12/21/24
July 30, 2005
3 Nights in June : Where were you when the Ripper went yard on Niedenfuer? It's a question any honest-to-God Redbirds fan can answer in an instant. With his team down three games to two, clinging to a 5-4 lead with runners on second and third in the top of the ninth inning of Game Six of the 1985 National League Championship Series, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda could have had his closer, Tom Niedenfuer, intentionally walk Jack Clark, the Cardinals' cleanup hitter, with two out to set up a potential game-ending force out. Instead Lasorda had Niedenfuer pitch to Clark, who pulled the fireballer's first offering into the bleachers at Chavez Ravine. Left fielder Pedro Guerrero flung his glove in disgust, the Dodgers went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, and the Cardinals headed to the Fall Classic. The Riverfront Times catches up with Jack Clark, now the hitting coach for the Frontier League River City Rascals.
posted by Ufez Jones to baseball at 02:21 PM - 1 comment
Ufez, thanks for a terrific link. I was 15 years old and, IIRC, just walking out of my high school after a late football practice when I heard Clark's blast on my dad's truck radio as he pulled up. dildo-for-a-day umpire Don Denkinger Best. Denkinger. Reference. Evar.