FEARSOME FOES: HONORABLE MENTION

Josh Beckett grows up in a hurry, October 25, 2003, Yankee Stadium

       Josh Beckett was a cocky little punk. The 23-year-old Florida Marlins pitcher had never thrown a complete game in 88 starts and he’d won just nine regular season games in 2003, yet he carried himself with the brashness of a veteran 20-game winner. In Game 6 of the World Series, he pitched like one.

       Having pitched in Game 3, Beckett wasn’t scheduled to start Game 6—young pitchers hardly ever start on three days’ rest anymore, particularly one like Beckett who missed nearly two months with a sprained elbow. So everyone figured the Marlins, leading 3-2 in games, would hold Beckett for a potential seventh game. But manager Jack McKeon didn’t want a Game 7, he wanted to go for it. While Beckett had never started on short rest before, he was at his peak—he’d mastered the Cubs in the NLCS with a two-hit shutout in Game 5 and contributed four relief innings in Game 7; in his earlier Series appearance, he’d pitched into the eighth, leaving with a 1-0 lead, although the bullpen blew it.

       Taking the mound for the fourth time in 14 days, Beckett overpowered the Yankees with his fastball and deftly mixed in his curve and change. He struck out nine, scattering five hits and two walks, allowing two baserunners only once. It had been 15 years since a starter ended a Series with a complete game but Beckett went all the way with ease. The final out was a roller down the first base line. Beckett, soon to be named MVP, scooped it up and, fittingly, made the play himself.

Elgin Baylor sets a record with 71 points against the Knicks, November 15, 1960, Madison Square Garden

       At their best, in the early 1970s and 1990s, the New York Knicks produced elite defensive squads, featuring ball hawks and rugged lane-cloggers. But like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead, when the Knicks have been bad they’ve been horrid and no defense was more porous than the early 1960s edition.

       Most famously, New York allowed Wilt Chamberlain to score 100 points in 1962—which tops this book’s On the Road Fearsome Foes list—but while that record-setter that has overshadowed Elgin Baylor’s explosion no one at Madison Square Garden has ever matched the show Baylor put on that night.

The Knicks maintained a slender lead for much of the first half but Baylor was simply too much, heading to intermission with 15 field goals (in 20 tries) and 34 points, both Garden one-half records. The spectacular 6’5” Laker already held the NBA record with 64 points in a game and after an 11-0 L.A. run in the third, attention shifted to Baylor’s pursuit of his mark.

Shooting in traffic and at unbelievable angles, Baylor passed his old mark with 1:35 left. He finished with 71 points and Knick fans showered him with a minute-long standing ovation when he left the floor. Chamberlain soon eclipsed the mark but Baylor’s 71 remains the third-highest in NBA history and the most ever scored at the Garden.

Sandy Koufax strikes out 15, then a record, to open the World Series, 1963, Yankee Stadium

       Sandy Koufax. Just the name strikes awe in readers and former major leaguer hitters. But in 1963, Koufax had just completed his first great year (25-5, 1.88 ERA and 306 strikeouts) and was about to make his World Series debut while the Yankees—the two-time defending champions—had a Game 1 starter with even more impressive pedigree: Whitey Ford, the World Series record-holder for most consecutive scoreless innings.

 In the first inning, Ford struck out two Los Angeles Dodgers. Take that, L.A.

       Koufax struck out three Yankees.

       In the second, Los Angeles bombed Ford for four runs.

Koufax fanned two. Uh-oh.

Koufax didn’t allow a base runner until the fifth and when the Yankees then loaded the bases on three singles, Koufax squelched the rally with his eleventh K. In the eighth New York pulled within 5-2 only to see Koufax tie Carl Erskine’s Series record of 14 strikeouts. On the night’s final batter Koufax blew past Erskine by blowing three strikes past pinch-hitter Harry Bright for number 15.

       This humbling at the hands of a Brooklyn native marked the beginning of the end for the Yankee dynasty that had lasted forty years—they’d be swept, then fail to win another pennant until 1976. In this Series, the Yankees scored only two more runs in the next three games as Koufax finished them off with another complete game win in Game 4… although in that win he struck out “only” eight Yankees.

Bobby Orr Controls the flow in Game 6, 1972, Madison Square Garden

       Bobby Orr didn’t manage a hat trick or anything fancy like that. No, as the New York Rangers tried to even their series with the Boston Bruins in Game 6 of the 1972 Stanley Cup finals the Boston superstar simply controlled the flow.

       Led by their “Goal A Game Line” of Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle and Rod Gilbert, the Rangers had won 48 games and finished second to Boston in the East. Even with Ratelle injured they beat Montreal and Chicago to reach their first final since 1950. New York had fallen behind three games to one when an upset in Boston sent the series back to Madison Square Garden.

But Orr made sure there’d be no Game 7. He scored in the first to put the Bruins on top, then used his defense, stick work and passing to set the tempo. Except for a 10-minute penalty for protesting a call, Orr was everywhere at all times, preventing the Rangers from getting back into the game until the Bruins added two goals in the third to finish things off. As the final seconds ticked off, Orr bent down and picked up the puck. That was only fitting, said Hadfield. “The guy always had it, and when he had it there wasn't a thing we could do about it.”

Jim Bottomley drives in 12 against the Dodgers, 1924, Ebbets Field

Of all the sluggers who’ve devastated local pitching—including Milwaukee’s Joe Adcock who once launched four homers and a double against Brooklyn for a record 18 total bases in nine innings—no one inflicted more damage than St. Louis first baseman Jim Bottomley against Brooklyn in the midst of the 1924 pennant race.

       First inning: Bottomley hit a two-run single off Rube Erhardt, who failed to retire a single hitter in a four-run outburst.

       Second inning: The future MVP and Hall-of-Famer blasted an RBI double off Bonnie Hollingsworth.

       Fourth inning: With the score 5-1 and men on second and third, Brooklyn skipper Wilbert Robinson ordered Art Decatur to walk Rogers Hornsby who’d hit a record .424 that season. But Robinson, who held the record with 11 RBIs in one game (against St. Louis in 1892), would rue the decision. Bottomley lined a grand slam over the fence in right.

       Sixth inning: Given another shot at Decatur, Bottomley broke the 20th-century single-game RBI mark with a two-run homer.

       Seventh inning: New pitcher, old result: Tex Wilson yielded two ribbies on a Bottomley single.

       Ninth inning: New pitcher Jim Roberts “limited” Bottomley to an RBI single, his least productive at-bat of the afternoon.

       Final line: St. Louis 17, Brooklyn 3. Bottomley: 6-6 with 13 total bases and a new record of 12 RBIs. No wonder they called him “Sunny Jim.”

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