This day in baseball history: The Oakland As win the 1972 World Series
The Cincinnati Reds were favored to win the 1972 World Series. However, after four games, the Oakland As led them by 3 games to 1. And now, the As were favored to win Game Five. If they did, the Reds would lose the World Series in five games for the second time in three years.
Oakland was favored in Game Five for good reason. First, the As were playing to home. Second, the great Jim “Catfish” Hunter was the As starting pitcher. Third, Cincinnati’s starter, Jim McGlothlin, was a journeyman with a 9-8 record and 3.91 ERA for the regular season. He had been shelled in his one start in the 1970 World Series and had pitched just one inning in this post season.
Why, with the season on the line, did Sparky Anderson turn to McGlothlin instead of his well-rested Game One starter Gary Nolan? I don’t know.
Whatever the answer, Sparky’s decision was a poor one. The As scored three times in the bottom of the second inning on a three-run homer by Gene Teance. This was the previously obscure catcher’s fourth home run of the Series (he hit only five during the regular season). It erased a 1-0 lead the Reds had grabbed in the first inning on a lead-off home run by Pete Rose.
The Reds got a run back in the top of the fourth on a Dennis Menke home run, but the As restored their two-run lead in the bottom of that frame. McGlothlin walked Sal Bando, the lead off batter. Anderson replaced his starter with Pedro Borbon.
A sacrifice bunt by George Hendrick took the bat out of Tenace’s hand, as Sparky ordered an intentional walk to the man who was providing the bulk of Oakland’s offense.
But Williams had the perfect counter-move. He sent Gonzalo Marquez up to bat for his second baseman, Dick Green. Marquez was 2-3 in the World Series and 4-6 in the playoff — all as a pinch hitter.
He drove home Bando with a single to center. The only downside was that Marquez would not be available to pinch hit later in the contest.
Williams tried to coax another run out of the inning by having Hunter squeeze-bunt Tenace home from third. However, the pitcher, a capable batsman, missed the bunt and Tenace was tagged out. Hunter then flied out to end the inning.
This was not Hunter’s day at the plate or on the mound. With two out, in the bottom of the fifth, a single by Bobby Tolan drove Joe Morgan home. That pulled the Reds to within one run, 4-3.
Williams removed Hunter, bringing in Rollie Fingers. Arguably, Hunter’s departure was premature (as was Fingers’ entry in the fifth inning). But Williams saw that Hunter wasn’t himself, and perhaps had an eye on preserving him for a relief appearance in Game Seven, if the Series got that far.
Fingers kept the Reds at bay until the top of the eighth inning. By then, though, the overworked reliever was tiring.
Joe Morgan led off with a walk and then stole second base. Once again, Bobby Tolan singled Morgan home to tie the game.
Williams stayed with Fingers in the ninth. Cesar Geronimo led off with a single and was bunted to second base. Dave Concepcion should have been the second out, but he reached first on an error by Bando.
Pete Rose, who was finally having an impact in the Series, singled Geronimo home with the go-ahead run. Rose had been 0-for-15 coming into this game, but in this win-or-go-home setting, he had three hits and two RBIs.
The As still had a chance to tie or win the game in the bottom of the ninth. By now, Ross Grimsley, the Game Two starter, was on the mound for the Reds.
Tenace led off the inning. Pitching him very carefully, Grimsley issued a walk. Ted Kubiak then popped out on an unsuccessful sacrifice bunt.
Kubiak’s failure proved costly when pinch hitter Dave Duncan singled to left. Pinch runner John Odom advanced to third.
Now, with one out and runners at the corners, it was up to Bert Campanaris. Jack Billingham, the Game Three starter, induced a pop-up from Campy.
Joe Morgan raced into foul territory and caught the ball. As he did, however, he slipped and fell to the ground.
Odom, who had tagged up, decided to race home. He would have scored had Morgan not recovered and fired a perfect throw to Johnny Bench. He tagged Odom out to end the game.
The Reds were still alive, but would have to win two straight back in Cincinnati to prevail in the Series.
Normally, there would have been a travel day after Game Five. However, because of a rainout in Oakland, a travel day would have pushed Game Six to Sunday and Game Severn, if it occurred, to Monday.
This would not have worked for NBC, which wanted to broadcast the rest of the Series on the weekend. So, no off-day.
Without a day off, Oakland could not stick with its three-man rotation. Thus, Vida Blue finally got his start in Game Six.
There was nothing wrong with starting Blue in a big game, except that (1) the knowledge that he would get that start meant Williams couldn’t use him in Game Five against lefties Morgan and Tolan, who turned that game in Cincinnati’s favor and (2) Blue had pitched in Games Three and Four, and thus wasn’t well rested for his start.
By contrast, Cincinnati’s starter, ace Gary Nolan, had six days of rest. For once, the Reds had an advantage in the starting pitching matchup.
Each of the first five games had been decided by one run. Game Six was a rout for the Reds.
It wasn’t Blue’s fault. He kept the As in the game, allowing two runs in the first five innings. In the sixth, with the Reds up 2-1, two men out, and a runner on first, Williams pulled Blue for Bob Locker.
Locker allowed the inherited runner to score on a Tony Perez single.
The floodgates opened in the seventh, after Locker was removed for a pinch hitter in the top of the inning. The Reds scored five in the bottom of the seventh off of back-of-the-bullpen pitchers Dave Hamilton and Joe Horlen.
They won the game 8-1, forcing a Game Seven.
