs at third and Tino
Martinez at first, were uncomplaining benchwarmers at times.
``'We, Us, Team' got us through 160 games and the
playoffs,'' said General Manager Bob Watson. ``We played 'Get
'em over, get 'em in,' we tried to play 27 outs, which is the
way to play the game. I am very proud of this club right now.''
``Everybody had a piece of it,'' Torre said. ``We went
through a period every player on our 25-man roster helped to win
a game.''
Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams, a quiet superstar in
the making who had a subpar Series, said the goal was always
clear. ``Joe Torre talked World Series right from February, and
I've never been with a team so close.''
The Most Valuable Player Award won by closer John Wetteland,
who set a Series record with four saves, could have gone to the
entire New York bullpen (2.13 earned run average), which
thoroughly outperformed Atlanta's.
To get into those bullpen duels, the Yankees outwaited
Atlanta's stellar trio of Smoltz, Greg (the greatest pitcher of
his era) Maddux, the Game 6 loser, and Tom Glavine, who yielded
only one earned run in losing Game 3 and never got a chance at
Game 7 and his second Series clincher in two years.
Atlanta general manager John Scheurholz said the difference
between the Yankees and Braves was ``$20 million'' -- the
difference between the largest payroll in baseball and the
largest in the National League.
Yankee boss George Steinbrenner put up the money that
brought over slugger Cecil Fielder, the Yanks' leading Series
batter (.391), third baseman Charlie Hayes, and two former New
York Mets champions: slugger Darryl Strawberry and pitcher
Dwight Gooden.
``It's wonderful to have an owner with the will to win and
the money to fix something if it's broken,'' said Torre.
Steinbrenner's money also paid for Australian left-hander
Graeme Lloyd, who was perfect in the Series but who started out
so badly when he first came over during the regular season that
Steinbrenner threatened to fire Watson.
``You can say what you want about Mr Steinbrenner,'' Watson
said. ``He wants to win as much as anybody.''
There is uncertainty on the Yankees' horizon with
Steinbrenner's desire to leave the Bronx and make even more
money with a new stadium in Manhattan or New Jersey.
But all that was forgotten on a magical championship night
in the Bronx Saturday when a big full moon beamed above the
ancient white facade of Babe Ruth's old stadium.