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My favorite thing about Sports Time Travel is when I discover something I never knew about.

And it’s absolutely fascinating when that discovery is something truly dramatic, something that I would have thought would have been common knowledge among hard core sports fans like myself, yet somehow has been relegated to the footnotes of sports history and evaded my awareness until now.

This morning I made one of those “discoveries” and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you. Now I take you back in time 80 years for today’s story.

The Sports Time Traveler arrived in St. Louis virtually yesterday afternoon to catch the doubleheader between the Detroit Tigers vs. the St. Louis Browns on the final day of the regular season.

It’s been a crazy season, the war is finally over, and players have been trickling back over the summer. Most of the teams’ rosters were filled with players who were ineligible for service such as the Tiger’s Hal Newhouser, the best pitcher in baseball over the past 2 years with a record of 53 - 18 and an ERA just a touch over 2. Newhouser intended to join the service but was rejected by the draft board due to a leaky heart valve.

While most players who served won’t be back until 1946, some who entered service early in the war, or even before America entered the war, made it back during the 1945 season. This was the case of Hank Greenberg. Hank, the 1940 AL MVP, registered for the draft just 8 days after he finished playing in the World Series that same year. He missed nearly the entire 1941 season, all of the 1942, 1943 and 1944 seasons and half of the 1945 season. He wasn’t discharged until mid-June, of this year, 1945. And many baseball experts assumed that at nearly 35 years old, he didn’t stand a chance of playing major league ball again.

But Greenberg, took 2 weeks to get back into baseball shape and on July 1st he started for the Tigers in a fairy tale like comeback.

The Final Day of the 1945 Season

Now, 3 months later, the Tigers came into the last day of the season yesterday in 1st place, with a record of 87 - 65, thanks to Hank Greenberg, Hal Newhouser and several others. But the Tigers still needed to win 1 game, in the scheduled doubleheader, to clinch the pennant. Looming over their heads was the prospect that if they dropped both ends of the twinbill they would have to scramble home to play the Washington Senators in a 1 game playoff. And the Tigers opponent, the Browns, were no pushover. They were in 3rd place with a record of 81 - 69. And they were also the defending American League champions.

But the Tigers were limping into the game, literally. Several key players were playing injured including Greenberg and Newhouser. The team had lost 6 of their last 9 games. In 5 of the 6 losses they could only manage 2 runs or less.

One of those losses was a 5 - 0 two-hit shutout at the hands of these same St. Louis Browns, and their same starting pitcher, Nels Potter, just one week ago on the Tiger’s home field.

The Game Begins Badly

Nels Potter tamed the Tigers first 6 batters and was perfect through 2 innings. This was no surprise. Potter has been one of the best starting pitchers in baseball over the past 2 seasons.

Meanwhile Tiger’s starter Virgil Trucks, pitching in his 1st game since coming out of the service, gave up a double and a single to the first 2 batters he faced since 1943, and the Browns had an early 1 - 0 lead.

Trucks settled down and faced the minimum number of Browns’ batters in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th innings while the Tigers managed to get a run off Potter in the 5th, ending a drought of 14 straight innings against Potter in which they had not scored a run. That tied the game at 1. Then the Tigers got another run off Potter in the 6th to go ahead 2 - 1.

Newhouser Comes In to Pitch for the Pennant

When Trucks got into trouble in the bottom of the 6th, and the Tigers were nursing a 2 - 1 lead, Tiger’s manager Steve O’Neill chose to go to his ace, Newhouser.

This was a real gamble. O’Neill had said prior to the game that he was saving Newhouser, who had pitched a shutout 4 days ago, for the possible playoff game against the Senators the next day, should the Tigers lose both games in St. Louis.

But O’Neill must have felt that with the 2 - 1 lead, if Newhouser could shut down the Browns they could win the pennant outright now and not have to think about a playoff game.

However Newhouser, the 1944 MVP and a winner of 29 games last year and 24 more this year couldn’t contain the Browns. They scored a run to tie the game in the 7th and scored another in the 8th.

