John Sterling’s radio call still resonates.
“Once again it will be a 3-2. The stretch and pitch. Swung on and popped up again off third. Hayes has room. Hayes … makes the catch! Yankees win! The Yankees win! The New York Yankees have won the 1996 World Series!”
The date was Oct. 26, 1996. The opponent was the Atlanta Braves.
It’s quite clear that the baseball gods wanted Charlie Hayes to be one of the main contributors to the Yankees’ 23rd world championship.
Just before John Wetteland fired the pitch that Mark Lemke popped up to end Game 6, Hayes was unable to snare a ball hit in basically the same spot.