1.
2011 St. Louis Cardinals season
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The St. Louis Cardinals 2011 season was the teams 130th season in St. Louis, Missouri, its 120th season in the National League, and its sixth season at Busch Stadium III. The Cardinals began their season at home against the San Diego Padres on March 31, following an 86–76 record, the team returned to postseason play in 2011 as the Wild Card team, after finishing second in the NL Central to the Milwaukee Brewers by six games. The Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in the Division Series and they defeated the Texas Rangers in the 2011 World Series in seven games. Cardinals co-owner, team treasurer, and member of the board of directors Andrew N, drew Baur died suddenly at his home at 66, in Gulf Stream, Florida on February 20,2011. On Oct 18,2010, manager Tony La Russa decided to return for his 16th season with the Cardinals after agreeing to terms for a new contract. Bullpen coach Marty Mason was not retained, but all the other returned with extended contracts. On November 2,2010, the team named a coach to replace Mason, Derek Lilliquist. Also announced that day, Greg Hauck was promoted to head athletic trainer, on Oct 6,2010, the Cardinals picked up the $16 million option on Albert Pujols. On November 30,2010, the Cardinals traded pitcher Blake Hawksworth for middle-infielder Ryan Theriot in a trade with Dodgers and they also signed free agent left-handed relief pitcher Brian Tallet. On December 12 the Cardinals cleared a space for Theriot at shortstop by trading incumbent shortstop Brendan Ryan to the Seattle Mariners for Class-A prospect Maikel Cleto, on December 4,2010, the Cardinals signed 34-year-old free agent Lance Berkman to a 1-year, $8 million deal. As a Cardinal in 2011, he hit 31 home runs and was named NL Comeback Player of the Year, on December 14,2010, the Cardinals signed free agent catcher Gerald Laird to a one-year contract. On January 15,2011, Albert Pujols, through his agent Dan Lozano, negotiations failed to produce a deal, and on February 16 Pujols suspended negotiations, citing an unwillingness to be distracted during the season, including Spring training. Pujols received $16 million in 2011 and $111 million over his previous eight seasons, Pujols had asked for a 10-year deal, worth up to $300 million, averaging $30 million per year. On January 21,2011, the Cardinals signed free agent backup infielder Nick Punto to a contract for $750,000. In a surprise announcement on February 4, the Cardinals signed former Cardinal Jim Edmonds to a contract. He hit 241 home runs as a Cardinal in his eight years and he needed seven home runs to reach 400. On February 18, Edmonds announced his retirement from baseball, citing the risk of permanent damage in his comeback from Achilles tendon surgery. On October 6,2010, the Cardinals picked up the option on LH relief specialist Trever Miller after he vested his option with his 45th appearance in 2010, and finished the season healthy
2.
Tony La Russa
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Anthony Tony La Russa, Jr. is an American professional baseball player, manager, and executive currently serving as chief baseball analyst and advisor for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is best known for his tenures as manager of the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and his MLB career has spanned from 1963 to the present. As a manager, La Russa guided his teams to three World Series titles, six championships and twelve division titles in 33 seasons. His 2,728 wins as a manager ranks third all-time in major league history, behind Connie Mack and John McGraw. As a player, La Russa made his league debut in 1963 and spent parts of five major league seasons with the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves. After a shoulder injury during the 1964–65 off-season, he played much of the remainder of his career in the leagues until retiring in 1977. Following his playing career, he earned a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University, La Russa was named manager of the White Sox in the middle of the 1979 season and guided the White Sox to an American League West division title four seasons later. He left Oakland following the 1995 season to manage the Cardinals, La Russa retired after winning the 2011 title and 33 seasons as a major league manager. Three months later, he accepted a position assisting fellow former manager, Joe Torre, in 2014, he became the Chief Baseball Officer for the Arizona Diamondbacks. On December 9,2013, he was elected to the Hall of Fame by the 16-member Veterans Committee. The induction ceremony was held at Cooperstown, New York, on July 27,2014, on August 16,2014, he was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum. La Russa was signed by the Kansas City Athletics as a middle infielder prior to the start of the 1962 season and he came up to the As the next season, making his debut on May 10,1963. In the following off-season, he suffered an injury while playing softball with friends. Over the next six seasons, La Russa spent most of his time in the minor leagues and he spent the entire 1970 season with the big club, and then late in 1971 the As traded him to the Atlanta Braves. His final big league playing stop was with the Chicago Cubs and he also spent time in the organizations of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, and St. Louis Cardinals. In 132 total games played he went 35-for-176, an average of.199. His 23 walks pushed his on-base percentage to.292 and he had 7 RBI and scored 15 runs. He made 63 appearances at second base,18 at shortstop, La Russa earned a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University College of Law in 1978 and was admitted to the Florida Bar on July 30,1980
3.
2011 Texas Rangers season
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The Texas Rangers’2011 season was the 51st season in the overall history of the franchise and the 40th since the team relocated to Arlington, Texas. At the season outset, the Rangers were the defending American League champions, despite playing during one of the hottest summers on record in Texas, the Rangers claimed their second consecutive Western division title and set franchise records for winning and home attendance. All five members of the day starting rotation would stay in the rotation for the entire year. C. J. Wilson tied for the lead in starts with 34 while Derek Holland tied for second in shutouts with four, tied for first in the American League. The Rangers won their second straight AL West title, and beat the Tampa Bay Rays in four games and they would go on to lose Game 7, 6-2. The biggest free agent pitcher of the 2011 market was Cliff Lee, according to major media markets, Lees most likely destination for 2011 was a return to Texas, or signing with the New York Yankees. Bob Simpson, an investor of Rangers Baseball Express which owns the Rangers, told media We’re going to go after Cliff Lee – hard. On November 3,2010, the Rangers declined to exercise their 2011 option on Vladimir Guerreros contract, Guerrero was a type A free agent but the Rangers would not receive draft pick compensation for Guerrero after he signed with the Baltimore Orioles. Scott Feldman underwent surgery to repair cartilage in his right knee. The rehab time for the surgery will prevent Feldman from returning to compete for a spot for the start of the season. Feldman was the Texas Rangers pitcher of the year in 2009 and opening day starter for 2010, for the second year in a row, the Rangers needed to fill the position of hitting coach after Clint Hurdle took the manager position with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bosley was a member of the As coaching staff during Washingtons time with the As, the Rangers signed two players in November, 34-year-old free agent Japanese pitcher Yoshinori Tateyama, a side-arm throwing relief pitcher, and catcher Yorvit Torrealba from the San Diego Padres. Torrealba was a type B free agent and did not cost the Rangers a draft pick for the signing, bengie Molina, the Rangers primary catcher in 2010, elected to retire. On December 26, the Rangers and pitcher Brandon Webb agreed to terms for a one-year contract, Webb, who was recovering from shoulder surgery, had not pitched in the majors since opening day of 2009. The Rangers biggest free agent move for the 2011 season would be the signing of third baseman Adrián Beltré, the six-year, $96 million deal would force incumbent veteran Michael Young into his fourth position with the Rangers. Although Young was hesitant to make another move, Young told the Rangers. With the signing of Beltre and move of Young, the Rangers did not continue to attempt to re-sign Guerrero, in late January the Rangers made their biggest trade of the offseason when long-time trade target Mike Napoli was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for relief pitcher Frank Francisco. Napoli became available to the Rangers after being sent to the Blue Jays with Juan Rivera just three days earlier in exchange for Vernon Wells, I asked for a trade because Ive been misled and manipulated and Im sick of it
4.
Ron Washington
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Ronald Ron Washington is a former Major League Baseball shortstop, and current third base coach for the Atlanta Braves. He is also the manager of the Texas Rangers whom he took to the World Series in 2010 and 2011. Prior to managing the Rangers, Washington coached in the New York Mets and he is one of only three MLB players, along with U L Washington and Frank White, who were products of the Royals Academy. Washington was signed by the Kansas City Royals on July 17,1970 and he spent the next ten seasons in the minor leagues with three different organizations. He earned a brief September callup with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977 hitting.368 and he would not return to the major league level until 1981 with the Minnesota Twins where he would remain until 1986. He then played one season each for the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians and he was a middle infielder for most of his career. On May 28,1988, while playing for the Indians, Washington broke up Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Odell Jones no-hit bid after 8, following his retirement as a player, Washington worked in the New York Mets organization for five years. After being hired as the Oakland Athletics first base coach in 1996 under his former Astros manager Art Howe, Washington then served as infield, in 2004, Chavez expressed his appreciation by giving Washington one of his Gold Glove trophies, signed Wash, not without you. Washington plays a significant role in the events of the book Moneyball, Washington is shown in a positive light for the way he trained Scott Hatteberg to field first base for the first time in his career. Washington is also, however, portrayed as too old-fashioned and traditional in his lack of acceptance of general manager Billy Beanes sabermetric strategies and he was portrayed in the film adaptation of the book by Brent Jennings. Washington parodied his character in Moneyball during a July 2014 Texas Rangers commercial in which he repeated the line Its incredibly hard. On November 6,2006, the Texas Rangers announced that Washington had accepted their offer to manage the team replacing Buck Showalter, at the beginning of the 2007 season, it was rumored that there was a rift between Washington and Rangers star Mark Teixeira. Reports also suggested tensions between Washington and catcher Gerald Laird, questioned about the rumors, Washington conceded that the pressure he put on Laird was a lot to put on a young kid. On March 17,2010, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reported that Washington tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season and has acknowledged using cocaine, in 2010, Washington became the second manager of the Rangers franchise to take his team to the postseason. On October 12,2010, Washington became the first manager in history to win a playoff series. Referring to Washington, second baseman Ian Kinsler said, I just love the way he never holds his emotion back and he hangs on every pitch, and its great to know that your manager is in every single pitch and cares that much. In 2009 his salary was about $750,000, on November 4,2010, Washington agreed to a two-year contract extension. On October 15,2011, Washington managed the Rangers to their second World Series in as many years, the Rangers eventually lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games, after twice being one strike away from the title in game 6
5.
World Series Most Valuable Player Award
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The award was first presented in 1955 as the SPORT Magazine Award, but is now decided during the final game of the Series by a committee of reporters and officials present at the game. The series follows a best-of-seven playoff format, and occurs after the Division Series and it is played by the winners of the National League Championship Series and the American League Championship Series. The most recent champions are the Chicago Cubs, who won in the 2016 World Series, pitchers have been named Series MVP twenty-seven times, four of them were relief pitchers. From 1987 until 1991, all of the World Series MVPs were pitchers, bobby Richardson of the 1960 New York Yankees is the only player in World Series history to be named MVP despite being on the losing team. Babe Ruth Award List of Major League Baseball awards Baseball awards#United States Johnny Podres won the award in 1955 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Podres, with nine wins and ten losses during the season, beat the Yankees twice in the series. Don Larsen won the 1956 World Series MVP after pitching the only no-hitter in World Series history, in the game of the series. Depending upon definitions, the first non-American to win the award was either Roberto Clemente in 1971 or Pedro Guerrero in 1981, willie Stargell won the 1979 World Series MVP at the age of 39, and is the oldest World Series MVP. In 1996, John Wetteland won the World Series MVP, setting a World Series record with four saves. Fourteen World Series MVPs were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Paul Molitor, Tom Glavine, Molitor is also the first designated hitter to win the World Series MVP. Hideki Matsui, the 2009 winner, batted in six runs in the game of the 2009 World Series. Matsui became the first Japanese-born player to win the award, as well as the first player to win it as a designated hitter. He is also the player named both a World Series and a Japan Series MVP. Three players have won the award twice, Sandy Koufax, Gibson, there have been two occasions on which multiple winners were awarded in the same World Series, Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero, and Steve Yeager in 1981, and Johnson and Schilling in 2001. The duo of Johnson and Schilling combined for all four of Arizonas wins in the 2001 World Series, twelve of the fifty-eight World Series MVPs have also won the MLB MVP, the Cy Young Award, or the LCS MVP in the same season. Koufax, Frank Robinson, Jackson, Stargell, and Mike Schmidt are the players to have won the MLB MVP. A total of six players won the Cy Young Award and the World Series MVP in the season, Bob Turley, Whitey Ford, Koufax, Bret Saberhagen, Orel Hershiser. Hershiser won the Cy Young Award, the LCS MVP and the World Series MVP in the same season
6.
