World Series: Did You Know?

There were no complete games in the 1972, 1973 and 1974 Fall Classics. Blame the Oakland Athletics for winning it all those years? You can't because they didn't have a complete game, either!

In 1972, the World Series went seven games between Oakland and Cincinnati. There was pitching a-plenty in this Fall Classic. And both teams had strong bullpens. Rollie Fingers came in to pitch for Oakland in the opening act, only to part ways for Vida Blue, who closed out a 3-2 Oakland win for some reason. The Reds lost, but Pedro Borbon, their ace relief pitcher, made an appearance himself. Both Fingers and Borbon pitched in game two, which A's also won.

Fingers had an interesting Fall Classic that year. He went 1-1 (taking the loss in game five) and recorded two saves. He actually pitched in every game, except game six. Borbon pitched in game six, and also took the mound in all the contests, except game three. But the best man out of the pen was Tom Hall, who made four appearances, recorded a save, and posted an ERA of 0.00 in 8 1/3 innings pitched.

The 1973 World Series also had Oakland in it, and also went seven. But this time it was the New York Mets that they faced. Fingers was again used often, and was effective. Appearing in six games, he posted an 0-1 record with 2 saves to go along with an ERA of 0.66 13 2/3 innings. Amazingly enough, that was more innings pitched then any starter. So he obviously made more appearances in that Fall Classic then any other pitcher, right? Wrong. Darold Knowles set an all-time World Series with seven appearances. And was he ever effective. 2 saves and an ERA of 0.00 in 6 1/3 innings. The Mets had some bullpen in that Fall Classic, too! Ray Sadecki, the winning pitcher in game one of the 1964 World Series vs. Whitey Ford, appeared in four games in relief and had an ERA of 1.93. Tug McGraw, who had been there with the Mets in '69 and late in 1980 with the Phillies, appeared in five games (1-0-1) and posted an ERA of 2.63. McGraw tied Fingers with 13 2/3 innings pitched.



1974 was a shorter World Series for Oakland, but it was not easy. The A's needed just five games to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. But that doesn't do the Fall Classic of '74 any justice to how close it was. Four of the five games were decided by a final score of 3-2. The one "rout" was just 5-2. Rollie Fingers was at his finest moment, as he took home the World Series' MVP. All he did was appear in all four Oakland wins, go 1-0 with 2 saves an ERA of 1.93 in 9 1/3 innings. Oddly enough, the only other relief pitcher appearances were by Blue Moon Odom and a surprising one (and a save for good measure) from Catfish Hunter in game one. The Dodgers bullpen saw a lot of action. Mike Marshall, one of the finest relief pitchers of his time, got into all five games for Los Angeles. He was 0-1, but also record a save. It was the save itself that provided one the most memorable moments in World Series history. Marshall picked off designated runner Herb Washington off first. Washington was a "player" used by the A's to only pinch run, as he was a former track star and had very little baseball playing experience. But his speed was no match for Marshall's move!


A very young Charlie Hough and Jim Brewer also combined for two appearances, 2 1/3 innings pitched, and an ERA of 0.00. But they could not stop Oakland from winning their third straight World Series.

Luis Tiant pitched a complete game shutout in game one of the 1975 Fall Classic, but baseball seemed to enter a new era of relief pitching in 1972, 1973 and 1974. Even the designated hitter, used in the American League in 1973 (But not used in the World Series until 1976), did not stop managers from making the long trip to the mound in the Fall Classic. It's a moment when it's all on the line, and many-a-pitcher's arms are tired. Good thing their is some quick relief!


References

Baseball Almanac, Inc. “Baseball Almanac: Baseball History, Baseball Records and Baseball Research. Baseball Almanac, Inc. Web. 4 May 2015, <http://www.baseball-almanac.com/>.

Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.

Retrosheet. Web. 4 May. 2015.  <www.retrosheet.org>.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 4 May. 2015.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 4 May 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/>.

Youtube. Web. 4 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/>.

World Series: Did You Know?

Four of the five games in 1974 were decided by the score of 3-2. Yes, it was short series. But also, a close one! The other game was 5-2. That's the blowout game! The Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Dodgers were close all the way, even if the 1974 Fall Classic was short all the way.

Oakland got the ball rolling first in game one at LA. The Athletics picked up a run in the top of the second on a Reggie Jackson home run. Each team then got a run in the 5th inning and it was 2-1, Oakland. Each team, of course, would score one more run.

Thanks to an error, Oakland tacked on a third run in the top of the 8th to make a it a 3-1 lead. It actually looked like it would be the last run of the game. But with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the 9th, Jim Wynn hit a solo home run of his own to cut the A's lead to 3-2. A single by Steve Garvey put the tying run on base. Rollie Fingers was removed and Catfish Hunter fanned the game's last batter.



