church bells pealed in lower Manhattan on Friday as the Yankees’ World
Series championship celebration revved up with a ticker-tape parade.
As the players on floats made their
way through Wall Street toward City Hall Plaza, a loud roar rose above
Broadway as confetti rained down on the parade.
University of Delaware student Suzanne Giraud said she lost her voice celebrating the championship.
“Now I’m here to celebrate the guardians of the dynasty,” she said.
At a subway station near the parade
route, fans packed the staircase chanting, “Let’s go Yankees!” They
also sang “New York, New York.”
Vincent Rogner, an 18-year-old senior
at a Catholic high school in Queens, skipped classes Friday with some
friends to attend the parade.
“I’m a die-hard Yankees fan,” he said. “I love the intensity.”
Rogner said his favorite part of the
last game of the series was when Hideki Matsui tied the World Series
record with six RBIs on a double.
“We want to be with the fans who have our same passion,” Rogner said.
Revelers arrived early Friday to get a good spot along the route, though many were forced to pack surrounding streets.
Gov. David Paterson and rapper Jay-Z were among those in the parade.
After the jubilant baseball players
rode on parade floats to City Hall Plaza, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave them the keys to the city.
Bells were ringing at historic Trinity Church, but the roar of the crowds drowned out the sound.
Lower Broadway is known as the
Canyon of Heroes. Some 200 ticker-tape parades have been held there,
for heroes ranging from astronauts to sports champions to five-star
generals.
Even Kennedy International Airport got into the act — lighting its control tower with the Yankees’ signature blue.
The victory gave Yankees fans
further ammunition to their boast that the Bronx Bombers are the
greatest franchise in baseball history with an unprecedented 27 world
championships in 40 trips to the World Series.
Some Yankees fans also were quick to
note that Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins had predicted a Philadelphia
victory in five games; as it turns out, the Yankees were the ones to
win the Series four games to two.
The title was their first since
beating the crosstown rival Mets in the 2000 “Subway Series.” That
Series evoked memories of the glory days of New York baseball in the
1940s and ’50s, when the Giants played in upper Manhattan, the Yankees
in the Bronx and the Dodgers in Brooklyn. Nearly every October saw at
least one New York team vying for the world title.
Mets fans had conflicted loyalties
during this year’s Series, as well, being forced to choose between the
despised American League champion Yankees and their National League
East division rival Phillies. There were also geographical loyalties
to consider, with fans in northern New Jersey largely backing the
Yankees while fans in southern New Jersey tended to support the nearby
Phillies.
The World Series victory comes
during the inaugural season of a newly built $1.5 billion Yankee
Stadium. Attendance this year was 3.72 million, or an average of 45,918
for 81 regular-season home games. That’s down from 4.29 million, an
average of 52,928, for the final season at the old Yankee Stadium.