As the baseball playoffs finally begin, Onion Sports remembers the men who played their best when their play finally mattered:
1905: Christy Mathewson pitches three shutouts against the Athletics in the World Series, as “runs scored” were not invented until 1923
1919: White Sox pitcher Lefty Williams loses a World Series–record three games, then convinces about 50 people that he didn’t do that on purpose
1954: Willie Mays makes a catch or something
1956: The Yankees announce that Don Larsen has pitched the first perfect game in World Series history, ignoring the fact that Larsen gave up one run on six hits and three walks
1963: Experts estimate that Sandy Koufax saved hundreds, possibly even thousands, of potential runs by striking out 15 batters in Game 1 of the World Series
1977: During his first at bat in Game 2 of the NLCS, Dodgers left fielder Dusty Baker hits foul balls for more than five straight hours, wearing out every Phillies pitcher on the roster for the rest of the series
1994: During a crucial World Series Game 7, Brett Favre beats the Bears in monsoon conditions in a 33-6 romp featuring an NFL record-tying 99-yard touchdown pass to Robert Brooks
2001: Despite winning only one game compared to Randy Johnson’s three, Curt Schilling does a heroic job of standing next to Johnson to garner a share of the World Series MVP award
2003: In Game 5 of the ALCS, Adam Kennedy hits three home runs, makes an unbelievable defensive play, and still has time to get home to see his children and make love to his beautiful wife
