It's Still the National Pastime

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/22/1997 at 12:00 AM EDT

Forget those nay-sayers who declared that a New York "Subway Series" would kill the national TV ratings for the World Series. According to preliminary Nielsen figures, coverage of last weekend's Yankees-Mets games on the Fox network had about 9.3 million households tuning in for the first face-off (on Saturday, a traditionally low TV-watching night) and 10.2 million homes watching on Sunday. (That night's big winners were still ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," with 20.1 million viewers, and "The Practice," with 19 million.) Game No. 3 takes place tonight, with the Yankees enjoying a 2-0 Series lead.