The 2001 MLB Season Was One of the Most Memorable Seasons Ever

[Music] billy the marlin riding by and the pickup truck didn't have a good release point on this fastball [Music] [Applause] and now lloyd mcclendon has been tossed and mclendon turns and fires his baseball cap he turned and whipped his cap towards second base it's still sitting on the grass and now mcclendon walks back he's gonna pick up first base a la lu pinellas mclendon marches down the dugout steps with first base oh shattered back who's coaching in the third base coaches box he pops right back up to 9-8 for this and thank goodness that he's all right in 2000 the new york yankees led by derek jeter bernie williams and jorge pasada won their third straight world series title their fourth title in five years cementing their status as a dynasty can anyone knock them off the top of the ladder well in the off season the rich would get richer as the yankees signed former orioles starting pitcher mike mussina this was a six-year deal worth 88.5 million dollars though this was far from the richest contract of the off-season on december 8th the rockies agreed to a deal with former met starter mike hampton an eight-year deal worth 121 million dollars setting a major league record a couple of days later 29 year old slugger manny ramirez left the cleveland indians and joined the boston red sox on an eight-year deal worth 160 million dollars doesn't he look great in a red sox jersey 160 million is a lot of money but considering how ramirez played in 2000 i'm sure he'll be well worth it oh wait what's this in the corner 25 year old now former seattle mariner alex rodriguez a young shortstop coming off the best season of his career within hours of the announcement of ramirez heading to boston rodriguez agreed to an earth-shattering 10-year deal with the texas rangers worth 252 million dollars the largest contract in team sports history he wouldn't sign the contract until january 2001 so that number today due to inflation would be over 374 million dollars that's an aav larger than mike trout in 2000 the rangers and mariners were in two completely different spots from a competitive standpoint now the mariners just lost their biggest star for the second straight season but i get the feeling they'll figure it out alright back to the 2001 season we need to know who the favorites were for each division well the al east was certainly the most top-heavy division in the league featuring the dynasty yankees and the red sox the yankees maintained their core and added mussina but the red sox had the winner of the previous two cy young awards pedro martinez the guy time magazine writer paul catcher said every gm in the league would start their team with staying in the east the nl east was essentially atlanta's for the taking they had some of the best players in the league on both sides of play including chipper jones andrew jones greg maddox and tom glavin with john smolt returning after missing the entire 2000 season the braves were destined for another playoff appearance moving to the central divisions the al division was once again a bit top heavy with the indians being the main favorites they may have lost manny ramirez but they still had stars roberto alamar jim tomy and bartolo colon and top prospect cc sabathia was ready to make his big league debut though don't count out the white sox they still got frank thomas along with maglio ordonez frey durham and a young mark burley the nl central was going to be a mess the cardinals were the main favorites as the core of jim edmonds rick and keel jd drew and edgar renteria was very exciting and while mark maguire was past his prime he was still eating a balanced breakfast speaking of maguire he told manager tony larussa that if he didn't call up a young third baseman named albert pujols he would be making one of the worst mistakes of his career as for the rest of the division the astros were filled with young talent from lance berkman and roy oswalt to established veterans such as craig biggio and jeff bagwell of course the cubs had one of the most exciting hitters in all of baseball sammy sosa who had just hit 50 home runs in 2000 so you couldn't count the cubs out and this applied to the reds too who had ken griffey jr now let's head west remember how i said the nl central would be messy well no one could really figure out a concrete winner for the nl west any team besides the padres could have won the division the rockies who signed mike hampton to a giant deal in the off-season were the main favorites a team that featured todd helton and larry walker they would be facing competition from the randy johnson-led diamondbacks gary sheffield led dodgers and of course the barry bonds lead giants finally it's the ael west the a's narrowly finished ahead of the mariners in 2000 and with a-rod moving from seattle to texas the a's were the clear favorites to win the division a team led by reigning mvp jason giambi and young pitchers barry zito and tim hudson with the rangers acquiring the biggest free agent signing ever they were certainly a team to keep an eye on so what did this mean for the mariners were they straying towards mediocrity well during the eighth game of the season one play by a rookie right fielder would signal the beginning of something inconceivable [Applause] [Music] japanese superstar ichiro suzuki signed with the mariners in the offseason and with this throw he had made his presence felt quickly moving back to opening day the opening game of the season featured a-rod who would get two hits but his team would lose eight to one to the blue jays the team that lost a-rod the mariners seemed to be doing just fine with their own superstar in the making no one knew how ichiro would perform in the us but he made his mark in the