Legendary Games

St. Louis Cardinals 10 vs Texas Rangers 9 – 2011 World Series Game 6

by JoeMagennis on March 19, 2012

For the 14th Legendary Game on Baseballisms we did not have to go very far in the history books. After one of the greatest days in baseball history (I dare you to not shake your head in wonder), when the baseball viewing audience was jumping from game to game on every device available, we were treated to an equally spectacular Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, as summarized by yesterday’s final scoreboard.

This represents the game winning homerun by the hometown hero David Freese off of righthanded reliever Mark Lowe,. The at bat prompted Fox announcer Joe Buck to channel his dad and break out his “we’ll see you tomorrow night“. For all of the Joe Buck criticism out there (he really does like football better), you have to admit that it was a fabulous tip of the cap and anyone would love the chance to have been in his position to pull it off. It was not contrived or forced, it was meant for that perfect moment.

The call and the blast to center capped a great comeback victory by the Cardinals and actually overshadows the tremendous clutch hitting by Lance Berkman, so we wanted to acknowledge him here on Baseballisms.

Enjoy the game tying moment from the seats:

A game that truly belongs in the pantheon of Legendary Games for all baseball fans.

We hope you enjoy these little games that we present .. tomorrow we start our 15th Legendary Game. Let us know in the comments if you have any guesses as to which Game we are presenting. The first to guess correctly gets a Baseballisms t-shirt!

A big thank you and shoutout to friend Greg Hoffman, who provided us with some great baseball cards for this game. We were sitting at lunch in Roswell Georgia this past summer and when he mentioned his collection of Nolan Ryan cards, Rookie Cards, Mickey Mantles and numerous Chicago Cubs, we knew we had to get them on. Thanks Greg! If you have cards you would like to share, please let us know.

We would also like to thank a couple of web sites that are so valuable to pulling these Legendary Games together. The Baseball Almanac helps us with the rosters and uniform numbers, while the extraordinary Baseball-Reference gives us the play by play accounts of the game. Thanks again for all of your awesome work!

We would love to hear from you. Send a Tweet to @baseballisms with a quick message, send us an email or visit the Your Own Story page. We look forward to sharing the poetry of the game of baseball!

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Pittsburgh Pirates 4 vs Baltimore Orioles 1 – 1979 World Series Game 7

by JoeMagennis on November 8, 2011

Baseball scribes made a few references during this postseason to the fact that the last time a visiting team won a Game 7 in a World Series, it was when the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the 1979 classic. Of course, we were acutely aware that we were running this daily Scoreboard easter egg on the site, and thought it would be a great coincidence to follow up a Texas Rangers win in St. Louis by finishing our 13th Legendary Game to match. Alas, the Cardinals took the 2011 Series in stunning fashion, and the We Are Family Pirates remain the holder of this interesting distinction.

As this final scoreboard shows, Kent Tekulve finished off pinch hitter Pat Kelly for the final out, inducing a lazy flyball that landed in the glove of the speedy centerfielder Omar Moreno, and we are left to marvel at the lasting legacy that Chuck Tanner’s club embedded in our brains.

The Black and Gold Bucs had a unique charisma that young fans in that era had rarely seen on the World Series stage, especially coming off back to back years of Yankees vs Dodgers, a matchup of the traditional powerhouses. It is arguable that if you were to randomly ask fans who were in their formative years at that time to recall their top 5 most memorable teams, these Pirates would appear on a majority of the ballots.

This team had larger than life superstars in Willie “Pops” Stargell and Dave “Cobra” Parker. There was the stringbean reliever with the glasses and the submarine delivery, Kent Tekulve, who made everyone wonder if their math teacher had somehow found a sinkerball.

Then there were the intangibles that caught the attention of casual fans including the pillbox hats with the “Stargell Stars” to represent good play on the field, multiple uniform variations and of course the theme song, Sister Sledge’s disco hit We Are Family.

It’s a challenge for some to remember that it was an Earl Weaver led Baltimore Orioles team, including Cy Young Award winner Mike Flanagan, that lost both games 6 and 7 at the old Memorial Stadium. (BTW, this game has played a few times on MLB Network and it’s incredible to see how dark and dingy that place was .. even during a World Series)

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Minnesota Twins 1 vs Atlanta Braves 0 – 1991 World Series Game 7

by JoeMagennis on August 5, 2011

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As many of you know, we post a daily scoreboard that represents a batter by batter account of a Legendary Game in baseball history. If you go back to April 7, 2008 on this site, you will find a post with the following quote;

“There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem – once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit.”

