1973 World Series: Finley's follies

The Teams
American League: Oakland Athletics (94-68) - Second World Series (Won in 1972)
National League: New York Mets (82-79) - Second World Series (Won in 1969)

What Happened
The 1973 World Series wasn't so much a battle to see who was the best team, but rather one about who was less bad. Sure, the A's were the defending World Series champions, but they didn't exactly set the world on fire defending their championship. With as much time as they spent fighting each other or complaining about team owner Charlie Finley, it's amazing they ended up with a winning record, much less back in the postseason. But they won the AL West, then pushed their issues to the side while the took care of Baltimore to get back to the World Series.

The Mets, meanwhile, were ... well, it's hard to use "mediocre" to describe a National League champion, but that's the best way to describe them. They won only 82 games, the lowest ever for a World Series team. They would have finished fourth in the National League West, but they won the NL East, then beat Cincinnati to advance to the series.

The one thing these two teams had in common was great pitching, and for the most part, that pitching dominated the series. The big exception was Game 2. A four-run sixth gave the Mets a 6-3, which the Athletics cut to 6-4 entering the ninth. Then, with two outs in the 9th, the A's rallied to tie the game. To the 12th, then. With two runners on base, the Mets' Willie Mays, who had shown every one of his 42 years during the season and series, reached down for one more bit of magic, delivering the go-ahead hit. After another single, two straight batters hit balls right at Oakland second baseman Mike Andrews, and he committed an error on both of them. Three more runs came in as a results of the Andrews errors, runs that loomed even bigger when the A's scored once in the bottom of the 12th.

With the series tied at 1-1, Finley was furious. He blamed Andrews for the Game 2 loss. To get his revenge, he forced Andrews to sign a false affidavit saying he was injured so that Finley could replace him on the World Series roster. Outraged, the A's players threatened to boycott the rest of the series if the move were allowed to go through, and Oakland manager Dick Williams resigned, effective at the end of the series. Fortunately, the commissioner's office didn't let the stunt pass, ordering Andrews reinstated.

With all the circus going on, there was still a series to be played. United behind their anger at their owner, the A's won Game 3 in 11 innings to reclaim homefield advantage, then suffered through the wet and cold New York weather for two losses before series headed back to Oakland. From there, the A's great pitchers finally took control. Oakland's Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers outdueled Tom Seaver and Tug McGraw to win Game 6, and a four-run third was all Ken Holtzman and Fingers needed for Game 7. They hated each other, they hated their owner, but somehow, the A's were two-time World Champions.

MVP 
Reggie Jackson was a most curious choice for MVP, as he didn't really get going until the final two games. The future Mr. October his his first career World Series home run in that four-run rally in Game 7, so that might have had something to do with it. It really should have been Fingers, who pitched in six of the seven games and only gave up 1 earned run in a team-high 13 innings.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

New York	1	10 (12)	2	6	2	1	2
Oakland	2	7	3 (11)	1	0	3	5

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

20. 1973 - Oakland (A) def. New York (N) 4-3
21. 2002 - Anaheim (A) def. San Francisco (N) 4-3
22. 1980 - Philadelphia (N) def. Kansas City (A) 4-2
23. 1911 - Philadelphia (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
24. 1915 - Boston (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-1
25. 1971 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Baltimore (A) 4-3
26. 1918 - Boston (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-2
27. 1988 - Los Angeles (N) def. Oakland (A) 4-1
28. 1946 - St. Louis (N) def. Boston (A) 4-3
29. 1925 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Washington (A) 4-3
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

Game 7s
Simultaneously, I'll rank all the Game 7s. The ones that have appeared in my countdown so far:

7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
15. 1971: Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
23. 1973: Oakland 5, New York (N) 2
24. 2002: Anaheim 4, San Francisco 1
26. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
28. 1965: Los Angeles (A) 2, Minnesota 0
29. 1964: St. Louis 7, New York (A) 5
30. 1957: Milwaukee 5, New York (A) 0
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago (N) 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0
34. 1934: St. Louis (N) 11, Detroit 0 
36. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0

1977 World Series: Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!

The Teams
American League: New York Yankees (100-62) - 31st World Series (won 20 previous times)
National League: Los Angeles Dodgers (98-64) - Sixth World Series (won in 1959, 1963, 1965)

What Happened
Reggie Jackson was already a star when he went to the Bronx. That's the common misconception, that Jackson donned Yankee pinstripes and became an All Star. No, he had starred for the A's for nearly a decade before the Yankees signed him, and he had led Oakland to three straight World Series titles in the 1970s. But Oakland was a small market, and Reggie wanted the bright lights, so he left the A's, where he was nicknamed "Buck," and joined the Yankees, where he would eventually earn the nickname Mr. October.

