My greatest Sports Moment Gibbies HR 1988

I remember this moment like it was yesterday. I was jumping up and down in my grandmother's home in Ensenada thinking that it was the best day of my life. A ten years old's prayer was answered and I learned the magic of sports.


He could barely walk. Actually, he could barely stand without his leg wobbling and shaking. When no one was looking, back when he was in the batting cage outside the Los Angeles Dodgers' locker room during Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland A's, he actually used a bat a few times as a walking cane, to balance himself.

His knee, his hamstring, his ankle, his whole damn leg, for goodness sakes, ached. But he was still in uniform and on the bench for the start of the World Series -- no way Kirk Gibson was going to miss this. This was his team, after all. He had signed as a free agent over the winter and declared that the Dodgers were going to win it all, that he was going to guide them to a championship, just as he did for the Detroit Tigers in 1984, when he led them to a World Series victory -- and capped it all over with a towering eighth-inning, three-run jack off Goose Gossage to turn a tense Game 5 into a rout and deliver the Tigers' first world championship since 1968.

Gibson had transformed the Dodgers into workmanlike, lunch pail-carrying winners with his leadership, grit, hustle, aggressiveness and attitude, leading them to the National League West Division title and then the N.L. pennant with a seven-game victory over the New York Mets. He was later named the N.L.'s Most Valuable Player.

It was during the N.L. Championship Series against the Mets that Gibson's MVP season came to a screeching halt, when a season's worth of poundings took their toll and knocked him from the lineup. His leg was so badly damaged that when the Dodgers won Game 7 of the NLCS, manager Tom Lasorda refused to let Gibson run to the mound for the celebration after the final out, fearing he'd injury his leg further.

As the World Series began in L.A. a few days later, the prospect of Gibson playing at all in the Series against the American League champion Oakland A's, was doubtful, let alone Game 1. When Gibson awoke that morning, he attempted to walk on his gimpy leg. He could barely stand up straight. The pain was unbearable, even for an athlete with a pain threshold as high as Gibson's. He knew he couldn't walk, let alone run, but perhaps he could swing a bat, at least giving himself the option of being able to pinch hit in a tight, late-inning spot. He took some swings in his living room. Realizing he couldn't even do that, he tossed his bat aside angrily.

THE MOMENT
Oct. 15, 1988, Game 1 of the World Series, Dodger Stadium.

Gibson is one of the first players to arrive at the stadium. He is transported from the player's parking lot to the dugout in a cart. He limps into the dugout and toward the trainer's room, where he is given injections of cortisone and xylocaine for the sprained ligament in his right knee. His leg is so bad that during the pregame festivities and player introductions, he can't even make it out to the field.

As the game begins, Gibson cannot bear not to be a part of it, so he drags himself down the dugout runway and begins swinging a bat. Adrenaline starts rushing through his body. He walks into the batting cage and hits a ball off a tee, then another, then another. His leg aches, but his adrenaline, his competitive spirit, his unflagging desire, offsets the pain.

Gibson's replacement, Mickey Hatcher, slams a home run in the bottom of the first inning, only his second homer of the entire season, and he sprints around the bases as if he is leading a Lakers' fastbreak. Elated that his replacement is the one to deliver a home run, Gibson smiles.

As the game progresses, Gibson walks back and forth, from the trainer's room to the runway to the dugout, then back to the trainer's room and clubhouse. As the Dodgers take the field in the top of the ninth inning, trailing 4-3, Gibson slips back into the trainer's room and onto the trainer's table.

"Well, the man who's been there for the Dodgers all season, Kirk Gibson, is not in the dugout and will not be here for them tonight," broadcaster Vin Scully tells a worldwide audience. Angry, Gibson slides off the trainer's table and shouts back at the speaker from which he heard Scully's voice, "Bull, I'll be there." He grabs an ice bag and straps it to his right knee in order to numb it. Then he pulls on his spikes and limps down the runway.

He tells clubhouse man Mitch Pool to inform hitting coach Ben Hines and Lasorda that he's going to get himself ready to pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth. Gibson knows the exact lineup situation: if anyone gets on base, pitcher Alejandro Pena is due up fourth. That's exactly where Gibson intends to hit.

To test his knee, Gibson hits some balls off a tee, slamming one after another into the net. His knee is numb. He feels good, confident, strong. He feels he can give the Dodgers one good swing. He hobbles back down the runway. When he gets to the dugout, Hines nudges Lasorda, who turns to see Gibson at the end of the dugout. Gibson motions to Lasorda, who walks toward Gibson. "If you want to hit [Mike] Davis for [Alfredo] Griffin, I'll be next in line," Gibson says.

The A's are retired in the top of the ninth, and as the Dodgers race off the field, out of the A's bullpen emerges Dennis Eckerlsey, baseball's best closer, who led the majors with 45 saves. This save looks like it'll be one of his easiest of the season since he is scheduled to face the bottom of the Dodgers order -- catcher Mike Scioscia, third baseman Jeff Hamilton and shortstop Alfredo Griffin.

