A Band, a Sailor, and a Song

A Band, a Sailor, and a Song (1918)

The war forced the season to end by Labor Day, making 1918 the only World Series played entirely in September. Game 1 at Comiskey Park drew fewer than 20,000 people to a 1-0 pitching duel. Then, during the seventh inning stretch, a Navy band from the Great Lakes station started playing "The Star Spangled Banner." Red Sox third baseman Fred Thomas, on furlough from that station, turned toward the flag and saluted. Players took off their caps. The crowd found the melody, and by the last note the whole park was singing. The New York Times led its story with that, not the score. It had been played at ballgames before, but never at a World Series, and never like this. Congress made it the anthem thirteen years later.

The Best Day Nobody Saw (1961)

Lee Thomas went 5 for 5 in the opener at Kansas City and 4 for 6 in the nightcap, with three home runs and eight runs driven in. Nine hits in a doubleheader tied the major league record. The Angels lost both games anyway, dropping the nightcap 13-12 in front of 4,692 people. He never had another day at the plate like it.

Disco Dan Dances Home (1978)

The Twins loaded the bases in the seventh, down 4-0, when Bombo Rivera singled to center. Dan Ford, coming from third, turned around and jogged backward toward the plate, waving Jose Morales along. Morales touched home. Ford had not touched it at all. The runner who passes the man ahead of him is out, so Morales was erased and a run vanished. Ford went back and stepped on the plate. Minnesota lost by one.

The Spaceman at 63 (2010)

Bill Lee won 119 games for Boston and Montreal and last pitched in the majors in 1982. Twenty-eight years later he signed a one-game contract with the Brockton Rox of the Can-Am League and beat Worcester, giving up two runs over 5 1/3 innings with no walks. It made him the oldest man to win a professional game. Cooperstown keeps his cap and the ball. He broke his own record at 65.