NEW YORK (AP) – The New York Yankees set an American League attendance record when they drew their 43rd home sellout Sunday to increase their total to 4,090,696.

The crowd of 55,136 at the 8-4 win over Toronto left the Yankees with a major league-leading average of 50,502 for their 81 scheduled home dates.

New York, tied with Boston for first in the AL East as it went on the road for the final week of the regular season, topped the 4,057,947 drawn by the Blue Jays at SkyDome in 1993, the second of Toronto’s consecutive World Series championship years. The major league record of 4,483,350 was set by Colorado at Denver’s Mile High Stadium in 1993, the Rockies’ first season.

In the middle of the sixth, with New York trailing 3-2, a video of Yankees manager Joe Torre was played on the right-field scoreboard, one of a number of videos thanking fans.

“We deserve your booing sometimes, but we really feel your heartbeat,” he said.

“I always talked about how knowledgeable the fans are,” Torre said after the game. “When they boo you, they don’t like what they see, and we’re probably worthy of that. But again, as I say, when you play 81 games it can’t be perfect all the time. But the one thing about it, they acknowledge you, too, and that’s the great part about here, you’re sort of auditioning all the time for these fans.”

AP-ES-09-25-05 1928EDT

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