October 28, 1995: The South Rises In the World Series

October 28, 1995: The Atlanta Braves win Game 6 of the World Series, beating the Cleveland Indians, 1-0‚ on a combined 1-hitter by Tom Glavine and Mark Wohlers.

David Justice's 6th-inning home run accounts for the game's only run. Having noticed that Cleveland's Jacobs Field (renamed Progressive Field in 2007) seemed a lot louder in Games 3, 4 and 5 than Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium had in Games 1 and 2, Justice called on the Braves' fans to be louder for Game 6. They were, especially when he hit his homer.

Catcher Tony Peña's leadoff single in the 6th was Cleveland's only hit. The Indians, who won 100 games in the strike-shortened 144-game season, and won their 1st American League Pennant in 41 years, led the majors in homers and runs scored. But in this Series, they batted just .179‚ the lowest average for a 6-games series since 1911.

This was the 1st time that two of the "Big Four" sports' titles were held by Southern teams. The Houston Rockets had won the NBA title in June.

It was Ted Turner's 20th season owning the Braves. By trusting John Schuerholz as general manager, and trusting Schuerholz's trust in Bobby Cox as field manager, he finally got his title.

In winning‚ the Braves become the 1st team to win World Championships representing 3 different cities: Boston in 1914‚ Milwaukee in 1957‚ and Atlanta in 1995. It was their 30th season in Atlanta, and despite having had such talents as Hank Aaron, Phil Niekro and Dale Murphy, they mostly struggled through their 1st 25 years, winning Division titles in 1969 and 1982.

They won the National League Pennant in 1991 and 1992, but lost the World Series both times. They lost the NL Championship Series in 1993, and the 1994 season was cut short by a strike. In 1995, they won it all, led by their pitching "Big Three": Glavine went 16-7, Greg Maddux went 19-2, and John Smoltz went 16-7. Justice, Fred McGriff, Chipper Jones, Ryan Klesko and Javy López led the attack. And so, the Braves became the 1st team from a former Confederate State to win a World Series.

How key for the Braves was Justice? The following season, the Braves won the Pennant again, but he was injured for the World Series, and they lost it to the New York Yankees. Foolishly, the Braves let him go, to the Indians, and he helped them win the Pennant in 1997. He later helped the Yankees win the AL Pennant in 2000 (winning the World Series) and 2001 (losing it). Although he fell short of career stats for the Baseball Hall of Fame -- 1,571 hits, 305 of them home rums -- he was one of the top clutch performers of his era.

UPDATE: Justice hit his homer off Jim Poole. Although a native of Rochester, New York, Poole had pitched in Atlanta, for Georgia Tech. He died of ALS, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's Disease, in 2023, only 57 years old.

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October 28, 1995 was a Saturday. This was also the day of the worst subway disaster in human history. I have a separate entry for that event.

In college football, Number 1 Florida State were idle. They would lose their next game, away to the University of Virginia, and fall from the top spot.

These were among the games played that day:

* Number 2 Nebraska beat Number 7 Colorado, 44-21 at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado. Nebraska went on to win the last Big Eight Conference title, before the Big 8 took on half the Southwest Conference and became the Big Twelve. Colorado accepted a bid from the Cotton Bowl.

* Number 3 Florida beat Georgia, 52-17 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. They were played a home-and-home series on campus, because the old Gator Bowl, the neutral-site game where the game was usually played, had been torn down to make way for the new Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium. Florida went on to win the Southeastern Conference title. They turned down the accompanying automatic bid to the Sugar Bowl, to set up a Number 1 vs. Number 2 battle for an undisputed National Championship in the Fiesta Bowl. Nebraska beat them for that title.

* Number 4 Ohio State beat Number 25 Iowa, 56-25 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Number 5 Tennessee beat South Carolina, 56-21 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.

* Rivalry: Number 6 Kansas were upset by Number 14 Kansas State, 41-7 at KSU Stadium (now Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas.

* Rivalry: Number 8 Northwestern beat Illinois, 17-14 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. Northwestern won the Big Ten Conference title for the 1st time since 1936, and went to the Rose Bowl for the 1st time since the 1948 season.

* Rivalry: Number 9 Michigan won the Little Brown Jug by beating Minnesota, 52-17 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 10 Oregon were upset by Arizona State, 35-24 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. Oregon accepted a bid from the Cotton Bowl, where they lost to Colorado.

* Number 11 Auburn were upset by Arkansas, 30-28 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

* Number 12 Notre Dame beat Boston College, 20-10 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame accepted a bid to the the Orange Bowl, where they played Florida State, which won the Atlantic Coast Conference title. Florida State won.

* Number 13 Southern California (USC) and Number 17 Washington played to a tie, 21-21 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. USC went on to win the Pacific-Ten Conference title, and beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl.

* Number 14 University of Texas had the week off. They went on to win the last Southwest Conference title, and turned down the accompanying automatic bid to the Cotton Bowl to play in the more prestigious Sugar Bowl.

The deals had already been made: At the conclusion of the 1995-96 schoolyear, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor left the SWC, and joined the Big Eight, making it the Big Twelve Conference. The remaining SWC teams, joined other leagues: The 2 Dallas-area schools, Southern Methodist University (SMU) of Dallas and Texas Christian University (TCU) of Fort Worth; and the 2 Houston schools, Rice University and the University of Houston.

* Number 16 Penn State beat Indiana, 45-21 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

* Virginia Tech, as yet unranked, beat West Virginia, 27-0 at Mountaineer Field (now Milan Puskar Stadium) in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tech went on to win the Big East Conference title, and advanced to the Sugar Bowl, where they beat Texas.

