Search - 2001 World Series - Arizona Diamondbacks vs. New York Yankees on DVD

A nightmare for Yankee fans

Michael R. Chernick | Holland PA | 04/11/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am a Yankee fan, so I know that I look at this series through very biased glasses. Still, I want to express my perspective on this series. For the most part I think the Yankees outplayed the Diamondbacks. They were clearly the superior team. It was bad luck and one crucial throwing error by Rivera in the seventh game that cost them the game. Also people give Bob Brenley credit for doing a good job but I think strategically Torre outmanaged him although I thought both managers could have done better.

The Diamondbacks were the underdogs and won in dramatic fashion. So moet baseball fans were very happy with the outcome and it was one of the more dramatic series in the long history of the baseball World Series. The Diamondbacks owner had bought free agents Schilling and Johnson and won on the strength of their arms and World Series experience. But what happened when Schilling went to Boston and Johnson went elsewhere (ironically eventually winding up with the Yankees)? There was not another National League pennant and Brenly shortly went back to ESPN as a commentator (something I think he does much better than managing).

So now let's discuss the dramatic plays that haunt me today and I hate to look at on the tape. Rivera gets in trouble putting the tying run on first. Brenly then does the conventional strategy of trying to advance the runner with a sacrifice bunt. Besides being a great closer it is true but not generally recognized that he is an excellent fielder and is quick to get off the mound to get to the ball. The batter was able to lay down a pretty good bunt but Rivera got to it quickly whirled to second and had time for the force. But inexplicably and definitely atypically he made a wild throw to second and didn't get anyone out. This put Rivera in a deep whole but he still could bail homself out with a couple of strikeouts. That didn't happen and the Diamondback slugger Luis Gonzalez came to the plate with one out the game tied up and the winning run on third. This is high drama! Torre then does the conventional thing of drawing the infield in to cutoff the winning run at the plate. Although Rivera is right handed and Gonzalez is lefthanded the situation is not hopeless. Statistically Rivera fares even better against left hand hitters than right hand hitters as he can bust his cutter inside and break the batters bat and have the ball hit weakly. With Gonzalez being a slugger and probably thinking that a sacrifice fly ball would win the game could also be a strikeout victim and then with two out and the infield back Rivera would have had a chance to leave the winning run on third and force extra innings. The game would then have been up for grabs and maybe the Diamondbacks would have won anyway in extra innings because Rivera would soon have to leave the game and the rest of the Yankee bullpen is vulnerable. On the other hand Randy Johnson had come in late in the game on very little rest. So he would be out of the game shortly also.

"What ifs" are interesting but not reality. In hindsight I had wished that Torre played the infield half way because Gonzalez got jammed and hit a soft shot that would easily have been caught by the shortstop had he been halfway in or at regular depth. But with the infield in the ball floated softly over Jeter's head into short left field. Rivera made a great pitch and got the result he wanted but as luck would have it infiled positioning allowed it to be the game winning hit and turn Gonzalez into the hero and Rivera the goat. On the score card it was a win for Johnson, a blown save and loss for the Yankees and World Championship rings for the Diamondbacks. I never want to see that play again just like I hare to look at replays of Mazeroski's series winning walkoff home run in 1960.

For me what makes matter worse was the fact that I hated the cocky Curt Schilling who was voted co MVP of the series with Johnson! But worse nightmares brought on by Schilling were yet to come with the bloody sock incident in the 2004 playoffs between the Yankees and Red Sox!"

Easily the greatest sports highlight DVD I've seen

Patrick L. Randall | Silver Spring, MD | 08/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The genre of sports highlight DVD is a very subjective and, most times, very unsatisfying one. Sports highlight videos, in almost every circumstance, are created just to capitalize on a recent sporting event. In most situations, the quality of the video reflects the rush to cash in on the moment. There are a couple of sporting events near and dear to my heart: the 1998 home run chase between Sosa and McGwire [before the steroid scandal sullied the memory] and Maryland's 2002 Men's basketball championship. I rushed out to buy their highlight videos when they first became available, but was sorely disappointed. Neither of these videos managed capture the thrill and emotion of the events. The 1998 home run chased completely glossed over the excitement of that night that Mark McGwire hit #62 and didn't even really do justice to him hitting #70. The 2002 Maryland championship video was basically 15% Maryland highlights and 85% rapid clips of games throughout the tournament, which were so jerkily edited that you hardly knew which teams where playing in the highlights. Even the Maryland highlights did nothing to capture the emotion of this star-crossed team winning its first National Title. Sadly, this is symptomatic of most sports highlight DVDs. None seem to get that the reason most people buy these videos is so that they can get back in touch with the emotion they felt when they watched the actual event live. These videos are far too perfunctory to get or understand that feeling. Fortunately, for sports fans, there is a video that DOES get it. That's the 2001 World Series highlight DVD.
The classic fall face off between the three-time World Champion New York Yankees and the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks was a series tailor-made for a wonderful highlight video. Yet, far too often, even a sporting event that one would think couldn't be messed up, ends up being screwed up by these money-grubbing editors (calling them directors would be an insult to directors). Fortunately, the editors that crafted this DVD seemed to know what they were doing.
Never have I seen a sporting video that could capture the emotion of the teams, the fans, and an entire nation, the way this one can. In many ways it was crucial for this series to be great and for this DVD to be great. The horrific events of 9/11 shattered a nation and the people of this country needed something to divert their attention, however briefly, from the grief of this terrible terrorist attack. This series did an astounding job of that. It provided drama, heroics, and spectacular performances. Basically, it provided a baseball-scale version of the very traits that the people of the United States had been exhibiting for the previous one and a half months. The fact that the New York Yankees were involved in this series only enhanced its significance. Though the 9/11 terrorist attacks hit in three locations, New York will always be most associated that day because of the massive loss of life and terrible images of planes flying into the World Trade Center buildings and those buildings collapsing. New York needed the Yankees more than they ever have and more than any city has ever needed a team. The Yankees delivered by producing the most electrifying post-season run in recent memory, with a dramatic comeback over Oakland and a stunning domination of the record-setting Seattle Mariners and some of the most amazing comebacks in World Series history against Arizona. In fact, the only team to have a more spectacular post-season run than the 2001 Yankees, was the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, which dramatically won their first round series in the final at bat against St. Louis and blowing past perpetually contender Atlanta to reach the World Series. Their ability to persevere the withering comebacks of the Yankees and win the World Series and win the whole deal with an amazing comeback of their own is the stuff of legend. Coming back in 9th inning of Game 7 to defeat the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history is a climax that can never be topped.
This highlight DVD captures all every single drop of drama, emotion, and significance that this series contained. Re-watching this DVD 4 years after the event still makes it seem as fresh and as exciting as when it first happened. If more sports DVDs were like this, then maybe it wouldn't be such a maligned genre."

A true Fall Classic

Zagnorch | Terra, Sol System | 05/02/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not usually attracted to baseball; I prefer the high-speed-high impact sports like NFL football & the occasional hockey game. But, for some strange reason, I decided to tune in to the last couple games of the 2001 World Series. There was something different about this one compared to the last several contests the Yankees were in, and won fairly handily. I guess seeing a relatively new team going up against the game's most storied franchise was the big draw. Could the upstarts take the title away from the perennial champions?

This presentation includes many of the highlights from both teams' playoff runs as well as the best World Series moments that made this particular "Fall Classic" worthy of the moniker. It's also one of the best-produced and edited sports docs I've ever laid eyes on. It even surpasses the quality of some of NFL Films' higher-end efforts, which is no small feat. From the D-Backs' early two-game lead to the Yanks' two amazing come-from-behind extra-innings victories to Arizona's ninth-inning comeback in the seventh game, this production did a wonderful job of displaying the emotions and frustrations in this back-and-forth battle that became one for the ages! If they could find a way to boil all baseball games down into highlights like they did here, I'd probably actually watch a game now and then...

Complementing the visuals is some of the best background music I've ever heard, especially the New York Yankees AL playoff round theme! Should any of the tunes make it to CD, I'll definitely be picking up a copy.

'Late"

This DVD is for all baseball fans...

Peter M. Naboicheck | FARMINGTON, CT United States | 12/12/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow--You can be a Yankee fan and still enjoy this wonderful look back at a 7 game Classic---the production is first-rate....MLB has put together something special ...Enjoy...a must for all baseball fans."