Jamie Mottram's Sports Blog - www.misterirrelevant.com

Inspired by the new book Being There, I've asked sports bloggers/fans for their favorite in-person sporting moments. The contributions range from heartfelt and triumphant to absurd and mundane, and they're sure to put a smile on your face. Previous posts focused on college hoops, the NFL, WWF and NBA, while today's looks at baseball. Other sports are coming up, so stay tuned and send your own Out of the Basement, Onto the Game moment to dcsportsguy@aol.com. It's almost sure to get posted.

Josh Alper, The Feed

No game I've ever been to has compared to Game Five of the 2001 World Series and it's hard to imagine that any game ever could. The city was less than two months removed from September 11th and it felt like the only thing we had to steal our minds from the grueling digging and constant funerals was sports and, specifically, the Yankees run for a fourth straight World Series. I was in various bars formost of the big moments in the playoffs to that point - Jeter's remarkable play in the third game of the ALDS with the season on the line, the wins over Seattle to upset the 116-win juggernaut and the events of Game Four. When Tino Martinez tied the game with two out in the ninth with a home run and when Derek Jeter won it innings later I was in the middle of a jolly scrum knowing that I had tickets the next night and the spectre of elimination wouldn't hang overhead.
 
It didn't feel like such a gift for the first eight and a half innings of the game. Miguel Batista was outstanding for Arizona, holding the Yankees scoreless until he left the game with two out in the eighth inning, and outdueled a very game Mike Mussina who had given up just two solo homers. The top of the ninth ended with every fan in Yankee Stadium on their feet cheering Paul O'Neill, as everyone knew it would be his last game in the majors, although Byung-Hyun Kim, back a night after giving up the Martinez homer got two outs after Posada doubled. Scott Brosius was the batter and my hopes weren't high. He'd been popping out left and right all season and after the night before who could expect another dramatic game saving home run. That was just what we got, though, and it was bedlam. Strangers hugging strangers, grown men crying and four cops in full uniform in the stands next to me doing a lot of each. Soriano's game winning single in the 12th was academic, there was no way the Yankees were losing after that moment, and even though they lost the series I always seem to remember that moment, when Brosius homered as the last moment of the greatest baseball team I've ever seen, not the humpback single that truly ended the dynasty.

Phillips, Rumors and Rants

1998, Game 3, NLDS, Padres v. Astros, Jack Murphy Stadium (anyone who calls it Qualcomm should be publicly beaten).
 
The game was tense, the atmosphere thick. Kevin Brown, starting on short rest, walked 5 Astros but managed to hold them to just 1 run. In the bottom of the 7th, with the score tied at 1-1, Jim Leyritz took reliever Scott Elarton deep, with a go-ahead, solo homerun.
 
Entering the top of the 9th with a 2-1 lead, we all knew what was next, Trevor time. Trevor Hoffman, the greatest closer of all-time (shut up Yankees fans), has, by far, the best entrance. The anticipation, the quiet tension, then the slow drone of that first bell. It's always an incredible scene when "Hell's Bells" starts playing, but that time was even more special. The hair on the back of my neck was standing up, as nearly 70,000 fans made Mission Valley the loudest place on Earth that night. Hoffman started the closer entrance song trend, and I always have to hear from people about "Enter Sandman" and Mariano Rivera. But there is nothing - I repeat - nothing, like watching Trevor come in to a game in a save situation.
 
He proceeded to strike out the side, and the cheering escalated to roaring, which escalated to pandemonium, jubilation and euphoria. Being in the same place with that many people, all wishing, hoping and praying for the same thing is something I'll never forget. I still get chills thinking about it.

McD, Rumors and Rants

My favorite in-person moment is Tony Gwynn's last game of his career in 2001. It also happened to be the game that Ricky Henderson got his 3000th hit with a bloop double to left. Then got sent out to coach third base in the ninth and got one of the loudest standing ovations I've ever heard.