first month of play leading the mariners to a 20 in five record in april the best april in major league history though there was another rookie in the league making headlines albert pujols he had taken maguire's spot as the power guy in saint louis producing an incredible first month in the majors though there were some other milestones being broken in april roger clemens surpassed walter johnson for seventh place on the all-time strikeout list then a week later barry bonds hit his 500th career home run he had ended the month with 11 home runs the beginning of a record-breaking journey but what if i were to tell you that bonds was not the most talked about hitter coming out of april that player would be diamondbacks outfielder luis gonzalez who hit 13 home runs in the first month of the season nearly half his career high of 31. there's still plenty more to talk about in the month of april hideo nomo in his first career start with the red sox threw his second career no hitter though moving into some unfortunate news white sox star frank thomas suffered a season ending tricep tear less than a week after the death of his father which thomas called the worst week of his life also cardinal starter rick ann keel following his disastrous postseason in 2000 looked lost on the mound and was eventually sent to triple a finding his way to rookie league by the end of the season today we know that ankil suffered through a case of the yips at the end of april all of the national league divisions were tight races while the al divisions were more spread out especially the al west the mariners may have been leading the league in wins but there was another team in the division that would soon be hot on their trail the oakland athletics ended the month of april in last place of their division though they completely turned it around in may as the result of jason g ambi and pitching from tim hudson and mark mulder another team who made a big statement in may was the arizona diamondbacks thanks to luis gonzalez and the lethal one-two punch of randy johnson and curt schilling in fact on may 8th johnson threw 20 strikeouts against the reds tying the major league record interestingly johnson didn't get the win and the diamondbacks only won the game on a walk-off walk also another player in the building that night made his return to the sport the week prior dion sanders he rejoined the cincinnati reds on may 1st going three for three with a three run home run off eric gagne moving to mid-may marlin starter aj burnett threw a no-hitter against the padres despite throwing nine walks likely one of the ugliest no-hitters in mlb history overall may 12th was a historic day as along with the no-hitter carlos delgado hit his 204th career home run passing joe carter for most home runs in blue jays history and to finish off may bonds and gonzalez faced off on may 29th in a battle of the power hitters well the game ended after 18 innings with a score of one to nothing gonzalez had one hit and one walk and bonds had zero hits and three walks here's the standings at the end of may the mariners continued to dominate the league the al central and east were turning into battles between the top teams in the division the same can be said for all the national league divisions things started to calm down in the month of june however there were a few notable events mainly related to the cycle within about a week of each other tiger's second baseman damien easley and mariner's first baseman john ulurud each hit for the cycle here's what the standings looked like at the all-star break not gonna lie the situation was more or less the same the mariners were killing it and the rest of the league was fighting for their division speaking of the mariners the all-star game took place in seattle while players like ichiro bons sosa and johnson were having unbelievable seasons the spotlight was on two legends tony gwynn and cal ripken jr both of these players would be making their final all-star appearances two icons of their respective franchises at that point in his career ripken was a third baseman but a-rod moved over to third base for the first inning and gave the shortstop spot to ripken also prior to the sixth inning the game was paused to commemorate the careers of ripken and gwyn and two men who leave a magnificent legacy i just want to say it's been a great fantastic run thank you thank you everybody these last 20 years have been the greatest ride i think you can ever be on for my final all-star game i'd just like to say thank you it's been great the al beat the nl 4-1 rivkin even hit a home run of his own we're only at the halfway mark of this season and so much has happened but don't worry so much more awaits immediately after the all-star break met's catcher mike piazza hit his 300th career home run a couple of weeks later scott hatterberg still with the red sox became the first player to hit into a triple play and hit a grand slam in the same game but this grand slam was far from the most impactful home run in the month of august on august 11th only a couple of days after sammy sosa hit three home runs in a game bonds hit his 50th home run the first time bonds had ever reached the 50 home run mark and this was the quickest any player had reached that milestone though the question after this game was could bonds reach the record of 70 home runs he was certainly making the case as in early september he would reach home run number 60 becoming the fifth player in history to do so soon after he would hit home runs 61 62 and 63 in the same game as for the rest of the league at the end of august the standings looked like this there's a record here you just have to marvel at the mariners had been producing a historic campaign ichiro has set the league on fire but you also have to look