24 World Series Moments Fans Never Forgot
Regular seasons stretch across six months and blur together. A World Series compresses everything into a handful of nights, and a single swing, throw or misplayed fly can outlive the people who saw it live.
These moments span more than a century, from wool uniforms to pitch clocks. Some were glorious, some were cruel, and a few were both at once depending on which dugout a fan happened to sit near.
Fred Snodgrass Drops a Routine Fly in 1912
Game 8 of the 1912 World Series between the Giants and Red Sox went to the 10th inning tied, with New York one step from a title. Giants center fielder Fred Snodgrass dropped a fly from Clyde Engle, who wound up on second base.
Moments later, Tris Speaker’s single tied the score and Larry Gardner’s sacrifice fly gave Boston a 3-2 win. The error was nicknamed the Thirty Thousand Dollar Muff, a reference to the difference between the winners’ and losers’ shares, and it followed Snodgrass for the rest of his life.
The 1919 Series That Chicago Threw Away
The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago White Sox five games to three in a best-of-nine Series in 1919, an upset that looked odd from the opening game. Eight White Sox players were later accused of taking money from gamblers to lose on purpose.
A Chicago jury acquitted them in 1921, yet new commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned all eight from organized baseball for life anyway. The scandal gave the team its permanent nickname, the Black Sox, and turned a single Series into the reason baseball hired a commissioner with sweeping powers.
Enos Slaughter’s Mad Dash Home in 1946
The 1946 Series reached Game 7 tied 3-3 in the eighth inning, with the Cardinals facing the Red Sox in St. Louis.
Enos Slaughter had singled and was on first when Harry Walker lined a hit to left-center field. Slaughter never slowed at third base and scored from first, while Boston shortstop Johnny Pesky was later said to have hesitated briefly on the relay, though that part of the story remains disputed.
That run held up, and the Cardinals won 4-3.
Cookie Lavagetto Ends a No-Hitter in 1947
In Game 4 of the 1947 Series, Yankees pitcher Bill Bevens carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the ninth, despite issuing 10 walks along the way. With two outs, Cookie Lavagetto of the Dodgers doubled off the right-field wall at Ebbets Field.
The hit scored two runners and turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 Brooklyn win. Lavagetto had been a pinch hitter, and the swing turned a near-miss for history into a celebration at Ebbets Field.
Willie Mays Runs Down a Drive at the Polo Grounds
Game 1 of the 1954 Series was tied 2-2 in the eighth inning when Cleveland’s Vic Wertz crushed a pitch to deep center field. Willie Mays of the Giants sprinted with his back to home plate and made an over-the-shoulder catch near the wall.
He then whirled and fired a throw back to the infield, which kept Larry Doby from scoring from second. The Giants won in 10 innings on a pinch-hit homer by Dusty Rhodes and swept the Series.
Jackie Robinson Steals Home in Game 1 of 1955
Jackie Robinson took off for home against Whitey Ford in the eighth inning of the 1955 opener, with Yogi Berra catching. The slide was close, and Berra argued with the umpire long after the call went the Dodgers’ way.
Brooklyn still lost that game 6-5, which makes the steal one of baseball’s most famous plays in a defeat. The Dodgers went on to win the Series in seven games, the franchise’s only title in Brooklyn.
Sandy Amoros Saves Game 7 for Brooklyn
The Dodgers held a 2-0 lead over the Yankees in the sixth inning of Game 7 in 1955, but New York had runners on first and second with one out. Yogi Berra sliced a fly toward the left-field line at Yankee Stadium.
Sandy Amoros, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement, ran a long way, snagged it in his glove hand near the stands and threw to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who relayed to first baseman Gil Hodges to double up Gil McDougald. Johnny Podres finished a 2-0 shutout, and Brooklyn had its only championship.
