Mickey Mantle played his entire 18-year career with the New York Yankees.  Throughout his historic career, he won three AL MVP awards, one Gold Glove, one Triple Crown and he appeared in 20 All-Star Games.  Mickey also appeared in 12 World Series, winning seven of them.  He recorded a .298 batting average throughout his career, with 2,415 hits, 536 home runs, and 1,509 RBIs.  His number 7 was eventually retired by the Yankees.

As for Whitey Ford, he also spent his entire 18-year career with the New York Yankees.  During that time, the pitcher made it to 10 All-Star Games and earned the Cy Young Award in 1961.  He also won six World Series Championships, and he was named the World series MVP in 1961.  Ford finished his career with a 236–106 to go along with a 2.75 ERA and 1,956 strikeouts.  His number 16 was also retired by the Yankees.

Here is Mickey Mantle poking fun at Whitey Ford’s fastball.

Notable Birthdays

Albert Pujols, MLB -Born on January 16, 1980 (age 32) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Brenden Morrow, NHL -Born on January 16, 1979 (age 33) in Carlyle, Saskatchewan

Roy Jones, Jr. – Boxing – Born on January 16, 1969 (age 43) in Pensacola, Florida

Joe DiMaggio spent all 13 years of his career with the New York Yankees, earning himself the nickname “The Yankee Clipper.”  DiMaggio was selected to the All-Star Game in each of his 13 seasons in the Majors.  He also won nine World Series championships and three MVP awards.  He currently holds the record for 56 consecutive games with a base hit and following his retirement he had his No. 5 retired by the Yankees.  He finished his career with a .325 average, 361 home runs and 1,537 RBIs.

Joe DiMaggio ended his baseball career on a winning note, as the Yankees won the World Series during his final season.  He would go on to live until the age of 84, before eventually passing away five months following lung cancer surgery.

Here is a look at Joe DiMaggio’s Hall of Fame biography.

Notable Birthdays

Ronnie Brown, NFL -Born on December 12, 1981 (age 30) in Rome, Georgia

Nate Clements, NFL -Born on December 12, 1979 (age 32) in Shaker Heights, Ohio

Orlando Hudson, MLB – Born on December 12, 1977 (age 34) in Darlington, South Carolina

All five games of the series were closely contested, as three games were decided by one run, while the other two were two-run ballgames.  New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was named the World Series M.V.P. for the first time in his career, and it was his fourth World Series title in his first five professional seasons.  This series is most remembered for an incident between Yankees starting pitcher Roger Clemens and catcher Mike Piazza of the Mets.

In game 2 of the series, Piazza’s bat was shattered by Clemens.  After the bat came flying towards Roger, he preceded to pick it up and throw it in Piazza’s direction.  If you read Clemens’ lips, he says “I thought it was the ball,”  which begs the following questions:  How do you mistake a piece of broken wood for a ball?  And if you thought it was the ball, why did you throw it towards him?  Roid rage perhaps?

Here are highlights from Game 2, including Clemens vs. Piazza.

Notable Birthdays

Francisco Liriano, MLB – Born October 26th 1983 (age 28) in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic

Andrea Bargnani, NBA – Born October 26th 1985 (age 26) in Rome, Italy

Monta Ellis, NBA – Born October 26th 1985 (age 26) in Jackson, Mississippi

The 2011 World Series is in full swing, with the Rangers headed back to St. Louis for Game 6 with a 3-2 series lead over the Cardinals thanks to a huge 4-2 victory last night. And in such a tightly contested series—it looks like we have a pretty decent shot at a Game 7 for the first time since 2002—it’s anybody’s guess who will wind up being this year’s World Series MVP. Sure, Albert Pujols had probably the best single game in the WS history on Saturday night; but he followed that up by going 0-4 on Sunday. So, really, you just never know what’s going to happen.

To illustrate just how challenging it is to predict who will win the World Series MVP, and to give you a little crash course in World Series history, I thought we’d take a look at the 9 most unlikely recipients in this prestigious award’s history.

