Baseball's Most Exciting Games: Honorable Mention

Before I dig into the meat of my top 25 list of Baseball's Most Exciting Games, I thought I'd write about four games that were close, but just missed out on qualifying.

The first two is a pair of early World Series games that ended in ties. Both of these games would have made the Top 25 list if I hadn't made the arbitrary decision that ties in baseball are weird and thus shouldn't be talked about. Ties were much more common in baseball before the stadiums had lights, and the official policy was always to just pretend the games didn't happen and replay them later. 

But I can't imagine the disappointment you'd feel if you were watching an extra-inning World Series game, full of clutch hitting and dramatic comebacks, only to have the umpires decide it was too dark to continue and call it off. All that excitement, and the game didn't even count? Come on.

See? Four fingers. 

The first such game came in Game 1 of the 1907 World Series. One year after winning 116 games but losing the World Series, the Cubs were back as National League champions. They were led by pitcher Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, who actually had four fingers, the liar (see picture at right). The American League champion was the Detroit Tigers, led by 20-year-old  Ty Cobb. In 1907, Cobb lead the American League in batting, runs batted in, and stolen bases. Plus at that point in his life he hadn't yet killed a man, so his future was bright.

(The early baseball world was a completely different world than ours.)  

In Game 1, the Tigers - with the help of three Cub errors - scored three runs in the top of the 8th to take a 3-1 lead. The Cubs got one back in the bottom of the ninth and had two runners on with two outs. Tigers pitcher Wild Bill Donovan then struck out pinch-hitter Del Howard to seemingly end the game, but catcher Boss Schmidt dropped the third strike, allowing Howard to reach and the tying run to score. During the next plate appearance, Schmidt redeemed himself by tagging out Johnny Evers trying to steal home. Schmidt also tagged out a runner at the plate to end the 10th inning. There was no more scoring (despite the Cubs loading the bases in the 11th) and the game was called by darkness after the 12th inning.

Game 1, 1907 World Series Overall Rank: 21 Top 10 Swing: 193 Top play: B9, 2 out, Detroit up 3-2, Del Howard strikes out, Harry Steinfeldt scores on E2, Johnny Evers to 3rd, Howard to 1st (WPA of 40% for Chicago) Loser's largest WE: 95 Detroit leading 3-1, T9, 1 out, 1 on base (measured as highest WE for either team since game ended as a tie) Average LI: 1.89 Highest leverage moment: 8.15 (Howard's at bat in B9)

The other tie that cracked the top 25 list was Game 2 of the 1912 World Series. With the Red Sox leading the series 1-0, Game 2 was played in Fenway Park, then in its inaugural season. Fenway has had a gigantic wall in left field since the day it opened, but in 1912 the wall wasn't green, and there was a 10-foot-tall hill leading up to it from the playing field. Because safety! That hill eventually got the nickname Duffy's Cliff because of the skill Boston leftfielder Duffy Lewis showed in navigating it.

But with Boston leading 4-2 in the eighth inning. Duffy Lewis fell on Duffy's Cliff while chasing a fly ball. His fall helped start a New York Giant rally, which ended with them taking a 5-4 lead. The Red Sox tied the game in the bottom of the 8th, and the game eventually went into extra innings. 

In the top of the 10th, Fred Merkle (old time baseball names ruled) hit a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly. And then came the chaos of the bottom of the 10th. With one out, Tris Speaker hit one deep to center field. As he was rounding first, he appeared to miss the base, but he kept right on going past second and on to third, where Giants third baseman Buck Herzog got in his way, apparently intentionally. Speaker crashed into Herzog, but kept going anyway, and he scored when catcher Art Wilson dropped the relay throw. The Giants appealed to the umpires about Speaker missing first, but the appeal was denied, and the game was tied. 

(Imagine for a second if that play had happened in modern times. Sports Twitter would have melted.)

Anyway, two Giants were thrown out stealing in the top of the 11th, the Red Sox went down in order in the bottom of the inning, and the umpires decided to call it a tie, ignoring the protests of the players who thought they could keep going.

 

Game 2, 1912 World Series Overall Rank: 15 Top 10 Swing: 247 Top Play: B10, 1 out, New York up 6-5, Tris Speaker triples to center, scores on error by catcher (WPA of 47% for Boston) Loser's largest WE: 88 The start of Speaker's at bat in the 10th (measured as highest WE for either team since game ended as a tie) Average LI: 1.70 Highest leverage moment: 6.88 (B9, 2 outs, bases loaded, game tied 5-5, Red Murray batting for New York)

The other two honorable mention games actually came to a conclusion. Game 1 of the 1946 World Series was the first World Series game for the Red Sox since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919.  The Cardinals were one strike from winning in the top of the ninth before Tom McBride hit an RBI single to tie the game. Boston's Rudy York then hit a home run in the 10th to win it. Other people who played in this series included Ted Williams (in his first full season back from the War), Stan Musial (playing in his fourth World Series in five seasons), and Johnny Pesky, Pinky Higgins, Rip Russell, Harry Walker, and Tex Hughson (all listed because, again, old-time baseball names ruled). 

  

Game 1, 1946 World Series Overall Rank: 29 Top 10 Swing: 219 Top Play: T10, 2 outs, tied 2-2, Rudy York homers to left (WPA of 42% for Boston) Loser's largest WE: 92 St. Louis leading 2-1, 1 out, T9, Pinky Higgins batting Average LI: 1.70 Highest leverage moment: 6.12 (B9, 1 out, runners on 1st and 3rd, St. Louis leading 2-1, Roy Partee batting for Boston)

The other game that just missed the cutoff was Game 7 of the 1924 World Series, a game that was surprisingly modern. Washington Senators manager Bucky Harris (also the team's second baseman) picked righty Curly Ogden as the starting pitcher, forcing the New York Giants to commit to their left-handed lineup; after one batter, Harris brought in lefty George Mogridge as the actual starter. It was one of baseball's first instances of the "Opener." 

The opener concept worked great for a while, as the Senators had a 1-0 lead going into the 6th inning. But the Giants scored three times in the 6th (with the help of two straight Washington errors) and the Senators trailed 3-1 going into the 8th.  

In the 8th, with the bases loaded and two outs, Harris hit a grounder to third that seemed certain to end the inning. However, it took a bad hop off a pebble to get past Freddie Lindstrom to score two runs and tie the game. Walter Johnson then entered in relief for Washington in the top of the 9th and held the Giants scoreless through the 12th. In the bottom of the 12th, Washington's Muddy Ruel hit a popup behind the plate that Giants catcher Hank Gowdy seemed to be tracking. But Gowdy stepped on his discarded catcher's mask, fell over, and let the ball drop. Ruel then doubled to put the Series winning run on base. Two batters later, Earl McNeely hit a grounder to third that should have ended the inning, but another bad hop off a pebble let the ball get into left field, allowing Ruel to score the series-winning run.

