Five Great Moments in Baseball History

Baseball has a long tradition in the United States as being the “national pastime,” and though there is plenty of debate as to which sport — baseball or football — is the more popular, there is no argument that baseball has had a rich and colorful history and has provided a wealth of excitement over the years.  Many of us in the Baby Boomer generation grew up playing catch in the backyard or swinging a bat in the sandlot and then listening to the radio on hot, sultry, summer evenings as our favorite players and favorite teams fought it out.

The photo below is of Babe Ruth (right) and Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees.

Image via Wikipedia

Each generation has its set of baseball heroes.  Some of the familiar names include: Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb in the early days; Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams; Hank Aaron and Willie Mays; George Brett and Nolan Ryan; Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard; and many others, some who were role models both on and off the field.

Five moments that stand out in my mind involve these players: Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Don Larsen, Bobby Thompson, and Kirk Gibson.  You may have heard of all of them, or maybe you’ve only heard of two or three.  These five are a good cross sampling of baseball, players who have exhibited courage and persistence, players who have come through “in the clutch” with the huge game, players who have performed what seemed like miracles at the time.  There are other stars and other miracle moments, of course, but these five players have created moments that have always stood out in my mind.

Lou Gehrig was a sensational first baseman for the New York Yankees in the 1920s and 1930s, playing under the shadow of Babe Ruth his entire career.  Gehrig was a humble, quiet man who did his talking with a bat on the baseball field.  He was part of the famed “Murderers Row,” the nickname most widely given to the 1927 New York Yankees (in particular, the first six batters in the lineup).  Lou was nicknamed the Iron Horse and played in 2130 consecutive games, a feat unheard of at the time.  The streak has since been broken by Cal Ripken, Jr., but no one else has come even close to the mark.

Lou developed ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) in 1937 and died two years later.  His farewell speech at Yankee Stadium, two weeks after his illness was announced, is one of the most famous speeches in sports history.

Hank Aaron, who played for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves from 1954 through 1974 and then for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1975 and 1976, was a steady, rock solid player year in and year out.  He never hit more than 47 home runs in a season, but he hit 30 or more fifteen times.  He broke Babe Ruth’s record for most home runs in a career (finishing with 755), and he also holds the record for most RBIs (runs batted in) with 2297.

As Aaron drew near to Ruth’s record, there was a lot of tension.  Some fans felt that Ruth’s record was almost sacred — the Babe was a near immortal figure in the eyes of some — and they did not want to see the Babe’s record of 714 home runs fall.

I was an avid Hank Aaron fan during those years — I had seen Aaron hit a home run in Atlanta in 1972 — and I still have my scrapbook of all the articles I clipped and saved over the years.  Numerous articles point to the racial tension involved as Babe Ruth’s record reached the brink of falling.

The 1973 season ended with Hank only one home run away from Babe.  Then, on Hank’s first swing of the 1974 season, off of Jack Billingham of the Cincinnati Reds, Hank tied Babe with his 714th home run.  Four days later, on April 8th, off of Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hank took the record with a shot to left field.  Here it is on video.

In 1951, the New York Giants were tied with the Brooklyn Dodgers at the end of the regular season, and they had a three-game playoff to determine who would go to the World Series to face the Cleveland Indians.  In the bottom of the ninth, the Giants were losing the game 4-2, and there were two outs.  In one of the most dramatic at-bats ever, Bobby Thompson hit a home run to lift the Giants to a 5-4 win over the Dodgers.  The broadcaster’s excitement is almost as famous as the home run itself.

This home run by Bobby Thompson has been nicknamed “The Shot Heard Round the World.”

In 1956, the New York Yankees went to the World Series and faced the Brooklyn Dodgers.  A pitcher by the name of Don Larsen was the starter for the Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series.  Larsen did not have a stellar career.  He played for eight different teams in a fourteen year career, compiling a record of 81 wins and 91 losses.  Still,  Don Larsen brought his stuff to the 1956 World  Series and pitched the only perfect game to ever be thrown in World Series play (in fact, it is the only no-hitter in any post season play). It only goes to show that on any given day …

In the 1988 World Series, featuring the Oakland A’s against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the first game was nearly over when this dramatic hit occurred.  The Dodgers were losing 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth.  With two out and a runner on first base, slugger Kirk Gibson came in as a pinch hitter.  Gibson’s legs were in such bad shape that he wasn’t even introduced on the field for the opening introductions.  He hobbled to the batter’s box, and you can see what happened here.  This is a long clip (nine minutes), but the build up is well done.