Now with the World Series set to begin, people have started to talk about the Yankees winning their 27th World Championship and "Mr. November", Derek Jeter, will help the team once the World Series gets that far.
However, I completely disagree with the term "Mr. November" for Derek Jeter and I argue that Randy Johnson should instead be called Mr. November.
To tell you about my argument, I will turn back the clocks to 2001 and how this entire event concerning Mr. November unfolded.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Major League Baseball took a break from their season to honor the 2,974 people who died on 9-11.
After the week was over, baseball became a tool that helped heal America from the terrorist attacks, and the baseball world was treated to many great moments such as Mike Piazza's home run to win the Mets the first baseball game in New York after the terrorist attacks, and Derek Jeter's famous flip to Jorge Posada to tag out Jeremy Giambi to help the Yankees win the ALDS and eventually the pennant.
But as the World Series begun, the New York Yankees had a fierce fight ahead of them, as they had to face the Arizona Diamondbacks, who won the National League pennant.
After Arizona convincingly won the first two games behind gems thrown by Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson at Bank One Ballpark, the World Series shifted to Yankee Stadium in New York (where the Twin Towers crumbled to the ground less than two months ago), where President George Bush threw out the first pitch, and the Yankees won 2-1 to reduce the deficit to two game to one in favor of Arizona.
As Game Four started, viewers knew that the game was going to become another classic game from this series, as Curt Schilling pitched a gem, and with the tying run on base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the game went down to the wire.
But for the Diamondbacks, the worst possible scenario happened, as Tino Martinez tied the game with a two run home run with two outs in the ninth, causing Yankee Stadium to go nuts.
And as the game went into the 10th inning, the Yankee Stadium scoreboard clock changed to midnight, signaling the start of November, and making this game the first ever MLB game to be played in November.
Right after that, in came in Yankee Shortstop Derek Jeter, who up to that point was not having a great World Series, as he had only one hit in 15 at bats so far in the series, but Jeter made up for those stats on a 3-2 pitch by Arizona closer Byung-Hyun-Kim, as he hit a home run into the Yankee Stadium right field porch, giving the Yankees a 4-3 win in a dramatic Game Four.
After the dramatic home run, the media and the fans called Jeter Mr. November for his heroics, and the name quickly stuck.
After the win, the Yankees once again dramatically beat Arizona on a game winning hit, and as the series shifted back to Arizona, the Yankees held a three games to two advantage over the Diamondbacks, and needed only one win to win their 27th World Series.
But, Arizona ace Randy Johnson was on the mound for Game Six, and the Diamondbacks blew apart the Yankees by a ridiculous 15-2 scoreline, in which Johnson pitched seven innings and only allowed two runs.
Along with that, Johnson also got an RBI single in the Arizona third (an inning in which the Diamondbacks scored eight runs), and eventually came around to score.
But, Jeter was shut down to no hits and no runs in Game Six and with that coupled with a Game Five in which Jeter had one hit in five at bats, Jeter now had two hits in seven at bats in the World Series.
And with this win, the Diamondbacks and the Yankees met in the first Game Seven of the World Series since 1997.
In that game, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling both pitched gems for their teams, but after Schilling gave up the go-ahead home run to Alfonso Soriano and got taken out for Miquel Batista (who got Jeter to ground out into a fielder's choice), Arizona manager Bob Brenly brought in his ace Johnson (who just pitched seven innings the night before).
And Johnson delivered, as he got the next four batters with ease, and the game headed toward the bottom of the ninth inning with the Yankees beating the Diamondbacks by a 2-1 score.
But the Diamondbacks pulled out a rally for the ages, as they were able to score two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning off the greatest closer in baseball history in Mariano Rivera, capped off with a walk-off bloop single by Arizona's Luis Gonzalez over Jeter's head, and the Diamondbacks won their first World Series by a 3-2 score, and Johnson got his third victory of that World Series.
And the World Series MVP was announced, with both Johnson and Schilling sharing the honors in both players first ever World Series title.
After recapping that incredible World Series and with the focus now being put on the upcoming World Series between the Yankees and Phillies becoming the first World Series since 2001 to take place in November, I hope you decided to that Randy Johnson truly is Mr. November
And after rereading and putting some research into this topic, here are the results that will back up my claim for Randy Johnson being Mr. November:
In November of 2001, Jeter won one game for the Yankees, while Johnson won two games for the Diamondbacks.
Along with that, Johnson truly won the Diamondbacks that World Series and ended the Yankees dynasty with his left arm, while Jeter and the rest of the Yankee team had to watch the Diamondbacks win this World Series.
And finally, how could a player such as Jeter, with a .273 batting average with one home run and one RBI along with two runs scored, be Mr. November over Johnson, who won two games, have an ERA of 2.22, and also scored two runs and had an RBI single, all in the month of November.
The truth is that the next time before you call Derek Jeter Mr. November for his home run, you should reconsider and realize that Randy Johnson, not Derek Jeter, is truly Mr. November.
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