(Even though that series was 98 years ago, there's a surviving highlight reel. Think of it as 1924's version of SportsCenter.)

Game 7, 1924 World Series Overall Rank: 28 Top 10 Swing: 215 Top Play: B8, 2 out, bases loaded, New York up 3-1, Bucky Harris singles to left, Nemo Leibold and Muddy Ruel score, Mule Shirley to second (WPA of 35% for Washington) Loser's largest WE: 87 B8, 1 out, nobody on base, Nemo Leibold batting  Average LI: 1.88 Highest leverage moment: 6.05 (Harris' 8th-inning single)

So those were the just-missed games, the two I cut off the list because ties in baseball are stupid and the two that just missed. That Senators win in particular is one always mentioned when people compile lists of the greatest ever baseball games. And yet it didn't make the top 25. 

Starting tomorrow, we'll begin the actual list of baseball's 25 most exciting games, looking at a game where both teams pulled off three-run rallies that started with two outs in the inning. 

February 5, 2012: Manning to Manningham

INDIANAPOLIS - It didn't quite have the shock of The Helmet Catch. Nothing really could. How can you beat a player pinning a miracle catch against his helmet, then holding on to it as a defender is desperately clawing at it? You can't. But you can come close. And when Eli Manning hit Mario Manningham down the sideline during Super Bowl XLVI, dropping the ball perfectly between two defenders who seemed to have position on Manningham, you could almost hear Patriot fans saying "it happened again?"

What happened was another Giants-Patriots Super Bowl, another fourth-quarter lead for the Patriots in such a Super Bowl, and another late-fourth quarter comeback for the Giants. After the Giants ended the Patriots perfect season in Super Bowl XLII, they met again on February 5, 2012, and played another heart-pounding game.

The Patriots took a 17-9 lead into halftime of the rematch, but the game really picked up late in the fourth quarter, after the Giants had cut that lead to 17-15. At the 4:05 mark, Tom Brady found Wes Welker for what should have been a first down on a 2nd-and-11 play, but Welker dropped the ball. Instead of facing the prospects of taking their final time out, the Giants instead got the clock stopped and, after getting another incomplete pass on the next play, forced a punt.

Taking over at their own 12 with 3:48 left, Manning found his man. As Manningham drifted down the sideline, Manning threw a perfect pass between two defenders. Manningham caught the ball with his arms outstretched, tiptoed in bounds, and held on. It was a stunning catch, a perfectly executed play all around. And it left the Patriots stunned. They challenged the play, losing one of their time outs when it was upheld, then tried to hold on.

But they didn't hold on. Instead, the Giants eventually drove to get to first and goal at the 7. After a first-down run for one yard, the Patriots used their second time out, and they were faced with a dilemma. If they still had two remaining time outs, they could try to stop the Giants, using both their time outs to stop the clock, and hopefully force a field goal with enough time left to respond. Instead, they had used a time out on the challenge, meaning the one they had left wasn't enough to stop the Giants from draining nearly all of the clock. So they did what they had to do: They let the Giants score.

That decision had a precedence in Super Bowl history, but the Giants were still caught off guard. When Ahmad Bradshaw unexpectedly saw a wide-open path to the end zone, he seemed to forget what to do. Remembering at the last moment that he was supposed to let the clock run down, Bradshaw stopped running at the 2-yard line, but his momentum carried him backwards into the end zone for what had to be the first accidental touchdown in Super Bowl history.

So the Giants might not have wanted to score on that play, but it's not like a touchdown was bad. Trailing 21-17, the Patriots now had to drive the length of the field for a touchdown in less than a minute and with only one time out. They only made it as far as midfield before being forced to try a final-play Hail Mary, one that missed connecting by less than a yard.

For the second time in four years, the Giants had upset the Patriots in the Super Bowl. This time, instead of a Helmet Catch, the catalyst was Manning to Manningham, a perfect pass and catch on the sideline.

1924 World Series: A Rock in a Great Place

The Teams
American League: Washington Senators (92-62) - First World Series
National League: New York Giants (93-60) - Ninth World Series (Won in 1905, 1921, 1922)

What Happened
With the Senators trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning of Game 7, Washington player-manager Bucky Harris stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. If the Senators were going to do this, now would be the time. They didn't have much offense, so they would need their manager, their leader, to come through when it mattered the most. Harris hit one hard down the third base line, well hit but right at Giants third baseman Freddie Lindstrom. Lindstrom was in position, ready to scoop the ball and step on third for the easy force, and the inning would be over and with it, most likely, the Senators' season. But just as Lindstrom was about to get his glove on it, the ball hit a pebble and bounded over his head, going far enough into left field for two runs to score. The Senators had life again.

After the craziness that he first six games of the series brought, it must have seemed that the pebble that changed the entire course of the 1924 World Series was placed there by fate. The series had already seen four games where the team trailing entering the ninth inning mounted a rally, and twice those rallies made it all the way home. A series that had started with more than its share of good storylines - would the great Walter Johnson finally win his World Series? Would the Giants become the second team to win three titles in four seasons? - had erased all subplot. Now, the only question that mattered was "what would happened next?"

What happened next, after Harris' hit bounced off that pebble and over Lindstrom's glove, was the most predictable dramatic entrance in baseball history. After throwing complete games in Game 1 and 5, Johnson wasn't expected to be available for Game 7 (wink, wink), but there he was, taking the mound for the top of the ninth, hoping to lock down Washington's first World Series.

There was really nobody else who could be on the mound, either. For most of their time in baseball, Walter Johnson and the Washington Senators were synonymous; you couldn't mention one without the other, often for negative reasons. Like: "Oh, the Senators are in town! I wonder if Johnson is pitching." Or: "It's too bad Johnson is stuck on the Senators. His brilliance is wasted on that sorry team."

The Senators weren't sorry in 1924. While Babe Ruth continued his rampage against American League pitching, the rest of his Yankees teammates fell off from their standards of the previous three seasons, leaving an opening at the top of the American League that the Senators were all too happy to fill. It didn't matter that they were facing the four-time defending National League champion Giants int he World Series - the Senators had Johnson for at least two of the games, possibly three, and they were confident that would be enough.

