There’s a generation of old-time Yankees fans for whom the World Series wasn’t just everything, it was the only thing. The first 29 times the Yankees won the American League pennant, they proceeded directly to the World Series; 20 of those times, the Yankees defeated the National League. Times were simpler then, men were men, all of that.
Since 1976, though, the minefield lurking between the end of the regular season and the start of the World Series has made the journey a trail of bitten fingernails, chewed-up cuticles and, for those so inclined, crushed cigarette butts and empty Maalox bottles.
Even before baseball added the division series there was the ALCS, and the Yankees started playing them after ’76, and a huge percentage of the forever moments they’ve assembled since then have taken place in what was a five-game series the first five times they played in one (four of those times against the Royals) and a seven-game series ever since they re-emerged as a postseason regular in 1996.
Trying to keep the list to 10 is tough, and there will be telling omissions. But here are The Post’s suggestions:
1 – Oct. 14, 1976
Game 5 vs. Royals
The Yankees had been out of October for 12 years and hadn’t won a postseason series in 14, and they took a 6-3 lead over the Royals into the eighth inning. But George Brett, tormenting the Yankees as he would do so often across the next few years, hit a three-run homer off Grant Jackson, tying the game, and he was on deck when a questionable call got the Yankees out of the top of the ninth instead of bringing Brett up with the bases loaded. A few minutes later, Mark Littell grooved a pitch to Chris Chambliss, and the Yankees were back in the World Series 7-6 winners.
2 – Oct. 16, 2003
Game 7 vs. Red Sox
The Yankees entered the bottom of the eighth inning trailing 5-2, and Pedro Martinez was armed with his “A” game, and it seemed The Curse would dissolve in the frigid New York air. Then Derek Jeter started things with a double, and Bernie Williams followed with an RBI single, and Hideki Matsui with an RBI double . . . and still Grady Little wouldn’t take Pedro out, and then Jorge Posada tied it with a double, and Mariano Rivera threw three breathtaking innings of shut-down relief, and then . . . and then, Aaron Bleepin’ Boone! Final: Yankees 6, Sox 5.
3 – Oct. 9, 1996
Game 1 vs. Orioles
Scott Erickson had kept the Yankees in check for seven innings and handed a 4-3 lead to Armando Benitez in the eighth. He fanned Jim Leyritz leading off, then got Jeter to swing late on his first pitch to the Yankees rookie. Jeter lofted what seemed to be a lazy fly ball to right that kept carrying, just not far enough. Tony Tarasco settled under it, waited for it . . . and it never arrived. A 12-year-old kid from Old Tappan, N.J., named Jeffrey Maier interceded and added his unlikely name to the long roster of Yankee October heroes. Three innings later, Bernie Williams ended it with a long walk-off home run off Randy Myers
4- Oct. 9, 1977
Game 5 vs. Royals
In so many ways this one game encapsulates everything about the Bronx Zoo Yankees. Billy Martin stunningly benched Reggie Jackson, who by this point in the ’77 season wasn’t surprised by anything anymore. The Royals jumped to leads of 2-0 and 3-1 and Paul Splittorff handcuffed them for seven innings. But in the eighth, Jackson pinch hit an RBI single to cut the lead to one, and in the ninth the Yankees poured it on, scoring three times and stunning Kansas City, 5-3.
5 – Oct. 10, 1998
Game 4 vs. Indians
The Yankees had won 114 games in the regular season and swept Texas easily in the ALDS, but after Chuck Knoblauch suffered a brain cramp by failing to pick up a loose ball in Game 2 and Bartolo Colon squashed them in Game 3, the Yankees suddenly faced a must-win against the Indians. And in the bottom of the first, it seemed Jim Thome would crush them with a three-run home run; the wind held it up just enough, however, and that was it. Orlando Hernandez threw his signature game as a Yankee, three hits over seven innings, the Yankees won 4-0 (El Duque outdueling Doc Gooden) and never lost again that season.
6 – Oct. 17, 2004
Game 4 vs. Red Sox
The game that changed the whole dynamic of the Yanks-Sox rivalry. The Yankees led, 4-3, with Mariano Rivera (in his second inning of work) on the mound in the ninth inning. But Rivera walked Kevin Millar and pinch runner Dave Roberts stole second by the length of his fingernails, setting up Bill Mueller’s game-tying single. Three innings later, after Manny Ramirez led off the bottom of the 12th with a single (and after the Yanks squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the top of the 11th), David Ortiz planted the seeds of his Big Papi legend with a dramatic two-run shot off Paul Quantrill, and the wheels were set in motion for . . . well, you know.
7 – Oct. 17, 2000
Game 6 vs. Mariners
There hadn’t been a Subway Series in 44 years, and the Mets had knocked out the Cardinals the night before, meaning all the Yankees needed to do was finish off the Mariners. But Seattle (led by Alex Rodriguez, who went 4-for-5) roared to a quick 4-0 lead, keeping everyone’s tokens in their pockets, and still led 4-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh when Jose Vizcaino and Derek Jeter singled, bringing up David Justice for the Yankees and bringing in Arthur Rhodes for the Mariners; and when Justice connected on a towering three-run blast, the Yankees had the lead (en route to a 9-7 win), and the Subway Series was assured.
8 – Oct. 6, 1978
Game 3 vs. Royals
George Brett (him again) hit three home runs off Catfish Hunter and the Royals (them again) scored twice off Goose Gossage in the top of the eighth to take a 5-4 lead in the pivotal swing game of the five-game series. Then, with one out in the bottom half, Roy White singled and Thurman Munson hit what may well have been the longest home run of his life, a bomb that easily cleared the 430-foot sign in left-center field and gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead that Gossage protected by barely denying Brett a fourth homer in the top of the ninth.
9 – Oct. 11, 2003
Game 3 vs. Red Sox
The game that showed many younger Yankees fans just how explosive the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry could be. Pedro Martinez buzzed the back of Karim Garcia’s head in the fourth as the Yanks took a 4-2 lead, and when Roger Clemens threw one a whisker high and tight on Manny Ramirez in the bottom half (though it didn’t appear to be a brushback at all), hell broke loose, culminating with Don Zimmer charging Martinez and Martinez pushing him to the ground. The Yankees ultimately took a tense 4-3 decision.
10 – Oct. 21, 2001
Game 4 vs. Mariners
In what was an eerie precursor to what was to come in the World Series, the Yankees rally late to put the 116-win Mariners on the brink of elimination. Bret Boone had cracked open a scoreless pitcher’s duel with an eighth-inning home run off Ramiro Mendoza before Bernie Williams tied it in the bottom off old Yankee punching bag Arthur Rhodes. Then, in the ninth, after a one-out single by Scott Brosius, Alfonso Soriano drilled a walk-off two-run homer off Kaz Sasaki for the 3-1 win.
michael.vaccaro@nypost.com