By Brian Boone

The World Series is always a special occasion. The culmination of the long and arduous Major League Baseball season, the best teams from the American League and National League square off in seven games to determine a champion for the ages. What’s even more special than that? When really weird, random, and rare stuff goes down during the October Classic.

DEAD SOLID PERFECT

Out of the more than 200,000 Major League Baseball matches to ever be contested, only 24 have been a “perfect game.” That occurs when one team’s pitcher throws for the entire nine-inning game and allows no hits or runs, and doesn’t walk anybody or commit any errors. Of those 24 perfect games, only one was achieved during a World Series. In 1956’s Game 5, Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pretty much single-handedly defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers.

ALL BY HIMSELF

Even more rare than a perfect game: the unassisted triple play. The circumstances have to be right to where one fielder is responsible for all three outs to end an inning, and it’s only happened 15 times, including once in the postseason, back in Game 5 of the 1920 World Series. Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganns caught a line drive from a Brooklyn Robins hitter, then quickly stepped on his base to get out his baserunner, and then tagged the Robins runner trying to head back to first base. 

HOLLYWOOD SWINGING

Just last year, two games of the 2024 World Series each ended in a dramatic, never before seen fashion. In Game 1, the Los Angeles Dodgers entered the bottom of the 10th inning down by one run against the New York Yankees. Then they loaded the bases and Freddie Freeman emerged and hit a game-ending grand slam home run, notching four runs for the Dodgers. Then in Game 2, Dodgers relief pitcher Alex Vesia secured the win for his team and the save for himself — with a single pitch. 

RUTH AWAKENING

The World Series can also end in disappointing, anticlimactic fashion, and at the hands of perhaps the most famous baseball player of all time. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees in a decisive seventh game in 1926 — when they were up in the ninth inning and Babe Ruth, a remarkable hitter but a very slow runner, attempted to steal second base. He was tagged, that was the third out, and the World Series was over.

THIS ROCKS

The Washington Senators had never so much as played in a World Series, let alone won one, and it looked like they’d lose their first trip to the finals in 1924. Game 7 went into extra innings, during which time pitcher Walter Johnson allowed five hitters to take bases, but the New York Giants couldn’t get them over the plate. Finally, in the bottom of the 12th inning, the Senators secured the victory but only through a series of bizarre events that wouldn’t be out of place in a wacky sports comedy movie. The Senators’ Muddy Ruel hit an easily catchable pop-up that Giants catcher Hank Gowdy would’ve caught, except he tripped over his own discarded mask. Gowdy got another chance to hit, got a double, and then moved to third after Johnson took his base due to an unforced fielding error. Then Earl McNeely came up to bat and knocked an easily fieldable grounder along the third base line… but then it hit an errant rock and flew over the Giants’ third baseman’s head. That was enough time for Ruel to cross the plate with the World Series-winning point.