Baseball's Greatest Series
Baseball's Greatest Series
Yankees, Mariners, and the 1995 Matchup That Changed History
This division series was not simply about two teams playing five postseason games. It was about Ken Griffey Jr., Lou Piniella, Buck Showalter, Gene Michael, Jim Leyritz, Randy Johnson, Wade Boggs, Tony Fernandez, Pat Kelly, Dion James, Darryl Strawberryùand many others who changed the course of baseball history . . .
A team playing to keep baseball alive in the Pacific Northwest
A manager who was literally managing for his job
A New York sports icon who for one week reminded everybody of the dominating player he had been a decade earlier
Chris Donnelly's replay of this entire season reminds readers that it was a time when grown men cried their eyes out after defeat, and others, just a few hundred feet away, poured beer and champagne over one another while 57,000 people in Seattle's Kingdome celebrated. Five games they were. Five games that reminded people, after the devastating players' strike in 1994, how great a game baseball is because comebacks are always possible, no matter how great the obstacles may seem.
From Don Mattingly's only postseason home run, which caused a near riot, to Edgar Martinez's legendary eleventh inning series-clinching double, Donnelly chronicles the earlier struggles of both teams during the 1980s, their mid-1990s resurgence, all five heart-stopping games of the series, and the dramatic and long-lasting effects of Seattle's victory. Simply stated, Baseball's Greatest Series hits a home run.
The game's the thing in this book. Donnelly skillfully recreates the two Yankee wins, amid the usual theatrics of historic Yankee Stadium in New York, and the three Seattle victories in the dreaded Kingdome. Donnelly offers a play-by-play analysis of strategy that heightens the suspense of the most pivotal moments. In his preface, he explains that this Yanks/Mariners series 'was the best baseball I have ever witnessed.' After reading this book, fans will understand why.
Baseball's Greatest Series chronicles the riveting 1995 American League Division Series battle between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners with wit and precision, exploring the divergent background of each franchise with remarkable depth. 'Donnie Baseball,' in the only postseason appearance of his illustrious career, deservedly takes center stage.
Acknowledgments
1. Don-nie Base-ball
2. Winless in Seattle
3. Bronx Bummers
4. Strike
5. Baseball Returns
6. Game 1: The Bronx, Baseball, and Beer Bottles
7. Game 2: A Classic in the Bronx
8. Game 3: Playoff Baseball in Seattle
9. Game 4: Saint Edgar
10. Game 5: Warriors, Heroes, and Heartbreak
11. Deconstructing the Yankees
12. Safeco is Born
Epilogue
Notes
Index
