THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - JIM LEYRITZ

Baseball is a game to break your heart.  In the 4th game of the 1996 World Series, the Atlanta Braves, leading 6-0, were poised to go up 3-1 in the series with a second consecutive World Championship only one game away.  It would take a Yankee sweep to keep the Braves away from rare back to back championships. 

The Yankees staged a miraculous comeback led by Jim Leyritz, who hit a home run off Braves' star reliever Mark Wohlers to even the score 6-6.  The Yankees won the game and the next two to win the championship.  

Leyrtiz, a journeyman catcher who played for six teams in his short career, graduated from Turpin High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Leyrtiz's broken foot ended his chance to be a first round pick, so he decided to go the college route to play junior college ball.  He chose Middle Georgia College in Cochran, where he played in 1983 and 1984,  before signing with the Kentucky Wildcats. 

In 1984, Leyrtiz led the Warriors to a 34-5 record and 5th place ranking among Junior College.    Leyritz's Warriors finished 2nd nationally and 4th nationally in the Junior College World Series in his two seasons with the team from Cochran.