David Freese
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David Richard Freese is an American professional baseball third baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. He began his MLB career with the St. Louis Cardinals and he also set an MLB postseason record of 21 runs batted in, earning the NLCS MVP Award and World Series MVP Award. In addition, Freese won the Babe Ruth Award, naming him the MVP of the 2011 MLB postseason, a star high school player, Freese declined a college baseball scholarship from the University of Missouri. Needing a break from baseball, he sat out his year of college before feeling a renewed urge to play the game. He transferred to St. Louis Community College–Meramec, a junior college, the San Diego Padres selected Freese in the ninth round of the 2006 MLB draft. The Cardinals acquired Freese before the 2008 season and he made his MLB debut on Opening Day 2009 due to an injury to starting third baseman Troy Glaus. Despite suffering his own injuries in the leagues and in his first two MLB seasons, Freese batted.297 with 10 home runs and 55 RBI during the Cardinals 2011 World Series championship season. The next season, he batted.293 with 20 home runs and was selected to his first MLB All-Star Game, Freese authored a 20-game hitting streak in 2013, but back injuries limited his effectiveness, and the Cardinals traded him to the Angels following the season. He played for the Angels for two seasons before signing with the Pirates in March 2016, born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Freese was raised in the Greater St. Louis area, in Wildwood, Missouri. He grew up a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and he graduated in 2001 from Lafayette High School in Wildwood. Freese recorded a Lafayette-record.533 batting average and 23 home runs during his senior season and he was considered to be the best shortstop in the state. As a senior in school, Freese was offered a scholarship to play college baseball for the University of Missouris baseball team. Feeling burned out, Freese decided to quit the sport, during the summer after his freshman year, Freese worked for the Rockwood School District maintenance department. When he visited Lafayette High School towards the end of the summer, Freese asked Tony Dattoli, the coach at St. Louis Community College–Meramec, for a roster spot. In one season at St. Louis Community College, Freese hit.396 with 41 runs batted in and 10 home runs and was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association All-America second team. Dattoli recommended Freese to Steve Kittrell, the coach of the Jaguars baseball team at the University of South Alabama. At South Alabama, opposing teams respected his ability, scouts told their pitchers. As a junior in 2005, Freese hit.373, with a.443 on-base percentage.525 slugging percentage and he was seventh in the Sun Belt Conference in average and led the school one year after Adam Lind had done so
7.
Jerry Layne
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Jerry Blake Layne is an umpire in Major League Baseball who has worked in the National League between 1989 and 1999, and throughout both major leagues since 2000. When Clark was fired midway through the 2001 season by MLB, in October 2005, he umpired in his first World Series. Layne was chosen as one of the umpires for the one-game Wild Card playoff between the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers on October 5,2012, in 2014, he was chosen as one of the three MLB umpire representatives for the Japan All-Star Series. On August 18,2006, Layne was the umpire for a game between the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins. In the 8th inning, he was struck by the barrel of a broken bat swung by the Marlins Hanley Ramírez, laynes injury delayed the game for 13 minutes, and he was carted off the field. X-rays were negative and Layne escaped serious injury, suffering only a bruised jaw. While serving as the umpire during a June 2012 game between the Minnesota Twins and the Cincinnati Reds, Layne was struck in the side of the head by a piece of Devin Mesoracos broken bat. Layne would leave the game, being replaced behind the plate by Bob Davidson, on April 19,2016, Layne injured his right leg after jumping and landing awkwardly while attempting to avoid being hit by a batted ball. On June 17,1997, Layne ejected Cincinnati Reds manager Ray Knight for arguing after Layne ruled that Cincinnatis Deion Sanders was out at third base, after he was thrown out, Knight kicked dirt on the base and then picked it up and hurled it to the ground. In August 2003, Layne ejected Kansas City Royals catcher Mike DiFelice after Layne ruled that Minnesota Twin Torii Hunter was safe in a play at the plate. Following his ejection, DiFelice threw a glove into the crowd, Layne ruled that Beltre was not touched by the ball and play continued, despite Beltre hopping around home plate as if in pain. Infrared replays showed that the ball appeared to have narrowly clipped Beltres foot, Layne inspected the ball after Rangers manager Ron Washington argued the call, however Layne did not see any scuff from Beltres shoe and upheld his original call. On October 28,2011, Layne was the umpire for Game 7 of the 2011 World Series. During this contest, baseballs computerized Pitch f/x system indicated Layne missed 17 ball/strike calls, with 14 of these calls benefiting the Cardinals and three benefiting the Rangers. Most notably, with St. Louis leading 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Molina took a 3-2 fastball from Scott Feldman for a called fourth ball, allowing a run to score as opposed to ending the inning had the pitch been called a strike. Pitch f/x indicates the pitch was located within the strike zone, list of Major League Baseball umpires Major league profile Retrosheet
8.
Greg Gibson (umpire)
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Gregory Allan Gibson is an umpire in Major League Baseball who has worked in the National League from 1997 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues since 2000. Throughout his career, he has worn the number 53 on his uniform, Gibson has worked two Wild Card Games, nine Division Series, four National League Championship Series, the 2011 World Series, and the 2008 All-Star Game. He has also officiated in two World Baseball Classics, Gibson was the home plate umpire for Randy Johnsons perfect game on May 18,2004, as well as Tim Wakefields 200th win. Before reaching the leagues, he umpired in the Appalachian League, Florida Instructional League, South Atlantic League, Florida State League, Eastern League. During the 2005 NLCS, a series of contested calls brought fans, for Gibsons part, he didnt see a ball hit off of Mark Grudzielaneks foot while he was still in the box, which would have been a foul ball. Instead, Grudzielanek grounded out to pitcher Roy Oswalt for the first out of the half of second inning. In the 2009 ALDS, Gibson was alleged to have ruled incorrectly on a baserunner coming into third base, in the 12th inning of a game between the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals on April 24,2010, Minnesota was leading 9–7 with two outs. Kansas Citys Willie Bloomquist came to bat with baserunner Scott Podsednik on first base, Bloomquist hit a ground ball to shortstop J. J. Hardy, who mishandled it before throwing the ball to second base, Podsednik appeared to be safe, but Gibson, the second-base umpire, ruled him out to end the game and give the Twins a 9-7 win. Royals manager Trey Hillman unsuccessfully disputed the call, on Tuesday, April 17,2012, while serving as home plate umpire, Gibson made a series of calls in a game between the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins that were not well received by fans. Gibsons demeanor was reported by media as antagonistic as the fray began with Span, then remained aggressive as he tossed Gardenhire with great animation. On August 15,2012, Gibson left a game between the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Cleveland Indians after he was slashed near the eye by Torii Hunter during a play at the plate. Hunters cleat kicked up after a slide to home plate. After his departure, minor league fill-in and first base umpire Manny Gonzalez assumed home plate umpiring duties as the worked in a three-person alignment for the remainder of the contest. On September 3,2008, Gibson was the plate umpire for MLBs first use of instant replay. Gibson was chosen as one of the umpires for the one-game Wild Card playoff between the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers on October 5,2012, Gibson was the home plate umpire for Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on October 18,2013. At the start of the game, a standoff developed between Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Scott Van Slyke and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly, both players remained on the field after the pregame ceremony, each waiting for the other to return to their respective dugout. Gibson ended the standoff by motioning both players back to their dugouts, with the Dodgers celebrating in their dugout after a Van Slyke victory
9.
Ron Kulpa
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Ronald Clarence Ron Kulpa is an umpire in Major League Baseball. Kulpas professional umpiring career began in 1992 and he advanced to the Pacific Coast League in 1998, when the umpiring staffs from the two leagues merged for the 2000 season, Kulpa began working in both leagues. He has worked several MLB Special Events, including the All-Star Game, Division Series, League Championship Series and he also officiated in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Kulpa was head-butted by Carl Everett of the Boston Red Sox in 2000 during an argument about the location of the boundary of the batters box. Kulpa later told a reporter after the game that he was aware Napoli had tagged Holliday. He did not ask for a second opinion, when the game ended, Kulpa reviewed the play on tape and admitted he should have called Holliday out. The Cardinals went on to win the game 16-7, and eventually won the Series in seven games, on August 12,2013, he ejected Rangers catcher A. J. Pierzynski for arguing a ball three call during pitcher Yu Darvishs bid for a game against the Houston Astros. The perfect game was broken up later on an ensuing ball four pitch to Astros batter Jonathan Villar. Had the pitch been ruled a ball, Ortiz would have walked in the game-tying run, Kulpa was the home plate umpire when Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter at Comerica Park vs. the Milwaukee Brewers on June 12,2007. Kulpa was the umpire for Henderson Álvarezs no-hitter on September 29,2013. Prior to pursuing umpiring, Kulpa attended Florissant Valley Community College before transferring to Missouri Baptist College. List of Major League Baseball umpires Major league profile Retrosheet Umpire Ejection Fantasy League Profile
10.
Ted Barrett
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Edward George Ted Barrett is an umpire in Major League Baseball. He joined the American Leagues staff in 1994, and has worked throughout both leagues since 2000. Barrett wore uniform number 12 while on the American League staff, then changed to 65 when the American, Barrett grew up in North Tonawanda, New York and Mountain View, California. He earned a degree in kinesiology at Cal State-Hayward in 1988, in college, he was captain of the football team. Prior to pursuing umpiring, he was an amateur boxer, played high school basketball for Vance Walberg, inventor of the dribble drive offense. His professional umpiring career began after he attended the Joe Brinkman Umpire School in 1989 and he made his major league debut in 1994. For the next five seasons, Barrett served as an umpire for vacationing or injured major league umpires. Barrett was one of the 25 umpires promoted in the wake of the Major League Umpires Associations mass-resignation strategy in July 1999 and his five years of experience made him one of the most experienced of the 25 umpires called up to fill the sudden vacancies. He has worked 8 Division Series in, eight Championship Series and he was promoted to the position of crew chief prior to the 2013 season. He was the plate umpire for David Cones perfect game for the New York Yankees against the Montreal Expos on July 18,1999. Barrett was behind the plate on August 7,2004 for Greg Madduxs 300th win, during a game between the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants on August 14,2007, Barrett ejected Atlanta manager Bobby Cox for arguing balls and strikes. The ejection was the 132nd of Coxs managerial career, breaking the league record previously held by John McGraw. Barrett was behind home plate at Progressive Field when Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ervin Santana threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians on July 27,2011 and he was at third base on April 21,2012 for Philip Humbers perfect game. Barrett was at first base for a combined no-hitter thrown by six Seattle Mariners pitchers against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 8,2012. Barrett was chosen as one of the umpires for the one-game Wild Card playoff between the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers on October 5,2012 and he also worked the 2013,2015 and 2016 AL wild card playoff games. Barrett was the plate umpire for game 6 of the 2016 National League Championship Series in which the Chicago Cubs won their first National League pennant since 1945. He is also involved with Christian ministry, and has earned a masters degree in Biblical Studies from Trinity College. In 2013, he earned his PhD in theology with an emphasis in Pastoral Ministry from Trinity Theological Seminary, list of Major League Baseball umpires Major league profile AdvoCare Nutritional Ministry web site Retrosheet
11.
