World Series has long history of giant surprises: orange October just the latest fall classic stunner.

• Author: Barrett, Wayne M.
• Position: Sportscene

In a sports world groaning with cliches, "That's why they play the game" serves as a worthy mantra for baseball's beleaguered underdogs come October. While the recent crowning of the San Francisco Giants as World Series champions certainly was unexpected, the real surprise may have come in determining just which clubs would get to step onto this year's Fall Classic stage. The Giants were 6 1/2 games out of first in late August and did not clinch the West Division We until the regular season's final day, before stunning the two-time defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. The Texas Rangers, meanwhile, had the worst record of all American League play-off participants, yet ran roughshod over the defending world champion mew York Yankees in the ALCS to advance to their first World Series in franchise history (dating back to 1961).

The Rangers boasted baseball's best offense and the Giants had the game's top pitching staff. Good pitching stops good hitting, or so the saying goes. It proved quick and easy for the Senior Circuits unlikely representatives, and so the Giants have their first World Series trophy since 1954 and their first in San Francisco since abandoning New York's Polo Grounds after the 1957 campaign. That 1954 title, of course, was one of the real shockers in Series history. The Cleveland Indians had won an A.L.-record 111 games in capturing the pennant The N.Y Giants, fueled by Willie Mays' famous catch and the hitting heroics of Dusty Rhodes, swept the Tribe aside in four straight

Forty years prior, another shocking sweep earned its way into baseball lore, as the "Miracle" Braves of Boston took four in a row from the Philadelphia Athletics. The As, owned and managed by Connie Mack, won four pennants and three World Series from 1910-14, and boasted the famous $100,000 infield, with third baseman Frank "Home Run" Baker being the most famous of the crew. Boston, which had bean in last place on July 4, closed the regular season in 70-19 fashion to win the pennant by 10 1/2 games before demolishing heavily favored Philly. Mack was so upset at his charges that he broke up the team, trading and selling off his best players. Philadelphia would languish in the second division for the next 15 years until--still under Mack's direction--the A's won back-to-back Series championships (1929-30), while the Braves went on to become the only franchise to win the World Series while representing three different dries...