1996 Yankees

The 1996 New York Yankees hadn't won a World Series in 18 years. Eighteen. I was barely alive the last time they clinched one, and by October of '96 I'd convinced myself it might never happen again. The new manager was a guy the tabloids called "Clueless Joe." The ace was a 24-year-old lefty who looked like he should be teaching high school math. The shortstop was a rookie. And the bullpen closer was a setup man who'd been converted roughly five minutes earlier. Nobody -- and I mean NOBODY -- picked this team to win it all.

They won it all.

"Clueless Joe"

Joe Torre had managed three teams before the Yankees and hadn't won a single postseason series. The New York Post's headline when he was hired -- "CLUELESS JOE" -- was the kind of back-page cruelty that only New York can deliver with a straight face. Torre was 55 years old. He'd been fired three times. The Bronx wasn't exactly rolling out the red carpet.

CLUELESS JOE

But Torre did something none of his predecessors had managed under George Steinbrenner -- he kept the clubhouse calm. He trusted his players. He didn't panic when they lost three straight. He didn't bench guys after a bad week. He just sat in the dugout with his arms crossed and let the roster figure it out. It was either zen mastery or total indifference (honestly, the results were the same), and it worked better than any managerial strategy the franchise had tried since the '70s.

The Season

Derek Jeter won the starting shortstop job in spring training and immediately played like he'd been there for a decade. He hit .314, stole 14 bases, and carried himself with the kind of calm that 21-year-olds are not supposed to have. Rookie of the Year was a formality. The kid was the real deal, and everyone in the Bronx knew it by May.

Speaking of May -- Dwight Gooden threw a no-hitter on May 14 against Seattle, and I swear the man aged ten years on the mound that night. Doc had missed all of 1995 after a suspension for violating his aftercare program. His career was supposed to be over. He wept when it was done -- standing on the mound at the Stadium, bawling, and nobody in the crowd thought less of him for it. Some stories write themselves. That was one of them.

Bernie Williams hit .305 with 29 home runs and played center field like a jazz musician plays a set -- smooth, creative, and occasionally baffling in the best possible way. Paul O'Neill batted .302 and remained the angriest good hitter in baseball (every fly ball out was a personal insult). Tino Martinez drove in 117 runs and made everyone forget Mattingly within about six weeks (sorry, Donnie Baseball -- I love you, but Tino raked). Andy Pettitte went 21-8 and finished second in the Cy Young voting, and David Cone -- who'd had freakin' aneurysm surgery on his pitching arm -- came back in September like nothing happened.

And then there was the bullpen. Mariano Rivera set up. John Wetteland closed. Rivera pitched the seventh and eighth innings with a 2.09 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 107.2 innings -- numbers that would make most closers jealous -- and then Wetteland slammed the door in the ninth with 43 saves. That two-man wrecking crew became the template for the next decade of Yankees dominance.

October

The ALDS against Texas lasted four games and wasn't particularly dramatic. The ALCS against Baltimore was. In Game 1, a 12-year-old kid named Jeffrey Maier reached over the right-field wall and deflected Jeter's fly ball into the stands. The umpire called it a home run. Baltimore lost their minds (rightfully so -- it was the wrong call). The Yankees won 5-4 in 11 innings on a Bernie walk-off, and the Orioles never recovered. New York took the series in five.

The World Series opened in the Bronx, and the Atlanta Braves -- defending champs, loaded rotation, heavy favorites -- destroyed the Yankees. Games 1 and 2 weren't close. The Yanks went to Atlanta down 0-2, and every newspaper in the country had already written the obituary.

They were wrong.

Game 4, eighth inning, down 6-3. Jim Leyritz -- a backup catcher who had no business being the hero of anything -- stepped in against Mark Wohlers. Wohlers hung a slider. Leyritz turned on it and sent it into the left-field seats. Three-run homer. Tie game. The Yankees won 8-6 in extras, and the entire Series flipped on one swing. I still get chills thinking about that at-bat (and I've rewatched it roughly 400 times).

The Yankees won Games 5 and 6, Wetteland saved all four victories, and Wade Boggs -- who'd never won a ring in 14 seasons as a player -- rode a police horse around the warning track at Yankee Stadium while crying his eyes out. It was the most beautifully ridiculous thing I've ever seen at a baseball game.

Key Moments

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the 1996 Yankees come back from 0-2 in the World Series?

Yes. The Atlanta Braves won Games 1 and 2 at Yankee Stadium by scores of 12-1 and 4-0. The Yankees then won four straight -- three in Atlanta and the clincher back in the Bronx -- to take the Series 4-2. It was one of the greatest comebacks in World Series history.

Who was the 1996 World Series MVP?

John Wetteland, the Yankees' closer, won World Series MVP after saving all four Yankees victories. He allowed just two earned runs across five appearances, converting every save opportunity.

Who was Jeffrey Maier?

Jeffrey Maier was a 12-year-old fan from Old Tappan, New Jersey, who reached over the right-field wall during Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS and deflected a Derek Jeter fly ball into the stands. Umpire Rich Garcia ruled it a home run, tying the game. The Yankees won 5-4 in 11 innings. Baltimore protested the call, but the result stood.

Was 1996 Derek Jeter's rookie year?

Yes. Jeter won the starting shortstop job in spring training, batted .314 with 10 home runs and 78 RBI, and won the American League Rookie of the Year award unanimously. He was 22 years old and became the foundation of the dynasty that followed.

Nobody picked this team. The Post called the manager clueless. The roster was a patchwork of kids, retreads, and reclamation projects. And on October 26, 1996, after 18 years of waiting, they were champions again. The dynasty started here.