at long time mariner edgar martinez and breakout star brett boone sitting in second place the oakland days had the same record as the first place yankees with the mariners playing how they are do the yankees stand a chance come october as for the national league like earlier in the season no team has solidified themselves as clear favorites which should make for an exciting final month of the regular season but less than 12 hours after charles gibson made a diving catch to secure the mariners 104th win of the season the country grinded to a halt unbelievable catch to end and in just for a few minutes peter jennings is going to be joining us from the news and there is smoke pouring out of the pentagon tell us everything it would appear that there has been another major explosion this one in the nation's capital i urge people to go to their businesses on monday i understand major league baseball is going to start playing again it is important for america to get on about his life the question has already been answered should we be here [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] this one has a chance [Music] with the united states healing as a nation and baseball being placed front and center on the west coast barry bonds was on a quest towards history bonds had reached home run number 60 with one month left to go through the month of september he hit home run after home run despite pitchers walking him multiple times per game one month later on game 158 bonds hit number 70 to ty maguire for the record and the very next day he hit this bonds would finish the season with 73 home runs of course he was far from the only player with a massive home run total three other players surpassed 50 home runs the only other season where four hitters surpassed 50 home runs was in 1998 the year maguire set the single season home run record at 70. these were legendary seasons but at the end of the 2001 season we would say goodbye to two legends tony gwynn would hit his final hit on october 6th and ripken on the same day took his final at bat for the orioles both players would become hall of famers in 2007 also during san diego's final game of the season on october 7th ricky henderson hit number 3000 just a few days after breaking the all-time run scored record before we head into the playoffs let's find out who's actually in the playoffs bonds may have made history but his team was missing the playoffs as the diamondbacks won the nl west and the astros and cardinals both made it out of the nl central the braves narrowly beat out the phillies in the east in the american league the athletics won 102 games but still only managed a wild card spot because of obvious reasons of course the yankees would find a way to win the division and finally the indians made it out of the nl central it's time for the playoffs the yankees were america's favorites considering the state of the country though it would not be an easy road as they faced the athletics in the divisional round well on the backs of mark mulder and tim hudson the athletics left new york with a 2-0 series lead game three was a pitching duel but a solo home run by jorge posada was all it took for the yankees to get the win and well there was a little help from derek jeter game 5 would be played in new york despite a great start to the game by the a's the yankees were able to come back with a david justice home run and a derek jeter highlight play the yankees were off to the next round on the other side of the country despite a soul-crushing 17-2 loss in game 3 the mariners were able to pull through and prepare for the yankees dynasty in the national league atlanta made quick work with the astros sweeping them and allowing only six runs in the whole series the other divisional matchup was a bit more exciting the cardinals led by rookie sensation albert pujols were facing the luis gonzalez-led diamondbacks game one was a pitching duel with a steve finley rbi single making all the difference in game two pujols hit his first career home run in the playoffs and the cardinals tied the series up a craig council three run home run in game three gave the diamondbacks the series lead but the bats fell silent in game 4 leading to a cardinals win like a game 1 game 5 was a pitcher's duel between kurt schilling and matt morris in the top of the ninth the score was tied one to one with mark maguire do up he had already struck out three times so tony larussa brought in carrie robinson as a pinch hitter to bunt over the runner at first it was successful but the diamondbacks left that half inning without surrendering a run tony larussa was told by maguire before the season if he didn't call up albert pujols he would be making one of the biggest mistakes of his career who would have thought that one of the biggest mistakes of larussa's career would still involve maguire little floater left field here comes batista here's the throw diamondbacks going to the nlcs next it was the nlcs diamondbacks versus braves randy johnson pitched a complete game shutout in game one and despite a game two win by the braves the diamondbacks were too much to handle arizona would win the series in game five becoming the fastest franchise ever to reach the world series as their inaugural season was in 1998. with arizona heading to the world series the question was whether they would be facing a dynasty or one of the best regular season teams of all time well the series started in seattle but it seemed the yankees were on a mission that no one could stop as they left seattle leaving the series 2 to nothing seattle would put on an offensive display in game 3 with a 14-3 win but an alfonso soriano walk-off home run in game 4 brought all the momentum back to the yankees with game 5 being in the bronx the yankees had all they