In the Reds' part of that survey, I didn't see Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters so I mentioned that to Joe. Reading about it again, I see Vander Meer walked 3 in the first game and 8 in the second one. So they weren't totally dominant performances, but let's face it, no single pitcher is ever going to do that again. Not ever. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/featsjv.shtml
"The moment that turned the tide to winning the World Series" is almost always going to be my answer for "greatest". Most memorable? Most iconic? Most fun? The moment I replay in my head when I think of that team? Sometimes there were different answers, sometimes VERY different answers. Probably I should have just clicked on PASS more often than I did. "What would a true fan think"? I dunno, I'm not a "true fan" of most teams.
Interesting survey though. Makes it clear that the fans of a whole bunch of teams don't have one truly iconic "we won it all!" moment over the past 10-15 years. Thank you Howie Kendrick.
As an Angel fan, Joe, I'm kind of appalled. It's a bit rough to be ragged on all the time as that boring team that Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are being wasted on. We experience the weird, sharp edge between joy and pain on a regular basis. But I get it, we are that team.
But a two-run walkoff hit from Troy Glaus game 5 of the World Series? Game 5 was in San Francisco and the Angels got crushed, 16-4. Glaus hit his two-run double in the 8th inning of Game 6, the inning after Spiezio hit his home run. I know you're a busy man, and I love your work, but for a guy who works so hard to get the details right, that one hurts.
Thanks for including us in the survey. For myself, at 64, a baseball fan for virtually all of those years, when I take a survey like yours, I do not like to choose events that I didn't actually experience. So while I'm sure that Jackie Robinson may be the number 1 reason to love baseball, and Joe DiMaggio number 2, I had to vote for something else. I wasn't there, and I really couldn't know. Happy New Year, Joe and to all the readers! Can't wait for the book.
Loved taking the survey. Looking forward to buying your new book. I'm guessing that you will never write a laudatory history of baseball's greatest team.
"Formation of the Diamondback Franchise" is a pretty interesting choice – especially when combined with Randy Johnson hitting a bird in spring training. It's kind of surprising that a team that won a World Series has only two choices actually relating to its on-field performance.
Also – no love for the Dodgers winning in 1955 for the first time? And one of the Rangers' "greatest moments" is that fly ball bouncing off Jose Canseco's head? Lol.
Other than that, these are very good. There is kind of a heavy post-1970 bias, however.
Reading through this survey made it clear that I have a heavy "1980s" bias in my baseball answers. Any answer that comes before, I dunno, the ESPNs SportsCenter: it might be the "right" answer, but it's kind of a SAD answer, if you're a fan of that team. The best moment for your team is part of the almost-forgotten distant past? Ouch.
Not as bad as suggesting that "hitting a bird" should be a team highlight, but still: ouch.
You know, one reason why so many memorable moments are from the 80s and later is because we have ready access to them. Many famous moments in the pre-1947 era were only seen by a few – and even through the 1950s television coverage of baseball was extremely primitive. It does help to have SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight remind you of notable moments on a regular basis.
For the Nationals, no question Kendrick's Game7 homer was huge, but I think a bigger homer of his should be the greatest, because without it, they don't even get out of the NLDS. The Grand Slam in Game 5 of the NLDS in 2019 in extra innings, was the event that gave the team belief that they could win it all.
yeah, I wrote that one in too (and took Joe to task a little for not including it). I realize that for EVERYONE else but Royals fans the Pine Tar HR overshadows the one in the ALCS 3 years earlier, but for Royals fans they aren't even in the same ballpark (even though they were. :)
I (a Yankee fan) wrote this one in also. However seemingly overshadowed are Brett's three homers off Catfish Hunter in game three of the 1978 ALCS. The Royals lost the game so in retrospect it may not have been a great moment for the team, but it certainly was a great performance.
Not to mention Brett's three run homer in the eighth inning of game five of the 1976 ALCS, tying the game at 6 (and setting the stage for Chambliss's game winner an inning later). Agree though that the 1980 shot was the greatest moment of these.
Are you a Cardinals fan? That call had no bearing on the game. Balboni gets a base hit after Clark dropped the ball, and then the lead runner gets thrown out at third base on a bad bunt by Sundberg. Passed ball by Porter because he mixes up signals on a reliever he caught all year, and Iorg hits a brilliant dunker and that's the game.
