In 1999: Current postseason hero Kenny Rogers wasn’t so much in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS. With the Mets attempting to come back from a 3-0 series deficit to force a seventh game, Rogers walked in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th to give the Braves their fifth pennant of the decade. The Mets had fought back with a dramatic game-winning grand slam by Robin Ventura in Game 5 and overcame Braves’ leads of 5-0 and 7-3 in Game 6 to force extra innings. Rogers’ walk of Andruw Jones was the only series in history to end on a base on balls.
In 1981: Rick Monday of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the hero in the NLCS with a dramatic, two-out, solo home run of Montreal’s Steve Rogers to give the Dodgers the pennant in the deciding fifth game. The game was played in what was believed to be the coldest temperatures ever for a postseason game, and it was quickly dubbed “Blue Monday,” due to the facts that the game was played on a Monday and Rick Monday (who coolly stopped two morons from attempting to burn a flag in the outfield a few years earlier) almost single-handedly knocked the Expos out of their only postseason appearance.
In 1987: Billy Martin was hired by George Steinbrenner to manage the New York Yankees for the fifth time. Martin replaced the fired Lou Pinella, whom he had spent the entire season criticizing from the broadcast booth. Pinella, in a strange twist, was named General Manager. Martin lasted until halfway through the 1988 season when he was fired and replaced by
Lou Pinella.