* Rivalry: The University of Nevada beat the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), 55-32 at Mackay Stadium in Reno, Nevada.

* Among the service academies, Army beat Colgate, 56-14 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Air Force beat Fresno State, 31-20 at Bulldog Stadium (now Valley Children's Stadium) in Fresno, California; and Navy had the week off.

* And in New Jersey, Rutgers beat the University of Pittsburgh, 42-14 at the new Rutgers Stadium (now SHI Stadium) in Piscataway.

The NBA season started 6 days later. There were 9 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 5-5 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* In an all-New England matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Hartford Whalers, 3-0 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2 at the ThunderDome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-1 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Dallas Stars beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

October 26, 1996: The Yankees' Return to Glory

October 26, 1996: New York Yankees 3, Atlanta Braves 2, clinching the Yankees' 23rd World Championship, their 1st in 18 years, at the original Yankee Stadium. The Yanks scored all 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, including a triple off Greg Maddux by catcher Joe Girardi.

Now that Girardi has come and gone as the Yankee manager, it's easy to forget what kind of a player he was. He was a good defensive catcher, Maddux won more games than any pitcher alive through the 2022 season, 355, including more games in the 1990s than any other pitcher, 176. Girardi hitting a triple off Maddux in a World Series game was really unexpected. It wasn't quite the U.S. college kids beating the "amateur" hockey players in their 30s put up by the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics, nor was it quite Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990. But it was a shock. A beautiful shock.

When Mariano Rivera, then the "bridge" reliever, was on the mound in the 8th, Fox announcer Tim McCarver said, "There's not a lot of secret as to what you're gonna get from Mariano Rivera: A lot of high gas." It would be the next year, when Mo succeeded John Wetteland as the closer, that he developed the cut fastball that made him the greatest relief pitcher of all time.

When Mo got a strikeout to end the 8th, McCarver and Joe Buck wisely didn't say a word, and let the roar of the crowd be what took them to commercial. Those cheers seemed to contain not a word, but they spoke volumes. Some who were there said that the old Yankee Stadium actually shook at that moment.

An inning later, Wetteland, who became the 1st reliever ever to save all 4 of his team's wins in a World Series (and remains the only one) and was named MVP, got Mark Lemke to pop up to 3rd base, and Charlie Hayes caught it. As John Sterling said on WABC (the Yankees' radio station at the time), "Hayes... makes the catch! Yankees win! Theeeeeeee Yankees win!" He didn't start adding "Ballgame over!" until the next year, and didn't start adding "(name of series) over!" until the next.

Derek Jeter was the last active player from the 1996 Yankees, playing until 2014.

UPDATE: Among the Yankees' many traditions is Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. From the 1996-2001 team that won 5 American League Pennants, including 4 World Series, they have given a Monument to team owner George Steinbrenner; and Plaques to manager Joe Torre, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, 1st baseman Tino Martinez, shortstop Derek Jeter, center fielder Bernie Williams, right fielder Paul O'Neill, pitchers Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera; and public address announcer Bob Sheppard.

General manager Bob Watson has not yet been honored. Nor has his predecessor, and still overall Yankee executive at this point, Gene "Stick" Michael. Nor has his successor, Brian Cashman.

Phil Rizzuto retired as a broadcaster after the 1996 season. They have retired the uniform numbers of Jeter, 2; Posada, 20; O'Neill, 21; Rivera, 42; Pettitte, 46; and Williams, 51.

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October 26, 1996 was a Saturday. There were no NFL games played that day, but there were college football games of note:

* Number 1-ranked Florida did not play. Nor did Notre Dame, having been Number 8 the week before, but losing at home to the Air Force Academy.

* Number 2 Florida State did play, beating Number 14 Virginia, 31-24 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. On November 3, Florida State beat Florida in Tallahassee, only to have the AP and UPI poll give in to Florida's "God Wants a Rematch" campaign. Florida got their revenge in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, 50-25, to win the National Championship.

* Number 3 Ohio State beat Number 20 Iowa, 38-26 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Ohio State blew their shot at the National Championship, and essentially forced the "God Wants a Rematch" title game, by losing to Michigan 4 weeks later.

* Number 6 Tennessee beat Number 7 Alabama, 20-13 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. This was in a rare stretch in which Tennessee dominated this rivalry, taking 9 out of 10. But Alabama has now beaten Tennessee every year since 2007, including 2021.

* Number 17 Penn State beat Indiana, 48-26 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.

* Rutgers beat Temple, 28-17 at the new Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. In their season opener, Rutgers beat Villanova at home. In games that were against teams in Philadelphia's "Big 5," RU were 2-0. In all other games, they were 0-9.

* And Princeton lost to Harvard, 24-0 at Palmer Stadium. Opened in 1914, Palmer Stadium hosted its final game on November 23, and Princeton lost to Dartmouth, 24-0. The stadium was then demolished, and Powers Field at Princeton Stadium opened in 1998.

In 1997, Princeton played a "home game" at Giants Stadium, and another on the campus of The College of New Jersey -- ironically, using the original name of Princeton University. That school, in Ewing, had previously been known as Trenton State College. Otherwise, the Tigers played all official away games.

The NBA season didn't start for another 5 days. But 11 NHL games were played:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. The Devils got goals from Bobby Carpenter, Randy McKay, Dave Andreychuk and Bill Guerin.

* The New York Islanders played the San Jose Sharks to a tie, 2-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Hartford Whalers, 6-3 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

* The Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-4 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-1 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Northlands Coliseum (then known as the Edmonton Coliseum).

* The Calgary Flames played the Los Angeles Kings to a tie, 0-0 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1 at GM Place (now Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

Also, Arsenal beat Leeds United, 3-0 at Highbury in North London.