Sloppiest: World Series confrontations: some of the worst played Fall Classic matchups evolved around poor fielding, hitting and pitching

Baseball Digest, Oct, 2004 by George Vass

NO QUESTION, THE WORLD Series is baseball's showcase, the Fall Classic as effusive sportswriters termed it in its pristine youth after it began 101 years ago, and it often has lived up to that exalted designation.

Nonetheless, occasionally the annual confrontation between the champions of the National and American Leagues deteriorates into a mockery of how the game should be played.

Never did that seem more likely than in 1945 when the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers competed with anemic rosters still drained of talent by the military during World War II, which had ended just weeks before the Series opened. Youngsters, oldsters, and physical rejects from the services manned or maimed the diamonds and dugouts.

As a wartime hit song-which while not referring to ballplayers could readily have been applied to them-had it, "They're either too young or too old, they're either too warm or too cold ... etc."

Irreverent skeptics disparaged the October clash as the "World's Worst Series". Warren Brown, a Chicago sports columnist noted for his acerbic wit, quipped, "I don't think either team is capable of winning."

As it happens, the Tigers prevailed in a seven-game set which while not notable for elegant play, was not quite as sloppy as Brown and fellow cynics feared it would be. Yet, neither was it an example of baseball at its finest.

Tigers star Hank Greenberg, recently returned from military service, admitted the general level of performance fell short of the ideal.

There were a lot of wartime players in both lineups and the caliber of play was not as good as other years," Greenberg confessed. "There were a lot of errors, but still it was a well-fought Series, going down to the last game."

There have been worse-played Series than between the Cubs and Tigers in '45, now recalled chiefly because it was the Chicago N.L. team's final appearance of the 20th Century. It also was the seventh straight Series lost by the Cubs after victories in 1907 and 1908 following the upset by the cross-town White Soxin 1906.

So when it comes to World Series messiness, while the Tigers-Cubs clash fits in, it's hardly the worst example. Fortunately--or sadly--there's no shortage of deplorably suitable possibilities from which to compile a selection of the sloppiest World Series, there being plenty of ugly encounters among the 99 played since the first in 1903 (none in 1904 and 1994).

And who's to say that No. 100, the 2004 Series, will be a thing of beauty and a joy forever, such as enthusiasts deem the conflict won by the Arizona Diamondbacks over the New York Yankees three years ago?

That remains to be seen, but at least six Fall Classics undoubtedly failed to maintain the superior level of play expected of the best team of each major league.

The unworthy candidates for the Six Sloppiest World Series (in reverse chronological order):

[solid index] 1997--Neither the Florida Marlins nor Cleveland Indians were invariably sparkling in the seven-game set in which the wild-card N.L. team prevailed in sometimes adverse conditions.

[solid index] 1979--The "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates subdued the Baltimore Orioles but ragged play was an only too frequent evidence on both sides.

[solid index] 1961--Their futility against the New York Yankees suggests that the Cincinnati Reds must have mesmerized the N.L. to win the pennant.

[solid index] 1945--As Brown joked, it's conceivable that neither team was actually capable of winning, but the fact remains the Tigers did edge the Cubs by being somewhat less inept.

[solid index] 1924--The New York Giants and Washington Senators must have left their gloves at home, or the ball took a lot of extraordinarily funny bounces..

[solid index] 1917--This conflict is best remembered as the last won by either Chicago team, but in the course of subduing the New York Giants, the White Sox and their victims perpetrated the ugliest single game ever.

Marlins over Indians in 1997

A dramatic finish in which the upstart Marlins won 3-2 at home when Edgar Renteria's single drove in Craig Counsell in the 12th inning of Game 7 can't obscure the sloppy nature of this extended championship duel.

Game 1 in Florida set the pattern. Veteran Indians starter Orel Hershiser, 39, who went into the Series with an 8-1 post-season record, committed fielding and pitching blunders unexpected of a rookie.

With the score tied, 1-1, in the bottom of the fourth, Hershiser walked Bobby Bonilla on four pitches, then was late covering first base on Darren Daulton's ground ball to the right side. Second baseman Bip Roberts fielded the ball but had no one to throw to, putting two Marlins on base.

Hershiser compounded the problem by giving Moises Alou a good pitch to hit on an 0-2 count. Alou's three-run homer sent the Marlins on to a 7-4 victory.

After the Indians tied the Series by winning the second game 6-1, the teams headed north to temperatures in the 40s and wind-chill readings in the 20s in Cleveland. The conditions contributed to making Game 3, won 14-11 by Florida, a shambles. Neither starting pitchers Charles Nagy (Indians) and Al Leiter, nor the nine relievers who followed them, could grip the freezing ball properly and struggled with control. Nine Indians and eight Marlins walked.