9. Gene Tenace (1972)

During the 1972 regular season, Gene Tenace was just a backup catcher who hit .225 with 5 HRs and 32 RBIs. The 1972 Fall Classic served as his coming out party, however, as he led his team by hitting .348 with 4 HRs and 9 RBIs. Of course, Tenace went on to become a star for the Oakland A’s dynasty that won two more Word Series Championships in 1973 and 1974. But he most definitely was not a star when he was named World Series MVP in 1972.

8. Scott Brosius (1998)

Former Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius had the second-best year of his career in 1998, when he hit .300 while smacking 19 HRs and driving in 98. Still, he played on a Yankees team that featured Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, and Paul O’Neill. So no one really thought he would be the one to lead the team in average (.471), HRs (2), and RBIs (6).

7. David Eckstein (2006)

David Eckstein is the Rudy of Major League Baseball. Sure, he was always a high-average hitter with a .280 average over 9 seasons. But he only hit 35 home runs in his career and batted in just 392 runs.

So no one could possibly have imagined that the 5’7” shortstop would be the most valuable World Series player on a Cardinals team that featured mashers like Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds. And yet he most definitely was, hitting .364 with 3 doubles and 4 runs batted in.

6. Darrell Porter (1982)

Catcher Darrell Porter had a good series for the 1982 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Over 7 games, Porter hit .286 with a home run, 2 doubles, and 5 runs batted in—good for a .775 OPS. But he probably wasn’t the best player on his team.

Keith Hernandez hit .259 with a home run, 2 doubles, and 8 runs batted in—good for a .799 OPS.

Lonnie Smith (yes, Lonnie, not Ozzie) played 7 games and hit a superb .321 with 4 doubles and a team-high 6 runs scored—good for a .881 OPS.

Then there was pitcher Joaquin Andujar, who pitched a team-high 13.1 innings and gave up only 2 runs while walking just 1—good for a 1.35 ERA and a 0.825 WHIP.

Yet, surprisingly, it was Darrell Porter who came way with the World Series MVP.

5. Rick Dempsey (1983)

Numbers 6 and 5 were pretty much a toss up.

Both were catchers for the World Series champs, and both hit about .230 for the season in which they won the WS MVP. On the one hand, the World Series performance of Baltimore Oriole Rick Dempsey was more impressive than Porter’s in 1982, since Dempsey hit .385 with 4 doubles—a much greater leap from his subpar regular season numbers, and thus in a way far more surprising. On the other hand, the fact that Porter could win the World Series MVP in 1982 by hitting just .286 with 0 extra base hits is absolutely crazy.

So, with all these factors kind of balancing each other out, I just placed them in chronological order. Because, in my opinion, just as a tie at the bag always goes to the runner, so a tie in accomplishments always goes to the guy who did it last.

4. Johnny Podres (1955)

Johnny Podres was just 9-10 with a pedestrian 3.95 ERA for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955. In other words, he was not the type of guy you want going to the mound for you against the fearsome New York Yankees.

But in the 1955 World Series, Podres was Cy Freaking Young. The man went the distances in both Game 3 and the decisive Game 7, giving up only 2 runs and 4 walks to a team that featured Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, and Hank Bauer.

3. Donn Clendenon (1969)

Donn Clendenon had some good seasons early in his career—his career average was .291 through 1966, the year he hit a career high 28 home runs. But when he came to the Mets midway through the 1969 season, it most definitely looked like his best years were behind him. In 1967, 1968, and 1969, Clandenon hit .249, .257, and .248 respectively. In 1968, he led the league…in strikeouts. Things were just not looking good for poor Donn.

But in the 1969 World Series, Clandenon had a miraculous series for the Miracle Mets. In just 5 games, the first baseman hit for .357 with 3 home runs and 4 runs batted in.

2. Steve Yeager (1981)

In 1981, for the first time in history, the World Series had co-MVPs. In fact, there were three: third baseman Ron Cey, outfielder Pedro Guerrero, and catcher Steve Yeager.