Browns 3 Tigers 2 - End of 8 Innings

Now the Tigers were facing the depths of despair. Their ace had lost the lead and would have to come out of the game for a pinch hitter in the 9th.

Meanwhile they were still facing Nels Potter, who had allowed them only 2 runs over 2 games in the past week.

If the Tigers didn’t pull this one out, and then lost the nightcap, they would have to travel home to play the Senators in a one game playoff, a playoff game in which the Tigers would enter the game having lost 8 of their last 11.

There was also the prospect that the Tigers could lose that 2nd game in a rain shortened affair if the Browns got an early run. Because the skies had been threatening all afternoon and darkness was already beginning to set in as the 9th inning got underway.

The 9th Inning

The Tigers weren’t going down easy. They immediately got to Potter in the 9th. The leadoff hitter Hub Walker singled. Skeeter Webb tried to bunt the runner over. The throw to second base was late and both runners were safe. At this point, Red Borom was brought in to pinch run for Walker. Next up Eddie Mayo successfully bunted the runners into scoring position.

Now the Browns had a decision to make. With 1st base open do they pitch to Doc Cramer? The crafty Cramer had been around the majors since 1929, when he played on the three-time World Series champion A’s. He had made 5 all-star teams, and at 40 years old he was concluding his 14th consecutive season with at least 125 hits.

Cramer was also a lefty hitter, while Potter was a righty pitcher. And the next batter would be a righty.

That made the strategy clearer. Walk the lefty to load the bases and enable a force out at home, while also bringing up a right handed batter. But it was still a dicey move. The right handed batter was Hank Greenberg.

Before the war, Greenberg had been one of the very best hitters in baseball. And although he had played admirably in the 3 months he was back, even having a month long stretch batting in excess of .400 and far exceeding anyone’s expectations, he was still not the Hank Greenberg of 1940, who won the MVP. And he had been playing hurt for the past several weeks.

Greenberg took the first pitch from Potter.  Now let’s let Tiger’s beat writer from the Detroit Free Press, Lyall Smith, take over. Here’s what he wrote in a page 1 article in this morning’s paper:

“Potter wound up and threw a high fast one toward the plate. Hank hit the ball on a line out of the field and into the left field stands at the 351-foot mark to drive home Red Borom, Skeeter Webb and Doc Cramer.  By the time Hank reached home plate, he was caught up in a maelstrom of humanity that was every Tiger on the team. He was hugged and roughed and kissed and pummeled.”

Hank Greenberg, war hero, the player who had spent more time away from the game than any other major leaguer, had just hit a grand slam home run. The Tigers were suddenly ahead 6 - 3.

The picture at the begining of this article appeared in the Detroit Free Press of Hank touching home plate after his grand slam

In the bottom of the 9th, Tigers’ pitcher Al Benton, their 2nd best starter, shut down the Browns to formally clinch the pennant.

Greenberg’s homer had effectively won the pennant. And in doing so it was arguably the most dramatic home run in baseball history up to this time.

SPECIAL NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler

I interrupt this article to let you know that about 20 years ago, ESPN published an article on the 100 Greatest Home Runs of All Time. ESPN's 100 Greatest Home Runs of All Time

Hank Greenberg’s home run to win the 1945 pennant made the list at #18.

What I found most interesting is that all of the top 17 took place after 1945. Thus making the case that Greenberg’s homer on September 30, 1945, was the greatest and most dramatic homer ever hit in baseball up to that time.

Now back to 1945.

The Senators Put On The Brakes

When the 9th inning began, the Washington Senators were gathered at Griffith Stadium in D.C. listening to the game on the radio taking place a thousand miles to the west. With the Browns ahead, the entire team started getting into their cars to head to the train station for the overnight trip to Detroit. The Senators were in high spirits for the potential playoff game. It looked like a certainty that the Tigers were going to lose the 1st game of the doubleheader. The chances of the Tigers losing the required two were now high enough that the Senators needed to begin the trip. They started heading to the station.

An AP article this morning described the scene at this moment in the nation’s capital when Greenberg hit the historic blast.

