Baseball’s greatest moments recounted
It’s hard to distill a 162-game season into just one moment. Therefore, it’s nearly unfathomable to consider the top 10 moments of baseball’s century and a half existence. In fact, it’s a silly thing to want to do, and it will usually just end in an argument. But that’s precisely what we’re doing in the next two installments of “A Sporting View” because that’s how we roll. Let the pundits, the stats geeks and the steroid era be damned … these are the 10 greatest moments in baseball history:
10. A More Perfect Union
After several decades of unruliness, gambling and player control, businessmen from around the country form the National League in 1875, an owner-dominated league that set rules and laid the groundwork for the modern day. Without this sort of foresight, it is doubtful that baseball would ever have moved far from the fairground circuit.
9. “The Homer in the Gloamin’”
The idea of persuading the powers that be to let you keep playing even though it’s getting very dark out, coming up in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, two strikes against you, and hitting the game-winning, walk-off home run is a uniquely American concept. In September 1938, the Chicago Cubs’ player-coach Gabby Hartnett did just that, propelling his team to win the pennant the next day. The subsequent press write-ups provided the script for innumerable backyard baseball fantasies.
8. Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot”
It doesn’t make a difference if Babe Ruth actually called the shot during the 1932 World Series or if he really hit those home runs for the dying boy in the hospital. The point is, epic heroes need stories of mythical proportions, and that’s just what the called shot provides.
7. Slamming the Drink
When Reggie Jackson came to the New York Yankees in 1977, everyone knew the brash slugger could talk the talk. After inflaming his teammates with his “straw that stirs the drink” boast, Jackson walked the walk when he hit three home runs on three consecutive swings in the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers, earning him the moniker of “Mr. October.”
6. Beating the Bully
The mighty Yankees of New York were supposed to win it all in 1960, and they certainly weren’t supposed to lose it on a home run to deep left field by the Pittsburgh Pirates’ weak hitting second baseman Bill Mazeroski in the bottom of the ninth. Maz’s home run — the first World Series-winning home run — showed that you can never take anyone for granted in baseball when the game’s on the line.