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SLAM! Sports Century in Review INTERACTIVE CONTESTS ALSO ON SLAM!  |
FROM BABE TO BIG MAC, BASEBALL HITS IT BIG On that opening day of the 1900 season, Cy Young treated an overflow crowd in St. Louis to a shutout, pitching the Cardinals past Honus Wagner and the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0. "The game this afternoon will doubtless be one of the best exhibitions of the national sport ever seen in this city," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch predicted that April 19, praising the "local troupe of fly-chasers and curve-killers." Opening day 2000 will see the national pastime venturing far beyond North America. The New York Mets and Chicago Cubs start next season at the Tokyo Dome -- indoors, at night and on artificial turf -- as baseball breaks more boundaries. But Big Mac still trots 90 feet between bases, as did the Babe. The Rocket still throws from 60 feet, 6 inches, as did Rapid Robert. And the plate still has five sides -- in fact, it was changed from a square for the 1900 season. Through the Black Sox scandal, players' strikes and world wars, the game has gone on. Always a part of the country's conscience, like no other sport. "The one constant through all the years ... has been baseball," the character portrayed by James Earl Jones affirms in the movie "Field of Dreams." "America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past," he tells Kevin Costner's character. "It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again." ------ Sultan of Swat. The Splendid Splinter. Slammin' Sammy. Stan the Man. Ol' Satchel. The Big Train. Hammerin' Hank. Junior. The Georgia Peach. Dizzy. The Ryan Express. King Carl. Willie, Mickey and the Duke. More than 15,000 men have played in the majors, and that does not even begin to include the likes of Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson, stars of the Negro leagues who were not given a chance until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. So, from spitter to splitter, where to start? At Yankee Stadium, probably. Babe Ruth hit the first home run when it opened in 1923, leading the Bronx Bombers to their first World Series championship that season. Later, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson and Bucky Dent took turns winning titles in New York. Fittingly, the final game in the 1900s was played at the most famous ballpark of all, the House that Ruth Built. With Roger Clemens pitching in pinstripes, the most successful franchise of the century won its record 25th crown by sweeping Atlanta. The Yankees finished off 1999 with their second straight Series title and third in four years. Joe Torre's team once again ruled, highlighted by David Cone's perfect game last summer and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez's perfect postseason. The year also featured more Home Run Derby as Mark McGwire connected 65 times and Sammy Sosa hit 63, a season after they broke records by hitting 70 and 66, respectively. McGwire also touched off an amazing three-day run of history. In August, he hit his 500th career home run. The next night, Tony Gwynn got his 3,000th hit. The next night, Wade Boggs homered for hit No. 3,000 and knelt down to kiss home plate. The Orioles played in Havana, Ted Williams made a triumphant return to Fenway Park and Pedro Martinez dominated. Plus there was the enthralling tale of Jim Morris, the 35-year-old rookie left-hander who made his big league debut for Tampa Bay after being out of baseball for a decade. Off the field, there was plenty of action, too. In September, a failed negotiating strategy cost 22 umpires their jobs, among them popular Rich Garcia and Frank Pulli. In October, Pete Rose was voted to the All-Century team. He was given a thunderous ovation at Turner Field, grilled by Jim Gray and later backed by President Clinton. The great debate rages more than ever: Should Charlie Hustle be allowed in the Hall of Fame? ------ The Shot Heard 'Round the World. The Called Shot. Willie Mays' catch. The Merkle Boner. Don Larsen's perfect game. Bill Buckner's error. Go ahead, try to pick the most memorable moment. Maybe it was Bobby Thomson's playoff home run that lifted the New York Giants over Brooklyn in 1951. Certainly that drive off the Dodgers' Ralph Branca resulted in the most replayed call, Russ Hodges screaming over and over, "The Giants win the pennant!" Seven years later, fans of both teams were silenced when the clubs bolted for the West Coast. Ask a kid in a sandlot and the answer might be a bottom-of-the-ninth homer to win Game 7 of the World Series. Bill Mazeroski hit the only one, lifting Pittsburgh over the Yankees at Forbes Field in 1960. It could be Carlton Fisk waving the ball fair in the 1975 Series. Perhaps it would be the night Harvey Haddix took a perfect game into the 13th inning. Or the time Rick Wise pitched a no-hitter and hit two home runs. ------ Murderer's Row. Big Red Machine. Gas House Gang. Whiz Kids. Miracle Mets. Hitless Wonders. There was no winner in 1994. Hard to believe they canceled the World Series that year, huh? When a players' strike ended the season in mid-August, some fans became so disgusted they never came back. The next spring, the lingering trouble cost baseball its most prized minor leaguer, Michael Jordan. Of course, labor problems and agents and $100 million contracts are all a part of the game these days. So is interleague play and the DH. There are signs, however, that the AL and NL -- as we know them -- may not last long into the new millennium. ------ .367. 2,632. 755. 4,256. 125-50. 70. Big numbers, all of them. Be it Ty Cobb's lifetime average, Cal Ripken's consecutive games, Hank Aaron's home runs or Rose's hit total, they're part of the sport's landscape. The Yankees' dream season of 1998 etched a new set of stats into the record book. McGwire's homer total shattered Roger Maris' 37-year-old record of 61 and captivated a nation. ------ The Green Monster. Ebbets Field. The Friendly Confines. Polo Grounds. Safeco Field. Chances are, fans way back could not have imagined a stadium where there would be a swimming pool right behind the outfield fence. Surely some fans at newfangled Bank One Ballpark in Arizona, though, do not know about Crosley Field in Cincinnati, where the left fielder had to run up a hill to catch fly balls. The monuments were in play at Yankee Stadium and the flagpole sat in center field at Tiger Stadium. And don't forget about old Ponce de Leon Park in Atlanta, a minor league field that had a magnolia tree in deep center. Only one player ever hit a ball into its dark green, glossy leaves -- Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews. Yet that's the promise every game and every season holds, that it might produce something startling. Perhaps an unassisted triple play in the World Series, like the one performed by Bill Wambsganss in 1920. Or an umpire losing count and letting an inning continue after the third out -- it happened in San Diego last season. Maybe even the Boston Red Sox winning their first title since 1918. From the early days when young Ronald Reagan did play-by-play recreations of Cubs games on WHO radio in Des Moines, Iowa, to modern times when fans worldwide followed their favorite team pitch-by-pitch on the Internet, baseball has been the talk of the century. Now, anyone care to guess how it will all look on opening day 2100? 
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