Gary Cederstrom
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Gary L. Cederstrom is an umpire in Major League Baseball who has worked in the American League from 1989 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues since 2000. He has worn number 38 throughout his career, and was promoted to crew chief for the 2008 season and he has umpired in three World Series, as well as two All-Star Games, and in seven League Championship Series. He has also officiated in seven Division Series, Cederstrom was the third base umpire when Rickey Henderson stole third to break Lou Brocks career record. He was the first base umpire when Eddie Murray collected his 3000th hit and he was also the third base umpire when Derek Jeter got his 2, 721st career hit to tie Lou Gehrig for most hits as a Yankee. He was at second base when Jeter got his 3,000 career hit, Cederstrom was at third base for Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Matt Garzas no hitter against the Detroit Tigers on July 26,2010. Cederstrom was behind the plate on June 1,2012, when Johan Santana threw a no-hitter against St. Louis and he was the home plate umpire for Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. He was chosen as one of the umpires for the one-game Wild Card playoff between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals on October 5,2012 and he received a B. S. in Education from Minot State College, where he lettered in baseball. List of Major League Baseball umpires Major league profile Retrosheet
12.
2011 Detroit Tigers season
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The 2011 Detroit Tigers season was the teams 111th season. The season began on March 31 at New York against the Yankees, the Tigers honored the late Sparky Anderson during the season. The regular season concluded September 28 at home against the Cleveland Indians, the season saw the teams first eleven-game winning streak since 1968, and first nine-game winning streak since 1984 – both years in which the Tigers went on to win the World Series. The streak ended at 12 games on September 14 and it consisted of four consecutive three-game sweeps over their AL Central Division rivals. It was the Tigers longest winning streak since the 1934 team won 14 straight, on September 16, the Tigers clinched the AL Central Division title with a 3–1 win over the Oakland Athletics. It is their first AL Central title since they joined the division in 1998, and they became the first team of the season to qualify for the American League Division Series, and first team in either league to clinch their division. The Tigers clinched the division with 11 games left to play, Justin Verlander was named both American League Cy Young Award winner and AL Most Valuable Player for an outstanding season that saw him lead the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA. On October 6, the Tigers beat the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the ALDS, winning the series 3–2, and advancing to the American League Championship Series, which they lost to the Texas Rangers 4–2. On October 21, the Tigers re-signed third baseman Brandon Inge for two seasons with an option for a third. On November 8, the Tigers re-signed shortstop Jhonny Peralta for two seasons with an option for a third. On November 19, the Tigers signed relief pitcher Joaquín Benoit to a three-year contract, on November 24, the Tigers signed catcher/designated hitter Víctor Martínez to a four-year contract. On December 16, the Tigers re-signed outfielder Magglio Ordóñez to a one-year contract, on January 12, the Tigers re-signed outfielder Ryan Raburn to a two-year deal, avoiding arbitration. On January 14, the Tigers re-signed relief pitcher Joel Zumaya to a one-year contract, on January 18, the Tigers signed starting pitcher Brad Penny to a one-year deal. On February 7, the Tigers re-signed starting pitcher Phil Coke, on March 2, the Tigers re-signed relief pitcher Ryan Perry, catcher Alex Avila, utility man Don Kelly, and outfielders Brennan Boesch and Austin Jackson. On December 14, the Tigers released relief pitcher Alfredo Fígaro, on February 1, the Tigers released pitcher Jeremy Bonderman. Other losses include outfielder Johnny Damon and catcher Gerald Laird, both to free agency, on January 24, the Tigers traded starting pitcher Armando Galarraga to Arizona for pitchers Kevin Eichhorn and Ryan Robowski. On May 27, the Tigers traded infielder Scott Sizemore to Oakland for relief pitcher David Purcey, on July 20, the Tigers traded pitcher Antonio Cruz and catcher Julio Rodriguez to Kansas City for third baseman Wilson Betemit. On July 30, the Tigers traded pitchers Charlie Furbush and Chance Ruffin, outfielder Casper Wells, on August 15, the Tigers traded pitchers Cole Nelson and Lester Oliveros to Minnesota for outfielder Delmon Young
13.
List of World Series broadcasters
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The following is a list of national American television and radio networks and announcers that have broadcast World Series games over the years. It does include any announcers who may have appeared on radio broadcasts produced by the participating teams. Television coverage of the World Series began in 1947, since that time, seven different men have broadcast eight or more different World Series as a play-by-play or color commentator. They are Tim McCarver, Joe Buck, Mel Allen, Vin Scully, Curt Gowdy, Joe Garagiola, per the current broadcast agreement, the World Series will be televised by Fox through 2021. 2010 – For the second year, Series games had earlier start times in hopes of attracting younger viewers. First pitch was just before 8,00 p. m. EDT for Games 1–2, Game 4, however, started at 8,22 p. m. EDT to accommodate Foxs football coverage. Additionally, the American Forces Network and Canadian Forces Radio and Television carried the games to U. S. Fox Deportes carried the Series in Spanish on American cable and satellite TV. The overall national Nielsen rating for the five games was 8.4, the 2011 World Series was televised in the United States and Canada by Fox. Joe Buck called play-by-play on his 14th World Series for the network, dating back to 1996, while color analyst Tim McCarver handled his 22nd World Series since 1985. In the United States, Fox televised the 2012 World Series, with Joe Buck calling play-by-play in his 15th World Series, Ken Rosenthal also appeared on the Fox telecasts as a field reporter, with Erin Andrews and Chris Myers joining him for select games. Fox Deportes carried the Series in Spanish on American cable and satellite TV, on August 24, Tribune removed affiliate WTIC from Cablevision systems in Connecticut, causing viewers to miss Games 1 and 2 of the series. An agreement between Cablevision and Tribune was reached on October 26, the day before Game 3, according to Nielsen Media Research, the four-game series on Fox averaged a record-low 7.6 rating and 12 share. The previous low was an 8.4 rating for both the 2008 and the 2010 World Series, which each went five games, the 2013 World Series was Tim McCarvers final World Series as a broadcaster, as he announced that he would retire after the season. 2014 World Series – Fox Deportes offered a Spanish-language telecast of the series, with Pablo Alsina, Duaner Sánchez, the change also meant that the series only had to compete with the National Football League on one night instead of three. The 2014 World Series averaged an 8. 3/14 rating, making it the second-worst rated World Series in Major League Baseball history, the 2014 World Series set records for lowest-rated Games 1,4,5,6, and 7 in World Series history. The previous Game 7 in World Series history occurred in 2011, when the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers produced a 14.7 rating, a full 1.0 over 2014s Game 7. 2014 is the 5th consecutive year in which the World Series rating was under 10.0, Fox Deportes also aired the 2016 World Series and provided a Spanish-language simulcast over-the-air via Foxs SAP audio, with Carlos Álvarez and Duaner Sánchez announcing. Sportsnet in English and RDS in French televised the series in Canada, alain Usereau and former Montreal Expos player Marc Griffin handled the French-language telecast for RDS
14.
Fox Major League Baseball
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Fox Major League Baseball is a presentation of Major League Baseball games produced by Fox Sports, the sports division of the Fox Broadcasting Company. Baseball debuted on Fox on June 1,1996, on November 7,1995, Major League Baseball reached a television deal with Fox and NBC, allowing the former to obtain MLB game rights. Fox paid US$575 million for the contract, a fraction less of the amount of money that CBS had paid for the Major League Baseball television rights for the 1990–1993 seasons. Unlike the previous deal, The Baseball Network, Fox reverted to the format of televising regular season games on Saturday afternoons. Fox did, however, continue a format that The Baseball Network started by offering a selection of games based purely on a viewers region, Foxs approach has usually been to offer three regionalized telecasts. When Fox first began carrying baseball, it used the motto Same game, to promote the telecasts, which had previously been used to promote the networks National Football League coverage when it began in 1994. Foxs primary goal when it first began airing Major League Baseball games was to promote their weak prime time schedule, Fox Sports president Ed Goren said, Well use the World Series and League Championship Series to spur our shows. Like its predecessor NBC, Fox determined its Saturday schedule by which MLB franchise was playing a team one of the three largest television markets – New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. If there was a game which featured teams from two of three markets, that game would be aired on the network. In September 2000, Major League Baseball reached a six-year, US$2, the contract protected Major League Baseball in the event of a labor dispute. If some of the games were cancelled as a result of a strike or lockout, Major League Baseball would still be paid by the network, under the previous five-year contract, Fox paid $575 million for the Major League Baseball rights, while NBC only paid $400 million. The difference between the Fox and the NBC contracts was that the deal implicitly valued Foxs Saturday Game of the Week telecasts at less than $90 million for five years. Before NBC officially decided to part ways with Major League Baseball on September 26,2000, Fox would have had to pay million for the contract. With the exception of the absence from 1990 to 1993. Under the new deal, Fox would now pay an average of $417 million a year, CBS and ABC reportedly were not interested in buying the rights at the prices being offered by Major League Baseball. When asked about the new deal with Fox, Commissioner Bud Selig said and they have been a good partner and an innovative producer of our games. Fox had widely expected to renew the deal, but it was unclear what the network would be willing to air beyond the All-Star Game. The package was announced on October 17,2006
15.
Joe Buck
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Joseph Francis Joe Buck is an American sportscaster and the son of sportscaster Jack Buck. He has won numerous Sports Emmy Awards for his work with Fox Sports, including his roles as lead announcer for the networks National Football League. Since 1996, he has served as the announcer for the World Series, each year. Buck was born in St. Petersburg, Florida and raised in the St. Louis area and he began his broadcasting career in 1989 while he was an undergraduate at Indiana University Bloomington. Buck called play-by-play for the then-Louisville Redbirds, a minor league affiliate of the Cardinals, in 1991, he did reporting for St Louis CBS affiliate KMOV. Also, in 1991 Buck began broadcasting for the Cardinals on local television and KMOX Radio, in the 1992–93 season, he was the play-by-play voice for University of Missouri basketball broadcasts. Buck continued to call Cardinals games after being hired by Fox Sports, initially with his father on KMOX and later on FSN Midwest television. As his network duties increased, however, his local workload shrank and this marked the first time since 1960 that a member of the Buck family was not part of the teams broadcasting crew. In 1994, Buck was hired by Fox, and at the age of 25 became the youngest man ever to announce a regular slate of National Football League games on network television. In 1996, he was named Foxs lead play-by-play voice for Major League Baseball, teaming with Tim McCarver, who had previously worked with his father on CBS. That year, he became the youngest man to do a national broadcast for a World Series, surpassing Sean McDonough, McDonough had replaced Jack Buck as CBS lead baseball play-by-play man after he was fired in late 1991. On September 8,1998 Buck called Mark McGwires 62nd home run that broke Roger Maris single-season record, the game was nationally televised live in prime time on Fox. It was a rarity for a nationally televised regular season game to not be aired on cable since the end of the Monday/Thursday Night Baseball era on ABC in 1989. This was the phrase with which Jack Buck had famously called Kirby Pucketts home run off Braves pitcher Charlie Leibrandt which ended Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. The similarity of both the call and the situation resulted in mentions on national news broadcasts. Another notable Red Sox game in the ALCS was in 2013, the Red Sox were trailing 5–1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, with the bases loaded with David Ortiz at-bat. Ortiz hit a grand slam off Tigers closer Joaquín Benoit. His call, Hard hit into right, back at the wall, and then he calls, TIE GAME. as the ball flies over Torii Hunter, Buck is currently paired with John Smoltz as his color analyst, and Ken Rosenthal and Erin Andrews are the field reporters
16.
