Whats the rarest baseball thing you've seen in person?

[hammytime]

I have seen a no-hitter (Jose Jimenez and the Cards over Randy Johnson and the D-backs), Molitor's cycle in Minnesota (I made a comment to my friends that he only needed the homer for the cycle--a pitch or two before he hit the homer), and a World Series Game 7 where my team won (D-Backs over the Yankees in '01).

[azcheesehead]

-Chili Davis 7/30/95. He stepped over the railing at County Stadium and punched a heckler. I was in RF in the bleachers, 11 years old. I just wonder how nuts that would've been in the current 24 hour news era.

-Someone earlier mentioned the Buhner/Griffey/ARod 6 bomb game. I was there.

-Also at the 2002 'tie' all star game. AKA Roid Fest '02

-Saw Stephen Drew hit for the cycle in AZ, sad part A- no one in the stadium realized it until the scoreboard pointed it out. B- someone else hit one that day too.

-Saw Yo's first HR hit.

[T B0NE 10]

I saw Trevor Hoffman blow a save this year

[AZBrewCrew]

in person: Jody Gerut hitting for the cycle in AZ this year.

[pitchleague]

I saw Jeff Cirillo make his MLB pitching debut. And strike Craig Counsell out.

 

 

Oh, and all that stuff my wife said, too.

[EinhornIsFinkle]

I saw Molitor's cycle versus the Twins and Cuddyer's cycle versus the Brewers last year. I saw Scott Erickson's no no verus the Brewers. Just over a week ago I saw Felix Hernandez strike out 4 batters in an inning which was the 53rd time it had ever done (Parra become the 54th several days later).

 

I've also seen two All Star Games and several World Series games etc. but that's not really the same as seeing a random rarity IMO.

[JohnBriggs12]

This is easy.

 

Game 2 of 1976 season. I was one of 10,871 fans that witnessed Don Money hit a walk off grand slam to beat the Yankees 10-9, only to have it nullified after Billy Martin argued for several minutes that time had been called by the first baseman.

 

A. How many times does a guy hit a walk off grand slam to turn a 3 run deficit into a win?

 

B How often does a first baseman call timeout, ever?

 

C. How often do the umpires change a call after an argument and have to call players out of the clubhouse to resume a game?

 

To me this incident was every bit as outrageous as the Brett pine tar incident, but because neither Money nor the Brewer manager went beserk, most people, even Brewer fans have either forgotten it or are not aware of it. It may be by far the most ignored moment in baseball history.

[Invader3K]

I saw Chad Moeller's cycle game. Also have seen two Brewers triple plays, including the one last season. Was also at the game where Randy Johnson hit his only career home run.

[mothershipconnection]

Fielder and Weeks' first career homers vs. Minnesota.

Ryan Braun's first career homer in San Diego.

Cecil Fielder jacking one into the parking lot at County Stadium.

Gorman Thomas hitting on my mom during an autograph signing event in Eau Claire.

[bani1717]

Nothing super rare on here necessarily, but, here's what comes to mind after thinking for a couple minutes:

 

I saw Ryan Braun's second consecutive Fan Appreciation Night walk-off homer. It's ironic that his only two career walk-offs have come on 2008 and 2009 Fan Appreciation Night.

 

I saw the triple play last year.

 

I saw a walk-off walk against the Brewers last year down at Wrigley.

 

I saw Corey Hart hit homers on 3 consecutive plate appearances a couple weeks ago.

 

I saw Fielder's inside the park homer in 2008.

 

I saw Derrek Lee's 300th homer the other night.

 

I saw what was almost Tom Glavine's 300th win.

 

I saw a bunch of the wins that were part of our big win streak vs the Pirates.

[Ranier]

Nolan Ryan's 300th

 

Rick Manning getting the game-winning single in the 9th with Molitor on deck and missing a chance to extend his streak to 40 games. (With the crowd chanting 'strike out...strike out)

[owbc]

Great topic idea! I've been to a few interesting games over the years...

