Post-season game-winning RBIs when behind
Posted by Andy on October 17, 2007
Using the Post-season Batting Event Finder, I searched for RBI events that ended a game when a team was behind. So for the most part, these are game-winning hits.
Believe it or not, there have been just 10 such hits in history:
Car# G# Date Series G Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
2 2 1947-10-03 WS 4 Cookie Lavagetto BRO NYY Bill Bevens down 1-2 2B b 9 12- 2 - 2 *ENDED GAME*:Double to RF; Gionfriddo Scores; Miksis Scores
3 1 1953-10-03 WS 4 Mickey Mantle NYY @BRO Clem Labine down 2-7 1B t 9 123 2 - 1 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF; Woodling Scores; Martin out at Hm/LF-C; McDougald to 2B
4 1 1972-10-07 ALCS 1 Gonzalo Marquez OAK DET Chuck Seelbach down 1-2 1B b11 12- 1 - 1 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Ground Ball thru 2B-1B); Hegan Scores; Tenace Scores/No RBI/Adv on E9 (throw to 3B)/unER
6 2 1985-10-26 WS 6 Dane Iorg KCR STL Todd Worrell down 0-1 1B b 9 123 1 1-0 2 2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Line Drive); Concepcion Scores; Sundberg Scores; Wathan to 2B
8 2 1986-10-11 NLCS 3 Lenny Dykstra NYM HOU Dave Smith down 4-5 HR b 9 -2- 1 0-1 2 2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF Line); Backman Scores
10 2 1988-10-15 WS 1 Kirk Gibson LAD OAK Dennis Eckersley down 3-4 HR b 9 -2- 2 - 2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Line Drive to Deep RF); Davis Scores
12 2 1992-10-14 NLCS 7 Francisco Cabrera ATL PIT Stan Belinda down 1-2 1B b 9 123 2 2-1 4 2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF (Line Drive to Short LF); Justice Scores/unER; Bream Scores/unER; Berryhill to 2B
15 3 1993-10-23 WS 6 Joe Carter TOR PHI Mitch Williams down 5-6 HR b 9 12- 1 2-2 5 3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Deep LF Line); Henderson Scores; Molitor Scores
17 2 1995-10-08 ALDS 5 Edgar Martinez SEA NYY Jack McDowell down 4-5 2B b11 1-3 0 0-1 2 2 *ENDED GAME*:Double to LF (Line Drive); Cora Scores; Griffey Scores
19 2 2003-10-03 NLDS 3 Ivan Rodriguez FLA SFG Tim Worrell down 2-3 1B b11 123 2 1-2 5 2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF; Gonzalez Scores/unER; Pierre Scores/unER; Castillo to 2B
Following are some notes & observations about this list.
- With the exception of the second entry, all of these plays scored at least 2 runs. Obviously, to go from behind to winning a game on one play, at least two runs need to be scored, so that makes sense.
- That second entry is the only case where the event was not a game-winning hit. Mantle hit a bases-loaded single to score one run, but Billy Martin was thrown out at home on the play to end the game. That tied the 1953 World Series at 2 games apiece between the Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the Yankees won the next 2 games to take the series.
- Also making an appearance is Kirk Gibson's homer off Dennis Eckersley to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. There are so many things to remember about that event. One was Jack Buck's call of "I don't believe what I just saw!", in my mind the most organic, spine-tingling call in baseball history, as there was no way Buck could have prepared it. We forget a couple of things, though. Oakland was very heavily favored in the '88 Series, and Gibson was terribly injured. According to Orel Hershiser, when Gibby was taking warmup hacks in the tunnel, he was shouting in pain with every swing. His homer of Eckersely was a dragon-slaying moment, and even though Gibson didn't play again in the Series, it clearly gave the Dodgers confidence to beat the A's.
- We've spoken so much about Joe Carter and his homer in 1993, and there it is again.
- Francisco Cabrera's job to win Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS is also memorable. That was a back-and-forth game and it knocked Little Barry Bonds' team out for the third year in a row. Sid Bream, a pretty good player who put together a nice little career, had his biggest moment in the sun, sliding in at home with grace and style. Cabrera didn't have much of a career, but the next year he did have a big hit off Mitch Williams to tie an NLCS game late.
- And of course, that 1995 hit by Edgar Martinez remains the biggest moment in Mariners franchise history, the one where Griffey had that goofy look on his face as he scored the winning run. That moment was the end of Don Mattingly's playing career. Might today be the start of his managerial career?
October 17th, 2007 at 8:34 am
I have to comment on Dude's one-handed shot off Dave Smith in the '86 NLCS. I think that hit, his reaction (literally skipping across the basepaths like a Little Leaguer) and the team's reaction (Backman also skipping in to score, the bench absolutely swallowing Dykstra as he cross home plate - you can see a look of slight fear in his eyes as he collides with them) was what got me into baseball for life. His comment after the game about not doing anything like that "since Strat-O-Matic" exemplified how we felt as kids watching this little guy hit an impossible shot to change the course of that playoff. I attempted to emulate that shot in RBI Baseball games on Nintendo for years. Such a surreal moment.
October 17th, 2007 at 8:42 am
And I almost forgot that it would not have happened at all this way, if not for a questionable out-of-the-basepaths non-call earlier in the inning on a Wally Backman bunt.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Also, note that brothers Todd and Tim Worrell are on this list as victimized pitchers, 18 years apart. That is just outstanding.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Mantle's hit also the only one on the road. Naturally, that follows as walkoffs can only be hit by the home team. But still what a strange, strange hit. Much like Miguel Montero oversliding the bag in Game 1 of this year's NLCS. That was a walk-off hit with the team trailing too (although no RBI, outside the scope of this list).
