25. Jon Miller on Ruben Rivera’s classic base-running error
I’m not going to lie to you: I love Jon Miller. I search for games that he’s calling. I love listening to Jon Miller because he’s smart, and he’s worldly, and he’s funny, and he knows the games are important, but he also knows the games are not THAT important. He was fired by Peter Angelos for reportedly being too blunt, and that makes me love him more. He has worked for 20 years with Joe Morgan without losing his sense of humor and personal feelings for the game, and that makes me love him even more. He does drop-dead impressions of Vin Scully and Al Michaels, and that makes me love the guy even more.
His Ruben Rivera call from 2003 tells the story as well as anything else.
“The pitch, swing, and there’s a shot deep into right center, racing back Dellucci, still going back into Death Valley, it goes right over his glove, he missed it, but Ruben Rivera missed second base. Now he’s heading for third and they’re going to throw him out by plenty, but the throw to third is botched. Now he’s heading home, the loose ball in the infield, and he’s out by five feet at the plate. And that was the worst base-running in the history of the game. The game should be over, and Ruben Rivera just did the worst base-running you will ever see. Unbelievable. Ruben Rivera had gone around second base, and then for some reason seemed to assume that the ball was caught in the outfield. He got totally lost and confused out there, and started to go back to second base as Grissom was pulling in at second. Ruben Rivera was the only man in the ballpark, apparently, who did not know what just happened.”
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.
A couple years earlier, Calvin Murray did something similar, but managed to score.
I think I would trade Verne's Tiger Woods call, which was great, for the "Maybe....Yes Sir!" call at the '86 Masters.
I know they weren't as memorable, but Verne Lundquist really has a laundry list of other calls that are world class. Nobody gave better treatment to Les Miles and LSU's meltdown at Ole Miss last year.
If this was a radio call, it would be absolutely outstanding. Perfectly described what happened.
If it was a television call, it's way, way too wordy. Television announcers need to mostly STFU during plays.
Oh yeah, and the Giants went on to win the game in 13, anyway.
I don't even have to look...
"Little roller up along first....BEHIND THE BAG! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight and the Mets win it!"
(Checks) Yep, that was it. Thank god for 2004.
Also, #### Ulf Samuelsson.
Interestingly, the same year Neifi scored for the Giants when the Expos exposed their utter ignorance of the infield fly rule and rquired the disgusted Frank Robinson to come out of the dugout and tell his idiot players to shut the hell up.
It was. You can find a video of it on Youtube synched up with the play.
That was a radio call.
From Poz:
So in the end, it's not really the call, but the moment.
Absolutely. That's precisely what I was going to say.
Poz rates Scully's and Buck's calls of Gibson's homer equally, saying it's impossible to compare them. But I greatly prefer Scully's call. Poz makes a great point about Scully's use of crowd noise. And Buck's second "I don't believe what I just saw" also strikes me as a little bit vain, like he was gilding the lilly on an already historic call.
(I suppose if you're a boxing fan, Tyson v. Spinks would beat that, but I don't like boxing much.)
I don't know if the Secretariat movie is any good, but I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Probably Dave Johnson, whose "And DOWN the stretch they come," may be the best stock phrase in all sports broadcasting. His delivery on it is perfect.
It's good. Not great, but good. Standard sports-movie cliche of a plot (the underdog winning The Big Game at the end), but hey, it's a cliche because it's always satisfying in a comfort-food sort of way.
But this one has a bit more than that going for it: it's essentially a feminist story about a strong, smart woman going it alone and winning in a man's game. And Diane Lane, along with being indescribably beautiful, is a damn fine actress.
Superduperstar for superstar, but yes.
Maybe. The part I remember is right at the end, where Cigar has it all wrapped up, and the guy says something like, "...unstoppable...unbeatable...invincible Cigar!"
Which actually sounds kind of weird if you don't know that Cigar is a racehorse.
So in the end, it's not really the call, but the moment.
The call matters.
Sometimes, it just is.
I remember being in my dorm room junior year in college watching NBC's coverage of Game 1 with the sound down, and my stereo on with the CBS radio play-by-play on at top volume; the radio coverage came in a second or two faster than the TV. So my memory is of watching the TV broadcast of Gibson's HR while listening to the Jack Buck call.
And Buck's second "I don't believe what I just saw" also strikes me as a little bit vain, like he was gilding the lilly on an already historic call.