But first, he had to get to October, and that wasn't a guarantee. Jackson immediately clashed with hotheaded Yankee manager Billy Martin, with the two nearly coming to blows in the dugout more than once. Jackson and Martin hated each other, and all the rest of the Yankees hated both Jackson and Martin, but New York somehow made it work and advanced to the World Series for the second straight year.

In the World Series against the Dodgers - yes, it was another Yankees-Dodgers matchup in the World Series - Jackson became the story. Well, except for Game 1, when he was taken out for a defensive replacement right when things were getting good. His replacement, Paul Blair, failed on two attempts to drop down a sacrifice in the bottom of the 12th inning. Forced to swing away, he ripped a single to left field for the game-winning run.

The teams split the next four games, but that's only secondary to the story. The real story was that Reggie Jackson was heating up. After a slow start, he homered in both games 4 and 5, foreshadowing some excitement for Game 6 in the Bronx.

Defining Game
Jackson's home run in Game 5 came on his last swing of the night, an otherwise forgotten blast in a 10-4 Dodger win. The Dodgers must have had that blast in mind in the second inning, as Jackson walked on four pitches. There was nowhere to put him in the 4th, though, and with a runner on first, Jackson took his first swing of the night and sent the ball deep into the right field stands to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead and knock Dodger starter Burt Hooton out of the game.


With the Yankees now leading 5-3, Jackson came up again in the fifth, again with a runner on first. Again he swung on the first pitch, and again he made solid contact. This one wasn't as deep or majestic - just a low line drive. But it was far enough, and it was his second home run of the game.

If his first two swings of the night made Jackson a superstar, his third one made him a legend. Charlie Hough was the Dodgers' fourth pitcher, the third one to face Jackson. Like the previous two, he threw Jackson a meaty first pitch, and like the previous two, Jackson swung out of his shoes. This one also flew away, but this one was different. It was one of those that seemed to keep rising, almost as if it was being pushed by the cheers of the crowd. It kept going until it finally landed deep in the center field bleachers, impossibly far away. Three swings, three home runs. World Series over. And as he rounded the bases, the top of his jersey unbuttoned from the force of his swings, Jackson transformed. He was no longer a superstar. He was now a legend.

MVP
Jackson's historic Game 6 marked only the third time a player had hit three home runs in a World Series game, and the first time that player wasn't named Babe Ruth. His five total home runs for the series set a new record, which has since been equaled once but never topped. 


Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Los Angeles	3	6	3	2	10	4
New York	4 (12)	1	5	4	4	8

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

37. 1977 - New York (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-2
38. 1996 - New York (A) def. Atlanta (N) 4-2
39. 1921 - New York (N) def. New York (A) 5-3
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1974 World Series: Triple Crown

The Teams
American League: Oakland Athletics (90-72) - Third World Series (won in 1972, 1973)
National League: Los Angeles Dodgers (102-60) - Fifth World Series (won in 1959, 1963, 1965)

What Happened
One of the most often-repeated concepts in sports is that a team has to have good chemistry to win. Most teams have the talent to win, but it's not until you have a team full of players who are truly pulling for each other that you can take that championship step. Without good team chemistry, you just have a team wasting its potential.

The Oakland A's of the 1970s did not have good chemistry. They hated each other, getting into locker room fights as often as possible, including in the day before the 1974 World Series started. They hated their manager, Alvin Dark, a man who didn't hide is devout religious beliefs or his apparent racism. But most of all, they hated their penny-pinching, player-undermining owner, Charlie Finley.

Maybe it was part of Finley's plan all along - the easiest way to get such differing personalities to play together was to unite them behind a common enemy - or maybe it was just dumb luck, but Oakland's lack of chemistry worked to perfection. The A's entered the 1974 World Series trying to something that no team outside the Bronx had ever done: win three straight World Championships.

