BLS Roundtable: What’s your favorite September baseball memory?
The stakes are just so much higher during September baseball games. Pennant races are in full swing, and single games seem to matter so much. The playoffs may not start until October, but a number of September contests have that feel.
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Because of that, we’ve seen some pretty excellent moments during the final month of the regular season. Division races have been decided, players have broken records and teams have gone on lengthy win streaks in order to make a playoff push.
We here at The Stew love September baseball, and we’re going to prove it. This week, we’ve asked our experts to share their favorite September baseball memories.
There’s no doubt we missed out on some good ones, so feel free to share your favorite moments in the comments. With that said, let’s do this!
COLORADO GOES ON A WILD RUN
My favorite September memory is basically the entire month in the year 2007. That’s when the Colorado Rockies went historically crazy down the stretch, knocking off everyone in their path just to earn a spot in a wild-card tiebreaker game against the San Diego Padres. That game was played on Oct. 1, so it doesn’t qualify here, but the excitement and drama definitely set the stage for what is now the wild-card play-in game.
If there was one single moment that stood out, it was Todd Helton’s walk-off home run against the Dodgers on Sept. 18. It was such an incredible moment for Helton, who had been the Rockies heart and soul for a decade at that point. And it was that win that truly ignited their 21-1 run to the World Series. (Mark Townsend)
MARK MCGWIRE BREAKS THE RECORD
This moment stands out to me for a number of reasons. I can vividly remember watching McGwire’s at-bat, and going crazy when I realized he had broken one of baseball’s most prestigious records. Some will likely argue that the significance of the moment has faded since it happened in the steroid era, but that doesn’t take away my enjoyment of the clip.
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For one, there were whispers something weird was going on as all of this happened, but no one really cared at the time. Any rules against performance enhancing drugs were hardly enforced. Whatever was going on here was pretty much legal, or at least allowed by Major League Baseball.
Also, watch that video and tell me you don’t think it’s awesome. McGwire seems so excited to have broken the record, and every member of the Cubs congratulates him before he celebrates with his teammates. It’s an exception moment. McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought a lot of fans back to the game with their home run chase. I’m not going to let revisionist history ruin this moment for me. It was awesome at the time, and remains an excellent highlight. (Chris Cwik)
HATTEBERG HITS THE MONEY BALL
Of all the great September baseball moments, I had to pick one that was immortalized in movie form. Scott Hatteberg, the great “Moneyball” character, had a spectacular September moment that any Oakland Athletics fan (or any “Moneyball” fan, for that matter) remembers well. It was Sept. 4, 2002 and the A’s had an 11-0 lead after three innings. Oh, but this wasn’t in the bag.
The Kansas City Royals rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth. So the A’s sent up Hatteberg as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth and he launched a one-out, walk-off homer off Jason Grimsley. That’s great enough on it its own, but here’s the best part — it was the 20th consecutive win for those Moneyball A’s, who won 103 games but lost in the ALDS. But they’ll always have that Hatteberg homer. (Mike Oz)
AN EXCELLENT END TO THE SEASON
Good luck finding a better September baseball day than the final day of the 2011 season, because there isn’t one. The Red Sox and Rays went into Sept. 28, 2011 tied for the AL wild-card spot. In the NL, the Braves and Cardinals were tied for the wild-card too. That gave us four must-watch games, with all the games going on at the same time. Glorious.
Just a month earlier, it seemed like Tampa Bay and St. Louis’ postseason hopes were toast. The Cards had been 10 1/2-games out. The Rays trailed the Red Sox by nine games.
But here we were, on the last day of the season, and the playoffs were in their grasp.
What unfolded on this magical night could not have been scripted better by a big-shot Hollywood director. The Rays rallied from down 7-0 to beat the Yankees, the game clinched by a Evan Longoria walk-off home run, while the Red Sox blew a one run ninth inning lead and lost in Baltimore. The wild-card spot in the AL belonged to Tampa Bay.
The game between Atlanta and Philadelphia went to extras after the Phillies tied it in the ninth. The Braves needed to win after St. Louis handled their business, blasting the Astros 8-0. Well, the Braves lost in the 13th and the Cardinals, of course, went on to win the World Series. Sept. 28, 2011 will be remembered fondly by all baseball fans. Well, except maybe not the ones that cheer for the Red Sox and Braves. (Israel Fehr)
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