What are the five cruelest moments in post season baseball history? Watching Milwaukee Brewer third baseman Jerry Hairston’s fielding errors in the National League Championship Series brought this to mind. In chronological order here are arguably the five cruelest moments in post season baseball history:
1941 World Series: Mickey Owens passed ball
Down two games to one the Brooklyn Dodgers led the New York Yankees 4-3. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth of game four, Brooklyn catcher Mickey Owen let a third strike which would have ended the game get past him. This allowed New York’s Tommy Henrich to reach first base and keep the inning alive. The Yankees scored four runs, won the game 7-4 and wrapped up the series in game five.
1951 National League Playoff: Ralph Branca
Game three of the national league playoff between the Dodgers and New York Giants. With Brooklyn ahead 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth and two men on, pitcher Ralph Branca is called in to pitch to the Giants Bobby Thomson. Thomson hits a three run homer to win the game and the pennant and ‘The Shot Heard Round the World’ is baseball history.
1966 World Series: Willie Davis’ three errors
In game two of the 1966 World Series Los Angeles Dodger center fielder Willie Davis has a nightmare fifth inning against the Baltimore Orioles. In a scoreless pitching duel between hall of fame pitchers Sandy Koufax and Jim Palmer, Davis loses back to back fly balls in the sun and drops them both. After dropping the second he compounds the error with another by throwing wildly to third. Baltimore scores three unearned runs in the inning and wins the game 6-0 on their way to a four game sweep.
1986 World Series: Bill Buckner’s error
Baseball history was cruel to Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner in game six of the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets. The Red Sox were up three games to two and had blown a two run lead in the top of the tenth. With two outs and the winning run on second Buckner let a ground ball by the Mets Mookie Wilson go threw his legs which allowed Ray Knight to score the winning run. The Mets won game seven and the series.
2003 National League Championship Series: Steve Bartman
This is why the first chapter says people not players. The Chicago Cubs led the 2003 NLCS over the Florida Marlins three games to two. They were ahead in the eighth inning of game six 3-0. With two outs Cub fan Steve Bartman, among others, reached for a foul ball and interfered with Cub right fielder Moises Alou’s attempt to catch it. The ball fell into the stands and the inning continued. The Marlin’s went on to score eight runs and won the game 8-3. Florida won game seven and the series while the Cubs search for their first world championship since 1908 continued.
And Steve Bartman made the list of the five cruelest moments in post season baseball history.