What was the most Memorable Game You have sen in person?

[FrankWakefield]

Wow... the "most"...

1963 I saw Mr. Musial play...

1964 saw World Series game 7, Gibson got the win, Mantle hit a home run.

I think it was 1965 when I saw Mike Shannon put on cather's equipment after neither Uecker nor McCarver could catch, the Giants won that day with Spahn.

I saw Lou Brock's 3000th hit in 1979.

In 1982 I saw game 2 of the World Series, Darryl Porter's wrong field double got the Cards going for a win after a horrible game 1.

I think it was 1984 when I saw the Cubs beat the Cards in a NBC game of the week Saturday game, McGee had a couple of home runs I think, maybe Suitter gave up 2 home runs to Sandburg, Cubs won maybe 12-11 in 11 innings.

In Cincy I saw Mario Soto a pitch away from a no hitter, the Reds were up 1-0 in the 9th, 2 outs, 2 strikes on George Hendricks, and Mario dusts him off and knocks him down. George gets up, dusts himself off, jams his helmet back on his head, and lines the next pitch, a knee high inside blazing fastball, over the left field fence, a low line drive. George silently circles the bases, the Reds fans stand silently and watch. (Reds won in the bottom of the 9th) Now why knock a guy down in that situation??

I saw Pete Rose's hit # 4192....

I sat in Atlanta watching the Braves pile up runs against the Yankees in game 4, 6-0 after 5 innings. Some Yankee fans got drunk, and a few passed out... they missed the Yankees score 3 in the 6th, 3 more in the 8th to tie (University of Kentucky graduate Jim Leyritz hit a home run in the 8th), then the Yankees got 2 in the top of the 10th and held on to win 8-6. 4 hours, 17 minutes of baseball.

Oh... I sat through that Cardinals loss in 2004, game 4 of the World Series as the Red Sox won it all. The Sox fans were reverent, soaking it all in...

But I'm going to pick this game:



This is the game that Rich Klein mentions above... we were at the same game! This was the last baseball game I attended with my Dad... Wife, kids and I flew to Las Vegas, stayed a couple of days, rented a car and drove to the Grand Canyon, then down to Phoenix, where we turned in the car and met up with my parents who lived in Tucson, who would take us back there for a few days. We just happened to meet in Phoenix where the Cardinals happened to be playing, and we happened to have tickets! And after years of letters and phone calls I finally met Lew Lipset at this game. I'd called him saying I was going to be at it, we told one another about our seat locations, he couldn't get up to me, I was happy to go down to him, and I now wish I'd met Rich that evening... maybe Lew gave a cursory introduction, I don't recall. (Hello, Rich!) Lew and I talked for a few minutes before the game. As I recall his seats were behind the first base dugout, near the plate end, and maybe 16 or 18 rows from the field...

I vividly recall hearing the pop of the ball as Randy Johnson warmed up in the bullpen, down and to the left of where I was sitting. He looked intense. This was a pitchers' duel. Johnson was dominant, Jimenez held on best he could. 0-0 after 8. Top of the 9th Darren Bragg draws a walk. Johnson walks McGuire. 1st and 2nd with Eric Davis up, Johnson strikes him out. Then what I recall is Thomas Howard fighting off an evil pitch with a shortened swing, the bat breaks and the ball bounces out into left field, Bragg, a good runner who was going on contact, dashes across the plate. And that was the only run of the game. Retrosheet says it was 2 hours 10 minutes, I don't doubt it... Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jimenez were pitchers that day, 2 complete games.

A few years later I finally was at a game when Colorado was at St. Louis. I'd taken this ticket stub along. Half a dozen Rockies were signing, I missed out on some autographs staying focused on Jimenez, who had walked over to sign. He saw that I held a sign with his name and asking for an autograph (in Spanish), a ticket stub, and a Sharpie. He walked over and asked me what I had, while he signed for everyone but me. Soon I figured out he wanted me to talk about how good he was that night, so everyone else could hear. I obliged him. That ticket was the last thing I saw him sign that day, and I'm grateful for it.

A memorable game, because of Dad, because of the no hitter, how we got there, meeting Mr. Lipset....