Throw in a pair of key mid-season pickups like veteran pinch hitter Matt Stairs and pitcher Joe Blanton, who started and won game four, and the below-the-radar support system was fully in place.

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After the 1953 disasters, developers of weather radar convinced Congress to support a national network of detectors known as the WSR-57 (for 1957), a very acceptable machine for picking up tornadoes capable of causing significant damage.

FORBES: The Great Tornadoes Of 2011 Put In Perspective

That support was critical to putting it on the Academy's radar screen. 1989's winner, Driving Miss Daisy, followed a similar pattern.

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