1960 World Series: Confusion, and then Maz

The Teams
National League: Pittsburgh Pirates (95-59) - Fifth World Series (Won in 1909, 1925)
American League: New York Yankees (97-57) - 25th World Series (Won 18 previous times)


What Happened
Depending on what set of games they were watching, baseball fans saw two very different World Series in 1960. If anybody watched just games 2, 3, and 6, they saw a bludgeoning unlike any that had ever been seen in a World Series. Over those three games, the Yankees pounded the helpless Pirate pitchers for 38 runs, setting all sorts of team and individual records over those games. It wasn't just the offense, either, as they got two shutouts from Whitey Ford and only gave up 3 in the other (what a waste of two good pitching performances, by the way; combined score of the two games Ford pitched: 22-0).

If anybody watched just games 1, 4, and 5, they saw an opportunistic Pirate offense scrape together enough runs to take a lead into the seventh inning, then turn the game over to magnificent reliever Roy Face to close it out. Face was a year removed from compiling a truly bizarre 18-1 record as a reliever, but he might have been even better in 1960, even if he didn't go 18-1. He held the leads handed him in the 1960 World Series with little difficulty.

And for the people who watched each of the first six games, the series must have been incredibly confusing. Heading into Game 7, the Yankees had outscored the Pirates 46-17 and out-hit them 79-49, yet the series was tied. The Pirates had won three close games, but there hadn't really been any truly tense games. It was a truly bizarre series.

And then came Game 7.

The game started with the Pirates taking a 4-0 lead after two innings, burning through two Yankee pitchers in the process. They handed a 4-1 lead over to Face in the sixth, and Face promptly blew his first lead of the series. Yogi Berra's three-run home run was the biggest blow, and it made the score 5-4 Yankees.

But things were just getting started

After the Yankees added two more runs off Face in the 8th, that seemed to be all she wrote. The Yankee bats had won out again, and they had finally pounded the Pirates into submission. But the Pirates got five hits in the bottom of the eighth, the biggest a three-run home run by catcher Hal Smith that put Pittsburgh ahead 9-7. The Pirates went from being left for dead to being three outs from a championship. A shocking turn of events.

Now it was the Yankees' turn to face elimination. With one run in in the ninth, they had runners on the corners with one out. Berra smashed a grounder down the first base line that Pirate first baseman
Rocky Nelson snared on a hop. He stepped on first and turned to second, hoping to get the out at second that would end the World Series. Instead Mickey Mantle, who was on first, dove back to the bag, somehow avoiding the tag to get back safely. Meanwhile, Bobby Richardson was coming home with the game-tying run. The Pirates were stunned. They got the double play ball that would have won the World Series, saw it played perfectly, yet were still tied.

They barely had time to register what had happened when second baseman Bill Mazeroski led off the bottom of the ninth of a tie game. After taking a ball, Mazeroski swung and lifted a fly ball to deep left field. Forbes Field had a pretty deep left field, leading to an ivy-covered wall facing against a small grove of trees, so as Berra (playing left field, not catcher) turned his back to chase the ball, it looked like he was going for a jog through the woods. He looked up expecting to play the ball off the wall, only to watch as it scraped the top of the ivy and bounded into the trees beyond.

Mazeroski sprinted around the bases, hat in hand, waiving his arms. The Pirate fans stormed onto the field in celebration, forcing Mazeroski to navigate a maze of fans while rounding the bases. He finally made it around and stepped on home, the first man to end a World Series with a home run. It had been an odd series, a deceivingly one-sided series. But the magnificent Game 7 made it a series for the ages.

MVP
As a sign of how odd the series was, Bobby Richardson was named MVP. In case you weren't paying attention, he played for the Yankees. A member of the losing team was named World Series MVP. The reasons seemed justified at the time - Richardson had a World Series record 12 runs batted in, including a record six in Game 3. But Mantle had 11 runs batted in and outhit and out homered Richardson. Bill Skowron had a series-high 12 hits for the Yankees, and Ford didn't give up a run in two complete-game victories. Almost any Yankee hitter could have been the MVP. Except, of course, that they lost the series. For those who think only the winning team should provide the MVP, it should have been Mazeroski. He led the Pirates in runs, hits, extra-base hits, home runs, and runs batted in. Plus he played his usual outstanding defense at second base. Oh, and he hit the first World Series-ending home run in history. The fact that he wasn't named MVP just shows how confused everybody was about the 1960 World Series.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

New York	4	16	10	2	2	12	9
Pittsburgh	6	3	0	3	5	0	10

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

15. 1960 - Pittsburgh (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
16. 1952 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
17. 1997 - Florida (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-3
18. 1993 - Toronto (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-2
19. 1956 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
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
7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
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
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
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
26. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
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

1971 World Series: Clemente and Blass

The Teams
National League: Pittsburgh Pirates (97-65) - Sixth World Series (Won in 1909, 1925, 1960)
American League: Baltimore Orioles (101-57) - Fourth World Series (Won in 1966, 1970)

What Happened
Roberto Clemente was 37 years old in 1971, at the tail end of a brilliant career. He could always hit - boy, could he hit, including a .341 average in 1971 - and he could throw. Boy, could he throw. Longtime announcer Vin Scully once said Clemente could field a ball in New York and throw out a runner in Pennsylvania. He was exaggerating, but not by much. Yet for all his brilliance, his consistency, he was often overshadowed by the brighter stars of his day, namely Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, partially because he didn't hit home runs like they did, but mostly because of latent - or blatant discrimination against Latin players.

The 1971 World Series, then, was probably his last chance to shine. He had played in the 1960 World Series that Pittsburgh had won, of course, getting a hit in all seven games, but he hadn't yet established himself as a star. Even if he had, anything positive he accomplished that series was virtually ignored by the flat-out bizarre way the Pirates won that series. Clemente hadn't gotten his proper due. Now was his time.

Steve Blass was 29 years old in 1971. He had shown some flashes of brilliance during his previous six years with Pittsburgh, but for the most part had been an average to above-average pitcher through his first six years. But down the stretch in 1971, Blass caught fire. He threw three straight complete games, winning them all, as Pittsburgh held off St. Louis to win the NL Central. He was so good down the stretch that the Pirates picked him to start Game 1 of the NLCS against San Francisco.

The Orioles won the first two games of the World Series that year, to no one's surprise. The two wins gave them a stunning 16 straight wins. The Orioles were very good; they had great pitching, (the first team to have four 20-game winners on one staff), they played great defense (led by the great Brooks Robinson), and had a powerful, brutal lineup. They were an outstanding team ... and they were dead in the water. They just didn't know yet what fate had in store for them.

As it was, though, Clemente told his teammates before Game 3 that he had them the rest of the way, that he was gonna win this series. Blass heard the message and decided to give Clemente some help, throwing a complete-game three-hitter to shut down Baltimore. Clemente, meanwhile, drove in Pittsburgh's first run, then started the seventh-inning rally that was capped by a Bob Robertson three-run home run. Pittsburgh won 5-1, and the series was on.

