Game 4 of '96 WS turning point for Yankees

Pitted against a juggernaut Braves club, the Yankees lost the first game of the 1996 World Series at Yankee Stadium, prompting a stormy visit to the manager’s office from principal owner George Steinbrenner. Joe Torre calmly told “The Boss” that even though they might lose Game 2 to Greg Maddux, they’d “take care of business in Atlanta, because Atlanta was my town.”

Steinbrenner reacted as you might imagine, staring at Torre in disbelief. The Yankees did lose that second game, but Torre puffed his chest out when Game 3 went into the books on the Bombers’ side. Torre was feeling less confident when his Bombers fell into a 6-0 hole after five innings in Game 4, but that was just when the fun was beginning.

Cecil Fielder and Charlie Hayes halved the deficit with sixth-inning hits off Denny Neagle, and with the Yankees down to their final five outs, Jim Leyritz connected for a game-tying, three-run homer off closer Mark Wohlers.

“I was on the step waiting to go to the on-deck circle and I looked at Don Zimmer, and asked, ‘Zim, what's this guy got?’” Leyritz said in 2016. “He said, ‘Jimmy, this guy throws 100 mph. Just get ready.’ I didn't even know what Mark Wohlers threw. I guessed fastball/slider because that's what Mariano had. I didn't know he had a split-fingered pitch and that it was his second-best pitch.

“Had I known that, I don't know if I would have hit the slider out. He threw me a first-pitch fastball and then two sliders. Now I had a look at what he had, so I was a little bit better prepared. But again, I didn't know he had a split. I always say sometimes it's better to be ignorant than smart. But he ended up throwing a hanging slider, I hit the home run, and it was a pretty special moment.”

The game proceeded into the 10th inning, where Torre tabbed Wade Boggs to pinch-hit with the bases loaded, giving the Yanks the lead by working a walk against Steve Avery.

“I knew that Steve Avery hadn't thrown a pitch in a while and that fell right into my hands,” Boggs said in 2016. “When I walked up to the plate, Braves catcher Javy Lopez said, ‘You live for moments like this, don't you?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ But I wasn't going to swing until Avery started throwing strikes. He threw ball one, then he threw two strikes. Then he missed with the next three pitches, and I did the old bat flip and ran to first.”

Hayes then reached on a run-scoring error and the Yankees had a two-run lead, which closer John Wetteland preserved by pitching around a one-out single to even the Fall Classic at two games apiece.

"Those are some of the best times of my life," Bernie Williams said in 2016. "I was young, full of energy and playing the game that I practiced from the time that I was 8 years old. I was able to play it at the highest level that I possibly could play it, for the best team in the world.”