Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 17: Failed Rallies

Game 3, 2005 World Series: Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros

October 25, 2005, Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas

White Sox lead series 2-0

The 2005 World Series was supposed to be a celebration for the Houston Astros. Finally, after five empty playoff appearances since 1997, they had escaped the National League and were on baseball's biggest stage. They were up against the White Sox, who had played in the postseason only five times since losing the 1919 World Series on purpose.

The Astros had the postseason experience, but the White Sox had home field advantage in the first two games, and they left Chicago with a 2-0 lead. In Game 1, Astros pitcher Roger Clemens got hurt and left after two innings, putting the rest of his series in doubt. In Game 2, the Astros took a 4-2 lead, gave it back on a Paul Konerko grand slam, then tied the game in the 9th. Then White Sox centerfielder Scott Podsednik, who didn't hit a home run during the regular season, hit his second home run of the postseason to walk off the Astros.

Now trailing the series 2-0, the Astros got exactly what they needed in Game 3, with Roy Oswalt shutting the White Sox down early while the Astros built a lead. It was a 4-0 Houston lead through four innings when the wheels started to fall off for the Astros.

AJ Pierzynski was at his most punchable
in 2005.

It started with a Joe Crede home run leading off the top of the 5th. Normally that's not a big deal - a solo home run in a 4-0 game generally isn't back-breaking. But that was following by hit after hit after hit. Four White Sox singles later, with a couple of outs mixed in, A.J. Pierzynski was up with a chance to give Chicago the lead. And Pierzynski delivered, hitting a double to the deepest part of the ballpark to give the White Sox the 5-4 lead.

The shell-shocked Astros needed three innings just to get their next hit, but it was a big one: a two out  double by Jason Lane that tied it in the 8th.

From there, the game became a classic not because of great clutch hitting, but because of opportunities that went lacking. Orlando Hernandez walked three Astros and had a throwing error to load the bases in the 9th, but Morgan Ensberg struck out with the bases loaded to send the game to extra innings. Twice in extra innings, Houston had two runners on base with two outs; twice their rally ended with ground outs to the pitcher. 

For their part, the White Sox didn't do much offensively in extra innings until a leadoff hit in the top of the 14th. That runner was erased by a great diving stop by Ensberg at third that turned into a double play, but Geoff Blum followed that by slicing a three-iron hitting a low line drive that barely cleared the fence in right for a go-ahead home run. The White Sox added one more on a bases loaded walk before the stunned Astros could escape the inning.

The Astros tried to get something going in the bottom of the 14th, and they were helped by a two-out error by Juan Uribe that put two runners on base. But the White Sox asked Game 2 starter Mark Buehrle to come out of the bullpen, and he got Adam Everett to pop out for the final out.

After losing two straight devastating game, the Astros didn't have much fight left, getting only five hits in a 1-0 Game 4 loss that gave the White Sox the sweep.

Game 3, 2005 World Series Overall Rank: 17 Top 10 Swing: 212 Top play: Geoff Blum's 14th-inning home run (WPA of 41% for Chicago) Loser's largest WE: 91 B4, no out, Houston up 3-0 Average LI: 1.89 Highest leverage moment: 6.39 (tied 5-5, B9, bases loaded, 2 out, Morgan Ensberg up)

1959 World Series: California Dreaming

The Teams
National League: Los Angeles Dodgers (88-68) - First World Series
American League: Chicago White Sox (94-60) - Fourth World Series (Won in 1906, 1917)

What Happened:
For the first time since 1948, no World Series games would be played in New York in 1959. And sure, that was technically true, but the Dodgers were only in their second season in Los Angeles, and many fans likely still thought of them as the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Dodgers were definitely a team in transition, and not just the one from blue-collar Ebbets Field to the sunshine of California. The team's stars of the 1950s, the Boys of Summer, were on their way out: Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese were retired, Roy Campanella was paralyzed, and Duke Snider and Carl Furillo were part-time players. But their mix of aging ex-stars and young players with promise got them into a tie with the two-time defending champion Braves. After dispatching Milwaukee in the playoff, the Dodgers won the National League pennant for the fifth time in the decade.

Waiting for them was the Chicago White Sox, who won their first pennant since 1919 on the strength of their speed and defense. The Go-Go Sox, as they were known, won the American League pennant with surprising ease and went into the series hoping to erase the memory of the Black Sox of 40 years earlier.

Things started well for the Sox, winning the opener 11-0 and taking a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning of Game 2. Then L.A.'s Charlie Neal took over; he hit a home run in the fifth, then put the Dodgers ahead with another blast in the 7th. With the Dodgers up 4-2 in the 8th, Chicago's Al Smith hit a double that seemed destined to tie the game. Pinch-runner Earl Torgeson scored to make it 4-3, but a perfect relay from left fielder Wally Moon to shortstop Maury Wills to catcher John Roseboro cut down the tying run at the plate.