But they entered Game 7 with Johnson still looking for his first postseason victory, and they entered the eighth inning of Game 7 trailing, looking for all the World like they would blow their great pitcher's only chance at a title. But Harris' grounder hit that pebble, and two runs scored, and suddenly they were in extra innings with a fresh Johnson on the mound.

Johnson gave up a one-out triple in the ninth inning, but pitched out of it. New York got two runners on base against Johnson in the 11th, but Johnson pitched out of it. Meanwhile, the Senators showed no interest in mounting a rally on their own. They seemed to forget that a pitcher can only throw the ball, that he can't be expected to score a run on his own.

Finally, they got the break that woke them from their slumber. You know how on popups behind the plate, you'll see the catcher hold his mask as long as possible, throwing it off to the side only at the last possible moment? That happens for a reason, and that reason happened in the bottom of the 12th in Game 7, when Giants catcher Hank Gowdy tripped over his discarded mask and was unable to corral Muddy Ruel's foul popup. Given new life, Ruel ripped a double to left field and found himself standing at second base, representing the World Series-winning run, as Johnson stepped to the plate.

Now, it would have been wonderfully poetic if Johnson had gotten the hit that gave the Senators their first championship, if he had driven in the run that put the exclamation point on his career. But whoever was writing the script for the 1924 World Series didn't have time for poetry. Johnson hit the ball, sure, but it was right at shortstop Travis Jackson. Jackson bobbled the ball, allowing Johnson to reach first, but since Ruel didn't advance, the error had the same effect as an intentional walk. It set up a force play at any base, and it brought Earl McNeely to the plate.

McNeely hit one hard down the third base line, well hit but right at Giants third baseman Freddie Lindstrom. Lindstrom was in position, ready to scoop the ball and step on third for the easy force and maybe look toward first for the double play. But just as Lindstrom was about to get his glove on it, the ball hit a pebble and bounded over his head, going far enough into left field to allow Ruel to score the World Series-winning run.

It was a remarkable coincidence, having two different balls in two different innings take the same bad hop to cost a team the game. Years later, Lindstrom swore both balls bounced off the same pebble, which brings up the question of why he didn't throw the pebble out of play after the first hit. Whether they hit the same rock or not, the fact remained that two different hits took bad hops at nearly identical spots in the infield, gifting the Senators three runs and giving them their first - and, as it turned out, only - World Championship.

Washington forever has owed its only World Championship to a well-placed pebble in the Griffith Stadium infield, which makes them seem like the beneficiaries of luck. But the city will always be able to point to one thing to refute claims of luck. The winning pitcher of Game 7, the pitcher who got the decision the only time the city of Washington won a baseball championship, was the great Walter Johnson. 

MVP
Since I'm not in the mood to name a pebble as the World Series MVP, it's really a tossup between Harris and Goose Goslin. Both had 11 hits and 7 runs batted in, and between the two of them hit the only five home runs the Senators hit in the series. Since they were so close, it's likely that had there been such a vote, it probably would have gone to Harris, considering he played well and managed the team.

Scores 
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

New York	4 (12)	3	6	4	6	1	3
Washington	3	4	4	7	2	2	4 (12)

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

3. 1924 - Washington (A) def. New York (N) 4-3
4. 2001 - Arizona (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
5. 2011 - St. Louis (N) def. Texas (A) 4-3
6. 1912 - Boston (A) def. New York (N) 4-3 (1 tie)
7. 1992 - Toronto (A) def. Atlanta (N) 4-2
8. 1947 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
9. 1972 - Oakland (A) def. Cincinnati (N) 4-3
Numbers 10-19
Numbers 20-29
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

Game 7s
Simultaneously, I'll rank all the Game 7s. The ones that have appeared in my countdown so far:

2. 2001: Arizona 3, New York (A) 2
3. 1960: Pittsburgh 10, New York (A) 9
4. 1924: Washington 4, New York (N) 3
5. 1997: Florida 3, Cleveland 2
6. 1912: Boston (A) 3, New York (N) 2 (game 8)
7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
10. 1926: St. Louis (N) 3, New York (A) 2
11. 1962: New York (A) 1, San Francisco 0
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
14. 1952: New York (A) 4, Brooklyn 2
15. 1971: Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
17. 1972: Oakland 3, Cincinnati 2
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
20. 1986: New York (N) 8, Boston 5 
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
23. 1973: Oakland 5, New York (N) 2
24. 2002: Anaheim 4, San Francisco 1
25. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
26. 1947: New York (A) 5, Brooklyn 2
27. 2011: St. Louis 6, Texas 2
28. 1965: Los Angeles (A) 2, Minnesota 0
29. 1964: St. Louis 7, New York (A) 5
30. 1957: Milwaukee 5, New York (A) 0
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago (N) 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0
34. 1934: St. Louis (N) 11, Detroit 0 
35. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0
36. 1956: New York (A) 9, Brooklyn 0

1912 World Series: Snodgrass' Muff

The Teams
American League: Boston Red Sox (105-47) - Second World Series (Won in 1903)
National League: New York Giants (103-48) - Third World Series (Won in 1905)

What Happened
The Giants had just taken the lead in the eighth and deciding game of the World Series, and the great Christy Mathewson trudged to the mound for his 10th inning of work, three outs away from giving the Giants their second title. Clyde Engle led off the inning for Boston, pinch-hitting for Smoky Joe Wood. Wood had pitched four times in the series after putting in a season for the ages in 1912 - a 34-5 record, including an American League-record 16 consecutive wins. After his sublime season, Wood had a disappointing World Series - fatigue? 22-year-old nerves? - and now was in line for the loss, coming so close, but yet so far. Mathewson got Engle to hit a lazy fly ball to center field. Fred Snodgrass called for it, waited for it, got his glove on it ... and dropped it.

There was nothing complicated about it, no excuse or explanation. He just dropped the ball. Instead of being down one with one out and nobody on base, the Red Sox had the tying run on second with nobody out. The inning wasn't over yet, but it was already obvious that Boston had just received a series-changing break, that Snodgrass' Muff was destined to be the play that was forever remembered about the 1912 World Series.

The drop was so devastating, so unexpected, that it overshadowed what happened next: Harry Hooper ripped a line drive to deep center field, over Snodgrass' head. He turned, ran, and tracked it down, making one of the greatest catches in World Series history, probably the greatest catch until Willie Mays in 1954. It was a hit that should have scored the series-tying run, and perhaps Hooper would have come around on a series-ending inside-the-park home run. Instead, Engle could only advance to third.

