In 1964, the Birds, piloted by Hank Bauer in his first year of managing the ballclub, were involved in a tight pennant race against the Yankees and White Sox.

Those against the Wild Card see it as diminishing the importance of the pennant race and the regular season, with the true race often being for second rather than first place, while those in favor of it view it as an opportunity for teams to have a shot at the playoffs even when they have no chance of a first-place finish in their division, thus maintaining fan interest later in the season.

The Indians, who at the time were locked in a tight three-way pennant race with the Yankees and White Sox, were not slowed down by the death of their teammate.

In 1948, needing pitching for the stretch run of the pennant race, Veeck turned to the Negro League again and signed pitching great Satchel Paige amid much controversy.

On September 23, 1949, Bill Veeck and the Indians buried their 1948 pennant in center field the day after they were mathematically eliminated from the pennant race.

He attracted national attention in 1934 when he refused to play baseball on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, even though the Tigers were in the middle of a pennant race and he was not in practice a religious Jew.

Despite poor performances from the usually steady Chris Capuano and more nagging injuries to Ben Sheets, the Brewers found themselves in a heated pennant race with Chicago's North Siders.

For twenty days, they were in a tight pennant race and don ’ t know where they are.

They were in the midst of a three-team pennant race with the Dodgers and Braves.

After MLB's establishment of the three-division – Wild Card playoff format following the 1993 season, New York Times sports columnist Dave Anderson captured the feeling of many baseball purists regarding the thrilling ( and for Giants fans, heartbreaking ) winner-take-all outcome as the " last pure pennant race.

The Padres went on to lose that game, and the one that followed, even though the Milwaukee Brewers had been eliminated from the pennant race and had nothing left to play for.

A winning season in 1986 was a shock to pundits and fans alike as the Rangers remained in the race for the American League pennant for the entire season.

Bunning is remembered for his role in the pennant race of 1964, in which the Phillies held a commanding lead in the National League for most of the season, eventually losing the title to the St. Louis Cardinals.

With the Red Sox battling as part of a four-team pennant race, Yastrzemski hit. 513 ( 23 hits in 44 at bats ) with five home runs and 16 runs batted in over the last two weeks of the season, and finished a mere one game ahead of the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins.

The 1967 season was a memorable one due to the tight four-way pennant race between the Tigers, the Boston Red Sox, the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox.

Upon his return in 1946, Reese immediately righted the ship as the Dodgers battled the St. Louis Cardinals in a tight pennant race.

Speaker hit. 309 in 143 games as the team finished third in the pennant race.

1915 witnessed the tightest pennant race in Major League history, as five teams fought into the final week of the season.

The Cardinals were in the midst of a pennant race with the Brooklyn Dodgers ; in 12 games, Musial collected 20 hits for a. 426 batting average.

With seven of their best players permanently sidelined, the White Sox crashed into seventh place in 1921 and would not be a factor in a pennant race again until 1936, five years after Comiskey's death.

The Twins, led by Killebrew, were in the pennant race throughout the season, and had a one-game lead as the final two games of the season began against the Boston Red Sox.

In 2006, a dramatic pennant race led to an even more exciting playoff run that ended in the Sapporo Dome at the hands of the eventual Japan Series Champions, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

In 1969, Perry led the league in innings pitched, but the Giants finished second in the pennant race for the fifth straight season.

* 1951 – The " Shot Heard ' Round the World ", one of the greatest moments in Major League Baseball history, occurs when the New York Giants ' Bobby Thomson hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.

Although the French Navy no longer uses the term " destroyer " ( French: destructeur ), the largest frigates are assigned pennant numbers with flag superior " D ", which designates destroyer.

The pennant, is an evolution of old " pennoncell ", that in the Royal Navy used to consist of three colours for the whole of its length, and towards the end left separate in two or three tails, and so the tradition continued until the end of the Napoleonic Wars when the Royal Navy adopted the style of pennants used by the service to this day.

He often referred to himself as " a bad-news broadcaster ", since the Reds were only a serious contender for the pennant nine times in his tenure.

The pennant, which was really the old " pennoncell ", was of three colours for the whole of its length, and towards the end left separate in two or three tails, and so continued until the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

The Phillies, a particularly young team which came to be known as the " Whiz Kids ", had won the National League pennant in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season to garner their second pennant — their first in 35 years.

