The World Series (8 page)

The Sox were facing the New York Mets, whose 108 wins in the regular season made them the obvious favorites. It came as a
huge surprise to the New York team, therefore, when they dropped the first
two games before their hometown fans. They roared back the next two, however, to tie the Series at two games apiece, only
to see the advantage swing back to the Sox when Boston won game five.

Game six was played in Shea Stadium before a sellout crowd. After nine innings, the score was tied 3–3. Then, at the top of
the tenth, leadoff batter Dave Henderson belted a home run to push the Red Sox up by one. Later that inning, slugger Wade
Boggs lambasted a double and then came home on a single from Marty Barrett.

With the score 5–3, the Mets came up to bat. When the first two Mets got out, it seemed the Red Sox were about to win their
first World Series in sixty-eight years.

But then pitcher Calvin Schiraldi gave up three straight singles. The Mets scored to draw within one. Schiraldi was pulled
and reliever Bob Stanley took the mound.

There were two outs, with runners on first and third. Mookie Wilson came up to bat. Stanley worked him to a full count. Then,
on the seventh pitch, disaster struck.

The pitch was wild! Kevin Mitchell took off from
third base and hit the dirt in front of home. Safe! The score was all tied up, and Ray Knight, the winning run, was standing
on second base.

Stanley faced Wilson again. Wilson fouled off the next two pitches. Then, on the tenth pitch, Wilson connected.

It was a grounder right toward first baseman Bill Buckner. Buckner moved in, ready to scoop up the ball for an easy out. But
somehow, unbelievably, the ball rolled
under
Buckner's glove, through his legs, and into the outfield!

The error proved costly, both for Boston and Buckner. As Buckner scrambled to retrieve the ball, Knight took off for home.
Safe! The Mets won the game, 6–5. And when New York took the seventh and final game the following day, Boston's hopes of “reversing
the Curse” were dashed once again. And Buckner was forever after the most hated player in Red Sox history.

On the flip side of that coin, of course, are the players who, in a single moment, become heroes. In 1988, it was Kirk Gibson
of the L.A. Dodgers who earned such a place in baseball history.

Even before Gibson made his mark in the 1988
World Series against the Oakland Athletics, he was already beloved by his fans. One week earlier, Gibson had homered in the
twelfth inning of game four of the National League Championship series, breaking the tie to win the game for the Dodgers.
The next game, he homered again, this time with two men on base. Those three runs made the difference in the game. The Dodgers
went on to win the NLCS, four games to three.

Unfortunately, the pennant race took its toll on Gibson. He suffered injuries to his right knee and a hamstring pull in his
left leg. The pain was so great that the star player could barely stand, let alone swing a bat or run the bases.

When the World Series began on October 15, Gibson was in the team training room, nursing his injuries. He cheered as his teammate,
Mickey Hatcher, slugged a two-run homer in the first inning — and then groaned as the lead slipped away on a grand-slam home
run by Jose Canseco the very next inning.

The Dodgers managed to shave that two-run advantage to one in the sixth, but going into the bottom of the ninth, they were
still behind by one. Closer Dennis Eckersley came in to pitch for the
Athletics and promptly retired the first two batters. Oakland was one out away from winning game one.

Then pinch hitter Mike Davis got on base with a walk. With the tying run on first, the Dodgers desperately needed a hit. But
they weren't likely to get it from the next scheduled batter, relief pitcher Alejandro Pena. They needed a pinch hitter, someone
who could deliver a powerful blast in a clutch. Dave Anderson was available, but manager Tommy Lasorda wasn't sure Anderson
was the player for the job.

He wanted Kirk Gibson. And he got him.

The crowd roared and stamped their feet as the burly outfielder, obviously in agony, hobbled to the plate. “You talk about
a roll of the dice,” said TV announcer Vin Scully. “This is it.”

Eckersley worked Gibson to a full count. Then, as Gibson readied himself for the next pitch, something a scout named Mel Didier
had told him jumped into his head. Eckersley, Didier had said, had a favorite pitch he liked to throw when he got a lefty
in a full count.

“I looked at Eckersley,” Gibson later recalled, “and I said, ‘Partner, as sure as I'm standing here breathing, you're going
to throw me that three-and-two backdoor slider.’”

Gibson called time and stepped out of the box. He took a moment to imagine the slider. Then he stepped back in and waited.

Eckersley went into his windup and threw. Sure enough, it was a slider!

Gibson swung.
Pow!

“A fly ball to deep right field!” yelled radio announcer Jack Buck. “This is gonna be a home run! Unbelievable! A home run
for Gibson! And the Dodgers have won the game, 5–4! I don't believe what I just saw! I don't believe what I just saw!”

Vin Scully was just as excited. “High fly ball hit into right field … she is … GONE!” the usually soft-spoken announcer bellowed.
“The impossible has happened!”

Gibson limped around the bases, grinning from ear to ear and pumping his fists. That blast was the only at bat he had all
Series, but it remains to this day one of the most memorable home runs of all baseball history. Perhaps buoyed by Gibson's
achievement, the Dodgers went on to win the championship, upsetting the A's four games to one.

CHAPTE NINE
1990s

The 1991 postseason saw two unlikely teams battling for the championship. The Minnesota Twins had had below .500 records for
much of the past decade; in 1990, they'd had one of their worst seasons ever, winning only 74 games while dropping 88. The
Atlanta Braves were even worse: they'd been in last place for three years running. But in 1991, both teams improved dramatically
and, amazingly, clinched spots in the World Series.