Eh, he was only saying out loud what everybody following the game was thinking to themselves.
The Joe Buck exception is noted.
And "she is...gone!" is just fantastic.
They manage to paint Secretariat as an underdog?
Not really the underdog in that race, but unproven because he'd never raced that distance before. And certainly his owner (and the movie is much more about her than about the horse) is painted as the underdog; it's presented as her contest and her win at least as much as those of the horse.
I used to follow it almost as closely as I followed baseball when I was a kid in the 80s, when you had names like Sunday Silence, Spectacular Bid, Easy Goer, John Henry, and Alysheba around, and greats like Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Alydar, and Forego had just retired. It's a shame horse racing has become an invisible sport.
Jack Buck did the radio of the 1984 World Series, so that may be what you're remembering. Although there were no Gibby walk offs in that.
Only if you consider horse racing a sport. (I know, many, maybe most, people do. I don't.) I'd rate Louis vs. Schmeling 2 and Foreman vs. Frazier 1 as better performances than Tyson vs. Spinks. My favorite Foreman call is in round 4 of the Lyle fight. It's at 4:55. The whole round is worth seeing by itself; it starts at 3:15.
Fun list. I don't agree with half the choices, and loathe 2 of his top 5, but complaining about that would miss the point. It's not supposed to be accurate, it's supposed to be a conversation starter. And it is.
He gone!
Similar thing with Buck on the "Go Crazy" call...."Smith corks one into right DOWN THE LINE! IT MAY GO!" He was describing where the ball was hit at the same time he must have realized "Holy sh**, that's got a chance," and the "down the line" came out with more emphasis than the phrase ordinarily would warrant.
"Orr! Bobby Orr!" 0:34
Steve Young's run.
The Sea of Hands catch. 6:13
It's good. Not great, but good. Standard sports-movie cliche of a plot (the underdog winning The Big Game at the end)
Wait - an underdog wins at the end of a movie on Secretariat?
And here it is!
Robinson's overwhelming, utterly dismissive disgust at his own team is hilarious. Too bad there weren't on-field mics.
-- MWE
Robinson's overwhelming, utterly dismissive disgust at his own team is hilarious. Too bad there weren't on-field mics.
This is one of my all-time favorites.
What I've always wondered: What in the world was Neifi doing jogging toward home in the first place? I assumed that he was equally confused when the ball dropped, and only as he approached home did he figure out what was happening.
http://contursi.freeyellow.com/baseballtour/sounds/sounds/gibsonhrdrysdale.wma
Drysdale just lost it...in a good way.
"Your boys took a hell of a beating!"
Sigh ... I've already explained this. The owner is the underdog, not the horse.
Yes. Yes, he did.When a marching band does its thing at halftime, I'm prone to yelping that out.
Plano East is down 41 - 17 to John Tyler with 2 minutes and 42 seconds left in the game ... and even though you KNOW something crazy is going to happen, the end is STILL totally insane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHkABO0VwCg
Here are some samples of the commentary:
"Good gosh almighty Joe Friday," ... "Y'all done missed the greatest comeback of all-time," and "God bless those kids ... I'm going to throw up."
It's sad, but other than "touch them all, Joe", that might be the call that's most memorable for me. Between the gleeful way he calls for the replay to the way he says "that guy needs a hug", that might be the perfect call. The way he pronounces "oh Monsieur" is the thing that makes it a classic call.
"I done wet my britches."
So Texas.
The Nixon catch has it all. The resignation in Skip's voice when Van Slyke connects because Skip's pretty sure it's gone. The buildup "Nixon goes as far as he can go...". The payoff "He caught the ball! He caught the ball! I can't believe it!" And a big moment, top of the ninth robbery of the two run homer in a 1-0 game.
with a different tone.
or Jim McKay's "They are all gone"
It was actually a really smart play by Neifi the whole way. The shortstop was out near second base and the third baseman was chasing the ball. He followed Tatis down the line, presumably knowing he could get back if necessary.
Really nice to see #6 there, actually. It obviously happened before I was born, but the first time I heard the Secretariat call, I was hooked on that call by Chic Anderson. There's actually a really cool youtube video that has an extended call, including post-race where Anderson keeps mentioning the winning time...
