September 19, 2007

The Last Play of (Almost) Every World Series : Sure it's just a spreadsheet, but if baseball was made for radio, some of these rows of numbers will either bring back heartache or joy.

read story | posted by yerfatma to Baseball at 8:59 AM CDT (15 comments total)

Things I noticed:

Joe Carter's '93 home run is missing (right next to the '94 non-series).
No Series ever ended with no outs in the inning.
Boss Schmidt is either very unlucky or very lucky.

posted by yerfatma at 9:01 AM CDT on September 19

The big yellow note at the top mentions:

This doesn't show the walk-off hits or the series that ended on baserunning plays

So it's missing all of these.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:28 AM CDT on September 19

I think no walk-offs are accounted for, as best as I can tell -- 1993 - Carter, 1997 - Edgar Renteria, 2001 - Luis Gonzalez. And those are just the three most recent. I guess this only covers final outs.

On edit -- what DJE said. I guess where there is only 1 out listed, the game ended on some sort of double play.

posted by holden at 9:30 AM CDT on September 19

So it's missing all of these.

Kind of crazy that there were no walk-offs between 1960 and 1991 and then 4 in 10 years (or 11 World Series).

posted by holden at 9:38 AM CDT on September 19

Damnit, I am stupid. I thought I saw some walk-offs in there and never noticed the note*. That explains why no game ever ended with no outs in the inning, World Series triple plays being fairly thin on the ground.

* This would be why my wife insists on managing the finances.

posted by yerfatma at 9:45 AM CDT on September 19

The list is also missing the 1926 Series, which ended when Babe Ruth was caught stealing second.

The list is comprised of some pretty impressive talent: about a dozen Hall of Famers, plus a whole bunch of borderline cases like Gil Hodges and Vada Pinson, and both of the most notorious HOF banishees -- Pete Rose and Joe Jackson.

And it's been almost 20 years since a starting pitcher was on the mound for the last out of the Series.

Nice post, yerfatma.

On edit: whoops. Missed Josh Beckett in '03. How's that for selective reading.

posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 9:46 AM CDT on September 19

World Series triple plays being fairly thin on the ground.

Thin on the ground, maybe, but thick and hearty on top.

And it's been almost 20 years since a starting pitcher was on the mound for the last out of the Series.

TCS: you're still technically right, since Beckett left the mound to field the last out of the '03 Series.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:51 AM CDT on September 19

Joe Carter's '93 home run is missing

Good.

posted by SummersEve at 11:44 AM CDT on September 19

One of the worst days of my life SummersEve. Cried like a baby, still do. Interesting article too, nice post.

posted by GoBirds at 4:47 PM CDT on September 19

Sorry to threadjack, but I wanted to share this excellent ode to the end of baseball at RFK and my account here is too fresh to post outright.

posted by exogenous at 9:42 AM CDT on September 20

Good read, exogenous. I'll probably be saying the same things about the SkyDome in 50 years.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:27 AM CDT on September 20

exogenous, in my opinion, that is exactly what makes a good front page post. Nice job.

posted by hawkguy at 12:19 PM CDT on September 20

Joe Carter has the distinction of being the only player in MLB history to be the last person to touch the baseball in consecutive World Series.

(1993 was the home run, but people sometimes forget he was playing first base in 1992 when Timlin fielded the Nixon bunt and threw him out.)

Edit: My bad. Yogi Berra caught the final strikeouts in 1949 and 1950.

posted by grum@work at 6:51 PM CDT on September 20

SummersEve & GoBirds: I hate to add insult to injury, but...

posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:36 AM CDT on September 25

Guy in a Blue Jays hat with boatloads of cash that he doesn't deserve? Not unlike Joe Carter's last few seasons.

posted by yerfatma at 11:26 AM CDT on September 25

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