Hughie Jennings

Fielder Jones

Sam Crawford

Ed Walsh

Addie Joss

Bob Lemon

Gene Bearden

Bob Feller

Joe DiMaggio

Bill Veeck

Hal Newhouser

Joe McCarthy

Eddie Dyer

Stan Musial

Enos Slaughter

Red Schoendienst

1949 saw great pennant races in both leagues. The American League thriller is more famous because the Yankees defeated the Red Sox in the last two games at Yankee Stadium to win by one. However, the NL likewise produced a one-game winner.

• Dodgers have the day off.
• Cardinals lose their third in a row, this one to the last-place Cubs at Wrigley, 6-5.
• Result: Brooklyn leads by one full game.

• Brooklyn loses in Philadelphia to the third-place Phillies, who are enjoying their best season in 31 years.
• However, the Cardinals lose to the Cubs again, 3-1.
• Result: Dodgers still lead by one game but have clinched at least a tie for the pennant.

• The Cards do their part, belting Chicago 13-5 behind Pollet. They then retire to the clubhouse to listen to the end of the Dodgers game.
• With a large contingent of Brooklynites in the Shibe Park crowd of 36,765, Newcombe, on only two days rest, blows a 5-0 lead as the Phils fight back to tie at 7. In the tenth, Snider's sizzler up the middle plates Pee Wee Reese. Then PH Luis Olmo drives home an insurance run. Young reliever Jack Banta completes four scoreless innings for the 9-7 victory.
• Result: Brooklyn wins the pennant by one game: 97-57 to 96-58.

Burt Shotton and Duke Snider

Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella

Preacher Roe

Pee Wee Reese

Sandy Koufax

Walt Alston

Claude Osteen

Don Drysdale

The most famous pennant race in National League history is the 1951 thriller between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers that culminated in a three-game playoff. However, the Dodgers and Giants also went to the wire in 1966 when they were located in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

On Thursday, September 29, Sandy Koufax pitched a complete game 2-1 victory over the Cardinals in St. Louis for his 26th win against 9 losses. The Dodgers enjoyed a two-game lead in the 10-team NL over the Pirates and 3.5 over the Giants as they traveled to Philadelphia for the closing three-game series at Connie Mack Stadium. As fate would have it, the Pirates and Giants were to meet in a three-game set at Forbes Field. L.A.'s Magic Number was 2, meaning that if they won two of their three in Philly, the Pirates and Giants were helpless.

• Walt Alston sent out Claude Osteen (17-13) to oppose the Phillies' Chris Short (18-10). Short won the battle of lefties, 5-3.
• Meanwhile, the Pirates-Giants game was rained out and rescheduled as part of a DH the next day.
• Result: Dodgers led Pittsburgh by 1.5 and the Giants by 3.

• The same system that drenched Pittsburgh on Friday did the same to Philadelphia, postponing the Dodgers-Phils. The game would be played as part of a DH Sunday if it were necessary to determine the pennant winner.
• The Giants swept the Pirates, 5-4 behind Juan Marichal's 25th and 2-0 on Bobby Bolin's one-hitter. This was quite a gem against a Pirate lineup that boasted Matty Alou, Matty Mota, Roberto Clemente, and Donn Clendenon. (Willie Stargell didn't play.)
• Result: The Giants were second, 2 behind, with the Pirates 2.5 back.

• L.A.'s task was simple: Win the first game and the pennant is yours. Or back in if the Giants lost. Alston wanted desperately to clinch without having to use Koufax in the second game. Ideally, he would start Sandy against the Orioles in Game One on Wednesday.
• The Pirates took a 3-2 lead after three before the pitchers settled in for five scoreless innings.
• In the City of Brotherly Love, Dick Stuart donned headphones in the Dodger dugout to give updates from Pittsburgh. Don Drysdale, who had held out in spring training with Koufax but had suffered a disappointing season (13-16), lasted only two+ innings. Nevertheless, the visitors clung to a 3-2 lead in the eighth when the Phillies loaded the bases with no outs. Suddenly, Koufax ran down to the bullpen. Two errors gave the home team two runs and a 4-3 victory. Short won his 20th with a scoreless eighth/ninth.
• Meanwhile, the Giants tallied a run in the ninth to avert elimination. The Dodgers retired to the clubhouse to await the result from the Steel City. The Pirates loaded the bases in the 9th and 10th to no avail. Finally, Sandy stood up and said, "The hell with it" and went out to warm up. Jeff Torborg caught him while connected to a headset (not as portable in those days). Sparked by Willie McCovey's two-run shot, S.F. erupted in the 11th to prevail 7-3. Lindy McDaniel won with four scoreless innings despite surrendering six hits and two walks. Steve Blass took the loss. The Giants were now only one game behind. If L.A. lost the second game, the Giants would makeup an earlier rainout, and a victory in that contest would propel them into a tie just as in '51.
• The Phils trotted out their ace righty, Jim Bunning, who, like Koufax, listed a perfect game on his resume. The Dodgers struck for 3 in the third and amassed a 6-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. Despite pitching on ony two days rest, Sandy was his masterful self. When he couldn't get his curve over in the first inning, he went exclusively with the heater. Unknown to the public, Koufax had been taking cortisone shots in his left elbow for several years to assuage the constant pain that drove him to retirement at the end of the '66 season at age 30. After feeling something pop in his back in the fifth, he retreated to the clubhouse to have the trainer smear Capsolin on his arm, back, and side. He also took pain pills. Nevertheless, after eight he had surrendered only one solid hit, a double by Bill White. Exhausted after 322 innings for the season, he geared up for the final trio of Richie Allen, Harvey Kuehn, and Tony Taylor. Allen reached on 2B Jim LeFebvre's error. Then Kuenn, in his last at-bat before retirement, singled. Taylor also singled to break the shutout. Alston visited the mound to remind Sandy not to overthrow. White cracked a double off the scoreboard to cut the lead to 6-3. K K'd PH Bob Uecker for the first out, and Bobby Wine grounded out. Jackie Brandt was all that stood between L.A. and the pennant. He had no chance. Sandy threw three right past him.
  