The Braves hadn't been to the championship since 1957, when they'd been Milwaukee's home team; the closest they'd come was
a division win in 1982. When they entered Minnesota's Metrodome for the start of the 88th World Series, they were eager to
erase decades of subpar seasons.

Of course, the Twins were equally eager for victory. And that first game, they got what they wanted. The final score of the
game was Twins 5, Braves 2.

The two clubs met in the Metrodome again the next day. The Braves' starting pitcher was Torn Glavine, who, after a shaky start
his rookie season in 1988, went on to win twenty games in 1991. For the Twins, it was Kevin Tapani on the mound. Tapani had
had six consecutive losses early in the 1991 season before pulling out of his slump to win eleven of his last thirteen games.

Tapani retired Atlanta's first three batters in order. Glavine, on the other hand, was hit by the first batter he faced, Dan
Gladden. Gladden's shallow fly ball should have been an easy out, but instead, he made it all the way to second when right
fielder David Justice and second baseman Mark Lemke collided going for the catch. Then Glavine walked Chuck Knoblauch, bringing
up heavy hitter Kirby Puckett with two men on.

With 15 home runs in 1991, Puckett was a very real threat. This time up, he swung so hard that he broke the bat! As the bat's
head and the ball both flew toward third base, Puckett flew toward first,
Knoblauch toward second, and Gladden toward third.

But third baseman Terry Pendleton was ready. He nabbed the ball and stepped on third to get Gladden out. Then he fired the
ball to first. Double play! Puckett returned to the dugout. Knoblauch, meanwhile, stood at second.

He didn't stay there for long. The Twins' designated hitter, Chili Davis, slammed a home run to left center field. Both Chuck
and Chili crossed home plate.

Atlanta got on the board the next inning with a single run. The score was still 2–1 when the Braves came up again in the top
of the third. Leadoff batter Rafael Belliard grounded out. Lonnie Smith made it to first on an error by third baseman Scott
Leius. He stayed there when Terry Pendleton flied out.

With two outs and Smith at first, Ron Gant singled to left. The hit was good enough for Smith to make it to third. Gant, meanwhile,
rounded first base and then, realizing that Tapani was about to pick him off with a throw to first, jumped back to the bag.
At that same moment, first baseman Kent Hrbek reached forward for the ball.

At more than 250 pounds, Hrbek was a big man with aspirations of becoming a professional wrestler someday. Gant weighed in
at just above 170. When the two met by the bag, Hrbek used his brawn to lift Gant by the leg as he tagged him!

With that strange out, the Braves' chances of tying the game that inning were over. But in the fifth inning, they scored their
second run to make it 2–2. That's how things stayed until the bottom of the eighth, when the Twins' rookie third baseman,
Scott Leius, sent Glavine's first pitch soaring over the left-field wall. The home run gave the Twins the lead, a lead they
kept until the game's end.

The championship moved to Atlanta for game three. It was the first-ever World Series game played in Fulton County Stadium,
and the Braves wanted to give their fans something to cheer about. But at first, the fans did nothing but groan. •

Atlanta's Steve Avery was on the mound. The 21-year-old had an 18–8 regular season record and a ninety-eight-mile-per-hour
fastball. At the start of the game, he also had a severe case of the jitters. He gave up a triple to leadoff batter Dan Gladden,
then
saw Gladden race home on a sacrifice fly. Two batters and it was already 1–0!

Fortunately for the Braves, Avery got the next two out. The following inning, he sent the batters down in order. He did the
same thing the next three innings. In all, Avery dispatched fifteen in a row, five of which were strikeouts! The Braves, meanwhile,
had chalked up four runs to make it a 4–1 ball game.

But by the eighth inning, the Twins tied it up, 4–4. The score stayed that way through the bottom of the ninth. In the tenth
inning, both teams threatened to push over the winning run, but failed. The score remained 4–4 through the eleventh, forcing
a twelfth.

Tension mounted as the Twins loaded the bases with two outs. A good hit now could win the game. But the chance of getting
that hit seemed slim. They were out of pinch hitters and were faced with batting either relief pitcher Mark Guthrie, who had
never batted in a game, or reliever Rick Aguilera, who had. They chose Aguilera.

Aguilera connected for a line drive to left. The runners took off at full speed — and then slowed to a halt. Ron Gant had
caught the ball for the third out.

The game had been going on for more than four hours. It finally ended in the bottom of the twelfth. With bases loaded, two
outs, Mark Lemke belted a single over short that was just strong enough to score David Justice. The Braves won the game, turning
what might have been a three-game deficit into a two-to-one Series.

Then, amazingly, two nights later, the Series stood at three to two! Game four had been another triumph for Mark Lemke, whose
ninth-inning triple scored the tying run and put him in position to make the winning run — which he made after tagging up
and beating a throw home.

By comparison, game five wasn't quite as exciting, unless you considered watching the home team completely destroy the visitors
14–5 exciting. Of course, after the close shaves of the last two games, that margin was just fine with the Braves and their
fans!

The two teams returned to Minnesota for game six, another extra-innings, edge-of-the-seat finish.

It was the bottom of the eleventh. The score had been tied at 3–3 for a grueling four-and-a-half innings. Both teams were
exhausted, but with the championship on the line, neither was about to give up.

Relief pitcher Charlie Leibrandt took the mound for the Braves. Kirby Puckett was in the batter's box. It was the third time
the two players had faced one another in the Series. In the two previous meetings, Puckett had struck out on Leibrandt's changeup.
He was determined not to be fooled by the same pitch again. When the same pitch came, Puckett blasted it far into center field.
Home run!