In the bottom of the eighth inning of an ALCS game between the Yankees and Orioles on Oct. 9, 1996, 12-year-old Yankees fan Jeffrey Maier reached over the Yankee Stadium wall to pull a Derek Jeter fly ball into the seats for a game-tying home run. Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco and manager Davey Johnson vehemently argued — correctly — that Maier interfered with a ball that should have been in play, but the home run stood as called and the Yankees went on to win the game in extra innings and, eventually, both the ALCS and the World Series.

If the play happened today, it would certainly be overturned by the rule adopted in August, 2008 allowing umpires to review home runs for boundary calls and fan interference on instant replay. But what would have happened to all the parties involved had the instant replay rule been adopted 12 years earlier? Let’s enjoy the hypothetical.

The 1996 ALCS: With Jeter’s home run rendered a ground-rule double, a significantly less dejected Armando Benitez is able to wriggle his way out of trouble in the eighth, and the Orioles go on to win the game when closer Randy Myers shuts the door on the Yankees in the ninth. They win the next game of the series — as they did in real life — but still lose Game 3. In Game 4, the more-confident Benitez is able to keep an eighth-inning Yankees lead in check, and the Orioles — down by one run instead of four in the bottom of the eighth — rally to score off Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera and win the game in extra innings. They go on to take the series behind a strong Game 6 start by then-Oriole David Wells.

The Orioles:

The Orioles return to the World Series for the first time since 1983, but lose in six games to the Braves when Atlanta’s pitching trio of John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine prove too much for Baltimore’s offense. But the Orioles re-sign David Wells after his inspiring ALCS performance. Wells’ career renaissance combined with a series of Yankee front-office miscues allows the Orioles to win the AL Wild Card in 1998, when they ultimately reach the World Series again but lose to the Chicago Cubs.

Also, due to a lengthy but relatively mundane series of events set off by Braves shortstop Jeff Blauser’s post-World Series partying in 1996, Facebook never exists. Napster escapes lawsuits unscathed and ultimately becomes the dominant social network, and by 2013 nearly everyone in the country thinks Brown Eyed Girl was performed by Jim Morrison.

The Yankees (as represented here by that guy’s hat):

After the disappointing end to the 1996 ALCS, furious owner George Steinbrenner — then at the top of his George Steinbrenner game — orders the Yankees sign free-agent outfielder Albert Belle to a massive contract and trade Rivera and catching prospect Jorge Posada to the Cubs for All-Star righty Steve Trachsel. The moves actually prove enough to help the Yankees win the 1997 World Series, but Belle’s volatility soon runs afoul of the button-down Yankees brass. The Yankees do not return to the World Series until the middle part of the next decade, then lose because stalwart closer Benitez — never traded to the Mets and signed as a free agent in 2004 — finally comes undone.

Tony Tarasco:

A Triple-A masher who never got quite enough big-league opportunities in real life, Tarasco gets a couple of big hits in Game 6 of the ALCS and the World Series. The performance is enough to secure him a lengthy if unspectacular career as a Major League platoon outfielder. He never joins the Yankees, and thus never embarrasses the team with a profanity-laced at-bat song. He does still join the Mets, but with a wholly different history, he never embarrasses the team as part of a post-game marijuana-related incident. He’s not remembered as that guy who was robbed by Jeffrey Maier or that guy with the explicit at-bat song or that guy who got high in the parking lot with a rookie reliever, just that guy who was a pretty good lefty bat for a while.

Jeffrey Maier:

Rendered a footnote in history instead of an asterisk, Maier is inspired by his fleeting moment of big-league glory. Instead of hitting the talk-show circuit, he hits the batting cage. Instead of setting the Wesleyan baseball team’s all-time career hits record, he is drafted out of high school and works his way to a lengthy but unspectacular career as a platoon outfielder. Sort of a right-handed Tony Tarasco type.

Nobody Beats the Wiz:

Remember the New York-area electronics chain and stadium advertiser Nobody Beats the Wiz? That’s part of its logo on the left. Super-catchy jingle. “Ain’t nobody gonna beat the Wiz… Nobody Beats THE WIZ!” In any case, big-box stores and online marketplaces still ultimately beat the Wiz, and it actually happens a bit quicker this time because the chain never benefits from the advertising boon that came with the controversial play. Too bad.

This guy:

Unlikely everyone else in any way involved in the play, this guy’s life is almost entirely unaffected by instant replay. In his hand, he clutches the program on which he scribbled down the phone number of a woman he met on line for peanuts. More excited by the chance encounter than the playoff game, he shrugs off the Yankees loss and calls the woman the next day. The couple is now married and living in Connecticut with their four children. They have a beautiful life. The only time he even thinks about the game is when he regales his 12-year-old Yankees-fan daughter with the story of how the great Mariano Rivera was almost a True Yankee.