Baseball’s definitive moments only legend for our generation

They say life is best remembered for the little moments, and any baseball fan will tell you, your life can shorten dramatically by your team's inability to deliver in these moments.

From Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947, to Roger Maris' amazing 61-homerun season in 1961, fans of all ages have burned the moments into their memory.

It's funny for me to say that, being all of 20-years-old. I have so many great memories of the game I love, and I know there are so many more yet to unfold. As kids these days will soon realize, I haven't experienced anything compared to my father's and grandfather's generations.

So without further ado, here is my top 10 baseball moments our generation never experienced:

10. The homers – Oct. 21, 1975; Oct. 15, 1988; Oct. 13, 1960
Carlton Fisk waving his homer fair, Kirk Gibson injured and hobbling around the basepaths pumping his fist and Bill Mazeroski in the bottom of the ninth of game seven of the World Series — all these left their marks on the game.


9. The speech – July 4, 1939
Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest man on the face of the earth" quote from his retirement speech is one of the most memorable quotes in all of baseball. Any fan of any team knows this speech.


8. The king of hits – Sept. 11, 1985
Pete Rose, in his first at-bat of the night, drives Padres pitcher Eric Show's 2-1 pitch into left-center for his 4,192nd hit, breaking Ty Cobb's career record.


7. E-3 (The Buckner play) – Oct. 25, 1986
Every baseball fan knows about Bill Buckner and how he kept the curse alive by allowing Mookie Wilson's slow roller to go through his legs and allow the Mets back into the World Series. The Mets would go on to win the World Series. The Red Sox' 86-year curse lasted until 2004.


6. Don Larsen's perfect game – Oct. 8, 1956
The only perfect game in World Series history. It's hard enough to pitch a perfect game, but against the top team from the other league? Who knows if we will ever see this again.


5. The catch – Sept. 29, 1954
The "Say Hey Kid" Willie Mays sprints backwards at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan and makes a basket catch with his back to the infield.


4. Roger Maris hits 61 in ‘61 – Oct.  1, 1961
The Babe had to take second place in 1961 when his single-season homerun record of 60 got passed by Roger Maris.



3. Hammerin' Hank Aaron blasts 715 – April 8, 1974
Most thought Babe Ruth's 714 homeruns was an unreachable milestone. Aaron finished with 755. After the steroid era, many consider him to be the real homerun king.


2. Joltin' Joe Dimaggio's 56-game hitting streak – May 15 - July 16, 1941
The odds of hitting in 56 straight while at times seeing three different pitchers in one game makes it very difficult. Let's face it: These days, there are too many pitchers, and scouting is just better, so this might be impossible.


1. Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier – April 15, 1947
This might be the most single important event any generation will see for a while. Jackie allowed for a whole new fan base and talent pool to emerge in major league baseball.

These plays, among others, will forever be etched in the brains of baseball fans worldwide. However, we might not truly understand or get the total picture of just how monumental some of these events were because we weren't there.

It's a shame that we weren't around to witness these great moments, but we can soak in all the great action we are able to see at every game now and for years to come.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so maybe, just maybe, witnessing it is worth a million.