LOSING UGLY ON THE ROAD: THE FULL LIST

1. The Giants get routed by the coach who got away, December 31, 1961, City Stadium, Green Bay

       This one was personal. The Giants had lost plenty of NFL championship games, including several by wide margins—to Detroit 26-7 in 1935, to Green Bay 27-0 in 1939 and the Bears 37-9 in 1941—but none were as humiliating and disquieting as the Giants loss to the Packers in 1961.

       The Maras, who owned the Giants, had created their own mess, which caused that loss as well as the franchise’s decline a few years later.

       The Maras treated everyone like family. That was wonderful. But such loyalty was also problematic. They’d let coach Steve Owen stay on too long then repeated the mistake with Jim Lee Howell, even though Howell owed most of his success to his offensive and defensive assistants, up-and-comers who wanted their own shot at the top job: Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.

Lombardi, a Brooklynite and Fordham graduate, finally got frustrated and headed off to the head coach job with lowly Green Bay in 1959. Wellington Mara naively believed he was merely loaning Lombardi out until Howell stepped aside… which Howell decided to do after 1959. By then Landry had committed to the AFL’s new Dallas Cowboys. But Lombardi didn’t want to abandon Green Bay so Howell stayed on as a lame duck for 1960 while Mara continued negotiating. But Lombardi wanted to stay in Green Bay (which might not have let him go anyway); he also reportedly suspected, that his replacement as offensive coach on the Giants—another Brooklynite named Allie Sherman—had been manipulating the press to get Lombardi written off so Mara would hire Sherman… which he did. 

So in the 1961 NFL championship between New York and Green Bay both coaches had something to prove. The result could not have been clearer: Lombardi’s Packers were the team of the future, embarrassing the Giants 37-0. They scored 24 points in the second quarter and never let up; Bart Starr threw three TD passes and Paul Hornung, on leave from the Army, scored 19 points on a touchdown run, three field goals and four extra points.

For good measure the Packers beat the Giants 16-7 in the 1962 NFL championship.

2. Everything goes wrong for Brooklyn, October 10th, 1920, Dunn Field, Cleveland

       In 1920 Brooklyn was, surprisingly, New York’s most accomplished team, having reached the World Series for the second time in five years. Yet for the next two decades Dem Bums would play third fiddle, best known for their goof-ups and mishaps. The turning point may have been Game 5, when, with the Series tied at 2-2, Brooklyn crumbled in historic fashion:

       After Cleveland players noticed Brooklyn second baseman Pete Kilduff scooping dirt to dry his hands whenever pitcher Burleigh Grimes was about to throw a spitball they laid off the goo and waited on the fastball.

       1st inning: Grimes yielded the first Series grand slam to Elmer Smith.

       4th inning: Grimes surrendered a three-run four-bagger to his counterpart Jim Bagby, the first homer hit by a pitcher in Series history.

5th inning: the piece de resistance-- with nobody out, Kilduff on second and Otto Miller at first were running on the pitch when Clarence Mitchell (who had replaced Grimes on the mound), ripped a liner toward center. Second baseman Bill Wambsganss made a leaping catch. With Kilduff long gone Wamby stepped on second. Seeing Miller frozen in his tracks the infielder sauntered over and tagged him for the World Series’ first—and only—unassisted triple play.

Amazingly enough, it got even worse: Mitchell’s next time up he hit into a double play as Grimes had done in his one turn. Together the two Brooklyn pitchers not only yielded eight runs they also made seven outs in just three at-bats in the 8-1 rout.

3. The Yankees’ big game pitcher gives up some big numbers, November 3, 2001, Bank One Ballpark, Arizona

       The Yankees had won three straight games in dramatic fashion and were riding high as they returned to Arizona for Game 6 of the 2001 World Series on November 3rd. The Diamondbacks had Randy Johnson but New York had its most battle-tested and trusted big game arm, Andy Pettitte.

       But the Diamondbacks had a secret weapon—Pettitte was tipping his pitches from the set position. Arizona struck for a run in the first and three in the second. With two on and no out in the third Joe Torre yanked Pettitte but Jay Witasick was even worse as the D’Backs pounded him for eight runs. In the fourth, Arizona padded the lead to 15-0. With a 15-2 lead, Johnson was able to leave after seven… giving him just enough energy to pitch in relief the next day to help the Diamondbacks finish off New York.

