sonofabear51 said:
Anybody remember the Ron Pruitt game in late September 1984? Never forget it. Seat on the 3rd base line. Giants losing 5-3 late to Houston. Got 1 in the 7th, another run in the 8th to tie, Houston scored in the top of the 9th to back up 6-5, and Pruitt hit a no man's land single to score 2 in the 9th to win it. The place went absolutely nuts. You would have thought we won the pennant. Nobody left, for quite awhile, including myself. Great memories, thanks for the trigger.
The Ron Pruitt game was Thursday, September 30, 1982, and it at least gave the team a chance at the pennant.
The Giants had entered the week tied for first place with Atlanta after after sweeping the Dodgers in LA, with the Dodgers a game behind. All but the most serious Giants fans didn't even realize the Giants were in a race until the sweep against LA. Entering a 3 game series against the Reds on Monday June 28, the Giants were 10 games under 500. A crowd of 10000+ came on a Monday night, it was half price night, and unbeknownst to anyone, the turnaround began, and continued with a sweep of the Reds (with Tuesday and Wednesday nights drawing only 4000+). After that sweep, I said, "Damn, this team looks good," and the Giants kept playing well, going 52-29 over the next 81 games.
But it took the casual fans a long time to figure it out, the Giants didn't even get a winning record for the first time all year until August 8 when they were finally 56-55 after taking the first game of a doubleheader. The Giants were making it a race for the division and nobody knew. On September 14-16 against the Reds, they drew crowds ranging from 3,700+ to 4,300+. For a team in the midst of a pennant race!!
After getting a tie for first with the Braves with the sweep of the Dodgers, the next two games were against Atlanta at home. A Monday night half price night on September 27 drew over 45,000 fans. 45,000 on a Monday night in late September against Atlanta? Impossible!! Unfortunately, the Giants lost to Phil Niekro 7-0. Damned knuckleballers! Lost the next night, too, to go two games back of the Braves and one back of LA. The Giants then won the first game of a 2 game series against the Astros while the Braves beat the Dodgers, staying two back of the Braves and getting tied with LA.
The night of the Ron Pruitt game, the Dodgers beat the Braves handily. I don't remember if the LA-ATL game was over by the time the Ron Pruitt game was over, but the outcome was clear, the Dodgers were way ahead. We needed an LA win and an Atlanta loss, then we'd start the weekend against LA at home tied with the Dodgers, and one back of the Braves playing a 3 game set in SD. With LA winning, if the Giants lose, they stay 2 back of the Braves and one back of the Dodgers with 3 to play. One back of the Braves and tied with LA would be tough, but still, we needed that game to tie the Dodgers and keep hope alive by being only 1 back of the Braves. It was almost like an elimination game in front of 13,000+.
The home run in the 9th was by damned Harry Spilman, who later became a Giant. It was crushing.
But the bottom of the 9th saw an out, a walk, an out, a single, and a walk. Johnnie LeMaster was due up, so Frank Robinson pinch hits with. . . Ron Pruitt??? Pruitt couldn't possibly have hit it any softer and had it go through. Yeah, the crowd went crazy, hope was alive.
Unfortunately, losses in the next 2 to the Dodgers knocked us out, with the Braves winning the first 2 against the Pads. The Braves lost to the Pads on Sunday, so the Giants got to knock the Dodgers out with the Joe Morgan home run.
Opening Day through June 27 wasn't that much fun that year. But from June 28 until the end, what a fun year, even if there weren't a lot of us there to witness until that last week. The final week had two great games, even if 3-4 made for a really a disappointing week (and still only 13,000+ for Ron Pruitt).
Ah, memories.