There's nothing wrong with the conventional wisdom: Jack Morris pitched 10 amazing innings in game 7 of the 1991 World Series, which was played 25 years ago today, and the Twins scored on Gene Larkin's bases-loaded single to beat Atlanta 1-0.
But without a sneaky play by Twins middle infielders Chuck Knoblauch and Greg Gagne, Morris doesn't get out of the eighth inning without allowing a run.
Here's what happened. Lonnie Smith led off the top of the eighth with a line drive single to right field. But Smith, one of the faster runners in baseball at the time, only got to third base when Terry Pendleton smashed a double that bounced to the wall in left-center. Jack Buck, the play-by-play announcer, quickly pointed out the "terrible" base running by Smith on the play.
Then he showed what happened. Watch:
Smith never picked up the ball, and he was apparently duped by a fake by Knoblauch, who pretended to field the ground ball, and Gagne, who went to cover second and pretended to catch a throw. Smith slowed down and, as a result was only able to make it to third.
"Never trust the infielders," analyst Tim McCarver said.
But there's more. Morris gave David Justice an intentional walk to load the bases with one out and Sid Bream followed with this:
And that set up Gene Larkin's game-winning hit in the 10th:
And, finally, if you're up for some reading, here's the story that appeared on Page 1 of the Star Tribune on October 28, 1991 -- the morning after Game 7. (Back then, you had to wait until the next morning to read this stuff.)
