Mike Shannon collected the first and last RBIs for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1968 Fall Classic. Sadly, it proved to be not enough. The Cardinals, with Bob Gibson and Lou Brock to back up almost all of Shannon's effort, gave it their all. The Detroit Tigers were just a team of destiny, I guess.
Game one of the 1968 World Series was in St. Louis and Gibson had it. But Denny McLain for Detroit, didn't pitch too badly. But in the bottom of the second, Tim McCarver hit a huge triple to centre with one out. Shannon was at the dish. But McLain, pitching well under pressure fanned him. Julian Javier also struck out.
The Cardinals got Lou Brock to third in the third, but that's all. In the next inning, Shannon came to the dish with Roger Maris on second and McCarver on first via walks. Shannon singled to right, Maris scored. Both McCarver and Shannon took an extra base via an error. St. Louis made Detroit pay by scoring two more times.
That was enough for Bob Gibson, who fanned seventeen in a complete game shutout. 4-0 was the final.
Detroit won game two behind Mickey Lolich, but St. Louis seemed to take over after that. They won game three in Detroit, 7-3. Gibby was back in game four, and he handed McLain and co. a decisive 10-1 loss. Shannon drove home two more runs for good measure. 3-1 St. Louis in the 1968 Fall Classic, and just one more victory for another World Series ring for Shannon!
St. Louis looked ready to win it right there in Detroit in game five as they took and early 3-0 lead. But their offence, which looked unstoppable in games three and four, sputtered to a halt after that. Not only in this game, but the rest of the Series. Mickey Lolich, the Tigers' pitcher, held them in check after the three runs.
Detroit, sizing that decline, scored five times to win game five, 5-3. Suddenly, the momentum had shifted! McLain was back in game six, and this time the Cardinals had no luck with him. The Bengals scored thirteen times before the Cardinals finally pried loose an insignificant run in bottom of the ninth. It was on to game seven.
Gibson pitched well again, but St. Louis could not score. Instead, Detroit crossed the plate three times in the top of the seventh on a Jim Northrup triple and a Bill Freehan double. The lead looked insurmountable.
Worse still, Detroit kept coming after Gibson. The top of the ninth produced a fourth run to make it a 4-0 ballgame. Now, all that was left to see was whether Mickey Lolich would get the shutout.
Curt Flood lined out to short. Orlando Cepeda popped out to Freeham the catcher. Now all that separated Lolich and the shutout was Mike Shannon. But Mike took Lolich deep to left for a solo home run. It was 4-1. Lolich got McCarver to pop to Freehan to end it.
Mike Shannon had played in his last World Series game. 1968 was fairly good for him, .276, 1 home run and 4 RBIs. The defeat wasn't his fault, although he struggled at times. The Tigers had Lolich and McLain to make a 3-1 hole look not so overwhelming. Still, it must have been odd to see the Cards not scoring when they needed it so much!
References
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 1 September 2015.
Sports History Channel. "1968 World Series Highlights." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Jan. 2015. Web. 01 Sept. 2015. MLB Productions 1968 World Series. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYv0FtTPhco>
Game one of the 1968 World Series was in St. Louis and Gibson had it. But Denny McLain for Detroit, didn't pitch too badly. But in the bottom of the second, Tim McCarver hit a huge triple to centre with one out. Shannon was at the dish. But McLain, pitching well under pressure fanned him. Julian Javier also struck out.
The Cardinals got Lou Brock to third in the third, but that's all. In the next inning, Shannon came to the dish with Roger Maris on second and McCarver on first via walks. Shannon singled to right, Maris scored. Both McCarver and Shannon took an extra base via an error. St. Louis made Detroit pay by scoring two more times.
That was enough for Bob Gibson, who fanned seventeen in a complete game shutout. 4-0 was the final.
Detroit won game two behind Mickey Lolich, but St. Louis seemed to take over after that. They won game three in Detroit, 7-3. Gibby was back in game four, and he handed McLain and co. a decisive 10-1 loss. Shannon drove home two more runs for good measure. 3-1 St. Louis in the 1968 Fall Classic, and just one more victory for another World Series ring for Shannon!
St. Louis looked ready to win it right there in Detroit in game five as they took and early 3-0 lead. But their offence, which looked unstoppable in games three and four, sputtered to a halt after that. Not only in this game, but the rest of the Series. Mickey Lolich, the Tigers' pitcher, held them in check after the three runs.
Detroit, sizing that decline, scored five times to win game five, 5-3. Suddenly, the momentum had shifted! McLain was back in game six, and this time the Cardinals had no luck with him. The Bengals scored thirteen times before the Cardinals finally pried loose an insignificant run in bottom of the ninth. It was on to game seven.
Gibson pitched well again, but St. Louis could not score. Instead, Detroit crossed the plate three times in the top of the seventh on a Jim Northrup triple and a Bill Freehan double. The lead looked insurmountable.
Worse still, Detroit kept coming after Gibson. The top of the ninth produced a fourth run to make it a 4-0 ballgame. Now, all that was left to see was whether Mickey Lolich would get the shutout.
Curt Flood lined out to short. Orlando Cepeda popped out to Freeham the catcher. Now all that separated Lolich and the shutout was Mike Shannon. But Mike took Lolich deep to left for a solo home run. It was 4-1. Lolich got McCarver to pop to Freehan to end it.
Mike Shannon had played in his last World Series game. 1968 was fairly good for him, .276, 1 home run and 4 RBIs. The defeat wasn't his fault, although he struggled at times. The Tigers had Lolich and McLain to make a 3-1 hole look not so overwhelming. Still, it must have been odd to see the Cards not scoring when they needed it so much!
References
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 1 September 2015.
Sports History Channel. "1968 World Series Highlights." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Jan. 2015. Web. 01 Sept. 2015. MLB Productions 1968 World Series. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYv0FtTPhco>
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