On the advice of my roommate, I will once again present a top five list because as he puts it, “everybody loves top five lists.” I agree with him. The subject of today’s list is baseball’s best moments. I must make one thing clear. These are the best moments to me, and me only. I realize that there are a great number of baseball moments to pick from, but a lot of those were some thirty years before I was an embryo.

Without further ado, I give you baseball’s top moments:

5. Mark McGwire beats Roger Maris. It had been a long time coming. Once upon a time it was considered impossible for anyone to pass Maris’ record 61 home runs in a season. Then along came the 1998 season, and everything got turned upside down.

As the season progressed and the battle between Sammy and BigMac grew, so did their friendship. On the night McGwire broke the record, the Cardinals were playing the Cubs.

The actual home run, number 62, was probably McGwire’s ugliest shot of 70 he hit that year. But the fact that Sammy was there to witness it, and the fact that he came from his right-field position to congratulate the behemoth, truly made it a historic night.

4. Joe Carter jumps for joy. The 1993 World Series was not particularly eye-catching when looking at the opponents. For the second year in a row, the Canadians were represented by the Toronto Bluejays while America was represented by the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies trailed in the series, but took a lead into the ninth inning of game six in Toronto. Carter stepped to the plate in the ninth against Phillie reliever Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams, who was on for the save.

Carter ran the count to 2-2, Blue Jays trailing 6-5 in the ninth. Then he took a Williams inside pitch 379 feet down the left field line into the Blue Jays bullpen. Skydome fireworks erupted, and fans threw beer in celebration as the Blue Jays captured their second-straight World Series Title.

Carter’s homerun is the only come-from-behind series- ending homerun in the history of baseball, and it is definitely worthy of a spot on the list.

3. Kirk Gibson makes it count. The 1988 series was not supposed to be all that exciting. The powerful Oakland Athletics were taking on the questionable Los Angeles Dodgers. The series might have gone exactly as planned if not for an unplanned visit from Kirk Gibson.

Gibson entered the series banged up beyond belief with hamstring and knee problems. He was not expected to play.

As the first game of the series wound down, the Dodgers found themselves trailing at home in the last half of the ninth. Oakland brought on its dominant closer, Dennis Eckersly, to seal the deal.

As the inning started, Gibson notified manager Tommy Lasorda that he felt good enough to pinch hit if need be; the call came a short time later.

The L.A. fans exploded in applause as Gibson was announced as a pinch hitter. He limped to the plate, barely able to walk, with a runner on base, two outs and down one run. Gibson saw seven pitches from Eckersly before he got the one he liked, lining it over the wall in right field for the game-winning and series-altering homer. Gibson limped around the bases, pumping his arms with excitement, proving that life is really mind over matter. It was Gibson’s only appearance in the World Series

2. 1991 World Series, especially game seven. In this World Series, the home team won every game. Fortunately, for the Minnesota Twins, they played four home games while the Atlanta Braves only played three.

With the Braves leading three games to two, the series switched back to Minnesota for the fifth and sixth game.

In game six, the score remained deadlocked until the bottom of the eleventh when Kirby Puckett lead off for the Twins.

Braves manager had opted to put in Charlie Liebrandt as a reliever because of his strong regular season performance as a starter. It was a bad move.

Puckett blasted a lead-off homerun to get the “homer hankies” waving, sending the series to a decisive game seven.

Game seven was the best pitching dual in baseball history. Atlanta’s John Smoltz took to the hill against veteran Jack Morris. The score was 0-0 after nine innings. Then an amazing thing occurred. Morris took to the mound in the tenth – an almost unheard of feat for a pitcher. Apparently he felt it that night. He retired the Braves that inning, and they went on to win it in the bottom of the tenth. After all was said and done, Morris had pitched a ten-inning shutout, capping off the best World Series ever.

1. 1992 National League Championship Series game seven. The Atlanta Braves were down two runs going into the bottom of the ninth in game seven of the NLCS. A trip to the World Series was on the line. Stan Belinda of the Pittsburgh Pirates came on in the ninth to send the Pirates to the Fall Classic.

The Braves’ Terry Pendleton got things started off right for the Braves with a base hit.

He would later score to bring the Braves within one at 2-1. Eventually, the bases became loaded with two out. David Justice was 90 feet away at third with the tying run while cement-footed Sid Bream occupied second, representing the winning run.

It all came down to Fransesco Cabrera, a seldom-used backup. With two outs and all the pressure one would wish on a mortal enemy riding on Cabrera’s shoulders, he lined a single into left field.

Justice scored easily to tie the game while Sid Bream rounded third heading for home. Pittsburgh’s Barry Bonds, scooped and fired from left to the waiting catcher.

As David Justice pleaded and waved for Bream to hit the dirt, the throw arrived simultaneously. Bream had a great slide and beat the tag to advance to the World Series.

The combination of the play-by-play call with all that was riding on the moment helped make this the greatest moment in baseball history.

Marcus Charter is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Ames.