Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 12: The Other Jordan, the Other Two-Sport Star

Game 3, 1999 National League Division Series: Atlanta Braves at Houston Astros

October 8, 1999, Astrodome, Houston, Texas

Series tied 1-1

Sanders (left) and Jordan (right) pose with a
non-baseball-playing teammate. 

Of all the people who played for both the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Braves in the 1990s, Brian Jordan was easily the least famous. Deion Sanders got all the attention, and rightfully so; not only did Sanders play football and baseball at the same time (and once on the same day), he was one of the best football players of his generation. Jordan, meanwhile, was much better at baseball than Sanders was, to the point that he gave up on his NFL career after two seasons to focus solely on baseball.

Sanders was mostly done with baseball when Jordan reached his peak, crushing National League pitching in 1998 with 70 home run-hitter Mark McGwire batting right behind him. Jordan turned that season into a free agent contract with Atlanta, and he continued his hot hitting until a wrist injury slowed him down at the end of the season. He hit only .239 with 1 home run in the final 40 games of the season, but he was still Atlanta's cleanup hitter as they entered the National League Division Series against Houston.

After a split of the first two games in Atlanta, Houston took an early 2-0 lead in Game 3, holding that lead until the top of the sixth, when Atlanta threatened for the first time. Starting pitcher Tom Glavine led off the sixth, something that likely wouldn't have happened in 2021; teams would have easily pinch-hit for their starter while trailing 2-0 in the 6th in virtually any game in 2021, especially a playoff game. But this was 1999, and starters were supposed to give you 7 innings no matter what, so Glavine batted and grounded out.

That was when Gerald Williams came up. As the Braves' leadoff hitter, this was Williams' third at bat of the game. Again, in today's game, the Astros would have been watching pitcher Mike Hampton's workload very carefully, as teams are very quick to remove starters when they start facing hitters for the third time. But this was 1999, and starters were supposed to give you 7 innings, so Hampton stayed in. He got Williams to pop out, but Bret Boone singled, then moved to second on a wild pitch. Chipper Jones was walked, bringing up Jordan. 

It's possible that the walk to Jones wasn't exactly accidental, considering Jordan's late-season slump. Even though a walk put the tying run on base, Jones was likely viewed as a more dangerous hitter. But Jordan made Houston pay for the walk, blasting the first pitch deep to left to give the Braves the lead.

Both starting pitchers were replaced by pinch hitters in the 7th. Atlanta put in Walt Weiss, who grounded out, but Houston's pinch hitter, Russ Johnson, doubled to left to start a rally. Glen Barker ran for Johnson and eventually came home on Bill Spiers' one-out single to left. The Astros ended up loading the bases with one out, but reliever Mike Remlinger got a strike out and a fly out to escape further damage. 

Ahead to the 10th, when Williams hit a one-out infield single and was replaced by pinch-runner Otis Nixon. Throughout his career, and especially at this late stage, Nixon existed for one reason, and that was to steal bases. And that's what he did, stealing second and moving to third on a throwing error. After a strike out, Jones was intentionally walked and Jordan was unintentionally walked before Andruw Jones flied out to end the threat.

After escaping the top half of the inning, the Astros loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th with nobody out. Atlanta brought in closer/bigot John Rocker to a nearly impossible situation, asking him to get three outs without allowing a run to score. The first batter, Carl Everett, grounded to first, where Atlanta got a force at home. The next batter, Tony Eusebio, hit a sharp grounder that Weiss somehow stopped at short, turning to make a great throw to home for the second out. Picked up by his defense, Rocker then struck out Ricky Guiterrez to escape the inning.

In the 12th, the Braves threatened again. Two straight singles put runners on first and second with one out and Chipper Jones up. Jones grounded out, but the runners advanced, putting runners on second and third with two out. Jordan was up again, with first base open. The logical play may have been to walk Jordan, especially after his cannon shot home run in the 6th. But the Astros, either because they were more afraid of Andruw Jones batting behind him or were still focused on Jordan's injury and slump, decided to pitch to Jordan. Another first-pitch swing, another extra-base hit, this time a double that scored two runs. 

Now leading 5-3, but having already used their closer, Atlanta used Game 2 starter Kevin Millwood  as their closer. It was an odd choice to use a pitcher that had thrown a complete game two days before, but Millwood had only give up one hit in that complete game, so maybe Atlanta thought he'd carry it over to this game. And, well, he did. Three batters, three outs, and Atlanta had a 2-1 series lead. 

Game 3, 1999 NLDS Overall Rank: 12 Top 10 Swing: 217 Top play: Brian Jordan's go-ahead double in the 12th (WPA of 41% for Atlanta) Loser's largest WE: 94 B10, 0 out, bases loaded, tied 3-3, Carl Everett up for Houston  Average LI: 1.84 Highest leverage moment: 6.90 (T10, 2 out, bases loaded, tied 3-3, Andruw Jones up for Atlanta)