Scott Spiezio
October 26, 2002: Game 6 of the World Series, at what was then known as Edison International Field of Anaheim – the former "Big A" briefly nicknamed "the Big Ed." The San Francisco Giants led the Series 3 games to 2, and led the team then known as the Anaheim Angels, 5-0 after 6½ innings, thanks to home runs by Shawon Dunston and Barry Bonds.
Let me take a step back. On October 19, Game 1 was played at the Big Ed. The Giants won it, 4-3, and their lineup included Tsuyoshi Shinjo, making him the 1st Japanese-born player to appear in a World Series game.
On October 24, Game 5 was played at Pacific Bell Park (now AT&T Park) in San Francisco. Jeff Kent hit 2 home runs, and the Giants pounded the Angels, 16-4.
But the event that will be forever remembered came in the bottom of the 7th inning. Kenny Lofton hit a triple, driving in J.T. Snow and David Bell (son of Buddy, grandson of Gus). But Darren Baker, 3-year-old son of Giant manager Dusty Baker, acting as batboy, had come up to the plate to collect Lofton’s bat, unaware that the play was still in progress. Snow saw this, and, fearing that Darren might get hurt in a play at the plate, grabbed him by his Giants jacket and pulled him away. There was no play at the plate, and Bell was able to score standing up.
The fact that the Giants had won the game so overwhelmingly, and the fact that Darren Baker had been saved from serious injury, made the Giants look like a team of destiny. They needed to win just 1 of the possible 2 games in Anaheim to take their 1st World Championship in 45 seasons in San Francisco.
Instead, the Angels scored 3 runs in the 7th to make it 5-3, including a home run by Scott Spiezio, but the Giants were still just 9 outs away from their 1st World Championship since moving to San Francisco 45 years earlier, their 1st in any city since they were in New York 48 years earlier.
But they choked. The Angels scored 3 more in the 8th, including 1 on a home run by Darin Erstad, and won, 6-5. The Series went to a Game 7 in Anaheim tomorrow night.
That night, I had dinner at an Applebee's in Milltown, New Jersey, about 3 miles from my residence in East Brunswick. When I left, the Giants were winning. When I got home, they were losing. To put it another way: According to Baseball-Reference.com, when Spiezio came to the plate, the Giants had a 93 percent chance of winning the game, and thus the Series. But they lost.
The next night, Angels won Game 7, 4-1. Liván Hernández, one of the Florida Marlins' heroes in the 1997 World Series, began the bottom of the 3rd inning by giving up a single to David Eckstein. He gave up a single to Darin Erstad. Then he hit Tim Salmon with a pitch, loading the bases with nobody out. And Garrett Anderson doubled down the right-field line to clear the bases. John Lackey pitched 5 strong innings, and 3 relievers shut the Giants out the rest of the way.
Having already won a World Series as a player with the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Scioscia had now won one as the Angels' manager.
In his one and only World Series appearance, Barry Bonds went 8-for-17, .471, with 4 home runs, 6 RBIs, and a Series record 13 walks. It was all in vain.
The Angels' inability to win a Pennant had been called "The Curse of the Cowboy." Gene Autry, Western movies' "Singing Cowboy," was their 1st owner, and still owned the team at this point. There seemed to be no reason why he would put a curse on his own team, but maybe he was the one who was cursed.
In the midst of the illness that would end his life the next year, Autry sold the Angels to the Walt Disney Company in 1997. Disney changed the team's name to the Anaheim Angels. The team finally won their 1st Pennant in 2002, and then won the World Series, ending the curse. But maybe they've started a new one: They've been to the Playoffs a few times since, but still have only the 1 Pennant.
Twenty years later, Dusty Baker is managing in the World Series again. Darren Baker is 23, and played 2nd base for the Harrisburg Senators of the Class AA Eastern League, a farm team of the Washington Nationals. If he continues at his current pace of progress through the minor leagues, he could be in the major leagues by the start of the 2024 season.
Scott Spiezio and David Eckstein would be teammates on another World Series winner, the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. Spiezio's father, Ed Spiezio, was a 3rd baseman who won the World Series with the Cardinals in 1964 and 1967.
UPDATE: The Angels have a team Hall of Fame. Through the 2025 season, the inductees are:
* From the 1960s: Founding owner Gene Autry, 2nd baseman Bobby Knoop, shortstop Jim Fregosi, and pitcher Dean Chance.
