PHOENIX -- Sometimes it's a best-of-one.
This will be the 34th Game 7 in World Series history, games filled with heroes and goats, legends and myths.
There were three consecutive Game 7s from 1985 to '87, but since then there have been only two, and both went extra innings: Jack Morris outdueling John Smoltz in 1991 as the Twins beat the Braves 1-0 in 10 innings; and the Marlins rallying in the bottom of the ninth and then beating the Indians 3-2 in 11 innings in 1997.
With Roger Clemens facing Curt Schilling -- only the sixth Game 7 matchup featuring two 20-game winners -- after a memorable first six games of this World Series, this has the makings of an all-time classic.
Let's have some fun and look into the memorable history of Game 7.
Biggest heroes
1. Bill Mazeroski, 1960 Pirates. The only man ever to end Game 7 of the World Series with a home run, Maz's bottom-of-the-ninth blast gave the Pirates a 10-9 win over the Yankees.
2. Johnny Podres, 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. Brooklyn had lost to the hated Yankees in 1941, '47,' 49, '52 and '53. The Dodgers had lost in 1916 and '20 as well. But, pitching in Yankee Stadium, the 22-year-old left-hander (who had gone just 9-10 during the regular season) finally delivered Brooklyn its World Series dream, scattering eight hits to beat the Yankees 2-0.
3. Jack Morris, 1991 Twins. Others have pitched shutouts in Game 7, but Morris had to pitch 10 innings for his win, capping off the most exciting World Series of all time.
4. Walter Johnson, 1924 Senators. At age 36, the Big Train -- perhaps the greatest pitcher ever -- finally reached the Fall Classic. But he lost Games 1 and 5. When the Senators tied up Game 7 in the eighth against the New York Giants, Johnson came on in the ninth and pitched four scoreless innings of relief as Washington finally won, 4-3 in 12 innings.
5. Lew Burdette, 1957 Milwaukee Braves. Burdette beat the Yankees 4-2 in Game 2. He won 1-0 in Game 5. In Game 7, Braves manager went with Burdette on two days' rest against Warren Spahn. He won again, 5-0.
Biggest goats
1. Fred Snodgrass, 1912 New York Giants. Snodgrass muffed a flyball in the 10th inning, leading to the winning run scoring for the Red Sox in a 3-2 win.
2. Tony Fernandez, 1997 Indians. Fernandez let a routine groundball -- one that would have likely ended the 11th inning with a double play -- slip through his legs and the Marlins went on to score the winning run.
3. Lonnie Smith, 1991 Braves. With the game tied 0-0 against the Twins, Smith singled to lead off the eighth. Terry Pendleton doubled to deep left-center, a hit that should have easily scored Smith. However, Smith lost the ball and fell for second baseman Chuck Knoblauch's deke. He had to stop at third and Morris escaped the jam, getting Sid Bream to ground into a 3-2-3 double play.
4. Johnny Pesky, 1946 Red Sox. The Cardinals and Red Sox were tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth with Enos Slaughter on first base with two outs. Harry Walker doubled into left-center (the myth-makers say it was a single, but, he was credited with a double) but Slaughter didn't stop at third. Pesky, the Boston shortstop, hesitated on his relay throw and then threw wide as Country scored the winning run.
5. Babe Ruth, 1926 Yankees. The Cardinals led 3-2 in the ninth when Ruth drew a two-out walk. With cleanup hitter Bob Meusel up, Ruth tried to steal second. Catcher Bob O'Farrell threw him out. Series over.
Truth or legend?
Pete Alexander was on the mound when Ruth was caught stealing and that's only part of the Game 7 story from 1926. Alexander, 39, had pitched a complete-game victory in Game 6 and, as the story goes, had a drink or eight afterwards to celebrate. But manager Rogers Hornsby summoned Ol' Pete from the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs and the bases loaded and St. Louis clinging to that one-run lead.
Tony Lazzeri lined a 1-1 pitch just foul down the third-base line. Alexander, picked up on waivers from the Cubs in June, then fanned him to end the inning. Some say Alexander was hungover when he came in. Ol' Pete always contended he didn't celebrate late into the night, because Hornsby had said he may be used.
Shutouts galore
Don't be surprised if Clemens or Schlling tosses a shutout. In nine of the previous 33 Game 7s, that's exactly what happened. We mentioned Morris, Podres and Burdette. The others:
Babe Adams, 1909 Pirates. The rookie blanked the Tigers 8-0 for his third complete-game win of the Series.