In game two it was Los Angeles that got on the board first. Steve Yeager singled home a run in the bottom of the second inning. Don Sutton, the Dodgers' starter and Vida Blue, his mound opponent, exchanged "0" on the scoreboard other than that through 5 1/2 innings.

In the bottom of he 6th, Los Angeles got the insurance runs they would need. Wynn went down on strikes from Blue. But then Garvey singled. Joe Ferguson then hit a huge two-run home run to make it 3-0 for the Dodgers. Sutton kept cruising along. But then came the top of the 9th inning.

Sal Bando was hit one the very first pitch by Sutton. Reggie Jackson continued with his Mr. October performance and rocked a double which sent Bando to third. Joe Rudi connected for a single two score Bando and Jackson. Suddenly, it was a one-run game. Mike Marshall came in and got Los Angeles out of the jam and recorded two K's for the save. The series was tied at one.

It was off to Oakland for games 3, 4 and 5. While the 1974 Fall Classic would not return to Los Angeles, it was never easy for the A's, either.

Game three was actually a lot like game two, but with Oakland and Los Angeles reversing roles right down to the home field.

Oakland scored twice in the bottom of the third inning. Bill North touched home on an error by catcher Joe Ferguson. Rudi singled off Al Downing to score another run. The Athletics scored again the next inning on a single by Bert Campaneris. This was the last run of the game by the A's. The Dodgers sure made things interesting later.

With the bases empty in the top of the eighth inning, it was the Dodgers' Bill Buckner who hit a home run to break up Catfish Hunter's shutout bid. Rollie Fingers came in, but Wynn hit a single. Garvey did the wrong thing here. He hit a liner that was snared by Oakland second basemen Dick Green. Green fired to first to double off Garvey, who was on his way to second when the second out was made.

Fingers had no walk in the park the next inning, either. Willie Crawford got things going for Los Angeles in the bottom of the 9th with a home run to lead things off. Oakland was going to have to do things the hard way. Ferguson reache first on an error by shortstop Campanaris. Fingers bore down to get Ron Cey on a third strike. Bill Russell hit into a game-ending double play. The A's squeaked by here, 3-2.

Ken Holtzman started game four for Oakland. In a 0-0 deadlock with the Dodgers' Andy Messersmith, this one figured to be a toughie. Messersmith is best remembered for, along with Dave McNally of the Montreal Expos, for becoming the first ever free agent in baseball after the 1975 season.

But Holtzman himself hit a long ball off Messersmith in the bottom of the third to break the ice. But Russell's triple in the top of the fourth drove home two and the Dodgers were on top, 2-1.

It was not until the bottom of the sixth inning that the Athletics regained the lead. With North on second and nobody out, it was Bando with a single to score him. Jackson walked and Rudi bunted him to second. Claudell Washington was walked intentionally. Jim Holt pinch-hit for Ray Fosse and stroked a single to center to score two more runs. 4-2 would seem like a nice comfortable lead in this Fall Classic. It was also the first time either team had scored more than three runs in one game in the 1974 World Series. Green hit into a force at second, but Oakland had it's fifth run. 5-2 would be the final. Easy, right? The Athletics were just a win away from winning it all!

Don Sutton started game five for the Dodgers with the hope of extending the series. But Sal Bando hit a sac fly in Oakland's first at-bats to get the A's the first run of the game. Oakland got another as Fosse hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second. 2-0, A's.

Vida Blue protected the two-run lead until the top of the sixth inning. Tom Paciorek batted for Sutton and got a leadoff double. Davey Lopez, the leadoff hitter, walked. Buckner laid down a bunt to get the tying run on second with just one out. Wynn flied out, but Paciorek scored to make it a 2-1 ballgame. When Garvey followed that with a single, the lead was gone.

Mike Marshall, who came on to pitch for the Dodgers, had a 1-2-3 bottom of the 6th. In the bottom of the 7th, however, the Athletics would score the final run of the 1974 World Series. Joe Rudi, leading off, hit a Marshall offering to deep left for a home run and a 3-2 Oakland lead.

Buckner led off the eighth inning with a single. When Reggie Jackson made an error on the play, Buckner motored to second. But he kept right on trucking, and was out trying to make it to third. Jim Wynn walked, but Rollie Fingers, on the mound again, slammed the door shut on Los Angeles the rest of the way. He got the last five Dodgers out. 3-2, Oakland, final score. The A's had won the 1974 World Series, four games to one.

The 1974 World Series had lasted just five games, and was a very low scoring affair. But it was one of those World Series where you didn't know who was going to win any of the games, as Oakland even had a lead past the halfway point of game four. This must have been a Fall Classic where the phrase, "Two more" was used four times to describe what was needed by the losing team!

References

Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 03 Jun. 2014.