Don Larsen’s Perfect Game in 1956
Don Larsen of the Yankees faced 27 Dodgers hitters in Game 5 of the 1956 Series and retired every one of them. The game ended on a called third strike against pinch hitter Dale Mitchell, giving New York a 2-0 victory.
It took Larsen just 97 pitches, and he remains the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in a World Series. Larsen had been knocked out early in Game 2 of that same Series, which made the result even less predictable.
Bill Mazeroski Ends the 1960 Series With a Swing
The Pirates and Yankees traded the lead in Game 7 at Forbes Field in 1960, and Pittsburgh went ahead 9-7 in the eighth on a three-run homer from Hal Smith. New York tied it at 9-9 in the ninth, and Bill Mazeroski led off the bottom half against Ralph Terry.
He drove the second pitch over the left-field wall for a 10-9 Pittsburgh win. The Yankees had outscored the Pirates 55-27 across the seven games and still lost, and it remains the only World Series Game 7 to end on a walk-off home run.
Bob Gibson Fans 17 Tigers in 1968
Bob Gibson of the Cardinals struck out 17 Detroit batters in Game 1 of the 1968 Series, a World Series single-game record. He broke the mark of 15 that Sandy Koufax had set in 1963, and St.
Louis won 4-0. Gibson had finished the regular season with a 1.12 earned run average, the lowest of the modern era.
The Tigers still came back to win the Series in seven games.
Ron Swoboda Dives for a Line Drive in 1969
In Game 4 of the 1969 Series, the Mets led the Orioles 1-0 in the ninth inning at Shea Stadium, with Baltimore threatening. Brooks Robinson sent a sinking liner toward right field, and Mets outfielder Ron Swoboda dove headlong to catch it.
Frank Robinson scored on the play to tie the game, but a miss could have cost the Mets more than the tying run. New York won 2-1 in 10 innings and clinched the championship the next day, completing a run few people outside Queens had expected.
Roberto Clemente Carries the 1971 Pirates
Roberto Clemente homered in the fourth inning of Game 7 in 1971, giving the Pirates a lead in Baltimore that they held, 2-1. Steve Blass pitched a complete game and allowed just four hits to the powerful Orioles.
Clemente had hit safely in all seven games, batted .414 and was named Series MVP. Pittsburgh won the title after trailing the Orioles two games to none.
Carlton Fisk Waves It Fair in 1975
Game 6 of the 1975 Series lasted 12 innings and included a three-run tying homer from Bernie Carbo in the seventh. Just after midnight, Carlton Fisk of the Red Sox lofted a drive down the left-field line at Fenway Park against Pat Darcy.
Fisk stood near home plate and waved both arms toward fair territory, urging the drive past the foul pole, and it complied for a 7-6 win. The Reds won Game 7 the next night, so the swing is remembered more fondly than the Series.
Reggie Jackson Hits Three Homers in Game 6 of 1977
Reggie Jackson of the Yankees homered on the first pitch he saw in each of three straight at-bats in Game 6 of the 1977 Series. Each homer came against a different Dodgers pitcher: Burt Hooton, Elias Sosa and Charlie Hough.
New York won 8-4 to clinch the title. Jackson finished the Series with five home runs, a record at the time.
The nickname Mr. October stuck to him after that night.
Kirk Gibson Limps Up in 1988
Kirk Gibson of the Dodgers was hurt so badly that he was not in the lineup for Game 1 of the 1988 Series against Oakland. With two outs in the ninth and the Dodgers trailing 4-3, he hobbled to the plate to face Dennis Eckersley, the best closer of the era.
On a full count, Gibson hit a slider into the right-field seats for a 5-4 walk-off win. He did not play again in the Series, and the Dodgers beat the heavily favored Athletics in five games.
The Buckner Roller in Game 6 of 1986
The Red Sox led the Mets 5-3 with two outs in the 10th inning of Game 6 in 1986, one out away from their first title since 1918. New York rallied with three consecutive singles, then tied the game on a wild pitch by Bob Stanley.
