Monday, May 4, 2015

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 Informationhttp://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/>.

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