11/05/24
July 31, 2002
Baseball's 30 most memorable moments,: according to Major League Baseball and Mastercard, and 30 more from Salon's King Kaufman.
posted by kirkaracha to baseball at 08:27 AM - 14 comments
Way to cheapen and try to rank memorable events in baseball history, MLB. How can you possibly rank something like Jackie Robinson breaking the race barrier with something which is a purely sports moment like Hank Aaron's record breaking home run or Mark McGwire's record breaking home run? Is it memorable because it's a sporting event or a harbinger of societal change?
posted by insomnyuk at 08:57 AM on July 31, 2002
Is it memorable because it's a sporting event or a harbinger of societal change? insomnyuk, I see you're point but I have to disagree. The fact that a societal change occured through the medium of baseball is why it can be included on the list. Baseball is such a part of American life that if something that can only be described as good happens there first or most ostentatiously then that is a positive thing. For many children growing up in the thirties, forties, fifties, who may have been taught by their parents or society that non-whites were inferior or lazy or whatever, to see the success of Jackie, Campanella, Larry Doby, Don Newcombe must have opened their eyes to the truth and paved the way for their acceptance outside of sports. I think Jackie breaking the color barrier in Baseball has to be Number 1 with a bullet.
posted by vito90 at 09:25 AM on July 31, 2002
Yeah, that's what I'm saying vito, some of the events are in a class of their own... I think making lists like this is kind of silly.
posted by insomnyuk at 09:30 AM on July 31, 2002
Do you think the breaking of the color barrier is trivialized by the fact that it is on this list? Or because it was as low as it was? What if it was #1? Can it not be said that integration by Jackie was a success by and for baseball first? Not trying to be a pest, obviously we both hold it in high regard...
posted by vito90 at 09:47 AM on July 31, 2002
I think it is trivialized somewhat, depending on how you regard the list. On a list of athletic achievements alone, in terms of physical skill, I don't think it belongs. However, the list is a general one regarding "moments", so it lists important landmark events along with athletic achievements and fluke plays. Because it is in this sort of list, it belongs higher than number 7. It's an event that has a powerful hold even today in the American psyche, baseball fan or not. I don't understand why, in a general list of memorable events (not just athletic accomplishments), shutouts pitched in 1905 are at the top. Can it not be said that integration by Jackie was a success by and for baseball first? Yes. I think in the context of this list Jackie Robinson's achievement ought to be number one, I really don't understand why it is not.
posted by insomnyuk at 10:06 AM on July 31, 2002
Don't get me wrong, Jackie Robinson was a great athlete too, but his greatest achievement was breaking into major league ball. vito: you're not being a pest, it's a valid question.
posted by insomnyuk at 10:08 AM on July 31, 2002
I thihnk the only reasonable thing to do now is stuff the ballot for Pete Rose. Show them this is a silly idea and piss off the powers that be.
posted by mick at 11:39 AM on July 31, 2002
I agree that the Jackie Robinson achievement is the "most memorable" moment or should be regarded as such. With that in mind, I was trying to remember other moments in baseball that sort of transended that line between the game and the real game (There's more to life than baseball.) They may not be the most memorable, but I'd bet they are for some people. I thought of the recent scene at Wrigley Field when Joe Girardi made the announcement to cancel the game after the death of Darryl Kile. And then there was the earthquake at the 96(?) World Series in Oakland. I'm sure there are others, but none come to mind at the moment.
posted by jaronson at 12:40 PM on July 31, 2002
96 world series?? 1989 - jeezu!! Somewhere around 12-1 in the Shea Loge (section 6) last night my friend and I were trying to figure out the 10 most memorable Mets games. I can't name any from 72, 73 :( But yes, Jackie is #1. 1951 shot is #2. How about Hank Greenberg with all his walk off homers? Nolan Ryan's 19th No-hitter? (oops, I can't remember exactly how many he had).
posted by djacobs at 02:15 PM on July 31, 2002
'89...yeah, that's what I meant. I knew it had a "9" in it. Yikes. Ever since I turned 40...
posted by jaronson at 02:35 PM on July 31, 2002
19 no-hitters?? 7 - jeezu!! :) I like lists a lot, and tend to produce them (in my head) whenever I'm not mentally engaged some other task. I think the Ichiro choice is the really odd one. There has been another player that has broken into the major leagues with a big splash and won the ROY and MVP awards (Fred Lynn). Why doesn't he get a "memorable moment"? The All-Star voting thing is only because of the hype he got from MLB and the press because he was an "import".
posted by grum@work at 05:14 PM on July 31, 2002
Umm...maybe the reason that they didn't have Jackie Robinson's breaking the color barrier as No. 1 is that the list is in chronological order. I agree with King Kaufman's sentiment that a memorable moment is a specific event and not a season-long achievement, so I'd drop things like Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak and Ted Williams' .400 season. (I'm not saying that these accomplishments are not important or memborable, but they aren't moments.) To me, a moment is more along the lines of a specific play, like Kirk Gibson's hitting the home run in the 1988 World Series. For MLB's 2001 suggestions, I'd definitely drop Ichiro (he could be a flash in the pan, and where's the event?), and although I loved last year's World Series, and the outcome, it's too soon to put it on a list like this. If the Yankees resume their World Series-winning ways, it's just a blip. If that World Series was a turning point in the Yankees' long-term fortune, it's more memorable. And I'd add Babe Ruth's called shot (or "called" shot, if you prefer). Sure, there's debate over whether or not he actually called it, but even as a legend it could be the defining moment in baseball.
posted by kirkaracha at 06:41 PM on August 01, 2002
And then there was the earthquake at the 96(?) World Series in Oakland.
Pssst...it was in San Francisco.
posted by kirkaracha at 06:49 PM on August 01, 2002
Kaufman makes some good points: 10% of the memorable moments did not happen last year. "Baseball has...gone to comical extremes to avoid negativity." And what's a moment, anyway?