Baseball's Greatest Series: Yankees, Mariners, and the 1995 Matchup That Changed History

10. Game 5: Warriors, Heroes, and Heartbreak

212 10 Game 5: Warriors, Heroes, and Heartbreak “Who is going to forget the sight of the ball off Jim Leyritz’ bat in the bottom of the 15th as it cut a triumphant path through the Bronx night and sent everybody home? How can you not marvel at the way the Mariners took the 5–0 Yankees’ lead in Game 4 and turned it into chopped liver, and the way they came back to win it—or, for that matter, the way they almost lost control at the finish? And who is going to forget Sunday night?” —Jerry Izenberg, Trenton Times, October 9, 1995 On Sunday, October 8, 1995, the city of Seattle woke up in a frenzy. Edgar Martinez’s seven-RBI performance was the talk of the town, eclipsing even Seahawks football. He had nearly singlehandedly propelled his team to victory in Game 4. Left for dead at 1:15 A.M. the previous Wednesday morning, the Mariners had tied the series in the most dramatic of ways. It was only fitting that after four games of high drama on the East and West coasts, it now came down to one final game. After weeks in which both teams could truly not afford to lose a single game, their respective seasons would now be determined in one winner-take-all showdown. Though the players may have had their fill of drama and heartpumping intensity, baseball fans were crying for more. The first GAME 5: WARRIORS, HEROES, AND HEARTBREAK • 213 four games had been just the remedy baseball needed to remind everyone—owners, players, and fans alike—of why baseball was America’s pastime. Unfortunately, because of the Baseball Network, only those in select regions of the country had witnessed the amazing events that had transpired over the last five days. Now that the other three divisional series had concluded, Game 5 was going to be shown on primetime television across the entire country. Thus, the television schedule that was undoubtedly clunky and worked against creating the largest national viewership for each playoff team actually helped spotlight the Yankees and the Mariners in the end. While only local fans watched the Indians sweep the Red Sox, the Reds sweep the Dodgers, and the Braves beat the Rockies, all baseball eyes were peeled on this final, undecided matchup. Everyone was going to have the chance to witness the conclusion of the greatest postseason series in baseball history. Buck Showalter was a man with a sense of history. It was one of the many characteristics that had helped him rebuild the team he inherited in 1992. His sense of what it meant to be a Yankee—and more important, what it meant to play in the postseason—was especially strong. He was well aware of what had occurred over the previous five days. He knew that what these two teams were doing was magical and that baseball didn’t always play out this way. Showalter wanted to make sure his players were aware as well. However, he was not one to give Knute Rockne “win one for the Gipper”–type speeches or what he referred to as “no shit” speeches. If players needed a reminder of what they had to do to win a big game, then they didn’t deserve to be there. Instead, Showalter told his players to remember that no matter what happened after this game was over, they had been part of something special, something that would be remembered for years. Win or lose, they should take it all in tonight and remember what they had been a part of.1 To those who had feuded with Showalter in the past, it was an out-of-place speech that only reinforced their belief that he was losing grasp of the team as the pressure to win mounted. To them a “win or lose, it’s still okay” speech was not acceptable. This was just part of an underlying tension that existed for the Yankees heading into Game 5. That morning, Yankees adviser and George Steinbrenner confidant Arthur Richman derided the team in front of Rick Down, 214 • BASEBALL’S GREATEST SERIES saying they didn’t have the intestinal fortitude of Yankees teams of the past. Down told Richman to “fuck off.” Historically, the Yankees prided themselves on giving off an aura of professionalism. But before Game 5, the tension was apparent enough that Brent Musburger...