They had gotten there with pitching, speed, and clutch power, and despite the constant meddling of their owner. Perhaps the most egregious of Finley's moves was to hire Herb Washington, a former Michigan State track star with no baseball experience, to be a "designated runner." Washington was obviously overwhelmed, getting caught stealing almost as often as he was successful while never batting even once in his Major League career. In fact, Washington was indirectly responsible for Oakland's Game 2 loss in the 1974 series, getting picked off first to kill a ninth-inning rally that allowed the Dodgers to escape with a 3-2 win.

Aside from that, though, the A's showed why they had won two straight titles. Despite have far less talent than the Dodgers, Oakland found a number of ways to win. They scored three times in Game 1 on a home run, a suicide squeeze, and an error. They scored early in Game 3, leading 3-0 after 4, then let their Hall of Fame pitchers Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers finish the job. And they got the big inning in Game 4, scoring 4 runs in the sixth inning to erase a 2-1 deficit.

Finally, with a chance to clinch the series in Game 5, Oakland's crowd got in on the act. Earlier in the series, Los Angeles' Bill Buckner had said that there were only two or three Oakland players who could crack the Dodgers' lineup. Though Buckner was probably right, his comment still worked Oakland fans up into a frenzy, and it boiled over in the seventh inning. The game was delayed for several minutes as the field was cleared of the debris Oakland fans were throwing at Buckner in left field. Once that was taken care of, Joe Rudi hit the first pitch after play resumed into those very fans in left field, giving Oakland a 3-2 lead. Fingers came in to shut the door, and the team that hated each other piled on top of one another, celebrating the most improbable three-peat in baseball history.

Defining Game
If you wanted a snapshot of how the A's were able to win three straight championships, look no further than Game 1. They opened the scoring with a home run by Reggie Jackson, their Hall-of-Fame slugger who had already developed a sense of the moment. They got their second run on a suicide squeeze by their speedy shortstop, Bert Campaneris, showing that when precise execution was required, they rarely failed. They scored their third run after a Dodger error, showing their knack for making their opponents pay for every mistake. And while all this was happening, they leaned on their great pitchers, with closer Fingers pitching four innings of relief, then getting relieved himself by ace starter Hunter for the final out. They were powerful and clutch, they did the little things right, they were opportunistic, and they were flexible. It all added up to a Triple Crown of titles.


MVP
Some people see Fingers' selection as MVP as more of a lifetime achievement award for his great postseasons over the previous three seasons, but he did pitch in four of the five games, throwing nine innings in those four games, and getting a win and two saves. Also, every time he entered the game, the A's knew it was over, which has to count for something.

Random Fact
This was the first World Series played entirely in California.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Oakland	3	2	3	5	3
Los Angeles	2	3	2	2	2

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

56. 1974 - Oakland (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-1
57. 1955 - Brooklyn (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
58. 1979 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Baltimore (A) 4-3
59. 1987 - Minnesota (A) def. St. Louis (N) 4-3
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1978 World Series: Yankee shift

The Teams 
American League: New York Yankees (100-63) - 32nd World Series (won 21 previous times)
National League: Los Angeles Dodgers (95-67) - Seventh World Series (won in 1959, 1963, 1965)

What Happened
One year after the Yankees beat the Dodgers in the World Series, the same two teams were back again to face off in 1978. Though the Yankees had gotten the better of them the previous season, the Dodgers seemed to have more things working in their favor the second time around. Aside from having home-field advantage this time, the Dodgers also came in facing a tired Yankees team - New York had come from 8.5 games back on August 20 to tie the Red Sox, then had won the one-game playoff, then had to endure a tough playoff series with the Royals.

The Dodgers seized on their advantage. They hit three home runs in the first four innings to win Game 1 in a laugher, then took a 4-3 lead into the ninth inning of Game 2. The Yankees got two runners on base in the ninth, but Dodgers pitcher Bob Welch - normally a (very good) starter who was forced to the bullpen for the playoffs because the Dodger starters were too good - retired Yankee stars Reggie Jackson and Thurman Munson to end the game and put the Dodgers up 2-0.

From there, the series went to the Bronx, and the momentum of. the series shifted in favor of the Yankees. But it didn't have to be that way. The Dodgers had plenty of chances to stem the momentum that the Yankees were building. Trailing 2-1 in Game 3, the Dodgers twice loaded the bases, only to have both chances snuffed out on a ground out to Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles. A three-run home run by Reggie Smith gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning of Game 4, but the Dodgers only got two hits the rest of the way and let the Yankees tie the game and eventually win it in the 10th.