Adam Rank, The Hater Nation and FanHouse

Beating UNLV in a regular season game at Titan Gym (1993) was my favorite sports moment prior to Game 6 of the 2002 World Series. Angels fans have long suffered through horrible playoff defeats to Milwaukee in 1982 (Tommy John on three days rest) and the whole Donnie Moore deal in 1986. So you can only imagine what a joy it was to be on the other end when the team came back from a 5-run deficit to defeat the Giants. The Angels had lived on comebacks the entire season and while Scott Spiezio’s home run made it only 5-3, you knew that the Angels were going to find a way to win. Troy Glaus’ double in the eighth inning was the loudest I have ever heard a crowd, as if 40-years of suffering evaporated with one swing of the bat. The Angels, of course, rewarded Glaus and Spiezio by allowing them to leave as free agents so the fans can go back to suffering again.

David Pinto, Baseball Musings

A few years ago, when [Marlins catcher] Matt Treanor was with the Portland Sea Dogs, my friend Jim Storer and I were sitting in the front row at Dodd Stadium enjoying the contest between the Norwich Navigators and the the Sea Dogs. It was a perfect day for a game, sunny, but not too hot. At some point in the game, a pitch got by Treanor, and with no one on base, he ran to the wall where we were sitting to collect the ball. After picking it up, he looked at us and said, "Isn't it a great day for a ballgame?" then headed back to home plate.

Larry Brown, Larry Brown Sports and FanHouse

October 27, 2002.  My dad and I scraped to get tickets at the last moment.  My favorite team -- the Angels -- were in the World Series and it was do-or-die time.  Game 7.  No messing around.  Winner takes all, loser goes home.  Major thanks to Dusty Baker for starting Livan Hernandez in the game, as we were amongst the 44,598 on hand to witness the left-handed dominant Angels chase Livan early, while the Giants were left with southpaw Kirk Rueter sitting in the pen, not brought in until the damage was done.  And who did the damage you ask?  None other than my favorite player, Garret Anderson, who delivered the hit of the game, a bases clearing line-drive double down the right field line which gave the Angels a 4-1 lead -- the exact score by which they would win.  I can say with certainty that I will never experience a greater sports moment in-person than that.  How can you beat your favorite team in all of sports winning Game 7 of the World Series right in front of your eyes, with your favorite player in the sport delivering the crushing blow no less.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Evan, Nerdity

Read the whole story that ends with "marlins would win, bartman would interfere and soon i would be running around my living room, cheering another world series title with no one else home."

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• #4 Comment from beltwaylandlion 
  4/30/07 10:21 AM | Permalink

  One of my most memorable MLB moments was not a game. Back in February 2005 I went to the Poconos for some skiing. I had just bought my first Nats cap and was wearing it when I stopped at the Lehigh Valley Service Plaza. As I walked through, a family of three wearing Iggles garb all gave me a death stare. That was when it really hit me that D.C. finally had a ball club again.
• #3 Comment from zachls5 
  4/27/07 11:23 PM | Permalink

  way to mess up my relationship with Rank and Larry Brown!
  
  i'm a big Giants fan, and those two games are probably the worst sporting events (not in person though) of my life. i felt my heart rip apart.
• #2 Comment from gyoung858 
  4/27/07 6:18 PM | Permalink

  I would have to go with Trevor Hoffman's record-breaking save last September. Actually, that and Chris Young's near no-hitter on the same weekend were both tremendous experiences. The last game at Qualcomm Stadium, too. A whole bunch of ex-Padres came out onto the field after the game and took their respective positions, wearing the uniforms of their era. That was pretty awesome.
• #1 Comment from scareduck 
  4/27/07 4:08 PM | Permalink

  Without a doubt: <a href="http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2006/09/dodgers-draw-winning-hand-all-jacks.html">September 18, 2006</a>, at Dodger Stadium. With the division lead on the line and both sides' pitching suspect, down by four runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers rallied in a manner most improbable to tie the game at 9-9 --  on four consecutive home runs. Famously, the team had no power, and Padres' reliever Jon Adkins had given up only one home run all year. He gave up two on three pitches before the Padres called in closer Trevor Hoffman -- who got tagged for another pair of homers, a feat that hadn't been seen in baseball for over 40 years. The Dodgers threw closer Takashi Saito at the Padres, but as everyone else before him, he, too gave up the go-ahead run, but Rudy Seanez walked Kenny Lofton in the bottom of the tenth. Nomar. Homer. Game.
  
  And the Dodgers led the division by one-half game.