if you could see one baseball game.....

[gh]

Nice column by Jim Caple of ESPN. If you could time-machine to any game in history which would it be?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/83188 ... k-time-see

(I'd pick a game I actually had a ticket to, but gave away because I had a bad cold: the Giants/A's quake game that wasn't actually played)

[Conor Dary]

Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park! I remember that one. That would have been fun!

Also Opening Day at Wrigley Field in 1969, when Willie Smith hit a ninth inning homer to win the game and start a truly magical summer that ended sadly.

By the way, my father who is 102 actually went to the first All-Star Game in 1933.

[Mighty Favog]

All of my possible choices are from the Tigers' magical 1984 season.

A late-summer Sunday night game in Arlington: Detroit was down 5 runs with 2 out in the top of the ninth and won.

A mid-summer Monday night game in Toronto in which backup 1st baseman Dave Bergman went 13 pitches into an extra-inning at-bat that ended with a grand slam.

The fifth and final game of that years' World Series, provided that I could safely get home before the craziness started.

Two others that leap to mind for the "you had to be there" aspect of stunts gone wrong are Nickel Beer Night and Disco Destruction Night.

[no one]

sooo many but:

Oakland v LA, 1988 WS
Eckersly v Gibson
yard.

The back story truly makes this one of baseballs great 'moments'.

Would have been nice if it was game 7 but still

[dukehjsteve]

Easy. 1951, 3rd playoff game, Dodgers-Giants.

[Bob H]

Easy. 1951, 3rd playoff game, Dodgers-Giants.

I thought you were an old Dodger fan. I certainly was, and far from wanting to see it, that is the one game that I would erase from the history of the sport. Or if a time machine could put me in the stadium, I'd bring a bullhorn and shout "don't let Branca pitch to Thomson". (Maybe the dumbest call by a manager in the history of the game, but that's another discussion.) There's really no way in the world I'd ever want to sit through that game--it was bad enough watching the end of it on tv at the time and then, much later, reading Don DeLillo's Underworld and having all those horrible memories come back.

No, the game that I would want to see was the 1955 World Series, 7th game. Dodgers finally, finally, win a World Series.

[mcgato]

1991 World Series, game 6. Kirby Puckett put the team on his back.

[scottmitchell74]

That's a hard question, but I've thought about this many times. I always knew for me it would revolve around the 1927 Yankees and A's because of the Star Power.

Ruth
Gehrig
Foxx
Cobb
Lazzeri
Combs
Meusel
Eddie Collins
Urban Shocker
Zack Wheat
Rube Walberg
Lefty Grove
Al Simmons

Connie Mack

I'd choose May 31, 1927 because Ruth, Lazzeri and Foxx go deep and Cobb goes 3 for 4.

[Rog]

.... it would be the one where Charlie Brown hits a home run.

Sorry, I'm from the UK, that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge... I've heard of Whitey Ford and a couple of others, but that's it!

[Halfmiler2]

As a Mets fan, Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS probably tops the list followed by Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Mookie's at-bat which took about ten minutes is stlll incredible to watch.

Of course, the big dividing line is between games for which video survives and those for which it does not. For example, I have seen replays on television of the Mets in the 1969 World Series but apparently no video survives of the 1969 NLCS (the first NLCS) which was a great series - Hank Aaron even hit three homers in a losing cause. And the Mets very first game ever in 1962 was not even televised although some of the radio broadcast survives. Of course, MLB used to do a thirty minute film of World Series highlights, but other than Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956, I haven't seen a video of an entire (or almost entire) World Series game earlier than Game 7 of the 1965 Series. Thankfully, a few highlights such as the WIllie Mays catch in 1954 survive.

