The riveting Nadal-Federer Wimbledon Classic sparked debate on what was the greatest tennis match of all time. That in turn got us thinking (and then some) about just what were the greatest games in assorted other sports. Here based on our criterion (1. Build-Up 2. Rivalry 3. Setting 4. Political/Cultural Impact 5. Stakes 6. Impact on Sport 7. Level of Play 8. Grit ‘n Grace 9. Drama 10. Wow Factor) are our Top Ten lists.
BASEBALL
1. BASEBALL’S PROUDEST MOMENT: Backed by a gutsy front office and surprisingly supportive teammates, Brooklyn’s Jackie Robinson paves the way and shows the world in ‘47. The color barrier is forever broken. “With that one step,” notes Bud Selig, “Jackie turned our game into a true national pastime.”
2. ‘THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT, THE GIANTS WIN THE …’: With a sudden ferocity, Bobby Thomson’s decisive “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” finally lifts the Giants past the Dodgers in the fabled ‘51 N.L. pennant clincher. “Now it is done,” writes Red Smith. “The art of fiction is dead. Only the utterly implausible, the inexpressibly fantastic can ever be plausible again.”
3. TWIST AND SHOUT: In what’s said to be the best World Series game ever played, New England native Carlton Fisk waves his twisting home run drive fair to propel his Red Sox to a 12th-inning, more-than-five-hour win to force a seventh game against the Reds in ‘75.
4. PRIDE OF THE YANKEES: He once was baseball’s heroic “Iron Horse,” but on July 4, ‘39 the terminally ill Lou Gehrig — voice halting, shoulders slumped, the essence of humility — tells the Yankee faithful, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” Has there been a more poignant moment in sports?
5. THE NEW SULTAN OF SWAT: Hank Aaron circles the bases in Deep South Atlanta in ‘74. Some are not pleased, but none can
deny that “Hammering Hank” had shattered the most hallowed record in sports, Babe Ruth’s 714 homers.
6. ‘2,131’: Baseball is wounded, ruptured by labor strife. But one night in Baltimore in ‘95, Cal Ripken plays his record 2,131rd straight game. The game is uplifted. Let the healing begin.
7. MAZ MATTERS: In the 9th inning of the seventh game of the ‘60 World Series against the mighty Yanks, little Pirate Bill Mazeroski, a West Virginia native, blasts a leadoff homer, the only game seven walk-off homer in the history of the October Classic.
8. PERFECT!: Facing Brooklyn in ‘56, Yankee Don Larsen, a journeyman pitcher who would lose more games than he would win, does what no man had ever done. He pitches a perfect game in the World Series.
9. ‘I DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW’: Fist pumpin’ Dodger Kirk Gibson’s two-out, one-handed, limp-off homer in the ‘88 Series beats the best closer in the game, Dennis Eckersley, and crushes the A’s.
10. SAY HEY: Willie Mays’ back-to-the-infield catch nearly 450 feet from home plate sparks the Giants’ ‘54 World Series sweep of Cleveland. (And “Say Hey,” how ‘bout that throw?)
BASKETBALL (College)
1. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: Christian Laettner’s buzzer-beating jumper off a Grant Hill pass is the difference in Duke’s dramatic 104-103 victory over Kentucky in the ‘92 NCAA East Regionals, leading some to dub it the greatest college basketball game ever played.
2. SOMEONE TO HUG?: Lorenzo Charles’ dunk of an errant airball at the buzzer in the ‘83 NCAA finals both sinks Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma powerhouse and sends N.C. State’s mad-with-joy coach, Jim Valvano, into a bounding frenzy as he hunts for someone to hug.
3. THE GAME OF THE CENTURY: Elvin Hayes leads underdog Houston past Lew Alcindor and mighty UCLA in ‘68 at the Astrodome in the supposed Game of the Century, snapping the Bruins’ 47-game win streak.
4. MAGIC VS. BIRD: In a game that foreshadowed one of the NBA’s greatest rivalries, Magic Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans down Larry Bird’s previously unbeaten Indiana State Sycamores to win the ‘79 NCAA final — the highest-rated game in the history of college hoops on TV.
5. GLORY ROAD: Texas Western’s coach Don Haskins says he “didn’t expect to be some racial pioneer or to change the world,” but he does just that in the ‘66 NCAA final when his Miners use the first all-black line-up in college history to stun all-white Kentucky, led by the imposing Adolph Rupp.
6. AIR JORDAN GOES TO COLLEGE: Michael Jordan hits the game-winner as North Carolina tops Patrick Ewing’s Hoyas to win the ‘82 NCAA tile 63-62. Georgetown has one last chance, but guard Fred Brown mistakenly passes the ball to UNC’s James Worthy.
7. WOMEN’S RIVALRY: No other women’s hoops rivalry captivated fans like Pat Summitt’s Tennessee Vols vs. Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies. The most exciting edition comes in ‘03, when Diana Taurasi’s three-pointer sends the game into OT. UConn goes on to win 63-62.
8. ‘SUMMITT MEETINGS’: In the ‘57 NCAA final, No. 1 North Carolina needs three OTs to top Wilt Chamberlain-led Kansas in what many consider the greatest NCAA title game in history.
9. GRATEFUL DEAD MAN WALKING: Bill Walton goes 21-for-22
for 44 points in leading John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins to their seventh straight NCAA title, this one over Memphis State in ‘73.
10. Hoosier Daddy?: Bobby Knight’s ‘87 Hoosiers were led by Isiah Thomas and Steve Alford, but it was Keith Smart who clinched the NCAA title win over Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse Orangemen on a baseliner jumper with five ticks left on the game clock.
