In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series (NLDS) determines which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series. The Division Series consist of two best-of-five series, featuring the three division winners and a wild-card team.
The Division Series was implemented in 1981 as a result of a midseason strike with first place teams before the strike taking on the first place teams after. After 1993, it was implemented for good when Major League Baseball restructured each league into three divisions, but their next playing was in 1995 due to the cancellation of the 1994 playoffs. Previously, because of a players' strike in 1981, a split-season format forced a divisional playoff series, in which the Montreal Expos won the Eastern Division series over the Philadelphia Phillies three games to two while the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros three games to two in the Western Division. The team with the best overall record in the major leagues, the Cincinnati Reds, failed to win their division in either half of that season and were controversially excluded, as were the St. Louis Cardinals, who finished with the NL's second-best record. The Atlanta Braves have currently played in the most NL division series with eleven appearances. One team has yet to play in an NL division series, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Washington Nationals also have only appeared as the Montreal Expos.
Robert George "Bob" Uecker ( /ˈjuːkər/ EWK-ər; born January 26, 1935) is a retired American Major League Baseball player, later a sportscaster, comedian and actor. Uecker was given the title of "Mr. Baseball" by TV chat show host Johnny Carson. Since 1971 Uecker has served as a play-by-play announcer for Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts.
Though he sometimes joked he was born on an oleo run to Illinois, Uecker was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up watching the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers at Borchert Field. He signed a professional contract with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956 and made his major league debut as a catcher with the club in 1962. A mediocre hitter, he finished with a career batting average of .200. He was generally a sound defensive player and committed very few errors in his Major League career as a catcher, completing his career with a fielding percentage of .981. However, in 1967, despite playing only 59 games, he led the league with passed balls and is still on the top ten list for most passed balls in a season. At least a partial explanation is that he spent a good deal of the season catching Knuckleballer Phil Niekro. Uecker also played for the St. Louis Cardinals (and was a member of the 1964 World Champion club) and Philadelphia Phillies before returning to the Braves, who had by then moved to Atlanta. His six-year major league career concluded in 1967.
Vincent Edward Scully (born November 29, 1927) is an American sportscaster, known primarily as the play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team on Prime Ticket, KCAL-TV and KABC radio. His 63 seasons with the Dodgers (1950–present) is the longest of any broadcaster with a single club in professional sports history, and he is second by a year to only Tommy Lasorda in terms of length of years with the Dodgers organization in any capacity.
Born in The Bronx, Scully grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. He made ends meet by delivering beer and mail, pushing garment racks, and cleaning silver in the basement of the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York City. His father was a silk salesman; his mother a Roman Catholic homemaker of Irish descent with red hair like her son. Scully attended high school at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx. He knew he wanted to be a sports announcer the moment he became fascinated with football broadcasts on his radio.
Scully began his career as a student broadcaster and journalist at Fordham University. While at Fordham, he helped found its FM radio station WFUV (which now presents a Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award each year), was assistant sports editor for Volume 28 of The Fordham Ram his senior year, sang in a barbershop quartet, played center field for the Fordham Rams baseball team, called radio broadcasts for Rams baseball, football, and basketball, got a degree, and sent about 150 letters to stations along the Eastern seaboard. He got only one response, from CBS Radio affiliate WTOP in Washington, which made him a fill-in.
Mmm, a message to all my friends
Mmm, I've fallen down again
Please send help
Please send your horses and your men
Please send your very best doctors
And lawyers to put me together again
I've spent my whole life falling down
From the stairs I climbed to the boys I found
Now everybody knows the sound
Of Jennifer falling down
I wanna be a big girl
And a little girl for you to hold
Don't get mad
Don't roll your eyes and laugh
I've been twirling around in circles
To see which was my better half
I've spent my whole life falling down
From the stairs I climbed to the boys I found
Now everybody knows the sound
Of Jennifer falling down
I had no place left to go, no place left to go
No place left to go, no place left to go
No place left to go, no place left to go
So I went down
I've spent my whole life falling down
From the stairs I climbed to the boys I found
Now everybody knows the sound
Of Jennifer falling down
I've spent my whole life falling down
From the stairs I climbed to the boys I found
Now everybody knows the sound
Driving into Santa Fe
Dreaming of the day I'll make it mine
That day is coming
Ani DiFranco on the tape player
Thinking of the things I'd say to her if I could
But I just keep humming
Girl you've got some nerve
Taking everything that you deserve
Touching all the places that are yours
And touching all the bases as you score
Oh, Georgia O, Georgia O
Oh, Georgia O, Georgia O
I wanna be a woman like you, yeah
Found a place to call my home
It's not much but it's my own
It's mine--but I let you in
Your pictures hang on every wall
Sort of show you standing straight and tall
While you look through him
I light a candle then I call your name
You reach me through your veil of death and fame
You reach me through your flowers and your bones
And I swear to God I swear I'm not alone
Oh, Georgia O, Georgia O
Oh, Georgia O, Georgia O
I wanna be a woman like you
I wanna be a woman like...
I dip my cup into your holy spring
The diva takes a breath and then she's singing
I rub my hand on your Rosetta Stone
A little flower power of my own
Yeah, a little flower power of my own
Oh, Georgia O, Georgia O
Oh, Georgia O, Georgia O
Oh, Georgia O, Georgia O
Oh, Georgia O, Georgia O
I wanna be a woman like you