We all remember the celebration in 2004 after the Red Sox won the World Series. The glorification of Curt Schilling and his bloody sock. Johnny Damon and the “Idiots”. Cowboying up. Something about Babe Ruth and curses. And then of course there was Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore celebrating on the field.
Or the 1996 Yankees. Derek Jeter introducing himself to the world (and the gift-basket business). Wade Boggs riding around Yankee Stadium on a horse. Mariano Rivera being Mariano Rivera for 107 innings (107!). I’m sure George Steinbrenner said something entertaining as well.
What if I told you they never happened?
The Tommy-verse
In 1988, the long-running television hospital drama “St. Elsewhere” ended its run with a curious twist. In the series’ final scene, it was revealed that the entire show, all 137 episodes, took place inside the mind of an autistic boy named Tommy Westphall. Any quarrels the cast may have had, deaths they suffered, joys they experienced, minutia they waded through—it was all a part of young Tommy’s mind.
Closing the Curtain
There you have it. Irrefutable proof that some of the biggest baseball moments of your life never actually happened. It’s shocking, I know, but the “Tommy Westphall Universe” is unassailable. Even more, the five moments described here come from only 13 shows in the “Tommy-verse”; there are nearly 200 other shows out there still to be explored for key baseball events (and that’s not counting the shows I threw out for reasons described above). Did the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that the Tanner family from “Full House” experience also affect the World Series like we remember it? Was Gilligan able to hear the Miracle Mets on his coconut radio? Was it Willie Mays’ warlock powers that helped him make The Catch? Did Archie Bunker ever trade barbs with Joe Morgan or Dick Allen? Was Ralph Kramden’s driving the final straw that convinced Walter O’Malley to move the Dodgers to California?
Repoz
Posted: August 24, 2012 at 10:49 AM |
10 comment(s)
Login to Bookmark
Tags:
history
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. TerpNats Posted: August 24, 2012 at 12:17 PM (#4216745)Thomson hit his homer around 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time in New York, which in real time would have occured around 3 in the morning in Korea.
Did the military re-broadcast baseball games during the day? That could be an explanation.
And the umpteen Christmas episodes in a 3 year war?
They approached this in another episode, I believe it was Frank Burns who was betting on games by listening to the original broadcast and then during the day in the rebroadcast he was making bets (those crazy doctors ended up creating a false broadcast to fool him)
Edit: I forgot Homer visited Cheers, so they don't even need the Wade Boggs connection.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main