Ninety-Nine Nostalgia

The Yankees were coming off their best season ever and were considered the greatest baseball team of all time after winning 114 regular season games in 1998. They did not stand pat in the off-season but kept most of their championship team together in 1999. It’s hard to believe the Yankees are celebrating their 10 year anniversary of the 1999 team this season. Has it really been that long since they swept the Braves in the Fall Classic? Was it ten years ago El Duque one-hit Atlanta in Game 1 and struck out ten batters in seven innings? The eighth inning, four run rally, is still fresh in my mind from that first game of the series. I remember Game 2 in Atlanta when David Cone kept the home team scoreless through seven frames to get the win. The Yankees compiled seven runs to support their starter, led by post-season studs Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams. Ten years ago in Game 3, Chuck Knoblauch hit a two-run shot to tie the game in the eighth inning. Three relief pitchers combined to keep it a game before Chad Curtis’ 10th inning homerun gave the Yankees the 6-5 victory. And then in Game 4, Roger Clemens earned his first World Series win and Mariano Rivera was perfect in claiming his fifth Series save. 1999 also found David Cone pitching a perfect game on July 18th, manager Joe Torre being diagnosed with cancer, and Darryl Strawberry being arrested for cocaine. But the 25th World Championship was a memorable affair nonetheless. The Yankees legitimately laid claim to being the team of the decade after beating the Braves twice during the 10 year span in October.
I made a pivotal decision in 1998 to quit softball and go out for the girls’ lacrosse team. It was the first year our school fielded a team for the sport of lacrosse. The boys didn’t even have a team. It was a hard decision to give up my favorite sport but I was ready for a change. I started working out and doing exercise more often to get in shape for lacrosse and the up-coming tennis season. I rode our family’s stationary bike while listening to R.E.M. My Brine lacrosse stick was Yankees blue and white pinstriped of course. It was nothing like my Wilson Pro Staff 95 racket. I learned what it meant to cradle the ball, and scored our high school’s first ever lacrosse goal during the first game. No one in my family was there to see it. Ten years ago, I was playing singles for the tennis team too. My mom would bake cookies for every home match and we would all enjoy the treats before the matches. My dad would travel to every school and watch me play tennis. He’d show up in his shiny suit straight from work and patiently patrol the area behind the court. I’d watch my dad through the fence and his smile always made me play harder. Those were chilly Fall days ten years ago and I often had to play my matches in warm-up pants.
Outside sports, I was a high school sophomore. I struggled to understand the book, “The Giver” in English class but did find it meaningful. I would much rather have been watching Cowboys games than doing homework on Sundays. The Internet was the newest and latest craze and I discovered another means to feed my Yankees need by reading stories about players online.
In the last year of the 1990’s, I was a tomboy, but a boy-crazy one. I was in love with a senior who was more into the Yankees than I was. He never knew my name but I didn’t care. I also adored the more-accessible boy who sat in front of me in biology. I used to count the freckles on the back of his neck. He only had two. In May of 1999, I had my first slow dance at a party. The song was by my favorite band, 98 degrees and the moment couldn’t have been more perfect if it were planned. The most precious moments in life cannot be scripted I’ve learned.
I had an obsession 98 degrees that often went to extremes. Actually, it bordered on lunacy. I collected every single news clipping of the band, owned every CD, even the imports, and amassed an entire wall of photos in my bedroom. My sister and I attended our first ever concert in August of 1999. Our dad took us upstate to see 98 degrees and we stood on chairs the entire night listening to them melt our hearts. The very next morning following the concert, my sister left for college. Things just weren’t the same after she left and I entered my junior year of high school. I still had my paper route, the one I’d adopted in 7th grade. Every morning at 5am, I would wake up and wrap the papers in plastic bags, get in the car and deliver newspapers.
In August, our family also traveled to Toronto, Canada and stayed at the Crown Plaza Hotel. We got lost in a big way on the underground “path” in the spacious but cozy city. Our family attended a few Bluejays games at the Skydome. I considered the royal blue seats luxury boxes because of the proximity the field. It seemed to up close and personal to me to sit in those hard-backed chairs and watch baseball. Still, I faithfully flaunted my NY Yankees baseball cap. We ate at the equally-luxurious Marche Movenpick every day. This café is a diner’s delight. I don’t think food ever tasted so good to me as it did in that Toronto restaurant. My ardor for espresso stemmed from that quaint café. It never mattered what you ordered; the food was fantastic. The Toronto Zoo was fun and the Ontario Science Center was a vivacious visit for a off-beat museum. The hotel had a pleasant pool of warm water we swam in during sticky summer evenings.
My favorite TV show, 90210, entered it’s tenth and final season that year. I was in denial about the show really ending. I started taping every single episode onto VHS just in case the show would never be aired again. It’s always good to be precautious and prepared I figured. I still have those tapes sitting around my apartment. I cannot seem to part with them.
In 1999, I took up accounting and journalism in school. Both became my favorite subjects.
I wanted to go to college to study one, the other, or maybe both. The mundane teacher who taught accounting appealed to me for some reason. Journalism was my real passion because it allowed me to be creative, while still sticking to the facts. Writing came so natural to me and I was asked to be the co-editor at the end of the term. 1999 was a great year. My team won the World Series, I got to see my band perform live and I discovered how it must feel to be in love. And maybe I didn’t know it then, but I was becoming a Buckeye fan when I started watching college football every Saturday afternoon. The scarlet and gray uniforms captured my eye’s attention. The Godfather trilogy turned up in my view as well. Eleven years ago, I couldn’t provide a single quote from the movies. Ten years ago, I could.

Parting points: “I loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstien fixed the World Series in 1919”- Hyman Roth

Mark Teixeira is batting .500 this Spring training. Wow.