* From the 1979 American League Western Division title: Autry, Fregosi as manager, Knoop as coach, coach Jimmie Reese, 1st baseman Rod Carew, 2nd baseman Bobby Grich, left fielder Don Baylor, catcher Brian Downing, and pitcher Nolan Ryan.
* From the 1982 AL West title: Autry, Knoop, Reese, Carew, Grich, Baylor, Downing, and pitcher Mike Witt -- but not manager Gene Mauch, nor right fielder Reggie Jackson.
* From the 1986 AL West title: Autry, Knoop, Reese, Grich, Downing (now in left field), Witt, and pitcher Chuck Finley -- but, again, neither Mauch nor Jackson.
* From the 1995 team that blew a big AL West lead: Autry, Knoop, Reese, Carew (now a coach), Finley, right fielder Tim Salmon, and left fielder Garret Anderson.
* From the 2002 World Champions: Salmon and Anderson are the only players yet honored.
* From the 2004 and '05 AL West titles: Salmon, Anderson and right fielder Vladimir Guerrero Sr. From the 2007, '08 and '09 Division titles: Anderson and Guerrero. So far, no players from the 2014 Division title have been honored.
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October 26, 2002 was a Saturday. Among the college football games played that day were these:
* Number 1 Miami beat West Virginia, 40-23 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia. Miami, defending National Champions, won the Big East Conference Championship.
* Number 2 Oklahoma had the week off. They beat Colorado in the Big Twelve Conference Championship Game.
* Number 3 Virginia Tech beat Temple, 20-10 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. But Tech lost 4 of their last 5 regular season games, their only victory at home to arch-rival Virginia.
* Number 4 Ohio State beat Number 18 Penn State, 13-7 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Ohio State won the Big Ten Conference Championship, and then beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl for the Bowl Championship Series' National Championship.
* Number 5 Georgia beat Kentucky, 52-24 at Commonwealth Stadium (now Kroger Field) in Lexington, Kentucky. Georgia beat Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
* Number 6 Notre Dame beat Number 11 Florida State, 34-24 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Florida State recovered, and won the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, before losing to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
* Number 7 Texas beat Number 17 Iowa State, 21-10 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. Losing to Oklahoma and Texas Tech cost Texas a shot at the Big Twelve title, but they still ended up in their frequent season finale, the Cotton Bowl.
* Number 8 Michigan were upset by Number 13 Iowa, 34-9 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Iowa finished 2nd in the Big 10, and went to the Orange Bowl.
* Number 9 Washington State beat Arizona, 21-13 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson. "Wazzu" won the Pacific-Ten Conference title, but lost the Rose Bowl to Oklahoma.
* Number 10 Louisiana State lost to Auburn, 31-7 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. LSU reached the Cotton Bowl, where they lost to Texas.
* Number 14 Oregon were upset by Number 15 Southern California, 44-33 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. USC blew their shot at the Pac-10 title by losing to Washington State, but beat Iowa in the Orange Bowl.
* Number 16 Tennessee lost in a mild upset, but by a big score, to Number 19 Alabama, 34-14 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.
* Among the service academies, Number 22 Air Force were upset by Wyoming, 34-26 at, with some appropriateness, War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming; Army lost to Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), 29-26 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; and Navy lost to Tulane, 51-30 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* And Rutgers lost to Syracuse, 45-14 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York.
The NBA season didn't start for another 3 days. There were 13 games in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-1 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.
* On the opener of CBC's Hockey Night In Canada, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-3 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.
* The Chicago Blackhawks and the Carolina Hurricanes played to a tie, 3-3 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* The Washington Capitals and the Florida Panthers played to a tie, 1-1 at the Office Depot Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then known) in Pittsburgh.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 6-1 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary. Eric Boguniecki scored the winning goal with 25 seconds left in overtime.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 4-3 at the Skyreach Centre (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.
* In the nightcap of Hockey Night In Canada, the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Dallas Stars, 4-1 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.
* And the Los Angeles Kings, the Colorado Avalanche, the San Jose Sharks and the Columbus Blue Jackets were not scheduled to play.
And in English soccer, Arsenal lost to Lancashire team Blackburn Rovers, 2-1 at Highbury in North London.