They won the next two games, with Clemente getting four hits while Blass waited his turn for a potential Game 7 start. After Baltimore won Game 6 - despite a Clemente home run - Blass got the ball. In Game 7, Clemente homered in the fourth to open the scoring - a hit that gave him a hit in all 14 World Series games he ever played in - and Blass took it from there. An insurance run in the top of the eighth proved vital when Baltimore finally got to Blass for a run in the bottom of the 8th. He got out of that jam, then breezed through the ninth, and the Pirates were the champions.

They celebrated long and hard. Clemente finally received recognition as a true superstar, while Blass was hailed as baseball's next big pitching star. While Clemente was nearing the end, they were both hailed as the cornerstones of a potential Pittsburgh dynasty. And they made it back to the postseason in 1972, only to be cut down by the Big Red Machine. And then ...

And then Blass couldn't through strikes. A good control pitcher throughout his career, Blass suddenly lost it all. Throughout 1973, he couldn't throw strikes at all. He struggled through 18 starts, ending up with almost as many walks as innings pitched. He spent 1974 in the minors, and it got worse. Eventually, completely unable to throw strikes, Blass had to retire. He left a legacy on the game, however: now anytime a pitcher unexpectedly and irreversibly loses the strike zone, he is said to suffer from Steve Blass Disease.

Blass' fate, though, was nothing compared to Clemente's. His story is often repeated; he got his 3,000th career hit in his final at bat of the 1972 season, the hit that helped make the 3,000-hit milestone an important one for hitters. That offseason, he organized relief efforts for earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Worried the supplies wouldn't get to where they were supposed to go, Clemente hopped on the plane to escort the supplies to Nicaragua. He never made it, going down with the plane into the Caribbean Sea. In death, his legend grew even more, and he became the shining star of Latin American baseball.

In different ways, Blass and Clemente might have been cursed, living on borrowed time. Clemente certainly spoke like he didn't expect to be on earth for very long. Maybe the 1971 series ended the way it did for a specific reason. Maybe the Pirates of Blass and Clemente were fated to win, to beat the mighty Orioles, to remind all athletes the randomness of success, how fickle the baseball gods could be.

MVP
Clemente batted .414, had five extra-base hits, played sensational defense - including one of the best throws anybody had ever seen - and single-handedly carried the Pirates to the championship. He was the first Latin player to win the award, and in doing so did something that even Aaron and Mays never did.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Pittsburgh	3	3	5	4	4	2	2
Baltimore	5	11	1	3	0	3 (10)	1

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

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


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

7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
15. 1971: Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
26. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
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 
36. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0

1925 World Series: The Big Train, Stuck in the Mud

The Teams
National League: Pittsburgh Pirates (95-58) - Fourth World Series (won in 1909)
American League: Washington Senators (96-55) - Second World Series (won in 1924)

What Happened
The rain was pouring down in the sixth inning of Game 7. The field was a quagmire, and visibility was so poor that you couldn't see the outfielders from  home plate. With the Senators leading 6-4 and the rain showing no sign of letting up, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis turned to Washington owner Clark Griffith and said "Congratulations, you're World Champions. I'm calling this game."

Had that decision stuck, it would have been the first logical thing Landis did that day, however unpopular a rain-shortened seventh game might have been. The truth of the matter is that the game never should have been played in the first place. The rain had started before the first pitch, and the grounds crew was using sawdust in an attempt to mop up puddles in the infield before the teams even took the field. But Landis didn't want to disappoint the fans who had braved the elements to see a Game 7, so the game was played as scheduled.

It quickly turned into a farce. After three walks, two wild pitches, and a throwing error, the Senators had a 4-0 lead before the Pirates even came to bat. They then handed the soaking wet ball to the great Walter Johnson, who had already shut down the Pirates twice in the series. But even the Big Train wasn't immune to the elements. Before too long, the combination of sawdust and mud made the American League's greatest pitcher look like he was covered in oatmeal in what would become the last postseason game of his career.

The Pirates got scored three runs off Johnson in the third, saw Washington get two runs back in the fourth, then scored one in the fifth. That put the score at 6-4 in the sixth inning, when Landis decided he had seen enough. Except Griffith wasn't having any of it. He didn't want to win the title in a rain-shortened game for fear it would be considered tainted. He declined the commissioner's offer, and the teams played on.

He should have taken the offer. Washington shortstop Roger Peckinpagh dropped a popup while slipping in the mud to open up the bottom of the seventh, opening the floodgates; the damage only stopped when, after hitting a game-tying triple, Pittsburgh's Pie Traynor was thrown out trying to stretch it into a home run. Peckinpagh redeemed himself by hitting a home run in the top of the eighth, but it all fell apart in the bottom of the inning. After two straight outs, the Pirates hit two straight doubles to tie the game. After a walk, Peckinpagh committed a throwing error on what should have been the final out, loading the bases.

Then came the strangest World Series-winning hit in history. Kiki Cuyler lifted a deep flyball down the left field line ... and the umpires lost track of where it went. Remember, the outfielders couldn't see home plate most of the game, so tracking a white - ok, mud-covered - baseball must have been impossible. When the umpires couldn't track Cuyler's hit, they decided it must have bounced into the crowd for a ground-rule double. The problem was, it was a foul ball. We know this because Washington left fielder Goose Goslin watched it land in foul territory, then stick in the mud. The umpires weren't moved, however - maybe they couldn't see Goslin arguing? - and the call stood. After Washington went down in order in the ninth, the Pirates were the World Champions.

..................

The muddy and controversial end to Game 7 has been overshadowed over the years by a single play by Washington outfielder Sam Rice in Game 3. With Washington clinging to a 4-3 lead, Earl Smith hit a blast to deep right center which Rice tracked down and got to just as he was falling over the wall and into the stands. For several moments, nobody knew what had happened, until finally Rice emerged from the crowd holding the ball. With no evidence to the contrary, the umpires ruled it a catch, one that helped Washington win the game. For years afterwards, Rice wouldn't say whether he held onto the ball, saying only that he would someday. When he died in 1974, among his possessions was a sealed letter from Rice, stating that at no point did he let go of the ball.

MVP
Had Griffith accepted Landis' offer and ended Game 7 in the 6th inning, Johnson would have been the undoubted MVP. After striking out 10 in a Game 1 victory, he threw a shutout in Game 4 to give the Senators a 3-1 series lead. But two straight Pirate made Game 7 necessary, and in Game 7, Johnson finally ran out of luck. Or, he ran out of good weather. Instead, the award goes to Pittsburgh's speedy center fielder Max Carey. He led all players with a .458 average and 3 stolen bases and was the best player on the field in Game 7, going 4-for-5 with three doubles off Johnson and scoring the tying run in the seventh and the game's final run in the ninth.
 
Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Washington	4	2	4	4	3	2	7
Pittsburgh	1	3	3	0	6	3	9

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

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

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

9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
26. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
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 
36. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0

1903 World Series: In the Beginning

The Teams
American League: Boston Americans (91-47) - First World Series
National League: Pittsburgh Pirates (91-49) - First World Series

What Happened
When the American League was founded in 1901 with the sole purpose of competing with the National League, the established National League teams were understandably upset. They had been the only league around since 1892 and were thoroughly enjoying their monopoly. Try as they might, though - and they did try hard - they couldn't keep the American League from putting teams into cities with National League teams and stealing the senior circuit's players. Soon, the talent level between the two leagues was nearly even, and the National League teams were struggling to match player salaries that were rising because of the bidding war between the two leagues.

Finally, Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss stepped in. He knew that a protracted turf war would eventually bankrupt both leagues, so he helped broker a piece. The AL and NL owners came up with a unified rule book, established minor league agreements, and agreed to stop stealing players from each other. From then on, both leagues started to prosper.

In early September, it became obvious that the Pirates would win their second straight NL pennant, so Dreyfuss had a hand in another cooperative milestone. He reached an agreement with Henry Killilea, owner of the runaway AL champion Boston Americans. Pittsburgh and Boston would meet in a postseason "World's Series" to determine the true champion of baseball.

Fans were excited to see this grudge match between the two leagues. Nearly all the games were played to overflow crowds. In games played in Pittsburgh, extra fans were asked to stand behind a rope in the outfield, and any ball hit out there would be ruled an automatic triple; there were 14 triples hit in the four games played in Pittsburgh.

There were some other things in the series that would be unheard of today. First of all, Pittsburgh's Deacon Phillippe started five of the eight games in the series, an unfathomable number. He was helped by two rain delays - including a very questionable one called by Dreyfuss to give him an extra day of rest - but that doesn't make his feat any less impressive. On the Boston side, Cy Young, the Game 1 starter, was in the business office helping count gate receipts for Game 3 when his manager called for him and told him to pitch in relief. As he had shown up to the ballpark in street clothes, he had to find a uniform first.

As for the series itself, the results came as a bit of a surprise. After the teams split the first two games (some people have suggested this happened on purpose, so the players could collect more of the gate, though no evidence exists of such a conspiracy), Pittsburgh took the next two for a 3-to-1 series lead. From there, though, Boston unexpectedly took over. It probably helped that Phillippe was the Pirates' only reliable healthy pitcher, and that he was being run into the ground, but Boston won the final four games to win the inaugural World Series 5 games to 3.

In a weird way, Boston's win helped prove Dreyfuss right. It proved that the American League was on equal footing with the National League, and that it should be a partner to cooperate with rather than a rival to vanquish. The series was immensely popular with fans, so much so that when the New York Giants refused to play Boston in 1904, the fan outrage was so loud - even from Giant supporters - that the Giants agreed to let the two leagues make the World Series mandatory starting in 1905. It's been going strong ever since.

Defining Game
Game 4 was already Phillippe's third start of the series, but he still had plenty left in the tank. His Pirates gave him a quick 1-0 lead, and Phillippe let it hold up until Boston tied it in the fifth. Pittsburgh took the lead right back in the bottom of the inning, then scored three times in the seventh - with the help of one of the aforementioned ground rule triples. Pittsburgh took a 5-1 lead into the top of the ninth when it all began to fall apart for Phillippe. Boston got five singles off the tiring Pittsburgh ace in the ninth, cutting the deficit to 5-4. They had two runners on base when Phillippe finally ended the bleeding by getting Jack O'Brien to pop out for the final out. Pittsburgh had won to take a 3-1 series lead, but in the process, they had tired out their ace pitcher. Phillippe started twice more in the series, but he was no where near as effective as he had been early in the series. Though Boston lost the game, they may have won the series in the ninth inning of Game 4.

MVP
A lot has been made of Phillippe starting five times for Pittsburgh, and rightfully so. But Young and Bill Dinneen combined to pitch 69 of the 71 innings for Boston in the series, and both were brilliant. Their stats for the series were basically identical, and though Young did hit a big triple in one of his starts, it's probably not enough to push him over the edge. Since there's nobody alive who can testify to who actually pitched better in the series, let's just name co-MVPs.
 

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Pittsburgh	7	0	4	5	2	3	3	0
Boston	3	3	2	4	11	6	7	3

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

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

1979 World Series: Stargell's Family

The Teams
National League: Pittsburgh Pirates (98-64) - Seventh World Series (Won in 1909, 1925, 1960, 1971)
American League: Baltimore Orioles (102-57) - Fifth World Series (Won in 1966, 1970)

What Happened
It is impossible to talk about the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates without talking about Willie Stargell. One of the only holdovers left from the 1971 World Champion team, Stargell was in the autumn of his career in 1979, but there was no mistaking that these Pirates were his team. He was the undisputed clubhouse leader, taking a team of disparate personalities and turning them into a cohesive unit better than any field manager could have dreamed of. Stargell started molding his team in spring training, convincing them that they were destined for greatness, and continued throughout the season, doing things like handing out gold stars to players who made big plays and adopting the song "We Are Family" as the team's unofficial anthem. Everything he did worked, and in October, the Pirates were back playing in the World Series for the first since 1971.

Like in 1971, the Pirates' opponents in the World Series were the Baltimore Orioles. Though the names on the front of the jersey were the same, the ones on the backs were largely different, as only two Orioles remained from the 1971 team. And though the players changed, the team's philosophy - pitching, defense, and power - stayed the same.

Pittsburgh didn't show any of the first two things on that list in Game 1, as the Orioles scored five first-inning runs; Baltimore scored two runs on an error on a double play ball, a third on a wild pitch, and two more on a home run. Having dug themselves a huge hole, the Pirates couldn't make it back, losing 5-4.

The Pirates won Game 2 thanks to a ninth-inning pinch-hit single by backup catcher Manny Sanguillen - like Stargell, a holdover from the 1971 club. Having stolen a road win right before the series headed back to Pittsburgh, the Pirates gave the momentum right back, blowing three-run leads in both games 3 and 4 as Baltimore took a 3-1 series lead.

The majority of the press coverage of the series to that point was telling the story of how Pittsburgh was blowing the series, rather than how Baltimore was winning it. Stargell saw all this press, and he made sure his teammates saw it too. The message had been sent, but the Pirates still needed a spark on the field to go with the one they got off the field. They got it in the sixth inning of Game 5 when, trailing 1-0, Stargell hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. It may have seemed inconsequential at the time, but it woke up the Pirates. They scored six more runs to force the series back to Baltimore.

In Baltimore, Stargell and the Pirates kept it up. Game 6 was scoreless entering the seventh when Dave Parker and Stargell drove in runs to put Pittsburgh ahead. Baltimore was leading Game 7 1-0 entering the sixth before Stargell hit a 2-run home run to give Pittsburgh the lead. Stargell's family held on from there, bringing the World Championship back to Pittsburgh. It hasn't been back since.

