Published:  November 11th, 2011 09:12 EST
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The Cardinals Soar in 2011! But Was This the Best World Series Ever Played?
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The 2011 World Series has just come to a close, and the best-of-seven was played with strength and determination by the American League Champion Texas Rangers, and the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals.  It took all seven games to win that trophy, but the Cardinals went on to take their 11th World Series championship. They even made sure to add one of those games into the mix. You know the ones! The breath-taking game where everyone is sitting on the edge of their seat just waiting in anticipation to see what will happen? It was Game 6 this time around that gave the fans just that kind of feeling, when the Cardinals came back from a two-run deficit - twice - and won the game in eleven innings. This was actually the first seven-game World Series since 2002. But was it the best? Was it the one that will hit the history books and bury all others? Actually, according to the popular school of thought, the answer is no. Apparently, in almost everyone`s eyes, it is the 1991 World Series where the Minnesota Twins were pitted against the Atlanta Braves that made the most `noise` in the baseball world. This is the Series that holds the record for being the longest seven-game World Series ever played. Before 1991, no league champion had ever finished the previous season in last place, but both the Twins and the Braves had done just that, and went on the next season to become the best of the best in their divisions. It was even in ESPN`s World Series 100th Anniversary countdown where the 1991 World Series was selected as the Greatest of All Time, with five of its games being decided by a single run, four games decided in the final at-bat, with three games going into extra innings! The ceremonial first pitch of the 1991 World Series was thrown by retired umpire, Steve Palermo, who was forced into early retirement when he was seriously injured by a gunshot while he rushed to help a robbery victim in Dallas, Texas. In a beautiful and highly respectful moment, after the pitch, the Series umpires jogged to the mound to exchange well wishes with the brave man. Both starting pitchers for the 1991 World Series were able to wear their very own championship rings when they got up to the plate. The Twins starting pitcher, a Minnesota native by the name of Jack Morris, wore his ring from the 1984 Detroit Tigers, while the Braves starting pitcher wore his from the 1985 Kansas City Royals. After many exciting plays, the Twins won the first game, 5 "2. Apparently, the Minnesota native`s ring and talents were so extraordinary that he was raved about, while the Braves` pitcher was removed from the World Series rotation completely. In game two of the Series, there were miscommunications and collisions as players ran into each other, causing one of the worst calls to be made in baseball history. In fact, one of the players was said to have fallen off the base because of his forward momentum, and this play is STILL celebrated by the Twins with bobble headed dolls of the two players entangled like dancers on the diamond. And the twins took game two as they headed for Atlanta. Game three was absolutely thrilling, as the Braves outlasted the Twins through twelve-innings, which was also the very first World Series game ever played in the Deep South. There were true heroes and beloved icons racing around those plates, and the crowd was celebrating the fact that this was one of - if not THE - best baseball game ever played in Atlanta. As the game was coming to an end, it looked like the Braves at 4-1 were simply going to take the win. Oddly enough, it was so not over. A Twin made sure to homer in the seventh to make it 4 "2, and then another tied the game with a `hit that was heard round the world.` This is where the game actually got strange, according to fans and historians. There were odd substitutions used by both teams - even the Minnesota manager used up his entire bench at one point and had to send in a reliever to pinch-hit for the active pitcher. The game lasted a, then record, four hours and four minutes, and was the first of four games in this Series to end with the winning team scoring the deciding run in the ninth inning, or later. Seeing as that the game ended after midnight, it was the Braves that were credited as being the only team to win two World Series games in one day, as they took game 4 away from the Twins, too. Game 5 was yet another crowd-pleaser that was filled with submissions, changes, collisions, plays that both managers wish they could have taken back - and a true sight for the baseball crowd! But it was game 6 - with the Braves only one win away from achieving their first world championship since 1957, that the Twins brought their hot streak to an end. Missteps, bad decisions, thrills, chills - the Series seemed to fans as if they were stuck inside a big-screen blockbuster, just staring in anticipation and wonder at all the amazing sights they were seeing. This was the first time since 1962 that a seventh game of the World Series ended with a 1 "0 verdict. It was also the first since 1924 to end with an extra-inning seventh-game when the home team, the Washington Senators (who would become the Twins in 1961) won it in their very last at-bat. The 1991 World Series was the second in five seasons in which the home team won all seven games in the Series. It was following this game, that analysts stated that Atlanta was expected to be on the baseball "diamond` for a very long time to come. He was not wrong. The Braves would go on to win an amazing fourteen consecutive division titles. The Twins and the Braves - the two teams who got together to provide the best World Series in history - have gone on to meet up with each other over time, but it was in 2002 that the Braves finally got a win in the Metrodome by taking two games away from the Twins in a three game series. (The Twins gave them payback in 2007 when they swept a three-game series against the Braves.) In the end, the Braves and the Twins were - and still remain - monumental ball clubs, rivals, and extremely fun to watch! This sports article is brought to you by: www.preciousgemspublishing www.befirstinc.com www.roadtrekin.com and www.smallbusinessowner.com
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