After escaping Game 2 with a win, the Dodgers went home to host the first World Series game in the state of California. Once in the west coast sun, the Dodgers' aging stars came to life for one more shot at glory. Furillo came first, getting a pinch-hit, two-run, seventh-inning single for the first two runs of Game 3, helping the Dodgers win despite being outhit 12-5. In Game 4, the hero was Gil Hodges, the only former Brooklyn hitter who was a regular for these Dodgers. Hodges hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of the game just one inning after the White Sox had tied the game.

Needing one win for the title, the Dodger bats went silent in Game 5, as Bob Shaw and Bill Donovan combined to shut out Los Angeles in a 1-0 Chicago win. Back in Comiskey, the last aging Dodgers' star got the big hit, as Snider's two-run home run in the third opened the scoring. The Dodgers then scored six in the fourth to clinch the championship. It had taken them eight tries to finally win a World Series in Brooklyn, but it took them only two years to claim a title in Los Angeles. In this instance, the grass was greener on the other side.

Defining Game
The White Sox were known for their great defense, but their defense let them down early in Game 4. Two Chicago errors and a passed ball helped the Dodgers score four runs in the third. Faced with a deficit, Chicago came back not with their trademarked speed, but with power. After an rbi single by bruising slugger Ted Kluszewski, Sherm Lollar hit a three-run home run to tie the game in the seventh. Hodges' eighth-inning heroics then won the game for Los Angeles, putting them one game from the title.

MVP
Reliever Larry Sherry won the MVP award, giving up only one earned run in a team-high 12 innings pitched and getting the win in Games 4 and 6 and saving Games 2 and 3. His single biggest pitch was the one he threw to Al Smith in the 8th inning of Game 3; with the Dodgers up 2-0 and the bases loaded and nobody out, Sherry got Smith to ground into a double play. A run scored, but the Dodgers still had the lead, and he was out of the inning one batter later.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Los Angeles	0	4	3	5	0	9
Chicago	11	3	1	4	1	3

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

43. 1959 - Los Angeles (N) def. Chicago (A) 4-2
44. 2008 - Philadelphia (N) def. Tampa Bay (A) 4-1
45. 1933 - New York (N) def. Washington (A) 4-1
46. 1929 - Philadelphia (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-1
47. 1982 - St. Louis (N) def. Milwaukee (A) 4-3
48. 1923 - New York (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
49. 1944 - St. Louis (N) def. St. Louis (A) 4-2
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1917 World Series: Circumstantial Evidence

The Teams
American League: Chicago White Sox (100-54) - Second World Series (won in 1906)
National League: New York Giants (98-56) - Fifth World Series (won in 1905)

What Happened
The best part about doing this countdown has been learning more and more things about baseball history, especially from the early years of the game. For example, I knew that there were many rumors that 1919 was not the only World Series that was fixed; I just didn't know how strong the evidence was in some instances.

The 1917 World Series was the perfect example. I ranked this series - and all the series on this list - based on the scores of the games, when the winning runs were scored, the number of games still in doubt in the ninth inning, and so in. I should have done more research. Just like in 1919, the Chicago White Sox were the American League champions in 1917. All eight players who would eventually be banned for life for throwing the 1919 series were already playing for Chicago in 1917, and immediately after the series was over, there was all sorts of complaints - from both fans and reporters - about how it was one of the most poorly played in history.

But here's the thing: The White Sox won the 1917 World Series. It's their opponents, the Giants, who have received some after-the-fact suspicion for throwing the series. It makes sense, too. The Giants had two players - Heinie Zimmerman and Hal Chase - who would eventually be banned from baseball for life for various infractions (10 total players from one series who eventually got banned! That should tell you something), and it's Zimmerman who was involved in the play that everybody points to when they say something fishy was going on.

The White Sox led the series 3-2 entering Game 6, with the home team having won every game. It was the Giants' turn to host for Game 6, but they did their best to give the White Sox the early edge. Two straight errors to open the fourth inning gave the White Sox runners at the corners with nobody out. Happy Felsch grounded back to the pitcher, and the Giants seemed to have Eddie Collins trapped in a rundown between third and home. At one point, though, Giants catcher Bill Rariden left home plate uncovered; Collins got around him and raced toward the plate. Holding the ball, Zimmerman had no choice but to chase Collins across home plate, allowing the first run to score. Collins was known as one of the fastest players in the game, and Zimmerman was not fast by any means, so it seems like he didn't have much of a chance.

