When Sid Slid

Even as the 2012 MLB postseason rolls on, ESPN.com celebrated the 20th anniversary of an epic postseason game. Braves 3 Pirates 2. Game 7. 1992 NLCS.

Sunday was the 20th anniversary of “When Sid Slid.”  The ESPN.com feature was very nice; extremely comprehensive and well-done.

After I read the piece, I started to think about why that is such a monumental play in modern MLB history. That’s a little difficult for me, as I am biased on the topic. That night, even as baby Holly slept down the hall, I remember jumping around in my living room celebrating the play. I was so juiced by the outcome, I had to call my good friend (and fellow baseball fan, John McManus) to share the moment: “Did you see what just happened!?!?”

What happened in that moment captured our attention, I think, because it is a drama that is played out in backyards and on sandlots every day as little boys and little girls act out that drama. I can’t tell you how many times we’d draw up a last minute shot on the basketball court in my driveway. “Three seconds to go. 3-2-1! And the Shot…GOOD!!!!”

Or we’d gather in the side-yard (a.k.a. football field) of my childhood friend, Dana Scates’ house and draw up a long pass play to score the winning touchdown as time elapsed from the invisible clock!

Some kids make model cars or fashion great Lego structures. But this is how we spent our childhood in a very sports-minded neighborhood.

In real-time, it just so rarely plays out that way.

So, you can imagine folks tuning in all over the country that night to see their childhood sports fantasies unfold on the big stage.

• Bases Loaded
• Down a Run
• Two Outs
• Bottom of the Ninth
• Game 7

Probably a scenario millions of youngsters had acted out.

When the Braves came to bat in that inning that night, the picture was bleak. They were down 2-0 and hadn’t gotten much of anything going offensively all night. Then, as the Pirates traded a run for an out and then recorded a second out, the situation was even more dire as that scenario above played out.

And what’s more, the 25th man on a 25 man roster stepped to the plate with the winning run – in the form of a slow baserunner (not a speedy pinch-runner) standing on second base. So, it’s not even like a base hit in that situation is guaranteed to do much more than tie the game.

Then it happens. Crack of the bat. Base hit. Tying run scores. Potential winning run is rounding third. There WILL be a play at the plate.

Fade to black.

As you close your eyes, if you’re a baseball fan, you can see the play in slow motion in your minds eye. Runner arrives just an instant before the throw comes in from left field. Slide. Safe. Tag. Safe. Celebration.

The fact the Braves went on to lose a close World Series to Toronto in 1992 is really an afterthought. The sudden death comeback and the nature of how that all played out is what baseball fans remember about that game. Sadly, it was the last hurrah for a Pittsburgh team, with a proud baseball tradition, that has endured 20 straight losing seasons in the wake of that play.

As for the Braves, who were just two years removed from their former status as perennial cellar dwellars, they have celebrated 20 very good years in the upper tier of MLB teams with highlight after wonderful highlight. Fourteen straight division titles. Numerous future Hall of Famers. Five N.L. Championships. One World Championship.

And one epic night…when Sid slid.

JG  

Note: I would be remiss if I did not also mention that Sunday was also the 26th anniversary of when Jack Buck told St. Louis Cardinal fans to “Go Crazy, Folks” when Ozzie Smith hit the home run to win the pivotal Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS. You can click here to see a clip of the video and to here Mr. Buck’s famous play-by-play call: “Go Crazy, Folks. Go Crazy!”

(Source: ESPN)

Originally posted 10/16/2012