Tim McCarver
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James Timothy Tim McCarver is an American sportscaster and former professional baseball catcher. McCarver played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos and he appeared in the MLB All-Star Game in 1966 and 1967, and was the starting catcher for the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in 1964 and 1967. McCarver was the recipient of the 2012 Ford C, McCarver was born in Memphis, Tennessee. McCarver, following his years with Memphis Christian Brothers High School, was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959, playing with the Cardinals minor league teams of Keokuk and Rochester, McCarver reached the MLB level for the first time at the age of only 17. He spent the 1960,1961, and 1962 seasons shuttling between St. Louis and the league teams of Memphis, Charleston, and Atlanta. In 1963, he was called up to the majors for good, in 1964, his tiebreaking home run in the 10th inning won Game 5 of the World Series. In 1966, McCarver was named to the All-Star Team, scored the winning run in the 10th inning of that 1966 All-Star Game, in 1967, he finished second to teammate Orlando Cepeda for the National League Most Valuable Player award. McCarver was a member of two World Series championships during his time in St. Louis and he was the favorite catcher of the notoriously temperamental Bob Gibson, and fostered a relationship with young pitcher Steve Carlton that would keep him in the major leagues later in his career. After a trade to Philadelphia involving, among others, his teammate Curt Flood before the 1970 season, McCarver played for the Phillies, Expos, Red Sox, and another brief stint with the Cardinals. McCarvers career might have taken a different turn in 1975, when, according to Peter Gammons, McCarver, however, was released, and Johnson led the Red Sox to the 75 AL pennant. During his first stint with the Phillies, McCarver caught Rick Wises no-hitter on June 23,1971, at the end of the season, the Phillies traded Wise to the Cardinals for Steve Carlton, the deal reuniting McCarver with Carlton. During the 1972 season, the Phillies traded McCarver to the Montreal Expos where, on October 2, he caught the second of Bill Stonemans two career no-hitters. On July 4,1976, McCarver hit what is known as a Grand Slam Single when, after hitting a grand slam, he passed his teammate Garry Maddox on the basepath. While hosting the HBO special The Not-so-Great Moments in Sports, McCarver later claimed to have said to the umpire, I didnt pass him, asked how Maddox could have done that, McCarver replied, Sheer speed. The event was commemorated in the book The Baseball Hall of Shame 3 as Tim McCarvers Grand Sob, McCarver finished his career as the personal catcher for Steve Carlton for the Phillies in the late 1970s. Carlton preferred McCarver to Phillies regular Bob Boone and it was quipped that when Carlton and McCarver eventually died, they would be buried 60 feet,6 inches apart. He retired after the 1979 season to begin a broadcasting career, McCarver briefly returned to duty in September 1980, thus becoming one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to appear in Major League games in four different decades. He caught 121 shutouts during his career, ranking him 9th all-time among major league catchers, as a broadcaster, McCarver has enjoyed prominence as a color commentator on the network level
17.
Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio
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Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio is the brand name for exclusive play-by-play broadcast presentation of Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio. The coverage has most recently presented by DraftKings, previous presenting sponsors included Xerox, AutoZone, Excedrin, United States Postal Service. In 1998, ESPN Radio took over from CBS Radio as the official, national broadcaster for Major League Baseball. The networks contract with MLB currently runs through 2021, and as of 2006, the games include Opening Day, Sunday Night Baseball, Saturday Game of the Week, holiday games and September pennant race games. ESPN Radio holds exclusive rights to the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby. The postseason is a semi-exclusive arrangement, the participating teams flagship stations are allowed to air play-by-play using their own announcers and production. The national ESPN Radio feed may, however, be carried live on station in those markets as well. If affiliate stations on the radio networks wish to carry coverage of postseason games they must use the national feed. Since the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March 2006, the semi-finals, in addition to affiliate stations on AM/FM radio, ESPN Radios game broadcasts are carried as part of Sirius XM Radios MLB coverage. However, they are not included in the subscription Gameday Audio package on MLB. com with the exception of the All-Star Game, for which no other radio play-by-play feed is available. Since June 2011, the games can also be online at ESPN Radio. com and on mobile devices via ESPN Radios mobile app. They can also be heard on PlayStation and Xbox consoles via their respective iHeartRadio, previously, rights restrictions prevented ESPN Radio. com or other ESPN/Disney online ventures from live-streaming the games. While the games are sometimes unavailable on the ESPN Radio iPod Touch/iPhone app, in 1997, ESPN Radio outbid CBS Radio to become the exclusive national radio broadcaster of Major League Baseball beginning the following year. CBS Radio had been the radio broadcaster since 1976. In 2004, ESPN Radio extended the deal with a five-year, the agreement also added a weekly program devoted to baseball, which became The Baseball Show from 3 p. m. ET to 7 pm. ET on Sundays during the regular season. The program was hosted by John Seibel and Steve Phillips, as of 2011, the primary ESPN Radio crew for Sunday Night Baseball consists of play-by-play announcer Jon Sciambi and color analyst Chris Singleton. Singleton succeeds Dave Campbell, who was an analyst from 1999–2010, Campbell replaced Kevin Kennedy as analyst in 1999, after the latter had worked with Steiner in the networks inaugural season of coverage. Marc Kestecher currently serves as the primary Baseball Tonight studio host, as of 2014, Dan Shulman and Aaron Boone call the World Series and one of the two League Championship Series each year, while Sciambi and Singleton call the other LCS
18.
KMOX
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KMOX is an AM radio station broadcasting from St. Louis, Missouri. It is a 50, 000-watt clear channel station, which permits its nighttime signal to be heard in most of the central U. S. and into Mexico. KMOX operates as NewsRadio 1120 and refers to itself as The Voice of St. Louis, KMOX is affiliated with the CBS Radio Network and licensed to a CBS Corporation subsidiary, CBS Radio. KMOXs transmitter is located in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, the KMOX studio is located at 1220 Olive Street in the Park Pacific Building at Olive Street and Tucker Boulevard. CBS Radio also has studios and offices there for its two other St. Louis radio stations, KYKY and 102.5 KEZK-FM, for many years, KMOX broadcast using C-QUAM AM stereo, but stereo transmissions ended in the spring of 2000. The station now broadcasts an HD Radio signal, the Federal Communications Commission requires a digital license for HD broadcasting. KMOX, along with WSDZ, are responsible for the activation of the Greater St. Louis Emergency Alert System for hazardous weather, disaster declarations, KMOX was started in the early days of broadcasting by a group of businessmen incorporated as The Voice of St. Louis Inc. According to the official website, the KMOX call letters were assigned by the Federal Radio Commission. The stations owners had hoped to be assigned KVSL, for Voice of St. Louis, the owners also applied for KMO, but those call letters had been in use by KMO in Tacoma since 1922. KMOX signed on December 24,1925, the X was added because the starting date was Christmas Eve, or Xmas eve. Although a local legend states the call letters mean Kirkwood, Missouri On Xmas, in 1927, the station gave prominent coverage to the Charles Lindbergh flight across the Atlantic, in his plane, The Spirit of St. Louis. That same year, KMOX became one of the first 16 stations in the CBS network, two years later CBS bought KMOX, and began the process of getting approval to build a 50, 000-watt transmitter tower. When completed, it gave the station a signal that could be heard as far away as New Zealand. Its signal has been picked up in Scotland and South Africa, in 1933, KMOX covered the first post-Prohibition case of Budweiser beer leaving the Anheuser-Busch St. Louis brewery for the White House, a story carried nationally by CBS. During the 1930s and 1940s, KMOX was one of several St. Louis stations broadcasting Cardinals, KMOX lost broadcasting rights in 1948 when a new Cardinals radio network was formed by the team, but by the 1950s, it became the flagship station of that network. During the 1950s, the slogan was k-mocks, pronouncing the way the stations call letters are spelled. In 1955 Robert Hyland Jr became KMOXs general manager, a role he held for forty years. On February 29 of that year, Jack Buck hosted the first At Your Service program and that program, like the sports talk programs that soon followed, pioneered a format for radio heavily dependent on interviews, guest appearances, and calls from listeners
19.
KESN
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KESN is a Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas based sports talk radio station. It is owned by The Walt Disney Company as an ESPN Radio owned affiliate, beginning on October 8,2013, Cumulus Media took over operation of the station although Disney was still the owner. The stations studios are located in the Victory Park district in Dallas just north of downtown, from 1983-2000,103.3 FM for Dallas/Fort Worth was licensed to Commerce, Texas and held the call letters KEMM. The station operated a music format. KEMM went silent on September 28,2000, the city of license and tower were moved to Allen, Texas in 2001, and the station was re-launched on April 27,2001 as KESN with the new all sports format. Fourteen outlying stations were rearranged and relocated to make way for this frequency to move into DFW, among its most notable local programs was Galloway and Company, hosted by Randy Galloway until his retirement in October 2013. Previously, despite different owners and a merger of ABC Radio Networks to Citadel Broadcasting, KESN, WBAP-AM, in early 2006,103.3 ESPN welcomed WFAA-TV personality Dale Hansen, former Dallas Cowboys radio analyst and host on rival station KTCK, to the station. KTCK had become the Cowboys flagship station and many speculated that Hansen leaving KTCK for KESN was due to his criticism of the team, the official explanation, however, was that Hansens ratings did not justify his salary request. Beginning in the 2011 Major League Baseball season, KESN & KZMP acquired rights to broadcast all Texas Rangers baseball games for the four years. Its English broadcasts would air on KESN while the Spanish-language broadcasts would air on KZMP and these broadcasts were in addition to the Dallas Mavericks audio broadcasts that were already on KESN. Rangers games remained on KESN until the 2015 season, when the Rangers returned to KRLD, until mid-2011, KESN was broadcasting in HD Radio. With its HD2 signal simulcasting KZMP-AM and its HD3 substation broadcast an audio simulcast of ESPNews, for reasons unknown, the HD broadcasts were discontinued. On August 7,2013, it was announced that Cumulus Media, owner of KESNs rival KTCK1310 The Ticket, programming on both stations would remain the same. The took effect once Cumulus closed on the sale of FM station KTDK104.1 of Sanger to Whitley Media, Cumulus would remain the de facto owner of the station. Eventually, the License of KTDK104.1 was cancelled, since 2015, as result of the sale of WRDZ-FM to iHeartMedia, KESN is the only Disney/ABC owned station on FM. The station has two locally based, weekday shows, Steve Dennis & Mark Friedman, and The Afternoon Show with Tim Cowlishaw, KESN is the flagship station for the Dallas Mavericks radio network, and Texas Christian University football and mens basketball. Regular weekend shows include Inside Sports Medicine with TO Souryal,103.3 ESPN Gameday, Soccer Today, when not airing locally based programming, the stations airs national programming from ESPN Radio. That figure means that, as the show, while more total people may listen to KESN at various points throughout the day
20.
