Felipe Alou:
“The good Lord heard my prayer”
Oct. 3, 1962
In his lifetime
of baseball, Felipe Alou played in 2,082 major league contests and
managed more than 2,000 more. His games in high school, college,
the minor leagues, winter ball and spring training account for at
least another thousand. Only once, though, has the devout
Christian prayed for his team to win a game.
That occurred on
Oct. 3, 1962, when the National League pennant race came down to a
single game between the Giants and the Dodgers and a ninth inning
comeback for the ages.
“That
season was a great comeback and that game was a great comeback,”
Alou said. “We arrived in the top of the ninth inning trailing,
4-2. I knew I was going to bat in that inning. As soon as the
bottom of the eighth was over, I actually went to the clubhouse to
pray and to ask God to help us…”
Rod Beck:
“This is who I am”
Sept. 18, 1997
Before the
Candlestick epic of Sept. 18, 1997, an eight-year-old girl behind
the
San Francisco
dugout called out to manager Dusty Baker.
“Dusty, can I
talk to you?” asked the young Giants fan. When Baker turned to
speak to her, the little girl begged the skipper: “Dusty,
whatever happens today, whatever you do, don’t put in Rod
Beck!”
One could
understand why Beck believed he deserved greater respect. The
Giants had counted on him to nail down their wins for five years,
and the long-haired closer with the menacing scowl had rarely let
them down…
Beck got ahead of
Mike Piazza, 1-2, and threw a splitter low and off the plate.
Piazza dug it out and blooped a single to right, to the uneasy
crowd’s dismay.
Grumbling
increased when Eric Karros followed with a single on the left
field line. After Raul Mondesi hit another single,
Los Angeles
had loaded the bases with no one out.
A nightmare was
unfolding and
San Francisco
’s season hung by a thread. In full revolt, fans booed loud and
hard enough to knock a thinner pitcher off the mound.
“There was no
time for doubt. I had to find a way to get out of it,” Beck
said. “One run was not an option. I felt if I gave up one run, I
might as well give them all. I just knew I had to get them
out…”
Brian
Dallimore: “A magical day”
April 30, 2004
In the early
moments of San Francisco’s contest on April 30, 2004, there
was no sign that a lifetime dream was about to wonderfully come
true. In fact, an ugly loss in the making prompted groans
throughout the ballpark.
But while the
game appeared discouraging, close observers of the team saw one
point of interest: the arrival of a minor leaguer who’d been
tearing up the Pacific Coast League. After second baseman Ray
Durham pulled a hamstring, the Giants called up Brian Dallimore
from their Class AAA affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies.
Minor league
clubs don’t typically employ farm hands already 30 years old,
and big league teams promote them even less often. But Dallimore
wasn’t a typical minor leaguer. The infielder had won the
Pacific Coast League batting championship in 2003, hitting .352,
and when
San Francisco
called him up in 2004, he was batting a gaudy .375.
Down 9-2 in the
bottom of the second, the Giants managed to put some runners on
base as Neifi Perez coaxed a walk, Yorvit Torrealba doubled to
right, and
Florida
starter Dontrelle Willis hit Dustan Mohr with a pitch. Then
Jeffrey Hammonds singled in a run, leaving the bases loaded as
San Francisco
trailed 9-3.
Dallimore came to
the plate against Willis, the 2003 All-Star and Rookie of the
Year. Willis threw a first-pitch slider. Dallimore swung and
connected. The ball flew to left field, deep enough to score
Torrealba from third, he thought.
“I remember
distinctly saying to myself, ‘Yes, sacrifice fly.’ I’d done
my job, I didn’t make a mistake,” he said. “That’s what I
was looking to do at that point. I knew I hit it OK.” As he ran
to first, Dallimore saw left fielder Wil Cordero turn his back to
the infield and run for the fence…