Defining Game
Despite Stargell's heroics, there wasn't much that was memorable in this World Series. With late start times causing games to be played in bad weather, there was bad fielding galore in the seven games. Game 7 sort of redeemed things, as Baltimore took a 1-0 lead into the fifth despite two hits from Stargell and two errors by Baltimore fielders. Then, with one out in the sixth and a man on, Stargell put the cap on his fantastic season by hitting the first pitch for a home run to give Pittsburgh the lead. Baltimore challenged in the 8th, loading the bases with three walks before Eddie Murray flew out to right. Given a reprieve, the Pirates added two runs in the top of the ninth - for once, Stargell wasn't involved in the rally - then got the last three outs to win.

MVP
Stargell's selection was one of the easiest of all time. 

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Pittsburgh	4	3	4	6	7	4	4
Baltimore	5	2	8	9	1	0	1

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

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

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

12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 2
29. 1965: Los Angeles 2, Minnesota 0 
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0

1909 World Series: The First Babe

The Teams
National League: Pittsburgh Pirates (110-42) - Second World Series
American League: Detroit Tigers (98-54) - Third World Series

What Happened
After two straight years of getting humiliated by the Cubs in the World Series, the Tigers were probably thrilled to see somebody different playing them in the 1909 World Series. But in the opposing dugout were the 110-win Pirates, the best offensive team in baseball. Led by Honus Wagner, the best player in the National League's early history, the Pirates were the rare team to have a better player than Detroit's explosive Ty Cobb.

The biggest surprise of the series came when Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke picked rookie reliever Babe Adams to start Game 1. Adams had been nearly unhittable for the Pirates over the second half of the season, but he was by far the least experienced of the Pirates' pitchers. And, of course, he was primarily a reliever. But Clarke was playing a hunch, and it paid off. After Cobb put Detroit ahead with a first-inning run, Adams shut down the Tigers the rest of the way. Clarke's home run in the fourth tied the game, and three Detroit errors gave Pittsburgh two more runs in the fifth. Behind Adams' complete game, the Pirates were up 1-0.

The teams alternated wins the next four games, with Detroit getting a pair of five-run wins in Games 2 and 4 and Pittsburgh scoring 8 runs in both Games 3 and 5. The biggest blow of those four games was struck by Pittsburgh's player-manager; Clarke's three-run home run in the seventh inning of Game 5 broke a tie and made a winner of Adams again.

With a chance to clinch the series, the Pirates scored three runs in the top of the first of Game 6. But Detroit fought back, eventually taking a 5-3 lead into the ninth inning. Pittsburgh got one run back in the ninth, but couldn't bring the tying run home, allowing the Tigers to survive to play a Game 7. The first winner-take-all Game 7 in World Series history was anticlimactic, as Adams threw a complete-game shutout. Meanwhile, Detroit pitchers walked 10 Pirates, and the Tigers committed three errors to virtually give Pittsburgh the series.

It was a common theme throughout the seven games. Detroit and Pittsburgh pitchers had an identical earned-run average in the series, and the Tigers actually outhit the Pirates. But the Tigers committed 17 errors in the series, their catchers let the Pirates steal 18 bases, and their pitchers let Pittsburgh score 11 first-inning runs. Detroit could have easily won, but they fell short, which ended up being too bad. After making the World Series three times by the age of 22, the great Cobb never again played a postseason game.

Defining Game
It was a seven game series, but there was only one game that was truly close. The Pirates opened Game 6 with four straight hits, capped by Wagner's 2-run double. Leading 3-0, Pittsburgh was in great position for its first championship, but the Tigers chipped away, tying the game in the fourth and taking the lead in the fifth. Down 2 entering the ninth, the Pirates got one run back on an error on a sacrifice bunt. With runners on the corners and still nobody out, the Pirates had a Bill Abstein cut down at the plate for the first out. Then, Detroit escaped with a strike out/throw out double play, forcing Game 7.

MVP
Adams. Three complete games, three wins, four earned runs. Another easy choice.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Pittsburgh	4	2	8	0	8	4	8
Detroit	1	7	6	5	4	5	0

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

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

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

16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 2
29. 1965: Los Angeles 2, Minnesota 0 
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0 

1927 World Series: Murderer's Row

The Teams
American League: New York Yankees (110-44) - Fifth World Series (won in 1923)
National League: Pittsburgh Pirates (94-60) - Fourth World Series (won in 1909, 1925)

What Happened
The story is told so often that you start to wonder if it's apocryphal. During batting practice before Game 1 of the 1927 World Series, the Yankees kept hitting blast after blast deep into the Forbes Field seats. The bombs didn't let up. Supposedly, the Pirates were so intimidated by the site of Ruth, Gehrig, and Co. making their giant ballpark look small that the series was over before it began. Or so the legend goes.

It's a convenient story to tell after the fact. After all, these were the Yankees, Murderer's Row, the greatest Yankee team of all time. Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, more than any other team in the league. Lou Gehrig hit 47 homers, with 175 runs batted in. Tony Lazzeri was third in the league with 18 home runs. A Yankee lead the league in every offensive category except batting average. They annihilated the American League so thoroughly that the pennant race was over in July. The World Series was supposed to be nothing more than a coronation, the crowning of the greatest baseball team ever assembled.

It wasn't quite that simple, though. The Pirates had won the World Series in 1925, beating the legendary Walter Johnson in Game 7. They had five future Hall of Famers in their lineup, a lineup that, aside from the home runs, was just as dangerous as New York's.

And the Pirates gave the Yankees a good fight. Many people forget that in the glare of the Yankees' 110-win regular season and in the fact the series ended up as a New York sweep. But the Yankees needed to hold off an eighth-inning Pittsburgh rally to win Game 1, didn't put away Game 2 until a three-run eighth of their own, and won the series on a walk-off wild pitch in Game 4. So yah, it was a sweep, the only fitting result for a team that good. But the Pirates gave the Yankees as good a fight as any team could have been expected to.

Defining Game
Game 4. When Ruth hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead, it's possible the Yankee fans started celebrating their impending World Championship (I don't know. I wasn't there. It was 1927 - my grandpa was born in 1927). The Yankees might have gotten ahead of themselves, too, thinking about the champagne shower ahead of them, just 12 outs away. You have to get those outs, though, and the Yankees made things interesting with two eighth-inning errors that let the Pirates tie the game.

Then came the bottom of the ninth. The first two Yankees got on base, bringing up Ruth. What a perfect way to cap off the great season, the great Ruth getting the World Series-winning hit ... but a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. Ruth was, of course, walked from there. Gehrig then had his chance, but he struck out. So did Bob Meusel. What was happening here? Why couldn't the greatest team ever finish the job? Up came Lazzeri, and he didn't get the series-winning hit, either; however, he was smart enough to lay off the pitch in the dirt that bounced to the backstop, allowing the series-ending run to come home.

