Classic Baseball Broadcasts

October 23, 1993 The sixth game in the Toronto Blue Jays -- Philadelphia Phillies World Series was a rematch between Game 2 starters Terry Mulholland and Dave Stewart. Toronto scored in the bottom of the first on a Paul Molitor triple, Joe Carter sacrifice fly, and Roberto Alomar RBI single. Paul Molitor added a solo home run in the fifth inning while the Toronto fans were chanting "MVP" for Paul, bringing the score to 5--1 for Toronto. Ultimately, Molitor became the first player in World Series history to have at least two home runs, two doubles, and two triples.

In the seventh inning, Philadelphia fought back with five runs to take a 6--5 lead. The big hit of the inning was a Lenny Dykstra three-run homer. The inning brought an end to Stewart's night, leaving the game with six innings pitched and four runs given up. Philadelphia closer, Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth with his team clinging to a 6--5 lead. After beginning the inning by walking Rickey Henderson, Williams tried to counter Henderson's speed by using a slide-step pitching delivery. This was the first time in his career he used the slide step and his pitch speed may have been decreased as a result. The walk to Henderson was followed by a Devon White fly out and Paul Molitor would single, moving Henderson to second. Joe Carter came up next and with the count 2--2, he hit a three-run home run to win the game and the World Series crown. That pitch allowed Blue Jays radio announcer Tom Cheek the opportunity to utter his famous quote "Touch 'em all, Joe" when Joe Carter ended the series. Carter joined Bill Mazeroski as one of the only two players to win a World Series with a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of the deciding game.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

October 22, 2000 Game Two of the "Subway Series" between the Mets and Yankees brought with it the long awaited matchup of Yankee Pitcher Roger Clemens against Mets Catcher Mike Piazza. Earlier in the year during regular season Interleague play, Clemens beaned Piazza with a fastball giving him a concussion and sending him to the disabled list. Their Game 2 matchup would not disappoint. In the first inning, Clemens quickly dispensed with the first two batters and Piazza's name was announced sending the 56,069 in attendance crazy. Clemens fired two quick strikes, then one out of the strike zone. The fourth pitch came inside and Piazza made contact shattering the bat and sending the ball foul. The pointed barrel of the bat bounced toward Clemens who fielded the wooden shard as if it were a grounder, then turned and threw the fragment sidearm toward Piazza on the first baseline. The barrel of the bat spun and skittered in front of Piazza who stood stunned, staring at Clemens, before stepping across the baseline toward the pitcher. Clemens raised his hand to the ump for a new ball as the two came face to face. The benches emptied but no punches were thrown as the two players were separated. Piazza would later hit a home run off reliever Jeff Nelson, but the Yankees would come away with a 6--5 win. After the game, Clemens would claim he did not see Piazza running and threw the bat because of nervous energy and mistakenly charged the incoming broken bat, believing it to be the ball. This win for the Yankees would extend their World Series winning streak to 14 consecutive games.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

October 21, 1998 - The New York Yankees close out their historic season with 3 - 0 victory against the San Diego Padres, sweeping San Diego in four games to win their record 24th World Series championship. Andy Pettitte, who struggled mightily throughout the regular season secured the victory with 7 1/3 strong innings. With the Yankees clinging to a 3--0 lead in the eighth, the Padres were able to load the bases against Yankee's reliever Jeff Nelson. Yankees closer, Mariano Rivera came in and shut down Jim Leyritz, known for his clutch postseason home runs, to end the threat and went on to pitch a scoreless ninth inning to end the Series. Yankee first baseman Scott Brosius sensed as the ninth inning began that he would make the final play, and in fact did. The Padres pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney grounded to third base, and after Brosius threw to first for the final out, he raised his hands into the air. Mariano Rivera, the Yankees' closer, dropped to his knees as the other Yankees piled on around him. Scott Brosius was named Series MVP on the strength of the 2 home runs he hit in Game 3, including one off of Padres closer Trevor Hoffman to give the Yankees a 3-0 Series lead.The Game Four victory gave the Yankees 125 wins against 50 losses for a .714 winning percentage, the best in the majors since their Murderers' Row club of 1927, as their American League record of 114 regular-season victories were the most ever for a major league champion team at that time.

