From his TV show of 11/4:
- 9. 1955 WS, Game 1. After dancing around off 3B trying to distract Whitey Ford, Jackie Robinson steals home in the 8th. Maybe the 1st-ever televised "statement play" in sports.
. - 8. In a regular season game in 1946, the Cardinal's Enos Slaughter was on 1B and got the run-and-hit sign from manager Eddie Dyer. The batter delivered a single, Slaughter rounded 3B, heading for home, but was held up by 3B coach Mike Gonzales After the game, Slaughter complained to manager Dyer, who told him if it happened again when he thought he could make it, he could run through the stop sign and the manager would back him up. It happened again in the bottom of the 8th of Game 7 of the '46 WS vs. the Red Sox. The game was tied, and with Slaughter on 1st with 2 out, he got the run-and-hit sign. The batter hit what looked like a single, and everybody but Slaughter thought Slaugher was stopping at 3B. Slaughter ran right through the stop sign at 3rd, and scored what proved to be the game-winning and WS-winning run. Olbermann says they should have seen it coming, since Slaughter ran every place he went on the field. When asked why he did that, Slaughter said it was because, as a 20-yr-old MiL player, he once walked back from the OF to the dugout, and his MiL manager said, "Hey kid, if you're tired I'll get you some help". After that, he ran everywhere. The MiL manager who said that to him a decade before the WS-winning play was Eddie Dyer.
. - 7. 1907 WS, Game 2 between Ty Cobb's Tigers and the Cubs. Bottom of the 1st, Cubs CF Jimmy Slagle walked, stole 2B, took 3rd when the throw went in the OF. Cubs 3B Bill Coughlin somehow got him with the hidden ball trick, precise details unknown. The only known case of the hidden ball trick working in the WS. The following year's Spalding Baseball Guide described it as "Coughlin working that ancient and decrepit trick"... ancient and decrepit by 1907.
. - 6. 1969 WS, Orioles vs. Mets, Game 5. Orioles up 3-0 entering bottom of the 6th. With Cleon Jones at bat, McNally bounced a ball to the plate. Jones claimed he was hit by it, the ump didn't buy it. Mets manager Gil Hodges showed up with a ball that had shoe polish on it. The ump changed his mind, gave Jones 1B, and Clendenon followed with a 2-run homer, bring the Mets to within 1 in a game that they won 5-2 to take the WS. Like most people in Baltimore, Earl Weaver wanted to know exactly which baseball that was, how did it get the shoe polish on it, and how do we know it was the same ball McNally threw, the same one the Mets ballboy picked up? There never was a good answer, but an unnamed Met player later said that after that, they kept a ball with shoe polish on it in home dugout, just in case. (The same thing helped decide the '57 WS.)
. - 5. 1972 WS, Oakland vs. Cincinnati. Game 3, Top 8th, Reds ahead 1-0. Reds batting, 1 out, runners on 2nd and 3rd. Rollie Fingers facing Johnny Bench. With the count full, manager Dick Williams comes out to the mound, meets with Fingers and the C, has high-drama scene on the mound, presumably ordering Fingers to walk Bench when he doesn't to. Fingers eventually nods glumly. The C returns to the plate, stands up with the target way outside for Ball 4. Rollie Fingers then throws Steeeeerike 3 right passed Bench to the C who had suddenly jumped back into his crouch. Bench even headed towards 1B before he realized he'd been had. The A's then gave an IBB to Tony Perez for real.
. - 4. 1960 WS, Pirates and Yankees. Game 7. Yankees down 9-8 in the 8th. Mantle on 1B, McDougal on 3B, Yogi at bat. Yogi grounded to Pirate 1B Rocky Nelson who stepped on the bag for out #2. Rather than heading for 2B, Mantle managed to fake out Nelson, dive around him, and get his hand around the tag onto 1B. While he was safe, what mattered was that he took enough time doing it that McDougal was able to score the tying run. (Nobody remembers because, just minutes later, Mazerosky led off the Pirates' 9th with his famous series-winning HR.)
. - 3. 1988 WS. Dodgers vs, A's. Kirk Gibson's famous limping, fist-pumping HR. Right before he hit it, he stepped out of the box and remembered the briefing that the Dodgers scout Mel Didier had given the team about Eckersly: "On a 3-2 count to a LH power hitter, you can be absolutely certain he will throw a back-door slider. He always does it". And he did. So, Gibson is famous for being smart enough to step out and remember what the scout told him was about to happen. (According to Gibson, all he had to do was remember that he was a LH power hitter ;-)
. - 2. 1991 WS, Braves vs. Twins, 7th game. Scoreless game in the 8th. Lonnie Smith singles. On 1B, he gets the run-and-hit sign, Pendleton doubles to the LF gap... but Smith fails to score. Why? because as Smith came into 2B, the Twins SS and 2B pantomined a DP, with 2B Knoblauch taking an imaginary throw from the OF and SS gagne waiting to take the throw and relay it to 1B. This caused Smith to abruptly stop just past 2B until he saw where the ball was, which took longer than just a second. He then had to stop at 3B, when he should have scored easily. The Braves failed to score, and the Twins won it 1-0 in the 10th. That fake DP won the Twins a ring.
. - 1. 2009 WS, Phillies vs. Yankees. This past Sunday. Johnny Damon singled vs. Lidge. He then exploited the Phillies shift on Teixieira which left nobody near 3B. Thus, when Damon tried to steal 2B, the guy trying to tag him at 2B was the 3B-man. Damon knew that if he made it and was safe at 2B, then if could get around Feliz, nobody was in position to stop him from taking 3B too. He came into 2B with a pop-up slide. When Feliz took the throw and let his momentum carry him just a step the wrong way, Damon was good to go. (You know how I feel about the MFY's, and I've never been a fan of Damon either. But you gotta admit that was a very smart play.)
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