who pays for the yankees parade?

1 ANSWERS

1. Ali Abdullah
   

   Hi, NEW YORK (AP) - With George Steinbrenner waving a broom from a float, the New York Yankees were honored by a flood of fans in what's become an annual autumn rite: a ticker-tape parade for the pinstriped champions. ''I called in sick to be here,'' said Anthony Hernandez, 42, who sported the No. 26 jersey of his namesake, Orlando ''El Duque'' Hernandez. ''My boss is a Mets fan, and he wouldn't understand.'' The festivities were the third in the last four years for the Yankees, who assured their place as the team of the '90s and the team of the century by sweeping the Atlanta Braves in the World Series on Wednesday night. The last two Yankees' parades, following their titles in 1996 and 1998, each drew crowds of 3.5 million people. The parade, with the players riding a half-dozen floats, stepped off shortly after noon amid a blizzard of paper and weather more in keeping with spring. Steinbrenner, the Yankees' owner, rode in the top of a double-decker bus, waving a broom - the symbol of his team's sweep. Several players, including Darryl Strawberry, videotaped the wild crowd. Chili Davis smoked a victory cigar. World Series MVP Mariano Rivera, the Yankees' unhittable reliever, rode alone on his own special float. The parade, with the Yankee players riding a half-dozen floats, began shortly after noon amid a blizzard of paper. The crowd in lower Manhattan was so thick that many revelers couldn't even see the parade. ''Got a TV, hon?'' a police officer asked one woman stuck far from the parade route. Following the ticker-tape trip through the Canyon of Heroes - the downtown route where Charles Lindbergh, Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II have been feted - the team was to assemble at City Hall. The parade route along the financial district's narrow streets, from the Battery to City Hall, is less than a mile long. Police made one arrest about an hour into the parade, grabbing a man who started a small fire in the paper left on the street in the Yankees' wake. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the city's highest-profile Yankees fan, was to present each player with a key to the city. For Yankees pitcher David Cone, it will be his second this year - he received one in July after pitching a perfect game. The City Hall event is an invitation-only affair, open to just 5,000 guests - a group that did not include any Democratic state assembly members who voted to repeal New York's commuter tax. Deputy Mayor Joseph Lhota said their invitations were rescinded to send a message: Don't vote against the city's interests. Assemblyman Paul Tonko, a Yankees fan from upstate, said he took away this message: ''He puts the rude in Rudy.'' Police Commissioner Howard Safir said 3,500 officers were assigned to the parade, with more added if necessary.

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