Unlikely Postseason Heroes: The baseball players you didn’t expect to make the headlines

 

In baseball, the postseason is the time for players to shine, to give everything they got.  More than likely, it’s the big stars who make the headlines but every so often we see the unlikely hero who steps up and gets the job done during the most important games of the season. 

Here are 10 unlikely heroes of the baseball postseason because they are perhaps a little light with the stick, unknown players, or in one case, have no business getting on the field because of injuries.

Ozzie Smith (St Louis Cardinals, 1985 NLCS)

No doubt Ozzie Smith, the defensive whiz and speedster, has had his moments offensively but what happened in the 1985 NLCS must have Ozzie_Smith_suitsurprised even the most die-hard Cardinal fan. With 13 career homeruns to  name, Ozzie made himself a St Louis folk hero with one swing of the bat.

In Game 5 winner-take-all, the Cards and the Dodgers were locked up in a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the ninth.  With one out and righty Tom Niedenfuer on the mound, Ozzie batted left.  Not having hit a homerun in his previous 3,009 left-handed at-bats, he did the impossible.  He hit a homerun.  His four-bagger to right won the game for the Cardinals 3-2 and the series 3-2. 

 

Bucky Dent (New York Yankees, 1978 one-game playoff)

This light hitting but slick fielding shortstop   Dent was never known for his bat.  His highest batting average was .274 in 1974 and for his career he hit .247.  As for power, well, there wasn’t much.  In his 12 year career, he hit forty homeruns with a career high of eight in 1977. 

But Bucky Dent will always have a special spot in every Yankee fan’s heart for what he did in one-game AL East playoff against the hated Boston Red Sox in 1978.  Down 2-0 in the seventh with two runners on, Dent hit a Mike Torrez pitch over the Green Monster to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead and sudden life.  The Yankees went on defeat the Red Sox 5-4. 

Dent wasn’t done.  He batted .417 in the World Series against the Dodgers garnering the World Series MVP award. 

 

Al Weis (New York Mets, 1969 World Series)

Among everyone on this list, Al Weis provides the widest disparity between his performance in the regular season and in the postseason.  In his 10 year 64topps-168 career, Al Weis was a .219 hitter with only seven homeruns.  For the 1969 Amazin’ Mets, his average was even worse at .215. 

But man, something change in him when it was time to face the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.  For the Series, Weis not only hit .455 (5 for 11) but also hit a key homerun in the final game.  His at-bat total may seem a bit low for 5 games but that’s because he also led the Mets in walks with four. 

Donn Clendenon won Series MVP rightfully so (he hit .357 with three homeruns) but no one can dispute Weis’ contribution in the ‘69 series.

 

Kirk Gibson (Los Angeles Dodgers, 1988 World Series)

Rather odd that an regular season MVP would be chosen as an “unlikely” hero.  But  it fits.  Gibson won the 1988 MVP award on the measure of his leadership of the Dodgers plus his good (but maybe not great) stats (.290, 25 HR).  But by the postseason came around, the full season had taken its toll on Gibby’s knees and he was in no shape to play. 

Kirk_Gibson The Dodger’s opponents were the feared Oakland A’s who had among others, Dennis Eckersley who had one of best seasons a reliever ever had.

Do I need to go on?  We’ve all seen it.  Bottom of the 12th.  Gibson vs. Eckersley.  Gibby practically limping to the plate on two hobbled knees.  And the look of pure victory on his face and the fist pumping as he rounds the bases.  And the ecstatic Tommy Lasorda jumping up and down.

The Dodgers won that game, of course.  That was the only at-bat Gibson would have all series.  I’ve talked to Dodger fans who tell me that even though it was only Game One, they knew the Series was won by LA right then and there. 

 

Jim Sundberg (Kansas City Royals, 1985 ALCS)

This defensive stalwart behind the plate wasn’t known for his offense prowess.  Sundberg was a mainstay behind the plate for the Rangers for 12 years (and one season for Milwaukee) but he never hit the postseason for them.  Once he got to KC in 1985, he got his Championship ring.  And in the 1985 ALCS when the Royals took on the Toronto Blue Jays, he made a difference.

In the seventh and deciding game,  Sunny practically won the game on his own.   He went 2 for 4 with a triple and four rbis to clinch the Series and take the Royals to the World Series. 

 

Jim Lindeman (St Louis Cardinals, 1987 NLCS)

Probably the least known player on this list, Jim Lindeman was a highly touted St Louis Cardinal prospect who came up in 1986.  He managed to stick around for nine seasons but only accumulated 736 at-bats and 21 homers in his entire career.  That doesn’t matter to Cardinals fans though.  He had his moment in the sun in the NLCS in 1987 against the San Francisco Giants. 