But did he have a chance at tagging Collins? Contemporary recollections say that Zimmerman was right on Collins' heels the entire time he was chasing him toward home plate, and surviving photos of the play show Zimmerman jumping over Collins at home plate, indicating he was very close to stumbling over him. Fans who were watching immediately blamed Zimmerman for the boneheaded play, and Zimmerman felt the need to address the media immediately after the game to deny he had thrown the game. Why would there have been such immediate suspicion?

Whether he was innocent or not, Zimmerman was a convenient scapegoat for Giants fans; his bonehead play in Game 6 combined with his .120 average made him a strong candidate for least valuable player in the series. Aside from his Game 6 blunder, he also committed a throwing error that more or less clinched a Chicago win in Game 5. It's a lot of circumstantial evidence, for sure, but it doesn't look good for him, either.

That's not to take away from the White Sox, who were very deserving champions in 1917, regardless of the honesty of the World Series. In fact, it was their dominance that made their loss in 1919 appear - at first - to be so shocking. Plus, the '17 series was something of a high-water mark for them. After their win, it took them 88 years to win another World Series, or two years longer than the Red Sox had to wait.

Defining Game
Looking through the play-by-play of Game 5, you could make a convincing argument that both teams had players who were trying to throw the series. To wit:

• Chicago starter Reb Russell was taken out after the first three batters of the game reached base - did the White Sox manager suspect something? 
• Both teams' shortstops committed two-out errors with runners on base in the second - though neither led to  a run, there is no better time to commit an error if you're trying to lose than with two out and runners on. 
• Reaching base in the fourth with his team leading 2-0, Zimmerman got himself picked off first, yet somehow made it back to first when the White Sox botched the rundown - could that have been a play where, incredibly, both teams were trying to blow it? 
• After cutting the deficit to 2-1, the White Sox committed errors on three straight Giant plate appearances in the 4th to let the Giants extend their lead to 4-1. No explanation needed there.
• In the 7th, having cut the deficit to 5-4 (legitimately ... I think), the White Sox had runners on the corners with two outs when catcher Ray Schalk tried to steal second. New York's Buck Herzog botched the play - whether on a catch or on a throw is unclear - to allow Chick Gandil to come home with the tying run. Was Herzog trying too hard to make a big play when he saw a double-steal in motion and just dropped the ball, or did he see an opportunity to help his team lose and just dropped the ball?
• The White Sox rallied again in the 8th, taking a 6-5 lead with Collins on second. Shoeless Joe Jackson lined a single to center field. The throw to home was, for some reason, cut off by - guess who! - Zimmerman, who then tried to get Jackson advancing and proceeded to throw the ball into center field, allowing Collins to score and Jackson to get to third. Jackson scored one batter later to clinch the game.

Again, the evidence is all circumstantial. But it's pretty convincing.

MVP
I spent a lot of time talking about players who might have been trying to lose the 1917 series that I barely mentioned Collins, who had the series of his life. The future Hall of Famer batted .409, stole three bases, scored four runs, and generally wrecked havoc on the basepaths. Pitcher Red Faber was also good, with three wins in the series, though I'm disqualifying him because of the play in Game 2 where he stole third, only to find a teammate already standing there.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Chicago	2	7	0	0	8	4
New York	1	2	2	5	6	2

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

51. 1917 - Chicago (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
52. 1903 - Boston (A) def. Pittsburgh (N) 5-3
53. 1916 - Boston (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-1 
54. 1949 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-1
55. 1942 - St. Louis (N) def. New York (A) 4-1
56. 1974 - Oakland (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-1
57. 1955 - Brooklyn (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
58. 1979 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Baltimore (A) 4-3
59. 1987 - Minnesota (A) def. St. Louis (N) 4-3
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

2005 World Series: The Best Sweep

The Teams
American League: Chicago White Sox (99-63) - Fifth World Series (Won in 1906, 1917)
National League: Houston Astros (89-73) - First World Series

What Happened
A couple of long droughts ended in the 2005 World Series. Buoyed by a powerful lineup and the deepest starting rotation in the game, the White Sox survived the American League playoffs to make their first World Series since 1959. Meanwhile, the Astros ended years of playoff frustration by finally breaking through in 2005, advancing to the World Series for the first time in franchise history. The two teams played four tense, tight games in a row, completing what has to go down as the most competitive sweep in World Series history.

One of the biggest reasons for the Astros finally reaching the World Series was the acquisition of Roger Clemens the year before. Though it wasn't an acquisition so much as a bribe to get him out of retirement, the Astros rode Clemens to Game 7 of the ALCS in 2004 and, finally, to the World Series in 2005. It was fitting, then that Clemens got the start in the first World Series game in Astros history.

