They are iconic words here in Atlanta.
“The team of the 90s has its world championship.” Bob Costas made the television call when the Braves won the 1995 World Series just as Marquis Grissom caught the final out in Game 6 against Cleveland.
Years later, Costas said he’d like a do-over.
So, how does “Atlanta at last” sound? Had Costas waited a few more seconds, those might be the words that we all remember today.
Costas appeared on ESPN’s Kay Rod Cast of the broadcast of the Braves-Giants game Sunday night. In an interview with hosts Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez, Costas brought up the famous call and said he regrets it.
“In retrospect, I don’t know about you Michael, but I’m not one of these people who scripts a call, writes down a call, in anticipation of what might happen,” Costas said. “You have ideas in your head, but you should say whatever occurs to you. So Grissom makes the catch. It’s in Atlanta. The place goes crazy. Everybody is celebrating. And I swear not five seconds later, this pops into my head: Atlanta at last. And that would have been perfect. Because they had waited. They’d been frustrated. Atlanta at last would have been a good call, but you don’t get do-overs in live TV.”
Certainly, the Braves could have been the team of the 90s decade, especially had they defeated the Yankees in the 1999 World Series, according to Costas. But perhaps, he notes now, he may have spoken too early.
“That call, I’m not going to say it haunts me, but I regret that call,” Costas said. “Because in 1995, if the decade had ended at that point, that’s what I was thinking. To that point, the Braves were the team of the decade because it was the third World Series they’d been in. They’d won many consecutive division championships, ultimately they’d win 14 in a row. To that point, even though the Blue Jays had won two World Series, the Braves had been in three and they won that one.
“And in truth, they still had a chance to be the team of the decade when they met the Yankees in 1999 in the World Series. If the Braves had won that World Series, they would have split two World Series with the Yankees. They would have had two Series championships. The Yankees would have also had two at that point, but the Braves would have had more division championships within the decade. In fact, that’s the way we framed it when we came on the air in 1999, for Game 1, that this was a battle for team of the decade.”
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