Baseball's Greatest Games: 1988 World Series Game 1 | 
| Actor: Major League Baseball Home Video
Studio: Polygram USA Video
Buy New: $19.99
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 85085
Format: Color, Ntsc
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 94
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6304962959
UPC: 044005718133
EAN: 9786304962954
ASIN: 6304962959
Release Date: May 26, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand new video as shown in original shrinkwrap. Packed with care and shipped immediately via first class mail.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Kirk Gibson's dramatic and improbable World Series home run September 9, 2004
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
In the 1988 World Series the Los Angeles Dodgers were the underdogs against the Oakland A's, a team that was making the first of what would be three consecutive appearances in the Fall Classic. Oakland had won 104 games with the Bash Brothers, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, and swept the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship series. The Dodgers did have pitcher Orel Hershisher, who had thrown shutouts in his last six regular season starts and had pitched another shutout against the New Mets in Game 7 of the National League Championship series, which meant the NL Cy Young Award winner was not available for Game 1 of the World Series. But the even worse news for Tommy Lasorda's club was that Kirk Gibson, who would win the National League Most Valuable Player Award had suffered a strained hamstring and was questionable for the World Series.
The first two games were at Dodger Stadium and the home team took a surprising lead when Mickey Hatcher took A's ace Dave Stewart deep for a two-run homer. Then Canseco hid a grand slam off of Dodger's starter Tim Belcher who was lifted in the second inning. The Dodger bullpen shutdown the A's and Los Angeles put another run across so that they were trailing by just one run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The only problem now was that Dennis Eckersley, the Oakland closer who made it to the Hall of Fame this summer as only the third relief pitcher to get a plaque in Cooperstown, was on the mound. Eckersley got the first two Dodger batters and then walked pinch-hitter Mike Davis, bringing up the pitcher's spot.
Every spring, right before the baseball season begins, I always watch the Ken Burns "Baseball" documentary, and one of the best stories is when Bob Costas, covering the game for NBC, tells the story of how Lasorda sent Ben Hines, the Dodger batting coach, to see if Gibson can pinch hit even though he can barely walk. Gibson is taking practice swings off a tee hitting the ball into a net, grunting with pain with every swing. Costas is thinking "Gee, if this guy is going to drag himself out here and hit, we've really go the stuff of legend." Hines comes back to Lasorda and reports, "He thinks he's got one good swing in him."
Gibson hobbled to the plate for his date with baseball immortality and took five pitches from Eckersley without ever taking the bat off his shoulder. With a full count Eckersley threw a slider and Gibson reached out and clubbed the ball into the tenth row of the right field bleachers while Dodger Stadium exploded and Vin Scully tried to find the words to capture the unbelievable moment. It was not "called" like Babe Ruth's shot at Wrigley Field, or win the Series like Bill Mazeroski did at Forbes Field, but it inspired his team to win the World Series, which is something Carlton Fisk's dramatic home run at Fenway Park did not do. Gibson never played again that season and Hershisher pitched a shutout in the second game (he gave up seven hits in two games) and then clinched it in the fifth game with a 6-2 win.
It is hard to call this a great game just because of what happens in the last at bat, especially compared to the drama of Boston's Game 6 against the Cincinnati Reds won by Fisk's long ball off the foul pole, but for a stunning conclusion off of one swing of the bat, there is nothing that compares (even Bobby Thomson had already hit a home run off of Ralph Branca in the 1951 playoffs). I can tell you it was the maddest by father has ever been watching a baseball game that did not involve his Giants (which explains why the Dodger victory ticked him off). At least with this 90-minute video you can to appreciate the second time around how the stage was set for Gibson's heroics. For Dodgers fans this is a cherished memory, while for Eckersley and the A's it was like getting blindsided by a Mack truck.
 3 historic minutes July 13, 2001
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
There are many great baseball games still available on video, if not in their entirety, then neatly edited down to 90 minutes. The best way to rate such a video is to ask, "How exciting are those 90 minutes?"Game 1 of the '88 Series is best remembered for one prolonged moment -- hobbled pinch-hitter Kirk Gibson's 9th inning, 2-out at-bat against ace reliever Dennis Eckersley. The A's led 4-3 at that moment, and with a full count, Gibson (who could barely stand, let alone run), clobbered the baseball into the right-field pavilion in Dodger Stadium. Boom! Dodgers win the Series opener, and the A's never recovered, eliminated in five short games. But that's it. There are two early home runs in this game, the first of a supposed Series mismatch between the powerhouse A's and the more rag-tag Dodgers. The A's lead the game from the 2nd inning, until the Gibson at-bat. There's not a whole lot else to see here. Fast-forward to the 9th inning, and enjoy before that glimpses of a slimmer, younger (and hitless) Mark McGwire, and the Vin Scully play-by-play. Hear Joe Garagiola in one of his final World Series telecasts. But, until that Gibson at-bat, don't expect to see the most riveting ballgame ever sold for ...
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