Memories, pt 2.

Good Tuesday evening to you all, hope that your week is going well.  This is the 2nd part in a series of posts that were derived from my first contest, when I asked the blogosphere to post their favorite sports moment.

The post chronicles the choice of both Colbey, and Captain Canuck referencing "The Slide".

Here is the original version that Colbey posted:

"My memory is "the slide" from the 1995 NLCS. Braves fans know what I'm talking about. Braves down 2-1 to the Pirates in game 7. 2 outs. David Justice on 3rd. Sid bream on 2nd. Francisco Cabrera at bat. Justice comes around and scores. Bream comes around and narrowly slides under the tag of Pirates catch Mike LaValliere. Awesome moment I remember watching unfold before my eyes courtesy of TBS.


1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice captured this play on cardboard beautifully. Sadly, I don't own this card...but one day I will"

I didn't notice it the first time, but maybe a lot of you did back then.  A slight typo here actually made the slide take over 3 years to complete....this play actually occurred in the 1992 NLCS.  Part of the reason I remembered that was the case is that living here in western PA, Pirates announcers constantly refer to that team as the last time the Pirates had their mini "dynasty".  Players such as Bonds, Bonilla, Drabek, Lind, Van Slyke had their last hurrah as Pirates during this year.

In an interesting twist of irony going back to the first memories post , Kirk Gibson was actually released on May 5th of the '92 season by the Pirates.

Tim Wakefield also started his major league career for the Pirates that year, throwing a 10 strikeout complete game in his debut against the Cardinals..

The manager of the Braves was Bobby Cox, who 7 years earlier saw his Blue Jays lose a 3-1 game lead in the ALCS to the Kansas City Royals, and was on the verge of losing a similar lead in game 7 before "the slide".  The Braves' offense was definitely not a juggernaut that year, though there were some good players on the club, such as Ron Gant, Deion Sanders (who led the NL in triples with 14), Otis Nixon and Terry Pendleton.  That '92 team was built around a tremendous pitching staff with Steve Avery, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Charlie Leibrandt forming quite a formidable rotation. 

Oh, and the play in question??  I don't think I've ever seen Sid Bream run faster in his life...see it here.

Colbey and the Captain (sounds like a TV show doesn't it?) also mentioned a card.  A quick thank you to Brian at Play at the Plate which is where I found the image for this card:

By the way, the Braves did go on to the World Series that year, only to lose to the Blue Jays in 6 games.

Thanks for reading, Robert