Some of the games greatest baseball players never made it into the World Series, like Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Ralph Kiner, Napoleon Lajoie, Luke Appling, Addie Joss, Billy Williams, and Harry Heilman.

Some great stars simply could not rise to the occasion as noted by the poor performances in WS play of Ted Williams, Paul Waner, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby and Eddie Mathews.

Here's our all-star selections of baseball players who distinguished themselves with special feats in World Series play. Pitchers - Christy Mathewson, Orval Overall, "Lefty" Grove, Babe Ruth, Carl Hubbell, "Red" Ruffing, Allie Reynolds, Sandy Koufax,, Whitey" Ford, Bob Gibson and Jim Palmer. 1st Basemen, Frank Chance, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx. 2nd Basemen, Johnny Evers, Eddie Collins, Charlie Gehringer and Joe Morgan. Shortstops, Joe Tinker, "Pee Wee" Reese and Phil Rizzuto. Our top third basemen Frank "Home Run" Baker, Stan Hack and Brooks Robinson. Catchers, "Yogi" Berra and Johnny Bench. Our top outfielders in WS play include Babe Ruth, "Goose" Goslin, Tris Speaker, "Pepper" Martin, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente and Reggie Jackson.

Special consideration to the following baseball players who had great World Series but simply did not play in many Series: Joe Medwich, Duffy Lewis, Heinie Groth, Al Simmons, Hank Greenberg, Carl Yastrzemski, Joe Rudi, Joe Carter, Walter Johnson, "Catfish" Hunter and Jack Morris. baseballhistorian.com World Series Research Dept.

Twice, Ruth won over twenty games and was 18-8 in 1915. His record for 1916 was 23-12, led the league in ERA with 1.75, starting 41 games, completing 23 and hurled 9 shutouts, still a record a for left-handers. 1917, Ruth went 24-13, ERA of 2.01, GS 38, GC 35 with 6 shutouts.

Babe Ruth posted one of the greatest pitching feats in World Series' play. His record scoreless streak of 29 2/3 innings started at the expense of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1916 and continued into the 1918 Series vs. the Chicago Cubs. Not until Yankees great Whitey Ford strung together 33 2/3 scoreless innings in the early 1960's was any pitcher able to match Babe Ruth World Series' pitching performance.

In fact: Ruth pitched in three World Series games, worked 31 innings, won all three games, no losses, and had an awesome earned run average of 0.87. No other pitcher in baseball history comes close to his WS feats. Of course, regardless of his great pitching feats, Babe Ruth will always be remembered as a home run hitter - and that's another story. Baseballhistorian.com Babe Ruth Pitcher

The Yankees outscored the Pirates 55 to 26, out-hit them 91 to 60 and out-homered them 10 to 4. Mickey Mantle, Yankee great, hit .400, scored 8 runs and had 11 RBI's. Mantle's teammate Bobby Richardson set two Series RBI's records with 6 in a single game and 12 for the full World Series. Whitey Ford pitched two complete game shutouts but none-the-less the Pittsburgh Pirates bested the New York Yankees in seven games.

The series was tied three games apiece and in this final game the score was tied 9-9 in the bottom of the ninth when Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski sent a towering game winning home run over the left field fence.

Mazeroski hit his dramatic game winning homer off of Ralph Terry and this ninth inning feat propelled the Pittsburgh Pirates to the World Crown. Bill Mazeroski batted .320 for the series and Pirate Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente batted .310.

With the bases-loaded in 3rd inning, one out with Baltimore leading 4-1, Drabowsky was summoned from the bull pen, fanned Wes Parker of the Dodgers, then walked in a run, got catcher John Roseboro on a foul out to end the inning. In the 4th and 5th innings, Drabowsky struck out the side - a record six straight batters and allowed only one hit in 6 2/3 innings. He set a record by striking out 11 batters in relief for WS play.

The Orioles went on to win the next three games, all by complete game shutouts and sweep the World Series from the Dodgers.

As a fact: the Orioles pitched the last 33 2/3 innings without allowing a single run. Hall of Famer, Jim Palmer spun a 4-hit shutout in game 2, Wally Bunker threw a 6-hit shutout in the next game and Dave McNally came back to pitch a 6-hitter in the final game, another shutout winning 1-0. Don Drysdale lost games 1 & 4 while Sandy Koufax was the loser in game 2 by the score of 6-0. This was the last series appearance for Koufax who retired after the season due to arm uncorrectable injuries. Baseballhistorian.com archives

He carried his record setting ways into the NL's Championship Series, by compiling a 1.09 ERA in a record setting high of 24 2/3 innings. Hershiser started Games 1 and 3, saved Game 4 and shutout the Mets in Game 7 to bring the Dodgers the NL pennant and was voted the Series MVP.

In the World Series against the powerful Oakland A's, Hershiser was truly awesome. Facing the 'Bash Brothers' - Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, Dave Henderson, Carney Lansford and Dave Parker, this Dodgers' wonder-boy kept throwing the baseball past the mighty A's and turned them to hitless wonders. Hershiser shut them out in 16 of the 18 World Series innings he pitched. He limited the A's to just seven hits, all singles. He even out-hit them, going 3-for-3, 1.000, which gave him as many hits as Dave Parker and Carney Lansford had, and more than Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco had combined. And all those sluggers played in three more games than Hershiser. The A's as a team batted only .177 in the series.

Orel Hershiser was voted the 1988 World Series Most Valuable Player in leading the Dodgers to their World Title. Baseballhistorian.com