In reality, that play should have cancelled out Snodgrass' error one batter earlier. After all, the end result was the same: the Red Sox had a runner on third with one out. That would have happened if he had caught Engle's easy pop up but failed to track down Hooper's hit. Instead, though, he dropped the easy one, and people remembered him for it.

After Snodgrass' great catch, Mathewson made a potentially fatal mistake - he walked Steve Yerkes ahead of Tris Speaker. Speaker was either the best or second-best hitter in the American League at the time, depending on what you thought about Ty Cobb, so to walk the guy in front of him - and to put the World Series-winning run on base to boot - was simply terrible execution at the absolute wrong time. That was not something befitting the great Mathewson.

What happened next wasn't either. Speaker lifted a pop up in foul territory, between home and first. For whatever reason, first baseman Fred Merkle didn't move, just staring at the ball that should have been his to catch. Mathewson had a reasonable chance to run over to catch it, too, but instead called for slow-footed catcher Chief Meyers to catch it. Meyers gave it his all, but the ball fell just inches from his glove. Speaker was still alive, and he took advantage, ripping the next pitch for a double that tied the game.

After an intentional walk to load the bases, Larry Gardner came up for Boston with the series on the line. All he had to do was put the ball in play and avoid a double play. He did exactly that, lifting a fly ball to right field. Josh Devore caught the ball in good throwing position and made a strong throw, but he never had a chance. It was just hit too deep. Yerkes came across with the series-winning run. Boston celebrated their improbable comeback, while Mathewson trudged off the mound, once again a hard-luck World Series loser.

Immediately after the game, and for the decades that followed, all the talk about the series centered around Snodgrass' error in the top of the 100th. That one play has overshadowed everything else that happened in what was the sixth best World Series ever played. Nobody remembered the great Wood striking out two Giants with two on in the ninth inning to preserve a Game 1 victory, or Speaker hitting a game-tying near-inside-the-park home run (officially called a triple and an error after the catcher dropped the throw) to salvage a tie in Game 2. Nobody remembers Devore running down Hick Cady's blast to deep right center for the final out of Game 3, or the back-to-back masterpieces by Wood and rookie Hugh Bedient to put the Red Sox on the brink of the title.

No, the memories from this series revolve around one play. Even now, 100 years after this series was played and 38 years after his death, Fred Snodgrass is remembered only for dropping a fly ball in the 10th inning of the final game of the 1912 World Series.

MVP
Speaker was the top hitter for the Red Sox in the series, and his double in the final inning was the biggest hit of that October. He probably would have been the choice. But a dark horse candidate would have been Bedient. Seen as Boston's third-best pitcher, he twice faced off in starts against Mathewson, beating him in Game 5 and pitching him to a draw before being lifted for a pinch hitter in Game 8. He might not have been named MVP, as he won only one game in the series, but Hugh Bedient deserves mention for twice staring down the best pitcher in National League history and refusing to blink.

Scores 
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

New York	3	6	2	1	1	5	11	2
Boston	4	6 (11)	1	3	2	2	4	3 (10)

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

6. 1912 - Boston (A) def. New York (N) 4-3 (1 tie)
7. 1992 - Toronto (A) def. Atlanta (N) 4-2
8. 1947 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
9. 1972 - Oakland (A) def. Cincinnati (N) 4-3
Numbers 10-19
Numbers 20-29
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

Game 7s
Simultaneously, I'll rank all the Game 7s. The ones that have appeared in my countdown so far:

3. 1960: Pittsburgh 10, New York (A) 9
5. 1997: Florida 3, Cleveland 2
6. 1912: Boston (A) 3, New York (N) 2 (game 8)
7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
10. 1926: St. Louis (N) 3, New York (A) 2
11. 1962: New York (A) 1, San Francisco 0
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
14. 1952: New York (A) 4, Brooklyn 2
15. 1971: Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
17. 1972: Oakland 3, Cincinnati 2
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
20. 1986: New York (N) 8, Boston 5 
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
23. 1973: Oakland 5, New York (N) 2
24. 2002: Anaheim 4, San Francisco 1
25. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
26. 1947: New York (A) 5, Brooklyn 2
28. 1965: Los Angeles (A) 2, Minnesota 0
29. 1964: St. Louis 7, New York (A) 5
30. 1957: Milwaukee 5, New York (A) 0
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago (N) 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0
34. 1934: St. Louis (N) 11, Detroit 0 
35. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0
36. 1956: New York (A) 9, Brooklyn 0

1911 World Series - Home Run: Baker

The Teams
American League: Philadelphia Athletics (101-50) - Third World Series (Won in 1910)
National League: New York Giants (99-54) - Second World Series (Won in 1905)

What Happened
Twice during the 1911 World Series, the box score after a game featured the entry "Home Run: Baker." If anybody was going to hit a home run in that World Series, it was going to be Frank Baker, the Philadelphia third baseman who led the American League with 11. While 11 home runs doesn't sound too impressive, it was indicative of the times. Baker was much more than just a home run hitter, too, finishing in the top 10 in virtually every offensive stat.

Baker was already seen as a star after his dominating performance in the previous year's World Series, but he proved in 1911 that he was only getting started. After Christy Mathewson won Game 1 for the Giants - the fourth straight time he had beaten the Athletics in a World Series game - Baker took over.

Game 2 was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh when Baker struck for the first time, hitting a two-out, two-run home run to provide the winning margin and let the A's tie the series. He struck again in Game 3, this time victimizing the great Mathewson himself. With the A's trailing 1-0 in the ninth - and after having two runners thrown out at home in the eighth inning - Baker hit his biggest home run yet, tying the game with a one-out home run down the right field line. Having gotten to Mathewson, the A's piled on in the 11th, scoring twice - with a single by Baker right in the center of the rally - then held on to win the game.

They had beaten Mathewson for the first time in a World Series game, their leader was having a great World Series, and they were cruising. And then it started to rain, and as the A's and Giants waited out the storm front that wouldn't end, all of Philadelphia's momentum seemed to wash away. When the World Series started up again a week later, Mathewson was waiting for them again; making things worse, the Giants scored twice in the top of the first, giving Mathewson a lead before he even took the mound.

But the A's came back, scoring three times in the fourth to take the lead, then getting an insurance run when Baker ripped an RBI double in the fifth. Chief Bender made the lead hold up, and Philadelphia had beaten Mathewson for a second straight game. The A's took a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning of Game 5 before Del Crandall and Josh Devore got back-to-back two out hits to help the Giants avoid elimination. After the Giants won the game in 10 innings, the series went back to Philadelphia, but it was over quickly after that. A four-run fourth put the Athletics in full control, and a seven-run seventh turned the clinching game into a farce. The Athletics won 13-2 - almost doubling their run total for the series - and celebrated their second straight world championship.