I could talk about this for hours. That's a great, great list. I have a living memory of seven of those hits. Really takes me back. Great job.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Again, I can't resist pointing this out -- Marquez's hit in the 72 ALCS is the only one-RBI walkoff, thanks to Al Kaline's (!!!!) throwing error trying to nail Tenace going to third. (At least, that's how I read it). It falls inside the scope of this inquiry but it also opens up a new one -- errors that ended postseason games. Naturally, uh, I can think of another ...
October 17th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Also, just to make a record of the obvious, the Lavagetto hit was the only one of the game, spoiling Bevens' no-hitter, which would have been the first in Series history. It's overshadowed by the fact the Dodgers lost. But it was the gold standard for a postseason clutch hit up to Mazeroski's home run in 1960.
October 17th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
It's cool that you were motivated to make four different interesting comments...obviously you enjoyed the post, so I've done my job!
October 17th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Indeed. Shared this with my Dad and it was a gift that kept on giving. Good work.
October 17th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Francisco Cabrera's hit is memorable to me for a number of reasons. None other than Barry Bonds tried to throw Sid Bream out at the plate, and Mike LaValliere did a great job of acting. Even though it was the bottom of the 9th of game 7 of the NLCS and the potential winning run was coming in, he stood there straight up and seemingly uninterested until the last possible second in order to try and fool Bream into thinking that the throw wasn't coming, or would be way too late. Doing that will occasionally make a runner slow up a bit. Obviously Bream wasn't fooled, and was safe, but LaValliere did all he could. And, the announcer's call was great too.
October 17th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Part of the joy of baseball for me is that every player is capable of being Mickey Mantle for an instant, for a game, or for a series.
Cookie Lavagetto was in the final year of his career, a career in which he batted .269 in about 1000 games. He lost a lot of years to WW2. He garnished one or two votes for MVP in two different years before WW2. In the 1941 WS he went 1 for 10 and in the 1947 WS he went 1 for 7. That makes him 2 for 17 with 1 of those hits being one of the most dramatic hits of World Series history.
Gonzalo Marquez was a rookie who came up in August. He went 8 for 23 that season as a sort of designated pinch-hitter. He would be traded the next year, and out of baseball just a few years later. He died at 38 years of age in a car accident. He went 2 for 3 in that ALCS, and 3 for 5 in that World Series.
Dane Iorg was a utility player at the end of his career. He never had 300 PAs in a season. But he got 2 WS rings for his efforts. He was 9 for 17 in the 1982 WS.
Francisco Cabrera was another utility player who never played more that 70 games in a season. He only played 5 seasons. He was 3 for 7 lifetime in 9 post season games, and tallied 3 RBIs.
October 17th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Great comments, everybody. It's certainly true that in baseball, more than any other sport, there is a propensity for bit players to have huge moments in the sun. It's rare in football for an unknown or part-time receiver to catch a hugely important touchdown, or rare in basketball for a bench player to hit a game-winning shot in the playoffs, etc, but you definitely see things like that in baseball fairly often.
Another example is how Dave Roberts, a good major league player but not one who will ever get a Hall of Fame vote, is fondly and widely remembered in the Boston area for his stolen base in the 2004 ALCS vs. the Yankees.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
The great excitement of baseball is the fixed line-up combined with no re-entry. Whether you like it or not, your 8th batter is up. You have a bench, that you can use sparingly and in a limited way.
In other sports, you call time out, you put in your special players for a play, then call time out and put in different players, etc. etc.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
It seems unlikely, but is PI capable of determining Game-Winning RBI? I remember in the late 1980s it became an official stat briefly, and then it got axed by MLB. I think it was an interesting stat.
I remember Eddie Murray was a season leader in the category one year.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Why don't you become a PI member and find out? 🙂
October 17th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
As soon as I have the extra $ I will be a member in perpetuity. 😀
October 18th, 2007 at 5:08 am
I'm somewhat yanking your chain on that one. I'm pretty sure that the PI can't do anything at all with regards to GWRBI. It's certainly not available as an official stat, nor is there any search option for it.
October 18th, 2007 at 5:10 am
[...] you notice that Clem Labine made both this list, and yesterday’s list of come-from-behind game-winning [...]
October 18th, 2007 at 8:06 am
GWRBI only existed "officially" in the 80's. I don't think the PI would help you recreate it, due to the somewhat odd nature of the stat (ie., a home run to lead off the game would be the GWRBI even if the game ended up 10-9, as long as the lead never changed hands - there are better criticisms against the stat itself, but to me the stat by definition would just be tough to pull from PI).
I've never signed up to officially use it either though.
October 18th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Keep in mind, before you read what I wrote below, that I am not an owner of B-R and have no financial interest in it.
What's happening here is special. Obviously you know that Sean has put in a ton of work on B-R over the years, but the PI is a whole new level of achievement in terms of putting powerful tools in the hands of all fans and media. Sean was willing to give me (as an SOTD author) a PI subscription for free, but I paid for it so I could support him. I also sponsor several pages on the main part of the site. If you like what you see here and you like how B-R is improving the fan experience, seriously consider subscribing to the PI or sponsoring a page or two.
I feel the need to repeat the disclaimer...nobody asked me to post this and I have no financial interest in this site.
October 22nd, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Also worth mentioning (it did not turn up here, because the hit was made with the score tied) -- The Philadelphia Athletics scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th of Game 5, 1929, entering that inning trailing 2-0. Mule Haas hit a two run home run, and Bing Miller doubled in Al Simmons for the deciding score.