That game, played on this day in baseball history, would feature Blue Moon Odom for the As and Jack Billingham for the Reds. Everyone on both staffs would be available for relief duty except, perhaps, for Blue and Nolan.
The big news before the start of the game didn’t concern the starting pitchers, though. The big news was Dick Williams’ lineup shuffle.
It was overdue. Mike Epstein, in the heart of the order, was 0-16 in the Series after going 3-16 in the ALCS. As good as Epstein had been in the regular season — when his OPS was higher than Reggie Jackson’s — and as much as Williams needed a left-handed slugger in Jackson’s absence, it was time for a change at first base.
Oakland also needed a change at catcher. Tenace’s bat was carrying the As, but the Reds were stealing bases off of him at will.
To solve both problems, Williams benched Epstein, moved Tenace to first, and brought back Dave Duncan, his catcher for most of the season, behind home plate.
Tenace, though, had only played a few games at first base. Thus, Williams and defensive whiz Mike Hegan gave him a crash course the morning of the game.
The Reds denied the As permission to use the infield, so Tenace fielded grounders in the clubhouse, smashed along the carpet by one of the coaches.
Williams had one more problem to address. Matty Alou, a star in the ALCS, was scuffling in the Series to the tune of 1-21. The As had no good replacement for him in the outfield, but he no longer deserved to be batting second.
Angel Mangual (who had replaced the struggling George Hendrick, Reggie Jackson’s replacement, a game earlier) took Alou’s place in the number two slot. Tenace moved all the way up to cleanup (behind Joe Rudi). Alou dropped down to sixth in the order, with Duncan batting seventh.
Williams was looking good after the top of the first. Mangual got all the way to third base on an error by Tolan in center field. Rudi failed to drive him in. Sparky could have walked Tenace, the new cleanup hitter, but elected not to do so this early in the game.
Tenace drove Mangual home with a single. To be fair to Sparky, it should have been an out, but the ball took a wicked hop on Morgan.
Odom avoided the jitters that plagued him in the ALCS decider. He shut out the Reds through the first four innings. And Williams looked good once again when Duncan gunned down Morgan trying to steal second in the bottom or the fourth.
Odom was on a short leash, though — and why not with Hunter, Fingers, and Ken Holtzman all available?
Perez led off the bottom of the fifth with a double. Odom struck Menke out, but walked Geronimo.
When Odom fell behind the next batter, Dave Concepcion, Williams had seen enough. He called on Hunter. The Catfish completed the walk, and Hal McRae, pinch hitting for Billingham, drove in Perez on a fly ball. But that was the end of the scoring. Game Seven was tied 1-1 after five innings.
McRae’s pinch hitting appearance was productive, but it meant the end of the day for Billingham who, as in Game Three, pitched brilliantly. The big right-hander’s Series was over. He hadn’t not allowed an earned run in 13.2 innings.
Sparky turned to Borbon, who had been reasonably effective in the Series so far.
Facing the top of Williams’ revamped lineup, Borbon gave up a single to Campanaris. Campy had led the American League in stolen bases with 52, but wasn’t taking his chances against Bench. Instead, Mangual bunted him to second.
Rudi sent him to third on a groundout, but now there were two down.
Up stepped Tenace. Again, Sparky elected to pitch to the hottest hitter on the planet.
Tenace double Campanaris home. Sal Bando then doubled home Tenace. Suddenly Oakland led 3-1, and the Reds had only three more opportunities to catch up.
Hunter gave Oakland a perfect seventh inning. However, Rose led off the eighth with a single. Next up was left-handed hitting Joe Morgan. Williams called on his left-hander, Ken Holtzman, the starter of Games 1 and 4.
Morgan confounded this move. He doubled Rose to third. The tying runs were in scoring position with no one out. It was time for Rollie Fingers.
Fingers retired Joe Hague. Then, he issued an intentional walk to Bench.
Thus, Williams intentionally put the go-ahead run on base, generally a no-no. Moreover, it set the table for Tony Perez, one of the great RBI men in the game.
Perez got his RBI, on a sacrifice fly. Bench then put the go-ahead run in scoring position with a stolen base. But Williams’ move paid off when Fingers retired Menke.
Oakland had once more chance. Fingers quickly set down the first two Reds batters in the ninth, but then plopped pinch hitter Darrel Chaney in the ankle. Now, he would have to face Pete Rose.
Or would he? Williams was so angry with Fingers for giving a base to the light-hitting Chaney that, reportedly, he was prepared to replace him with Blue. Duncan talked him out of it.
Fingers won the battle of future Hall of Famers. Rose went down on a fly ball to Rudi.
It was all over but the celebrating. . .and the berating. There was plenty of the former. Even Vida Blue, who had been fuming all season following his holdout, led several teammates in a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner — in the shower, stark naked. But Blue did not attend the next day’s victory parade.
The plane ride to California was also joyful, but not for everyone. When Charlie Finley approached Dave Duncan, the catcher shocked the owner by telling him off. Duncan spoke for many of his teammates.
Finley, for his part, went after Epstein. He attacked his star first baseman for his post-season slump, for his defense, and for his attitude (Epstein had instigated a shouting match with Williams on the plane ride home after Game Two).
Epstein was no one to trifle with. But demoralized by his inability to contribute to the team’s post-season success, Epstein took the abuse.
Neither he nor Duncan would play again for Oakland. They would miss a 1973 post-season even more turbulent and contentious than this one.