If you are old enough to remember the last time that Norte Dame actually won an NCAA National Championship game, then you probably very well remember the 1988 World Series. Or at least one game of it.

In the 1988 World Series the Los Angeles Dodgers faced the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland A’s were heavily favored in the series, but the Dodgers would eventually win the Championship, and all because of it’s dramatic win in Game 1.  The 1988 NL MVP Kirk Gibson, who only saw a single plate appearance during the entire series, had one of the most memorable and oft-replayed moments in baseball history to end that inaugural game. Gibson had severely injured both legs during the League Championship Series and had a stomach virus. He was not expected to play at all. In Game 1 on October 15, 1988 at Dodger Stadium, with the Dodgers trailing by a score of 4-3, Mike Davis on first, and two out in the ninth inning, manager Tommy Lasorda inserted Gibson as a pinch hitter. Earlier, the TV camera had scanned the dugout and Vin Scully (the legendary Dodger announcer, who was calling the game with Joe Garagiola, for Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC observed that Gibson was nowhere to be found. According to legend, he was in the clubhouse undergoing physical therapy and saw this on the television, spurring him to get back in the dugout and tell Lasorda he was ready if needed. When Gibson received the news that he would pinch-hit, he went to the clubhouse batting-cage to warm-up. Suffering through such terrible pain in his knee, it is said he was wincing and nearly collapsing after every practice swing.

Surprising everyone, Gibson hobbled up to the plate with Scully commenting, ”Look who’s coming up!”‘ He was facing future Baseball Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley, the best relief pitcher in baseball at the time. Gibson quickly got behind in the count, 0-2, but received a few outside pitches from Eckersley to work to a 3-2 count. On the sixth pitch of his at bat, a ball, Davis stole second. The A’s could have walked Gibson to face Steve Sax, but chose to pitch to him, just as Gossage had done four years earlier. With an awkward, almost casual swing, Gibson used pure upper-body strength to smack a 3-2 backdoor breaking ball over the right-field fence. He hobbled around the bases and pumped his fist as his jubilant teammates stormed the field. The Dodgers won the game, 5-4. The telecast of the home run is also notable because the shot of the ball flying over the wall also captures the taillights of the cars leaving the lot, presumably filled with fans who had given up hope and were leaving early to avoid the traffic.

Gibson later said that prior to the Series, Dodger scout Mel Didier had provided a report on Eckersley that claimed with a 3-2 count against a left-handed hitter, one could be absolutely certain that Eckersley would throw a backdoor slider. Gibson said that when the count reached 3-2, he stepped out of the batter’s box and, in his mind, could hear Didier’s voice, with its distinctive Southern drawl, reiterating that same piece of advice. With that thought in mind, Gibson stepped back into the batter’s box; and thus when Eckersley did in fact throw a backdoor slider, it was, thanks to Didier, exactly the pitch for which Gibson was looking.

You can bid on a piece of history from this amazing moment at the 2008 SEMA Show Silent Auction. An 8″ x 10″ autographed photo of Kirk Gibson’s famous fist pump was donated to the auction by Mike Spagnolia, with Street Scene Equipment.