VHS : Major League Baseball - 1996 World Series - N.Y. Yankees v The Atlanta Braves

Rating: - The rebirth of the New York Yankees baseball dynasty
The Atlanta Braves were going for back-to-back World Championships in the 1996 World Series and when they returned to Atlana up 2-0 on the New York Yankees, their victory seemed inevitable. After all, the Braves had outscored their opponents 48-2 over their previous five games including 12-1 and 4-0 victories over the Yankees in the Bronx behind the pitching of John Smoltz and Greg Maddux along with the heroics of rookie Andruw Jones, who became the second player in World Series history to hit home runs in his first two times at bats (Gene Tenace did it in the 1972 Fall Classic). David Cone out pitched Tom Glavine 5-2 in Game 3 in Atlanta. Cone was one of several emotional stories that typified the Yankees, having returned from surgery for an aneurysm in his shoulder earlier in the season. The pivotal moment of the Series proved to come in Game 4, when with a 6-3 lead Braves Manager Bobby Cox brought in his ace reliever, Mark Wohlers in the 8th inning for the first time all season. But Jim Leyritz tied the game with a 3-run blast in a fierce at bat after which the Yankees knew they could not lose and when the Yankees won 1-0 in Game 5 on an unearned run, New York went back to the Big Apple needing one more win to clinch. In Game 6 the Yankees won 3-2 on the basis of Joe Girardi's triple and the pitching of middle reliever Mariano River and Series MVP closer John Wetteland, who made the Yankees unbeatable after six innings.

The nice thing about this tape is that not only does it chronicles what happened on the field, in the League Championship and Division Series as well as the World Series, but that it also captures all of the individual stories that made the 1996 Yankees special: Manager Joe Torre's brother Frank finally getting his heart transplant, Doc Gooden coming back from his purgatory to pitch a no-hitter during the regular season, past and present teammate Darryl Strawberry finding his own redemption with his bat, Rookie of the Year Derek Jeter, Wade Boggs finally getting his World Series ring, which can also be said for Torre. In addition to the showing all the key moments, there are also exclusvie interviews with the players providing additional insights. Coming back to sweep the Braves after losing the first two games at home made the 1996 Yankees something special. But who could have imagined that we were witnessing the rebirth of the Yankee dynasty? Of the four championships the Yankees have won in the last few years, this 1996 was the most dramatic of the bunch. Only in losing to the Diamondbacks, did the Yankees manage to top their heroics in this one. Each fall I rewatch my collection of World Series videoes and this one still remains the most special one of the bunch.