Shocktober: The Biggest Upsets in World Series History by Jonathan Weeks ➱ Book Tour with Guest Post & Giveaway

 Shocktober: The Biggest Upsets in World Series History

Jonathan Weeks

 

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GENRE:  Sports History

 

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BLURB:

 

Mays’s spectacular catch in 1954, Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off homer in 1960, and Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit blast in 1988 are just a few of the memorable moments that have dominated highlight reels. The outcome of the Series has not always been terribly surprising—especially during the late 1940s and early 1950s when the Yankees captured five consecutive championships, breaking their previous record of four straight titles from 1936 to 1939. But despite its predictability at times, the Fall Classic has taken many unexpected turns. The 1906 Cubs lost to the weak-hitting White Sox after establishing a new regular season record for

wins. The 1955 Dodgers avenged seven prior October failures with an improbable victory over the seemingly invincible Yankees. And in 1969, the Mets finally shed their image as “loveable losers,” dethroning the powerful Orioles. In more than a century of World Series plays, a number of similar scenarios have emerged; twenty-two of those stories are told in Shocktober.

 

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EXCERPT  

Game 1 was held at Dodger Stadium with 56,000 fans in attendance. Since Hershiser had pitched in Game 7 of the NLCS, he was unavailable for the Series opener. Lasorda was forced to send rookie right-hander Tim Belcher to the mound while LaRussa had the luxury of starting a well-rested Dave Stewart. Perhaps feeling the pressure of the moment, Stewart hit Sax with the first pitch he threw, balked him to second base, and served up a two-run homer to Mickey Hatcher. Hatcher got the L.A. crowd worked up by rounding the bases at full speed. This prompted broadcaster Vin Scully to joke: “He’s a Saturday Evening Post character.” Regaining his composure, Stewart yielded just one more run over the next seven innings. Belcher had a rough go of it, staking the A’s to a 4-2 lead in the top of the second. The big blow was struck by Canseco—a grand slam to deep center field with two outs. The monster blast reportedly hit an NBC camera, leaving a dent. With the A’s nursing a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the ninth, the legend of Kirk Gibson was born.

 

Eckersley was summoned to close out the game for Oakland. He retired the first two batters before issuing a walk to pinch-hitter Mike Davis. Gibson, who was suffering from a pulled hamstring and strained knee ligaments, had been in street clothes at the start of the game. After a pair of cortisone shots, he was still limping, but feeling less pain. With the Dodgers trailing in the late innings, he pulled on his uniform and shuffled to the batting cage beneath the stadium for some practice swings. Summoned to pinch-hit for Alejandro Pena, he worked the count full. By his own admission, he was hoping at best for a blooper over the head of Oakland shortstop Walt Weiss. Essentially swinging on one leg, the ailing slugger did much better than that, pounding a backdoor slider into the right field bleachers for a walk-off homer.

 

“First of all, it was like almost some kind of foolish thing to go up there and hit because of the shape I was in,” Gibson reminisced years later. “...I remember when I was rounding the bases, my parents went through my mind. Throughout my career, there were a lot of doubters, a lot of people who directed a lot of criticism at me. People would say things to my dad, and initially, early in my career, they had to defend me. I told them, ‘You guys don’t have to defend me. I’m going to bust it and I’m going to fail sometimes. But we’ll have a laugh some day [and] it will all be worth it.’ When I [hit that home run], I thought, ‘This is the moment.’” Gibson’s moment—which came in his only at-bat of the Series—has appeared in virtually every October highlight anthology ever since. In 2016, Eckersley said he felt honored to be a part of Gibson’s achievement. “I’ve always had a respect for Kirk—the kind of player he was. And for something like that to happen to me, in that moment in baseball, was incredible...I can step away from that and appreciate it because I love this game.” 

 

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Guest Post

What are the pros and cons of writing in your genre?

Being a sportswriter does have its advantages. First and foremost, you get to do more than just sit by and watch. You get to actively voice your opinions about the sport of your choice (which for me is baseball). The game of baseball has changed dramatically over the years—for better and for worse. In the old days, pitchers were allowed to apply foreign substances to the ball (such as saliva, tobacco juice, and slippery elm bark). As a result, there were fewer home runs. Teams moved runners around the basepaths the hard way—by bunting, stealing, and sacrificing. Players were tougher and more resilient, continuing to play even when they were hurt. Pitchers were expected to go all nine innings if they were able and were often asked to pitch with little or no rest between assignments. They did this willingly, considering it a matter of pride.

Nowadays, it’s all about the home run. We see fewer steals and bunting is a fairly rare occurrence. Pitchers are pampered by managers, who rarely require them to throw more than five or six innings at a time. They are removed from games at the slightest sign of discomfort. Player contracts are out of control with even ordinary players expecting to sign multi-year deals worth tens of millions of dollars. It’s a far cry from the days of Babe Ruth, who was making the equivalent of about $315,000 per year when he first joined the Yankees. Nowadays, players change teams regularly, going wherever they can secure the largest paycheck.     

 The cons of sports writing—especially when you are putting together a full-length book—have always been the same. Editing and fact-checking are tedious. Although most sources agree on the numbers, there are many conflicting reports regarding assorted happenings on the diamond. For instance, nearly 200 years after the first official game took place in Hoboken, New Jersey, no one seems to agree on the specific origins of the sport. Sorting fact from myth can be an arduous task for a baseball researcher. And inaccuracies abound—even in modern sports writing—so it’s fairly easy to get the details wrong.  

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Jonathan Weeks has written several sports biographies and two novels, one of which was a posthumous collaboration with his late father. He grew up in the Capital District region of New York State and currently works in the mental health field.

 

BLOG: http://www.jonathanweeks.blogspot.com

GOODREADS AUTHOR PAGE:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/5862273.Jonathan_Weeks

 

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 GIVEAWAY  

 Jonathan Weeks will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

  

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