4. The Mets choke their way out of the playoffs, September 27th, 1998, Turner Field, Atlanta

At the end of play on September 20, 1998, the 88-69 Mets were on the verge of reaching the playoffs for the first time in a decade—they held a one-game lead over Chicago and a five-game edge over San Francisco in the wild-card race

By the 26th the 88-72 Mets had sunk into a three-way tie. That day they barely showed up, losing 4-0 to their nemesis, first-place Atlanta, as Chicago and San Francisco both won.

       Still, both the Cubs and Giants would lose their final game so if the Mets won their season-ender, the three-way tie would have forced a historic playoff.

Valentine chose Armando Reynoso, pitching well of late but with an 0-6 lifetime record against Atlanta, over Hideo Nomo, who has been slumping but who has good numbers against the Braves. Reynoso allowed a run in the first, then batted with the bases loaded in the second. It’s the Mets’ one good shot at Greg Maddux but Reynoso stranded the runners then got knocked out that inning as Atlanta scored four.

When Nomo pitched four shutout innings of relief, the Mets—who lost 7-2 for their fifth straight defeat in one of the worst pennant race chokes since the 1964 Phillies-- have one more reason to spend their long, dark winter wondering, What if…

5. The Giants stop clawing and fall apart completely, October 26, 1911, Shibe Park, Philadelphia       

       The Giants fought the defending World Series champion Philadelphia A’s hard—trailing 3-1 in games, they’d scratched out a comeback, extra-inning Game 5 win. They’d been outscored only 14-11 overall and knew a Game 6 win would send them home—where they’d won twice—for the seventh game.

But after a first-inning run the Giants fell quickly and heavily into the red thanks to woefully atrocious defense on a sacrifice bunt. With two men on, pitcher Red Ames’ throw bounced off the batter into right field where Red Murray chased the ball down. Murray then heaved the ball past shortstop Art Fletcher, all the way to the other foul line where leftfielder Josh Devore fell trying to get it. The result: a three-run bunt “homer.”

The Giants embarrassed themselves further in the seventh; trailing 6-1, Hooks Wiltse allowed five singles and a double (with a Fred Merkle error tossed in) then Rube Marquard came in and wild pitched home the inning’s seventh run. Final score: 13-2.

6. Sam Huff rubs it in, November 27, 1966, Griffith Stadium, Washington

Allie Sherman was an offensive-mind coach who never seemed comfortable having inherited the vaunted Giants defense with its big name stars. So even after they helped him reach the NFL championship game three straight times Sherman decided to unload crucial guys like Cliff Livingston, Dick Modzelewski and Sam Huff, the face of the defense. Huff, whose defensive unit often shut down Sherman’s offense during practice, was furious about being shipped to Washington. So were New York’s fans, who taunted Sherman and the Giants by yelling, “Huff-Huff-Huff-Huff.”

The Giants collapsed. But Huff wanted to leave his own personal mark, like Zorro. Two years later, he did. On November 27, 1966, the Redskins were crushing the Giants, 69-41 and running out the clock. But with just seconds left, Huff grabbed the reins. He called a time out and sent the field goal unit out to pile on another three points. The final was 72-41, the most points the Giants have ever allowed. “A linebacker is the one guy you don’t want to get angry,” Huff said, years later, still seething.

7. The Jets get another shellacking up in New England, September 9, 1979, Foxboro Stadium

In the late 1970s the Yankees broke hearts throughout Red Sox Nation, but New England gained revenge on the gridiron. In 1976 the Pats trounced the Jets at Foxboro 41-7; 1977 was closer, 24-13, but 1978 was a 55-21 rout. Then came 1979 and the worst Jet loss ever:

       First downs: Patriots 30; Jets 12

       Rushing yardage: Patriots 232; Jets 89

       Passing yardage: Patriots 365; Jets 45

       Final score: Patriots 56; Jets 3.

       The Jets fumbled three balls away, endured three interceptions and seven sacks, although quarterback Richard Todd blamed three on his offensive linemen tripping him.

       The Jets trailed 14-3 after one and 35-3 at the half. The final would have been far worse had the Patriots not removed several regulars in the third quarter including quarterback Steve Grogan (after his fifth touchdown pass).

       New York achieved a measure of vengeance in the season’s penultimate week when they squeaked past New England 27-26 at Shea Stadium, eliminating the Pats from playoff contention.

8. The Rangers lose 15-0, January 23, 1944, Olympia Stadium, Detroit

“We've got nothing to hope for this season except for it to end,” Rangers general manager Lester Patrick said on January 22, 1944 about a season in which the Rangers had suffered badly while many of its best players were serving in World War II. The end didn’t come soon enough: the next the Rangers found themselves on the wrong end of the worst shutout the NHL has ever seen.