Dizzy Dean, 1934 Cardinals. Diz, who won 30 games that year, pitched a six-hitter as the Cards whipped the Tigers 11-0.
Johnny Kucks, 1956 Yankees. Kucks pitched a three-hitter and Yogi Berra hit two home runs as New York walloped Brooklyn 9-0.
Ralph Terry, 1962 Yankees. Terry, who served up Mazeroski's homer in 1960, beat Jack Sanford and the Giants 1-0. In the bottom of the ninth, Matt Alou reached on a bunt single and Willie Mays doubled with two outs, with Roger Maris making a good play to hold Alou at third. Willie McCovey then lined out to second baseman Bobby Richardson to end the game. Two inches higher and the Giants win.
Sandy Koufax, 1965 Dodgers. Koufax came back on two days' rest and beat the Twins 2-0 (his second straight shutout), allowing three hits while fanning 10.
Bret Saberhagen, 1985 Royals. The Royals had won Game 6 with two runs in the bottom of the ninth, setting up 20-game winners Saberhagen and John Tudor of the Cardinals for Game 7. The 21-year-old Saberhagen pitched a five-hitter as Kansas City won 11-0.
Gettin' ugly
Two of the above games featured ugly on-field incidents. In 1934 at Tiger Stadium (where the Cardinals had also won Game 6), Joe Medwick tripled in the sixth inning to make it 8-0 and slid hard into third baseman Marv Owen. When he went out to left field, Tiger fans pelted him with bottles, fruit and other debris. Commissioner Landis ordered Medwick to come out of the game.
In 1985, Whitey Herzog and the Cardinals embarrasingly self-destructed on more than the scoreboard. During a six-run fifth, Herzog and pitcher Joaquin Andujar were ejected in a stormy scene with the umpires.
Best pitching matchups
As mentioned, Clemens-Schilling is just the sixth matchup of 20-game winners. While Clemens is one of the greatest pitchers ever and a surefire Hall of Famer, Schilling has been a very good pitcher having a great year. He's unlikely to reach the Hall. Of those 20-game winner matchups, none featured two Hall of Famers (Christy Mathewson in 1912 and Hal Newhouser in 1945 are Hall of Famers).
Only one Game 7 has featured two starters who were both elected to the Hall of Fame: the 1926 game with Jesse Haines (Cardinals) and Waite Hoyt (Yankees). Both of them are fringe Hall of Famers, however; Haines is one of the worst players in Cooperstown. Jim Kaat, who opposed Sandy Koufax in 1965, is a fringe candidate for the Veterans Committee.
Only two games have featured two starters who both would win 200 games in their careers. The 1940 game featured Paul Derringer (223) and Bobo Newsom (211) and 1968 game featured Bob Gibson (254) and Mickey Lolich (217).
The game with the two pitchers who were most dominant during the regular season? I'd rank Clemens-Schilling second, behind the 1985 matchup of Saberhagen vs. Tudor. Saberhagen won the AL Cy Young that year while Tudor went 21-8, 1.93 (and won 20 of his last 21 decisions) in finishing second to Dwight Gooden in the NL Cy Young vote. The 1967 game featured Gibson (who had been hurt and won only 13 games) and AL Cy Young winner Jim Lonborg of Boston.
Two Game 7s not remembered because of Game 6
1975: Reds 4, Red Sox 3
The Red Sox scored three in the third off Don Gullett for a 3-0 lead, but Tony Perez hit a two-run homer off Bill Lee's blooper pitch in the sixth. The Reds tied it in the seventh. The winning run came against rookie reliever Jim Burton in the top of the ninth. Ken Griffey Sr. walked and reached third on a sacrifice and groundout. After Pete Rose walked, Joe Morgan singled in the winning run with a blooper to center.
1986: Mets 8, Red Sox 5
After blowing Game 6, the Red Sox led 3-0 entering the bottom of the sixth. The Mets scored three off Bruce Hurst to tie it. Game 6 loser Calvin Schiraldi (the Byung-Hyun Kim of his day) came on in the seventh and Ray Knight greeted him with a go-ahead homer. The Mets went ahead 6-3 but the Red Sox made it 6-5 in the eighth and had a runner on second with no outs. But they couldn't score and New York added two more runs.
