The greatest baseball game I ever saw was the regular season game between the Yankees and the Orioles played on the day of Thurman Munson's funeral.
Munson wasn't a very gregarious guy and by all accounts, he really only had two baseball friends: Bobby Murcer and Lou Pinella and they had been pall bearers at the funeral.
I remember the Yankees were trailing 4-0 when Murcer came up with runners on first and third and two out. It was announced that Murcer was 0 for 23 for the entire season at driving in runners from third with two out. So the person you would most like to see get a big hit in this situation is, statistically, the least likely. Guess what happened? On the next pitch, Murcer hit a bullet into the right field bleachers for a three run homer.
The next batter gets on first, so who comes up with a chance to put the Yankees in the lead. Reggie "I'm the straw that stirs the drink" Jackson. The guy who had dumped on Yankee captain Munson after they got swept by Cincinnati in 1976. The guy who said the team needed a leader and that no team of his would ever get swept. The guy who, when asked what about Munson, said, "He can only stir it bad".
So you now have, in one person, the person who is the most likely to hit a home run in this situation, but the person you'd least like to see hit one.
We are told that Yankee pitcher Dennis Martinez has not given up a home run to a left handed batter in over two years. The immovable object versus the irresistible force! The most likely guy to hit a home run versus the least likely guy to give one up.
Then, it gets better. The announcer (Cossell?) says, would you care to guess the identity of the last left handed batter to homer off Martinez??? So Jackson is arguably the most likely person to hit a home run off this pitcher who is least likely to give one up.
As fate would have it, Martinez walked Jackson on five pitches, with the only strike being called. The bat never left his shoulder.
The next batter made an out to end the inning with the score still 4 to 3 and that was the way it stayed, until the bottom of the ninth inning, when they Yankees had runners on second and third with two out and who comes up to the plate? A guy who is 1 for 24 for the entire season at driving in runs from third base with two out, meaning he probably STILL was the least likely to deliver in that situation.
Murcer then hit a ringing double down the left field line to win the game. Actually, I don't remember if they scored it as a double because he might not have run it out to second base. (Update: I just confirmed that the scorer did not give him the double)
Someone told me that they have showed this game on Classic Sports Network, but if they did, I missed it.
