Great contests … not mere showcases for individual heroics
Once upon a time (40 years ago), I wrote a book titled Baseball’s Ten Greatest Games. Since then, other games have come along that would displace some of my original selections. So it would be easy to reassess, then lop off the bottom five and — voilá — I would have the basis of this week’s column. But I have liked the era divisions which, over the past two weeks, governed the presentations of position players and then pitchers, so let’s try that model here, producing one game and four runners-up in each period, thus totaling 25 great games.
If you ask me, the greatest game in the history of professional baseball predates the formation of Major League Baseball: that of June 14, 1870, when the Brooklyn Atlantics broke the two-year winning streak of the fabled Cincinnati Red Stockings, 8–7, scoring three runs in the bottom of the eleventh inning after the Reds had gone ahead with two in the top half, a theme that will recur below.
“The finest game ever played,” wrote Reds’ president Aaron B. Champion in a telegram to supporters back home. “Our boys did nobly, but fortune was against us. Eleven innings played. Though beaten, not disgraced.”
That observation will rule for all the games highlighted below: victors and vanquished locked forever in mutual respect. With this watchword to govern my selections, I have tried to steer clear of games marked merely by individual accomplishment (so, no Don Larsen or Mark Whiten). To the best game in each era I devote a paragraph. Runners-up are listed chronologically, not rank ordered.
1876–1919
October 16, 1912: World Series, Game 8: Boston Red Sox over New York Giants, 3–2, in ten innings. Because an earlier game had been a draw, called for darkness, Game Eight decided the Series, with the Giants’ Christy Mathewson starting against rookie Hugh Bedient. The latter was pulled for a pinch hitter who tied the game and sent it into extra innings. New York scored in the top of the tenth, Boston countered with two in the bottom half on some famously bungled plays. Joe Wood, on in relief, won the game to make his season record, including the WS, 37–5.
Runners-up:
April 25, 1901: Detroit Tigers, in their first AL game, score ten in the ninth to defeat Washington, 14–13.
September 30, 1907: 17-inning tie between Detroit and Philadelphia, tilting pennant toward Tigers.
October 2, 1908: Cleveland’s Addie Joss throws perfect game to defeat Ed Walsh, 40-game winner that year, who fanned 15, by score of 1–0.
May 2, 1917: Double no-hit game, Chicago Cubs over Cincinnati Reds, 10 innings, 1–0, Fred Toney over Hippo Vaughn.
1920–1946
October 10, 1924: Washington — long a joke (“first in war, first in peace, last in the American League”) — wins World Series Game 7 in 12th frame as Walter Johnson, starring for 17 years with bad ballclubs, wins in relief after two failed starts. On routine grounder to third base, ball hits pebble and bounds over Fred Lindstrom’s shoulder; Muddy Ruel scores winning run.
Runners-up:
October 12, 1929: Trailing Cubs 8–0, A’s are about to fall behind three games to one, but score 10 in seventh inning of WS Game 4.
September 28, 1938: Cubs take first in NL as Gabby Hartnett hits homer in gloamin’, one pitch away before game was to be called for darkness.
July 8, 1941: Ted Williams homers with two outs in ninth to win All-Star Game — by his account, his greatest moment in baseball.
October 5, 1941: Brooklyn catcher Mickey Owen allows game-ending third strike by Hugh Casey to evade him; Tommy Henrich reaches first, Yanks keep hitting, win crucial game.
1947–1976
October 3, 1951: In what has long been held to be baseball’s greatest game, Giants — 13.5 games behind Brooklyn in mid-August — come all the way back in Game 3 of NL playoff. Trailing 4–1 in bottom of ninth, they chase Dodger starter Don Newcombe and, with one out, Bobby Thomson homers off reliever Ralph Branca to win game and pennant 5–4.
Runners-up:
April 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson takes the field for the Dodgers, breaking color barrier that had endured since 1884.
October 3, 1947: Despite ten walks, Yankees’ Bill Bevens takes no-hitter into ninth, secures two outs. Pinch hitter Cookie Lavagetto doubles to score two; Bevens loses no-no and game.
October 13, 1960: After Hal Smith hits three-run homer to give Pirates lead in Game 7, Yanks tie in top of ninth; then Bill Mazeroski homers to win World Series.
October 21, 1975: After three-run pinch home by Bernie Carbo ties game, Boston, on brink of eliminations, wins on Carlton Fisk homer in 12th.
1977–2002
October 25, 1986: Tied at the end of nine with Red Sox leading Mets three games to two, Boston scores two in top of tenth. Dave Henderson, hero of ALCS two weeks before, leads off with homer. Mets mount rally with two out and none on, staving off defeat with several two-strike hits. Mookie Wilson’s roller eludes first baseman Bill Buckner and Mets win, then defeat Boston in Game 7.
Runners-up:
October 12, 1986: One strike away from sending Angels to WS, Donnie Moore yields a three-run homer to Dave Henderson, who then wins the game with sac fly in 11th.
October 27, 1991: In Game 7, Jack Morris of Twins defeats Atlanta 1–0 in ten innings in WS matchup of two last-to-first clubs.
October 14, 1992: In deciding game of NLCS, Braves defeat Pirates 3–2, scoring all their runs in the ninth. Sid Bream chugs home with winning run after unlikely pinch hit by Francisco Cabrera.
September 21, 2001: Mike Piazza homer leads Mets over Braves in New York City’s first baseball game after 9/11.
2003–2020
October 27, 2011: In a game reminiscent of Game 6 of the 1986 WS, St. Louis trailed the Texas Rangers by two in the bottom of the ninth, facing elimination. With two outs in the ninth, David Freese tripled to score two and tie the game. In the 11th he homered to win the game and keep Cards’ hopes alive for a Game 7, which they won. (Tough to choose between this and the game that ended the Cubs’ 108-year-old curse; I was lucky to attend both, and the 1986 Game 6 game too.)
Runners-up:
October 16, 2003: Aaron Boone homer ends ALCS in extra innings of Game 7 as Yanks come back from four runs down to extend Bosox “curse.”
October 19, 2004: With the Schilling “bloody sock” game, Red Sox stay alive against Yanks despite having lost first three games of ALCS.
October 29, 2014: Madison Bumgarner, after two winning starts, pitches five innings of scoreless relief in Game 7 to secure SF Giants’ win over KC Royals in Game 7.
November 2, 2016: Cubs end century-old curse in ten innings despite yielding tying homer to Cleveland’s Rajai Davis.
Five Games was originally published in Our Game on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.