Tom Hoffarth / FartherOffTheWall.com
Kirk Gibson, how great thou still art.
On this day 34 years ago, Dodger Stadium rocked, and a city rolled with it.
The greatest sports moment in Los Angeles history. Saturday evening, October 15, 1988.
We know that to be true.
In 1995, collaborating with the Los Angeles Sports Council, super sports historian Rich Perelman orchestrated the publication of a coffee-table sized book titled “Unforgettable! The 100 Greatest Moments in Los Angeles Sports History.”
Considering all there was to consider, the consensus No. 1 event in ’95 had only occurred seven years earlier. Was it too soon?
Enough time has passed for more context, more events taking place, more to consider.
It made as much sense then as it does 27 years later. Which is also our way of saying the list is overdue for a true Hollywood facelift.
These are headline-rich times for sports history in Los Angeles, officially founded as a city on Sept. 16, 1781. The Los Angeles Coliseum marks its 100th season of existence – its first event was USC’s 23-7 college football victory over Pomona on Oct. 6, 1923. The Pasadena Rose Bowl is about to mark the 100th anniversary of its first college football contest. USC’s 14-3 win over Penn State on New Year’s Day ’23 started it all.
With all due respect to Perelman and his staff, we’re ready for a sequential sequel to quench our thirst.
But first, a refresher on how the Top 10 stood in ’95:
Oct. 15, 1988: “I don’t believe what I just saw!” said CBS radio announcer Jack Buck, likely heard live by no one in L.A. that night (with Vin Scully on the NBC telecast and Don Drysdale on the local radio broadcast). Writes Perelman in his “Unforgettable!” entry: “To this day, there are millions of baseball fans who agree with Jack Buck. They saw it and they still can’t believe it.”
Interesting note No. 1: In the new Tyler Kepner book, “The Grandest Stage: A History of the World Series” (released Oct. 11, Doubleday, $30, 336 pages), the New York Times writer is enlightened enough (as confirmed in a Wall Street Journal review) that this moment only happens because the Dodgers’ Mike Davis (hitting .196) somehow draws a rare two-out walk from Dennis Eckersley to make Gibson’s shot a walk-off.
Interesting note No. 2: In the new Joshua Shifrin and Tommy Shea book, “Dingers: The 101 Most Memorable Home Runs in Baseball History” (released in 2016, but updated in May, 2022, Sports Publishing, $19.99, 332 pages), the image of Gibson on the cover is just a ruse. The authors’ top five homers of all time — 1. Bill Mazerowski’s Game 7 walk off for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series over the Yankees; 2. Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round The World” for the New York Giants in the playoff over the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951; 3. Hank Aaron’s 715th homer in 1974 that pushed him past Babe Ruth in the all-time list; 4. Joe Carter’s 1993 walk-off homer to bring the Toronto Blue Jays the World Series in the bottom of the ninth of Game 6 as they were trailing the Philadelphia Phillies; 5. Gibson’s 1988 shot. Why not put Maz on the cover then? Also: The 2022 list Top 5 isn’t different from the 2016 Top 5.
By the way: What time did the Gibson homer occur on Oct. 15, 1988?
This illustration, which we found on Etsy, it has a scoreboard recreation with 8:42 p.m.:
It might just be taking info on this by FineArtAmerica.com and Mark Yench. But zoom in on this lithograph called “Classic Chavez Clout” by Bill Purdom in 1992, which we have on a postcard purchased from the Good Sports Art Gallery, it shows four minutes earlier at 8:38 p.m.:
Both renditions have scoreboard mistakes. Above, it has the Dodgers’ lineup accurately has the No. 8 and No. 9 spots with “37” (Davis) and “23” (Gibson and a position under them blank, because both were pinch hitters. Davis wasn’t in the game at “SS” as the above graphic shows, nor was “26 P” – Alejandro Pena, pitcher – in the game any more at the moment it happened. But one has four umpires listed, and the other has six. The Goff art also has “35 RF” for the Dodgers hitting cleanup (they had no No. 35; it’s No. 5, Mike Marshall) and in the A’s lineup, it’s “38 LF,” a number that belonged to relief pitcher Dave Otto, instead of “28 LF” which was Stan Javier.
