world series

Gibson Joins the Babwe Hall of Fame

by JoeMagennis on April 17, 2012

We have an update! Fans of this site might remember Jim Babwe’s email submission about seeing Kirk Gibson’s home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series off of Dennis Eckersley. There is nothing like a good post script to the story!

Thanks Jim!

Here’s an update on the World Series ticket stub. Last September, I was taking photos at San Diego’s Petco Park on behalf of the National Juvenile Diabetes Association–kids got to meet Alan Trammel on the field. A friend of mine and I told Trammel that if he could get Kirk Gibson to autograph my ticket, I’d donate it for the NJDA fundraising auction. You see the result. It’s doing way more good now than it was in a notebook on a shelf at my house. I’ve inducted Trammel and Gibson into the Jim Babwe Human Being Hall of Fame. The vote was unanimous.

Do you have a story like Jim’s? We would love to hear from you! Send a Tweet to @baseballisms with a quick message, send us an email or visit ourUpload page with a video message. We look forward to growing a community of fans interested in the poetry of the game of baseball!

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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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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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Arizona Diamondbacks 3 vs. New York Yankees 2 – 2001 World Series

by JoeMagennis on April 5, 2010

@AndyNY2, friend of Baseballisms, picked up on this Legendary Game very early as the daily scoreboards were being posted. Although it pained him to recall, it is the 2001 World Series Game 7, come from behind victory for the Arizona Diamondbacks over the New York Yankees.

In this last moment of the game, Mariano Rivera stands on the mound after surrendering a little flair to Luis Gonzalez over the head of Derek Jeter, driving home Jay Bell with the winning run.

As a fan of the game of baseball, some times rooting interests should be set aside for the bigger picture, and this was one of those moments. Following the tragedies of 9/11 just a few short weeks prior to this World Series, this was a demonstration of the ability of baseball to bring together a community. That community, whether it was local such as the City of New York or broad as in the entire country, could find solace in the natural sounds and rhythms of nine men on a diamond seeking safety at home. I for one was rooting for the Yankees to win this World Series. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I set aside the rivalry and openly cheered for a Yankee victory. It seemed to me that having the great Rivera close out the 9th inning for another Yankee championship banner would bring back some equilibrium.

Alas, not all stories can have magical endings and this one was re-written at the last moment. The expansion Arizona Diamondbacks, a team that had entered the league in 1998, rode the arms of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling to their first World Series Championship.

However, for many people it is the three wins in Yankee Stadium that has become the legacy of the 2001 World Series …..

We hope you enjoy these little games that we produce every single day .. we have started our Eighth 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 also like to thank a couple of web sites which are so valuable to pulling these Legendary Games together. The great Baseball Almanac helps us with the rosters and uniform numbers, while 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 our Upload page with a video message. We look forward to growing a community of fans interested in the poetry of the game of baseball!

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Oakland A’s 3 vs. Cincinnati Reds 2 – 1972 World Series

by JoeMagennis on January 4, 2010

Our Sixth Legendary Scoreboard Game on Baseballisms.com featured two emerging powerhouse teams of the Seventies, The Oakland Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds. The final scoreboard below, which appeared on yesterdays Cards from the Diamond, was from the Seventh Game of the 1972 World Series, and indicates Rollie Fingers was on the mound for the visiting team getting the last batter to fly out to the left fielder. We had no correct answers in the comments for this particular game.

Our previous Legendary Scoreboard Games have presented batter by batter; World Series perfect games, great walkoff wins in Toronto and Los Angeles, and tough losses for Braves and Red Sox fans.

We try to pick games that are dramatic to the end, so that we can maintain the mystery as each scoreboard is posted, but most importantly they are chosen because they represent something meaningful to us as fans. Are you of the age where you remember the beginnings of these two great dynasties, one of which flourished throughout the decade while the other was dismantled?

In this game for the A’s you had names like Campaneris, Rudi, Tenace, Bando, Odom, Hunter and Fingers appearing on your lineup card. For the Reds you will recognize a core of Rose, Morgan, Bench, Perez, Geronimo, and Concepcion with some pitching help from Billingham, Borbon and Carroll. All of these names will appear throughout the 1970′s World Series highlight reels.

The choice of a World Series game in which the A’s appeared is also a reflection of some memories that I have playing our version of “stickball” in the driveway growing up. Using a wooden bat and a tennis ball, my brother and I would proceed batter by batter through the lineups of two teams, The Boston Red Sox facing the Oakland Athletics. The choice of the teams was simple actually. The Red Sox of course because we grew up as fans of the home town team, and the A’s because we somehow happened to obtain a plastic green and gold batting helmet.

The batter would don his appropriate helmet in order to really get into the feel for the game and take either a righty or lefty stance depending upon the team lineup. Burleson, Remy, Lynn, Rice etc., versus Campy, Rudi, Tenace, Bando etc.. The lineups were mostly a reflection of the 1975 season when the two teams faced off in the American League Championship Series.

We would battle back and forth with the divider between the garage doors acting as the strike zone, but mostly it was a matter of K’s or blasts that settled these high scoring affairs.

High scoring was not the case for most of the ’72 Series, and was not the case for this Legendary Scoreboard Game either, as the big inning for the victorious A’s came on two run producing doubles in the sixth, one by Gene Tenace (my favorite, a catcher and infielder like me, and World Series MVP) and his team captain Sal Bando.

We hope you enjoy these little games that we produce every single day .. check out our Seventh Legendary Game beginning tomorrow, and let us know in the comments if you have any guesses as to which Game we are presenting. The first to guess correctly (Game Five winner was @Faceyman) gets a Baseballisms t-shirt!

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