MVP

While Philadelphia was praising their title winners, their fans took notice of who played the biggest role in their last two championships. In honor of the line that showed up in two different box scores that series - and in honor of the blasts that seemed to come at exactly the right time - Frank Baker got a new nickname. Forever after, he was known as Home Run Baker.

Scores (Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Philadelphia	1	3	3 (11)	4	3	13
New York	2	1	2	2	4 (10)	2

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

23. 1911 - Philadelphia (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
24. 1915 - Boston (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-1
25. 1971 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Baltimore (A) 4-3
26. 1918 - Boston (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-2
27. 1988 - Los Angeles (N) def. Oakland (A) 4-1
28. 1946 - St. Louis (N) def. Boston (A) 4-3
29. 1925 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Washington (A) 4-3
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1921 World Series: Ruth's Knee

The Teams
National League: New York Giants (94-59) - Sixth World Series (Won in 1905)
American League: New York Yankees (98-55) - First World Series

What Happened
Few offensive players have ever been better than Babe Ruth was in 1921. Aside from his jaw-dropping 59 home runs and 171 runs batted in - both major league records at the time - he also led the league in runs scored, walks, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage and was top-ten in batting average, doubles, triples, stolen bases and hits. He was an offensive force like none other, and he virtually single-handedly got the Yankees to their first World Series.

Because Ruth was larger than life, he was the main story of the first all-New York World Series and the first series played entirely in one stadium. It's no surprise, then, that the turning point of the series involved Ruth. However, it wasn't a gigantic blast that turned the series around, but Ruth's knee. He played the first five games of the series in varying degrees of pain, but, with the Yankees up 3-2, he could go no further, and the Yankees would have to be without him for the rest of the series.

Ruth had been big in getting the Yankees the series lead, but the true keys had been their pitching. They opened the series with a pair of 3-0 wins; Carl Mays won the first game, giving up five hits and getting 17 groundball outs, while Waite Hoyt gave up only two hits in Game 2. Oddly, the Yankees had a player steal home in both games.

The Giants got 20 hits to win Game 3, then used an 8th-inning rally to tie the series in Game 4. Then, Hoyt struck again, getting another complete-game shutout, albeit giving up 10 hits in the process.

Then Ruth was forced out of the series, and the Giants took advantage. After an 8-5 Giants win in Game 6 - in which all but one of the runs came in the first four innings - the games got tight and hitting became a premium. The Giants took Game 7 - which wasn't the final game, since this was the last of the best-of-nine series - on a two-out single by Frank Snyder in the seventh inning.

Defining Game
Game 8 was the third matchup between the Yankees' Hoyt and the Giants' Art Nehf. The Yankees had gotten the better of the matchups the first two times, with the Giants getting only a single unearned run in the two games. Hoyt was a little rusty early, walking two batters in the first inning, but it looked like he was out trouble when he got George "High Pockets" Kelly to ground weakly to short with two outs. But Roger Peckinpaugh let the ball go between his legs, and the Giants had been given a gift 1-0 lead.

It was all they needed. The Yankees challenged a few times - Wally Pipp struck out with two on to end the first, and Wally Schang flied out with the bases loaded in the fourth - but for the most part, Nehf was in control. It was still 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth when Ruth emerged from the dugout to pinch-hit. He was obviously not himself, though, and he could only ground weakly to first to open the inning. After a walk to Aaron Ward, Home Run Baker, former great of the Philadelphia A's, came up. Baker grounded one to the right side that looked destined to be a single to right, but the Giants' Johnny Rawlings tracked the ball down to get Baker at first. Meanwhile, Ward thought the ball got through to right field, so he rounded second and kept going to third. Kelly fired the ball across the diamond to Frankie Frisch to nail Ward for the most unusual World Series-ending double play of all time.

MVP
This is a difficult series to pick an MVP for. The Giants were pretty balanced offensively, so no one player really stood out. The pitchers dominated the Yankees hitters, but the best pitcher - Art Nehf - had a 1-2 record.  Hard to pick an MVP with that record. I'm going to go with Phil Douglas, who started three games and won games 4 and 7.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

N.Y. Yankees	3	3	5	2	3	5	1	0
N.Y. Giants	0	0	13	4	1	8	2	1

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

39. New York (N) def. New York (A) 5-3
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1933 World Series: What Could Have Been

The Teams
National League: New York Giants (91-61) - 10th World Series (Won in 1905, 1921, 1922)
American League: Washington Senators (99-63) - Third World Series (Won in 1924)



What Happened
It might have been because the nation was in the deepest depths of the Great Depression, or it might have been because the two teams involved didn't quite capture the imagination of the country. Whatever the reason, the 1933 World Series didn't take over the nation's consciousness like previous versions had.

Those who were paying attention were treated to a series that kept getting to the cusp of greatness but ultimately falling short. A few bounces here or there and this could have easily become a series for the ages. Instead, it was over within five days, and the Washington Senators and their fans were left wondering what could have been.

The Giants had the two best players in the series in pitcher Carl Hubbell and outfielder Mel Ott, and those two were the keys to New York's Game 1 victory. Ott went 4-for-4, including a two-run home run in the first and a run-scoring single in the third. Given a 4-0 lead, Hubbell took over from there, holding the Senators to just three hits and a single unearned run through eight innings. In the ninth, the Senators mounted a rally, loading the bases with nobody out. Joe Kuhel drove in a run with a ground out to make it 4-2, but Hubbell got the final two outs to escape with the victory.

That game started a pattern for the Senators. After the teams split Games 2 and 3, Hubbell again took the mound for Game 4. Hubbell was almost as good as he was in Game 1, but Washington's Monte Weaver was just as good, and the teams went into extra innings tied 1-1. That's when the frustration began for Washington. They got two runners on base in the bottom of the tenth, but Joe Cronin grounded out to end the threat. In the top of the 11th, the Giants made it look easy, as a single, sacrifice, and single made it 2-1. In the bottom of the frame, Washington threatened again against Hubbell, getting the first two runners on base. They eventually loaded the bases with one out before a double-play ball ended the game.