“A ball park attendant stuck his head out a window and yelled to Manager Ossie Bluege as he was leaving that Greenberg’s long ball had broken up the ball game. Their smiles disappeared and the Senators began plans of disbandment for the season.”

Owner Clark Griffith told the AP reporter, “We’ll all be pulling for the Tigers to beat the Cubs in the World Series.”

Grantland Rice Writes About Hank’s Homer

One of the great sportswriter of this era, Grantland Rice, penned a piece for the ages in his daily column this morning. He began with this, “The embattled farmers of Lexington are not the only ones who fired a shot heard ‘round the world.’ So did Hank Greenberg, and radio listeners from Germany to Japan still in service caught the resonant echo.”

The New York Times commented on Hanks’ homer in this morning’s edition, “Never was a title won in more dramatic fashion. Premature darkness was settling over the field and a light mist was falling as big Hank stepped up with his team a run behind and gave one of Nelson Potter’s screwballs a tremendous ride into the bleachers… It was Hank’s thirteenth blow since he rejoined the club in July and probably the most important one he ever hit.”

In the Detroit Free Press, Lyall Smith held back no superlatives in describing the thrilling pennant victory. He opened his front page article with this, “Call Hank Greenberg a champion of champions! Call him the hero of Bengal Town. Call him the man who came through with a ninth-inning home run… Call him all the flowery things you want, for the big left fielder stepped up to the plate and beat the defending league champions, the St. Louis Browns with a home run for history.”

The Sports Time Traveler will be following the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers.

The Sports Time Traveler is making a rare report from the present time. I have been prompted to break from my traditional coverage of sports contests from 50+ years ago because of the mind-bending spectacle most of you have probably already witnessed either on TV or via social media.

If you were one of the 52,883 fans that packed into Dodger Stadium last night, you will be able to hopefully tell people 50+ years from now about the historic game you saw live.

Three major news outlets - The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times all described what Shohei Ohtani did last night with the exact same phrase. They called it, “The Greatest Game in Baseball History.” It’s a designation that is inherently subjective, yet there is no doubt that Ohtani’s performance is deserving of consideration.

There have been over 350,000 games played in major league baseball going back to 1876. It’s not an easy thing to assess which one contained the greatest performance by an individual player.

But it is hard to imagine anyone has ever topped anything like what we saw Ohtani do last night.

If you missed the game or just haven’t seen the stats here’s what Ohtani did:

• Pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing just 2 hits and striking out 10.
• Hit 3 home runs and had a walk. He never made an out.

In the 1st inning, Ohtani struck out 3 straight Brewers.  

The last 2 pitches were breaking balls that quite simply looked like magic to me.

The pitching performance was the icing on the cake. Because Ohtani, in 3 official at-bats, hit 3 home runs. In his other plate appearance, he walked.  

Every time he wasn’t walked, he hit a home run.

Ohtani never made an out at the plate and he never allowed a run on the mound. Ponder that for a bit. 

Has anyone ever had a game like this?

And if you’re still not convinced, go to YouTube and find Ohtani’s 2nd home run of the game. It was a legendary, over-the-roof shot to centerfield, a tremendous jaw-dropping blast.

Now further add to your consideration that this was no ordinary game. This was the CLINCHING game for a National League Championship. The Dodgers, thanks to Ohtani’s one-man show last night, have just swept the Brewers, who had the best record in baseball this year, and are headed to the World Series.

I naturally had to take a look back in time to see if anyone has ever had a game like Ohtani’s.

I first went to October 8, 1956, to game 5 of the 1956 World Series. This was Don Larsen’s perfect game. Larsen gave the Yankees a 3 games to 2 edge over the Dodgers in the series. The Dodgers evened the series the next day, and the Yankees won game 7. So Larsen’s game, as great as it was, wasn’t a clincher.

But what did Larsen do at the plate that day? If he had gone 2 for 3 and drove in a couple of runs, Larsen’s unsurpassed pitching performance might have made the case that he had a greater game than Ohtani did last night. But at the plate that day in the Fall of ‘56, Larsen was 0 for 2 with a bunt sacrifice in his only other plate appearance. His outs were a pop foul and a swinging strikeout. It was not a day to remember with his bat.

