Blair's Baltimore Orioles were fresh off a sweep of the Minnesota Twins in the very first American League Championship Series. They kept the momentum going as the World Series started. The O's were up against the surprising New York Mets. Two at home at Memorial Stadium to start this thing. Three years earlier, Paul Blair had hit a home run in the first World Series game played there. Baltimore beat Los Angeles 1-0 in games three and four of the 1966 October Finale, completing a sweep.
But New York had won 100 games in '69, so the 4-1 didn't discourage them. They bounced back with an impressive 2-1 win in the second contest. The win was crucial. Not only did it square the 1969 Fall Classic at one game all, but it sort of changed the momentum. The Orioles would not return home, much to Blair's chagrin.
Blair should have had at least one hit in the third game at Shea Stadium. He was facing a relief pitcher by the name of Nolan Ryan. The game was seemingly over, as the Mets had forged ahead, 4-0. However, it's not like Baltimore wasn't getting their bats on the ball. Tommie Agee (Whose home run in the bottom of the first off Jim Palmer started the Mets on their way) had made a great catch off Elrod Hendricks in the top of the fourth.
So, after two quick outs in the top of the seventh, there didn't seem to be much chance of Blair getting to bat. But New York's starting pitcher was beginning to have control problems here. The previous six innings had gone by with Gary Gentry issuing just two free passes. But with two outs and the bases empty, Gary was wild. A walk. Another. Make it three in a row! Bases filled, two away.
So Paul Blair was the batter and now Nolan Ryan was the pitcher. With the count 0-2, the Orioles' centre fielder got a good pitch to hit. Hit it, Paul did. It seemed like a gapper to cut the Mets' lead to 4-3. At least that's what it appeared to be. Tommie Agee wasn't about to be upstaged in this game. He made it two great catches to go along with a longball as he slide face first, and snared it!
A big play, no doubt, as momentum appeared to be shifting towards Baltimore. It was New York that would tack on still another run (Courtesy of an Ed Kranepool home run the bottom of the eighth), putting the home team up five runs. The Orioles weren't saying, "Let's just give up and come back tomorrow," however. In the top of the eighth, Frank Robinson hit a 3-2 pitch off Ryan to the gap in left. Tommie Agee got over and made a catch that wasn't spectacular, but he had his back almost against the wall when he did it.
Nolan Ryan was on to preserve the win in the ninth. He begane to experience the same issues Gary Gentry had two innings prior.
It seemed awfully familiar situation. There seemed to be no chance of Paul Blair coming up, as the first two batters were retired. A walk to Mark Belanger, who was not a difficult out, extended the game. Clay Dalrymple didn't walk, he did better! His single moved Belanger to second. And Paul Blair into the on-deck circle. Chico Salmon ran for Belanger. But if Ryan could retire Don Buford, Blair would not bat. Nolan Ryan managed to hit the strike zone once in the five pitches thrown to Buford. The bases on balls loaded 'em up.
So Paul Blair was back up again. Again with the bases loaded. Would Nolan Ryan stay in the game? Both Tug McGraw and Ron Taylor were throwing in the Mets' bullpen. Gil Hodges came out to the mound, and decided to stick with the hard-thrower from Refugio, Texas.
So it was down to the stuff of dreams: The big strikeout pitcher vs. the terrific slugger! Bases loaded, two outs. But Nolan reached back for his best stuff, fanning Blair on just three pitches, the third a nice 12-6 curve that the batter never even swung at!
The 5-0 win was big for the New York Mets. They were up in the 1969 World Series, 2-1. Plus, they had their ace, Tom Seaver, going in the fourth contest.
Well, the fourth contest was a gem of a pitcher's duel. Mike Cuellar was just as good as Seaver. He kept Baltimore in it, but trailed 1-0 in the top of the seventh. That's when his manager, Earl Weaver, pinch hit for him.
