Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 5: A 41-Year Wait

Game 1, 1995 ALDS: Boston Red Sox at Cleveland Indians

October 3, 1995, Jacobs Field, Cleveland, Ohio 

The first pitch came at 8:44 at night, a late start in Cleveland because of a rain shower that passed over Jacobs Field. That didn't matter much to the sellout crowd, though; it had been 41 years and one day since postseason baseball had been played in Cleveland. Fans that had been waiting that long could surely wait another hour or so.

Before the 1995 season, the last postseason baseball game played Cleveland had been Game 4 of the 1954 World Series, when the New York Giants completed a stunning World Series sweep at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. In the years that followed, not only did Cleveland never get back to the playoffs, but they never came particularly close. After spending most of the 1950s as the American League team most likely to challenge the Yankees, Cleveland eventually became synonymous with losing. They were so bad in the 70s and 80s that they became the "stars" of a movie about a bad baseball team that miraculously became good. 

There was nothing miraculous about Cleveland in 1995, though. They were simply dominant. They were robbed of a postseason berth the previous year, sitting in the Wild Card spot when the postseason was cancelled. But the young stars of 1994 were a year more experienced in 1995, and the American League didn't have a chance. Cleveland won 100 games in a shortened season, their first time winning 100 games since the aforementioned 1954 team won 111. They were the best hitting team in baseball, one of the best pitching teams, and they, quite simply, seemed unstoppable.

So a little rain wasn't going to dampen the fans' mood. Forty-one years is a long time to wait, and the fans were already buzzing when Dennis Martinez's first pitch was delivered at 8:44. 

But Cleveland fans were decidedly less quiet after John Valentin homered off Martinez in the top of the 3rd to give Boston a 2-0 lead. And they stayed quiet as Red Sox ace Roger Clemens shut down the Cleveland lineup through five innings. (It's a testament to Clemens' longevity that he pitched in two other games in this countdown, one in 1986 and one in 2005.) The Cleveland fans certainly didn't wait 41 years just to watch their team get shut out.

Clemens started the top of the 6th with two quick outs before walking Omar Vizquel. Sensing their opportunity, Cleveland pounced. Carlos Baerga made contact on a hit-and-run play, and his hit bled through the hole vacated by the shortstop going to cover the steal attempt. Now Cleveland had runners on the corners, and Albert Belle walked to the plate. 

Belle probably should have won MVP in 1995 after his 50-homer, 52-double season, but he likely lost some voters because of his corked bat incident the previous season, and he ended up losing the race by one vote to Boston's Mo Vaughn. As he stepped into the box with two outs in the 6th, though, the people watching yet didn't know the results of the MVP vote and assumed Belle would win. He reinforced that belief with a towering double to left that scored both runners, the second one scoring when Boston catcher Mike Macfarlane dropped the throw. Before Cleveland fans had a chance to come down from their delirium, Eddie Murray singled on the next pitch to drive in Belle and give Cleveland the lead. 

It was the first time Cleveland had the lead in a home playoff game since 1948. The fans were ecstatic. It was just like Major League, including Bob Uecker in the broadcast booth. They finally had a winning team.

The party ended in the top of the 8th, when  Luis Alicea lead off the inning with a game-tying home run. Now instead of a celebration, the game turned into the kind of endless tension that's unique to baseball, where every pitch has the potential to be world-changing, every baserunner bringing hope or dispair, depending on which jersey he was wearing. Cleveland hadn't seen much in the way of joy in the previous 41 years, but this might have been more than the fans had bargained for.

The clock changed to midnight, then blew past it. The innings charged along, each team threatening to score then seeing the rallies fizzle out. But then Tim Naehring swung at a bad 0-2 curveball in the op of the 11th and knocked it over the big wall in left, and suddenly the Red Sox had the lead. 

If Cleveland fans were nervous, they didn't show it when the bottom of the inning rolled around. After all, the heart of the order was due up, starting with Belle. Belle's double in the 6th had hit off the very top of the left field wall; his blast in the bottom of the 11th was hit just a little bit higher. Tie game. Again. This time, remembering his suspension from the previous year, the Red Sox asked the umpires to confiscate his bat. There was no real reason to do it, since there was no way the bat could be checked in time to annul the home run. All it really did was fire up Cleveland and its fans; two more runners reached base in the bottom of the 11th before the inning finally ended, and Cleveland's offense continued to hum in the 12th. With two runners on and one out, Boston intentionally walked Belle - they weren't going to let him hit anymore. Eddie Murray then hit a weak grounder to third that Naehring had to make a good play on to get the runner at home. Jim Thome then grounded to first, and the inning was over.

The clock edged past 1:00 and started approaching 2:00. Bob Uecker and Bob Costas joked that instead of tuning in to Game 2 later that day, viewers might be still watching this one. They entered that stage of broadcast delirium where they kept talking but nothing made sense anymore. In the bottom of the 13th, in the middle of a monologue about emergency catchers, Cleveland's backup catcher Tony Pena worked the count to 3-0. Bob Costas made yet another joke about Uecker's playing career. Uecker was about to deliver the punchline.  

Then came a grooved fastball, an explosive swing, an emphatic bat flip. Then came Bob Costas yelling "Oh man, oh man!" Then came Pena running around the bases, both arms in the air, a big grin on his face. Then came the fireworks going off in centerfield, the crowd jumping and screaming. Then came the beginning of a celebration that would last the rest of the night.

A celebration 41 years in the making.

 

Game 1, 1995 American League Division Series Overall Rank: 5 Top 10 Swing: 276 Top play: Pena's winning home run (WPA of 46% for Cleveland) Loser's largest WE: 80 Top of the 11th, 1 out, right after Naehring's home run Average LI: 1.94 Highest leverage moment: 6.39 (B12, 2 outs, bases loaded, tied 4-4, Jim Thome batting for Cleveland)