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02/05/2008 8:30 PM ET
New Yorkers get championship parade
Fans hope Giants' title sets stage for Yanks, Mets to follow suit
By Mark Newman / MLB.com









NEW YORK -- There were 50 tons of confetti and fans 20 people deep along a misty parade route on Tuesday, as New Yorkers came out to enjoy the first ticker-tape extravaganza for a local sports champion since the 2000 Yankees along the famed "Canyon of Heroes" through the financial district up to City Hall.
This one was for the New York Giants, who pulled off that remarkable last-minute Super Bowl XLII victory over the previously unbeaten New England Patriots on Sunday. It was the first such parade for a football team here. They've done it plenty for the Yankees, and they've done it for the Mets. They've done it for Charles Lindbergh.

Will it be a baseball team's turn again in 2008? That is one of those burning questions as Major League Baseball fans await the first official reporting of pitchers and catchers to Spring Training on Feb. 14 in Florida and Arizona. That last time New Yorkers had a parade for a local baseball team, the Yankees had just beaten the Mets in five during the first Subway Series since the golden days of Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956.

"It motivates me a lot to become a champion. I saw everything, all the celebrations and everything," Yankees outfielder Melky Cabrera said after the parade. "I'd love to actually be a part of a championship team."

Mets third baseman David Wright, who had predicted a narrow Giants victory in an MLB.com article shortly before the Super Bowl, watched the proceedings and imagined what it might be like to savor that kind of moment next fall.

"I think that seeing the city rally behind the Giants, witnessing first-hand those guys at [Madison Square] Garden, the ovations they get there, watching the parade today on TV, just seeing all the Giants jerseys and the fans coming out -- I think that it kind of unites New York and a city like New York can rally behind a team like that," Wright said. "So I think it motivates you that much more to be in those guys' shoes come October."

Competitive balance is at a peak and a case for a World Series trophy parade definitely can be made here in early February by fans of just about every club. That certainly includes both New York teams. The Yankees have a new manager in Joe Girardi, and most notably they enter spring with at least two key rookies in the starting rotation: Phil Hughes and 2007 sensation Joba Chamberlain. The Mets lost Tom Glavine, but they got the best pitcher in baseball in Johan Santana -- and Pedro Martinez is hoped to come back like his old self.

Both clubs also have something else. They will ride on a tidal wave of everyday emotion at home, because this is the sendoff season for Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium. They have been home to a combined 28 world championships. Now that the Giants have amazed everyone, is it the Year of New York?

"I will have to say that there will be a great deal of people trying to prognosticate about what the season will bring; I fortunately am not one of them," Mets pitcher Aaron Heilman said before the start of Tuesday's parade. "I echo the sentiments of my teammates in saying it will be great to get this season under way. I hope they enjoy the parade because they deserved every minute of it. It goes to show you that it's not how you start, it's how you finish.

"It was great to see the Giants win the Super Bowl, but I am not sure it will have much impact on our season. I mean, come on, after a long grueling season in the NFL, you can only expect 150, 160 innings tops out of Eli [Manning]. We know he has a great arm and certainly has the agility to cover first base but does he have an out pitch? You will have to talk to Rick Peterson to see if he can have him ready by Opening Day. Maybe we could sign Plaxico Burress as a backup outfielder. After all, he is used to running around catching balls. You never know, maybe the thought of not having to dodge a 260-pound safety would appeal to him."

There was great disappointment at the end of the 2007 season for both New York clubs. The Mets were expecting to get over the hump after losing that classic 2006 National League Championship Series Game 7 to the eventual champion Cardinals -- yet they collapsed on the final Sunday of the regular season while the Phillies clinched the NL East. The Yankees have not missed the postseason since 1997, but their nine-year streak of American League East titles was snapped by the Red Sox last October -- and then the Bronx Bombers lost to Cleveland in four during an AL Division Series noted for those bugs that wreaked havoc on Chamberlain and his teammates.

Both clubs have made some adjustments, and the most high-profile move was last week's blockbuster that brought Santana to the Mets from Minnesota for prospects Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. The Mets subsequently made Santana the highest-paid pitcher in history -- six years, $137.5 million. Meanwhile, the other New York club has the highest-paid player in Major League history. Ultra-durable third baseman Alex Rodriguez, coming off a spectacular season (.314, 54 homers, 156 RBIs) in which he was named AL MVP, stands again at the top of the MLB.com fantasy rankings released on Tuesday,

There will be a competition for jobs at the Yankees' camp in Tampa that shows just how much things are changing. The club is still rich in marquee talent, but there is an infusion of youth, especially in the pitching corps, and the change from Joe Torre's managerial style may be a needed shakeup. Who knows? It certainly will feel different around Legends Field this Grapefruit League season.

"We're going to have a really good team, and there's going to be plenty of attention spread around some other guys," Hughes said. "With a lot of young guys stepping up and the core from last year coming back, it should be exciting."

Will Santana get to his first World Series now? Will A-Rod finally win a ring?

Will one of two stadiums go out in spectacular style? The House That Ruth Built was home to a world champion in its first year, 1923 -- something that never happened again until the 2006 Cardinals ushered in new Busch Stadium with a winner. A lot of Yankees fans would consider it only fitting to bookend their ballpark the way Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and those legends got it all started.

In the meantime, there will be plenty of pomp and circumstance around New York home games this season, because both clubs will celebrate the occasion summer-long and the All-Star Game will be played at Yankee Stadium on July 15. In fact, DHL All-Star Game FanFest tickets just went on sale on Monday.

"It's been an unbelievable journey," Manning told the crowd outside City Hall on Tuesday. He had just pulled off the impossible, escaping a certain sack to hit David Tyree for the miracle helmet catch and later hitting Burress for the touchdown pass that beat the Patriots and brought a parade back to Manhattan.

Watching an improbable NFL team there on the stage and celebrating something that seemingly everyone in the world just saw, it was easy to envision another New York team making similar statements and waving to people the same way late this year when the cold comes back. There are 28 other Major League clubs with the same dream, and one can justify just about all of their claims that they could be the last team standing.

"I would have to admit it would be nice to have a team of linebackers in front of you on the mound," Heilman said. "You could wear a clown suit and still look intimidating. It is great for the city and all of New York the Giants won. I hope that we will be able to give the fans the same feeling.

"I guess you think about these things more when there is either an end or beginning in sight. It would certainly be nice to go out with a bang since the stadium can't."

One thing is for sure: Baseball is about to return again. Count the New York participants among those who can't wait to take over from here.

"You know what? I think it's what makes baseball great," Girardi said. "Sometimes, it's nice to pull back and just be a fan. It never really stops. It never takes a break. If you're thinking about offseasons of other sports, you don't hear as much. And, you know, it's interesting. I think it's great."

Mark Newman is enterprise editor for MLB.com. Anthony DiComo, Bryan Hoch and Marty Noble contributed to this report. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.