MVP
Unofficially, Ruth. He hit the only two home runs of the series, batted .400, and even stole a base. Plus, he supposedly intimidated the Pirates beyond repair with his batting-practice home runs before Game 1. And when it was all over, he probably threw a hell of a party.



Scores
(Home team in Bold)

New York	5	6	8	4
Pittsburgh	4	2	1	3

---

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

92. 1927 - New York (A) def. Pittsburgh (N) 4-0
93. 2004 - Boston (A) def. St. Louis (N) 4-0
94. 1932 - New York (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-0
95. 1908 - Chicago (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-1
96. 1999 - New York (A) def. Atlanta (N) 4-0
97. 1963 - Los Angeles (N) def. New York (A) 4-0
98. 2010 - San Francisco (N) def. Texas (A) 4-1
99. 1937 - New York (A) def. New York (N) 4-1
Numbers 100-107

1992 NLCS: A dynasty dies; a dynasty begins

How They Got Here
The rivalry was born the year before, when the Braves and Pirates played seven tight games in the NLCS before Atlanta finally prevailed. As the Braves were celebrating and the Pirates were moping, there was little doubt they would meet again.

After losing to the Twins in one of the greatest World Series ever played in 1991, the Braves came back even better in 1992, perfectly set up to repeat as National League champions. The Pirates were a different story. Everybody knew that they couldn't keep their team around for much longer. They won their third straight NL East title in 1992, and their talent base had already taken a hit. But they still had Barry Bonds, so they still had a chance in any series they played.

Things didn't look optimistic for Pittsburgh in the early part of the 1992 NLCS, as they fell behind Atlanta 3 games to 1. But they fought back, winning the next two, including Game 6 in Atlanta, to set up Game 7. Just like in the previous year, the Pirates would have to deal with John Smoltz in Game 7. This time, though, they had their ace ready in Doug Drabek.

The Game
Bases loaded. Two outs in the ninth. Game 7. Trailing by one. The ultimate dream scenario. At the plate was somebody called Francisco Cabrera, who even Braves fans might have forgotten was on the roster. So of course he singled to left. The tying run scored. Bonds came up with the ball and fired home, hoping to throw out Sid Bream, only the slowest player on either team. The throw came toward home...

... It's possible that Barry Bonds' ninth-inning throw in Game 7 changed baseball throughout the 90s. If that throw had connected, maybe Atlanta's budding rivalry gets snuffed out before it had a chance to get started. Maybe Pittsburgh wins that game in extra innings and goes on to win the World Series, finally getting something out of all those postseason close calls. Maybe with the win, Bonds thinks twice about leaving for greener - and richer - pastures, or maybe Pittsburgh decides it can afford to shell out money to the player who just got them a World Championship.

But the throw didn't connect. It was up the first-base line, giving Bream just enough time to slide in safely, allowing the Braves to complete their three-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth and advance to their second straight World Series.

Between first and second base, Francisco Cabrera jumped up and down. He had just lived the ultimate baseball dream, the two-out ninth-inning single to win Game 7, and he became quite possibly the most unlikely hero in baseball history. Each team had 25 players on their postseason roster; it was likely that Cabrera was the 50th best player on the field. Yet it was him jumping up and down between first and second, the unlikely hero. At first, the Braves piled on Bream, ignoring their third-string catcher. Then they came to their senses and mobbed him, celebrating the birth of a dynasty. The Pirates walked off the field with heads hung as a dynasty died.

Aftermath
It was the second straight World Series for the Braves, the second straight instant classic. Though not remembered as fondly as the 1991 edition - most likely because it only went six games instead of seven - the 1992 World Series was just as tense. And the Braves lost again. But the team of the 90s was born, and they appeared in the next 12 postseasons.

The Pirates, of course, never recovered. After three straight division titles, Bonds and Drabek were gone after the season. Pittsburgh hasn't had a winning season since.

What I did.

The final list:
1. 1992 NLCS: Atlanta 3, Pittsburgh 2
2. 2003 ALCS: New York 6, Boston 5
3. 1980 NLCS: Philadelphia 8, Houston 7
4. 2006 NLCS: St. Louis 3, New York 1
5. 1976 ALCS: New York 7, Kansas City 6
6. 1977 ALCS: New York 5, Kansas City 3
7. 1972 NLCS: Cincinnati 4, Pittsburgh 3
8. 1981 NLCS: Los Angeles 2, Montreal 1
9. 1982 ALCS: Milwaukee 4, California 3
10. 2008 ALCS: Tampa Bay 3, Boston 1
11. 1984 NLCS: San Diego 6, Chicago 3
12. 2003 NLCS: Florida 9, Chicago 6
13. 2004 NLCS: St. Louis 5, Houston 2
14. 1972 ALCS: Oakland 2, Detroit 1
15. 1973 ALCS: Oakland 3, Baltimore 0
16. 1985 ALCS: Kansas City 6, Toronto 2
17. 2007 ALCS: Boston 11, Cleveland 2
18. 1991 NLCS: Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 0
19. 1973 NLCS: New York 7, Cincinnati 2
20. 1987 NLCS: St. Louis 6, San Francisco 0
21. 1988 NLCS: Los Angeles 6, New York 0
22. 2004 ALCS: Boston 10, New York 3
23. 1986 ALCS: Boston 8, California 1
24: 1996 NLCS: Atlanta 15, St. Louis 0

1972 NLCS: A truly wild ending

How they got here
Two truly great teams climbed to the top of the National League in 1972. Ignoring the league-wide offensive shortage, the defending World Champion Pirates barely had to sweat in winning the NL East by 11 games. It's no wonder, too; their .274 team batting average was the only mark in the league above .260, and they finished third in the National League in runs scored and runs allowed. They had skill, they had championship experience, and they entered the postseason on a high, with right fielder Roberto Clemente getting his 3,000th career hit in his final regular-season at bat that year.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati had compiled most of the pieces that would make them known as the Big Red Machine later that decade. After getting to the World Series in 1970, the Reds fell below .500 in 1971 before bouncing back in '72 to win the West by 10.5 games. Their offense was well-balanced, a mix of power, patience, and speed, while manager Sparky "Captain Hook" used the bullpen to perfection.

It had the potential to be a great NLCS, and the teams lived up to that potential. After splitting the first two games in Pittsburgh, the Pirates came back to win Game 3 in Cincinnati. Facing elimination, the Reds cruised to a win in Game 4, setting up a deciding Game 5. The game featured a rematch of the Game 1 starters. Pittsburgh sent 1971 World Series hero Blass to the mound, while Cincinnati countered with 21-year-old Don Gullett.

The Game
Pittsburgh hardly had time to dream about a second straight World Series. It changed that quickly. Holding a 3-2 lead entering the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates sent reliable closer Dave Giusti to the mound to try to get the save. The first batter he faced was Johnny Bench, who quite quickly tied the game with a home run to right.