From 2004 until 2010, the race served as the opening round of the " Chase for the Sprint Cup ", a ten-race " playoff " designed among the top ten ( twelve as of 2007 ) drivers in the standings of the series following the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 to spur interest in a championship series while NASCAR faces competition from the start of the NFL season and college football, the pennant races and post-season of Major League Baseball and the outset of the NHL and NBA seasons.

When Dick Sisler's home run off Don Newcombe won the pennant for the Phillies ' " Whiz Kids ", the Dodger season was over.

More unpopular with players, however, was the somewhat bizarre premise that " playing a perfect game ", not winning a pennant, was the game's ultimate goal.

As a result of the " shot ", the Giants won the game 5-4, defeating the Dodgers in their pennant playoff series, 2 games to 1.

Thereafter, a formalized challenge system developed whereby the championship, symbolized by a " pennant ", would change hands upon the defeat of the existing champion in a two out of three series.

The White Stockings, with Anson acting as player / manager, captured their third consecutive pennant in 1882, and Anson established himself as the game's first true superstar.

He led the Tigers to a pennant, and won his 2nd American League MVP award, becoming the first player to win an MVP award at two different positions.

Galvin is the only player in baseball history to win 20 or more games in 10 different years without winning a pennant, finishing his career with a total of 365 wins and 310 losses.

Baseball player Don Mueller, an outfielder for the New York Giants on their 1951 National League pennant winners and 1954 World Championship teams, was known as " Mandrake the Magician " for his hitting ability.

He posted a. 308 batting average in 39 games as a utility player, helping the Cardinals win the National League pennant.

The first African American player on the Yankees roster, he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player for the pennant winners after finishing third in the league in slugging average and fifth in home runs, becoming the first black player in AL history to win the honor.

After his illustrious career as a player, Cuyler managed in the minor leagues, winning the regular-season Southern Association pennant in 1939 under Joe Engel with the Chattanooga Lookouts, with one of the only fan-owned franchises in the nation.

The Monarchs won the league's western division first-half pennant in 1949, but declined to participate in a playoff with the Chicago American Giants, as their roster was depleted by player sales to major league clubs.

player " pennant race " mode.

In 1972, he continued to be a valuable role player, hitting for a career-high. 318 batting average in 117 games, helping the Pirates win the Eastern Division pennant, before they lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1972 National League Championship Series.

He led Buffalo to the International League pennant in before, retiring as a player at the age of 40.

Pop Fisher is the manager of the Knights and his team is trying to win the pennant, something he has never done in his career as both a player and a manager.

Whatever his opinion might have been at the time about integration, Walker saluted Robinson the baseball player when the 1947 pennant was won: " He is everything Branch Rickey said he was when he came up from Montreal.

Following his retirement as a player, he managed several minor league teams for most of the 1950s, including the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1957 to 1959, winning the International League pennant in his first season with the team.

In 11 seasons as a Phillies outfielder in the post World War II years, Del Ennis averaged better than 23 home runs and 100 runs batted in and was the key player on the 1950 pennant winning team.

He interrupted that assignment late in 1933 to fill in as an active player for the Giants during the pennant drive.

Baseball has two modes: a single-match mode ( exhibition ) and a pennant race in which the player takes part in a league match of thirty games against five CPU teams.

In he improved his average to. 342 and was among the league's top three players in hits ( 191 ), doubles ( 39 ) and RBI ( 108 ) as the Athletics won the pennant ; the 108 RBI were a record for a player without any home runs.

Westrum was a key player for the Giants ’ during the pennant race, hitting 20 home runs with 70 runs batted in, and led National League catchers in baserunners caught stealing.

There was also hostility from the Major Leagues regarding the Series because it would interfere with late-season pennant races and draw attention away from them in terms of television viewer attendance and, especially, player availability.

As vice president, player personnel, Sullivan was positioned as the top " baseball man " in the organization, and from 1965-67 was instrumental in acquiring several players from the Athletics ( such as José Santiago, John Wyatt, José Tartabull and Ken Harrelson ) who would help lead Boston to its surprise 1967 AL pennant.