Mixed Reactions for Subway Series

Oct. 18, 2000 — -- Gotham is going gonzo over a Subway Series, but not everyone is celebrating an all-New York Fall Classic.

The New York Yankees came from behind Tuesday night to beat the Seattle Mariners 9-7 and clinch the American League Championship Series 4-2. The victory celebration in the Bronx came one day after the New York Mets were basking in the glow of their win of the National League pennant over the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium in Queens.

The series pits the boys in pinstripes — winners of three of the last four World Series — against the scrappy, upstart Mets, who are appearing in their first world championship since 1986.

“The city’s going to be just rockin’,” Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams said of the first Subway Series in 44 years. “It’s just going to be like no other World Series that we have played before.”

Fans waiting more than four decades for a one-city showdown are delirious with delight. But some say, no matter how you slice it, a Big Apple series is probably going to be rotten.

“We’re going to be subjected to the New York media sort of wallowing in New York self-importance,” said King Kaufman, a Salon.com sportswriter who recently wrote about how tough it will be to swallow the media mania of an all-New York World Series.

Subway Series Moments

An intracity World Series has been played 15 times before, including 13 times in New York when the Yankees staged cross-town battles with the Giants six times and the Brooklyn Dodgers seven times.

There are fond memories of the all-New York championships of yesteryear: the Yankees’ Mike McNally stealing home in Game 1 of the 1921 World Series against the New York Giants. Yankee pitcher Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 Fall Classic against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Left fielder Sandy Amoros’ amazing catch of a Yogi Berra fly ball, which helped the Dodgers clinch their first and only championship in Brooklyn in 1955.