World Series: Did You Know?

The 1975 Fall Classic was the first that neither team had a 20-game winner. Not that there was any shortage of pitching! The excitement between Boston and Cincinnati was amazing. So amazing, you just have to forgive some of the shortcommings of each team!

Game one had Luis Tiant of the Red Sox vs. Don Gullett of the Reds. Tiant was still going strong now in his mid-thirties. He was a crowd favourite at this point and pitched Boston to a 6-0 win, right there at home. Tiant was 18-14 in 1975, but had actually won 20 games with Cleveland in 1968 and again win Boston in 1973 and 1974. With 21 wins in Boston, he missed out by two wins of reaching that magic mark four years in a row! Tiant would be back in game four and game six.

Don Gullett, who lost the game, had been injured in the regular season. But still, 15-4 is a pretty good win-loss record, eh? He may have taken the loss in the opening tilt, but came back strong to win game five of this Fall Classic. He also started game seven.



Game two was Boston's Bill Lee vs. Cincinnati's Jack Billingham. Billingham had not injuries in 1975, but won only as many games as Gullett. Actually, he was just 15-11 with a 4.11 ERA. The Reds pulled this one out in the top of the ninth. Billingham and Lee had both left the game by then. Lee, one of baseball's finest characters of that (or any) time, won exactly 17 games for the third year in a row. Lee was 17-9 in 1975. He would have to wait for a trade to Montreal to win as many as 16 games again, and that was 1979!

Billingham was a bit of a case of bad luck. The two previous years, he'd won exactly 19 games. But the 15 wins he got in 1975, were the most he'd win in any season the rest of his career.



Game three was in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium (Which, to this day, is the only National League ballpark I've ever been to!) was Rick Wise going for Boston. He, too, never won 20 games, but like Billingham, won 19 in a season. That season you ask? 1975.

The Reds countered with Gary Nolan, who also started game six. Nolan won 15 games himself. It was actually a bit of a comeback for him that season, as he'd missed most of the 1973 season and all of 1974. Neither him nor Wise made it to the last out of the fifth. The Reds won this to go up two games to one in the Fall Classic.





Tiant won game four against Fred Norman, and this thing was tied. Norman had won 12 games for the Reds in 1975. The most games he would ever win was 14, in 1977. Norman finished his career in 1980 as a teammate of Bill Lee's on the Expos.



Gullet was back in game five, and he was amazing. He carried a two-hitter for 8 2/3 innings, before the Red Sox got three straight hits off him. But Don would finish the game and win it, 6-2. Reggie Cleveland started, and actually pitched well for five innings. The wheels came off the chariot in the bottom of the sixth, as the Red scored three times off him Reggie had a record of 13-9, and only twice won as many as 14 games in his career.





Game six was back in Boston, and the Red Sox had to win it. They did just that, 7-6, on Carlton Fisk's dramatic twelve-inning home run. Both Luis Tiant and Gary Nolan were long gone by then. Not that it mattered.



So it was down to game seven, Bill Lee vs. Don Gullett. Gullet was knocked out early, while Lee had a 3-0 lead into the top of the sixth. Tony Perez's two-run home run got Cincy back into the game, and Lee left after getting one out in the top of the next frame. The Reds completed the comeback that inning, and eventually won it in the top of the ninth on Joe Morgan's bloop single.



The 1975 World Series is a personal favourite. To me, it nudges out the 1991 Fall Classic as the best ever. All those close games, all those pitching duels. Fisk's dramatic home run, characters like Bill Lee. I could go on and on. And while it may have lacked a 20-game winner, there was no shortage of drama!


References


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

Golenbock, Peter. Red Sox Nation: An Unexpurgated History of the Boston Red Sox. Chicago, IL: Triumph Books, 2005. Print.

“The Official Site Of Major League Baseball.” MLB.com, Major League Baseball. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.  <www.mlb.com/>.

Reisman, David, director. Super Series. Major League Baseball, 1975. VHS.

Sports Reference LLC. "Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

Sugar, Bert Randolph, editor. The Baseball Maniac's Almanac. 3rd ed., Sports Publishing, 2012. Print.

World Series: Did You Know?

Bill Lee, one of my favourite characters is baseball history, pitched well in both starts in 1975. He left with the lead. He ended with a no-decision. And his Boston Red Sox eventually lost both games. The lefty gave it his all at home, but the Cincinnati Reds would not be denied!

After Luis Tiant pitched Boston to a 6-0, game one win over Cincy, it was Lee to the mound. A lefty pitching at good old Fenway Park? Well, why not. Lee won 17 games that year, you see. The Green Monster would have to be factored out somehow!

The Red Sox scored him a run in the bottom of the first, and Lee held that until the top of the fourth. The Reds tied the Red Sox that inning with a single tally. That came with some small ball. Pete Rose led off with a grounder for the first out. A walk by Joe Morgan and a single by Johnny Bench put runners on the corners. Tony Perez hit into a force at second. But it was enough to tie it.

Boston went ahead again in the bottom of the sixth as Rico Petrocelli knocked in a run. That's how it stayed until the top of the ninth. Lee was pitching a gem!

Here's where the Cincinnati Reds tied things up. Johnny Bench knocked Bill Lee out with a double. But, you know, all things considered it looked good for Boston after that. Dick Drago came in and got the next two batters out. On a 1-1 pitch to Dave Conception, the Reds tied it as he singled. A steal of second and a double by Ken Griffey won the game for Cincinnati. Lee had pitched so well! And it was all for not.



The Boston Red Sox needed another gem from Lee at home in the winner-take-all game seven. The Fenway Faithful were pleading! And they got it.

The home team scored three times off Don Gullett in the bottom of the third inning. And Lee pitched well through five innings. In the top of the sixth, Pete Rose singled to centre. But then Lee got Joe Morgan on a fly ball to Dwight Evans in right. Johnny Bench hit a roller to short. Rick Burleson got the ball and got the force at second. The throw to first to try and make it two and end the inning ended up being a throwing error by Denny Doyle. There were two outs. A blooper pitch to Tony Perez (Who was 4-25 so far, but had hit two home runs in game five) on a 1-0 pitch ended up hanging out over the plate. Perez swatted it over the Green Monster. It was 3-2, Boston.

Lee developed a blister and had to leave the game in the seventh with one on and one out. That batter who reached first was Griffey. And it was the last batter Lee faced. Griffey scored on a single by Rose.

The Reds didn't win it until the top of the ninth. Joe Morgan hit a bloop single that landed just a little in front of centre fielder Fred Lynn. Griffey crossed home to make it 4-3. Boston went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame. The Reds were on top of the world in 1975.



The 1975 World Series had it all. Close games, dramatic home runs, last-minute heroics. Controversial calls. In the middle of all this was a character named Bill Lee. He was not the best pitcher on either team. But he was a character. And he gave the Red Sox two splendid efforts in the Fall Classic that year. While he might have come away from both without a decision, and his team lost 'em, Bill Lee helped make the World Series that year one for the ages!


References


Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns. Prod. Ken Burns. PBS. 1994. Television. DVD.

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

Golenbock, Peter. Red Sox Nation: An Unexpurgated History of the Boston Red Sox. Chicago, IL: Triumph Books, 2005. Print.

Reisman, David, director. Super Series. Major League Baseball, 1975. VHS.

Seaver, Tom, and Martin Appel. Great Moments in Baseball. New York, NY: Carol Pub. Group, 1992. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.