Now, Yeager—he of a .209 average in only 42 games during the regular season—had a great World Series. In 6 games, he batted .286 with 2 home runs and 4 runs batted in. But Ron Cey and Pedro Guerrero were better over almost twice at many at-bats. Cey batted .350 with a 7 hits, 6 runs batted in, and a home run. Guerrero batted .333 with 7 hits, 7 runs batted in, and 2 home runs.

So basically, Yeager got to be co-MVP simply because of two timely home runs. Maybe that’s fair, maybe it isn’t. But did we really need three “Most Valuable” Players?

1. Bobby Richardson (1960)

Bobby Richardson was named World Series MVP in 1960 after hitting .367 on 11 hits with 12 runs batted in. This was quite a surprise, since Richardson was a defensive specialist valued far more for his glove than his bat. In his 11 year big league career, he hit .266 and drove in a measly 390 runs. Thus, his RBI total (12) in the 7-game World Series was about a third of what he averaged per season (35) for his entire career.

However, while this disparity between Richardson’s regular-season performance and his World Series performance is glaring, what makes him the unlikeliest of World Series MVPs are two more bizarre facts. One: of the first 11 guys to win the award, he was the first and only non-pitcher. Two: his team lost.

Richard was and still is the only player from the losing team to be named World Series MVP. And he won it despite the fact that the Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski hit .320 and smacked one of the most famous home runs in the history of baseball. (His walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th in Game 7 is the first and only in MLB history. Joe Carter’s home run for the Blue Jays in 1993 is the only other home run to end a World Series, but that came in Game 6.)

This marked the 100th anniversary of the first World Series ever played, although it was the 99th in history as the 1994 Series was canceled due to a players strike.  Game six was a classic pitchers duel, as Josh Beckett took to the mound for the Marlins against veteran lefty Andy Pettitte of the Yankees.  Pettitte pitched great but was outclassed by Beckett, who threw a complete game, five-hit shutout to earn the World Series M.V.P.  Beckett was also the tough luck loser in another pitchers duel in game three against Mike Mussina, as he threw seven innings and gave up just one run.

This turned out to be the final World Series game played in the original Yankee Stadium, which closed its doors after the 2008 season.

Here are the Marlins celebrating their victory.

Notable Birthdays

Bobby Knight, NCAA – Born October 25th 1940 (age 71) in Massillon, Ohio

Dan Issel, NBA – Born October 25th 1948 (age 63) in Batavia, Illinois

Wendel Clark, NHL – Born October 25th 1966 (age 45) in Kelvington, Saskatchewan

Yesterday we informed you that a New York Yankees fan may have been responsible for killing former Libyan tyrant Moammar Gadhafi.  The New York Post was sharing similar information on their front cover this morning, and in doing so, they decided to take the opportunity to throw in a cheap-shot at the Big Apple’s favorite whipping boy, Alex Rodriguez.

This was the first time in baseball history that a team had come back in a series after being down 0-3 and only the third time in the three major sports that use the best-of-seven format (MLB, NHL, NBA).  The Red Sox used late game heroics in Games four and five and a great pitching performance by Curt Schilling, who was pitching with a torn tendon in his right ankle, in game six.  The Red Sox were the 26th team in baseball history to face a 3-0 series deficit and they became the first to force a game seven.

Although games four, five and six turned out to be dramatic, closely contested games, game seven was anything but that.  Boston jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on the strength of a second inning grand slam by Johnny Damon and they never looked back.  The Sox went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in four games to win their first World Series title in 86 years.

Here are still photos from the 2004 ALCS.

Notable Birthdays

Keith Hernandez, MLB – Born October 20th 1953 (age 58) in San Francisco, California

Eddie Jones, NBA – Born October 20th 1971 (age 40) in Pompano Beach, Florida

Willis McGahee, NFL – Born October 20th 1981 (age 30) in Miami, Florida

As most of you may already know, the Detroit Tigers ended the New York Yankees’ season with a 4-3 victory in Game 5 of the ALDS last night.  And if you ask any Tigers fan or Yankees hater to paint a picture of what happened at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, October 6, 2011, chances are at least 50% of those paintings will looks something like the above image.

