Dr. Harvey Frommer on Sports

       Yankees, World Series, 2001

With Yankee fans fingers crossed for another autumnal appearance in the big show, here’s a flash back in non-fiction narrative and exciting oral history to an appearance in 2001.

In 2001, the World Series did not start until Saturday, October 27th, the latest start date ever.  The Yanks, facing the Diamondbacks, became the first club to appear in four straight World Series since the Bronx Bombers of 1961-64.

RICH MARAZZI:  First game after 9/11 going from my car in the parking lot to the Yankee clubhouse I was photo ID’d  four times.  In the press box there were about as many policemen as there were writers.

BRAD TURNOW:  October 30th: Game Three.   My fiancée Tara, now my wife, and I were sent  four blocks in one direction and four blocks in another direction. Three and one half hours to get to our seats in the bleachers  -- which to me is where all the real Yankee fans go -- and we got there with just five minutes to spare.

We had to go through metal detectors. They went through everything. You could not bring anything into that game except for what you had in your pocket. There was security everywhere. There were cops everywhere, undercover cops, police on horseback, soldiers, big machine guns.

JON MILLER: Broadcasting in Baltimore, I'd seen presidents come to the old Memorial Stadium and then the new Camden Yards. I'd seen Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton throw out the first ball. But I will never forget the night of October 30, 2001 when President Bush came out at Yankee Stadium.

With the other presidents, there would always be a crowd: reporters, photographers, Secret Service agents.

But this night, when Bob Sheppard said: "And please welcome the President of the United States," the President came out of the Yankee dugout all alone. He walked to the mound and threw the pitch from the top of the mound like he was a player. It was a strike. And Bob Sheppard said: “Thank you, Mr. President.”

        What an ovation! There was such a sense among the fans that night.

BRAD TURNOW: Our Commander in Chief, bare-headed and wearing a light grey-blue NYFD jacket (apparently covering a bulletproof vest) had thrown a perfect pitch. He waved to the crowd.

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Also Read: Jim Leyritz and the Great World Series Comeback: OCTOBER 23, 1996