My pick is the 1979 regular season game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees played on the day of Thurman Munson's funeral.
For those who don't remember:
That regular season game was scheduled to be broadcast nationally on Monday Night Baseball.. The Yankees had originally announced that it was going to be postponed, but then relented and decided to play it at the behest of Munson's widow.
In the seventh inning, the Yankees were trailing 4-0 but had runners on first and third with two out. Up to the plate comes Bobby Murcer. Thurman Munson wasn't exactly a friendly guy. By most accounts, he only had two friends, Murcer and Lou Pinella, who earlier had delivered the eulogies at the funeral. We are told that Murcer is 0 for 23 for the season driving in runners from third with two out. So the person we would most hope to get a big hit is, statistically, the least likely guy in all of baseball to do so. So he lines the next pitch into the right field bleachers for a three run homer.
The next batter walks. So who comes up to the plate with the first opportunity to give the Yankees the lead? Reggie Jackson, he of the "I'm the straw that stirs the drink." and "Thurman Munson can only stir it bad" quotes. He of the dramatic homer-on-cue career. In other words, we have gone from having the person who is least likely to homer but who we most want to homer, to now having the guy who is most likely to homer but who is the last guy in the world we would want to see hit one right now.
Then, Baltimore counters by bringing in Dennis Martinez. We are told that Dennis Martinez has not given up a home run to a left handed batter in two years! The immovable object versus the irresistible force. Then, Howard Cosell says something like, "Would anyone care to venture a guess as to the identity of the last, left handed batter to hit a home run off Martinez"?
My stomach was in knots. I didn't know what I wanted to see happen. But the bat never left Reggie's shoulder, as he walked on five pitches, with the only strike being called. The next batter ended the inning, and the game marched on to the bottom of the ninth, and with runners on second and third and two out, guess who comes to the plate for the Yankees? Murcer, who is now one for twenty-four for the season at driving in runs from third with two out, meaning that in spite of his earlier homer, he still might be, statistically, the least likely batter in baseball to drive in the run. So what does he do? He hits a bullet down the left field line to win the game. Like Kirk Gibson's homer, if someone had written it as a novel, it wouldn't have sold because no one would have believed it.