Here are some quotes from the celebration:
Joe Torre: “”I can’t say enough about the passion of these players. We never stopped believing all year…I always had it in my mind that we would celebrate this. You can’t allow yourself to settle for something, but I don’t think this is settling on our part. The accomplishment was to get to the postseason.”
Alex Rodriguez: “It’s been an unbelievable ride, and I could not be more proud of every member of this team. We went through a lot of adversity, and a lot of people counted us out…Joe Torre is our leader and the reason we are here…This feels like home. It’s hard to believe that I played for another two organizations. So much has happened to me here, adversity, some success, that I feel like anything but New York feels weird to me now. The one thing about New York, the tough times are tougher than anywhere. But the special times are as special as anywhere. New York is a special place. I love New York.”
Derek Jeter: “”We’re just getting started. “It feels good and we’re in the playoffs, but we have a lot of work left. This is a starting point. We haven’t accomplished anything yet…It’s been the most difficult one. We really battled. We didn’t hang our heads, and we continued to battle all season long.”
Andy Pettitte: “”Two months into the season, you’re thinking, ‘My goodness, what is this?’ This wasn’t what it was supposed to be about. You can’t allow yourself to be there. You’ve got to come in with a positive attitude and continue to press forward.”
Mariano Rivera: “Everybody counted us out, and we hung in there. Here we are.”
Doug Mientkiewicz: ” “When your manager breaks down and cries, it hits you right between the eyes…I know as an opponent playing against them, it seems like every year, something happens early and everyone writes them off. They want to jump on the bandwagon and say, ‘This is the first year the Yankees aren’t going to make it.’ Then you look up Oct. 1, and who’s got the 8 o’clock FOX game? The Yankees.”
Shelley Duncan: “It’s our time of the year, baby!”
