World Series

The New York Yankees celebrated their latest championship long and loud, dancing and giggling into the wee hours of this morning. This is the championship the rest of America curses, the title the Yankees bought last winter, not that they really care what anyone else thinks. "You can call us anything you want," General Manager Brian Cashman said. "You're going to have to call us world champions." The Yankees, desperate to end their 0-for-this-millennium rut without a ring, committed $423.

Reggie Jackson remembers hitting the home run, rounding the bases, looking up and seeing a shower of candy bars. It was April 1978, and the New York Yankees had welcomed fans to their home opener by handing out Reggie! bars, a chocolate, caramel and peanut confection named after the Yankees' slugger. How good was the Reggie! bar? Jackson's teammate, Catfish Hunter, famously remarked that when you take a bite out of one, it tells you how good it is. But when Jackson looked up and saw that torrent of chocolate rain, he wasn't sure that commendation was enough.

Baseball TV ratings: In Friday's Sports section, the sports media column said that Game 7 of the World Series between Tampa Bay and Boston came in No. 4 among the most-watched television shows last fall. It was Game 7 of the American League Championship Series between those teams that came in No. 4.

Join a new team. Convert every save. Strike out the final batter in the World Series. Brad Lidge's first season with the Philadelphia Phillies played out better than anyone could have imagined. What can Mr. Perfect do for a sequel? "This is baseball," Lidge said. "At some point, I will blow one and I know that. Basically, my goal isn't to improve upon last year or do better. It's to go out, prepare every game and compete every game like I did last year. "If that means I end up converting most of my saves, blowing a few or getting 38 out of 41, I don't know.

Tom Sturdivant, 78, a pitcher for several major league teams who had the most success with the New York Yankees, winning 16 games for the Bronx Bombers in 1956 and again in 1957, died Saturday at INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City. The cause of death was not announced. A native of Gordon, Kan., Sturdivant was born April 28, 1930, and grew up in Oklahoma City. He was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1948 and made his major league debut with the team in 1955, when he was 24. He relied on a variety of pitches -- a knuckleball, curveball and fastball -- to become one of the Yankees' best pitchers in 1956 and 1957.

Johnny Blanchard, 76, who played on five World Series- winning teams with the New York Yankees and was nicknamed "Super-Sub" for his versatility, died Wednesday of a heart attack at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, Minn. Born in Minneapolis on Feb. 26, 1933, Blanchard starred in football, basketball and baseball at the city's Central High School. He was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent on July 3, 1951. He was with the Bronx Bombers from 1959 to 1965 and played several positions, including left and right field, first base and catcher.

I attended Monday night's World Baseball Classic game between Korea and Japan. I also had the opportunity to attend the seventh game of the World Series in Anaheim a few years back. The seventh game of the World Series simply did not compare to the atmosphere at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. It was intensely electrifying, passion-filled and highly colorful. What I found extremely pleasing was that given the rivalry that exists between the two countries, I did not observe a single fight.

While delirious fans celebrated Philadelphia's first major sports championship in a quarter century, postseason hero Cole Hamels was looking ahead. "One thing I can't wait to do is go down Broad Street for that parade again and again and again," Hamels told the crowd at Citizens Bank Park two days after the Phillies won the World Series last October. Repeat? Three-peat? Can the Phillies dare think dynasty? In a word, yes. These Phillies aren't the same sad-sacks of the past.

For those who say 101 years is plenty of time to get over an inferiority complex, meet the fans of the 2009 Chicago Cubs. The saps can't catch a break. Just last week, a local billionaire who spent most of last year trying to buy the ballclub got up at breakfast with the Executives' Club of Chicago and confirmed what every Cub fan suspected deep down: That for one reason or another, owners and even would-be owners weren't giving it their all. "I'm actually a White Sox fan," said John Canning Jr., who runs a private-equity firm and is a pal of baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.