The 2011 MLB playoffs kick off tonight, with the Texas Rangers hosting the Tampa Bay Rays followed by the New York Yankees hosting the Detroit Tigers. This year, however, the biggest question going into October isn’t so much, “who will win the World Series,” but instead, “is there any way the playoffs can be half as exciting as Wednesday, September 28, 2011?”

Yes, it’s pretty clear that Wednesday will go down as the greatest night in the history of American pro sports. (If you can think of a single day that was more incredible, I’m all ears.) If you’ve been living under a rock, that’s when the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves both completed epic late-season collapses by coughing up 9th inning leads. Oh, and for good measure, the baseball gods threw in a legendary comeback by the Rays, capped off by a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. No big deal.

It was just an insanely thrilling, almost impossible night of baseball. But far from overshadowing the post-season, I think this incredible finish to the regular season will only make October that much better. Skeptical? Well, you might as well hear me out. So here are my reasons for why this may be the best post-season in baseball history.

9. The Yankees Aren’t Really the Favorites

For once, the Yankees are not the team everyone assumes will win the World Series. Yes, they are very, very good. You would have to be crazy not to give them pretty good odds. Still, ever since spring training, all anyone could talk about was the Philadelphia pitching rotation, and that has not changed. What this means is that you might be able to watch 10 or 15 minutes of a game without hearing about Derek Jeter’s “intangibles” or the Yankees’ “tradition.” I don’t know about you, but for me, that’s a serious upside.

8. Davids and Goliaths

This year, the giants and the minnows are a lot closer together. Not one single team stumbled into October, and not one single team had fewer than 90 wins. Best yet, the two least-known teams—the Diamondbacks and Brewers—are facing each other in the NLDS, which means at least one of them will get a crack at making the World Series. And when they get that shot, no one will be able to look back and say, “oh, well, they just got hot at the right time.”

What this means is that, this October, there’s a good chance we could see some giant slaying.

7. Superstar Sluggers

This year, for the first time ever, some of the biggest sluggers in the game today will be playing in the same post-season. Just check out this list: Pujols, Holliday, Berkman, Braun, Fielder, Hamilton, Longoria, Teixeira, Granderson, Cabrera, Martinez, Howard.

And that’s just the “first tier.” There’s a whole boatload of guys I left out—just from the Rangers! (For example: Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Mike Napoli.)

So buckle your seats and put your trays in the upright position, folks. This could get crazy.

6. Awesome Players You’ve Never Heard Of

In addition to the superstar sluggers everyone knows, there are a ton of awesome players you may never have even heard of. This post-season could be their coming out party.

For example, on offense, there is Detroit’s Alex Avila, who batted .295 this year with an OPS of .895. Then there is the afore-mentioned Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler—not exactly a household name, but he hit more home runs (32) than home run derby champ Robinson Cano (28).

There are even more fantastic “unknown” pitchers. In the NL, the Diamondbacks Ian Kennedy had a phenomenal year, posting a 2.88 ERA in a solid 222 innings pitched for a 21-4 (!) record. That puts him in the top 10 in all of baseball. But have you even heard of him? The Milwaukee Brewers meanwhile have a closer who’s so good that, when they traded for save-machine Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez, they made him their set-up man. Do you know what this closer’s name is? It’s John Axford. He was second in all of baseball with 46 saves this year, and there were only 2 closer’s with ERAs lower than his 1.95. One of them is named Mariano Rivera…pretty good company.

5. Verlander-Sabathia

How is this for a game 1 pitching matchup? Soon-to-be AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander and his 100-mph fastball versus 8 ft. 475 lb. former Cy Young winner CC Sabathia. And if we’re lucky, we’ll get to see them square off again before one of their teams is eliminated.

4. Sweet Mascots

On the NL side, if the Phillies and Brewers come out on top in their division series, not only would we have some great baseball in the NLCS, but also an all-time great matchup of two classic mascots. I’m talking the Phillie Phanatic versus Bernie Brewer in a re-match of 2008. Pretty awesome. And if Milwaukee brings out those human sausages for a sausage race? Well, it doesn’t get any better than that, my friends. (Dear Milwaukee Brewers: please bring out the sausages.)

