‘A dream come true’: 25 years later, 1997 Marlins reflect on club’s first World Series

The second remains to be recent in Craig Counsell’s thoughts virtually two-and-a-half a long time later.

He’s standing on third base with two outs within the eleventh inning of Recreation 7 of the 1997 World Sequence between the Florida Marlins and the Cleveland Indians, 90 ft away from glory. Edgar Renteria stood on the plate with an 0-1 rely.

Renteria lofted the pitch from Charles Nagy simply above the pitcher’s head, between the center infielders and into middle area. Counsell, along with his arms raised excessive and Professional Participant Stadium turning right into a frenzy, crosses dwelling plate.

The Marlins, 5 years into their existence, have received the World Sequence.

“To be the man that bought to attain that run,” Counsell mentioned, “you pinch your self. It’s a dream come true.”

That second, and the season that led to it, was on full show at loanDepot park on Saturday because the Marlins celebrated the twenty fifth anniversary of the franchise’s first World Sequence group with Counsell within the opposing dugout because the Marlins hosted the Milwaukee Brewers.

Along with Counsell, 13 different members of the 1997 group had been in attendance: Supervisor Jim Leyland, World Sequence MVP Livan Hernandez, Kurt Abbott, Antonio Alfonseca, Alex Arias, John Cangelosi, Wealthy Donnelly, Jim Eisenreich, Alex Fernandez, Cliff Floyd, Charles Johnson, Renteria and Gary Sheffield.

“I didn’t notice how a lot time had previous,” Sheffield mentioned. “If you end up doing a whole lot of issues and have a whole lot of issues occurring they usually inform you one thing a few 25-year anniversary, you begin reflecting a bit bit and you then begin going again into your recollections and looking out on the good occasions we had.”

The group converged on the sphere pregame for a bunch photograph earlier than the official ceremony started.

Jeff Conine, given the Mr. Marlin moniker and now the affiliate head baseball coach at FIU, spoke on a pre-recorded video that was performed on the scoreboard. Conine couldn’t be in attendance as a result of FIU had a weekend collection at UAB.

After which they had been launched one after the other by Jay Rokeach, the Marlins’ public deal with announcer for that 1997 season, with loanDepot park’s multicolor-capable LED lights flashing in teal as every participant emerged from the house dugout.

“Speaking about that stuff by no means will get outdated,” Counsell mentioned. “It was one of the enjoyable occasions in your life. Profitable the World Sequence, you at all times need to re-live that stuff. That’s your favourite stuff in baseball.”

And whereas the lasting reminiscence is that remaining hit — Renteria driving in Counsell — the consensus among the many group is that the success was pushed by the belief Leyland had in his gamers.

Sheffield, who the Marlins acquired in a commerce with the San Diego Padres in 1993, pointed to a second when he was strolling to the facet fields throughout spring coaching. Leyland put his arm round Sheffield’s shoulder.

The message the supervisor was going to relay to his All-Star outfielder in a heart-to-heart dialog:

“This group goes to go so far as you are taking us,” Sheffield recollected Saturday. “Not that each one the stress goes to be on you, however if you happen to do your half, we have now the items round you to do it.”

Sheffield’s ideas at that second, after being a part of the primary 4 Marlins groups that had by no means completed a season with an above-.500 document?

“That’s once I began believing,” he mentioned.

The Marlins would find yourself going 92-70 that season to earn a spot within the playoffs as a wild card group. They swept the San Francisco Giants within the best-of-5 Nationwide League Division Sequence and beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2 within the Nationwide League Championship Sequence earlier than reaching the top of the World Sequence.

To Sheffield, Leyland “gave the group some path and a few management from the highest.”

“He brough that from Day 1,” Sheffield mentioned. “He put the fitting items in place and we bought alongside. We had one heartbeat and that was the slogan all through the World Sequence.”

For Alfonseca, who the Marlins chosen with the No. 4 total decide in 1993, Leyland is like one other father.

Alfonseca made his MLB debut that season. He performed in simply 17 regular-season video games that yr and threw 25 2/3 innings, however Leyland trusted the rookie sufficient to provide him the ball within the eighth inning of Recreation 7 of the World Sequence with the Marlins inside a run of Cleveland. He retired 4 of the 5 batters he confronted, permitting only a stroll, to place the Marlins in place to tie the sport within the backside of the ninth.

“As a rookie in ‘97, I mentioned ‘Thanks, Leyland,’” Alfonseca mentioned. “He at all times taught me.”

Counsell, now in his eighth yr because the Brewers’ supervisor after a 16-year MLB profession that started in earnest after being traded to the Marlins in 1997, mentioned there have been classes he discovered from being round Leyland that he has taken into his managerial profession.

“We discovered from folks we had been round,” Counsell mentioned. “The hot button is you are taking it in, however you must be your self while you implement issues that you simply study. It by no means comes throughout the identical as Jim Leyland — and I wouldn’t need it to; I wouldn’t anticipate it to. You attempt to study from it and make it come throughout as genuine.”

The authenticity of the second, in the meantime, was nonetheless felt as teammates recollected on recollections 25 years within the making.

Alfonseca remembers being within the dugout as Recreation 7 went to further innings, anxiously ready to see if the second would come, if the Marlins would be capable of pull off the World Sequence win.

After which got here the second. Rentaria single up the center. Counsell scores from third.

Pandemonium begins.

“I’m going loopy and leaping like a bit child,” Alfonseca mentioned. “I see that and go, ‘That’s it.’”