By then, things were getting out of control. The Yankees unloaded for 12 runs in Game 5, then took a 3-0 lead back in Dodger Stadium in Game 6 before a Reggie Jackson home run clinched the series.

Defining Game
The way the early games of the series played out, it became clear pretty early that the winner of Game 4 was going to win the series. The Dodgers' Tommy John and the Yankees' Ed Figueroa kept the game scoreless through four before Smith's two-out home run gave the Dodgers the lead. The Yankees got two back in the sixth - scoring one on a single by Jackson and another on an error on what should have been an inning-ending double play. Munson's 8th inning double tied the game, and the teams did nothing until the 10th. With two outs sandwiched around a walk, Jackson singled for the Yankees to send Roy White to second representing the game-winning run. Lou Piniella drove White home with a single, and the Yankees had their momentum-shifting win.

MVP
Bucky Dent was named MVP, which is a little weird since this is the first time he's being mentioned in this writeup. It could have easily been Jackson, but maybe the voters figured that since Jackson wasn't as good as the previous year's series, he shouldn't win a second straight MVP. Or maybe it was leftover karma after Dent's playoff-clinching home run. 

Scores:
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

New York	5	3	5	4 (10)	12	7
Los Angeles	11	4	1	3	2	2

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

68. 1978 - New York (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-2
69. 2006 - St. Louis (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-1
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1972 ALCS: Stealing runs

How they got here
For the first time, a players strike cancelled Major League games in 1972, as the first 13 days of the season - and 86 games - were lost because of a labor dispute. When the players returned, their bats didn't, as run scoring dropped and team batting averages hovered around the .240 mark.

With runs so hard to come by, the Oakland A's rode a great pitching staff and just-good-enough offense to their second straight AL West title. The A's only scored 3.9 runs a game, but that total was good for second in the league in 1972 (for comparison, the 2011 A's also scored 3.9 runs per game - and finished 12th in that category. And remember, 2011 was considered a good year for pitcher). But the A's had pitching, and a lot of it. So much, in fact, that starters Vida Blue and Dave Hamilton, each of whom had an ERA in the 2.80 range, were relegated to the bullpen for the playoffs because they were the odd men out.

The A's opponents were the Detroit Tigers, four years removed from a World Series title in 1968. Like that previous year of the pitcher, the Tigers rode to the top of the standings, but they had a little luck in 1972. With the cancelled games that were never made up, not all teams played the same number of games. The Tigers won the AL East by a half-game, because they played one more game than division rival Boston.

Like Oakland, Detroit's primary offensive weapon was the home run, as they both finished in the top three in the league. That was really all Detroit could do, as they stole a stunningly low 17 stolen bases all year, the third-worst team total in Major League history.

In the ALCS, the home team won each of the first four games, but not without drama. While two of the games were shutouts, each team blew an extra innings lead in one of their road games. The A's blown lead came in Game 4, when they had a 2-run lead with a chance to clinch the series before allowing the Tigers to score three runs without getting an out.

Game 5 replay of Game 2 matchup; Blue Moon Odom beat Woodie Fryman 3-0.

The Game
With nothing decided after four games, Oakland's Blue Moon Odom met Detroit's Woodie Fryman in a rematch of Game 2. While Odom shut out Detroit in their first meeting, the Tigers scored first in Game 5, getting on the board in the first inning on a single, a walk, a passed ball, and a groundout.

It wasn't exactly a thrilling rally, but that's how runs were scored in 1972. Oakland showed that again in the second, when Reggie Jackson led off the inning with a walk, stole second, then moved to third on a flyout. After an unproductive out, Jackson boldly stole home with two outs. Though he pulled his hamstring on the play and had to leave the game, his daring play tied the game at 1.

Move ahead to the fourth, where George Hendrick, who replaced Jackson in center field, reached on an error. After being bunted over to second, Hendrick scored on a Gene Tenace single, the first run-scoring hit of the game.

Leading 2-1, Oakland put it into cruise control. Odom only pitched five innings before being replaced by Blue, but the two Blues held the Tigers to just five hits, all of them singles. Oakland only had four hits themselves, but their two runs were enough, and they won 2-1 to advance to the World Series.

