Yankee playoff games I’ve attended

In the spirit of recapping the games I attended during the 2009 season, I thought it might be fun to take a look at the Yankee playoff games I’ve been fortunate enough to attend over the years:

Prior to compiling this list I could’ve sworn I’d been to more than eight playoff games, but there you have it. I was in college from 1999 through 2002, which explains that particular gap. And I can’t say I’m terribly upset about not attending any games in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

I’ve also never attended a World Series game (my dad and my brother were at Game 4 in 1999 to see the Yanks complete the sweep of the Braves), which will hopefully change this year.

I’m 6-2 all-time at Yankee Stadium in October, with four of those 6 victories coming in extra innings. I’ve seen Andy Pettitte start 50% of the time, with David Cone and Roger Clemens each accounting for a quarter.

The only one of these games that doesn’t really resonate for me is Game 1 of the 1996 ALDS vs. Texas. Aside from the Yankees losing, I seem to recall a long home run from Juan-Gone, and that’s about it.

Otherwise, almost of these games contain moments forever etched in the memories of Yankee fans. In addition to bearing witness to the first of Jim Leyritz’s many heroic October feats via his 15th-inning walk-off bomb, Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS vs. the Mariners also marked Donnie Baseball’s first (and only) career playoff home run, along with Mariano Rivera’s first postseason win.

Game 1 of the ALCS against the Orioles was the Jeffrey Maier game. Game 2 of the 1998 ALCS vs. Cleveland was Chuck Knoblauch throwing the game away (and, one might argue, his career); Game 2 of the 2003 ALDS was the Yankees needing a win after going down 0-1 to the Twins, with Pettitte once again coming through in a big spot — same story with Game 2 of the 2003 ALCS vs. Boston; and the last game I attended was the Yankees’ last playoff victory, Game 3 of the 2007 ALDS, with my boy Phil Hughes coming in relief of a lame Roger Clemens and picking up his first postseason win (while I was rocking my HUGHES 65 name-and-number tee in the Upper Deck, natch).

Of course, none of these memories beats what happened on the night of Thursday, October 16, 2003. We all know the story by heart, so no need to recap it here, but right after the ball left Aaron Boone’s bat, I experienced a level of euphoria I didn’t realize previously existed. A lot of Yankee fans will tell you that it felt like the team won the World Series that night, and to this day I still feel that holds true. Not that beating the Marlins in the actual Series wouldn’t have been great, but playing Florida really did feel like a letdown after the epic seven-game match with Boston.

Additionally, while my dad obviously raised me to be a die-hard Yankee fan, I don’t think he truly realized how zealous a devotee I’d grown into until Boone’s home run cleared the wall that night, leading to me screaming and cheering at the top of my lungs like a mental patient while belting out “New York, New York” so many consecutive times that I literally had no voice the next day.

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