May 8, 1994:





It was an overcast day in the Bronx, rain clouds threatening to burst at any moment. Six-years-old and clad in my brand-new pinstriped Yankees cap, I walked into Yankee Stadium for the very first time. And I think it's fitting to allude to the old cliche, "Love at first sight." I sat on the lower deck about twenty rows from Don Mattingly and watched the Yankees, on the strength of back-to-back-to-back homeruns by Gerald Williams, Mike Stanley, and Danny Tartabull, beat the Red Sox by a score of 8-4.





From that point on I was hooked. Summertime meant trips to the Stadium to watch my beloved Bronx Bombers win. And win they did, consistently, everytime I was in attendance for more than five seasons. From my first playoff game in 1997, where the Yankees went down 5-0 in the first inning of Game 1 of the ALDS but managed an 8-6 comeback thanks, again, to three consecutive homeruns, this time by Tim Raines, Derek Jeter, and Paul O'Neill, to David Wells' 6 2/3 perfect innings in September of 1998, following up his May masterpiece. It wasn't until Pedro Martinez struck out 17 Yankees and threw a complete game one-hitter to win his 21st game of the 1999 season that I was on hand for a Yankees loss.