If These Walls Could Talk: Los Angeles Dodgers by Mitchell Houston;

Author:Mitchell, Houston;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2014-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

Ozzie and Jack

After a mediocre 1984 season, the Dodgers rebounded to win the NL West in 1985 and played the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series.

The Dodgers won Games 1 and 2 at home and seemed to be World Series bound. This was the first year that the Championship Series in both leagues was a best-of-seven instead of a best-of-five, so the Cardinals could still lose one more game and stay alive.

They didn’t lose again.

The Cardinals won Games 3 and 4 to set up a pivotal Game 5 in St. Louis. With the score tied 2–2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers brought in their closer, Tom Niedenfuer, who retired Willie McGee on a pop fly to third to start the inning.

That brought up Ozzie Smith. Smith was the greatest defensive shortstop in baseball history, but he wasn’t known for his bat. He certainly wasn’t known for his power. The switch-hitting Smith batted left-handed against Niedenfuer, and it was quickly pointed out during the broadcast that Smith had never hit a home run batting left-handed during his entire eight-season major league career to that point.

Smith decided the time was ripe to change that.

On a 1–2 pitch, Smith lined a ball down the right-field line that barely cleared the fence for an improbable home run and a 3–2 Cardinals victory.

In 2005, Cardinals fans voted Smith’s homer as the greatest moment in Busch Stadium history.

“What can you do? It happened,” Niedenfuer said in a 2010 interview. “Looking back on it, it’s a very proud feeling that your manager had enough confidence in you to be the guy he put in that situation. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world because I loved being out there. But when it happened, all I could think was I let the team down.

“The pitch was down and in instead of up and in. And when you see the highlights, it cleared the fence by about 6".”

But Niedenfuer wasn’t done giving up memorable home runs in that series.

Game 6 was back at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers took a 5–4 lead in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a solo home run from Mike Marshall. Niedenfuer, who relieved Orel Hershiser in the seventh inning, was on the mound again in the top of the ninth. After striking out Cesar Cedeno, he gave up a single to McGee and walked Smith. Tommy Herr grounded to first, putting runners on second and third with two out and the Cardinals’ most dangerous hitter, Jack Clark, due up.

It seemed to be a situation that demanded an intentional walk. Manager Tommy Lasorda didn’t order one, though. On the first pitch, Clark homered over the left-field fence, giving the Cardinals a 7–5 lead and ripping the heart out of the Dodgers, who went down meekly in the bottom of the ninth as the Cardinals advanced to the World Series.

To this day, Lasorda defends his decision not to walk Clark and criticizes all the second-guessers. “A second-guesser is someone who doesn’t know anything about the first guess.

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