October 21, 1975, Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox powers a dramatic 12th- inning home run to complete one of the most memorable games in World Series history. Playing in Game Six, Fisk homers off the foul pole at Fenway Park, giving the Red Sox a 7-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds. The Red Sox had trailed in the eighth inning, when Bernie Carbo hit a three-run, pinch-hit homer to tie the game at 6.

In 2002 this event, seen by a record-75.9 million viewers, will be chosen as one of baseball's most memorable moments.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

October 20, 2004 Game 7 of the ALCS began at 8:30 in the evening at Yankee Stadium. After winning the first three and loosing the next three, the Yankees were sending Kevin Brown to the mound to face Derek Lowe for the Red Sox. Johnny Damon, suffering through a 3 for 29 slump decided to play aggressively leading off the game with a single to left and a stolen base, but was thrown out at home trying to score on a Manny Ramirez base hit. The very next pitch, however, was lined into the right-field bleachers by David Ortiz to give Boston a 2--0 advantage. In the second inning, the Sox loaded the bases against Brown, causing Yankees manager Joe Torre to remove him and put in Javier Vázquez to face Johnny Damon. Damon hammered Vázquez' first pitch into the right-field seats for a grand slam. The rout was on. Damon, who also added an upper deck two-run blast in the fourth, had three hits in the game. Boston also enjoyed a solid performance from their starting pitcher, Derek Lowe, who allowed only one run and one hit in six innings of work, and was never even intended to be a starter in the postseason. He pitched game seven on just two days of rest. Pedro Martinez relieved Lowe in the seventh inning, receiving loud chants of "Who's Your Daddy?" which intensified as he gave up two runs. He eventually raised the velocity of his fastball to the mid-90s and shut down the rally. At 12:01 a.m., on October 21, Rubén Sierra hit a groundball to second baseman Pokey Reese, who threw to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz to finish the unprecedented comeback.

"Not many people get the opportunity to shock the world. We came out and did it," Boston first baseman Kevin Millar said. "You know what? We beat the Yankees. Now they get a chance to watch us on the tube."

The Red Sox won 10--3 and became the first team in Major League Baseball history to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

October 19, 2004 --The Yankees hold a 3-2 lead over the Red Sox in the ALCS with Game 6 to be played at Yankee Stadium. The starting pitchers were Curt Schilling of the Red Sox and Jon Lieber of the Yankees. Schilling pitched with a torn tendon sheath in his right ankle, which was sutured in place in an unprecedented procedure by Red Sox team doctors. The game was scoreless till the fourth inning when Sox second baseman Mark Bellhorn hit a shot into the leftfield stands. The ball struck a fan in the chest and dropped back onto the field, where Left field umpire Jim Joyce signaled that the ball was still in play. After a discussion with Sox Manager Terry Francona, the umpires huddled and overruled the call giving Bellhorn a three run homer and the Sox a 4-0 lead. Despite his injury, Shilling provided seven strong innings giving up only 1 run on a Bernie Williams homer before leaving the game completely exhausted and his sock soaked in blood.

Bronson Arroyo would take over for Schilling in the eighth and give up a quick run on a Miguel Cairo double and a Derek Jeter single. With Alex Rodriguez up what followed was truly bizarre. ARod grounded a pitch back to Arroyo who scooped up the ball and ran down the first baseline to tag Rodriguez out, who slapped at Arroyo's arm and glove, knocking the ball loose. As the ball rolled down the baseline, ARod advanced to second and Jeter scored. The umpires huddled again and called Rodriguez out on interference and ordered Jeter back to first. Yankee Stadium erupted as fans rained debris onto the field prompting Francona to remove his players from the field for safety. The NYPD, in full riot gear, restored order and remained on the field for a full inning. Sox closer Keith Foulke would keep the Yanks off the board in the 9th and secure the game for Boston. The Red Sox, the 26th team in Major League Baseball playoff history to face a 3--0 series deficit, became the first to force a Game Seven.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