Game 5 was, as it turned out, the final World Series game ever played at Washington's Griffith Stadium, and Washington's Fred Schulte made sure it was a good one by hitting a three-run home run to tie the game in the 6th. Once again, extra innings were in store. With two outs in the top of the 10th, Ott hit a deep drive to center field. Normally, there would have been plenty of room in Griffith Stadium's deep center field to contain the blast, but team owners had installed temporary bleachers in the outfield to make room for more fans for the series. Schulte got his glove on Ott's blast, but the ball squirted out of his glove and into those temporary bleachers for a home run. After two quick outs in the bottom of the inning, the Senators put two runners on base with yet another chance for a clutch hit. Again, though, they were left wanting. Kuhel struck out, and the Giants celebrated their title.

Defining Game
Hubbell was a great pitcher, sure, but he wasn't unbeatable. The Senators had a few chances to break through against him in Game 4. Had they delivered, had they stolen a win in a game that Hubbell started, it might have been enough for them to steal the entire series. Instead, they were left shaking their heads. Twice, it was Schulte, who made the third out with two runners on base in both the fourth and eighth innings. In the 10th, it was Joe Cronin, the future Hall of Famer, who grounded into a force play with two runners on to end the threat. Most frustrating, though was pinch-hitter Cliff Bolton, sent to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 11th, in a situation where a single most likely wins the game. Bolton wasn't a star by any means, but he did bat .409 that year, primarily as a pinch hitter. He made solid contact, too, hitting a sharp grounder, but it was right at shortstop Blondy Ryan, who quickly turned the devastating, game-ending, series-turning double play.

MVP  
The answer to the question of "who was the MVP" depends on whether you prefer pitching or hitting. For fans of batters, it was Ott, who opened the series with a home run, hit the series-winning blast in Game 5, and in between batted .389. For fans of pitchers, it was Hubbell, who struck out 15 and gave up only 13 hits in 20 innings of work, ending the series with a perfect 0.00 ERA because all runs scored off him were unearned. If the World Series MVP had existed in 1933 and I was a sportswriter with a vote, I would have probably picked Hubbell. 


Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Washington	2	1	4	1	3
New York	4	6	0	2 (11)	4 (10)

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

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

1923 World Series: The Yankees Begin

The Teams
American League: New York Yankees (98-54) - Third World Series
National League: New York Giants (95-58) - Eighth World Series (won in 1905, 1921, 1922)

What Happened
As hard as it seems to believe right now, there was once a time when the New York Yankees had never won a World Series. For the first 20 years of the World Series, the Yankees failed to break through, including series losses in 1921 and 1922.

But 1923 was a different year. Instead of sharing a ballpark with the Giants, the Yankees had a beautiful new park of their own. Babe Ruth was in the prime of his career, batting .393 in his first year playing in the park designed just for him. For the first time, the Yankees were seen as favorites in the World Series against the Giants.

But it was the two-time defending champion Giants who started strong. Future Yankee manager Casey Stengel ruined the first two World Series games played in Yankee Stadium by hitting the game-winning home run in the late innings of both Games 1 and 3. In between, Ruth hit two home runs in Game 2 back at his own stomping grounds in the Polo Grounds.

Down 2 games to 1 entering Game 4, and the Yankees bats exploded. A six-run second inning put that game away early, and they were up 7-1 after two innings of Game 5. Game 6 started with a bang, too, as Ruth hit a home run in the top of the first, but Giants pitcher Art Nehf shut them down from there and the Giants had a 4-1 lead entering the eighth. Then, though, Nehf tired, and had already walked in a run when he was finally replaced. Reliever Rosy Ryan did little better, walking the first batter he faced to force in another run and giving up three more on a Bob Meusel single that was followed by an error. Now leading 6-4, the Yankees shut down the Giants over the final two innings to win the game and wrap up their first championship. As we well know, that was only the beginning.

Defining Game
Game 1 was the first World Series game ever played at Yankee Stadium, and it started out well for the Yankees. A first-inning double by Bob Meusel scored Ruth for the game's first run, and Whitey Witt drove in two with a second-inning single. The Giants took the lead with 4 in the third. Both starting pitchers were out of the game at that point, and the game settled down until the seventh. Then, Joe Dugan's triple tied the game for the Yankees, with Ruth coming up. To that point, the Giants had been playing a heavy shift on Ruth, and he responded by slicing the ball toward left field in every at bat. This time, though, he tried to rip one down the right field line. Giants first baseman George Kelly snared it and fired home in time to get Dugan. One batter later, the Yankees' threat was over. Then, with two out in the top of the ninth, Stengel did his damage. The ball he hit to left center wasn't hit particularly hard, but it was placed perfectly placed, allowing Stengel to fly around the bases for a game-winning inside-the-park home run.

MVP
They tried an infield shift against him. They tried walking him. Nothing the Giants did could slow down the great Ruth. Though several Yankees had great offensive series, their big outfielder was the star of the show. Three home runs, a double and a triple, 8 runs scored, 8 walks - Ruth completely dominated as the Yankees won the World Series. A trend was beginning.


Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

N.Y. Giants	5	2	1	4	1	4
N.Y. Yankees	4	4	0	8	8	6

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

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

1936 World Series: DiMaggio and the Yankees

The Teams
American League: New York Yankees (102-51) - Eighth World Series (won in 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932)
National League: New York Giants (92-62) - 11th World Series (won in 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933)

What Happened
For the eighth time in 15 years, the New York Yankees were the American League champions in 1936. For the first time ever, though, they were going to play in a World Series without Babe Ruth, who had retired the previous season. But they still had Lou Gehrig, and they still had the best pitching staff in baseball, and they also had a new weapon in 1936: a rookie center fielder named Joe DiMaggio.

DiMaggio stepped right into the Yankees lineup, occupying the No. 3 spot that Ruth had made his own for a decade and succeeding instantly, putting together one of the best rookie seasons in baseball history. Adding him to an already lethal Yankee lineup almost seemed unfair, and it seemed to ensure the Yankees would be a dynasty over the rest of the 1930s.

Hoping to delay the Yankee ascension by at least a year were their cross-Harlem River rivals. The Giants didn't have much on their team, especially when compared to the great Yankees, but they did have Carl Hubbell, who may have been the best pitcher alive in 1936. Hubbell was all the Giants needed in Game 1, though, as the Yankees could only manage a third-inning home run in a 6-1 loss.

All that loss did was make the Yankees angry, and the Giants didn't like the Yankees when they were angry. A seven-run third put Game 2 away early; a six-run ninth turned it into a laugher. The final out of the Yankees 18-4 victory was a drive to the deepest part of the Polo Grounds, where DiMaggio ran the ball down and, without slowing down, ran up the steps into the clubhouse.