In Game 3 of the series, Lindeman came up to bat in the seventh inning down 4-3 with runners on second and third.  Lindy hit a homerun to right-center and drove in three runs to make it 6-4.  The Cards ending up beating the Giants 6-5 and defeated the Giants in the NLCS 4-3.

 

Billl Mazeroski (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1960 World Series)

Bill Mazeroski falls into same category as Bucky Dent.  Light-hitting, good fielding middle infielder.  Ok, maybe that’s not fair.  For his time, Maz may have provided more offense than first glance might suggest.  He hit .260 for his career in a pitching-rich era.  Also, Maz did manage to hit 138 homers in his career.

The 1960 World Series pitted the big bully, the empire, the dynasty, the New York Yankees against the upstart, underdog Pittsburgh Pirates.  It’s only appropriate that it end the way it did.

Any baseball buff knows about and has seen photos of Maz’ homerun off Yankee Bob Turley to win the the 1960 World Series.  After all these years, it’s still the only walk-off homerun that has won a World Series.

 

It’s been rated as one of the most exciting moments in baseball history.

 

Billy Hatcher (Cincinnati Reds, 1990 World Series)

Billy Hatcher was one of those outfielders from the 80s and 90s that produced just enough to stick around for 12 seasons.  He batted .264 for his career with 54 homeruns.

But boy, the Reds were sure happy to have him around for the 1990 World Series against the Oakland Athletics.  Hatcher just caught fire.  So much so that he broke many offensive records for a four game World Series.  Batting second in the lineup, Hatcher hit four doubles, four doubles and a triple in 12 at-bats.  Nine for Twelve!!

With Hatcher’s bat, Cincinnati went on to sweep the A’s,

 

Jim Beattie (New York Yankees, 1978 World Series)

I remember when Jim Beattie came up.  Oh how he was going to be the next Ron Guidry!  George Steinbrenner pinned his hopes on him and when he went 9-15 his first two years with the Yanks, he was little “disappointed”.

But Beattie came to the 1978 postseason prepared.  He won his game against KC, pitching 5 1/3 innings.  And in the World Series against the Dodgers, he really showed his stuff.  In the fifth game, he pitched a complete game win allowing just two runs to give the Yankees a 3-2 series edge. 

I’m sure the Boss’ private opinion didn’t change but outwardly he was glad of Beattie performance. 

 

David Eckstein (Anaheim Angels, 2002 World Series and St Louis Cardinals, 2006 World Series)

At 5’6”, shortstop David Eckstein has had the adjective “scrappy” placed before his name on scouting reports more than anyone.  And it’s probably deserved.  With his ability, comes some ability to win.

This postseason look comes in two parts.  In 2002, David Eckstein was part of the Anaheim Angels World Championship team.  Eck batted .310 in thedavid-eckstein-mvp-trophy-400a-103006 World Series with six runs scored.  All told he compiled 20 hits in the postseason in 2002. 

But it was in 2006 when Eckstein was recognized for his postseason work.  Then playing for the St Cardinals who were taking on the Detroit Tigers, Eckstein actually started out 1 for 11 in the first couple of games. 

Then he caught fire.  In the final three games, he went 7 for 11 and in Game 4 went 4 for 5 with 3 doubles.  For his performance, Eck was named World Series MVP for the Cardinals who defeated the Tigers 4 games to 1.

Honorable Mention:  Scott Brosius (1998 WS), Jose Vizcaino (2000 WS), Wayne Garrett (1969 NLCS and 1973 WS)

Who am I missing?

Dodgers beat the Yankees!… in attendance

2009 can be known as the year that the Dodgers toppled the Yankees… at least in attendance figures. 

For the first time in six years, the Yankees didn’t lead the majors in total yearly attendance.  They came in second.  The top honor goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers who had 3,761,661 go through the turnstiles at Dodger Stadium.

Number 3 shouldn’t be a big surprise.  Given their World Championship status and relatively large market, the Philadelphia Phillies grabbed that spot.

As for Chicago teams. the Cubs ranked sixth and the White Sox came in sixteenth in 2009.

Overall, Major League Baseball had a slight downturn in attendance from 2008 (6.6% less according to MLB.com) but with an attendance of 73,418,479, MLB is spinning it that this year is the fifth most attended year all time.  Yay, Baseball.

For those attendance stat geeks, The Biz of Baseball does a good job of breaking it all down for us.  Their pdf looking back at this past decade of MLB attendance team-by-team is quite detailed.