Orel Hershiser
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Orel Leonard Hershiser IV is an American former baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1983 to 2000. He later became a broadcast color analyst and a poker player. After playing baseball in school at Cherry Hill High School East and at Bowling Green State University. After several years in the leagues, he made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 1983. During his tenure with the team, Hershiser was a three-time All-Star, Hershisers most successful season came in 1988, when he set a major league record by pitching 59 consecutive innings without allowing a run. He helped lead the Dodgers to a championship in the 1988 World Series, and was named the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player and that season, he won the NL Cy Young Award and an NL Gold Glove Award. He later pitched in two more World Series and earned the American League Championship Series MVP Award, after 12 seasons with the Dodgers, Hershisher spent time with the Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, and New York Mets before returning to Los Angeles for his final season. After retirement as a player, he worked as a coach and team executive for the Texas Rangers before serving as a color analyst for ESPN. Known for his frame and fierce competitive spirit, Hershiser was nicknamed Bulldog by former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda. Hershiser was born in Buffalo, New York, to Orel Leonard Hershiser III, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan, when he was six and to Toronto, Canada, when he was 12. At age eight, Hershiser was the finisher in a national hit, run. Hershiser played in Little League Baseball until he was 12 and his father was a coach and league administrator and his mother ran the snackbar. During his familys time in Canada, he participated in ice hockey with the Don Mills Flyers in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and his family moved again and he attended Cherry Hill High School East in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He did not make the varsity team until his year as he spent his first year on the freshman team. He set the single-game strikeout record for his school in 1976 when he retired 15 batsmen in a game against Deptford. He also remains on the schools leader-boards in career winning percentage, strikeouts and he was an all-conference selection his senior year. Hershiser received only a partial scholarship from Bowling Green State University and he barely played his freshman year and was academically ineligible as sophomore. He left school and hitchhiked home, where his parents convinced him to return to school and he enrolled in summer school to bring his grades up and worked at his fathers paper company during the summer
21.
Bobby Valentine
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Robert John Valentine, nicknamed Bobby V, is a former American professional baseball player and manager. He is currently the director at Sacred Heart University. Valentine played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, California Angels, New York Mets and he managed the Texas Rangers, the New York Mets, and the Boston Red Sox of MLB, as well as the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball. Valentine has also served as the Director of Public Safety & Health for the city of Stamford, Connecticut, Valentine was born in Stamford, Connecticut, to Joseph and Grace Valentine. He attended USC where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him number five overall in the 1968 Major League Baseball draft. After winning the Pioneer Leagues MVP award with the Ogden Dodgers in 1968, though he never recorded a major league at-bat that season, he did score three runs as a pinch runner. Back in the Pacific Coast League for 1970, Valentine was again his leagues MVP after batting.340 with fourteen home runs for the Spokane Indians, led by Valentine and manager Tommy Lasorda, Spokane won the league championship over a legendary Hawaii Islanders powerhouse. Valentine made the Dodgers out of spring training in 1971, the following season, he managed to play in 119 games by playing many different positions—including shortstop, second base, third and all three outfield positions. He missed the remainder of the 1973 season and never regained his speed, in 1974, Valentine made 414 plate appearances in the utility role, the second most of his career, and batted.261 with three home runs. At the end of the 1975 season, he was traded to the San Diego Padres, Valentine only appeared in 66 games for the Padres when he was part of New Yorks infamous Midnight Massacre. Valentines role with the Mets became even more limited, and he was released in spring training,1979 and he signed with the Seattle Mariners shortly afterwards, and made his debut as a catcher that season. Following the season, he retired from baseball at 29 years of age, Valentine was serving as a member of the Mets coaching staff when he was tapped by the Texas Rangers to take over managing duties from Doug Rader 32 games into the 1985 season. He was not able to turn the fortunes around right away. The following season the Rangers finished second in the American League West with a record of 87–75, Valentine also finished second for AL Manager of the Year that year. Hopes were high in Arlington after the 1986 season, but his Rangers fell back into place the following two seasons. Unable to replicate his success, Valentine was fired by managing partner George W. Bush halfway through the 1992 season with a record of 45–41. Toby Harrah took over as manager, and led the Rangers to a 77–85 record and he finished his Rangers managerial career with a record of 581 wins and 605 losses with no post–season appearances. In 1989, while manager of the Rangers, Valentine worked as an on-the-field analyst for NBCs 1989 ALCS coverage alongside Bob Costas
22.
Mike Shannon
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Thomas Michael Mike Shannon is an American former Major League Baseball player and current radio sportscaster. Shannon is a broadcaster for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was raised in St. Louis, Missouri and played with the Cardinals during some of the teams most successful years, Shannon was the proprietor of Mike Shannons Steaks and Seafood in downtown St. Louis until the restaurant closed January 30,2016. He still has Mike Shannons Grill in Edwardsville, IL and at Lambert St. Louis Airport run by his grandson Justin VanMatre, Shannon was born and raised in south St. Louis at 7045 Winona Avenue. Mike was the 2nd oldest of six children of Thomas A. Shannon, Mike attended grade school at Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic School, and graduated from Christian Brothers College High School in 1957. While at CBC Mike was the Missouri High School Player of the Year in both football and basketball his senior year and he is the only athlete to win both awards in the same year. He attended the University of Missouri before leaving in 1958 to begin his baseball career after signing with Bing Devine. Shannon has commented that if players were paid better during his era, he probably would have stayed at Missouri. He believed himself a football player, and his former coach, Frank Broyles, commented that had he stayed in school. Shannon began his career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1962. In 1964, he became the regular right fielder, shifting to third base in 1967. Shannon played in three World Series for the Cardinals and he hit a game-tying two-run homer off Whitey Ford in the Game 1 of the 1964 World Series against the New York Yankees, which St. Louis won 9-5. One of his best years came in 1966 when he batted.288 in 137 games and he was named NL Player of the Month in July. He posted another excellent season in 1968, when he batted, in Game 3 of the 1967 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Shannon hit a key home run off Gary Bell. In Game 7 of the 1968 World Series against the Detroit Tigers, Shannon also hit the last home run in the original Busch Stadium in 1966 and the first one for the Cardinals in the second Busch Stadium. In 1970, he contracted nephritis, a disease, which ended his playing career. Shannon joined the Cardinals promotional staff in 1971, a later he moved to the teams radio booth. For almost three decades Shannon was paired with Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck on AM1120 KMOX, following Bucks death in 2002, he was named the teams lead radio voice, teaming with Joel Meyers, Wayne Hagin, and John Rooney
23.
John Rooney (sportscaster)
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John Rooney is an American sportscaster, currently best known for his role as a play-by-play announcer for radio broadcasts of Major League Baseballs St. Louis Cardinals. A Richmond, Missouri native, Rooney began his broadcast career in the 1970s, doing a number of assignments for various stations in Missouri. In 1980, he began calling play-by-play for the Oklahoma City 89ers and he broadcast for the Louisville Redbirds beginning in 1983. He also called Missouri Tigers mens basketball for years and did Chicago Bulls radio from 1989 to 1991. Rooney broadcast for the Minnesota Twins in the mid-1980s, in 1988, he joined the Chicago White Sox television crew, the following year, he switched to the teams radio booth, where he teamed up with Wayne Hagin and Ed Farmer. In September 2005, it was announced that Rooney would be leaving the White Sox radio crew after 18 years and his final broadcast with the team was Game 4 of the 2005 World Series, which ended in the White Sox first Series championship since 1917. The following season, he joined the Cardinals radio crew on KTRS, teaming with former player, the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series, so Rooney has the unusual distinction of having called successive championship seasons for different teams, a major league first. Rooney worked for CBS Radio from 1984 to 2003, nationally broadcasting various sports events including Major League Baseball, the National Football League, college football, and college basketball. He called Saturday baseball telecasts for Fox Sports from 1996 to 1998, in 2004, he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Rooney continues to work the occasional baseball broadcast for ESPN Radio, Rooney typically punctuates team victories with catchphrases, such as Thats a Cardinals/White Sox winner. His signature home run call is Its a goner
24.
Eric Nadel
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Eric Nadel is a sports announcer on radio broadcasts for the Texas Rangers baseball organization. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence for the 2014 season and he grew up in Brooklyn, New York, as a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and decided at a young age that he wanted to be a sports broadcaster. He developed his skills at Brown University announcing hockey and football games on the radio station. He had minor league hockey play-by-play stints in Muskegon, Oklahoma City, the Rangers hired Nadel in 1979, and he called games on television and radio in his first three seasons. Beginning in 1982, he began a 13-year run with Mark Holtz as the team on WBAP. Nadel became the lead radio voice when Holtz moved to television in 1995. Since then, he has broadcast on KRLD radio, among his most memorable calls was the 5000th strikeout of Nolan Ryans career on August 22,1989. Since becoming the primary voice for the Rangers he has worked alongside Brad Sham, Vince Cotroneo. Since July 2012, Nadel has been joined by Matt Hicks in the radio booth and his main home run call is That ball is history. The arrival of Rubén Sierra in Texas motivated Nadel to learn Spanish, Nadel is now a fluent Spanish speaker, having taken part in Spanish-language game broadcasts in a number of Latin American countries. He is also the author of several books, since 1985, Nadel has also produced and recorded A Page From Baseballs Past radio features that run on the Rangers radio network. He appeared as the Rangers radio announcer in the film The Rookie in 2002, in May 2006 Nadel announced that he has signed a lifetime contract with the Rangers, allowing him to continue on their broadcast team until he chooses to retire. He later said that he hopes to outlive his contract, at the conclusion of the 2008 season, Nadel joined a handful of broadcasters to call Major League Baseball games for 30 years, with the added distinction of calling all of them for one franchise. Eric is active in causes and was one of the founders of the first leash free dog park in the DFW Metroplex at White Rock Lake in Dallas. In 1991, Nadel was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame, on August 11,2012 Nadel became the 15th member inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame. On December 11,2013, Nadel was selected as the 2014 recipient of the Ford C, frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Nadel received the award at a ceremony in Doubleday Field on Saturday, in recognition of his achievements, Erics high school alma mater, Midwood High School at Brooklyn College, has created the Eric Nadel Memorial Award for Athletic Improvement and Character. It will be awarded annually to a student athlete
25.
2010 World Series
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The 2010 World Series was the 106th edition of Major League Baseballs championship series. The Giants won the series 4–1 to secure their first World Series championship since 1954, in their respective League Championship Series, the Rangers and the Giants eliminated the 2009 World Series teams—the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies—each in six games. The Rangers victory in the ALCS gave the franchise its first World Series appearance in its 50-year history, the Giants were the first National League champions to have home-field advantage since 2001, because the NL won the All-Star Game 3–1 on July 13. For the second year, Series games were scheduled for earlier start times in hope of attracting younger viewers. San Francisco landmarks, such as Coit Tower, the Ferry Building, an exclusive VIP party was held on the eve of the World Series at the California Academy of Sciences, most media were not allowed near the event. With three games slated in Arlington, this marked the 5th time the city hosted both a World Series game and the upcoming Super Bowl. The Rangers and their fans had a history of futility. Enfranchised in 1961 as the iteration of the Washington Senators. The team relocated to Arlington, Texas, for the 1972 season but failed to make the postseason for over 20 years. They went on to win three titles in 1996,1998, and 1999, but were eliminated by the New York Yankees in the ALDS each time. The Rangers last postseason appearance before 2010 was in 1999, heading into 2010, the Rangers were plagued with off-field issues. During spring training, manager Ron Washington admitted to prior cocaine use, in the offseason, Iván Rodríguez, Marlon Byrd, Omar Vizquel, and Andruw Jones all departed due to free agency. Kevin Millwood was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Chris Ray, the Rangers also traded two minor leaguers to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Jorge Cantú, and Joaquín Árias to the New York Mets in exchange for Jeff Francoeur. The Rangers spent most of the season in first place in the American League West and their.556 winning percentage was the lowest among all eight 2010 postseason teams. In the postseason, the Rangers faced the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, Game 5 was another decisive Rangers victory, as ace Cliff Lee stymied the Rays and the offense struck Rays ace David Price once again. This was the first postseason win in franchise history, additionally. In the ALCS, the Rangers faced the wild-card winning New York Yankees, the Yankees had swept the second-seeded Minnesota Twins in their ALDS. The Rangers held a 5–0 lead in Game 1, only to see the Yankees come back, however, the next three games were all blowouts, as the Rangers took a 3–1 series lead
26.