Clemens wasn't himself, however, aggravating a groin injury that had originally bothered him in the regular season. He had to come out after two innings, and though the game was tied 3-3, his absence was a big blow to the Astros' confidence. After a Joe Crede gave the White Sox a 4-3 lead, the Astros' old postseason problems came back to haunt them, as Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell failed to drive in the go-ahead run in back-to-back innings. A Scott Podsednik triple gave the White Sox an extra win and a 1-0 lead in the series.

Following Game 1, the two teams played three of best back-to-back-to-back games the World Series has seen. The madness started in Game 2, when the teams traded momentum-shifting hits like they were playing Go Fish. First was Lance Berkman's two-run double to give the Astros a 4-2 lead in the fifth. Then came the bottom of the seventh when, with two outs, a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases for Paul Konerko, who promptly hit a grand slam to put the White Sox back ahead. Then came the top of the ninth when, with the Astros down to their last out, Jose Vizcaino hit a two-run single to tie the game again. If all that wasn't enough, Podsednik, the one slap hitter on a lineup of bashers, the man who didn't hit a home run in the regular season, ended the game with a home run in the bottom of the ninth.



Chicago was in bedlam, Houston was in shock, and the teams caught their breath as the World Series headed to Houston for the first time ever. They needed that breath, too, as they were about to embark on the longest game in World Series history. The Astros were up 4-0 after four innings, but the White Sox scored five in the fifth off Roy Oswalt. After Jason Lane tied the game in the 8th, the teams played six innings featuring blown offensive chances and desperate managerial moves. For the Astros, the run of innings was downright embarrassing: three runners left on in the ninth, two in the 10th, two in the 11th, one in the 13th.

Finally, perhaps sick of letting Houston hang around, the White Sox broke through in the 14th, taking the lead on a leadoff home run, then adding a run on a bases-loaded walk. When the Astros threatened again, Ozzie Guillen brought in Game 2 starter Mark Buerhle in relief - five innings after using Game 1 starter Orlando Hernandez in relief. Buerhle got the out he needed, and the White Sox were a win away from their first title since 1917.

It's no surprise, though, that they had to work for it. Houston's Brandon Backe threw seven shutout innings, matching the string of zeroes put up by Chicago's Freddy Garcia. The White Sox finally broke through against Houston closer Brad Lidge, with Jermaine Dye getting at two-out single in the 8th for the game's first run. Houston again threatened, getting two runners on in the 8th and one in the ninth. Just like the rest of the series, though, they couldn't get it done late. The White Sox got two straight great defensive plays from shortstop Juan Uribe to close things out, and they celebrated their first championship since the Wilson administration.

Defining Game
Any of the last three games could have qualified, but it's hard to ignore a 14-inning marathon, featuring blown chances nearly every inning after the seventh. Game 3 was the longest World Series game by time of game in history and tied Game 2 of the 1916 Series for longest game by innings.

MVP
It's hard to pick an MVP of a sweep, but the voters got this one right. They probably would have picked Dye because of his series-clinching hit regardless of what the rest of this numbers looked like, but it helped that he was Chicago's best hitter throughout the series. 
Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Houston	3	6	5	0
Chicago	5	7	7 (14)	1

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

62. 2005 - Chicago (A) def. Houston (N) 4-0
63. 1950 - New York (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-0
64. 1906 - Chicago (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-2
65. 1981 - Los Angeles (N) def. New York (A) 4-2
66. 1943 - New York (A) def. St. Louis (N) 4-1
67. 1954 - New York (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-0
68. 1978 - New York (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-2
69. 2006 - St. Louis (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-1
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1906 World Series: The Battle of Chicago

The Teams
American League: Chicago White Sox (93-58) - First World Series
National League: Chicago Cubs (116-36) - First World Series

What Happened
The 1906 Chicago Cubs were called, even by contemporary writers, the perfect team. With four of the ten best hitters in the National League and a six-man pitching rotation full of stars, they ran roughshod over the very difficult National League. When the dust had settled, they had won 116 games, a number that seemed unfathomable at the time and one that has never been bettered in baseball history.

The 1906 Chicago White Sox were ... good, I guess. They were good enough to win the American League pennant, but the league wasn't at its best that year. Known as the Hitless Wonders, the White Sox won the pennant despite hitting only seven home runs all season. They were last in the American League in hitting, yet somehow finished third in runs scored. The reason they won the pennant, though, was that like their crosstown rivals they had a pitching staff that was second to none.

The White Sox might not have gotten enough credit for being a good team, simply because their 93 wins paled in comparison to the Cubs' 116. The White Sox could pitch, while the Cubs could pitch, hit, and run. The city of Chicago was excited for the first intra-city World Series, but the White Sox fans saw the writing on the wall, and many were likely hoping that their team could simply avoid being embarrassed by the juggernaut from the West Side.