3. No Boston

I feel sorry for Boston Red Sox fans. Kind of. It would be hard on any fan to cope with such an ignominious failure. That being said, ever since Boston sports teams actually starting winning things in the early 2000s—first it was the Pats, then the Red Sox, then the Celtics, and now the damn Bruins, too—Boston fans have become kind of insufferable. Before, all the moaning and complaining and trash talk was cute because we thought it helped them cope. Then they won, and yet kept moaning and complaining and trash talking. So it’s not so cute anymore. Plus, we’re all just sick of Boston winning everything, so it’ll be great to know they can’t win this.

2. Phillies Rotation

As I mentioned right off the bat, everyone has been talking (and talking, and talking) about Philadelphia’s pitching staff since the day they signed Cliff Lee. And rightfully so, I think. How could you not get excited about Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt? If there was a Pitching Hall of Fame for the last ten years, these guys would be the first four inducted.

But the most amazing thing about this Phillies rotation is that it actually lived up to the hype. Halladay (2.35), Lee (2.40), and Hamels (2.79) finished the season 2, 3, and 6 in ERA. Hamels, the Phillies’ #3 starter, would be the ace on any team not located in San Francisco, Detroit, or Los Angeles.
This could be good. Real good.

1. Epic Comebacks

The Cardinals and Rays just completed historic comebacks. Yes, the Braves and Red Sox played miserable baseball in September, opening the doors. But the teams from St. Louis and Tampa Bay played their asses off to step through the doors.

Obviously, there is no guarantee that these two teams will go far. In fact, given the opponents they will face, it’s not very likely. But if they do go deep into October? That would only add to the folklore of the legendary finish to the 2011 MLB season. And it would be awesome.

After holding a nine game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL Wild Card on September 2nd, the Boston Red Sox managed to let it all slip away, as they entered the final night of the season tied with the Rays for the final playoff spot.  At approximately 10pm last night, it appeared as though the Sox would salvage their season and live to fight another day, as the Rays trailed the Yankees by a score of 7-0 heading into the eighth inning, while the Red Sox were in the visitors clubhouse at Camden Yards, clinging to a 3-2 lead during a rain delay in the seventh inning.

The rain lasted long enough to allow the Sox to stay in the clubhouse and watch the Rays put up a six-run eighth inning, which was capped off by a three-run homer off the bat of Evan Longoria.  However, at that point the Yankees were still leading 7-6, and it looked like the game would end that way when the Rays were faced with two outs and two strikes to pinch-hitter Dan Johnson – who entered the game batting .108 – in the bottom of the ninth.  But as we all have learned at some point in the past, you can throw away batting averages and all of those other numbers at this time in the season, because in some cases all it takes is one swing of the bat to turn everything around.  And Johnson proved just that, sending the two out, 2-2 pitch just over the fence in right field, tying the game at 7-7.

The Sox got to see it all, and with the Rays and Yankees now headed into extra innings, the Sox were also getting set to get back onto the field and finish off their game with the Orioles.  When that finally did happen, it appeared as though the Sox were in control, getting through the seventh and eighth inning with their lead still intact.  Closer Jonathan Papelbon came in to close things out in the ninth, and he recorded the first two outs with ease, via strikeouts.  However, that third out would never come, as back-to-back doubles by Chris Davis and Nolan Reimold would tie the game and set up the game-winning walk-off single by Robert Andino.

The Sox had just blown their ninth inning, two out lead, losing to the Orioles by a score of 4-3.  When the Rays’ players and the fans at Tropicana Field heard that news, they went wild, and about one minute later (literally), Evan Longoria stepped up to the plate and belted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to send the Rays into the playoffs and cap off the wildest final day of the season in baseball history.

When it was all said and done, the Sox put themselves in the record books, as their 9-game wild card lead was the biggest blown lead in the month of September in baseball history, while the Braves fall just behind them after blowing an 8.5-game lead.  As for the hero of this entire story, that would be Evan Longoria.  His two homers last night capped off the Rays’ incredible run to the playoffs, and they also earned him “The Stat Line of the Night” for Wednesday, September 28, 2011.