As Gibson stands at the end of the dugout, his helmet pulled down over his eyes, up steps Scioscia. Eckersley gets him easily on an infield pop-up for the first out. As Eckersley strikes out Hamilton for the second out, Gibson angrily removes his helmet and turns his back to the field.

Down to the last out, Lasorda calls on Davis to bat for Griffin. Davis had played most of his career with the A's. After a stellar 1987 season, he became a free agent and was one of the Dodgers' key free-agent signings, along with Gibson. But Davis fell into an early-season slump and was never able to climb out of it. He was a horrendous bust, hitting just .196 during the season and .166 as a pinch hitter.

But if Davis is able to find his way on base, Gibson will hit next. As a decoy, Lasorda sends light-hitting shortstop Dave Anderson into the on-deck circle instead of Gibson. "I figured Eckersley would pitch more carefully to Davis with the right-hander on deck," Lasorda would reveal later. "If he'd seen Gibson on deck, he would have pitched Davis differently."

There is nothing in the world Davis wants to do more than to hit a game-tying homer off Eckersley, a hit that would salvage his atrocious season. But Davis does exactly what Lasorda tells him -- disrupt Eckersley's timing by stepping out of the box.

Davis immediately gets ahead in the count, prompting Hatcher to say to teammate Tracy Woodson, "Watch what happens if Davis gets on . . . Gibby's going to bat."

When Davis steps back out of the box again, Eckersley is seething. "The guy's hitting a buck ninety -- what the hell's he doing calling time?" Eckersley would say later.

Davis accomplishes his purpose: infuriating Eck and coaxing a walk from a pitcher who had allowed only nine unintentional walks all season. "That was terrible," Eckersley would say later to the media, referring to falling behind Davis 3 and 1 and then walking him on a 3-2 pitch. "A two-out walk to any hitter is inexcusable, and I don't do it very often. I tried to go right at him, but everything sailed outside. He was stepping in and out of the box a lot, disrupting my rhythm."

As Davis heads to first base, Anderson quickly turns around, slips back into the dugout and out steps Gibson. The stadium of over 56,000 people explodes in delirious joy as Scully announces, "And here comes Gibson!"

Dodger players stand agape in the dugout as Gibson hobbles to the plate. The enormous, deafening ovation takes Gibson's mind off his pain and immobility. "The fans really pumped me up," he would tell the media afterwards. "I didn't even think about the pain. I was just trying to visualize hitting."

With his adrenaline flowing, the left-handed hitting Gibson digs in. The right-handed Eckersley, with his funky, side-winding delivery, plans his approach. "I'll feed him fastballs, away," he says to himself.

The hamstring strain in Gibson's left leg and the sprained ligament in his right knee prevent him from being able to plant his legs and turn quickly enough. Even if he finds a way to get his bat on the ball, it would likely be an off-balance, awkward swing that would likely result in a weak, opposite-field fly ball.

With the crowd on its feet, Eckersley fires a fastball. Gibson takes a strong cut and fouls it off. Eckersley fires another fastball and Gibson fouls that one off too. Gibson steps out of the box, slams his right hand on helmet and gets back into the box, determined to keep the inning alive. The next offering is a hard sinker. Taking an ugly off-balance cut, Gibson hits a little slow roller up the first base line that barely rolls foul. Running down the line, Gibson looks like he has two wooden legs.

Eckersley comes back with a sweeping slider that usually comes back and catches the outside corner for strike three on lefties. But this one tails away, slightly, for ball one. "That was the key pitch because I was able to stay back and lay off it," Gibson would tell the media after on. "And it just missed the strike zone."

Gibson fouls back the next pitch in this amazing duel between two of baseball's marquee players. "The ultimate competitors," Lasorda would say. Gibson steps out of the box again and takes a deep breath as the crowd roars around him. He feels good, confident, excited. "I live for these moments," he would tell the media afterwards. "I'm an impact player, and I love the added pressure of admitting it."

The next pitch is another fastball, and Gibson lets it go as it sails in wide of the plate for ball two. It's now 2-2. As Eckersley throws his next offering, Davis takes off for second base. The pitch, a backdoor slider, just misses the outside corner for ball three. A's catcher Ron Hassey doesn't bother to throw the ball down to second base in an attempt to nail Davis for the potential final out of the game.

"Mike's stolen base was huge because all I had to think about was shortening my swing and trying to get a hit to score him," Gibson would say.

With first base open, A's manager Tony La Russa doesn't consider walking Gibson. Never put the winning run on base, he says to himself. And why even consider it with his ace closer on the mound, one pitch away from closing out a 4-3 victory?

Gibson steps out of the box again. The drama is thick. As he taps his helmet, he thinks back to what Dodgers scout Mel Didier said in his scouting report on Eckersley before the Series: At 3-and-2 against Eckersley, "look for the backdoor slider."

