20 years ago today, Jeffrey Maier gave Derek Jeter and the Yankees a boost
The Yankees dynasty of the late 1990s might have at least been slowed down a tad if not for the baseball glove of a 12-year-old boy in the right-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium.
New York — competing in its first ALCS in 15 years — trailed the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth in Game 1 of the 1996 edition when a rookie named Derek Jeter stepped to the plate. He did what Jeter would do so many times in his career — hit a ball to the opposite field. This one carried deep, all the way to the wall. It wasn't quite deep enough to leave the park, though, and Orioles left-fielder Tony Tarasco was lined up for the harmless put-out. And then fortunes turned:
A boy, whose name we'd later learn was Jeffrey Maier, reached over the wall and caught Jeter's fly ball. Right-field umpire Rich Garcia ruled it a home run, much to Tarasco's dismay. He argued for what should've been ruled fan interference and was joined in protest by manager Davey Johnson and most of the rest of the team.
The call would stand, and the Yankees would go on to win on a Bernie Williams walk-off home run in the 11th to take a 1-0 series lead.
It is, of course, impossible to say what would have happened if Maier hadn't interfered or if Jeter had been correctly called out on the play, but in either case, the Orioles would've been just four outs at that point from stealing Game 1 on the road. They also won Game 2 in New York before losing three straight at home to hand the pennant to the Yankees, who then went on to beat the Atlanta Braves in six games in the World Series for their first title since 1978.
Fueled by their new star Jeter — he was Rookie of the Year that season — the Yankees would go on to win a total of four World Series crowns in five seasons.
Maier became an instant celebrity in Yankee lore, and in the years since has been tracked down a few times. He wrote a piece for Bleacher Report in 2014 in which he talks about meeting Jeter and Tarasco and discusses maintaining a private life in the wake of the fame. He played baseball at Wesleyan and briefly pursued a professional career.
An umpire blunder of this magnitude is likely a thing of the past in the instant replay/review era we're now in. So here's to you, Jeffrey Maier. Your place in history is secure.
