History repeats itself, even in baseball
ST. LOUIS -- It was stunning. It was consequential. And if history is a guide, Curtis Granderson's slip will be dissected, discussed and remembered 38 years from now -- and beyond.
Yes, the Detroit Tigers ripped a page from the 1968 World Series book Thursday night -- only they took the wrong one in a gut-wrenching 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on a misty evening, a game in which only a couple of inches left them in deep, deep trouble.
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| Curtis Granderson's slip in the seventh is reminiscent of the '68 World Series. (US PRESSWIRE) |
In an utterly shocking reversal 38 years later, leading 3-2 heading into the same seventh inning and just nine outs from evening the Series, the Tigers watched St. Louis' David Eckstein drive a long fly ball into center field, a fly ball that was routine in every sense of the word.
Then Granderson's feet went out from under him, he landed in a heap on the Busch Stadium turf and the ball landed cleanly about three feet behind him. Eckstein was standing on second by the time the play ended, and Detroit's little shop of horrors had only just begun.
"No, it definitely wasn't wet, I'll let that be known right now," Granderson said afterward, in a classy display of refusing to make excuses. "I thought the conditions were great. Every ball I went left or right on, I felt in control.
"It just happened to be one ball I lost my footing on. You usually lose it when you make a cut left or right. I lost it when I planted."
Granderson was wearing metal spikes designed for soft tracks like this one. They were fairly new -- two or three weeks old -- and because they were fairly new, he said, the metal spikes were a little longer than his old ones.
Which, on this night, should have been a good thing.
"I'll be wearing them again tomorrow (Friday) night," he said.
Which is when the Tigers will attack Game 5, attempting to do what their '68 predecessors did: Storm back from a 3-1 deficit against the Cardinals and win a World Series.
It's unbelievable, really -- both Detroit's sloppy, sloppy performance and the similarities to '68.
Someone mentioned to Cardinals manager Tony La Russa that a Hall of Famer who was in uniform during batting practice Thursday, Red Schoendienst, probably flashed back to Flood right away -- and shuddered. Shoendienst managed that '68 team, and maybe he felt that, 38 years later, Granderson's slip was partial payback.