But Tom Seaver fanned Dave May, and had a 1-2-3 seventh. Eddie Watt pitched the bottom of the eighth and held the Mets at bay. This enabled the visiting Orioles to tie it in the top of the ninth. With any luck, they'd have gotten more. But there was right fielder Ron Swoboda, robbing Brooks Robinson of a double with a diving catch. Brooks had to settle for a sac fly.
Swoboda wasn't done tormenting Baltimore. With two away in the bottom of the ninth, Ron singled Cleon Jones to third. But pinch hitter Art Shamsky grounded out to second basemen Davey Johnson.
Johnson would then lead off the tenth, and just send a grounder to third. Wayne Garrett had come in for Ed Charles, who Art Shamsky had batted for. Garrett could not come up with it, and the home side had a problem.
With a man on, Mark Belanger tried to bunt, but popped to the catcher on the second pitch. Clay Dalrymple hit for Eddie Watt and delivered a single. It was conference time on the mound as bullpen activity was in full force. Both Tug McGraw and Ron Taylor were throwing. Pitching coach Rube Walker conversed with Tom Seaver, who ended up staying in the game.
Ron Swoboda was still in right, and the batter, Don Buford. Buford sent one Swoboda's way. Ron caught the ball on the warning track. Davey Johnson went to third after the catch. Paul Blair was next.
Two on, two outs. Seaver threw the first pitch, Blair swung and missed. A slider was then swung on and missed. Seaver was doing to Blair what Nolan Ryan had done one day and one inning earlier. Tom missed high, 1-2. But a breaking pitch was then missed by Blair.
The Mets would pull it out with some controversy. With runners on first and second, J.C. Martin was sent up to hit for Tom Seaver. Martin bunted, and as he ran to first, appeared to be to have exited the running lane to the left. When the throw from new pitcher Pete Richert hit Martin, it allowed the winning run to score. Baltimore had a strong case for interference. But their protest was to no avail.
Blair wasn't able to do much in game five, either. His team, however, appeared to get back on track. Blair fanned against Jerry Koosman in the top of the third, but that was about the only thing the Mets' pitcher did right that half inning (Jerry hit a double in the bottom of the frame, only to be stranded). Both Dave McNally and Frank Robinson hit home runs, and it was 3-0, Baltimore.
In the top of the sixth inning, Blair send a Koosman offering to deep centre. Tommie had a beat on it, appeared to misjudged it, but then reached out to his left and grab it. Another well-hit ball that Paul's counterpart in centre just gobbled up.
Koosman settled down after that. The New York Mets were a team of destiny, that overcame a great Orioles team. The Mets put together three rallies, scoring twice in the sixth and eighth frames, and one more time in the seventh. The 5-3 win game the underdogs a surprising Fall Classic.
As for Paul Blair, he'd be back in 1970. This time, Baltimore came out on top against Cincinnati. A year later, the Orioles came up just short against the Pirates (In the fourth contest, Blair was the first hitter in a World Series first, as the contest started at night). His experience in four Fall Classics (1966, 1969-1971) with Baltimore would come in handy years later. Maybe he'd lost to a New York team in the World Series. But he'd get on one by the time 1977 rolled around. Blair helped the New York Yankees win world championships in 1977 and '78.
References
Brown Jr., Thomas J. “October 15, 1969: Seaver’s Pitching, Swoboda’s Defense Help Mets Win Game 4.” Society for American Baseball Research, SABR, 17 Apr. 2020, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-15-1969-seavers-pitching-swobodas-defense-help-mets-win-game-4/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2023.
Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 1992. St. Martin's Press, 1992.
--------------. The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903-1989, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1990.
Nemec, et al. The Baseball Chronicle: Year-By-Year History of Major League Baseball. Publications International, Ltd., 2008.
Snyder, John S. World Series!: Great Moments and Dubious Achievements. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1995.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. https://www.baseball-reference.com/. 16 Feb. 2023.
Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/. 16 Feb. 2023.
YouTube, Google, www.youtube.com/. 16 Feb. 2023.
No comments:
Post a Comment