Monday, September 22, 2008

Top 5 World Series Teams


Top Lady


1) 1982 St. Louis Cardinals
Ozzie, Willie, Vince, Whitey, Forsch, Sutter, Tommy Herr, Keith Hernandez, and those powder-blue uniforms made for one of the best series teams of all time. Every other house in St. Louis has a VHS tape of this series sitting around.

2) 2006 St. Louis Cardinals
It was actually the NLCS against the Mets that made this team memorable for me, before they took down the Tigers in a five-game series. Yadier Molina’s game-winning home run in the 9th inning of Game 7 was the moment of a lifetime for thousands of Cardinal fans.

3) 1974 Oakland A’s
This was the A’s third consecutive WS win, qualifying the team for “dynasty” status, despite lots of intra-player theatrics. Rollie Fingers matched the bar set high by this era of excellent pitching, and certainly got help from Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson. However, the 1974 Oakland A’s will most likely be forever remembered for the true awesomeness of their mustaches.

4) 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates
Definitely a little team that could, the ’79 Buccos were led by the spirit of Roberto Clemente and the leadership of MVP Pops Stargell. Their earnest love for each other and their city was rivaled only by the sheer ridiculousness of their uniform design.

5) 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers
Featuring all-stars Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Pee Wee Reese, and Jackie Robinson, Dem Bums miraculously won this series against the Yankees—their first WS win since 1900, and their last before the team moved to L.A.


Top Guy

1) 1975 Cincinnati Reds

The 1975 World Series is generally considered the greatest ever played. There was history—the Reds were the first professional baseball team, the Red Sox one of the sport’s most storied franchises. There were stars—Johnny Bench and Pete Rose for the Reds, Carlton Fisk and Carl Yastrzemski for the Red Sox. And there was drama—Fisk waving a home run ball fair during the 12th inning of game six. In the end, the mighty Big Red Machine won the series, then backed up their title with a sweep of the New York Yankees in 1976.

2) 1986 New York Mets
This was the year I got into baseball, and the Mets were my team. They easily won their division, beat the brutally tough Houston Astros in the National League Championship Series, then compounded the misery of the Red Sox by winning games six and seven following Bill Buckner’s agony-of-defeat-worthy error. Led by young stars Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry, this Mets team was supposed to become a dynasty. Instead, it will go down as a one-hit wonder.

3) 1998 New York Yankees
Like almost everyone who doesn’t call the Bronx home, I hate the Yankees. But the 1998 team was close to perfect. It won a then-record 114 regular season games, then backed it up with an 11-2 playoff record and a World Series sweep against an overmatched San Diego Padres. This also was the year that David Wells pitched his perfect game.

4) 1948 Cleveland Indians
Cleveland’s last championship is most noteworthy because it was the first time black athletes won a World Series title. Cleveland won it with black stars Larry Doby and Satchel Paige.

5) 1924 Washington Senators
Rooting for the Senators before 1924 must have been like rooting for the Kansas City Royals now. They were so putrid that one journalist quipped “Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League.” That losing tradition changed when 36-year-old Walter Johnson led the team to a fluky World Series win against the New York Giants. This team showed there is hope for everyone—maybe even the Royals.

1 comment:

comoprozac said...

I'm sorry, but I have to go with Top Guy's list on this one. You can't beat the Big Red Machine.

Interesting that the Yankees only garnered one slot and it was a team from the 90's.