After that debacle, the Giants held the Yankees to only four hits in Game 3. One was a home run by Gehrig, and another was an eighth-inning single by Frankie Crosetti that gave the Yankees the win. Game 4 was Hubbell's turn again, and the Yankees weren't impressed the second time around, taking a 4-0 lead after three innings on their way to a 5-2 win. The Yankees blew a chance to win the series at home, losing Game 5 in 10 innings, but the Polo Grounds were just across the river, so it might as well have been a home game for the Yankees. Their 13-5 win in Game 6 not only clinched the series, but also sent notice to the rest of baseball that a new dynasty was born. 

Defining Game
Game 6 looks like a blowout if you see just the score, but it served as an appropriate symbol for the series. The Yankees took an early 5-2 lead and then, perhaps bored, let the Giants get slowly back into the game. The Giants eventually cut the lead to 1; when the Yankees scored one in the 8th, the Giants answered right back in the bottom of the inning. Finally, the Yankee juggernaut woke up, yawned, stretched a bit, and crushed the Giants, closing out the series with a debilitating seven-run ninth inning.
 
MVP
Jake Powell joined the Yankees in midseason to bolster the bottom of their lineup, and he ended up being the biggest star in a World Series full of them. His .455 average, 10 hits, and 8 runs were all series highs. He hit a home run off Hubbell in Game 1, then tied Game 6 with a double before delivering the series-clinching hit, a bases-loaded single that broke up the Yankees' seven-run ninth in the deciding game.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

N.Y. Yankees	1	18	2	5	4	13
N.Y. Giants	6	4	1	2	5 (10)	5

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

60. 1936 - New York (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
61. 1909 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-3
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

1954 World Series: Rhodes, ph

The Team
National League: New York Giants (97-57) - 13th World Series (Won in 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933)
American League: Cleveland Indians (111-43) - Third World Series (Won in 1920, 1948)

What Happened
There is a common phrase to describe a great baseball player: a "five-tool" player. What that means, simply, is that a player can run, field, throw, hit, and hit for power. Willie Mays was the perfect definition of the five-tool player, a player capable of affecting a game any number of ways. Dusty Rhodes, meanwhile, was a one-tool player. He could hit the ball a mile, but not much else. Five-tool players are hard to find; it's just as hard to find a one-tool player who sticks around the majors long enough to make a difference.

Mays and Rhodes were teammates for the 1954 Giants, with Mays playing nearly every game in center field, and Rhodes being used primarily as a pinch-hitter - when he was sober enough to be trusted at the plate. The powerful, 111-win Indians probably had pages and pages of scouting reports on how to try to stop Mays in the World Series; they likely didn't pay nearly enough attention to that Rhodes guy at the end of the bench.

Mays and Rhodes each played a major part in the Giants' stunning upset of Cleveland in the World Series, beginning with Game 1. With the game tied at 2 and two runners on base, Cleveland's Vic Wertz crushed the ball to the deepest part of center field. Wertz had already made a big impact on the game, sitting on a 3-for-3 day and having driven in the two Indian runs with a first-inning triple. This blast in the 8th was his farthest one yet. Unfortunately, the Polo Grounds had the deepest center field of its time, and the ball that would have been a home run in any other ballpark then standing ended up in Mays' glove.

Mays' back-to-the-infield, over-the-shoulder catch quickly became the most well-known defensive play in baseball history, the first truly great catch televised coast-to-coast. It forever became known as The Catch, and it saved the Giants. A ball that should have scored two runs, if not three, instead scored none, and when the Indians left the bases loaded that inning, the play looked even bigger.

But Mays wasn't done. With one out in the bottom of the 10th, he reached on a walk, then stole second to put himself in scoring position. After an intentional walk, Giants manager Leo Durocher summoned Rhodes from the end of the bench. Rhodes responded with a shallow popup to right field. But it was enough. See, although the Polo Grounds had the deepest center field in the game, it also had the shallowest measurements down the lines in the outfield. So while Wertz's great drive became The Catch, Rhodes' shallow popup became a game-winning three-run home run.

Rhodes and Mays weren't done, either. With the Giants trailing Game 2 1-0 in the fifth, Mays again drew a walk. Two batters later, Rhodes again was summoned to pinch hit, and he delivered again, driving in Mays with a single to tie the game. The Giants took the lead later that inning, and then Rhodes' seventh-inning home run clinched the game, letting New York go to Cleveland with a stunning 2-0 series lead.

The Indians won 111 games during the regular season, then an American League record. But after the two devastating losses in New York, they were cooked. In Game 3, Mays drove in a run in the first, and Rhodes drove in two more with yet another pinch hit in the third, leaving him with a perfect batting average for the series. Cleveland had had enough, and they intentionally walked him in his next at bat. By the time they finally got Rhodes out, on a seventh-inning strikeout, they were down 6-0 and the series was essentially over. A 6-2 Giant win was followed by a 7-3 win in Game 4, completing the most surprising sweep in World Series history.

Defining Game
Game 1 was one of the quirkiest games in World Series history, starring the stadium with the strangest dimensions and two players on opposite ends of baseball's historical spectrum. Rather than rehash what I've written here or elsewhere, I'll instead link to my previous post about that game.

MVP
This was the last year with no official World Series MVP, but Dusty Rhodes won the unofficial MVP that was handed out that year. It may seem a bit odd to give the award to someone who was only a pinch hitter, but with four game- and series-changing hits in the first three games, his selection was really a no-doubter.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Cleveland	2	1	2	3
New York	5 (10)	3	6	7

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

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

1922 World Series: A Roommate Squabble

The Teams:
National League: New York Giants (93-61) - Seventh World Series (won in 1905, 1921)
American League: New York Yankees (94-60) - Second World Series

What Happened:
The Yankees and Giants were more than just neighbors in New York in the early part of the 20th Century. They were roommates, sharing the Polo Grounds beginning in 1913 after the Yankees' previous home, Hilltop Park, was deemed insufficient after only 11 years. At first, the Giants were happy to have the Yankees as tenants, thrilled to have a lesser team paying rent on their stadium while they were on the road.

But that relationship started to sour in Babe Ruth joined the Yankees. The home runs he hit started to draw big crowds to Yankee games at the Polo Grounds. Giants manager John McGraw bristled; he hated the popularity of the home run, preferring the strategic aspect of baseball, and he hated that the Yankees were becoming more popular than the Giants.

The rivalry came to a head when the Yankees and the Giants met in the 1921 World Series. Though the Giants got the last laugh by beating the Yankees, McGraw didn't like that the Giants had to wear their road gray jerseys in their own ballpark. Soon after that series ended, the Giants served the Yankees with an eviction notice.

