Greatest Baseball Games by Decade

I picked one game per decade.

Merkle’s Boner (1908): The Giants beat the Cubs…or did they? Rookie Fred Merkle forgot to touch second base on the game winning hit. Cub Johnny Evers saw Merkle’s mistake, got the ball, and touched the bag for a force out. The game ended in a tie and had to be replayed. The Cubs won the replayed game and the pennant by one game over New York and Pittsburgh. Nice going Merkle!

Game 8 1912 World Series: Game 2 ended in a tie, so it forced an extra game. In Game 8, the Giants and Red Sox went overtime at Fenway. New York scored in the top of the 10th. Boston scored twice to win the World Series. The Giants suffered from mental and physical errors in the 10th and choked the game away with Christy Mathewson on the mound.

Game 7 1924 World Series: Walter Johnson got shelled in this series. He went from goat to hero in Game 7. The Senators trailed 3-1 in the eighth and destiny took over. Bucky Harris hit a ball that struck a pebble and bounced over Giant third baseman Fred Lidstrom. Two scored to tie the game. Johnson came in the game to pitch in the 9th and got the win when the Senators scored the winning run on a bad hop over Lidstrom in the twelfth.

Johnny Vander Meer throws second no-hitter (1938): On June 11, 1938, Vander Meer no hit the Braves. Four days later, he no-hit the Dodgers. No one else has tossed two no-hitters in a row.

1941 All Star Game: The American League trailed 5-4 with two out in the ninth. Ted Williams hit a three-run home run into Tiger Stadium’s upper deck to win the game 7-5.

1951 Pennant Playoff: The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant!

Game 7 World Series (1960): The Pirates won 10-9. Hal Smith hit a big homer for the Bucs and Bill Mazeroski hit the first World Series walk-off homer. As a side note, the game lasted 2 hours and 36 minutes.

Game 6 1975 World Series: Bernie Carbo, high on everything, hit a 2-out three run shot in the 8th. Dwight Evans made a great play in right field and doubled a runner off first. Oh yeah, Carlton Fisk hit that home run. Red Sox win.

Game 6 1986 NLCS: Mets beat the Astros in 16 innings at the Astrodome. Houston led 3-0 early. The Mets scored 3 in the 9th to tie. New York scored in the 14th. Billy Hatcher homered to tie the game. In the 16th, New York scored 3. Houston responded with two. Kevin Bass struck out to end the game.

Game 7 1991 World Series: Jack Morris pitched a 10 inning 1-0 shutout in Game 7 of the World Series. We will not see that again.

Game 4 2005 NLDS : Astros beat the Braves 7-6 in 18 innings. It was the longest game in postseason history. Roger Clemens pitched three innings in relief, Brad Ausmus hit a game tying homer in the 9th, Chris Burke ended the game with a walk-off homer in the 18th.