Random factoids
Only three pitchers have started Game 7 more than once: Bob Gibson (who did it three times and won twice) and Lew Burdette and Don Larsen, who faced each other in 1957 and 1958.
Five rookies have started Game 7: Babe Adams, 1909 Pirates (won); Joe Black, 1952 Dodgers (lost 4-2; Black had been a reliever most of the year, but started three times in the Series); Mel Stottlemyre, 1964 Yankees (lost 7-5); Joe Magrane, 1987 Cardinals (no decision in 4-2 loss); Jaret Wright, 1997 Indians (no-decision in 3-2 loss).
Only one team ever entered the ninth inning of Game 7 with a lead and lost the game. The 1997 Indians led the Marlins 2-1, but Florida tied the game with a run off Jose Mesa.
Bill Skowron of the 1956 Yankees hit the only Game 7 grand slam.
Best relief outing in Game 7? Try Joe Page of the '47 Yankees, who pitched five innings of one-hit relief as the Yankees beat the Dodgers 5-2.
Top five greatest games
5. 1997: Marlins 3, Indians 2 (11 innings)
Cleveland led 2-0 when Bobby Bonilla homered off Wright in the seventh to make it 2-1. The Marlins tied it in the bottom of the ninth, with Craig Counsell's sacrifice tying it up. In the 11th, Bonilla singled off Charles Nagy, Fernandez made his error and Edgar Renteria delivered a two-out, bases-loaded single to win it.
4. 1946: Cardinals 4, Red Sox 3
St. Louis led 3-1 in the eighth as starter Murry Dickson had allowed only one hit since the first. But Boston got two pinch-hits to knock out Dickson Harry Brecheen, who had won Games 2 and 6, came on in relief and got two outs but gave up a two-run double to Dom DiMaggio to tie the game and then retired Ted Williams on a pop-up. St. Louis scored in the bottom of the eighth when Slaughter beat Pesky's throw home. The Red Sox opened the ninth with singles from Rudy York and Bobby Doerr. A forceout put runners at first and third, but Brecheen got a pop out and groundout to win the game.
3. 1924: Senators 4, Giants 3 (12 innings)
It wasn't a well-played game (the teams combined for seven errors), but was the longest Game 7 ever. Washington led 1-0 when New York scored three in the sixth. But Washington tied it in the bottom of the eighth when player/manager Bucky Harris hit a bad-hop two-run single over third baseman Fred Lindstrom. Walter Johnson came on in relief and shut the Giants down for four innings. The winning run came when Muddy Ruel doubled with one out -- after catcher Hank Gowdy had stumbled on his mask chasing a foul pop and dropped the ball. Johnson reached on an error to put runners at first and second. Earl McNeely then grounded to third -- and the ball took another bad hop over Lindstrom's head for the Series-winning run.
2. 1991: Twins 1, Braves 0 (10 innings)
A World Series that featured three extra-inning games, five games decided by one run and four games won in the final at-bat, ended with Morris going the distance with his famous gem. The winning scored when Dan Gladden blooped a hustle double into left-center and scored on Gene Larkin's single.
And the best ever ...
1960: Pirates 10, Yankees 9
Shades of 2001. New York outscored Pittsburgh 55-27 and outhit the Pirates 91-60. But Pittsburgh won all the close games, including a riveting back-and-forth Game 7. The Pirates led 4-0 after two, but New York scored one in the fifth, four in the sixth and two in the eighth to lead 7-4. Yankees shortstop Tony Kubek was knocked out of the game in the bottom of the eighth when a groundball bounced off his throat. New York led 7-6 when Hal Smith, who had replaced starting catcher Smokey Burgess in the eighth after Burgess had been pinch-run for, belted a three-run homer to give Pittsburgh a 9-7 lead.
Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh brought in 18-game winner Bob Friend, the Game 6 starter, to protect the 9-7 lead. But he gave up two hits and Harvey Haddix gave up an RBI single to Mickey Mantle. A key play followed when Yogi Berra grounded sharply to first baseman Rocky Nelson, who stepped on first for the second out. Mantle, knowing he couldn't reach second, scurried back to first (the force was now off) and avoided Nelson's tag as the tying run scored.
Ralph Terry, who had finally gotten the final out of the eighth, pitched to Bill Mazeroski leading off the bottom of the ninth.
Ball one. Home run over the left-field wall at Forbes Field.
World Series champions.