With Mookie Wilson at the plate, the count reached two strikes before he hit a slow grounder up the first-base line. It rolled under the glove of Bill Buckner and let Ray Knight score the winning run in a 6-5 Mets win.
The Mets won Game 7 two nights later to take the championship.
An Earthquake Interrupts Game 3 in 1989
Candlestick Park in San Francisco was filling up for Game 3 of the all-Bay Area Series on October 17, 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck minutes before first pitch. The magnitude-6.9 quake damaged the Bay Bridge and a stretch of Interstate 880 in Oakland, and the Series was postponed for 10 days.
When play resumed, the Athletics finished a sweep of the Giants. The 10-day delay was an extraordinary interruption in World Series history.
Kirby Puckett Wins Game 6 of 1991
The Twins trailed the Braves three games to two in 1991 when Kirby Puckett made a leaping catch against the wall to rob Ron Gant in the third inning of Game 6 at the Metrodome. He then led off the bottom of the 11th against Charlie Leibrandt and drove a homer to center field.
The 4-3 win forced a Game 7. Puckett later entered the Hall of Fame, and this game remained the centerpiece of his case.
Jack Morris Goes the Distance in Game 7 of 1991
Jack Morris of the Twins and John Smoltz of the Braves matched zeroes in Game 7 of 1991, and Morris refused to leave the mound. He pitched all 10 innings of a 1-0 shutout at the Metrodome.
Gene Larkin ended it with a pinch-hit single over a drawn-in outfield off Alejandro Pena, bringing home Dan Gladden. Many writers consider it one of the best Game 7s ever played.
Luis Gonzalez Blooper Beats Mariano Rivera in 2001
The Diamondbacks and Yankees entered the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 in 2001 with the score tied at 2-2 and Mariano Rivera on the mound. Arizona loaded the bases with one out, the infield stood in, and Luis Gonzalez lifted a soft single over the drawn-in infield.
Jay Bell scored the winning run in a 3-2 victory. Randy Johnson had pitched in relief the night after starting Game 6, and he and Curt Schilling shared the MVP award.
David Freese Rescues the Cardinals Twice in 2011
The Cardinals twice stood one strike from elimination in Game 6 of the 2011 Series against the Rangers. David Freese tripled in the ninth to tie it, and Lance Berkman tied it again in the 10th after Texas had retaken the lead.
Freese then led off the 11th with a homer to center field for a 10-9 St. Louis win.
The Cardinals won Game 7 the following night, and Freese was named MVP of the Series.
The Rain Delay That Rescued the 2016 Cubs
The Cubs and Indians were tied 6-6 after nine innings in Game 7 of the 2016 Series, a game that Rajai Davis had forced into extras with an eighth-inning two-run homer. A rain delay of 17 minutes followed, and Chicago players held a meeting in the weight room.
In the 10th, Ben Zobrist doubled to put the Cubs ahead, and they held on for an 8-7 win. It ended a championship drought for the Cubs that had lasted since 1908.
Freddie Freeman’s Walk-Off Grand Slam in 2024
The Dodgers and Yankees were tied 2-2 after nine innings in Game 1 of the 2024 Series at Dodger Stadium. The Yankees took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 10th, leaving Los Angeles down to its last out in the bottom half.
With the bases loaded, Freddie Freeman drove a pitch from Nestor Cortes over the right-field wall for a 6-3 win. It was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
The Dodgers closed out the Yankees in five games, and Freeman was named MVP.
Why October Outlasts the Box Score
Almost every moment here turned on a margin so thin that it could have gone the other way. A dropped fly, a drive that stayed fair by inches, a bloop that fell just beyond a shortstop.
Fans do not remember these Series by their averages; they remember the single instant when the result seemed to hang in the air.
That is why World Series memories are handed down like family stories. Fathers describe the catch, children describe the homer, and both versions get a little better with time.
Baseball offers hundreds of games each year, yet it is this small handful of nights that fans still bring up.
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