Oh, you Cubs
The headline reads: "Giants Series Hero Rhodes dies at 82."Dusty Rhodes came up big for the then-New York Giants in the World Series of 1954. As a pinch-hitter, he walloped a 10th inning, tie-breaking three-run homer in Game 1, tied Game 2 with a 5th inning pinch-hit single, capped that second game with another home run in the 7th, and in the pinch again, hit a 2-run single in Game 3. The Giants, now in San Francisco of course, have not won a championship since.
Rhodes' obituary set me to thinking about the status of the rest of baseball clubs' LAST World Series heroes. Cincinnati's last World Series hero would be 1990 MVP Jose Rijo. The former pitcher, who won 2 games for the Reds in the Fall Classic that year, just turned 44 years old. He has a supporting role in the recently-released film "Sugar." The Cardinals' last World Series hero, pitcher Adam Wainwright, who closed out all three post-season series for his club that year, turns 28 in August. He pitches for the Cardinals Sunday in Kansas City.
Only two teams have longer championship droughts than the Giants.
The Cleveland Indians haven't won the World Series since 1948. Their hero that year was pitcher Bob Lemon, who won two games and allowed only three earned runs in 16 1/3 innings. Lemon died at the age of 79 in 2000 in California.
Then there's the Cubs. Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown won Games 1 & 4 in the 1908 World Series that stretched five games. Brown dropped dead at the age of 71 in February of '48, eight months before the Indians took their last championship. In fact, the entire 1908 Cubs team has been dead for almost 40 years. Pitcher Bill Mack who pitched in 2 games for the team that year at the age of 23 was the last to go in 1971.
posted by CM @ 7:15 AM
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