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NEW YORK -- There are two requirements to being a New York Yankees fan.
Own Yankees merchandise and have an opinion.
Fans at the corner of River and Jerome Sts., wore Yankees varsity jackets, sweatshirts with hoods, windbreakers, red caps, as well as blue caps and even pink Yankee caps with the stylized NY as they mingled four hours before the first pitch of last night's Game 6 of the 105th World Series inside swanky Yankee Stadium.
Fans arrived expecting to see former Boston Red Sox starter Pedro Martinez roughed up and their Yankees win their 27th Series.
The New York Daily News featured Martinez's head on a baby in diapers on it's front cover and on a two-page spread inside the tabloid.
The fans arrived last night to view post-season history.
Would Alex Rodriguez hit three home runs the way Reggie Jackson did in 1977?
Would Mark Teixeira hit a walkoff homer like Chris Chambliss in '76 or Aaron Boone in 2003?
Would Hideki Matsui go deep with a tying home run as did both Scott Brosius and Tino Martinez on successive nights in 2001, each time with the Yanks a strike away from losing.
"I hope we whack Pedro," said Anthony Del Guercio, from Union, N.J. "We're going to show Pedro who his daddy is."
Del Guercio was interrupted by his uncle Frank, who said: "Now, now, he's probably their second best starter. If we're gonna win, we want to beat their best."
When Anthony was growing up, Uncle Frank would take him to opening day at Yankee Stadium every year. Last week, Frank received a call: "Hey, your birthday is this month. I'm taking you to Game 6."
Robert Frank, from Islip Terrace, N.Y., arrived "confident, hopefully confident."
"I've been up since 2 a.m., my tickets around my neck so I wouldn't lose them," Frank said of the ducats he paid $500 US apiece for, for he and his wife, Estelle.
"I'm very nervous," he said. "I was at Game 7 in 2004 for the end of that meltdown against the Red Sox. This will be sweet to beat Pedro. Last week here, he said he was the most influential player at Yankee Stadium. Yeah, he can be mentioned in the same breath as Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Pedro is confident, that's his persona."
Frank, a chiropractor, used to go to the old Stadium, paying 25 cents to sit in the centre-field bleachers. Would he treat Martinez if he walked into his office with a bad back?
"I would, but I'd charge him," Frank said. "Pinstripes I'd do free."
Ken Scarlatelli, and wife Heather, drove in from Lodi, N.J., closer to Baltimore's Camden Yards.
"Growing up, I had seven uncles who'd talk about them winning every year," Scarlatelli said of the Yankees. "I started following them in 1964 when they were bad. By the time they were good, I was away at the University of Massachusetts. Then I moved.
"In 2004, I had tickets and never saw them lose during the season. My cousin went and they lost to Boston. She gave me the Game 7 tickets because she thought she was the jinx. They lost."
They purchased their tickets second-hand at $300 apiece. A wildlife biologist, Scarlatelli is asked how he would celebrate Series No. 27?
"Right to Stan's Sports Bar, then to the Village to my favourite jazz club," he said.
If we remember Civil War history, Virginia was in the south, which fought northerners, known as Yankees.
"Yup, that's right," said Pete Wood, 62, from Lynchburg, Va., under a Yanks cap. "I live close to D.C., and cheer for the Dallas Cowboys."
Wood's son, Kenneth, paid $880 on Stub Hub to bring his father to his first Series game.
"I haven't been in New York in 40 years," he said looking towards the subway. "Things move quicker and are noisier here."
Then, for about the 100th time, someone did a bad John Sterling impression "the-uh-uh-uh Yankees win!"
BOB.ELLIOTT@SUNMEDIA.CA