-Al Gallagher

The post also contained a graphic of a scoreboard showing the top of the first inning as Guest prepared to bat against Home. Over the course of the next three plus years, we have shown a scoreboard every single day. We have had alot of fun with these “easter eggs” as they have generated some great comments from the community.

It has also given us a chance to dig a little bit deeper into each of these ballgames, shedding light on the less notable moments that have taken place within the context of these epic games, as well as the crucial at bats. We have reminisced about the players we idolized, and we have reflected on where we were when the games occurred. At other times, these games were well before our time, and have their own special reasons for appearing as part of the Legendary Games Series.

On this occasion we are presenting a game that is considered by some the culmination of the best World Series ever. It has direct personal connections to our lives and we decided to honor it by recording a podcast. We hope that you enjoy listening to a couple of Atlanta Braves fans discuss where they were on the night that John Smoltz dueled Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.

We hope you enjoy these little games that we present .. tomorrow we start our 13th Legendary Game. Let us know in the comments if you have any guesses as to which Game we are presenting. The first to guess correctly gets a Baseballisms t-shirt!

We would love to hear from you. Send a Tweet to @baseballisms with a quick message, send us an email or visit the Your Own Story page. We look forward to growing a community of fans interested in the poetry of the game of baseball!

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Boston Braves 1 vs Cleveland Indians 0 – 1948 World Series

by JoeMagennis on April 26, 2011

As we were choosing a game to present in our eleventh Legendary Game Scoreboard Series here at Baseballisms, we felt that we should honor the passing of Bob Feller, and showcase one of his games. The Cleveland icon broke into the Major Leagues at the age of 17, and despite four years lost to military service (he enlisted on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked), he racked up 266 career wins and struck out 2,581 hitters.

Thinking of the era that Feller played, you can’t help but imagine some of the classic pitching duels. He was constantly battling the other team’s ace, guys like the recently departed Robin Roberts, or a Red Ruffing or a Lefty Grove. In the 1948 World Series he would have to take on both Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain of the Boston Braves. He came up on the short end of both decisions, but this Game 1 showdown with Johnny Sain was a brilliant nailbiter that was won on a single run scored in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Legendary Game Scoreboard | Baseballisms.com

Feller allowed only 2 hits, but a walk to Bill Salkeld to lead off the 8th would eventually come around to score the game’s only run.

Sain was equally impressive, striking out six over nine innings including the final punchout, getting Wally Judnich to end the game with the tying run on second base.

It was a quick game, ending in 1 hour and 42 minutes and contained some of the daring base running that you would remember from the 1980′s. Hall of Fame Managers Billy Southworth of the Braves and Lou Boudreau of the Indians must have realized that they would need to create the scoring opportunities on this day. The teams sacrificed or stole a base each time a batter reached from the 3rd inning on.

Feller’s Tribe teammate and twenty game winner Bob Lemon would win two of his starts to give the Cleveland Indians the 1948 World Series Championship.

Also notable in this World Series, Game 5 was played in front of a massive Cleveland crowd of 86,288. At the time a single game attendance record. The game also featured the appearance of Satchel Paige in the top of the 7th for a scoreless 2/3rds of a inning. It was the first time an African-American pitched in a World Series game. [click to continue…]

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Florida Marlins 3 vs Cleveland Indians 2 – 1997 World Series

by JoeMagennis on February 2, 2011

And with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning , Game Seven of the 1997 World Series .. Edgar Renteria delivers the game & Series winning hit for the Florida Marlins, beating the Cleveland Indians and wrapping up our Tenth Legendary Game.

This extended game began way back on October 11th of 2010, a total of twenty-one days prior to Renteria becoming the World Series MVP in 2010, with his 7th inning homer off of Cliff Lee, to put the San Fransisco Giants ahead 3 – 0 on their way to the first World Series Championship in over 56 years!

We were amused as we watched the most recent Series results, knowing we had just coincidentally begun our scoreboard countdown to a prior Edgar Renteria moment, that had taken place over a decade ago. We must have brought him some good karma as we chose this game for our tenth presentation.

Eleven innings in a Game 7 (which created its own dilemma for us as we needed to adjust the amount of space represented on the boards) certainly has some highlight moments.

At first, it seemed like the hero might be the rookie callup sensation Jaret Wright, pitching on three days rest and departing with a lead after only allowing a Bobby Bonilla home run leading off the 7th.

Then in the bottom of the 9th inning, down by a 2-1 margin, Moises Alou, who had 9 hits, 9 RBI and 20 total bases in the Series, singled to lead off the inning with Indians closer Jose Mesa trying to put them away. Alou would come around to score as we are introduced for the first time to the strange batting stance of Craig Counsell.

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