With aces Mordecai Brown (Cubs) and Nick Altrock (White Sox) matching up and snow flurries flying for Game 1, runs were going to be scarce. White Sox substitute third baseman George Rohe led off the fifth with a triple, then scored on an error on a throw home two batters later. The Sox added a run in the sixth, then gave one back on a wild pitch. That was all that Altrock allowed, and the White Sox stole a win in the Cubs' home park to take the series lead.

Game 2 was an embarrassment for the White Sox. The Cubs took a 4-0 lead on four unearned runs and the White Sox didn't get a hit off Ed Reulbach until the seventh. The Sox got a run without a hit in the fifth, but that was all, as Reulbach got the first World Series 1-hitter to tie the series. Ed Walsh responded with an even better pitching performance for the Sox the next day; he gave up 2 hits, but struck out 12 in a complete game. Rohe's two-out bases loaded triple in the 6th provided all the runs to give the White Sox the series lead yet again.

Game 4 was a rematch between the aces Altrock and Brown, and this time it was Brown who got the better of things, throwing a complete-game two-hitter for the 1-0 win. Game 5 was the wildest, sloppiest game of the series; the White Sox won despite committing six errors, overcoming an early 3-1 Cubs lead.

Through five games, the road team had won every game of the series, the first time that had happened and the last time it would happen until 1996. With that pattern, Game 6 should have been the Cubs' to win, but player-manager Frank Chance pushed the odds by bringing back Brown on just one day of rest. The result was a disaster, with the White Sox scoring seven runs in the first two innings to knock the great Brown out of the game early. The Cubs were shell-shocked. They had won 116 games in the far superior league, but they couldn't win more than two against their cross-town rivals. The White Sox finished off the series with an 8-3 win, completing the stunning upset in six games.

Defining Game
It was an era where five runs in a game constituted an offensive explosion, in a World Series between the two best pitching teams playing in the best pitchers' ballparks in the game, so seeing an 8-6 final score in this series is very bizarre. Walsh and Reulbach had been very good in their first starts in this series, giving up a combined three hits, but this one turned into a farce early. The White Sox got one run in the first, but left the bases loaded. The Cubs responded with three in the bottom of the inning, scoring twice when a double play ball turned into a throwing error and a third on a throwing error on a bunt. The White Sox tied the game in the third, getting two straight ground-rule doubles to knock Reulbach out of the box, then tying the game on George Davis' steal of home. The White Sox' four-run fourth essentially ended things, though the Cubs made things interesting by cutting it to 8-6. But Doc White, pitching in relief, shut things down for the final three innings to put the White Sox one win from the title.

MVP
It'd be easy to pick a pitcher, considering the collective series batting average was .197 and neither team hit a home run. But Rohe, normally the White Sox backup third baseman, became a star in this series, with seven hits, including two triples and two stolen bases. He was the type of unknown star that makes baseball unique: he had played only 125 career games before the series, and he only played one more season in the Majors after the series. Nobody had heard of him before the series, he became a star for six games, and then he promptly disappeared.

Random Fact

This was the third straight World Series matchup between two franchises who had not yet played in the World Series. There hasn't been one since, and, barring expansion, there cannot be another one unless Seattle and Washington meet.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Chicago (A)	2	1	3	0	8	8
Chicago (N)	1	7	0	1	6	3

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

64. 1906 - Chicago (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-2
65. 1981 - Los Angeles (N) def. New York (A) 4-2
66. 1943 - New York (A) def. St. Louis (N) 4-1
67. 1954 - New York (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-0
68. 1978 - New York (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-2
69. 2006 - St. Louis (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-1
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1919 World Series: Stained Black

The Teams
National League: Cincinnati Reds (96-44); first World Series
American League: Chicago White Sox (88-52); third World Series (won in 1906, 1917)

What happened
The story is well-known by now. Frustrated by the penny-pinching ways of owner Charles Comiskey, eight members of the White Sox accepted money from gamblers to throw the series. Among those involved in the conspiracy were the great Shoeless Joe Jackson, ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte, and six others. When Cicotte hit Cincinnati's Morrie Rath with the first pitch of the bottom of the first, that was the sign to gamblers that the fix was on.

It didn't go smoothly, of course. Nothing did. Many people around the Series sensed something fishy was up, so much so that the betting line swung heavily in favor of the Reds in the days leading up to the series. With their paydays smaller than anticipated, the gamblers were late in some of their payments to the White Sox players, leading the players to reconsider the deal. A well-timed threat or two turned that around and the White Sox finished the job, losing 5 games to 3 (it was one of four series to be a best-of-nine)

Since the White Sox threw the series, the details of the games are mainly irrelevant. It's hard to know exactly when one of the eight players were trying or not, hard to say when they were grounding out on purpose or were genuinely beaten by the pitcher. Even the stats don't paint the full picture. Jackson apologists point out how he hit .375 in the series with the only home run; how many times did he go all-out in less important at bats, only to give less than his best in key situations? How many balls just barely fell in front of him in left that weren't marked an error?

