Did you ever see a team celebrate a championship and see the teams douse themselves in a champagne bath and imagine what it would be like to be in that room? I have been fortunate to have experienced that multiple times in my career.
The 2024 World Series will be the 9th Fall Classic that I have been privileged to cover as a professional.
2024 will also be the fifth that I will have the honor of scoring at least one World Series game as I will be the official scorer for game 4 next Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. That will be my 7th World Series game as an accredited Major League Baseball Official Scorer.
Ironically, the 1981 Series against the Dodgers was the first time that I had a working credential. It was also the first time that I was in a winning clubhouse where the champagne was flowing like out of a fire hydrant where the cap was taken off. Unfortunately for this young reporter who grew up a Yankee fan, that was the Dodgers winning clubhouse.
It wasn’t until 15 years later that I got to experience that champagne bath in a Yankees winning clubhouse. I had grown up as a Yankee fan and saw them win but had not been on the scene to experience it first hand.
I went to Baltimore to cover the final two games of the 1996 ALCS against the Orioles and was in the pennant winning clubhouse, a prelude of things to come.
It didn’t seem like I would be in a Yankee World Series winning clubhouse after the first two games of the 1996 World Series. Lo and behold, the Yankees won three in a row in Atlanta and then clinched the Series with a win in game 6.
I was not immune to being soaked when the champagne flowed, and still had a job to do but I loved every minute of it. I thought back to 1977 and 1978 when I watched the celebration from home and there I was, right in the middle of it. I remembered thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I’m in the Yankee clubhouse after they just won the World Series.’
Fast forward to 1999. During that season, I was hired to score games solely in the American League on a trial basis. I did score two playoff games during that post season but did not score any in the World Series. However, I did cover the home games and was in the winning clubhouse for a second time.
(Because of personal reasons, I did not cover the two home games in the 1998 World Series, but that was the season that I first got to score a Major League game)
In the 2000 season, I began scoring Met games and I also got to score my first World Series game.
That was game 2 of the 2000 World Series at Yankee Stadium which is remembered for the Roger Clemens bat throwing episode. I was one of three scorers (they used a committee of three in those days) that night. It was one of the highlights of my career and I savored every moment of it.
I was at Shea Stadium for game five and was in the winning clubhouse for a third time. The media and the players were told to leave because there was a problem with the room itself, so the celebration really took place on the field at Shea.
In 2001, I got to score game four when Tino Martinez hit that epic, game tying, two run home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth. The Stadium was literally shaking after that historic blast and rocked again when Derek Jeter ended the game with a walk off home run in the tenth.
Two years later, I scored game two against the Florida Marlins.
Andy Pettitte was one out away from a complete game shutout when the current Yankee Manager Aaron Boone was charged with an error to put two runners on and keep the game alive. With a 6-0 lead, Pettitte was replaced by Jose Contreras who allowed a run scoring single (unearned) to Derrek Lee but retired Mike Lowell to end it.
I did not get to score any games in the 2009 World Series so this year will be the first one that I get to score a game at Yankee Stadium III. I was in the winning clubhouse for a fourth time in 2009 and enjoyed the latest champagne bath.
In 2015, I was privileged to be named one of the Official Scorers for the first World Series games ever played at Citifield. I worked all three but unfortunately, the Mets lost to the Royals so I didn’t get the chance to be in their winning clubhouse.
I’ve been lucky to have experienced a number of thrills and highlights throughout my 45-year career in sports media, including being in the NY Rangers winning locker room when they won the Stanley Cup in 1994.
Baseball has always been my passion and the past 26 years as an official scorer has provided many special moments in my life.
I realize how fortunate I am and never take it for granted. That will certainly be the case again this year.