By Miguel Mike Medina
Episode four of the miniseries, “Bigger Than Baseball,” touched on the impact of September 11th. It is the saddest day in the history of America. We got to hear from Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez, and Derek Jeter about where they were when this tragic event happened. The Yankees are playing for something more important than baseball, and that’s for their country. The Yankees lifted and brought some happiness to the fans.
The 2001 Yankees were aging, and you knew that some players would not return for the following season. Therefore, this season was more like “The Last Dance” for the Yankee dynasty team. After defeating Oakland and Seattle, they faced a tough Arizona Diamondbacks team with Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson. Games 4-5 and 7 are the best games of that series. It is one of the most outstanding World Series of all time. Diamondbacks dethroned the Yankees and became the fastest expansion team to win the World Series.
Jeter was furious that they lost this series. Mariano felt horrible for blowing the save, but Jeter was not pleased. He’s never satisfied with success. Guys like Jeter, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Tiger Woods have that in common: obsession with winning all the time. That’s the greatness of a champion. Champions don’t want to be on the losing side.
After the 2001 season, Paul O’Neill retired, Scott Brosius retired, and Tino Martinez joined the Saint Louis Cardinals. Jeter is now one of the veterans on the team. After failing to win in 2002 and 2003, the Yankees decided to bring A-Rod to their team. However, George Steinbrenner needed to ensure this would be okay with Derek Jeter. Therefore, he called Derek and confirmed with him if it would be okay to play alongside him. Derek welcomed Alex with open arms. What you have to respect about Alex is that he decided to play third base for the Yankees because he respects the shortstop position and respects Derek Jeter.
Jeter said that he would’ve not switched positions if he had been in Alex’s shoes because Alex has always played the shortstop position in his career. But Derek admired and respected Alex for making that kind of sacrifice in his career.
Fascinating Moment of the Episode:
– Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS between the Yankees and Red Sox. I love the addition of the song “What We Do” by Freeway during the fight between the Yankees and Red Sox. I thought that was random, but I loved it.
– Jorge Posada doesn’t like Pedro Martinez. Posada never succeeded against Martinez until Game 7, when he tied the game with a 2-run double to make it 5-5.
Review:
4.6 out of 5 stars
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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