Babe Ruth’s World Series Shutout

For my next contender, I zipped back in time to September 5, 1918 to game 1 of the World Series.

Wait! What? The World Series started on September 5th?

Yes, the Fall Classic was played in the Summer in 1918, due to a war-shortened schedule.

And Babe Ruth opened the series with a gem - a 6 hit shutout of the Chicago Cubs that gave the Ruth’s Red Sox a 1 game to none lead. Ruth also won game 4, 4 days later, throwing a solid 8 innings in which he allowed just 2 earned runs, and the Red Sox were on their way to their last World Series title until 2004.

Ruth’s shutout in the opener could only put him in contention for “greatest game” if he had a Ruthian day at the plate. But in that game in 1918, Ruth was just 1 for 2 at the plate. Like Larsen, Ruth’s only other plate appearance was a sacrifice bunt. Although Ruth’s 1 hit was a triple that drove in 2 runs, it still puts his overall performance well short of Ohtani’s. And it wasn’t a championship-clinching game either.

Rick Wise’s Big Day

Unless you’re a baseball history fanatic, you probably have never heard of Rick Wise. He was one of a number of solid starting pitchers in baseball during the 1970s. And 50 years this week, he was the winner of game 6 of the 1975 World Series. That’s the famous game in which Carlton Fisk hit the walk-off over the Green Monster in the 12th inning. That was Fisk’s big day. But Wise’s biggest day happened 4 years earlier.

On June 23, 1971, at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Rick Wise, pitching for the Phillies tossed a no-hitter. There have been lots of no-hitters of course, but there is only one in history in which the pitcher also connected for 2 home runs.

It is certainly a stunning game. But it was a regular season game, pitting two sub .500 teams. And in Wise’s 2 other at bats he grounded out. It just doesn’t compare to what Ohtani did last night.

For my last contender, I go to a game that I’m very partial to. It holds a special appeal to me because I attended this one in person at Yankee Stadium with my dad on October 18, 1977.

Reggie Jackson did something no one else has done in World Series history. He hit 3 home runs on consecutive pitches that he saw.

In Jackson’s 1st plate appearance leading off the bottom of the 2nd, he walked. In that plate appearance, Jackson never had a pitch thrown to him in the strike zone.

In the bottom of the 4th, with the Yankees down 3 - 2 and Thurman Munson on 1st base, Jackson sent the 1st pitch he saw from Burt Hooten deep into the right field seats. I sadly didn’t see the homer as I had gone out to get a hot dog.

In the bottom of the 5th, with the Yankees leading 5 - 3, and Willie Randolph on 1st base, Reggie ripped the 1st pitch he saw from Elias Sosa over the right field wall. I missed this one as well, as I was in the bathroom.

In the bottom of the 8th, with the Yanks ahead 8 - 3, Jackson led off. On the 1st pitch of the inning from Charlie Hough, Jackson hit a tremendous drive deep into the blackened centerfield seats (where tickets weren’t sold) that served as a backdrop for batters.

I saw that one. It was unforgettable.

My dad and I have been fortunate to have had many special sports spectator experiences together, but this one has to be at the top.

Jackson’s game was certainly special. And it was a World Series clinching game. By winning the game, the Yankees closed out the Dodgers 4 games to 2.

But Jackson didn’t pitch as Ohtani did.

And Jackson had just an average day in the field. He made good on the few balls that were hit to him. Although in the top of the 1st, he arguably could have made a better play on a ground ball that went all the way to the wall in the right field corner and enabled the Dodgers to put up the game’s first 2 runs. Jackson didn’t do anything wrong on the play. He just didn’t do anything special. He threw to the cut off man in short right. He didn’t attempt to nail the lead runner at the plate or the runner heading to 3rd. It is quite possible that he had no play on them either. But if he had been able to make a Roberto Clemente type throw to save a run, then I could’ve held up Jackson’s game against Ohtani’s.

And so I have to say that as a result of my sports time travels, I can’t find a game that is greater than the one Ohtani played last night.