As for the argument that the call rattled the team, if a team that won 101 games gets rattled by one call, they don't deserve the win the World Series.
But Cards were 97-0 that year with a 9th inning lead. That 1st hitter should have been a routine out. At that point the pitch selection and everything else changes to the subsequent hitters (including fielder positions etc). What happened for the remainder of that inning was entirely due to Denkingers call. Yes, the Cards unraveled the rest of the game and series but it all came about because of that call. It's easily the biggest moment in the 85 series.
Anyway, I already voted for Brett's 3 run shot off Gossage in 80 as the Royals greatest moment. That was when they slayed the dragon that was the Yankees and became the Royals of the 80s.
It’s ridiculous to say that one bad call changed that game and cost the cardinals the series. That’s exactly the kind of argument I hear from the whiny cardinals fans. They had a WHOLE game 7 too. And how did “defensive positions” prevent Clark from catching an easy pop-up? Bye-bye’s hit was dead center in the hole, and then we had an out, a passed ball and a walk until Iorg’s hit that no positioning could have stopped.
In the Reds' part of that survey, I didn't see Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters so I mentioned that to Joe. Reading about it again, I see Vander Meer walked 3 in the first game and 8 in the second one. So they weren't totally dominant performances, but let's face it, no single pitcher is ever going to do that again. Not ever. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/featsjv.shtml
For a team like the A's for example, can you choose a moment where they were in Philadelphia? (Or Kansas City, I guess)
Never mind, looking at the dodgers I guess you can
"The moment that turned the tide to winning the World Series" is almost always going to be my answer for "greatest". Most memorable? Most iconic? Most fun? The moment I replay in my head when I think of that team? Sometimes there were different answers, sometimes VERY different answers. Probably I should have just clicked on PASS more often than I did. "What would a true fan think"? I dunno, I'm not a "true fan" of most teams.
Interesting survey though. Makes it clear that the fans of a whole bunch of teams don't have one truly iconic "we won it all!" moment over the past 10-15 years. Thank you Howie Kendrick.
As an Angel fan, Joe, I'm kind of appalled. It's a bit rough to be ragged on all the time as that boring team that Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are being wasted on. We experience the weird, sharp edge between joy and pain on a regular basis. But I get it, we are that team.
But a two-run walkoff hit from Troy Glaus game 5 of the World Series? Game 5 was in San Francisco and the Angels got crushed, 16-4. Glaus hit his two-run double in the 8th inning of Game 6, the inning after Spiezio hit his home run. I know you're a busy man, and I love your work, but for a guy who works so hard to get the details right, that one hurts.
Thanks for including us in the survey. For myself, at 64, a baseball fan for virtually all of those years, when I take a survey like yours, I do not like to choose events that I didn't actually experience. So while I'm sure that Jackie Robinson may be the number 1 reason to love baseball, and Joe DiMaggio number 2, I had to vote for something else. I wasn't there, and I really couldn't know. Happy New Year, Joe and to all the readers! Can't wait for the book.
Loved taking the survey. Looking forward to buying your new book. I'm guessing that you will never write a laudatory history of baseball's greatest team.
"Formation of the Diamondback Franchise" is a pretty interesting choice – especially when combined with Randy Johnson hitting a bird in spring training. It's kind of surprising that a team that won a World Series has only two choices actually relating to its on-field performance.
Also – no love for the Dodgers winning in 1955 for the first time? And one of the Rangers' "greatest moments" is that fly ball bouncing off Jose Canseco's head? Lol.
Other than that, these are very good. There is kind of a heavy post-1970 bias, however.
Reading through this survey made it clear that I have a heavy "1980s" bias in my baseball answers. Any answer that comes before, I dunno, the ESPNs SportsCenter: it might be the "right" answer, but it's kind of a SAD answer, if you're a fan of that team. The best moment for your team is part of the almost-forgotten distant past? Ouch.
Not as bad as suggesting that "hitting a bird" should be a team highlight, but still: ouch.
You know, one reason why so many memorable moments are from the 80s and later is because we have ready access to them. Many famous moments in the pre-1947 era were only seen by a few – and even through the 1950s television coverage of baseball was extremely primitive. It does help to have SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight remind you of notable moments on a regular basis.