Looking at the stats, it's easy to see many of the other conspirators. Shortstop Swede Risberg batted .080; pitcher Lefty Williams went 0-3 with a 6.61 ERA in the height of the dead ball era, while Cicotte lost his first two starts (he won his third, when the team was apparently trying). Center fielder Happy Felsch was the worst - he batted .192 for the series, and key Cincinnati rallies in Games 1, 2, and 5 all revolved around Cincinnati hits to center field.

Now it's believed that many individual World Series games had been fixed up until that time, including a few involving the Red Sox. But it's believed this is the only time an entire series was lost on purpose. It almost destroyed the game; the eight players were banned for life, and it took the power of Babe Ruth to restore faith in the game. For that reason, for the fact that this was the only truly non-competitive World Series, this one gets the vote for the worst World Series of all time.

MVP
There were no official MVPs of the Series back then. Due to what happened in this one, you could say the gamblers of the time could be named MVP. It's hard to pick out a Reds player as MVP, as it's easy to think that they succeeded because the White Sox let them. But I should pick somebody, so I'll pick Reds pitcher Dutch Reuther; he had a 2.57 era in two starts and went 4-for-6 at the plate with two triples.

The Scores
(Home team in Bold)

Chicago	1	2	3	0	0	5	4	5
Cincinnati	9	4	0	2	5	4 (10)	1	10

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here's the ones I've done so far:

107. 1919 - Cincinnati (N) def. Chicago (A) 5-3

2008 AL Central tiebreaker: 1,151 home runs

Pregame
Neither team had really proved that they belonged here. The 2008 Twins were a team in transition, a team looking for leadership after losing Johan Santana and Torii Hunter from the previous season. They didn't have a true ace in the staff, had a revolving door at three of the four infield positions, and didn't have much power.

But they did have Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer, a pair of past and future MVPs who provided the majority of the offensive attack. And while they didn't have a true ace in the starting staff, they had a bunch of young pitchers who were good enough, who could get them within striking distance.

The 2008 White Sox were as one-dimensional as they come. They led the American League in home runs, but were in the middle to near the bottom of the league in virtually every other stat. They sat around and waited for their bashers to hit a three-run home run.

The White Sox way shouldn't have worked, but it did, as they held first place through most of the summer. In August, the Twins closed the gap, and the two spent the rest of the season taking turns holding the top spot. They weren't strong teams, but they were in a weak division, so somebody had to win. Neither one was good enough to pull away from the other, so they played in a tight pennant race.

Entering the final weekend of the season, the Twins had a half-game lead over Chicago, on account of Chicago having had a game rained out earlier in the year. The Twins were hosting the last-place Royals for three games, while Chicago hosted the not-much-better Indians for three.

Fitting their status as merely above-average teams, neither the Sox nor the Twins could seal the deal. Both teams lost the first two games of their must-win series. On the final Sunday of the season, Minnesota beat Kansas City to clinch a tie for the title, then watched the scoreboard as Chicago beat Cleveland. That set up an unusual situation where Chicago had to play one extra game, a home game against Detroit, while the Twins sat at home waiting to see whether they would travel to their first postseason game or to Chicago for a tiebreaker game.

Entering the bottom of the sixth trailing 2-1, Chicago tied the game off Detroit, then saw Alexi Ramirez hit a grand slam to clinch the game. When his ball left the yard, the Twins started boarding their plane. The game was over by the time they landed.

The Game
It should be no surprise that on a team centered around the home run that two of the most prolific home run hitters of all time would be in the lineup. 37-year-old Jim Thome, he of the 539 career home runs, was in his third season as Chicago's DH, while 41-year-old Ken Griffey, Jr., with 611 career home runs, joined the team in July for the pennant chase.

With two future hall-of-famers in the lineup, there should have been no surprise that they would play a role in the outcome of the game. The first opportunity came in the top of the fifth, when Michael Cuddyer led off with a double for the Twins first hit of the game. Cuddyer moved to third on a flyout, then watched as Brendan Harris lifted a flyball right to Griffey in center field.

Now in past years, in Griffey's defensive prime, that would have been an automatic no-running situation. But Griffey was 41 now, his best years well behind him, and with how well John Danks had been pitching, there's no telling when the Twins would get another chance. So when Griffey caught the ball, Cuddyer took off. Griffey reached down to whatever he had left, turned back the clock, and fired a bullet to catcher A.J. Pierzynski to throw out Cuddyer and end the inning.