needed to knock off one of the best regular season teams ever the world series would be between the expansion franchise four years out from their inaugural season and the dynasty that had won the three previous world series titles in game one bernie williams hit an rbi double in the first to set the tone but craig council hit a home run in the bottom half of the inning after that the diamondbacks took control with a flurry of hits and runs most notably a luis gonzalez home run leading to a 9-1 win arizona continued to take control of the series as randy johnson pitched another complete game shutout the yankees were heading back to the bronx in the worst position possible though the fans were loud and like much of the country they were fully behind the yankees prior to the game president george w bush famously threw the ceremonial first pitch for a strike after that roger clemens pitched a great game and the yankees left with a 2-1 win the next day kurt schilling was back on the mound after only three days rest he was outstanding pitching seven innings and allowing only one run he had thrown only 88 pitches but given he had only three days rest manager bob brendly made the choice to turn to the bullpen the young hung kim came into the game and shut down the yankees in the 8th inning in the 9th the yankees were down to their final out while being down by two runs but tino martinez wouldn't lie down so easily the game was now tied at 3 and mariano rivera would shut down the diamondbacks in the top of the 10th brendly kept kim in the game kim would get two guys to fly out but then derek jeter came to the plate who would end that night with a new nickname the 3-2 pitch swung on a drill to right field throwing back sanders on the track at the wall the game had gone past midnight making this the first time a world series game had gone into november reggie jackson is mr october but derek jeter is mr november game five would be started by mike mussina and miguel bautista both players would pitch well but mussina did allow two home runs in the fifth with the yankees down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth manager brendly turned to pyeonghang kim despite pitching three innings less than 24 hours previous what do you think happens next riding high on double walk-off momentum the yankees take a 3-2 series lead and head into arizona ready to win their fourth consecutive title well i'd say arizona's offense woke up in game six an eight run third inning and 22 total hits by arizona would send this series to game seven clemens versus schilling through five innings no one could hit either of these pitchers but in the bottom of the 6th danny bautista hit an rbi double for the first run of the game the next half inning game 4 hero tino martinez hit a rbi single to tie the game then in the next inning game five hero alfonso soriano hit this soriano in the deep left field at the wall yankees on top with a one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth the yankees turned to the best closer of all time mariano rivera who produced three swinging strikeouts in the top of the ninth the diamondbacks brought in randy johnson who would get three quick outs now there's three outs to go spencer into centerfield for [Applause] hand and has the arizona chance the bunt by miller throw to second into center field it's too long with nobody out two on one out and wolves here comes hit by the pitch and the bases are loaded [Music] [Applause] kind of fitting that one of the most memorable seasons ever ends with one of the most memorable ends to a season ever a dynasty had been broken and a new team had taken the reigns speaking of taking the reigns in just as rookie season ichiro suzuki won the al-mvp award along with a silver slugger gold glove and rookie of the year award you could make the case jason giambi deserved the award but ichiro was the face of a franchise that just tied the record for most wins in a single season though i just want to quickly marvel at the stats of barry bonds nearly 12 war and an ops of nearly 1400 i want to know who gave first place mvp votes to sosa instead of bonds two guys in their mid to late 30s won the cy young awards those guys being roger clemens and randy johnson and finally cardinal sensation albert pujols won the nl rookie of the year award with mark maguire retiring the cardinals franchise was placed in good hands there's many reasons why the 2001 mlb season is one of the most memorable and impactful seasons ever not just because we saw the end to a dynasty or the numerous milestones or aj burnett hitting a truck window the impact the sport itself had on the country a country in the middle of such trying times with people looking for something to cheer for was more meaningful than any stat or historical feat baseball is america's past time for a reason and the 2001 season led the nation towards recovery and unity [Music] you

Channel: SportStorm

Views: 281,791

Keywords: 2001 mlb season, mlb, baseball, ichiro, ichiro suzuki, ichiro 2001, ichiro mvp, ichiro suzuki mariners, barry bonds, barry bonds 73, barry bonds 2001, randy johnson 2001, randy johnson dbacks, arizona diamondbacks 2001, dbacks 2001, yankees 2001, new york yankees 2001, sammy sosa 2001, seattle mariners, seattle mariners 2001, seattle mariners 116 wins, albert pujols 2001, mark mcgwire 2001, tony gwynn 2001, cal ripken jr 2001, rickey henderson 2001, sportstorm

Id: uyh6WtIH05A

Length: 32min 45sec (1965 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 04 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/aslightlyusedtissue]

Watched this earlier today. Truly encapsulating short doc. Love the channel too. Been subbed for a few months now. Constantly pumping out high quality baseball content.

[u/ionicshoe]

Please kill me