Bench's home run finally erased the lead the Pirates had held since the second inning, when three straight hits had put them up 2-0. Pete Rose answered with an rbi double in the 3rd for Cincinnati, but Pittsburgh bounced right back with a run in the fourth, knocking Gullett out of the game in the process. After a home run by Cesar Geronimo made it 3-2, Blass was in control before coming out in the eighth.

But then Bench homered of Giusti, and the game changed completely. Two more Cincinnati hits knocked Pittsburgh's closer out of the game, and Bob Moose was brought in to try to fight his way out of a deep hole. He got the first two batters he was asked to face before Cincinnati sent Hal McRae up to pinch hit with two outs. McRae then became a footnote to history, as a wild pitch brought George Foster home from third with the series-winning run.

Aftermath

For Pittsburgh, the loss in the 1972 NLCS led to heartache. After pitching so brilliantly for Pittsburgh for seven years, Blass suddenly and inexplicably lost the strike zone in 1973. He never recovered, his wildness forcing him to retire; to this day, a pitcher suddenly losing the ability to throw strikes is said to have come down with Steve Blass Disease.

But that wasn't the worst. After getting his 3,000th his last at bat of the season, putting an exclamation mark on a career of brilliant play, Clemente struggled a bit in the NLCS, batting only .235. In his final plate appearance, he was intentionally walked in the 8th inning of Game 5. 81 days later, on New Years Eve, the plane he was on carrying supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua crashed into the Caribbean Sea. Pittsburgh, and all of baseball for that matter, mourned the loss of their star.

As for the Reds, they advanced to their second World Series in three years. Facing an upstart Oakland team, the two played a truly classic World Series, with Oakland prevailing in seven games after six of the games were decided by one run. The loss merely inspired the Reds, and after two more years of falling short, they won consecutive titles in 1975 and 1976, laying claim to being the best team in National League history.



The best part of this clip is a super-young Al Michaels making the excited call of Bench's home run
What I'm doing.

The list so far:

7. 1972 NLCS: Cincinnati 4, Pittsburgh 3
8. 1981 NLCS: Los Angeles 2, Montreal 1
9. 1982 ALCS: Milwaukee 4, California 3
10. 2008 ALCS: Tampa Bay 3, Boston 1
11. 1984 NLCS: San Diego 6, Chicago 3
12. 2003 NLCS: Florida 9, Chicago 6
13. 2004 NLCS: St. Louis 5, Houston 2
14. 1972 ALCS: Oakland 2, Detroit 1
15. 1973 ALCS: Oakland 3, Baltimore 0
16. 1985 ALCS: Kansas City 6, Toronto 2
17. 2007 ALCS: Boston 11, Cleveland 2
18. 1991 NLCS: Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 0
19. 1973 NLCS: New York 7, Cincinnati 2
20. 1987 NLCS: St. Louis 6, San Francisco 0
21. 1988 NLCS: Los Angeles 6, New York 0
22. 2004 ALCS: Boston 10, New York 3
23. 1986 ALCS: Boston 8, California 1
24: 1996 NLCS: Atlanta 15, St. Louis 0

Still to come:
1976 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1977 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1980 NLCS: Houston vs. Philadelphia
1992 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
2003 ALCS: Boston vs. New York
2006 NLCS: New York vs. St. Louis

1991 NLCS: Smoltz with the shutout

How They Got Here
Pittsburgh's path to the 1991 NLCS began with Game 6 of the 1990 NLCS. As the Pirates watched Cincinnati celebrate its upset victory in the championship series, the Pirates knew how easily it could have been them, knew what mistakes they had made to cost them that series.

The next year, the Pirates were even better. All-world left fielder Barry Bonds took a small step back in 1991 - and really, considering he had one of the best all-around seasons ever in 1990, a small step back was to be expected. Make no mistake, though, he was still brilliant, and in 1991, his teammates around him were better. A well-balanced Pirates team - both at bat and on the mound - cruised to the NL East title by 14 games, spending seemingly the entire month of September figuring out how to make the next step in October.

In retrospect, it's easy to look at the 1990 season as the beginning of Atlanta's incredible dynasty. It was hard to see it that way at the time, though, as they scuffled to a last-place finish. But, while finishing last, the Braves got full seasons from young hitters David Justice and Ron Gant and pitching prospects Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, and John Smoltz.

All that losing just made the stronger, and in 1991, the Braves turned it around. Justice and Gant took a step forward, and were joined by league MVP Terry Pendleton. Meanwhile, Glavine, Avery, and Smoltz got even better. Never was that more apparent than in the final weekend of the season, when the three young aces turned a one-game division deficit into a division championship with three straight victories.

The series was pretty evenly matched on paper, and the teams alternated wins in games 1-4. The Pirates broke the pattern in Game 5, as Zane Smith outpitched Glavine in a 1-0 Pittsburgh win that put the Pirates one game away from the World Series. They were returning home, too, with their two best pitchers going in games 6 and 7.

Game 6 was another brilliantly pitched game. Pittsburgh's Doug Drabek matched Avery inning after scoreless inning, with Atlanta finally breaking through with a run by Gant in the 9th inning. Pittsburgh couldn't answer, and the series went to a Game 7.

The Game
Pittsburgh's 20-game winner, John Smiley, took the mound to start Game 7. He did not take the mound to start the second inning of Game 7, as the Braves struck with three first-inning runs. Brian Hunter's two-out, two-run home run was the big blow, the one that knocked Smiley out of the game in the first inning.

Given a 3-0 lead before he threw a pitch, Smoltz took the ball and immediately faced a threat of his own. With two outs, the Pirates had two runners on base as Bonds came up. Bonds, dropped to fifth in the batting order after a second consecutive miserable postseason, had a chance to even things up again, but instead grounded out meekly to second.

From there, Smoltz put it into cruise control. Atlanta added a run in the fifth, but they needn't have bothered. Pittsburgh didn't threaten again until the eighth, when again they put two runners on base with two outs, and again Bonds stood at the plate. Faced with one more chance to redeem himself and exorcise his postseason demons, Bonds instead flied out to left. Three outs later, the Braves were heading to their first World Series since moving to Atlanta.

Aftermath
The Braves faced another Cinderella story of sorts in the World Series, going up against a fellow worst-to-first team in Minnesota. While home-field advantage meant next to nothing in the NLCS, it was huge in the World Series, as the home team won the first six games. John Smoltz again got the ball for Atlanta in Game 7, and again put up zeros, leaving in the 8th inning with the game still scoreless. The Twins finally broke through, winning the World Series with a run in the bottom of the 10th.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, went into 1992 knowing they'd only have one more chance before free agency ripped apart their team. Again, they made it to the NLCS, where their opponents were, again, the Braves. Again, the series went to a seventh game. And again, Pittsburgh knew only heartbreak.

The Rundown
What I'm doing.

