Catcher Ivan Rodriguez kissed home plate, team owner Jeffrey Loria ran around the bases and several Florida Marlins rubbed Babe Ruth's bronze head at Yankee Stadium.
Drenched in champagne, Marlins manager Jack McKeon lit up a victory cigar. So what if Yankee Stadium was a no-smoking building? No one was going to spoil his fun on this night when Florida upset the Yankees in six games in the World Series.
"You'll believe me now that anything can happen," said McKeon, at 72, the oldest manager to make it to the World Series.
Major League Baseball had it all in 2003: The most thrilling playoffs in recent memory, record-setting pitching performances and a slew of big hits, including a swing that toppled an Italian sausage in a mascot race.
There was also Steve Bartman. Wearing his Cubs cap, he was among thousands of fans at Wrigley Field cheering like crazy as Chicago tried to clinch the NL championship series. Suddenly, a foul ball came his way and Bartman unwittingly deflected it away from fielder Moises Alou. Bartman was blamed for the demise of the Cubs, even though they blew a 3-1 series lead to Florida.
``I am so terribly sorry,'' the youth coach said, his house under police guard.
The Boston Red Sox know something about bad luck and curses, too.
Just like the Cubs, they were five outs away from the World Series with a three-run lead. But ace Pedro Martinez fell apart, manager Grady Little refused to pull him, and Derek Jeter began a Yankees comeback capped by Aaron Boone's 11th-inning homer in Game 7.
"Like Derek told me, `The ghosts will show up eventually,'" Boone said.
From fights featuring Mike Piazza and Vladimir Guerrero in spring training, up until Series MVP Josh Beckett tagged Jorge Posada for the final out, there was a full plate of action.
Hurler Curt Schilling, upset by the computer system used to track how umpires call the strike zone, clubbed a Questec camera. A real umpire also got attacked when a fan ran onto the field and tried to tackle Laz Diaz.
Roger Clemens reached career milestones of 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts in the same game. Sammy Sosa hit his 500th home run -- presumably without the same kind of corked bat that got him suspended -- and Rafael Palmeiro also made it to the mark.
Barry Bonds won his sixth MVP award and moved within 98 home runs of breaking Hank Aaron's all-time record. Six Houston pitchers combined on a no-hitter and Kevin Millwood threw one all by himself.
Eric Gagne put on a 55-for-55 performance in save chances. The lone try he blew came in the All-Star game when Hank Blalock homered, costing the National League home-field advantage in the World Series. But the Marlins won, anyway.
The Detroit Tigers set an AL record with 119 losses under new manager Alan Trammell. They avoided matching the modern mark of 120 defeats set by the 1962 expansion New York Mets when they beat Minnesota on the final day. Mike Maroth, the first major league pitcher to lose 20 games since Brian Kingman in 1980, got the victory as Detroit players hugged and high-fived.
"Believe it or not, I can look back on this year with a smile on my face," Maroth said.
One topic loomed large going into 2004: Doping.
A parade of All-Stars such as Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi appeared before a federal grand jury looking into a California lab accused of providing steroids to top athletes.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
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