Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Baseball at its best

Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002 | 9:18 a.m.

IF YOU LOVE THE GAME OF BASEBALL and have been disturbed with the head games played by owners and athletes, don't give up hope. Like most Americans, I've had a gut full of players and owners treating the game as just another piece of stock in a large corporation that they own.

My attention has already turned to football. It will be tough for me to get deeply involved in baseball, with the exception of a few races, until the World Series opens later this fall. A hot series can pump me up for the opening of 2003 spring training. In between football games with nothing else to do, my leisure hours will allow time for much reading.

The best book about baseball published this year is written by John McCollister with a foreword by Willie Mays.

McCollister's "The Best Baseball Games Ever Played" is not only interesting, it's also real baseball lingo that brings to life past and present stars. The author relates what happened in the 30 games he believes are the best ever played. Game 30 was played Oct. 1, 1919, between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. Game 1 was played Oct. 13, 1960, during Game 7 of the World Series between the Yankees and Pirates.

McCollister certainly selected some great games but I might have ranked them a bit different. That's the charm of baseball because fans easily disagree over such serious matters as hitting or bunting and stealing or holding.

My favorite game related by the author was his listed as 25. It was the National League vs. American League All-Star Game played July 11, 1950. Ted Williams, my choice for player of all time, was again hitting his stride before returning to the Marines to fight in Korea.

Let McCollister give you a taste of the game: "The game got off to a roaring start in the top half of the first. With one out, Ralph Kiner -- who had slammed 54 homers the year before -- got hold of a Vic Raschi fastball and sent a screaming line drive toward the left-field wall. Ted Williams ran back toward the 375-foot mark in left-center field and snagged the ball with his gloved hand. The force of the drive and his momentum combined to send Williams crashing against the wall. Left-field umpire Doug 'Scottie' Robb raised his right arm, indicating an out. A partially dazed Williams raised his left arm and rubbed his elbow. He continued to play most of the game, in spite of the fact that his elbow throbbed in pain. X-rays taken the next day showed that Williams had actually broken his elbow; seven bone fragments were removed in the operating room two days later. That put him out of action until September 15."

The injury didn't stop Williams during that game. McCollister goes on to write, "In the top of the third, Kiner sent a low line shot to left field. Once, again, Ted Williams, his elbow pounding with pain, took away another extra-base hit when he rushed in and snared the ball just before it touched the ground. ..." Then in the fifth inning, "Ted Williams, sore elbow and all, delivered a line-drive single to right, sending home Doby with the lead run."

Williams playing injured was one of his many charms. Shortly after World War II he returned to the Red Sox and they played the Cardinals in the 1946 World Series. The author tells us, "Williams, however, sustained a serious injury prior to the World Series. Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey had arranged for his club to play two exhibition games prior to the Series, since Boston had to wait four days for the completion of the best-of-three series between St. Louis and Brooklyn. In the first game in which the Red Sox recruited some American League All-Stars to play, Williams was struck by a pitch from Washington's Mickey Hoefner. His right elbow had swollen to nearly twice its size by Game One of the Series."

What was the best baseball game McCollister ever saw? It isn't one that appears in the book but it was played June 24, 1947, between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. The author writes, "The Dodgers won the contest 4-2. Jackie Robinson scored the tie-breaking run with a steal of home off pitcher Fritz Ostermueller. Why is this, for me, the best game ever played? It was the first major-league baseball game to which my father took me."