Thousands of fans came onto the streets of New York to celebrate the New York Yankees 27th - and record - World Series victory in November after beating reigning champions Philadelphia Phillies. It was the Yankees’ first World Series title since 2000.
In those nine years, owner George Steinbrenner has spent freely to put together a winning side, most recently bringing pitchers C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and first baseman Mark Teixeira into a team that already boasted the celebrated Alex Rodriguez.
The hero of the World Series victory was Hideki Matsui, who became the first Japanese-born player to be named Most Valuable Player in the World Series. He more than lived up to his nickname ‘Godzilla,’ hitting .615 (8 for 13) with three home runs and eight RBI, including a World Series record-tying six RBI performance in Game Six.
But it was the handshakes and embraces between four men who had been at Yankees so long they had won more titles than Ruth and Gehrig, than Gehrig and DiMaggio, than DiMaggio and Reynolds, that told the real story. Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera have been part of the Yankees for so many years that they more than any of the other players understood the significance of the victory after so many empty years.
