The A's celebration after sweeping the Giants might have been the quietest in World Series history.

"We were happy and proud," says Stewart, the MVP for his complete-game five-hit shutout in Game 1 and seven innings of work to get the victory in Game 3, "but we were also mindful and respectful of the devastation on both sides of the Bay."

On Oct. 17, just before the originally scheduled Game 3, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit Northern California, killing 63 people, injuring 3,757 and rendering an estimated 10,000 homeless. The Series had to be delayed 10 days as the Bay Area tried to recover.

Stewart, who grew up in Oakland and lived in Emeryville on the eastern side of the Bay Bridge, was a starting pitcher, but he suddenly found himself in a relief role. The night of the earthquake, he drove to the wreckage of the Nimitz Freeway and stayed until 4:30 a.m., offering support and thanks to the workers, firemen and policemen. He would visit nightly until the A's shipped off to Arizona to keep sharp until the Series resumed, and even after his victory in Game 3 on Oct. 27, he returned to the site.

When Dennis Eckersley nailed down the save in Game 4 to complete the sweep, Stewart ran out to the outfield to embrace his old American Legion teammate, Rickey Henderson, and told him, "We've done it."

"That's what it was about," says Stewart, now an agent for players, including Matt Kemp. "We. We, the A's. We, the people of Oakland. You know, people said the reason I got the MVP was more for what I did off the field than on the mound. And you know what? I'm OK with that."

Even though the Braves were up 3-2 in games, left-hander Glavine had a lot of weight resting on his slender left arm given the stakes (39 years without a Braves world championship) and the heart of the Indians order he was facing (Albert Belle, Eddie Murray, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome).

But he felt good warming up on a cool night in Atlanta. "Translating that into the game is a different story," says Glavine, "especially with my first-inning issues. But when I had a clean first inning, I knew I had quality stuff."

Indeed, he had a no-hitter going until Tony Pena singled to lead off the sixth.

"A no-hitter was the farthest thing from my mind. I was really only thinking about a win," Glavine says. "At one point, I came into the dugout and told everybody, 'Just get me one run. That's all I need!' I'd like to say that was the only time I ever said something like that, but I'd be lying."

"The feeling starts out as, 'Holy crap! We won a World Series!' then gets a little quieter and deeper with each celebration and thank-you and autograph request. And then, after a week or two, you realize how tired you are from the long season and how spent you are emotionally. And then you smile." Tom Glavine

That run came in the bottom of the sixth on a leadoff home run by David Justice off reliever Jim Poole.

Relying on his changeup, Glavine didn't give up any more hits, but he felt his stuff slipping away warming up before the seventh. After Thome lined out to deep left-center to lead off the eighth, he saw the low gas light come on.

"I told Bobby Cox after the eighth I was done," Glavine says. "We had Mark Wohlers to close."

And a World Series to win; the Braves had fallen just short in '91 (Twins) and '92 (Blue Jays).

So Glavine was in the dugout when Wohlers retired Kenny Lofton, Paul Sorrento and Carlos Baerga 1-2-3 in the ninth.

"It actually began to sink in even before Marquis Grissom caught the last out in center," Glavine says. "I had moved up to the top step, creeping a little closer with each pitch. I was trying to time it just right as the ball is in the air. It's like everything is in slow motion. My life is literally flashing before my eyes, right up through previous disappointments and all the work we did to get here, starting in February … and then Marquis squeezes it, and I take off for the dogpile in the center of the diamond."

Glavine's pitching line in that game is a thing of beauty: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K. He threw 109 pitches against some of the most feared hitters of the '90s to win his second game of the Series and the MVP trophy.

"The feeling starts out as, 'Holy crap! We won a World Series!' then gets a little quieter and deeper with each celebration and thank-you and autograph request," he says. "And then, after a week or two, you realize how tired you are from the long season and how spent you are emotionally. And then you smile.

"You know what the first thing I think about is when I recall the '95 Series? Javy Lopez picking off Manny Ramirez at first in the eighth inning of Game 2, the first game I pitched. If he doesn't do that, I'm not sure we win 4-3 and eventually the Series."

Glavine still has his MVP trophy, the replica World Series trophy the Braves gave him and a framed No. 47 jersey from the Series.

"I have a DVD from Game 6," he says, "but the only time I watch it is with my boys when they're giving me a hard time about something. It's sort of like telling them, 'See, your dad didn't always stink.'"