The list so far:
18. 1991 NLCS: Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 0
19. 1973 NLCS: New York 7, Cincinnati 2
20. 1987 NLCS: St. Louis 6, San Francisco 0
21. 1988 NLCS: Los Angeles 6, New York 0
22. 2004 ALCS: Boston 10, New York 3
23. 1986 ALCS: Boston 8, California 1
24: 1996 NLCS: Atlanta 15, St. Louis 0

Still to come:
1972 NLCS: Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh
1972 ALCS: Detroit vs. Oakland
1973 ALCS: Baltimore vs. Oakland
1976 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1977 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1980 NLCS: Houston vs. Philadelphia
1981 NLCS: Los Angeles vs. Montreal
1982 ALCS: California vs. Milwaukee
1984 NLCS: Chicago vs. San Diego
1985 ALCS: Kansas City vs. Toronto
1992 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
2003 NLCS: Chicago vs. Florida
2003 ALCS: Boston vs. New York
2004 NLCS: Houston vs. St. Louis
2006 NLCS: New York vs. St. Louis
2007 ALCS: Boston vs. Cleveland
2008 ALCS: Boston vs. Tampa Bay

October 14, 1992: Francisco Cabrera?

ATLANTA - Brian Hunter lifted the popup behind second base. That wasn't going to get the job done. Jay Bell closed his glove on it, and the Pirates were one out away. So painfully close.

As everybody waited to see who would pinch hit for the pitcher for Atlanta, you couldn't blame the Pirates for taking a look around and taking in the moment. Leading game 7 3-2, one out away from the World Series, they knew this was the high point thus far of their recent dynasty. They also had to know that this was their last chance.

There was Barry Bonds out in left field. He had been absolutely brilliant in his six years in Pittsburgh, but everybody knew he was leaving. His contract was up after the year, and the Pirates would never be able to afford him. He's gone. Doug Drabek there in the dugout, who pitched so brilliantly in game 7, like he had all year. He was probably gone, too. The Pirates had to know that this was it, that if they didn't get this last out and get to the World Series this year after three straight division titles, they might not get another chance. At least not with this group of players.

Atlanta's pinch-hitter was announced. Francisco Cabrera. Who? He was Atlanta's third-string catcher and had batted only 11 times during the season. Why was he even on the playoff roster, much less batting with the season on the line? There were probably some Atlanta fans who would rather have seen a pitcher, maybe a starter like Tom Glavine, batting in this situation rather than this guy. Their chances at a second straight World Series appearance seemed remote.

So now the situation. We know Cabrera was batting. The bases were loaded, the tying run on third and the winning run on second. Too bad the runner on second was Sid Bream, one of the slowest Braves runners. It might take an extra-base hit to score him. Chances are remote. But take a look again: two outs in the bottom of the ninth in game 7, trailing by 1, bases loaded. How many kids grow up dreaming of batting in this exact situation? How many times has this exact situation come up in baseball history? What a moment for Cabrera, regardless of how he did.

Stan Belinda's first two pitches were out of the strike zone. This was getting into the danger area, even with someone as inexperienced as Cabrera batting. You surely can't walk him.

The third pitch was a foul. 2-1 count, a hitter's count. Belinda took the sign, nodded, went into the stretch. He took a look around at the baserunners, at the fielders. Pittsburgh's fielders got on their toes, ready for the pitch. Cabrera wiggled his bat slightly. This was the moment of his career.

Solid contact. A seeing-eye single between third and short. Tie game. But the Braves are sending Bream. What the hell? Bonds fielded the ball cleanly and came up firing. Bream looked dead in the water. But the throw was up the first-base line. Mike LaValliere had to reach over to catch it, then dive back to try to get a sliding Bream. It was a bang-bang play.



The Braves players piled on Bream in exaultation, an absolutely shocking victory. Cabrera was jumping up and down between first and second, no teammates bothering to celebrate with him for a few seconds before they realized who had gotten the hit. Fulton County Stadium was rocking. The Braves were back in the World Series.

The Pirates walked off the field in shock, heads down. This was the closest they had come yet, the most painful defeat of all. Three straight division titles, three straight trips to the NLCS, and nothing. And they knew it was over. They would have no more chances.

Bonds hadn't left the field yet. He remained in left field, down on one knee. He hadn't moved since his throw. He knew it was over, too. And despite his brilliance, his two MVP awards and three gold gloves, he knew his time in Pittsburgh was a failure. He hadn't been able to bring the Pirates to the promised land. And when his team needed him the most, he hadn't been able to throw out Sid freaking Bream.

......

The Pirates haven't been to the playoffs since, haven't had a winning season since their 1992 season was destroyed by Francisco Cabrera and Sid Bream. Cabrera's hit not only cost the Pirates a World Series berth, but it also knocked the franchise from the loftiest point it has occupied in the last 25 years.

While Cabrera's hit destroyed Pittsburgh's dynasty, it jump-started Atlanta's. Having gone to the World Series the previous year, the Braves proved it wasn't a fluke in 1992. They would make the playoffs for each of the next 13 seasons.

October 13, 1960: Mazeroski

PITTSBURGH - If anybody sat down on October 13, 1960, and examined the cumulative stats for that year's World Series, everything they saw would point to a blowout. The Yankees had outscored the Pirates 42-17, had outhomered them 8-1, and had outhit them 78-49. The Pirates had three pitchers with ERAs over 10.00, and the Yankees were batting over .300 as a team.

Yet the series was still going on. Somehow, the Pirates had split the first six games with the Yankees, and the two met for a most improbable game 7 that October 13. The Yankees three wins had been by scores of 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0, while the Pirates had won their three games by a combined six runs. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, a win is a win, regardless of how it looks, so they were alive and ready for a home game 7. And with how wild the series had been so far, there was no doubt game 7 would be a crazy one.

The Pirates got on the board first, scoring twice in each of the first two innings and knocking Yankee starter Bob Turley out of the game in the second inning. The four quick runs weren't too surprising, but what happened next was: several innings of relative calm. Pirates starter Vern Law didn't give up a run until a solo home run in the fifth, and Bobby Shantz, the Yankees' third pitcher, closed the door on the Pirates offensive attack. Entering the sixth inning, the Pirates were up 4-1. All seemed calm and relatively straightforward.

Then the sixth inning started.

The first two batters reached for the Yankees, knocking Law out of the box. After an out, a single by Mickey Mantle drove in one run, and a three-run home run by Yogi Berra gave the Yankees the lead. It had taken the Yankees only five batters to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead.

For a while, it seemed like that lead would hold up. Shantz faced the minimum 12 batters in his first four innings of work, with the walk and single he allowed both erased by double play balls. Meanwhile, the Yankees had tacked on two more runs in the eighth to push the lead to 7-4.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Pirates finally got to Shantz. The first three batters in the inning got hits, scoring a run and ending Shantz's day. After two outs, Roberto Clemente came up with runners on second and third. Since Clemente was the go-ahead run, the Yankees had Jim Coates pitch to him rather than walk him to set up the force, and Clemente responded with an infield single that brought home the run that made it 7-6. Next up was Hal Smith, the Pirates' backup catcher who had just entered the game the previous inning. Known mostly for his power, the Yankees couldn't have been too surprised when Smith put the Pirates ahead with a three-run home run. Pittsburgh entered the ninth with a 9-7 lead.