I suppose it depends if you view it as greatest moment, or greatest moment I remember or witnessed.
I agree. There was a lot of baseball happening prior to 1970.
For the Nationals, no question Kendrick's Game7 homer was huge, but I think a bigger homer of his should be the greatest, because without it, they don't even get out of the NLDS. The Grand Slam in Game 5 of the NLDS in 2019 in extra innings, was the event that gave the team belief that they could win it all.
Shocked he didn't include the Feehan/Brock collision/tag in Game 5 of the 1968 series for the Tigers moment.
I'm an Orioles fan, so I tried to jam as many 2011-2016 events into that little box
That was a fun exercise!
For the Royals it’s got to be Brett taking Gossage deep in the 1980 ALCS.
yeah, I wrote that one in too (and took Joe to task a little for not including it). I realize that for EVERYONE else but Royals fans the Pine Tar HR overshadows the one in the ALCS 3 years earlier, but for Royals fans they aren't even in the same ballpark (even though they were. :)
I (a Yankee fan) wrote this one in also. However seemingly overshadowed are Brett's three homers off Catfish Hunter in game three of the 1978 ALCS. The Royals lost the game so in retrospect it may not have been a great moment for the team, but it certainly was a great performance.
Not to mention Brett's three run homer in the eighth inning of game five of the 1976 ALCS, tying the game at 6 (and setting the stage for Chambliss's game winner an inning later). Agree though that the 1980 shot was the greatest moment of these.
George sure liked to hit at Yankee Stadium, didn't he?
As someone who had a career in public opinion polling, I have to object to the bias shown in the Mariners section.
Your description of Edgar Martinez’s hit clearly indicates what you feel is the greatest moment in Mariners history.
Of course that is the correct answer.
As a Yankees fan (Bronx born and played football where the new stadium stands, so roots run deep) I most definitely remember that hit
I agree, but I was shocked he didn't include Griffey Sr and Jr going deep back to back
As a Royals fan, I realize Salvy’s hit was so so important, but I still have to go with Game 6 in 1985.
In fact, Salvy’s hit was more important, but Dane’s hit is our greatest moment.
Pretty sure Don Denkinger's call was the greatest moment in game 6. It's one of the most infamous moments in baseball history.
Are you a Cardinals fan? That call had no bearing on the game. Balboni gets a base hit after Clark dropped the ball, and then the lead runner gets thrown out at third base on a bad bunt by Sundberg. Passed ball by Porter because he mixes up signals on a reliever he caught all year, and Iorg hits a brilliant dunker and that's the game.
As for the argument that the call rattled the team, if a team that won 101 games gets rattled by one call, they don't deserve the win the World Series.
I hate the Cardinals, I am a Phillies fan.
But Cards were 97-0 that year with a 9th inning lead. That 1st hitter should have been a routine out. At that point the pitch selection and everything else changes to the subsequent hitters (including fielder positions etc). What happened for the remainder of that inning was entirely due to Denkingers call. Yes, the Cards unraveled the rest of the game and series but it all came about because of that call. It's easily the biggest moment in the 85 series.
Anyway, I already voted for Brett's 3 run shot off Gossage in 80 as the Royals greatest moment. That was when they slayed the dragon that was the Yankees and became the Royals of the 80s.
Sorry. I was rooting for you guys this year
It’s ridiculous to say that one bad call changed that game and cost the cardinals the series. That’s exactly the kind of argument I hear from the whiny cardinals fans. They had a WHOLE game 7 too. And how did “defensive positions” prevent Clark from catching an easy pop-up? Bye-bye’s hit was dead center in the hole, and then we had an out, a passed ball and a walk until Iorg’s hit that no positioning could have stopped.
Nice try.
And I would argue George's HR in 1980 (not listed) was even greater, because it cleansed all the pain and suffering from the 1976-78 ALCSes.
I disagree, but I definitely think you could make a case for it. It’s top 3 for sure.
For the Braves: what about that one time Maddux got a borderline strike call on the outside corner to end the inning?
Amazed at how many of these iconic moments involved the Indians on the receiving end. Maybe they just stand out more to me.