Couple others stand out to me:
--Birdstone over Smarty Jones in '04 ("but Birdstone is gonna make him earn it today. The whip is out on Smarty Jones...."
--Victory Gallop over Real Quiet (I forget when, but it was VERY close and there's a really cool call.)
But yeah, I'm still partial to the Gibson call (Scully for the first part, Buck for the "I don't believe what I just saw")
Yes, who can forget
Has it been 38 years
Not that there are possible plot spoilers in a movie about Secretariat, but ...
The more I think of it, the more it feels like an old "save the family farm" movie (generally featuring Lassie or some other wonder animal)
The owner's the underdog.
I don't think we're talking about the same call.
His "Lindsay Scott, Lindsay Scott" call made it on this list, which is awesome because what he says well after the play. "You know this game has always been called the World's Greatest Cocktail Party, do you know what's gonna happen here tonight, and up at St. Simmons and Jeckyl Island, and all those places where all those dawg people have got those condominiums for 4 days. Man is there going to be some property destroyed tonight."
He's got tons of classics, "I'm not asking too much you guys, but you guys didn't hear me, Hunker Down!" After winning the SEC in dramatic fashion against Auburn: "Look at the sugar falling from the sky, look at the sugar falling from the sky!"
"We saved ourselves, we saved ourselves! No, wait, no we didn't, old lady luck, old lady luck saved us!"
and my favorite
'We just stepped on their face with a hobnailed boot and broke their nose..we crushed their face.'' last second win at UTenn.
Larry Munson's audio vault
seconded. wow
I'd thought you were misquoting "the boys took a beating on that one, mmm" from the infamous "gate to the groin" skiing video. Apparently there's another call involving boys being beaten, but I still hold that my one is a classic in sports journalism.
"We are the best in the world! We are the best in the world! We have beaten England 2-1 in football!! It is completely unbelievable! We have beaten England! England, birthplace of giants. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana--we have beaten them all. We have beaten them all.
"Maggie Thatcher can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, I have a message for you in the middle of the election campaign. I have a message for you: We have knocked England out of the football World Cup. Maggie Thatcher, as they say in your language in the boxing bars around Madison Square Garden in New York: Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!"
that was top notch. All this time I was convinced that game was Stadia Olympique. How was that scored (Bonds' plate app.)?
Yeah, that was a great ###### video.
Baahahahahahaha!
As I'm watching it I'm thinking about how much I want to strangle those ######### on audio, and then the ending....hahahahah! Perfect.
"he broke our hearts with 2 seconds to go.."
Much as I love Vin Scully, I think Jackson's probably my favorite sports announcer of all time. I was sad not to find any of his work on this list, good as it was.
Just to make up for it, we can listen to Keen Hacksaw.
I can't find them on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVLUdrFDyZs
MURPHY: "Mookie Wilson still hoping to win it for New York ... 3 and 2 the count ... And the pitch by Stanley ... And a ground ball trickling ... It is a fair ball. Gets by Buckner! Rounding third, Knight ... The Mets will win the ballgame ... The Mets win! They win!"
THORNE: "Unbelievable! The Red Sox in stunned ... disbelief!"
IMO Murphy's pronounciation of the word "trickling" just perfectly conveys the sense of the slow grounder creeping towards Buckner.
You can find the audio <a href="http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20040804&c>here</a>.
Here, courtesy of YouTube, is the video of the 1998 Belmont Stakes, featuring Tom Durkin's classic call.
The key line comes right after Real Quiet and Victory Gallop cross the finish line together, completing the mile and a half race at virtually the same time, making for a photo finish.
"Was it Real Quiet or was it Victory Gallop? A picture is worth a thousand words … this photo is worth five million dollars!”
DB
Bliss.
Are you sure that's not Ron Santo in the Brant Brown game?
of ALL TIME! very Kanye-esqe!
It might be, but it doesn't sound quite the same and they use it in segments about football.
Is that the end of the clip in #59?
I haven't heard it in a long time, but that could be the ending of LSU at Kentucky in '02 when Kentucky thought they had won the game, Guy Morris got a gatorade bath, and the hail mary pass snuck behind UK defenders, and Devry Henderson caught the deflected ball from Marcus Randall. All the UK students with their blue ties running on the field to celebrate. Ooops. That very well could be a 'Noooooooo Noooooooooo!!!!. Otherwise, when I hear that, I think about Santo.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main