World Series
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The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League champion team and the National League champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a playoff. As the series is played in October, during the season in North America. As of 2016, the World Series has been contested 112 times, with the AL winning 64, the 2016 World Series took place between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs. Seven games were played, with the Cubs victorious after game seven, the final score was 8–7, the game went into extra innings after a tied score of 6–6. This was the third World Series won by the Cubs, as well as their first title since 1908, in the National League, the St. As of 2016, no team has won consecutive World Series championships since the New York Yankees in 1998,1999, all championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From 1884 to 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These series were disorganized in comparison to the modern World Series, the number of games played ranged from as few as three in 1884, to a high of fifteen in 1887. Both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game, the series was promoted and referred to as The Championship of the United States, Worlds Championship Series, or Worlds Series for short. In his book Krakatoa, The Day the World Exploded, August 27,1883, Simon Winchester mentions in passing that the World Series was named for the New York World newspaper, but this view is disputed. Until about 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on a basis with the post-19th-century series. After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903, following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions and this scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893—and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969—the pennant was awarded to the club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–1897, the league played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, in 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and these series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s Worlds Series matches had been
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2012 World Series
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The 2012 World Series was the 108th edition of Major League Baseballs championship series. The San Francisco Giants, the National League champions, won the playoff in a 4-game sweep over the American League champions Detroit Tigers. This marked the Giants seventh World Series title in history, their second in San Francisco. The Giants Pablo Sandoval, who in Game 1 tied a record by hitting three home runs in one World Series game, two off of Tigers ace Justin Verlander, was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. The Tigers entered Game 1 in San Francisco, six days after sweeping the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. In accordance with the standard since 2003, the outcome of the All-Star Game decided whether the American or National League would hold home field advantage in the World Series. The National League All-Star Team won the 2012 All-Star Game, played on July 10 in Kansas City, Missouri, representatives of both the Giants and the Tigers played key roles in the outcome. Giant players scored and/or drove in seven of the NL All-Star teams eight runs, the Giants finished the regular season atop the National League West with 94 wins and 68 losses, eight games ahead of the second place Los Angeles Dodgers. They defeated the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Division Series and they then defeated the defending 2011 World Series champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, in a seven-game series to capture the National League pennant. The manner in which the Giants defeated the Reds and then the Cardinals created some historical firsts, because of the addition of a wildcard game, the National League Division Series between the Giants and Reds began with two games in San Francisco. Cincinnati, who posted a better won-lost record than the Giants, the Giants lost the first two games at home in San Francisco, yet won the last three on the road. The Giants became the first major team to win three straight road games in a best-of-five playoff series after losing the first two games at home. In the second round of the playoffs, the National League Championship Series and this was the Giants twenty-second NL pennant overall, their fifth as the San Francisco Giants. Their World Series berth was their second in three years, San Franciscos notable preseason acquisitions were outfielders Melky Cabrera and Ángel Pagán. Cabrera set the Giants franchise record for hits in the month of May, with 51, on August 15, Major League Baseball meted a fifty-game suspension upon Cabrera for his use of a banned substance. At the time, his 159 hits led both leagues, his.346 batting average measured second in the NL, and he had received the 2012 All-Star Game MVP. The suspension expired after the NLDS, but the Giants opted not to add him to the teams NLCS or World Series rosters, All-Star Buster Posey finished the regular season with a.336 batting average to win the 2012 NL batting championship. In the World Series, he would go on to catch every inning, including complete game shutouts in Game 2 and he would homer in Game 4
28.
Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media
29.
American League
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The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League, is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a league based in the Great Lakes states. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season,25 years after the formation of the National League. At the end of season, the American League champion plays in the World Series against the National League champion. Through 2016, American League teams have won 64 of the 112 World Series played since 1903, the 2016 American League champions are the Cleveland Indians. The New York Yankees have won 40 American League titles, the most in the history, followed by the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics. Originally a minor league known as the Western League, the American League later developed into a major league after the American Association disbanded, in its early history, the Western League struggled until 1894, when Ban Johnson became the president of the league. Johnson led the Western League into major league status and soon became the president of the newly renamed American League, babe Ruth, noted as one of the most prolific hitters in Major League Baseball history, spent the majority of his career in the American League. The American League has one notable difference versus the National League, in 1902, the Milwaukee Brewers moved to St. Louis and were renamed the St. Louis Browns. In 1902, The Cleveland Bluebirds were also renamed the Cleveland Broncos, in 1903, the Broncos were renamed the Cleveland Naps. In 1915, the Naps were renamed the Cleveland Indians, in 1903, the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York and were renamed the New York Highlanders. In 1913, the Highlanders were renamed the New York Yankees, in 1904, the Chicago White Stockings were renamed the Chicago White Sox. In 1908, the Boston Americans were renamed the Boston Red Sox, in 1954, the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and were renamed as the Baltimore Orioles. In 1955, the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City and were renamed as the Kansas City Athletics, in 1961, the league expanded and added two teams as the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators, expanding the league to 10 teams. The original Senators team moved to Minneapolis/St, Paul in 1961 and were renamed as the Minnesota Twins. The Angels team name changed to the California Angels in 1966, then to the Anaheim Angels in 1997, the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots were added to the American League, expanding the league to 12 teams. In 1970, the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee and were renamed the Milwaukee Brewers, in 1972, the Washington Senators relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and were renamed the Texas Rangers. In 1977, the league expanded to fourteen teams, when the Seattle Mariners, in 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays was added to the American League and at the same time, the Milwaukee Brewers were switched to the National League, leaving the American League with 14 teams
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National League
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Both leagues currently have 15 teams. The two league champions of 1903 arranged to compete against each other in the inaugural World Series, after the 1904 champions failed to reach a similar agreement, the two leagues formalized the World Series as an arrangement between the leagues. National League teams have won 48 of the 112 World Series contested from 1903 to 2016, the 2016 National League champions are the Chicago Cubs. By 1875, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was dangerously weak, additionally, Hulbert had a problem—five of his star players were threatened with expulsion from the NAPBBP because Hulbert had signed them to his club using what were considered questionable means. Hulbert had a vested interest in creating his own league. After recruiting St. Louis privately, four western clubs met in Louisville, Kentucky, Boston Red Stockings, the dominant team in the N. A. Hartford Dark Blues from the N. A. Mutual of New York from the N. A. St. Louis Brown Stockings from the N. A, the only strong club from 1875 excluded in 1876 was a second one in Philadelphia, often called the White Stockings or Phillies. The first game in National League history was played on April 22,1876, at Philadelphias Jefferson Street Grounds, 25th & Jefferson, the new leagues authority was tested after the first season. The National League operated with six clubs during 1877 and 1878, over the next several years, various teams joined and left the struggling league. By 1880, six of the eight members had folded. The two remaining original NL franchises, Boston and Chicago, remain in operation today as the Atlanta Braves, in 1883 the New York Gothams and Philadelphia Phillies began National League play. Both teams remain in the NL today, the Phillies in their original city, the NL encountered its first strong rival organization when the American Association began play in 1882. The A. A. played in cities where the NL did not have teams, offered Sunday games and alcoholic beverages in locales where permitted, the National League and the American Association participated in a version of the World Series seven times during their ten-year coexistence. These contests were less organized than the modern Series, lasting as few as three games and as many as fifteen, with two Series ending in disputed ties, the NL won four times and the A. A. only once, in 1886. Starting with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1887, the National League began to raid the American Association for franchises to replace NL teams that folded and this undercut the stability of the A. A. Other new leagues that rose to compete with the National League were the Union Association, the Union Association was established in 1884 and folded after playing only one season, its league champion St. Louis Maroons joining the NL. The NL suffered many defections of star players to the Players League, the Brooklyn, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New York franchises of the NL absorbed their Players League counterparts. The labor strife of 1890 hastened the downfall of the American Association, after the 1891 season, the A. A. disbanded and merged with the NL, which became known legally for the next decade as the National League and American Association
31.
2006 World Series
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The 2006 World Series, the 102nd edition of Major League Baseballs championship series, began on October 21 and ended on October 27. It matched the American League champions Detroit Tigers against the National League champions St. Louis Cardinals, the Cardinals won the Series in five games, taking Games one, three, four, and five. This was the third Series meeting between the Tigers and the Cardinals, the first in 38 years, the Cardinals won the first in 1934, and the Tigers won the 2nd in 1968, each went the full seven games. The 1968 World Series was the last before divisional play and a round of playoffs began. Louis and the Boston Red Sox, the last three prior to 2004 were in 1975,1968 and 1967. In 2009, they would be joined by the 2009 New York Yankees, St. Louis also won their 10th Fall Classic, the most of any National League franchise, and second to only the Yankees 27 titles, and their first since 1982. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who won the 1989 World Series title with the Athletics, the Cardinals finished the regular season 83–78. This is the second-worst record ever for a champion and the worst record ever for a World Series champion. Previously the 1987 Minnesota Twins finished 85–77 and defeated the Cardinals in the 1987 World Series, both teams stumbled through the second halves of their seasons. The Cardinals held an advantage in the National League Central over the Cincinnati Reds. However, the combination of a losing streak by St. Louis. However, the Cardinals held on to clinch the division after an Astros loss to the Atlanta Braves on the last day of the season, thus, both the Tigers and Cardinals were clear underdogs in their matches, against New York Yankees and San Diego Padres, respectively. The Tigers pitching took care of the vaunted Yankees lineup, the Cardinals also won their series 3–1, including the first two games in San Diego. The Tigers then swept the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS, winning four on a three-run walk-off home run by Magglio Ordóñez in the bottom of the ninth. The Cardinals won their series against the New York Mets with the help of a home run by Yadier Molina in a tense Game 7. The Tigers had home-field advantage in the Series, due to the ALs 3–2 win over the NL in the 77th Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 11 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh and these two teams had already played against each other in June 2006. The Tigers swept the Cardinals 3–0 in Detroit, part of an eight-game Cardinals losing streak and this was the first time since 2000 that teams meeting during the regular season met again in the World Series. The Series marked the time in a row that both teams sought to win a championship after at least a 20-year drought
32.
Walk-off home run
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In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. It must be a run that gives the home team the lead in the bottom of the final inning of the game. Thus the losing team must then walk off the field immediately afterward, the winning runs must still be counted at home plate. Because the home team always bats last, any kind of walk off scenario, although the concept of a game-ending home run is as old as baseball, the adjective walk-off attained widespread use only in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The first known usage of the word in print appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 21,1988, Section D, Page 1. Chronicle writer Lowell Cohn wrote an article headlined What the Eck. about Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersleys unusual way of speaking, For a translation, I go in search of Eckersley. I also want to know why he calls home runs street pieces. Sportscasters also use the term walk-off hit if any kind of hit drives in the run to end the game. It is a stretch of the term to call a hit a walk-off when what ends the game is not the hit. Starting in the 1990s, a grand slam that erases a three-run deficit has come to be known as an ultimate grand slam. There have been 28 such instances documented in major league history – all taking place during the season,15 of those coming with two outs. No player has accomplished more than once. Of the 28 home runs, only Roberto Clementes was hit inside the park, pirates manager/third base coach Bobby Bragan instructed him to stop at third, but Clemente ran through the stop sign to score the winning run. Alan Trammells June 21,1988 and Chris Hoiles May 17,1996 grand slams occurred under the situation, bases loaded. This was later referred to as the ultimate, ultimate grand slam, the most recent ultimate grand slam was by Rajai Davis, who performed the feat in the ninth inning as the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics 5–4 on June 30,2014. Lindy McDaniel of the Chicago Cubs, in 1963, to Bob Aspromonte of the Houston Colt. 45s on June 11, and to Jim Hickman of the New York Mets on August 9. Lee Smith of the California Angels, in 1995, to Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics, on June 30, and to Albert Belle of the Cleveland Indians on July 18. Francisco Rodríguez of the New York Mets, in 2009, to rookies Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres, on August 7, Rodríguez is the only pitcher to surrender two game-winning grand slams to two rookies
33.