With the Yankees new cathedral of a ballpark being built across the river, the two teams met again in the 1922 World Series in their last set of games as roommates. McGraw was determined to prove that strategic small ball was better than the home run ball, and, with plenty of help from his pitchers, did just that. The Giants got 50 hits in the 1922 World Series, with 46 of them going for singles. The Giants bunched those hits together well enough to win in a sweep.

It wasn't quite a four-game sweep, as Game 2 ended in a tie, with the umpires calling the game after 10 innings despite there being at least 40 minutes of sunlight left. That hiccup aside, the series feature five well-played games. The Giants won Game 1 when four straight 8th inning singles erased a 2-0 Yankee lead; took Game 3 on a four-hit shutout by Jack Scott; gunned down two Yankee baserunners in the ninth inning of a Game 4 win; then got an 8th-inning, bases-loaded single from High Pockets Kelly to win the clincher 5-3.

Overall, the Giants' small ball strategy worked brilliantly. Despite virtually no extra-base power, they batted .309 for the series while holding the Yankees to a team average of .203. Meanwhile, their pitchers held Ruth to just two hits for the series, with no home runs, causing people to question Ruth's clutch abilities for the first time in his career.

The Giants' joy didn't last long. The next year, playing in their spacious new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees beat the Giants in the World Series, then beat them the next three times they met in the series over the next three decades. McGraw may have won the battle in 1922, but the Yankees ultimately got the last laugh.

Defining Game
Game 4 featured the best back-and-forth action of the series, beginning when the Yankees scored two runs in the bottom of the first - it could have been more, but Wally Pipp was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. The Giants countered, opening the fifth with four straight singles and eventually scoring four runs in the frame. Aaron Ward's home run - his second of the series - cut the Yankee deficit to 4-3 in the 7th. That was the score as Pipp led off the bottom of the ninth with a double. Then Bob Meusel - the brother of Giants star Irish Meusel - grounded to third. Instead of holding at second, Pipp got caught in a rundown, getting tagged out for the first out of the inning. The next batter was catcher Wally Schang, who singled to center with Meusel going to third. However, Schang was cut down at second when the throw from center was cut off. After two outs on the bases, Ward was the final out, flying out to left and ended the Yankees last home game in the Polo Grounds.

MVP
Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch batted .471 for the series, drove in two of the three runs in Game 3,  and was in the center of game-winning Giant rallies in games 1 and 5.

Scores:
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

N.Y. Yankees	2	3	0	3	3
N.Y. Giants	3	3	3	4	5

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

70. 1922 - New York (N) def. New York (A) 4-0, 1 tie
71. 1970 - Baltimore (A) def. Cincinnati (N) 4-1
72. 1931 - St. Louis (N) def. Philadelphia (A) 4-3
73. 1967 - St. Louis (N) def. Boston (A) 4-3
74. 1968 - Detroit (A) def. St. Louis (N) 4-3
75. 1920 - Cleveland (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 5-2
76. 1945 - Detroit (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-3
77. 1940 - Cincinnati (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-3
78. 2009 - New York (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-2
79. 1984 - Detroit (A) def. San Diego (N) 4-1
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1913 World Series: Unlucky Christy

The Teams
American League: Philadelphia Athletics (96-57) - Fourth World Series (won in 1910, 1911)
National League: New York Giants (101-51) - Fourth World Series (won in 1905)

What Happened
It wasn't Christy Mathewson's fault the Giants kept losing the World Series. After all, he was brilliant every time he took the mound in the World Series. It's just that his teammates rarely seemed interested in matching his talent. Maybe they were spoiled after 1905, when Mathewson basically won the World Series by himself with three straight shutouts.

Since then, though, it had been years of disappointment for the Giants, first in their inability to get past the Cubs, then in their failures in the World Series. In 1911, they lost to Philadelphia in a rematch of 1905. Then they lost to Smoky Joe Wood and the Red Sox in 1912. 1913 was their third straight National League pennant, and they would get a matchup against Philadelphia again, a rubber match between the two rivals.

While the Giants had Mathewson's expected brilliance against the A's, they didn't have much else. Philadelphia, meanwhile, were deep and strong, in the heart of a stretch where they would win four pennants in five years. They had Eddie Plank, who was nearly as good a pitcher as Mathewson, and the $100,000 infield, led by Eddie Collins and Frank "Home Run" Baker.

Collins and Baker were brilliant early in the series; they combined for six hits in Game 1 and were responsible for 7 of Philadelphia's 8 runs in Game 3. In between, Mathewson outdueled Plank in a 3-0, 10-inning win in Game 2, a game in which Mathewson himself got the game-winning RBI. Collins and Baker slowed down the rest of the series, but the A's didn't, taking a 6-0 lead in Game 4 before holding on for a win. Plank then held the Giants to 2 hits in Game 5 - one of them by Mathewson - to close out the series.

Defining Game
The offenses had little hope in Game 2 with Mathewson and Plank on the mound, with neither offense mounting any kind of challenge in the first eight innings. Finally in the ninth, the pitchers started to tire. First, the Giants got two runners on in the top of the 9th before Plank got out of it. Then, the Athletics got runners on second and third with nobody out in the bottom of the inning, only to see Mathewson get out of it, including two outs at the plate. Finally in the top of the 10th, Mathewson started the game-winning rally himself, driving in the first run of the game. The Giants added two more, then held on for their only win of the series.


Random Fact:
When Doc Crandall pinch-hit for Mathewson to lead off the bottom of the ninth of Game 5, the greatest postseason pitching career came to an end. Game 5 was Mathewson's 11 career World Series start, 10 of which ended up as complete games and 6 of which came with three days of rest or fewer. Over those 101 innings, batters hit only .197 off him, and his ERA was 0.97, or less than a run per game. Yet Mathewson's postseason record was only 5-5, and the Giants only won one of the series he pitched in. Aside from one three-game stretch of immortality, he had nothing to show for his brilliance.


Scores:
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Philadelphia	6	0	8	6	3
New York	4	3 (10)	2	5	1

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

81. 1913 - Philadelphia (A) def. New York (N) 4-1
82. 1930 - Philadelphia (A) def. St. Louis (N) 4-2
83. 1914 - Boston (N) def. Philadelphia (A) 4-0
84. 1951 - New York (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
85. 1939 - New York (A) def. Cincinnati (N) 4-0
86. 1910 - Philadelphia (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-1
87. 1905 - New York (N) def. Philadelphia (A) 4-1
88. 1965 - Los Angeles (N) def. Minnesota (A) 4-3
89. 1961 - New York (A) def. Cincinnati (N) 4-1
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107