Move over, Reggie

Unheralded Brosius grabbing October spotlight

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Posted: Wednesday October 21, 1998 02:29 AM

Yankees manager Joe Torre has been surprised by the play of Scott Brosius AP

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- In spring training, the New York Yankees hardly knew who Scott Brosius was.

After his two homers and four RBIs in Game 3 of the World Series, they'll never forget.

"This is the type of thing that as a kid you dream about," Brosius said Tuesday night after the Yankees beat San Diego 5-4 to take a 3-0 World Series lead. "I've done it in my backyard 100 times."

This time, the field was a little bigger and the fence was a little farther back.

But not too far for Brosius, a symbol of the magical season these Yankees are having.

All summer long, New York has had a different hero every night. On Tuesday night, it was his turn.

"He had a Reggie Jackson night, one of the great World Series performances in Yankee history," Game 3 starter David Cone said. "He just crushed the ball."

With San Diego trying to crawl back into this World Series, Brosius stuck another fork into the Padres, stabbed them really.

His solo shot off Sterling Hitchcock in the seventh started the Yankees' comeback from a 3-0 deficit and his three-run drive off Trevor Hoffman in the eighth put the Yankees ahead 5-3.

You could hear a pin drop in Qualcomm Stadium. Hoffman hung his head. Even the Swinging Friar was stunned.

"There's nothing more fun than this," Brosius said. "When you grow up you want to get a chance to play in the World Series, that's what you play for."

San Diego wasn't beaten by one of those big stars in the middle of the New York lineup. The Padres were thumped by Brosius, a virtual throw-in last November who is not even sure New York will attempt to re-sign him for next year.

Brosius came to New York only because Oakland was willing to take Kenny Rogers off the Yankees' hands.

"It was Ronny Brand's idea," Yankees superscout Gene Michael said before the game, referring to one of the team's West Coast scouts. "Turned out pretty good."

Michael and Brand had no idea how good.

Brosius arrived at Tampa, Forida, last February after slumping to .203 with just 41 RBIs for Oakland in 1997.

Against the Padres in the Series, Scott Brosius is batting 7-for-13 (.538) AP

"We didn't know what Scott Brosius was exactly," Yankees manager manager Joe Torre said. "We had to pick up a press guide in spring training."

He wound up hitting .300 this year, hitting 19 homers and driving in a career-high 98 runs.

"He is such a force on this club," Torre said. "It didn't take long to see he could knock in big runs."

Brosius became an All-Star for the first time. His 1997 slump was over.

"This game can humble you," he said. "I think sometimes it was harder to hit .200 than it was to hit .300. It was a just a year where if anything could go wrong, it did go wrong. It was one of those things that kind of snowballed."

This year, everything has gone right.

In Game 6 of the AL championship series, his three-run homer put the Yankees ahead of Cleveland 6-0, sending on their way to a record 35th AL pennant.

He leads the Yankees in postseason hits (17), average (.395), homers (four) and RBIs (14). Against the Padres in the Series, he's 7-for-13 (.538).

"Certainly coming over here was a shot of adrenaline for me," Brosius said.

And he's doing this while worrying about his father, who was back home in McMinnville, Oregon, recovering from colon cancer surgery, until jetting into San Diego just before game time.

His seventh-inning homer woke up the Yankees, who had left the bases loaded in the sixth and given up three runs in the bottom half.

With Hoffman, the best closer in baseball, going for San Diego in the eighth, Brosius worked the count to 2-1, then fouled off a pitch. The next one went flying over the 405-foot sign in straightaway center field.

"With Trevor, he's the type of pitcher that you know you have to battle and hope you get a pitch to hit," Brosius said. "On the second pitch, he threw me a fastball that I fouled off. Later he came back with another one that I stayed back on and hit it."

That was that. The Padres never recovered. Chalk up Win No. 124.

One more to go, and the magical ride is complete.

"We'd like to get 125, that would feel really good," Brosius said. "We're in pretty good shape."

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CNN/SI Player Page: Scott Brosius
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Scott Brosius homered twice for the Yankees in Game 3   • Start(1.05 M .MOV) San Diego manager Bruce Bochy talks about the team's reaction to the big three-run homer by Brosius (334 K) Scott Brosius talks about Qualcomm Stadium (315 K) Brosius knows he hit a big homer off Hoffman (474 K) Brosius talks about his first homer off Hitchcock (400 K) David Cone says Brosius is a key to the team (224 K) Torre says Brosius has come a long way in a year (455 K) Click here for the latest audio and video
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