Albert Pujols
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José Alberto Pujols Alcántara, better known as Albert Pujols, is a Dominican American professional baseball first baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball. He stands 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds and he previously played for the St. Louis Cardinals, where he received three National League MVP awards and was a nine-time MLB All-Star. He was also an All-Star with the Angels in 2015, Pujols was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States in 1996. After one season of baseball, he was selected by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB draft. As a rookie for the Cardinals in 2001, he was voted the NL Rookie of the Year. Pujols played for the Cardinals for 11 seasons, contributing to two World Series championships in 2006 and 2011, after the 2011 season, Pujols became a free agent and later signed a 10-year contract with the Angels. Pujols is a highly regarded hitter who has shown a combination of hitting ability, patience. He is a six-time Silver Slugger who has led the NL in home runs. He is significantly above-average in career regular season batting average, walk rate, Pujols is considered a strong future candidate for the Hall of Fame. Born on January 16,1980, Pujols was raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, mostly by his grandmother America Pujols and 10 of his uncles and his father, Bienvenido Pujols, was a softball pitcher, but he was also an alcoholic. Albert often had to take his home when his father got drunk following the games. Growing up, Pujols practiced baseball using limes for balls and a milk carton for a glove, Pujols, his father, and his grandmother immigrated in 1996 to New York City, where Albert witnessed a shooting at a grocery store. Partly because of the shooting, they moved to Independence, Missouri, Pujols played baseball at Fort Osage High School in Independence and was named an All-State athlete twice. As a senior, he was walked 55 times in protest because opposing coaches believed he was older than 18, one of his home runs travelled 450 feet. After graduating from school a semester early in December 1998. Pujols hit a grand slam and turned a triple play in the first game of his only college season. Playing shortstop, he batted.461 with 22 home runs as a freshman before deciding to enter the Major League Baseball draft, few teams were interested in Pujols because of uncertainty about his age, which position he would play, and his build. Tampa Bay Rays scout Fernando Arango recommended that his team sign Pujols, Pujols was not drafted until the 13th round of the 1999 Major League Baseball Draft, when the St. Louis Cardinals selected him with the 402nd overall pick
34.
Reggie Jackson
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Jackson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. Jackson was nicknamed Mr. October for his hitting in the postseason with the Athletics. He helped Oakland win five consecutive American League West divisional pennants, Jackson helped New York win four American League East divisional pennants, three American League pennants and two consecutive World Series titles, from 1977 to 1981. He also helped the California Angels win two AL West divisional pennants in 1982 and 1986, Jackson hit three consecutive home runs at Yankee Stadium in the clinching game 6 of the 1977 World Series. Jackson hit 563 career home runs and was an American League All-Star for 14 seasons and he won two Silver Slugger Awards, the AL Most Valuable Player Award in 1973, two World Series MVP Awards, and the Babe Ruth Award in 1977. The Yankees and Athletics retired his uniform number in 1993 and 2004. Jackson currently serves as an advisor to the Yankees. Jackson was born in the Wyncote neighborhood of Cheltenham Township, just north of Philadelphia and his father was Martinez Jackson, a half Puerto Rican, who worked as a tailor and who was a former second baseman with the Newark Eagles of Negro league baseball. He was the youngest of four children from his mother, Clara and he also had two half-siblings from his fathers first marriage. Martinez Jackson was a father, and theirs was one of the few black families in Wyncote. Jackson graduated from Cheltenham High in 1964, where he excelled in football, basketball, baseball, a tailback in football, he injured his knee in an early season game in his junior year. He was told by the doctors he was never to play football again, in that game, Jackson fractured five cervical vertebrae, which caused him to spend six weeks in the hospital and another month in a neck cast. Doctors told Jackson that he never walk again, let alone play football. On the baseball team, he batted.550 and threw several no-hitters, in the middle of his senior year, Jacksons father was arrested for bootlegging and was sentenced to six months in jail. In football, he was scouted by Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma, Jackson declined Alabama and Georgia because he was fearful of the South at the time, and declined Oklahoma because they told him to stop dating white girls. For baseball, Jackson was scouted by Hans Lobert of the San Francisco Giants who was desperate to sign him, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins also made offers, and the hometown Philadelphia Phillies gave him a tryout but declined because of his hitting skills. His father wanted his son to go to college, where Jackson wanted to both football and baseball. He decided to attend Arizona State University on a football scholarship and his high-school football coach knew ASUs head football coach Frank Kush, and they discussed the possibility of him playing both sports
35.
Babe Ruth
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George Herman Babe Ruth Jr. was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Ruth established many MLB batting records, including home runs, runs batted in, bases on balls, slugging percentage, and on-base plus slugging. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time, in 1936, Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its first five inaugural members. At age seven, Ruth was sent to St, in 1914, Ruth was signed to play minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as a pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919, after that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees amid controversy. The trade fueled Bostons subsequent 86 year championship drought and popularized the Curse of the Bambino superstition, in his 15 years with New York, Ruth helped the Yankees win seven American League championships and four World Series championships. As part of the Yankees vaunted Murderers Row lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs and he retired in 1935 after a short stint with the Boston Braves. During his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a season twelve times, Ruths legendary power and charismatic personality made him a larger-than-life figure in the Roaring Twenties. During his career, he was the target of press and public attention for his baseball exploits. His often reckless lifestyle was tempered by his willingness to do good by visiting children at hospitals, after his retirement as a player, he was denied a managerial job in baseball, most likely due to poor behavior during parts of his playing career. In his final years, Ruth made many appearances, especially in support of American efforts in World War II. In 1946, he became ill with cancer, and died two years later, George Herman Ruth Jr. was born in 1895 at 216 Emory Street in Pigtown, a working-class section of Baltimore, Maryland, named for its meat-packing plants. Its population included recent immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Italy, Ruths parents, George Herman Ruth, Sr. and Katherine Schamberger, were both of German American ancestry. According to the 1880 census, his parents were born in Maryland, the paternal grandparents of Ruth, Sr. were from Prussia and Hanover. Ruth, Sr. had a series of jobs, including lightning rod salesman and streetcar operator, before becoming a counterman in a combination grocery. George Ruth Jr. was born in the house of his grandfather, Pius Schamberger. Only one of young Georges seven siblings, his younger sister Mamie, many details of Ruths childhood are unknown, including the date of his parents marriage
36.
Pablo Sandoval
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Pablo Emilio Juan Pedro Sandoval, Jr. is a Venezuelan professional baseball third baseman for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. He stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 255 pounds and he previously played seven seasons for the San Francisco Giants. Nicknamed Kung Fu Panda, Sandoval is a two-time All-Star and has won three World Series championships with the Giants. Sandoval hit three home runs in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, becoming the person to hit three home runs in a World Series game, and was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. During the offseason, he plays for the Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League and he grew up an avid baseball fan, playing the game with his older brother and following the careers of Omar Vizquel and Andrés Galarraga. In 2002, Sandoval was signed by the San Francisco Giants and he worked his way through the minor leagues and debuted with the Giants in 2008, batting.345 in 41 games. Capable of playing first base, third base, and catcher, Sandoval became the Giants starting third baseman in 2009, ceasing to catch that year and playing first base only occasionally. In 2009, Sandoval finished second in All-Star Final Vote balloting, batting.330 with 25 home runs and 90 runs batted in in his first full season in the majors. However, Sandoval struggled in 2010 and was benched during the playoffs for the 2010 World Series and he lost weight before 2011 and hit.315 with 23 home runs in 117 games. Injuries limited him to 108 games in 2012, but he was selected to his second-straight All-Star Game. Then, in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, he joined Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, for his contributions, Sandoval was named the World Series Most Valuable Player as the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers. In 2013, he appeared in 141 games, batting.278 with 14 home runs and 79 RBI, Sandoval was born to Pablo, Sr. and Amelia Sandoval on August 11,1986, in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo, Venezuela. He practiced baseball in an empty two-car garage with his older brother and his favorite players were Omar Vizquel and Andrés Galarraga. He was born left-handed but wanted to be able to play shortstop like Vizquel, thus, at nine, he taught himself to throw right-handed as well. He can still throw with both hands, but throws right-handed during games, Sandoval received notice from scouts in 2002, when he went to the Dominican Republic for a scouting tournament. A scout for the Texas Rangers told Sandoval he would come to Venezuela to sign him, after two weeks, Ciro Villalobos, a scout for the San Francisco Giants, offered Sandoval a contract, and he signed. Sandoval began his career as a catcher in 2004 with the rookie AZL Giants. In 2005, he was used almost entirely as a third baseman while playing for the Single-A short season Salem-Keizer Volcanoes and he hit.330 with three home runs and 50 RBIs
37.
2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 82nd in-season exhibition game between the All-Stars of the National League and the American League, the leagues composing Major League Baseball. The event was held on Tuesday, July 12,2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, the game ended in a 5–1 win for the National League, their second straight All-Star victory. It was the first MLB All-Star Game to be held in Arizona, with a combination of injuries and rule enforcements, a record 84 players were named to the All-Star rosters. This broke the record of 82 players that were on rosters for the 2010 game, as with each All-Star Game since 1970, the nine starting position players of each league were elected by fan balloting. The remaining players were selected by a vote, each leagues team manager. In all,32 players were selected to each leagues team, Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin confirmed on April 10,2009 that Arizona would host the 2011 All-Star Game and it was officially announced by Commissioner Bud Selig the next day. Phoenix had never hosted the All-Star Game before, the last first-time host city was Denver, the game was the ninth straight All-Star Game to decide home-field advantage in the World Series. Prior All-Star games had used the designated hitter rule when in American League parks. However, the 2011 game was the first to feature a DH in a NL park following a change in 2010. The NL came into the game having won the years match. Others considered asking club owners, sponsors and even players to boycott the All-Star Game if the law was implemented, however, Selig announced on May 13,2010 that the game would remain at Chase Field in Phoenix as planned. Balloting for the 2011 All-Star Game starters began online April 26, fan voting also took place in each MLB stadium, beginning May 10 and ending on June 24. The top vote-getters at each position and the top three among outfielders, were named the starters for their respective leagues, the results were announced on July 3. A record 32.5 million votes were cast, beating out the record from 2009 by roughly 9 million. José Bautista was the leading vote-getter with 7,454,753 votes, easily breaking the previous single-player vote record of 6,069,688 held by Ken Griffey, three other American League players also topped Griffeys record. Ryan Braun was the National Leagues leading vote getter, receiving a NL record 5,928,004 votes, the winners of the final vote were Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies. Victorino became the first ever two-time Final Vote winner, having won in 2009. Adrian Gonzalezs home run off of Cliff Lee and Fielders home run off of C. J. Wilson makes it the first time in All-Star Game history where there were two lefty-versus-lefty home runs
38.