The Series was anti-climactic. The Dodgers, who had swept the Yanks in '64, were themselves swept by Baltimore.

Chris Short

Juan Marichal

Willie McCovey

Jim Bunning

Fred McGriff

Steve Avery, John Smoltz, Pete Smith, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine

Terry Pendleton

Bobby Cox

On July 28, the San Francisco Giants led the Atlanta Braves by ten games. The Braves were the two-time defending NL champions, having lost in the World Series to the Twins in '91 and the Blue Jays in '92. The Giants had won the NL in '89 but also lost to the Oakland A's in the "Earthquake Series."

Helped by the acquisition of 1B Fred McGriff from the Padres, the Braves slowly closed the gap in August until they were only 3.5 behind on September 2. Atlanta's young arms – Steve Avery, John Smoltz, Pete Smith, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine – stayed strong while the Giants staff faded – starters Trevor Wilson and Bud Black were on the DL. SF picked up two veterans, Jim Deshaies and Scott Sanderson, for the stretch run.

The Giants experienced the "home stand from Hell." After defeating the Pirates on Labor Day, SF lost seven straight in Candlestick Park to fall 3.5 behind the Braves, who were in the midst of a 21-4 streak. Included was a two-of-three series victory in Fulton County Stadium August 31-September 2 in the last meeting of the two teams for the season – an unfortunate scheduling quirk.

"Battered and seemingly beaten, the Giants somehow rallied." Billy Swift finally won his 18th game to end the losing streak and begin a 14-2 stretch. SF tied Atlanta on Tuesday, September 28. However, they lost the next night to Colorado to fall a game behind the Braves, who beat Houston. On Thursday, the Giants began a four-game series at Chavez Ravine. Dodger skipper Tommy Lasorda relished ruining his archrival's season just as SF had done to his team two years earlier. "We're having meetings, we're showing films, we're going to throw everything we have at them." However, the Giants beat LA 3-1 as Swift bested Tom Candiotti. Meanwhile the Braves lost to the Astros 10-8 before 49,021 at home to create another tie (101-58) and set up an exciting final weekend. The Braves' final three games, however, were at home against the expansion Rockies, whom they had beaten all 10 times they'd played so far.Friday, October 1: Atlanta beat Colorado 7-4, with 3B Terry Pendleton driving in five. However, across the continent the Giants kept pace, beating the Dodgers 8-7 before 51,870 at Chavez Ravine. LF Barry Bonds hit two three-run HRs on his way to 46 for the season.

• Saturday, October 2: Maddux cruised 10-1 over the Rockies but, again, the Giants didn't flinch, holding off LA 5-3. Dave Hansen's long fly in the 8th fell just short of a grand slam. Dave Martinez felt the fans behind him as he made the catch at the fence. "They must have been Giants fans; Dodger fans might have tried to pull my hat down." The two frontrunners were tied with one game to go. Thanks to a coin flip several weeks earlier, the Giants would host a one-game playoff on Monday if the teams tied.
• Sunday, October 3: It was 42 years to the day that Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" to defeat the Dodgers for the NL pennant. Would the anniversary be good to the Giants again? Owner Peter Magowan flew Thomson and Willie Mays to LA to provide good luck. Back in Georgia, Bobby Cox started the pitcher with the most wins over the last three seasons, Tom Glavine. The Rockies' starter Dave Nied, left unprotected by Atlanta for the expansion draft, gave up four early runs, and the Braves hung on, 5-3, to clinch a tie. The Braves retired to their clubhouse to watch the Giant game on TV (McGriff watched the 49ers) while several thousand fans watched on the video board in the stadium. Giant manager Dusty Baker agonized over his starter before selecting rookie Salomon Torres. "I took Salomon to dinner the night before the game. We had some Latin food, and prayed on it." However, he pulled Torres in the fourth trailing 3-0. Rookie of the Year C Mike Piazza put the game away with two homers and Lasorda got his revenge, 12-1, in front of 54,340.

Billy Swift

Barry Bonds

Tommy LaSorda

Dusty Baker