Giants are Champs; Playoff Droughts

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on winning their second title in three years. Did you know that half the teams in MLB have been to the playoffs in the last two years? A quick list I worked up:

Years
Since Team
  27   KC
  20   PIT
  19   TOR
  11   SEA
   9   MIA
   7   HOU
   6   SD, NYM
   5   CLE
   4   CHC, CWS
   3   LAD, COL, LAA, BOS
   2   MIN
   1   MIL, ARI, TB, PHI
   0   WAS, BAL, CIN, TEX, OAK, ATL, DET, NYY, STL, SF

Not only that, but 20 out of 30 teams have been in the LCS in the last ten years.

Kiss it Goodbye! Pirates Win 1960 World Series

Like many Pirate fans I was excited when it was announced that the previously thought lost footage of game seven of the 1960 World Series would be aired this winter. As I always do for any major Pittsburgh related sports event I got together with my dad to watch the rebroadcast. Dad was 13 at the time of the game and had listened to most of it on a transistor radio while at school that day. It was a treat that we could both watch this for the first time.

Some highlights:

Early in the game
Dad (trying to be a wiseguy): “Hey look, no DH.”
Me (trying to out-wiseguy him): “Of course. Its in a National League Park.”

Dad : “There sure is a lot of bunting.”

As Joe Christopher pinch runs for Smokey Burgess in the bottom of the 7th
Dad : “He’s from the Virgin Islands. Really fast.”
Mel Allen half a second later repeats this almost verbatim.
Dad : “I wrote Mel Allen’s script.”

Also great was hearing him call out the nicknames of the old players: “There’s Quail!” “They call him Moose.”

Knowing what to expect didn’t make it any less exciting. We cheered when Maz won it.

Even for a winner-takes-all, last-game-for-the-championship the amount of over managing was absurd. This morning as I read through my twitter feed from last night it was like watching it all over again with a group of friends. Plus, thanks to Paul Lukas at UniWatch, I was linked to some great photos and illustrations of the 1960 Pirates.

I’m sure you all enjoyed the show as much as my dad and I did. Now let’s hope the current crew can make this happen again as soon as possible.