October 18, 1977 With the Yankees up three games to two against the Dodgers, Reggie Jackson seizes control of the game, the series, and is crowned  "Mr. October" when he hits three consecutive home runs in Game Six of the World Series. Jackson hit a two-run homer in the fourth on the first pitch he saw from starter Burt Hooton to give the Yankees the lead. Lou Piniella made it 5–3 by adding a sacrifice fly. Once again, in the fifth with a man on Jackson connected on the first pitch off Elias Sosa to make the score 7–3. Finally, in the eighth, Jackson strode to the plate, amid chants of "REG-GIE, REG-GIE, REG-GIE!", and drove the first Charlie Hough knuckleball he saw 475 feet into the stands. An inning later, Jackson had led the Yankees to an 8 - 4 victory and the World Championship over the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He became only the second player in history to smash three home runs in a single Series game. In addition, five home runs in one Series and four consecutive blasts over a two game period in the Series were also unprecedented.

October 18 2004 – Game 5 of the ALCS opens in Fenway Park with the Yankees leading the Series 3-1. After 8 innings, the game was tied at 4 and would remain knotted there till the 14th inning.  Yankee Pitcher Esteban Loiza walks both Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez, bringing Ortiz up with two outs. The previous night's hero did his job again. Singling to center on the 10th pitch of the at-bat to bring home Damon, Ortiz set off celebratory chants of “Who’s Your Papi?”. After five hours, 49 minutes and 471 pitches, the Boston Red Sox outlasted the Yankees 5 – 4. Ortiz became the first player in history to hit two walk-off home runs during the postseason, and ended the longest game in ALCS history at 1:22 a.m.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

October 16th 2004  The Yankees lead the ALCS two games to none

over the Red Sox with Game 3 in Fenway Park. As in the first two games, the

Yankees began by scoring in the first and quickly building a 3-0 lead. The Red

Sox answered in the second inning with a leadoff walk by Jason Varitek and a

Trot Nixon home run to right field. A double by Bill Mueller, an infield hit by

Johnny Damon (his first hit of the series), and a Derek Jeter error led to two

more runs. The Red Sox led for the first time in the series, 4–3. This lead was

short-lived as ARod led off the third inning with a home run over the Green

Monster and the Yankees would build a 6-4 lead. By the end of the third, the

Sox would even things up at 6 apiece off a double by Orlando Cabrera. That was

as good as it would get for the Sox for the rest of the night. When it was all

over, the two teams combined for 37 hits and 20 extra-base hits, both

postseason records. At four hours and twenty minutes, the game was the longest

nine-inning postseason game ever played. The Yankees destroyed Boston, 19 -8 ,

amidst chants from Yankee fans  of

“Nine-teen -Eight-teen”...the last time the Red Sox won a World Series. With a

3 game to none, lead things looked bleak for the Red Sox.

October 16, 1969 - The New York Mets win their

fourth straight game from the Baltimore Orioles with a 5 - 3 triumph behind

pitcher Jerry Koosman, who throws a five-hitter, to take the World Series in

five games. In the third inning, Baltimore takes a 3 - 0 advantage after home

runs by pitcher Dave McNally and outfielder Frank Robinson. After a strong

argument by Mets manager Gil

Hodges in the bottom of the

sixth inning, Cleon Jones is awarded first base when shoe polish on the ball

proves he was hit by a pitch, and Jones scores on a home run by Donn Clendenon.

An inning later, Al Weis ties the game 3 - 3 with a solo home run, and in the

eighth, Ron Swoboda's double and two Baltimore errors give New York two more

runs and the World Championship. Clendenon is named Series MVP.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Jackie Robinson's Speech - October 15, 1972 - his last public speech

