A game of inches and millions: Luis Polonia at bat, Game 5 1996 World Series

Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling relate Luis Polonia's pinch hit at bat, bottom of the 9th inning WS Game 5, score 1-0 Yankees. Runners on 1st and 3rd, 2 outs. As Polonia came to bat, Suzyn recalls Jose Cardinale coming out of the Yankee dugout motioning right fielder Paul O'Neill to move a few steps away from where he was standing. Which he did.

• The ball Polonia hit was just barely caught by O'Neill, and had he not been positioned by Cardinale would have been out of O'Neill's reach. The Braves would have won the game.

Sterling recalls Polonia's quip, "and I would've had multi-million contract offers..."

• From Baseball-Reference:

Luis Polonia pinch hits for Jermaine Dye batting 7th
   O      1-3  7  L Polonia       Flyball: RF (Deep CF-RF)
        0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB. Yankees 1, Braves 0. (10/24/96)

The Yankees went on to win Game 6, the final, by a score of 3-2.
Polonia didn't reappear in the major
leagues until 1999.

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