Normally, a two-run lead in the ninth inning of game 7 is safe, but if the baseball world had learned anything from the previous decade or so, it's that the Yankees were never dead, never defeated until you chopped off their head. They would be fighting until the final out, especially in a series this wild, where the Yankees had so often scored at will. These last three outs would be the tougher than the Pirates could ever imagine.

Bob Friend came in to start the inning for Pittsburgh and turned out to be a true friend to the Yankees, giving up two straight hits. Exit Friend, enter Harvey Haddix, who got Roger Maris to pop out. One out, tying run on base, Mickey Mantle batting. This was World Series baseball at its finest. Mantle rose to the occasion, singling to right to cut the lead to 9-8. Still one out, with a runner at first. A double play ball would end it. A hit would tie it.

Then, Haddix got Berra to hit a sharp grounder right to first base. Holding Mantle on, Pittsburgh first baseman Rocky Nelson was in perfect position to field the ball and step on first for the force. Two out. As Nelson turned to fire to second for the World Series-ending out, Mantle made the heads-up decision to try to get back to first. He knew he wouldn't beat a throw to second, so he dove back, avoiding Nelson's tag. Meanwhile, the tying run came across the plate. 9-9.

Enter the bottom of the ninth, with the bottom of the order coming up for Pittsburgh. Who knew what was going to happen next? Whatever scenarios were discussed, the idea that Pittsburgh's number 8 hitter would end the series with a home run was probably not high on the list of possibilities. But that's exactly what Bill Mazeroski, blasting a 1-0 pitch to deep left. Berra swore years later that the ball grazed the Forbes Field ivy as it went over the wall. Whether it did or not, Mazeroski had hit the first World Series-ending home run in history, and the Pirates had won one of the most improbable championships in baseball history.



The home run is here.

June 12, 1970: Drugs and pitching

SAN DIEGO - The home plate umpire was Richard Nixon. Jimi Hendrix was batting. The baseball shrunk to the size of a marble.

A weird dream? Nope. Those were images Dock Ellis said he saw on June 12, 1970, as he was throwing a no-hitter.

If true, it's one of baseball's oddest stories - a pitcher throwing a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. It's something that many people want to be true, which might be why people believe it. And it was Dock Ellis, who was once tazered trying to enter a stadium to play, and who once had to be removed from a game after trying to hit six consecutive batters to start a game, and who was reprimanded for wearing hair curlers during pregame warmups. With him, anything seemed possible, so the story of him throwing a no-hitter on LSD seemed plausible.

This much is true: Ellis did indeed throw a no-hitter that day against the Padres, in the first game of a double header. It was an incredibly messy game, with Ellis walking eight batters and hitting another. After the game, Ellis attributed his wildness to simply trying to keep the ball away from the Padres hitters and often missing his spots.

Fourteen years later, Ellis revealed the truth. Thinking he had that day off, he was in Los Angeles with friends. He took LSD at noon, only to be told at 1:00 that he was scheduled to pitch in San Diego that nigth. So he took a chartered flight and got to the stadium at 4:30 to prepare to start the 6:30 game.

The only evidence we have that Ellis was on LSD during the game came from Ellis himself, so there's no way to truly verify it. Nobody has really questioned it too vehemently, which makes it seem even more plausible. The image of a pitcher diving out of the way of a slow roller down the third-base line, or of a pitcher making a force out at first and thinking he scored a touchdown, is far too entertaining to ignore. Ellis may have thrown a no-hitter on LSD, or he may have fabricated the story in his later years for entertainment. Whether true or not, it has been retold so many times since that it has become true by default, and since Ellis has since died, there's nobody around to refute it.

And plus, we now have this cartoon, narrated by Ellis himself, describing the game. And really, it's entertaining enough that we want it to be true:

---

HONORABLE MENTION
June 12, 1880: WORCESTER, Mass. - It's a safe bet that Lee Richmond wasn't on LSD on June 12, 1880. But he also wasn't wearing a glove; nobody on the field was. He also had to throw the pitch wherever the batter wanted, and he needed five strikes to strike a batter out (to be fair, eight balls were required for a walk, fielded on one hop in foul territory was an out, and pitchers were 10 feet closer to the batter than they are now). Regardless, Richmond threw a perfect game against Cleveland that day, the first of its kind in Major League history. And while the second one was thrown only five days later, it remains a milestone achievement in baseball, simply because of the conditions in which he pitched.

May 26, 1959: A perfect loser

MILWAUKEE - You won't find Harvey Haddix's name on the list of pitchers who threw a no-hitter in the Major Leagues, though on May 26, 1959, he did something that nobody else had ever done. Pitching against the two-time defending National League champions, using only two pitches, Haddix threw a perfect game for 12 innings in Milwaukee County Stadium. Unfortunately, his Pirates didn't score a run for him either, and in the 13th inning, Haddix lost the game.

It remains the most remarkable lost game in baseball history. Despite facing a lineup featuring hall-of-famers Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews, Haddix survived three trips through the batting order without giving up a baserunner. When the Pirates couldn't score, he made it through the lineup unscathed a fourth time. It wasn't as if he was getting lucky, either. Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski, pointing out that most no-hitters feature at least one or two good defensive plays to save the game, said it was the easiest game he ever played.

Even more remarkable is that the Braves were stealing all the Pirates' signs. Haddix was only throwing a fastball and a slider, and Pirates catcher Smokey Burgess was giving the signs in a way that the Braves bullpen could see them clearly, allowing them to signal in to the batters with a towel. Only Aaron didn't take the signs. And Haddix still retired 36 straight batters.

The Braves finally made a dent in the 13th inning, when Felix Mantilla reached on an infield error to become the first baserunner. After he was bunted over to second, Aaron was intentionally walked, bringing up Joe Adcock. Still, in a way Haddix still hadn't let any Brave "earn" their way on base. That was until Adcock hit one over the centerfield fence for a home run. And though the hit was downgraded to a double after Adcock passed Aaron on the basepaths, the damage was done, and the Braves had a 1-0 victory despite being outhit 12-1.

For years, Haddix's game was listed as an honorable mention on the list of Major League no-hitters, but after the rules were redefined requiring a team to give up no hits throughout the game to be listed, his name was removed. But nobody forgot the day he became a perfect loser.

A few days after his start, Haddix recevied a letter from a fraternity at Texas A&M which summed up the day nicely. Written on official university stationary, the letter read, simply, "Dear Harvey: Tough shit."

---

HONORABLE MENTION
May 26, 1987: BOSTON - Game 5, 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. The Pistons lead by 1 with five seconds left as they prepare to inbound the ball near their own basket. And there's a steal by Bird...