Gibson limps back into the box. Dodger Stadium is tense. All the fans are up on their feet. Players and coaches in both dugouts stand. Hassey crouches. He gives Eckersley the sign: backdoor slider.

"We had been throwing him all those fastballs, and I felt we could freeze him with the breaking ball," Hassey would tell the media afterwards. Hassey admits afterwards that he didn't consider altering his pitch selection because of Gibson's battered physical condition. But the fact is, Gibson is unable to catch up with Eckersley's fastball. Eckersley doesn't shake off Hassey's call for the backdoor slider. "I figured I'd just throw the nastiest slider I had," Eckersley would say.

The stadium is frozen as Eckersley wheels around and throws. As the pitch travels toward the plate, Gibson readies himself. The pitch hangs out over the outside of the plate. Using nothing but his wrists, Gibson reaches out over the plate, takes a quick cut and connects.

The ball explodes off his bat and sails through the night sky. As right fielder Jose Canseco races back, the ball keeps carrying . . . it sails over the fence and into the bleachers. As the ball disappears, the stadium explodes in celebration over the miraculous 5-4 victory, and Gibson begins his slow march around the bases. As he heads toward first base, he raises his arm and holds it aloft. He hobbles around the bases, limping heavily.

The freeze-frame moment is etched in everyone's mind forever. There are many dramatic moments in World Series history -- Bill Mazeroski's World Series winning homer in 1960, Carlton Fisk willing a ball inside the Fenway Park foul pole in 1975, Reggie Jackson's three homers on three swings in 1978, Joe Carter's Series winning homer in 1993. But this one by Gibson is . . .

"The most dramatic ever," Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax would say. "The guy was hobbling around all day, looking like a one-legged steer, and he hits it out with basically one hand."

Eckersley is his typical self after the game -- honest, candid and succinct. "It was a dumb pitch," he would say, referring to the final pitch to Gibson. "It was the one pitch he could pull for power. And he hit the dogmeat out of it. He didn't look good on any of his swings, and that's why we threw him so many fastballs away, and that's why it was stupid to throw him a breaking ball. If I throw him another fastball away and he hits it out to left center, I can almost live with that, but I can't throw him a pitch he can pull. I mean, I threw him the only pitch he could hit out."

Gibson's dramatics are so reminiscent of the heroics in the movie "The Natural" that when Gibson returns to his locker, he finds a nameplate over his locker that reads "ROY HOBBS."
Rick Weinberg

Patrick Hughes is one of my heroes!!!

How amazing is the human spirit!!

Allan K. Chalmers:

The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Arundhati Roy:

Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman:

However, one cannot put a quart in a pint cup.

Christopher Reeve:

Once you choose hope, anything's possible.

Dale Carnegie:

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

Don Quixote:

Sanity may be madness but the maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be.

Dorothy Thompson:

Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow.

Dorothy Thompson:

Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light.

Elie Wiesel:

I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.

Elizabeth Gilbert:

The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams.

Elizabeth Gilbert:

To sit patiently with a yearning that has not yet been fulfilled, and to trust that, that fulfillment will come, is quite possibly one of the most powerful "magic skills" that human beings are capable of. It has been noted by almost every ancient wisdom tradition.

Erik H. Erikson:

Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.

Friedrich Nietzsche:

Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torments of man.

George Bernard Shaw:

He who has never hoped can never despair.

Caesar and Cleopatra


Henri J. M. Nouwen:

All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day all lived with a promise in their hearts that guided them toward the future without the need to know exactly what it would look like. Let's live with hope.

Henry Ward Beecher:

Repentance is another name for aspiration.

Jane Wagner:

A sobering thought: what if, at this very moment, I am living up to my full potential?

Kalidasa:

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

Lin Yutang:

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

Louisa May Alcott:

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow them.

Margaret Fuller:

I accept the universe!

(Ralph Waldo Emerson's reported response: "By God, she'd better!")

Marion Zimmer Bradley:

The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.

Martin Luther King, jr.:

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

The Trumpet of Conscience


Mohandas K. Gandhi:

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Molly Ivins:

I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.

Patricia Hampl:

The future is here, now, and the past is full of actual deeds, real history. Utopias hardly have the meat on their bones to sustain a people in grave times.

Pearl S. Buck:

None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.

Pearl S. Buck:

To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death.

Pearl S. Buck:

Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:

The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.

Reinhold Niebuhr:

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

Rita Mae Brown:

Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.

Robert Fulghum:

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge -- myth is more potent than history -- dreams are more powerful than facts -- hope always triumphs over experience -- laughter is the cure for grief -- love is stronger than death.

Robert G. Ingersoll:

Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.

Samuel Johnson:

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from hope to hope.

Thomas Jefferson:

I steer my bark with hope in the head, leaving fear astern. My hopes indeed sometimes fail, but not oftener than the forebodings of the gloomy.

1816


Thomas Merton:

Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.

Will Durant:

The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.

William Penn:

Never give out while there is hope; but hope not beyond reason, for that shows more desire than judgment.

Winston Churchill:

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.