Justice Changes Jeers To Cheers

After stirring the fans with his mouth, David Justice won the World Series with his bat,

Justice, whose power had been AWOL for the entire postseason, finally put Atlanta over the top Saturday night. His sixth-inning homer off Jim Poole made the difference as the Braves beat Cleveland 1-0 to win their first World Series title since 1957.

“It was really a nerve-wracking day for me,” Justice said. “I’ve never felt so much pressure in my life as I did today.”

His mouth had caused most of the pressure. On Friday, while raindrops fell on the tarp at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the outfielder delivered his own weather report. The Braves’ fans, he said, were all wet.

“If we get down 1-0, they will probably boo us out of the stadium,” he said. “You would have to do something great to get them out of their seats. Shoot, up in Cleveland, they were down three runs in the ninth inning and they were still on their feet.”

Justice’s mouth was the talk of the town all day. And when the Braves took the field, the cheers were noticeably louder than last weekend, when Atlanta swept the Indians in Games 1 and 2.

“I did it because I wanted our fans to prove me wrong,” Justice said when it was all over. “They proved me wrong. They definitely proved me wrong tonight.”

Starting the night, Justice had been in a 1-for-15 slump. He hadn’t gotten an extra-base hit in 42 postseason atbats and hadn’t homered since Sept. 22. Braves manager Bobby Cox could have filed a missing person’s report.

When Justice was watching Fred McGriff bat in the first inning, he knew his remarks had been noticed.

“They were all over me in the on-deck circle,” he said. “I’ve been booed so much here. I just look for the one or two clapping.”

But Justice’s bat was as sharp as his tongue. He walked in the second, then doubled to left-center in the fourth. When he led off the sixth, he drove Poole’s 1-1 pitch deep to right field and the scoreless tie was broken.

Justice had struggled in the ‘91 and ‘92 Series, too, going 7 for 27 (.259) against Minnesota and 3-for-19 (.158) against Toronto. Given his performance, his speech Friday seemed shrill.

“If we win, it’s for the 25 guys in here, the coaches and Bobby,” he had said. “It is for us. Like the song ‘Against the World.’ It’s us against the world. I’m the only guy who will sit here and say it.”

Sounding a bit like the Helen Reddy song, he challenged the fans and himself. And when it was put up or shut up time, both came through.

‘It’s everything that we’ve dreamed of,” he said, “everything that we’ve worked so hard for.”

In the glow of victory, it was easy for Justice to admit his remarks were a mistake.

“It’s my own fault,” he said.

His intended message was: “Don’t cheer when something’s going good. Cheer when nothing’s happening.”

Instead, it sounded like he was trying to say, “Don’t blame us if we lose.”

As soon as he woke up Saturday, he heard about the controversy.

“I would have kept my mouth shut,” he said. “You can’t put your body through that.”

Saturday night he felt just fine.