1) Fernando Vina/Albert Belle brawl--5/30/1996 (this was one of my first baseball games)

2) A random "fan" tackled Astros outfielder Bill Spiers--9/24/1999

3) 5 HR in one inning--5/22/2006

4) The first Interleague game in Brewers history in 1996--a 1-0 win over the Cardinals on a Jeromy Burnitz walkoff

5) Mark McGwire's 64th HR--9/18/1998--mostly memorable for the crowd of 48,000

6) 17-3 win over the Pirates--5/26/2010

[hawing]

I don't know if I have that many new events to add, but I'll comment on some:

 

The Braun walkoff GS was 9/25/2008, not 9/28. He only hit a 2-run, non-walkoff shot on the 28th. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

That whole last homestand of the 2008 season + the NLDS week made for one of the best fortnights of my life (to date), and might still turn out to be rare.

 

The reason I remember the 9/25/2008 date is because it was 25 years to the day since the first Brewers game I attended - 9/25/1983, when (as mentioned above) Baltimore clinched the AL East title.

 

The two-GS game last year came July 27 at the hands of Josh Willingham and the Nationals. I wasn't at that game, but just following it from home was my personal low point of the 2009 season.

 

I've also seen in person the following rare, or relatively rare, events:

- Rick Helling's 9 pitch, 3K inning vs. DET. It was a bummer he fell apart almost immediately after that inning.

- The 2002 all-star tie

- Two triple plays: last year's (9/6/2009) and the one vs. Toronto in game 2 of a doubleheader. I think that was 1997, and the first game was in fact Steve Woodard's full-of-promise debut.

- Kirby Puckett's 6-for-6 day at County Stadium on 8/30/1987.

- The "Counsell Crush": Craig's GS in Washington on 4/18/2010. I think a few other bf.netters can lay claim to seeing that one too. Although per Baseball-reference, it was his third career GS. Still, the first-inning ten-spot was a fairly rare Brewers accomplishment.

 

I imagine there's more, but I'll have to give it some (more) thought. Good topic.

 

Edit: having seen OWBC's post, I was also at that first interleague game vs. STL (which I believe was in 1997). I remember shrieking with joy when they won and at the same time thinking, "needed this 15 years ago!"

[crewfan]

Ben Sheets 18 K game.

[RockCoCougars]

Jeff Suppan on the mound. Three up, three down in the top of the 4th. I'm trying to find a link, but I swear to God it happened.

 

Just kidding, I've been to many of the above, but my favorite game was the Easter Sunday 87 game. I've been to World Series games, no-hitters, 'milestone' games and the like, both none of them hold a candle to that 3 run comeback for whatever reason.

[RayKingsForemanGrill]

Kenny Rogers' Perfect game (1 of 20)

 

Visiting a friend in Texas. I was 13. We went to the game on a whim 1/2 hr before the game started.

[JumpinMacFlash]

4) The first Interleague game in Brewers history in 1996--a 1-0 win over the Cardinals on a Jeromy Burnitz walkoff

 

I hate to break it to you, but this wasn't the first interleague game in Brewers' history. The first was on June 13, 1997 at Wrigley Field. It was a 4-2 Brewers win. Jeff D'Amico got the win, Doug Jones got the save, and Jose Valentin hit the only home run (right-handed, even). I remember because I was there. It was one of the few big moments I've witnessed in person.

 

I was at the game where Jimmy Ganter hit his last career home run, but I was in the bathroom when he hit it. In my defense, I was only six. My dad still hasn't forgiven me for that.

[TooLiveBrew]

Teatoe -- the double-GS inning was Josh Willingham of the Nats

 

My unimpressive list:

- Yount's 3,000th

- Weeks/Fielder first career HRs

- Viña/Belle brawl

 

There might be more, but I sure don't remember right now.