2002 World Series
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The 2002 World Series was a best-of-seven playoff series to determine the champion of Major League Baseball for the 2002 season. It was the 98th series between the champions of the American League and National League, here respectively the Anaheim Angels, the series was played from October 19–27,2002 at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco and Edison International Field of Anaheim in Anaheim. The Angels defeated the Giants by four games to three to win their first World Series championship and this was the first World Series since the 1995 inception of the wild card in Major League Baseball in which both wild card teams would vie for the title. The Angels finished the season in second place in the American League West. They then defeated the Minnesota Twins four games to one in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series to advance to the World Series, another first in franchise history. The Giants, meanwhile, finished the season in second place in the National League West. They defeated the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series, the series was the fourth World Series played between two teams from California, after 1974,1988, and 1989. Barry Bonds, Reggie Sanders, and J. T. Snow each hit home runs to help propel the Giants to win Game one, Game two was a high-scoring affair that the Angels ultimately won on Tim Salmons eighth-inning home run. The Angels routed the Giants in Game three, but lost Game four on a tie-breaking eighth-inning single by the Giants David Bell, the Giants brought the Angels to the brink of elimination by winning Game five in a blowout. A three-run double by Garret Anderson was the difference in the Angels Game seven win to clinch the series, Glaus was named the series MVP. As of 2016,2002 was the most recent Fall Classic appearance for the Angels and this was the fourth World Series played between two teams from California and the last World Series as of today involving two teams from the same state. The 1974 World Series saw the Oakland Athletics defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, in 1989 the San Francisco Giants were defeated by the Oakland Athletics. The managers of the two clubs, Mike Scioscia of the Angels and Dusty Baker of the Giants, were teammates on the Dodgers from 1980–1983 and this was the first World Series to feature opposing managers who had been teammates on a World Championship team as players. Since their 1958 move from New York to San Francisco, the Giants franchise and its fans had a history of futility, frustration. The Giants had won their last World Series crown before the move, since the move, the Giants made it to the Series twice but lost both times. Their most recent postseason appearance was in 2000, when they were defeated by the New York Mets in the NLDS, in addition, the Giants narrowly missed winning the N. L. pennant in 1959,1964,1965 and 1966. They finished in second five years in a row from 1965–1969. 2002 was Dusty Bakers tenth season as manager of the Giants and it was also their third season playing at Pacific Bell Park
39.
2010 San Francisco Giants season
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The San Francisco Giants are a National League Major League Baseball team. Their 2010 season marked their 128th year in Major League Baseball, their 53rd year in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season and they would go on to win the World Series, their first championship since moving to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants had rebounded from their 2002 World Series loss to Anaheim, on October 7, the Giants played their first playoff game since 2003. On October 11, the Giants won their series against Atlanta, on October 23, the Giants defeated the Phillies to advance to the World Series where they faced the Texas Rangers. On November 1, the Giants defeated the Rangers in Game 5 to win their first championship since 1954, after a tough 7-6 loss to the Phillies in 11 innings on the 28th, the Giants rebounded for a 5-2 win over the Colorado Rockies to close out the month. After taking two out of three from the Rockies, the Giants traveled to Florida to start a series with the Marlins. They led the first game 5-3 behind Tim Lincecums 13 strikeouts, down to their last out, Aaron Rowand hit a home run to tie the game. The Giants won 9-6 in 12 innings and went on to sweep the series, the team then went through a rough stretch, losing two out of three to the Mets before getting swept by the NL West leading San Diego Padres. They recovered a bit by sweeping the Astros, and splitting a series with the Padres. On May 29, Buster Posey was called up to the Giants and had three hits and three runs batted in during a 12-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks and that same day, the team signed Bay Area native Pat Burrell to a minor league contract. Padres CEO Jeff Moorad, Burrells friend and his former agent, originally signed as a bench player, Burrell played his way into the starting lineup and wound up hitting.266 with 18 home runs and 51 runs batted in over 96 games. The team would end May with a flourish, winning 5 of their last 7 games, the Giants continued their strong play into the month of June. Though they lost the first series of the month to the Rockies, they won 3 out of their next 4 series, including completing a sweep of the Oakland Athletics, who had swept them the previous month. In the second half of the month, the team collapsed, losing their next 5 series in a row, on June 30, the Giants traded Bengie Molina to the Texas Rangers, clearing the way for Buster Posey to become the everyday catcher. The month of July marked a strong comeback for the team. The Giants started the month with a 4-game series against the Rockies, the Giants immediately bounced back and went on a surge, coming back to sweep a 4-game series against the Brewers. The game was won by the Giants in the bottom of the 10th inning when Andrés Torres hit a single for his fourth hit of the game. On July 20, the Giants beat the Dodgers 7-5 at Dodger Stadium after trailing 5-1 at one point, on July 31, Burrell hit a 2 run home run in the eighth inning to lead the Giants to another comeback win over the Dodgers
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New York Yankees
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The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League East division. The Yankees are one of two league clubs based in New York City, the other being the NL New York Mets. In the 1901 season, the club play in the AL as the Baltimore Orioles. Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchased the franchise and moved it to New York City, the Highlanders were officially renamed the Yankees in 1913. The team is owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, an LLC controlled by the family of the late George Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman is the teams general manager, and former catcher Joe Girardi is the teams skipper. The teams home games were played at the original Yankee Stadium from 1923 to 1973, in 2009, they moved into a new ballpark of the same name after the previous facility was closed and demolished. The team is perennially among the leaders in MLB attendance—in 2011, one of the most successful sports clubs in the world, the Yankees have won 18 division titles,40 AL pennants, and 27 World Series championships, all of which are MLB records. In pursuit of winning championships, the franchise has used a large payroll to attract talent, according to Forbes, the Yankees are the second highest valued sports franchise in the United States and the fourth in the world, with an estimated value of approximately $3.4 billion. The Yankees have garnered enormous popularity and a fanbase, as well as widespread enmity from fans of other MLB teams. The teams rivalry with the Boston Red Sox is one of the most well-known rivalries in U. S. sports, at the end of 1900, Ban Johnson, president of the American League—a minor league previously known as the Western League —reorganized the league. He added teams in three East Coast cities, forming the American League as a league in an attempt to challenge the National League for supremacy. Plans to add another a team in New York City were blocked by the NLs New York Giants, instead, a team was placed in Baltimore, Maryland, a city which the NL abandoned when it contracted from 12 to 8 teams in 1900. Nicknamed the Orioles, the team playing in 1901 and was managed. During the 1902 season, McGraw feuded with Johnson and secretly jumped to the Giants, in January 1903, a peace conference was held between the two leagues to settle disputes and try to coexist. At the conference, Johnson requested that an AL team be put in New York and it was put to a vote, and 15 of the 16 major league owners agreed on it, with only John T. The Orioles new owners, Frank J. Farrell and William S. Devery, found a location not blocked by the Giants. The teams new ballpark, Hilltop Park, was constructed in one of Upper Manhattans highest points—between 165th and 168th Streets—just a few blocks away from the much larger Polo Grounds, the team came to be known as the New York Highlanders
41.
1998 World Series
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The 1998 World Series, the 94th edition of Major League Baseballs championship series, matched the New York Yankees of the American League and the San Diego Padres of the National League. The Yankees swept the Series in four games to capture their second World Series championship in three years and their 24th overall and it was San Diegos second World Series appearance and their first since 1984, when they lost to the Detroit Tigers. This was the first year this particular World Series logo was used and it was only used again in the 1999 World Series. AL New York Yankees vs. NL San Diego Padres In Game 1, the Yankees began the scoring in the second inning, when rookie Ricky Ledee laced a two-run double into the right field corner with the bases loaded. However, the Padres battered Wells hard, beginning in the inning when Greg Vaughn homered to right-center with a man aboard tying the game up at two runs apiece. In the fifth, Tony Gwynn smashed a shot off the facing of the upper deck. Trailing 5–2, the Yanks made a comeback in the seventh, Jorge Posada singled and Ledee walked, ending the night for Brown, it turned out to be a bad move by Padres manager Bruce Bochy. New York took advantage of the Padres bullpen with a homer by Chuck Knoblauch that tied the game at five. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, a 2–2 count call by home plate umpire Rich Garcia would prove to be decisive, mark Langstons pitch was shown to be borderline and Garcia called it a ball. On the next pitch, Tino Martinez sent a grand slam into the upper deck, the Padres would score one more run, but the Yankees won Game 1 9–6. In Game 2, the Bombers would go up 2–0 in the Series thanks to an outing by San Diego starter Andy Ashby. Catcher Greg Meyers, starting for the first time in a month, was also ineffective, bernie Williams and Jorge Posada would go yard to assist the Yankees on offense. New York started Cuban import Orlando Hernández, who was outstanding, the Yankees sent David Cone to the mound to face former Yankee pitcher Sterling Hitchcock, the MVP of the NLCS. Both teams were kept off the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth when Hitchcock himself led off the inning with a single off Cone. He and Qulivio Veras both scored two batters later when Tony Gwynn shot a single down the line past Tino Martinez at first base, Gwynn would also score in the inning to give San Diego a 3–0 lead. However, an inning later the Yanks jumped on Hitchcock for two runs, beginning with a home run to left-center by Scott Brosius. The second run came in after Shane Spencer doubled and scored on an error by Ken Caminiti, in the eighth, the call was made to Trevor Hoffman after Randy Myers walked ONeill to open the inning. Hoffman then walked Tino Martinez before Scott Brosius tagged a three-run blast over the fence in dead center
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2001 World Series
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The Diamondbacks won the best-of-seven series four games to three. Considered one of the greatest World Series of all time, memorable aspects included two extra-inning games and three late-inning comebacks and it ended on a Game 7 walk-off hit in the form of a bases-loaded blooper single off the bat of Luis Gonzalez. This was the third World Series to end in this way and this was also the Yankees fourth consecutive World Series appearance, after winning it in 1998,1999, and 2000. This was the first World Series ever played in the state of Arizona, with the All-Star Game format change in 2003, the World Series would not open in the city of the National League champion again until 2010. This was the last World Series not to feature a wild card team until 2008 and this was also the first World Series to end in November, due to the delay in the regular season after the September 11 attacks. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were named the series co-MVPs, Arizona captured the best of seven games Series, four games to three, thereby dethroning the defending World Champions and earning their first title. Arizona won the game handily with Randy Johnson pitching a masterful game. Johnson also pitched in relief of Curt Schilling in Game 7, Johnson, credited with the Game 7 win, became the first pitcher to win three games in the same World Series since the Detroit Tigers Mickey Lolich in 1968. The home team won every game in the Series, and as of 2016 is the most recent time this has happened and this had only happened twice before, in 1987 and 1991 also in domed ballparks, in the two earlier championships, the Minnesota Twins won the Series. This Series was the subject of an HBO documentary Nine Innings from Ground Zero in 2004, Arizona held powerhouse New York to an.183 batting average, the lowest ever in a seven-game World Series. The previous record was.185 by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1985 World Series when they lost to the Kansas City Royals, the last three games were the first major-league games played in the month of November. This was just the time that no World Series champion was decided within the traditional month of October. The previous three occurrences were in 1904,1918, and 1994, additionally, the Series took place in New York City only seven weeks after the attacks, representing a remarkable boost in morale for the fatigued city. However, Arizonas Curt Schilling and two held the Yankees scoreless afterward. They managed to get only two walks and two hits for the rest of the game, Scott Brosiuss double in the second and Jorge Posadas single in the fourth, both with two outs. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks tied the game on Craig Counsells one-out home run in the first off of Mike Mussina, after a scoreless second, Mussina led off the third by hitting Tony Womack with a pitch. He moved to second on Counsells sacrifice bunt before Luis Gonzalezs home run put the Diamondbacks up 3-1, a single and right fielder David Justices error put runners on second and third before Matt Williamss sacrifice fly put Arizona up 4-1. After Mark Grace was intentionally walked, Damian Millers RBI double gave Arizona a 5-1 lead, next inning, Gonzalez hit a two-out double off of Randy Choate
