MLB.com is currently releasing a poll which has some of the most remarkable baseball games of the past 50 years. I'm presuming they don't go past 1962 because there's not enough video of those games, so this poll is really describing the greatest baseball game "when everyone had TVs" era. They include no-hitters, pitcher's duels, epic comebacks, terrifying collapses, and big plays that last forever in baseball lore. Unfortunately for San Francisco Giants fans, they don't include anything from their improbable 2010 World Series championship run, which Grant from McCovey Chronicles doesn't particularly care for.
Giants fans be warned. One of those losses has SOARED above all the others as the leading candidate for greatest game ever: the infamous Game 6 of the 2002 World Series, where San Francisco were eight outs away from their first World Championship, leading 5-0. Then Scott Spiezio hit a three run home run in the 7th, Darin Erstad led off the 8th with a home run, and Troy Glaus hit a go-ahead two RBI double to give the Anaheim Angels a 6-5 victory and tie the series at three. This game has 24% of all the votes (coming in a distant DISTANT second is Game 4 of the famous 2004 World Series between the Yankees and Red Sox, which is tracking at 4%). This screams "rigged". What's going on here??? Is Mike Scioscia that bored this offseason? Is the Rally Monkey a computer hacker in his spare time?
Check out other Bay Area candidates for greatest games ever, and vote here to see that it doesn't win!
- Bad: October 16th, 1962, when Willie McCovey's line drive was snagged by Bobby Richardson to preserve a 1-0 victory for the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series over the Giants.
- Good: July 2nd, 1963, when Giants pitcher Juan Marichal went 16 scoreless innings in a famous pitching duel with Milwaukee Braves left-hander Warren Spahn, and got one of the greatest pitching victories ever, winning 1-0.
- Good: October 3rd, 1982: Joe Morgan's three run homer lifted the Giants to a 5-3 victory over the hated Los Angeles Dodgers, eliminating them from the NL West race the day after the Dodgers eliminated the Giants.
- Bad: October 4th, 2003: J.T. Snow gets tagged out at home by Pudge Rodriguez for the final out, preserving a 7-6 victory for the Marlins in Game 4 of the NLDS and sending them to the NLCS.
As for the As? Well..
Bad: October 15th, 1988: Kirk Gibson. Dennis Eckersley. That is all.
That's it. That's the list.