Some games that immediately come to mind that there is no video:

1. The first MLB night game which was in Cincy before WWII;
2. The Merkle game;
3. The Brooklyn 26-inning game (and the Mets 23, 24, and 25 inning games);
4. The game with Ruth's supposed called shot;
5. The all-star game in which Hubbell struck out six;
6. Harvey Haddix's perfect game for 12 innings;
7. Ken Johnson's losing no-hitter;
8. Ted Williams doubleheader when he clinched a .400 batting average.
9. My first MLB game at which I saw Stan Musial hit three home runs against the Mets.
10. Killebrew's walk-off homer that broke the Yankee dynasty in 1965.
11. The Satchel Paige comeback at age 62;
12. The games in which Bert Campenaris, Caesar Tovar and the Houston guy played all 9 positions.
13. The game with the midget pinch-hitter;

[Davidokun]

The first Major League Baseball game my father attended was Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. As he wrote in his program, "WOW".

I used to have a roommate who left Game 1 of the 1988 World Series early to beat the traffic. His father will never let him live it down.

I would choose Game 7 of the 1971 World Series. Roberto Clemente was my favorite ballplayer then, and remains my all-time favorite.

Thinking outside the box, I would like to attend all seven games of the 1919 World Series.

[dj]

Thinking outside the box, I would like to attend all seven games of the 1919 World Series.

Eight games played of a nine-game series.

[Davidokun]

Right you are, dj. One of four series that were best-of-nine, instead of the familiar best-of-seven:

• 1903
• 1919
• 1920
• 1921

[KDFINE]

I was about to come up with a list, and then I re-read the title of this post, asking for only one game.

I'd want to see the first baseball game. It was on my birthday. There were home runs by Campanella, Snider, Furillo and Musial. Newcombe was thrown out of the game (he wasn't even in it) for heckling the ump. Campy did a pretty good imitation of Robinson dancing off first base. And Jackie stole home. What more could a 9 year old want?

[dukehjsteve]

Easy. 1951, 3rd playoff game, Dodgers-Giants.

I thought you were an old Dodger fan. I certainly was, and far from wanting to see it, that is the one game that I would erase from the history of the sport. Or if a time machine could put me in the stadium, I'd bring a bullhorn and shout "don't let Branca pitch to Thomson". (Maybe the dumbest call by a manager in the history of the game, but that's another discussion.) There's really no way in the world I'd ever want to sit through that game--it was bad enough watching the end of it on tv at the time and then, much later, reading Don DeLillo's Underworld and having all those horrible memories come back.

Hilarious post, Bob H, I love it !
Sorry, my Dad was a BIG Giants fan, I was just a kid of 8. You might have seen my earlier post of how my Dad related how a fellow employee at Grumman was so PO'ed after Thomson's HR that he threw his portable radio out a 2nd floor window of his office. Maybe that was YOUR Dad !!

[Bob H]

Easy. 1951, 3rd playoff game, Dodgers-Giants.

I thought you were an old Dodger fan. I certainly was, and far from wanting to see it, that is the one game that I would erase from the history of the sport. Or if a time machine could put me in the stadium, I'd bring a bullhorn and shout "don't let Branca pitch to Thomson". (Maybe the dumbest call by a manager in the history of the game, but that's another discussion.) There's really no way in the world I'd ever want to sit through that game--it was bad enough watching the end of it on tv at the time and then, much later, reading Don DeLillo's Underworld and having all those horrible memories come back.

Hilarious post, Bob H, I love it !
Sorry, my Dad was a BIG Giants fan, I was just a kid of 8. You might have seen my earlier post of how my Dad related how a fellow employee at Grumman was so PO'ed after Thomson's HR that he threw his portable radio out a 2nd floor window of his office. Maybe that was YOUR Dad !!

No way. My dad grew up in Brooklyn, and I grew up 2 blocks from Ebbets Field. Being a Giants fan was not an option in my neighborhood.

[Master Po]

Lots of great options here -- most of what I would have suggested and many others I never considered but would love to have seen, now that I have been reminded of them. The only other historic game I can think of to add would be Jackie Robinson's first. I think I might choose that one.

In the realm of the merely extraordinary -- but not historic -- being a person who loves to watch great pitchers at work, I would be happy watching any great performance by any of the greats -- Seaver, Koufax, Feller on any day when they were at their best would be among my top choices.