Having rolled through four different goaltenders the previous season, the Rangers had tried a guy named Ken McAuley who was playing senior hockey in Canada after serving in the military.

With McAuley (allegedly) defending the net—but yielding 310 goals in 50 games--the Rangers were en route to a dismal 6-44 record (including a 13-3 whomping at home, the Rangers’ worst Garden loss ever). But he never had it worse than against Detroit on January 23rd, a game in which the Rangers got off just nine shots while the Red Wings pummeled McAuley with 58.

Miraculously it was only 2-0 after the first period but then the dam burst. Detroit slammed home five goals in the second and seven more in the final round for a 15-0 rout.

Detroit scored one last goal at the buzzer but the ref mercifully ruled it too late; still they finished with the most consecutive goals in NHL history and the biggest shutout ever. McAuley’s brother-in-law got the goal light and gave it to him as a souvenir of that fateful night.

The Red Wings again overwhelmed McAuley, 12-2, two weeks later as Detroit’s Syd Howe became the first NHL player to score six times in one game. Soon after, the Rangers let Montreal take a record 91 shots on McAuley. (He stopped 86 in a 5-2 loss.) Amazingly, the Rangers brought McAuley back for one more season.

9. The Knicks reach a new low, December 25, 1960, Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse

From 1956-57 through 1965-66 the Knicks were the league’s laughingstock, compiling a .379 winning percentage. Christmas, 1960 summed it all up as the Knicks played the role of inept comic foil for the Syracuse Nationals, falling behind 39-27 after one, 78-51 at the half and then 120-68 at the end of three. Fortunately for New York the Nats—who finished with nine players in double digits—played their scrubs in the final period so they only outscored the Knicks by ten points for a 162-100 final—it was then worst NBA rout (there has been one 63-point blowout since) and remains the Knicks’ worst loss ever. There was very little to Ho, Ho, Ho about that Christmas.

10. The Mets lose their 120th, September 30, 1962, Wrigley Field

The 1962 Mets were a season-long mishap. They’d gotten stuck in a hotel elevator the day before their first game. In their first inning of play their pitcher balked home a run. In their home opener, the singer and band were out of sync during the national anthem and the p.a. announcer gave the wrong lineup. They were 9½ games out after just nine games, had losing streaks of 11, 13, and 17 straight and were—get this--mathematically eliminated on August 10.

It was only fitting that they find a memorable way to go down in their record 120th loss at Wrigley Field on the season’s final day. Trailing 5-1 in the eighth the Mets got two men on with nobody out-- Sammy Drake got the final hit of his brief big league fling and Richie Ashburn singled in the final turn of his distinguished career. Then came Joe Pignatano in what would also be his final big league at bat. But the future Met coach didn’t get a hit—his shot went right to Chicago second baseman Ken Hubbs, who snagged it on a fly then fired to first doubling off Ashburn; Cub first baseman Ernie Banks fired down to second to nail Drake. A triple play, the ultimate symbol of futility. Perfect.

DISHONORABLE MENTION

1. Mets never make it out of the first, June 11, 1985, Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia

       On June 11 1985, the Mets pitching staff was so depleted by injuries they were forced to start reliever Tom Gorman. In the resulting onslaught, the Mets suffered their worst loss ever, a defeat so gruesome it landed them in the record books.

Gorman gave up a lead-off homer to the slumping Von Hayes followed by two singles, two walks and a double. Calvin Schiraldi replaced Gorman and hit his first batter with a pitch, forcing a run home. One out later, Schiraldi yielded a grand slam… to Hayes, who became the first batter ever to homer twice in the first inning of a game.

For good measure, Schiraldi gave up a triple to Rick Schu then wild pitched him home to end the first with New York down 9-0.

Somehow it would get worse. The first four batters in the second torched Schiraldi for a single, two doubles and a triple. He scattered two more singles and a double among two outs but was lifted for Doug Sisk, having allowed 10 runs while getting four outs.

Sisk, usually the source of much angst for Met fans, pitched two scoreless frames as the Mets pulled within 16-7. Then Joe Sambito took over and the Mets fell behind by two touchdowns after a five-run Philly fifth. Another run in the sixth and four in the seventh helped Sambito match Schiraldi’s total of ten allowed (although two of Sambito’s were unearned thanks to sloppy Mets defense).

The final score was 26-7, the most runs scored by a team since 1955 and just three shy of the major league record. Gorman, Schiraldi and Sambito would be gone in 1986. Ironically, both Gorman and Sambito would pitch for the Phillies. Schiraldi, of course, found a much larger stage on which to self-destruct

Back to Cutting Room Floor