For me, it was the Mariners-Marlins game on June 26 2011. What made it so odd?
–The game was played in Seattle but technically was a Marlins home game. U2 had commandered the Marlins’ home stadium for a concert.
–That meant Seattle pitchers had to bat, and the starter even got a base hit.
–It was won in the 10th on a wild pitch–on an intentional walk.! The Marlins had to bat in the bottom of the 10th even though they trailed on a road trip game.
–It was the first Mariners game I’d seen them win in person–after a dozen games.
What’s your best?
My freshman year at Florida in 1995, the Gators played Tennessee in the Swamp. Peyton Manning led Tennessee to a big 30-14 lead late in the second quarter, and it looked like they would win the game and essentially win the SEC (there weren’t many other good teams in the conference that year). Then the Gators scored 48 unanswered points before Tennessee got a meaningless touchdown near the end of the game, losing 62-37. What was also so memorable about that game was the rain. It was in the upper 90s and miserable, but then a gigantic downpour started early in the 4th quarter and didn’t let up until after the game was over.
I was at the infamous “battery game” at 3 Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. For those of you that don’t know this, it was a pretty infamous moment in Pittsburgh sports history when some yahoo threw a 9-volt battery from the upper deck at Dave Parker, the right fielder.
I remember seeing something catch the sun and glint off the turf. I thought it was a pen knife. It looked like it just missed him. Parker reached over and put it in his pocket.
I didn’t know what it was until I saw the news that night. That could have killed him (or give him a serious headache for sure).
February 1971 - Sydney Australia. The English cricket team led by Ray Illingworth walked off the field after John Snow was manhandled by a spectator.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19710215&id=R9pUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=q5ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6267,3004131
They eventually came back and continued the game after being told by the umpires that if they did not return, the game would be awarded to Australia.
I took my nephew to our local OHL hockey team’s game once and I swear there were more fights than hockey being played. At one point the two goalies were casually passing the puck back and forth across the ice while the refs were sorting out all the penalties. My nephew and I were actually bored and wished they’d just play the damn game.
I was at the Texas Tech football game where the Masked Rider’s horse got spooked, threw his rider, ran into the tunnel, and slammed headfirst into the wall, resulting in the horse’s death. Not the way you want to begin your season.
In the late 80s I was at a Mets-Phillies game that had four bench clearing brawls. The first was because of a nasty pitch and then once that was cleared the teams started basically egging each other on.
Only game I’ve seen in person:
Last game of the 2012 season, Pittsburgh Pirates at home vs the Braves. The day before, the Pirates had been eliminated from the postseason, so this game was essentially meaningless for the Pirates. The Braves played hard, but the Pirates seemed to be sleepwalking. Then, around the 5th inning, Chipper Jones came up for his retirement tour. I don’t remember if they walked him or he got a hit, but they essentially just half-assed it until he scored. I gave up in disgust at that point and went back to the hotel.
I remember that game, but I wasn’t there. People suck.
I was at Steve Blass’ first demonstration that he had lost it. I was initially thrilled that Blass was pitching, but he couldn’t do anything right that day and he just went to shit from there.
I was there for Game 5 of the 2008 World Series.
With the Phillies up 3 games to 1 on the Rays, they played most of the first 5.5 innings in a driving rainstorm. With puddles forming in the infield and any ball in the air being difficult to catch, the game was suspended in the middle of the 6th after the Rays scored to tie it 2-2. According to the rules at the time, this was an “official game” and the score should have reverted back to the last complete inning, when the Phillies were up 2-1. However, Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig had decided before the game that no World Series should be decided by a shortened game, so instead, this became the first game in World Series history to be suspended.
The game resumed two days later starting with the bottom of the 6th and the Phillies eventually triumphed to win their second World Series in their long history–so, another oddity there.
Lots of interesting bits about this game can be found here. Here’s just one:
I’ve been to three games that can each make a case for “oddest”:
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1982 Cal-Stanford five-lateral / Stanford band on the field football game. (After having troubles finding a seat in the general admission student section two years earlier, I got to the stadium 3 hours early and had a 50-yard-line seat (69 rows up) for the game.)