EDIT: Duh, I was there for the final County Stadium game

[DuWayne Steurer]

The closest thing I can remember was Jenkins 3 HR game against the Expos at Miller Park. I think it was in '05 or thereabouts.

 

He had a solo, 2 run, and 3 run homer, and came up in the 7th with the bases loaded. HAD he connected and hit the granny, he would have been the first player in MLB history to complete a HR "cycle" in a 4 HR game. The fact that he came up with just the CHANCE to do it has to be crazily defiant of the odds to begin with.

[logan82]

Brewers 5 HR inning: 1 of 5 times in MLB history

Weeks/Fielder first career HRs

[RightFieldCoder]

The ones I haven't forgotten about:

 

ASG tie

Moeller cycle

Cuddyer cycle

Bellhorn homers from both sides of the plate in the same inning

Brewers come back down 9-0 to beat the Reds on a Bill (clap-clap clap-clap) Hall HR.

A-Rod's ?400? HR

Fielder Inside the Park

Hart Inside the Park (both ItP were hit right in front of me in RF at The Keg)

Brewers playoff win

Braun walk off Slam

Sabathia HR (landed about 20ft from me)

Berkman Inside the Park (After Jenkins shattered his ankle, the new LF ran into the railing and broke his wrist to give Berkman the HR)

Jenkins shattering his ankle

Stanton balking off before he ever threw a pitch for the Nats

Prince break the RBI record

Prince hit #50

Italian get wacked

Schilling struck out 17 Brewers in a game

 

edit:

Prince and Rickie's first HRs

Multiple people's first hits.

[gregmag]

-- Molitor hit-streak game number 36 in 1987

-- Last year's triple play / Fielder walkoff game against the Giants

-- The first game ever at Miller Park (worst seats I ever had)

-- The 18-inning game against the White Sox in 1991, when (IIRC) the Brewers had to score multiple runs to tie in the 9th and again extra innings, before Willie Randolph knocked in the game-winner in the 18th

-- Ben Oglivie's three-hr game in, I believe, 1980

-- Sabathia's soul-crushing shutout of the Cards in St. Louis

-- The second game of the 1978 season, a.k.a. the Brewers' second day in franchise history as a good team

-- The game in 2004 when Ben Sheets shut out the Cubs 1-0 on one of the two home runs Craig Counsell hit that year (best seats I ever had)

-- The day the Brewers retired Molitor's number

-- The game against the Mariners in 1990 when Dan Plesac blew a save in gruesome fashion, abruptly (although we didn't know this at the time) ending his career as an effective closer

-- The Mets-Phillies game in 2006 when Aaron Rowand broke his nose making a spectacular catch

[owbc]

I hate to break it to you, but this wasn't the first interleague game in Brewers' history.

*** First interleague home game. And yes, the year was 1997. In my defense, I was 10 years old at the time. I still have the certificate that was given away that night to prove it.

[craigharmann]

Devon White inside the park home run at The Humpty Dump back when I was in 8th grade.

 

Edit: Wrong guy. I looked it up. Why I thought Shane Mack, I don't know. June 1, 1992.

[MNBrew]

Kirby Puckett's 6-for-6 day at County Stadium on 8/30/1987

 

Thanks, Hawing. I forgot about being there that day. Viola pitched great. Kirby stole a GS from Robin but it became a 2-run SF (not technically, but 2 runs did score on the play.

I was at BOTH of Puckett's 6-hit games. The other was a day-game loss to Texas at the Metrodome.

 

Everett Stull's 9 walks in 3.2 innings including 3 bases loaded walks

 

I was there, too. I had that on my list but forgot it whilst typing the various better moments.

I almost skipped rehearsal to go to what became Scott Erickson's no-no against the Brewers. Instead, I saw the 10-2 win the next night w/ about 5 or 6 HRs including 2 by my then-hero, Matt Mieske.

 

The day the Brewers retired Molitor's number

 

Yeah. Drove down from Mpls and got there late. Due to rain, I didn't miss much of the game. But I missed the ceremony.