The Aftermath
With such a low-scoring baseball season, it would make sense that the World Series was low-scoring, too. And low-scoring World Series games often mean tense World Series games. The 1972 series between Oakland and Cincinnati was exactly that. Six of the seven games in the '72 series were one-run games, with Oakland prevailing to win their first championship since 1930, when they were based in Philadelphia. In an odd coincidence, both teams batted .209 and slugged .295 in the series.

Oakland's title was their first of three in a row, as they staked their claim to being known as the team of the 70s. Detroit, meanwhile, was already getting old in 1972, and they didn't return to the postseason until 1984.

What I'm doing.

The list so far:

14. 1972 ALCS: Oakland 2, Detroit 1
15. 1973 ALCS: Oakland 3, Baltimore 0
16. 1985 ALCS: Kansas City 6, Toronto 2
17. 2007 ALCS: Boston 11, Cleveland 2
18. 1991 NLCS: Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 0
19. 1973 NLCS: New York 7, Cincinnati 2
20. 1987 NLCS: St. Louis 6, San Francisco 0
21. 1988 NLCS: Los Angeles 6, New York 0
22. 2004 ALCS: Boston 10, New York 3
23. 1986 ALCS: Boston 8, California 1
24: 1996 NLCS: Atlanta 15, St. Louis 0

Still to come:
1972 NLCS: Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh
1976 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1977 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1980 NLCS: Houston vs. Philadelphia
1981 NLCS: Los Angeles vs. Montreal
1982 ALCS: California vs. Milwaukee
1984 NLCS: Chicago vs. San Diego
1992 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
2003 NLCS: Chicago vs. Florida
2003 ALCS: Boston vs. New York
2004 NLCS: Houston vs. St. Louis
2006 NLCS: New York vs. St. Louis
2008 ALCS: Boston vs. Tampa Bay

July 13, 1971: Remember that scene from The Natural?

DETROIT - Long before he was Mr. October, the famous number 44 in Yankee pinstripes, Reggie Jackson was "Buck," number 9 for the green-and-gold-clad Athletics. As a 25-year-old in 1971, Jackson didn't have anywhere near the fame he would later in his career. He was recognized as a great player, but since Oakland had yet to make the playoffs, he wasn't yet a household name.

After the 1971 All-Star Game, that would all change.

The American League entered the 1971 game on July 13 in the midst of an eight-game All-Star Game losing streak. Jackson wasn't voted to start the game at Tiger Stadium, but he was named to the team with the expectation that he'd probably only get one at bat.

Jackson's chance came earlier than he probably expected, as he was sent to pinch-hit for teammate and starting pitcher Vida Blue in the fourth inning with a man on base and the AL trailing 3-0. Pittsburgh pitcher Dock Ellis, who had thrown a no-hitter the year before, was on the mound.

When Jackson walked up to the plate for that plate appearance, he was a star. When he got back to the dugout, he was a legend. Hitting a home run off the light tower will do that for you. The ball was hit so high, and left the park so fast, that the television cameras couldn't follow it; fans watching the game at home saw a shot of the right-field upper deck, then a ball fall straight down in front of it.

The light tower Jackson hit was 380 feet from home plate, but considering it was on the roof of Tiger Stadium, its estimated that his home run would have 530 feet had it been allowed to soar uninterrupted. It was an incredible shot by a man who would soon become famous for those.

For the AL, the home run was the turning point. They took the lead that inning on their was to a 6-4 victory, their only All-Star Game victory in a 20-year span. For Jackson, it was just the start of his fame. The Athletics made the playoffs for the first time in Jackson's career that fall, and he hit two home runs in a losing effort. In all, he would play on five World Series champions in two cities. He hit 18 postseason home runs, including at least one in every World Series he played in. But surpringly, considering his flair for the dramatic, the incredible blast in the 1971 game was Jackson's only All-Star Game home run.

---

HONORABLE MENTION
July 13, 1934: DETROIT - The game is most memorable because of Babe Ruth. In a game against the Tigers, Ruth crushed a pitch from Tommy Bridges deep into the right-field bleachers at Tiger Stadium for his 700th career home run. The blast helped the Yankees beat the Tigers and leapfrog them into first place. However, the game is notable for another reason, as Lou Gehrig had to be helped off the field in the first inning with severe lower back pain. In retrospect, Gehrig's spell of lumbargo was likely the first noticeable sign of the ALS that would later end his career.