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A’s-Angels baseball game, 9/28/1975 - Vida Blue pitched a no-hitter through 5 innings, but the manager (Alvin Dark, I think) wanted to save him for the postseason, so he sent in three relievers (no, not all at once…), and the four of them combined for a no-hitter.
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1972 World Series Game 4 (A’s - Reds) - Oakland came from behind in the bottom of the ninth after three straight pinch-hitters got hits (the first time that had happened in a World Series game).
I’ve seen many great, memorable or interesting games, but I’ve never seen an “odd” game. However, once, just once, I was sitting next to a drunk guy who suddenly jumped over the fence onto the field and went streaking.
This was at a Yankees game at Shea Stadium in 1974. No, that’s not a typo, the Yankees played all their home games at Shea in 1974 and 1975.
That reminds me of another one, which is not necessarily game-related, but certainly odd. During a rain delay at a 2004 Phillies game, a streaker ran onto the field and began to slide around the tarp on his belly. The police and security eventually converged. They caught up with him in the center of the field, slammed him to the turf face down, and cuffed his hands behind his back. Then they got him and walked him off. Trouble was that without a stitch of clothing and with his hands cuffed behind his back, the entire crowd got to see him in all his glory–swinging back and forth and back and forth as they walked him toward one of the dugouts. I remember thinking that one of the police officers could have put his hat to good use and spared us this sight.
Would you do that with a hat you’d have to wear again?
Not sure it is the oddest, but it was strange all right–
1979 or thereabouts. Mike Vail hits a grand slam for the Cubs in the bottom of the eleventh inning, and the Cubs…lose anyway. NY had scored six runs in the top of the inning and the GS made the score 9-8. Oh well.
I saw David Wells pitch a perfect game on a Sunday afternoon in 1998 at Yankee Stadium.
Only odd because I hate the Yankees. But they were playing the Twins, so I was uninvested either way.
I was at the pumpkin game.
October of 1988 the Jets were awful that year (and many others but that’s not important right now). It was a Monday Night game so fans had plenty of time to get tuned up before the game.
The team gave out Jets painters hats that night. Yes it was a fashion fad for a short time in the 80s.
The Jets were playing horribly.
The chants of “Joe must go!” started. Joe Walton was the head coach.
Entire sections started throwing their painters hats into piles and lighting them on fire.
Since it was close to Halloween someone brought a blow up pumpkin instead of a beach ball to knock around in the stands.
The crowd followed the pumpkin more than the game.
Eventually the pumpkin gets knocked out of the stands and is taken down the tunnel by security.
The crowd starts chanting “We want the pumpkin.” It wasn’t a good natured chant. There was no humor or irony. It was an increasingly angry chant that had an undercurrent of “Give us the fucking pumpkin or we will take this stadium apart until we get it.”
Security brought the pumpkin out and threw it back into the crowd. And there was much rejoicing.
There were also tons of fights in the stands. For some reason my section was an oasis of calm and we just took it all in as spectators.
That was the oddest game I’ve seen in person.
Kansas vs Kentucky, 1989. It was Roy Williams first season at Kansas, and Rick Pitino was coaching Kentucky. Pitino insisted on using a full court press through the entire game and Kansas kept blowing right through it. The final score was 150-95. Pitino was pissed at Williams for running up the score, but by the end of the game Williams had the scrubs in and they were still scoring at will. It probably wouldn’t have been such a blowout if Pitino had had the good sense to stop pressing.
I saw the first nine innings of a game where the Nationals and Astros were tied with a runner on in the bottom of the ninth. The heavens opened, and the rest of the game was postponed. It was the last game of the series, so it had to be resumed in Houston. Here’s the weird part: both the Nationals’ last pitcher (Joel Hanrahhan, who was traded) and the runner (I think it was Elijah Dukes) were no longer with the team. When play was resumed in Houston the Nationals scored, so the pitcher of record was no longer with the team.
I was at the Oakland Coliseum for the “walk-off drop,” when Jason Kendall scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth when Francisco Rodriguez failed to catch the return throw from the catcher. Here it is.