The Twins had to know, then, that that was the game. They weren't hitting Danks. And for all of Nick Blackburn's brilliant pitching, the added pressure of every inning was bound to get to him.

Enter Thome. Leading off the seventh, he worked a 2-2 count on Blackburn. Then he got a hold of one. And when Thome gets ahold of one, it's a beautiful thing, a high, towering blast, one that seems like it has a better chance of going into orbit than of landing somewhere in the stadium. His seventh inning home run was like that, landing beyond the bleachers in center field.

And that was it. The Twins were only down 1-0, but Danks was just too good, the Twins lineup too suspect. They got one more hit off him, in the eighth, but that runner was erased by a double play. Bobby Jenks came in to get the save in the ninth, and Chicago celebrated the division title.

Postgame
Chicago had won three straight games against three different opponents on three straight days, a stretch during which even a single loss would have eliminated them. If anybody should have been ready for the postseason, it would have been them. But they ran into the surprising Tampa Bay Rays, a team with a pitching staff that knew how to keep the ball away from the meaty part of the White Sox bats, and Chicago fell in four games.

The Twins used their experience from 2008 and did pretty much the same thing in 2009, trailing most of the season before catching the Tigers on the final day of the season. This time, though, the playoff game was in the Dome, and the Twins beat the Tigers in a game that somehow was even better than this one.

The Rundown
7. Chicago 1, Minnesota 0 (2008 AL Central tiebreaker)
8. N.Y. Yankees 5, Boston 3 (1949 American League)
9. Arizona 2, St. Louis 1 (2001 NLDS)
10. Chicago 4, New York 2 (1908 National League makeup game)
11. Boston 12, Cleveland 8 (1999 ALDS)
12. Boston 5, Minnesota 3 (1967 American League)
13. Minnesota 5, Oakland 4 (2002 ALDS)
14. Boston 4, Oakland 3 (2003 ALDS)
15. Cleveland 4, N.Y. Yankees 3 (1997 ALDS)
16. L.A. Angels 5, N.Y. Yankees 3 (2005 ALDS)
17. Texas 5, Tampa Bay 1 (2010 ALDS)
18. San Francisco 3, Atlanta 1 (2002 NLDS)
19. N.Y. Yankees 5, Oakland 3 (2001 ALDS)
20. Seattle 3, Cleveland 1 (2001 ALDS)
21. Chicago 5, San Francisco 3 (1998 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
22. N.Y. Yankees 7, Oakland 5 (2000 ALDS)
23. Los Angeles 4, Houston 0 (1981 NL West Division Series)
24. Montreal 3, Philadelphia 0 (1981 NL East Division Series)
25. N.Y. Yankees 7, Milwaukee 3 (1981 AL East Division Series)
26. Seattle 9, California 1 (1995 AL West tiebreaker)
27. Chicago 5, Atlanta 1 (2003 NLDS)
28. Houston 12, Atlanta 3 (2004 NLDS)
29. N.Y. Mets 5, Cincinnati 0 (1999 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
30. Cleveland 8, Boston 3 (1948 AL tiebreaker)
31. Houston 7, Los Angeles 1 (1980 NL West tiebreaker)

July 12, 1979: Disco sucks

CHICAGO - It seemed like a natural promotion, a simple way to get some more fans in the stands. After a local DJ, Steve Dahl, was fired after his rock station converted to an all-disco format, the Chicago White Sox decided to take advantage of his popularity by having him host Disco Demolition Night.

The idea was simple: fans could bring an old disco record to the ballpark and get a ticket for 98 cents (Dahl's new station was at 97.9 on the dial). Between games of the double-header, Dahl would blow up the bin of disco records, letting the fans
tell the world exactly what they thought of disco music.

The White Sox were expecting about 12,000 people to show up on July 12, 1979, which would have been about double their typical Thursday night crowd. Fans could get in cheap, enjoy two baseball games, and have a little fun in the meantime.

Perhaps the first signs of trouble should have been when more than 90,000 people tried to get into the 60,000-seat stadium; many of those who were turned away simply climbed fences to get in. The city had to close the freeway exits leading to Comiskey Park to prevent the crowd from being even larger.

The next problem came when the bin to hold the records became far too full; organizers stopped accepting records, leading to fans instead treating them like frisbees. The black discs were flying around the stands all night long.

Soon, there was a green haze hanging low over the field. There were "strange people," as described by the announcers, walking around the concourses of the stadium, barely paying attention to the game. Banners decrying disco were hanging on every available open space in the stadium. It was an eerie atmosphere. Then the records blew up. Dahl left the field on a Jeep. All seemed calm.

