The MLB has been celebrating the Fourth of July since 1871. And what better sport to do it? America's pastime will kick off the festivities again on Saturday with a number of tremendous matchups.
Let's take a look at the five best moments that have remained with baseball fans over the years.
5. Washington, D.C. is the symbol of America's independence, and although there are a couple of other games that could have easily cracked our top-five, we felt obligated to include this one. Back in 2011, Washington Nationals' outfielder Jayson Werth stole third base and then came home a few pitches later when a slider got away from Cubs' reliever Carlos Marmol in the bottom of the 10th. What a celebration in the nation's capital.
4. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout blasted walk-off home run in bottom of the ninth against the Houston Astros in 2014. Trout is perhaps the best player in the game at just 23 years old and he delivered a memorable win during last year's festivities. We suspect there are many more where that came from.
3. This is known as one of the craziest games ever. The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves continued their rivalry on the Fourth of July back in 1985 and today is the 30th anniversary of the matchup. The Mets won 16-13 in 19 innings (the game ended around 4:00 a.m.), but a series of unlikely events kept the two clubs batting for hours on end.
This particular moment featured Braves' pitcher Rick Camp, who owned a career batting average of .060. He hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 18th inning.
2. The rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox is always entertaining, but Yankees' starter Dave Righetti really took it to another level back on July 4, 1983, when he threw a no-hitter against the Sox. His historic outing came the season before he was converted to the team's closer.
1. Sorry Yankee haters, but the top two moments on this list can't not involve the Bronx Bombers. On this day back in 1939, Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig gave his famous "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" speech in front of thousands at Yankee Stadium. The legend passed away less than two years later from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) after he was forced to retire early.
Who will deliver the best moment of 2015?
