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Epic World Series matchup has fans fired up
October 18, 1996
Web posted at:10:00 p.m.EDT
NEW YORK (CNN) -- From the 1994 players' strike to the recent
Roberto Alomar spitting episode, baseball has had its share
of woes.
But this year's World Series matchup -- the Atlanta Braves vs. the New York Yankees -- represents a sweet reprieve for the baseball gods.
"I think it means a lot, not just in the United States but around the world," Yankees catcher Jim Leyritz said.
Although Game 1 may be rained out, players are happy to be involved in what is shaping up to be an epic matchup -- Northern glitz versus Southern grits.
"You have the Braves -- America's team -- and the Yankees, the team you love to hate. So it should be a good series," New York shortstop Derek Jeter said.
After wandering in the baseball wilderness for 15 years without a World Series berth, New York fans of baseball's most famous franchise are certainly excited about this year's October Classic.
Lots of honking horns
Thousands jammed a pep rally in front of New York's City Hall in Lower Manhattan, and the Yankees' boss expects the fever pitch to keep rising.
"I have never seen the city of New York as turned on -- or as turned up, let's say -- as it is today," said Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner.
Atlanta fans are excited, too. The city seems to have regained the enthusiasm exhibited during the Summer Olympics.
Several hundred people gathered at Hartsfield Airport to do the "tomahawk chop" as the Braves boarded their flight for New York. And stores did a brisk business selling shirts and caps proclaiming the Braves as National League champs headed for their fourth World Series in six years.
In Atlanta and New York, ticket scalpers are asking up to $2,000 for a $70 game ticket. Ticket counterfeiters are on the prowl, and desperate fans are hoping against hope for cancellations.
Showing off the Bronx
For the Bronx, home to Yankee stadium, the World Series presents an opportunity to show everyone that things are looking up in a part of the city that for years has been synonymous with urban blight.
Bronx President Fernando Ferrer took TV crews and reporters
on a tour to show how much his section of New York has
improved since the last World Series here in 1981.
(12sec./160kAIFF or WAV)
People across New York City have been reacquainted this week with their deep and abiding affection for the great Yankee teams of old.
"When you see the two teams on the field, and you see how good this baseball October has been, it makes me think of one thing: This sport deserves so much better than the bums who run it," said sports columnist Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News.
Certainly, the Yankees face a formidable task if they are to overcome the pitching-rich Braves. But on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, there is a deep sense of satisfaction at opening the Fall Classic in the House that Babe Ruth built.
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