My Favorite Baseball Moments
A few of my favorite baseball moments (one’s I watched as they happened), on the occasion of the Midsummer Classic, the baseball All-Star Game, held at Comerica Park in Detroit. It’s 1:00 in the morning; I’ve just gotten tomorrow’s massive and time-consuming Christian Carnival post organized (getting it up tomorrow will be another adventure), and I need a lead-in to my baseball-themed posts. Here goes:
Ozzie Smith is the most entertaining baseball player I have ever watched. And he was an excellent—not poor, not average, but excellent—offensive player as well, particularly the last 2/3 of his career. My favorite Ozzie moment, in fact, came when he was batting, not displaying his defensive wizardry. It’s the ninth inning of the NL Playoffs, 1985, and he’s in the box, staring down Tom Niedenfuer, the Dodgers’ closer, with the score tied in a pivotal game. Vin Scully, I believe, was calling the game, and he noted the fact that Ozzie, who had been a big leaguer since 1978, had never homered left-handed; all of the homers that the switch-hitting shortstop had ever hit (and they were not many) had come from the right side. I can still see Niedenfuer deliver the fastball, and Ozzie get around on it, pulling it down the right-field line with all the power he could muster, and the ball clearing the fence ever so slightly, to win the game for my beloved Cardinals. A thing of beauty.
April 8, 1974 was the date when, as a thirteen-year-old, rooting with all my might to see history made, Henry Louis Aaron strode to the plate to face Al Downing (another Dodger pitcher). Hammerin’ Hank’s next home run would place him past 
the immortal Babe Ruth, giving Aaron 715 for his career. Racism still colored everything in American society in 1974, and death threats had been phoned in to Hank as he’d gotten closer and closer to Ruth’s mark. But this man of steely resolve and quick wrists drove a 1-0 offering from Downing into the Atlanta bullpen, and history had been made in front of my young eyes. I wonder if they heard me yelling down in Atlanta?
As an avid Yankee hater, Luis Gonzalez’s Series-winning bloop single off Mariano Rivera was a wonderful moment. The D’Backs had no chance, no chance against one of the most rock-solid relievers of all-time, but a hit here and a walk (if memory serves) there, and Arizona had the winning run at third with less than two outs. 
Gonzalez didn’t exactly hit a scorching liner, but with a drawn-in Yankee infield trying to play for two, it was all that was needed—and all she wrote for the Bronx Bombers.
My favorite live moment wasn’t all that spectacular, but I’ll never forget it: I was in Busch Stadium, traveling through on my way moving back from Colorado to Virginia in 1987, and I forget who the Cardinals were playing (the Pirates?), but that’s not germane to the tale. 
All I remember is Jack Clark hitting a ball as hard as I think I have ever seen a ball hit; when it hit the left-field stands, it seemed like it was still going up. To say “he got all of it” is understatement; I didn’t think that a ball could be hit as hard as Jack did, and I’ll never forget it.
Finally, can anyone forget Carlton Fisk waving the ball “fair” in the 12th inning of the 6th game of the 1975 World Series, to send the Series to a decisive 7th game? 
The Red Sox lost it, of course…but what a moment in time, after a wonderful game. And the Sox finally, finally got the monkey off their backs, just last fall. I have no doubt that Carlton Fisk was celebrating like he had that home run so many years ago…
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
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8 Responses to “My Favorite Baseball Moments”
Writing to inquire as to why you are a Yankee hater? Just curious because I am too.
Yes, Ozzie Smith was very entertaining and received many well-deserved accolaides for his superior defensive prowess. The most underacknowledged SS (outside of Cleveland)? Omar Vizquel. Jack Clark hit a ball in Dodger stadium that did the same thing, It was still going strong when it reached the seats. I wasn’t there -I saw it on TV -remember when Saturday and Monday were the only days a person could see a basaball game on TV?He was an amazing hitter. The best in the majors for a few years.
Mark Merritt ~ Jul 13, 2005 at 12:00 pm
Because, Mark, the New York Yankees epitomize everything that is so dreadfully wrong with baseball today. That’s the nutshell. In a later post, at some point, I might elaborate. I’d root for Cuba against the Yankees. I’d root for al Qaeda against the Yankees. I’d root for the legions of hell itself against the Yankees, I do believe…heck, I might even root for the Dallas Cowboys against the Yankees!!!
Byron ~ Jul 13, 2005 at 1:44 pm
My own favorite has to be watching Cal Ripken circle Camden Yard after becoming ‘The Iron Man.’ I’ve never been much of a baseball fan, but that was one game I watched closely.
A close second was a few years later watching the Orioles and the Braves play at Turner Field — and watching Cal Ripken shell the Braves pitching.
Warren ~ Jul 13, 2005 at 2:37 pm
As a Cub fan, all I can say is that nothing beat Ernie Banks and his contagious attitude. Of course, most of Cubs fans best moments are the “almost there” moments, since we never have truly gotten over the hump since 1945. (My dad’s freshman year at college…)
Bob ~ Jul 13, 2005 at 4:10 pm
I remember Ernie Banks, in the twilight of his career, hitting a home run after unsuccessfully trying to bunt.
I’m as much of a Yankee hater as anyone, but that play that Derek Jeter made in the World Series when he cut off the throw coming in from right field as he was crossing the first base line and flipping it to the catcher is still pretty memorable.
I was in the very top of the upper deck of Arlington Stadium with a church group, when you could hear Nolan Ryan’s grunts as he threw a complete game with excellent stuff.
Douglas ~ Jul 13, 2005 at 9:44 pm
No, Douglas, I’ll have to take issue with one statement you make. I too saw Derek Jeter’s tremendous play, but I hate the Yankees so much that I’m not even willing to mention it in my list!
Byron ~ Jul 14, 2005 at 9:47 am
I remember a home run off the bat of Jack Clark landing two seats in front of me at old Three Rivers(late 80′s)….yeah, the cool part was the fact that we were sitting in the orange seats, five rows back in the left-field upper deck…..all i could do was stare as the ball got closer and closer, hit an empty orange seat, and fall to a lower deck….
Funny you should mention the 85 birds, the homer off the bat of the Wiz was the first memory I have of watching baseball with my dad. Vin Scully did call the game and will go down in my mind as the greatest baseball voice of my time…
I also remember watching drama of the 86′ playoffs and WS….Clemens, Ryan, Scott, Oil-Can boyd, the way the Sox made it into the series and how they lost it in games six and seven….I was only six but I remember watching buckner’s blunder from a couch in the Beck’s(old friends of ours) living room…
But by far my most vivid baseball memories came from the 92 NLCS…The Bucs falling behind two games to none, Tim Wakefield pulling out games three and six, Bob Walk keeping hope alive in game five, Doug Drabek going winless in three starts…and then Stan Balinda serving up an underhand delight to Francisco Cabrara(I could care less how you spell his name)…as Sid Bream limped home from second I remained on our living room couch stuned for hours….somehow I knew that it would be a long time before the Bucs would win again….let alone make the ALCS….
youngbyers ~ Jul 16, 2005 at 11:33 am