By BRIAN COSTELLO
April 27, 2008
As both New York baseball stadiums prepare to close, The Post looks back at the 25 most memorable moments in the history of Yankee Stadium. This week, No. 22.
Oct. 9, 1996
The Yankees trailed the Orioles 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 1 of the ALCS when a 12-year-old from New Jersey earned himself a spot in Stadium lore. Jeffrey Maier, a Little Leaguer from Old Tappan, N.J., got out of school early that day, claiming he had an orthodontist appointment. Instead he had seats in right field in The Bronx.
Derek Jeter struck a deep fly ball to right field in the eighth. Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco backpedaled, seeming to have a bead on the ball. Maier then reached over the fence and with his black mitt hit the ball into the stands. Right field umpire Rich Garcia ruled the play a home run, tying the game 4-4.
Tarasco and Orioles manager Davey Johnson screamed that it should be fan interference, but Garcia stuck with his call. Bernie Williams won the game for the Yankees with a walk-off homer in the 11th inning, and the Yankees went on to win the series 4-1 before winning the World Series. The Orioles protested the call after the game but AL president Gene Budig denied the protest. Maier went on to become a celebrity. He did a round of talk shows in the days following the game.
Details of how he received the ticket to the game as a gift at his bar mitzvah the weekend before and how he played center field in Little League were written about and reported on by all the newspapers and TV news programs. Maier would play third base and the outfield for Wesleyan University, but he still remained most famous not for any of his college catches but for the one he almost made that night at Yankee Stadium.