Surprise! Belle rings in with some opinions

What happened to the Cleveland Indians this year??

Former Indian slugger Albert Belle has an opinion… or three.

"Tell Larry Dolan I won’t be interviewing for the manager’s job," said one of the most feared and ill-tempered hitters in Indians history. "How can you manage when you’ve got no players?"

Manager Eric Wedge and his coaching staff were fired Wednesday by General Manager Mark Shapiro.

"This season isn’t the manager’s fault," Belle said. "They traded away all his players. You can’t win when you trade two Cy Young winners in CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee.”

I was going to make a joke about Belle not being any worse a manager than Ozzie Guillen but I figured that was too easy.

He might be more entertaining (though.it would be close).

Cricket match on the U of I campus

On my way back from Illini baseball’s Orange and Blue game on Saturday, I was treated to a cricket match on the University of Illinois campus.  Seeing as I already had my camera with me, I snapped some photos.

In the past, I’ve watched these guys practice on my way home from work on Fridays.  THIS, I gather, is what they’re practicing for.

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I know next to nothing about the game of cricket but I do enjoy watching the bowler in action as he bowls the ball toward the batsman.  Unlike baseball, HE gets a running start.

 

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A cricket player rests a rest as the teams took a break to let two elderly walk through the sidewalk the players were playing on.

GMs falling like dominoes

Here it comes… the inevitable dismissal of general managers who in the eyes of the powers-that-be, just couldn’t cut the mustard. 

Kevin Towers, general manager of the Padres was let go Friday.  He was in his 14th season with the team.

And in the American League, J.P. Ricciardi was dismissed by the Toronto Blue Jays after eight years as general manager. 

Perhaps this is just the New York Post stirring the rumor kettle but reports are the New York Mets are interested in either Towers or Ricciardi to work in the organization.  Omar Minaya has reportedly called both to schedule a meeting.

Cubs’ Ted Lilly puts his vote in for Reed Johnson

Does Reed Johnson deserve another year shot with the Cubs?

Ted Lilly thinks so.  And he’s not shy about it, either.

So after the Cubs’ 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh in the opener of a doubleheader, Lilly entered the postgame interview room wearing a T-shirt that read: "With Reed We Will Succeed."

"Hey, I believe it," Lilly said. "I definitely enjoy playing with the guy. Regardless of what happens with any of the players next year, our front office is going to do the best job they can.”

Word has it that Lilly, Johnson, Ryan Theriot, Ryan Dempster and the now traded Mark DeRosa are a pretty “tight” group and Lilly doesn’t want to see this group split up anymore than it is already.

True, Johnson had a down year this year but in 2008 it seemed every time I turned on the Cubs’ highlights, there was Reed Johnson either making a fantastic play in the field or getting a clutch hit. 

That all said, I think it’s time to get Sam Fuld a chance.  At 27, he’s not getting any younger.  It’s time to get him some more playing time.

World Series quiz

Mental Floss brings us their latest quiz titled simply, “How Many Rings Did They Win?”

The premise is simple,  Twelve players, without Googling, guess how many World Championship teams have they been on?

It’s worth taking just to see El Duque on the cover of Cigar Aficionado. 

As for me, I did better than the average quiz taker but not by much.  I guessed five right out of the 12. 

One hint, I totally under-estimated Jack Morris.

Mike Blowers gets the call right with Tuiasosopo homer

Mike Blowers, he’s quite the fortune teller.

Former MLB journeyman and current color guy for the Mariners, Blowers made an on-the-air prediction that Matt Tuiasosopo would be the Player of the Game last night.  He took further I’m sure just on a lark, and said that Tuiasosopo would hit his first major league homerun in his second at-bat… on a fastball… on a 3-1 count.. into the second deck. 

Here’s the coverage including the… well, check it out for yourself:

 

Pretty amazing Carnac work, I’d say.  I don’t think Tuiasosopo’s ball made it all the way to the second deck but Blowers’ prediction was pretty spot on otherwise.

Nationals will charge you less to watch them lose in 2010

With the season they had, this had to be coming.  The Washington Nationals have lowered their ticket prices for many of their seats. 

Here’s President Stan Kasten with the spin:

The Nationals are committed to providing a top-notch, affordable, fan experience for all guests.  We are pleased to lower prices on over 3,300 seats, including over 2,000 in the lower bowl, and will continue to offer season ticket plans for as little as $10 per game. We thank our fans for their continued support of the Washington Nationals as we continue to build towards a winning ballclub in the Nation’s Capital.”

More details at The Biz of Baseball