So … if you’ve got the time for more research …
Like these guys:
July 28, 1984 — The 1984 Summer Olympic Games opening ceremony at the Coliseum. More than 92,000 in attendance — including President Reagan, Prince Charles and L.A. mayor Tom Bradley. Plus all those athletes marching in. Eighty four pianos playing “Rhapsody in Blue.” Card stunts. A guy in a jetpack flies to start it. Diana Ross sings to end it. Rafer Johnson lights the torch in between (and the Wikipedia entry notes: The ceremony was also the first time a person of African descent lit the Olympic cauldron). Thank you Peter Ueberroth, who recently had his plaque added to its Ring of Honor. Got six hours to watch the KABC-Channel 7 coverage?
Nov. 30, 1974 — USC 55, Notre Dame 24. The Trojans trailed at halftime, 24-6, and then scored 49 straight points in 17 minutes to defeat the Irish and go onto win the national championship. This will be the first paragraph of Anthony Davis’ obituary someday. (That, or the six-touchdown game he scored as a sophomore against Notre Dame in ’72 — which is No. 32 on this list — leading to a national title — which is No. 50 on the list?)
March 31, 1975 — UCLA 92, Kentucky 85. In John Wooden’s final game as a coach, the Bruins win their 10th NCAA title in 12 seasons, at the San Diego Sports Arena. “The Wizard of Westwood” was done after 27 seasons, 766 games and 620 victories at age 65.
Nov. 18, 1967 — No. 4 USC 21, No. 1 UCLA 20. The Coliseum stage before 90,772 provided iconic moments for O.J. Simpson (a 64-yard cut-back TD run) and Gary Beban (16 of 24 passing for 301 yards) in what was to decide the city championship, the conference title, the Rose Bowl representative, the Heisman Trophy and a shot at a national title.
May 16, 1980 — Lakers 123, Philadelphia 107. Rookie Magic Johnson starts at center in the Game 6 NBA Finals win at Philadelphia and scores 42 points to go with 15 rebounds and seven assists in the absence of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar locks up the series MVP award.
Sept. 9, 1965 — Sandy Koufax’s fourth no-hitter. This one is perfect, 1-0, against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium. Vin Scully’s magical call of the Dodgers’ Cy Young Award winning performance seals the deal in the memory bank. But take a look at that other clip — pretty fantastic.
July 30, 1932 — The 1932 Summer Olympic Games opening ceremony at the Coliseum. In the depths of the depression, a $1 million profit is made as “Los Angeles Becomes the New Star in the Olympic Movement,” says this entry’s headline.
Jan. 22, 1984: L.A. Raiders 38, Washington 9. Your Los Angeles NFL team wins Super Bowl XVIII in Tampa, Fla. Marcus Allen’s 74-yard reverse-field touchdown run at the end of the third quarter gives carpetbagger Al Davis’ team a title, a first Lombardi Trophy in L.A. history. (The NFL does a great job of not letting anyone use its video. You can find a link here, or just watch this bootleg above).
April 18, 1958 — Dodgers 6, San Francisco Giants 5. The Dodgers play the first MLB game in L.A. with 78,672 on hand at the Coliseum, more than anyone who ever saw a big-league baseball game. (Someone named Juan Goglia posted this video on YouTube.com with the description: “My great uncle Isadore “Izzy” Perruccio attended the L.A. Dodger’s first game … The story goes: Izzy gradually snuck onto the field with his camera. Since not too many people, other than reporters, had video cameras back then, he went unsuspected long enough to get this amazing video, until, eventually, he was kindly asked to go back to his seat. You can see Willie Mays approach the camera, Jayne Mansfield, Edward G. Robinson … I hope you enjoy this historic footage.” We did.
The ’95 list was vetted by the L.A. Sports Council members, area sportswriters and sportscasters, plus more than 5,000 members of the Los Angeles Athletic Club. A special veterans committee was also formed to consider events long ago that might be forgotten.
To be considered for this list, Perelman writes that moments “had to have taken place in the greater Los Angeles area (Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino County) or had to involve a person or team from the area.”
Twenty seven years later, here are 27 more things we believe fit those guiderails for consideration, if not into the Top 10, at least the Top 100, as we list them by year:
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 