By Danielle McCartan (@CoachMcCartan)

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ- Rewind 20 years to the year 1996:

• The #1 song in the United States of America was “Macarena” by Los Del Rio
• Denim jackets were paired with denim jeans of all different hues.
• The highest grossing movie was Sleepers starring: Kevin Bacon, Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffmann, and Brad Pitt.
• The higher the platform on a shoe or sandal, the better.
• Motorola rolled out the the first flip cell phone, the Startac.

And, most importantly: the New York Yankees celebrated their first World Series victory since 1978.  This championship was the first of the prosperous Yankee Dynasty years.

October 29, 1996.

Location: the Canyon of Heroes, Lower Manhattan

1.5 million people are lining the streets to catch a glimpse of the World Champion Yankees

50 tons of ticker tape is ready to rain down upon the World Series Champions

Derek Jeter and Jimmy Leyritz, who hit the pivotal 3-run home run in game 4, have overslept their alarm clocks and the ensuing hero’s welcome before New York’s faithful. Frantically, they run downstairs to the policemen staged at their Manhattan hotel and ask for a police escort to the parade.  In true New York fashion, due to traffic jams and road closures, Jeter and Leyritz are denied a ride to the parade they earned: the police officer says they will not make it in time.  Their next option: take the subway with the rest of the 1.5 million Yankees fans to their own ticker tape parade.  A tremendously trepidatious Jeter and a happy-go-lucky Leyritz, clutching their subway tickets, boarded the train to the Canyon of Heroes, miraculously making it to the parade on-time.

To download this interview, download on my iTunes official podcast or on Soundcloud.

Watch Leyritz tell the story in my video above, shot at a MintPros and J.Irwin Productions Yankee Stadium Suite event.