Until the first fan scaled the wall. Then the next. Then the next dozen.

Soon, thousands of people were on the field, more than were in the stands. The chants of "Disco Sucks" were continuous. Bonfires were lit on the field. The batting cages were dismantled and destroyed. Riot police came out but couldn't get the fans off the field. Once order was restored, the field was in shambles, and would remain that way the rest of the year. The White Sox had to forfeit the second game of the doubleheader.

It was the promotion from hell, the worst one since 10-cent beer night. But at least it led to the death of disco.

April 24, 1901: The American way

CHICAGO - It was pure coincidence that there was only one American League game played on April 24, 1901. There was a full slate of games scheduled, but the other three were rained out, giving the Chicago White Stockings and Cleveland Blues the right to open the season alone. The final of Chicago 8, Cleveland 2 wasn't very earth-shattering; if anything, it was prophetic, as Chicago won the inaugural American League pennant that year, while Cleveland finished 7th of the 8 teams.

The game was a milestone in that it was the first one in the history of the American League, but at the time it didn't seem that important. After a few years as a minor league, the Western League changed its name and declared itself a major league in direct competition with the National League. But owners and other officials from the National League weren't too worried about this new league; they assumed the American League would either fold or return to minor league status within a few years, just like all the other challengers to the NL did in the past.

The NL should have seen, though, that this time was different. The AL had placed teams in major cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston, giving the NL teams direct competition. Also, unlike past failed leagues like the American Association, Players League, and Union Association, the AL had already established itself as a successful minor league before moving up to challenge the NL.

Instead of fading into oblivion like past failed leagues, the AL prospered. Within two years, it had placed teams in St. Louis and New York to provide additional competition to the NL, it had convinced the NL to send its champion to compete in a season-ending championship series, then it had won that series. Despite the NL's best efforts, including trying to steal the AL's best players and the New York Giants refusing to play in the 1904 World Series, the AL held firm. It wasn't long before the two leagues were seen as equals, and they began working in harmony as one unit rather than as two separate entities.

Of the eight original AL teams, four remain in their original cities: Chicago, Cleveland (now called the Indians), Detroit, and Boston. The Philadelphia Athletics moved first to Kansas City then Oakland; the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota; the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York to become the Yankees; and the Milwaukee Brewers moved first to St. Louis to become the Browns, then to Baltimore to become the (new) Orioles.

April 9, 1993: Bo Knows

CHICAGO - The story of Bo Jackson's career sounds like the work of an overzealous screenwriter. You can almost imagine a script meeting...


Make him the best college running back in the country? No, that's not good enough. How about we make him a great baseball player too? Yah! And then we can make him unable to decide between his two loves, so he chooses to play both.

Hmmm. Still not enough. We have to give him flair. How about this: he's such an athletic freak that he can run up outfield walls, and when he strikes out, he breaks the bat in half over his knee. And of course, he has to have blinding speed on the football field and be able to run over 'roided up linebackers like they were high schoolers.

Now he's got to become popular. Let's give him commercials, television appearances. How about this: he appears in a football video game, and his avatar is so dominant that gamers revere him, talking about him in hushed tones years later.

You know, he's got it too good now. People need a good story, some adversity for this guy to overcome. Let's give him a freakish injury. Oooh - how about a dislocated hip! And better yet, let's say that as he's lying on the turf waiting for the trainer to get to him, he's still so strong that he'll pop his own hip back into place. Yah, that will be a good scene. Then we can end the movie with his dramatic comeback from injury...


Bo Jackson's career is still recent enough that sports fans almost take it for granted how good he was. After all, Deion Sanders also played football and baseball simultaneously, and he was just as good as Bo. Plus, he never got hurt, so we had a longer time to enjoy him.

But Bo was the original, the man who made Deion possible. Incredibly, all the things mentioned above about Bo are true, happening between 1985 and 1991. It's that dominant Bo Jackson that most people will remember.

But it's the Bo Jackson from April 9, 1993, that's perhaps the most impressive. A lot of athletes have excelled at two sports to the point where they could have played both professionally if they so desired. But how many had ever played a major league game with an artificial hip?

Two years after getting injured in an NFL playoff game, Bo was back on the baseball diamond, pinch hitting in the sixth inning of the White Sox home opener. And anybody who had followed Bo's career had to know what was coming next...


So when he comes back, his first baseball game back, let's have him take a pitch, then swing on the next one, his first swing with a fake hip, and hit a home run. Then he'll run around the bases and think of the promise he made to his mother that he'd make it back. And he'll cry, because his mom didn't live to see this home run. It'll be a perfect ending to his career. What? Too unrealistic? It'll work, I swear...