Mr. November is Born

Last night as the clock struck midnight and I lamented it was November already, Derek Jeter's swing popped into my head (figuratively, not literally). For it was 11 years ago on the first of November, shortly after the clock struck midnight that Mr. November was born.

I'm talking, of course, about the 2001 World Series between the Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Yankees were about to go down three games to one when Tino Martinez stepped to the plate (in October) and hammered Byung-Hyun Kim's pitch over the center field wall to tie the game at three apiece.

It was pandemonium in the Bronx (yeah, yeah, when there was "real" noise in the Yankee Stadium) as John Sterling roared and the fans went crazy. One inning later, the game still tied, Jeter stepped in against Kim. It's all been lost in what happened afterwards, but Kim had actually struck out the side when he entered the game in the eighth inning.

Kim had gotten two outs before Martinez's home run and retired the first two batters in the 10th when Jeter settled into the batter's box. The count went full when Jeter sent Kim's pitch into the right field seats for a 4-3 Yankees win.

One, perhaps prescient, fan even had a "Mr. November" sign ready for the big moment. The Yankees lived to play another day.