Jackie Robinson is by no means the greatest player in baseball history. He holds no cherished records in the manner of a Hank Aaron or a Joe DiMaggio, and his career numbers fall far short of the statistical milestones by which we currently measure “greatness”. But as former Negro League star Buck O’Neill once observed, Robinson may not have been the best player of his era, but he was the right player for the task history set before him. As such, Jackie Robinson is the pivotal figure in baseball’s narrative and perhaps its greatest hero. Only a man with Robinson’s singular mix of talent, tenacity, and temperament could have taken up the lonely task of breaking baseball’s color barrier. No player before or since has had to perform under the weight of such a great burden. On one shoulder, Robinson bore the hopes and future aspirations of a people too long denied their share of the American promise; on the other, he bore the fierce scorn and violent enmity of those who preferred that baseball, and American life in general, remain a segregated affair. That he rose to the challenge and thrived under the pressure was an affirmation of America’s founding principle, the proposition that all men are indeed created equal. His triumph, coming a full seven years before Rosa Parks’ defiant “sit”, can be seen as the first great victory of the modern civil rights movement. Martin Luther King, Jr, who followed Robinson’s exploits as a teenager, hailed him as “a pilgrim that walked in the lonesome byways toward the high road of Freedom… a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.” His success paved the way for a new generation of superstars – Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Frank Robinson, to name but a few - who would go on to revolutionize the game and help redefine American culture.

Jackie's Career Highlights:

https://thisdayinbaseball.com/jackie-robinsonjackie-robinson-career-highlights/

October 15, 1988 - With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Kirk Gibson hits a pinch-hit home run off Dennis Eckersley to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5 - 4 victory over the Oakland Athletics in Game One of the World Series. Gibson, who injured himself making a game saving catch in the National League Championship Series, never came out for game one introductions and never took batting practice spending the entire game on the trainer’s table receiving treatment with Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda checking on him between innings. Inning after inning, Lasorda checked and was given the thumbs down each time until the bottom of the ninth with the A’s leading 4-3 when the clubhouse boy told Lasorda that Gibson wanted to speak to him. ”I think I can hit for you, Skipper” was the message Lasorda heard when he arrived in the trainer’s room. Eckersley got the first 2 batters out. Alfredo Griffin was next up when Lasorda sent Mike Davis to the plate instead, with Gibson warming up unbeknownst to anyone. As Eck settled in to pitch, Lasorda sent Dave Anderson to the on deck circle.

Eckersley took notice and decided he wasn't going to let Davis hit it out of the ballpark. He worked the count to 3-2 and walked Davis. “Now get out there Big Boy” Lasorda ordered Gibson, whose appearance sent the crowd into a frenzy. Lasorda decided Gibson had two swings to try and hit it out of the park and then he gave Davis the green light to steal 2nd. With 1st base open, the A’s chose not to walk Gibson who worked the count to 3-2 and

Gibson launched the next pitch out of the park. Vin Scully’s call of the play say’s it all “"In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!"

October 15, 1970 - For the third time, the Baltimore Orioles overcome a 3 - 0 deficit to bury the Cincinnati Reds, 9 - 3, and win the World Series in five games. Brooks Robinson won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award hitting .429 and breaking the record for total bases with seventeen. Robinsons stellar fielding earned him the nickname “Hoover”.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

October 14, 2003 - Holding a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning over the Florida Marlins with only 5 outs standing between them and their first World Series appearance since 1945, the Cubs fall apart after a fan, sitting along the left-field foul line at Wrigley Field, tries to catch a foul ball that is about to be caught by Cubs' outfielder Moises Alou for the second out of the inning. The Cubs argued for interference, but umpire Mike Everitt ruled there was no fan interference because the ball had broken the plane separating the field of play from the stands.  The Cubs lead proceeded to disintegrate; fueling the Wrigley faithful’s ire at this fan who would have to be escorted from the park for his own safety. Lost in all of this is the error by, the usually sure handed shortstop Luis Gonzalez, that would have resulted in an inning ending double play which would have allowed the Cubs to escape the eighth with a two run lead. The Marlins would go onto score 8 runs and win the game.  The Cubs also would lose the seventh and final game of the NLCS.

October 14, 1975 - The Cincinnati Reds take a 2-1 lead in the World Series with a controversial 6 - 5, 10-inning victory over the Boston Red Sox in Cincinnati. In the 10th inning, Reds pinch-hitter Ed Armbrister attempts a sacrifice bunt and bounces the ball in front of the plate. Boston catcher Carlton Fisk, in an attempt to field the ball, collides with Armbrister and throws the ball into center field attempting to force Cesar Gerónimo at second base. Gerónimo goes to third base and later scores the game winner. Home plate umpire Larry Barnett rules there is no interference despite heated protests by the Red Sox.

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts