Hello all! Well, it was just a short two months ago we were talking about baseball getting underway. And now, it's playoff time! Just about the only thing that has gone according to plan in this bizarre year, is that Major League Baseball's 2020 edition of its postseason will indeed be going down come October. And this season, with both baseball and its union agreeing upon an expanded playoff format, we'll be getting not only an extra round of postseason play, but six more participating teams as well. While it is far from a perfect system (due mainly to the fact there will be far more teams at just a .500 record or lower involved, sort of diluting the whole 'best of the best' mantra postseasons live by), it's here, and I can't be more excited!

This blog post will be the fifth entry in my New York Public Library MLB Postseason Home Runs You May Have Forgotten series. I started this back in 2015, skipped 2016 (I can't remember why!), but have since done a blog post each October in anticipation of some exciting postseason games. We'll be crowning a new champion in 2020 with last year's winners the Washington Nationals failing to achieve a postseason berth this time around. And it's certainly going to be interesting with no fans allowed to attend (as of this writing at least, with the commissioner floating the idea earlier this month of a limited number of fans being allowed to attend these bubble-contained playoff games). I have no idea what we're in store for, but I do know we're going to have some fun and exciting times ahead of us! Without further ado, let's go back in our time machine and get hyped up for what's about to come!

1. Joey Cora, 1995 American League Division Series, Game 5

Let's open this blog post with a home run that opened the scoring to one of the most memorable postseason ballgames ever. The final game of the 1995 ALDS showdown between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees was everything you could possibly want in a playoff game. And that series sure was a dramatic one, filled with great moments, such as Don Mattingly's long-awaited first postseason home run, the first of many key home runs Jim Leyritz would hit throughout 1990s playoff baseball, and Edgar Martinez staving off elimination for his ballclub with a late game-tying grand slam in Game 4. But once Game 5 came around, the amount of memorable moments seemed to multiply. While this game is best known for "The Double" (and longtime baseball fans know that those two words are all that's needed), it had a lot of other great moments as well. You had gigantic hits from Mattingly, Ken Griffey Jr, and Randy Velarde, plus a crucial bases loaded walk that made this game the notable and unforgettable one that it was. But one moment that maybe gets lost in the shuffle a bit would be Joey Cora's solo home run in the 3rd to give the Mariners the initial 1-0 lead that they had. Cora was the furthest thing from a power threat over the course of his 11-year big league career (he hit only 30 long balls in over 4,200+ plate appearances in the big leagues), but he picked a great time to jack his first and only career postseason homer. Without that home run, this game never makes it to extra innings, what is known forever in baseball lore as The Double probably never happens, and maybe the end result of the 1995 postseason is different altogether. Timing is everything Joey!

Recommended reading: Baseball's Greatest Series: Yankees, Mariners, and the 1995 Matchup That Changed History by Chris Donnelly
 

2. Jimmy Ripple, 1940 World Series, Game 2

The 1940 Major League Baseball campaign was noteworthy to the Cincinnati Reds for a couple of reasons. The first being, and this one is not so nice a reason, that the Reds became the first and only team in baseball history to have a member of the active roster commit suicide while the season was in progress. That player was Wilard Hershberger, a catcher out of Lemon Cove, California, who had a .316/.356/.381 slash line in 440 career plate appearances. After dedicating the rest of the season to their departed teammate, Cincinnati ended up compiling a 100-53 record, finishing a whopping 12 games in front of the second place Brooklyn Dodgers, earning them a date in the '40 World Series against the Detroit Tigers. And what an exciting Series it was! Requiring the full seven games to determine a victor, Detroit and Cincinnati traded off victories from Game 1 throughout Game 6, before the Reds finally took Game 7 in a 2-1 nailbiter. The closest margin of victory aside from that final game was in Game 2, won 5-3 by Cincinatti. It was in that game that Reds leftfielder Jimmy Ripple took Schoolboy Rowe of the Tigers deep with a man aboard, driving in two crucial runs that allowed Cincy to reach that pivotal seventh game five days later. Ripple had a great World Series, posting a 1.011 OPS over the seven contests. He drove in runs in five of those games, none bigger than his game-tying double in the Series' final game (he'd also come around to score what would be the game's final and deciding run). While there isn't any available footage of Ripple's Game 2 blast, this video here has his Game 7 RBI double, game-winning run, and subsequent celebration by the Cincinnati ballclub after winning the World Series.

Recommended reading: Echoes of Cincinnati Reds Baseball: The Greatest Stories Ever Told by Mark Stallard.

3. Scott Spiezio, 2002 World Series, Game 6

To this day, I still don't know how the San Francisco Giants lost the 2002 World Series (my first World Series as a high schooler!). I mean, I know what happened and all, but it's still hard to believe. They had a great ballclub, powered by none other than the home run king himself, Barry Bonds. When the World Series was over, Bonds' final line read like this: .471/.700/1.294 with four home runs and 13 walks (what!?! That's an OPS of nearly 2.000!!!!!!) Those numbers are absolutely unfathomable. Bonds was at the absolute top of his game in the 2002 World Series, and was just three innings away from earning the World Series ring that ultimately eluded him throughout his career. So what happened? With the Giants up three games to two in Game 6, a game they led 5-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th, it looked as if the stars were aligned for the Giants. But not so! Scott Spiezio came to the plate for the Angels with two men on, and took Giants reliever Felix Rodriguez deep, just barely over the rightfield wall (look at that video! How did Reggie Sanders not come up with that ball with that short outfield fence!?), both cutting Anaheim's deficit to 5-3, and swinging the momentum back into their favor. One inning later, a Darin Erstad home run, and eventual-World Series MVP Troy Glaus' go-ahead two-run double beyond the reach of an outstretched Bonds gave the Halos a lead they would never relinquish, while also forcing a deciding Game 7 (which they inevitably would win for their first ever World Series title). The Angels would still be searching for their first championship however, if Spiezio didn't rise to the occasion when his team needed him!

Recommended reading: Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles by Les Standiford

4. Jason Lane, 2005 National League Championship Series, Game 4

Looking back, Jason Lane had a very interesting little career as a major leaguer. He started off as a serviceable outfielder during the Phil Garner-managed Houston Astros of the mid 2000s. After a brutal 2007 season, Lane just sort of bounced around between minor league contracts and independent baseball leagues for a while. During this time, he fiddled with the idea of becoming a pitcher as opposed to a position player (I should say he re-fiddled, since he had experience pitching during his college days at USC). Then finally, in 2014, Lane returned to The Show as a member of the San Diego Padres pitching staff. And he didn't pitch bad either! Over three games (10 and 1/3 innings pitched) Lane posted a stellar 0.87 ERA, striking out six and walking none! But it was his bat that was his calling card during Houston's 2005 run to the National League pennant. While it was the opposing Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals who had the most famous home run of that NLCS, Lane had one just as crucial. His solo shot in Game 4 was as necessary as can be, with Houston just barely edging out the Cards 2-1 in that game. Lane would also go yard in the 6th and final game of that series, helping Houston to their first pennant in franchise history.

Recommended reading: Astroball: The New Way to Win It All by Ben Reiter

5. Chris Chambliss, 1976 American League Championship Series, Game 5

Admittedly back when I was a kid, I had no idea how iconic Chris Chambliss was in New York sports history. I thought he was just some random former player who took over the role of hitting coach for the New York Mets for a portion of the 2002 season. Then I got older and realized his tenure in 2002 is really the thing people have forgotten. It was his Game 5 home run in the 1976 ALCS that stamped his name into the record books and the memory banks for all time. Chambliss' Yankees were deadlocked with the Kansas City Royals 2-2 in the deciding 5th game. Chambliss came to the plate against Royals reliever Mark Littell in the bottom of the 9th, and drilled his first offering over the wall in right. It was a walk-off home run that sent the Yankees to their first World Series since 1964. 

Recommended reading: Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s by Dan Epstein

Enjoy October, everybody!!!

Read previous posts in this series:

• 5 MLB Postseason Home Runs You May Have Forgotten: 2015
• 5 MLB Postseason Home Runs You May Have Forgotten: 2017
• 5 MLB Postseason Home Runs You May Have Forgotten: 2018
• 5 MLB Postseason Home Runs You May Have Forgotten: 2019