Baltimore’s offense dropped
precipitously in 1972 after Frank Robinson was traded and Brooks Robinson began
to slump at the plate. The Orioles dominance, which had been unmatched the
previous three years, similarly dropped and the AL East was involved in a
four-team pennant race between Baltimore, an aging Detroit Tigers and a
resurgent Red Sox and Yankees.
The Yankees didn’t have enough
depth to go the distance and dropped out first. The Orioles pitching was as
good as ever – their ERA of 2.54 led both leagues – but with no offense, the
team fell into third place. The Red Sox were led by the Rookie of the Year
Carlton Fisk and a rejuvenated Luis Tiant, who in August went on a 10-2 tear
that involved four consecutive shutouts. The Tigers had the nucleus of the team
that had won the World Series four years earlier but they were all shells of
their former selves. Mickey Lolich’s powerhouse season – he won 22 games and
struck out 259 – was enough to give Detroit the title by a mere half of a game over the Red Sox.
The A’s had been looking forward
to facing Detroit – for more than one reason. In an August matchup between the
two teams Martin ordered his reliever Bill Slayback to throw brushbacks to
Campaneris and outfield Angel Mangual. Mangual would punch Slayback, both
benches would empty and the fans in Tiger Stadium hurled garbage on the field.
Before 20,000 empty seats in the
Coliseum, Catfish Hunter and Mickey Lolich faced off in what would be an eleven
inning game. Detroit took the lead 2-1 in the tenth when Al Kaline hit a home
run to put the A’s on top off the eleventh off Rollie Fingers. After nine
innings it was 1-1. Lolich lasted until the eleventh when Bando and Epstein hit
back to back singles. pinch hitter Gonzalo Marquez drilled a single to Kaline
which he bobbled allowing the A’s to win 3-2.
In Game 2 Campaneris took the
offensive, getting three hits in the first five innings, stealing four bases
and scoring three runs. By the 7th, the A’s had a 5-0 lead. Blue
Moon Odom had just given up three hits. Billy Martin was pissed (which was his
normal state) and pitcher Lerrin LaGrow drilled Campaneris in the ankle when he
came up for the fourth time.
Campaneris got to his feet,
considered charging the mound – and then side-armed his bat at him. He then
headed for the dugout. Martin stormed the field and had to be restrained by
three umpires. Incredibly that was all the violence that ensued. The umpires
ejected both men and the game ended at 5-0 two innings later.
Martin screamed obscenities at
Campaneris’ reaction and denied it had been an intentional act on his pitchers
part, something that no one on either team believed for a moment. That no
longer mattered; Campaneris’ action did. American League President Joe Cronin
suspended him for the remainder of the series; it was an open question if he
would available for the World Series.
The A’s flew to Detroit up two
games to nothing and needing just one more victory. Joe Colman, the Tiger
starter, denied them by striking out fourteen A’s as Ken Holtzman just lasted
four innings in a 3-0 loss.
In Game 4, Williams chose to go
to Catfish Hunter on two days rest, rather than start Vida Blue. It almost
worked. Hunter pitched seven innings,
giving up just five hits and a single run. Mickey Lolich matched him during
that same period. Blue came in during the ninth and retired the side. It was
1-1 going into the tenth.
Matty Alou and Ted Kubiak drove
in runs to put the A’s up 3-1. They just needed three more outs. The final
inning was a disaster. With the bases loaded and no one out, the A’s were
caught short because of Campaneris’
suspension. Catcher Gene Tenace was playing second base for only the
third time in his career. Catcher Bill Freehan bounced to third. Bando went for
the double play and Tenace lost the ball. The next pitcher walked in the tying
run and Jim Northrup hit a fly-ball to give the Tigers an improbable 4-3 win to
tie the series.
The A’s were unsettled going into
the deciding game but Reggie Jackson convinced the A’s they would be okay. Blue
Moon Odom would be the starter for Game 5.
In the second, with Detroit
leading 1-0, Jackson walked, stole
second and moved to third on a fly ball. Epstein was hit by a pitch. Williams
called for a double steal. Halfway home Jackson’s left leg twinged. Twenty feet from the plate
a muscle tore, then ruptured. Reggie’s steal tied the game. As the As celebrated
they immediately realized their best player couldn’t get up. Jackson was done
for the season.
The A’s got another run in the
fourth. Odom got through five innings with a 2-1 lead before he started to dry
heave. To this day it is a subject of debate why. All that matters is that Odom
thought he could keep going and Williams didn’t. He called in Blue. Blue went
four innings and gave up just three hits.
The A’s had won the first pennant
in the franchise’s history since 1931. But in the midst of the champagne
celebration Blue walked up to Odom and told him he’d choked. A furious Odom
began to hit the partition then charged Blue before his teammates pulled them
apart. Odom would later refuse to accept Blue’s apologies.
But there was gloom. While
Commissioner Kuhn ultimately decided Campaneris’ suspension would take place at
the start of the 1973 season, which made him eligible for the series the A’s
had lost their best offensive player. No one – not even the A’s themselves –
thought that they had a prayer against the Reds without him. Most observers
didn’t think they would have had much of a chance with him
After losing the 1970 World
Series to the Orioles, the Reds had their worst season of the decade, going
79-83 in 1971. However Howsam managed to complete two trades that cemented the
dynasty for the rest of the decade. Few noticed the first which in May of 1971
led to George Foster coming for shortstop Frank Duffy and pitcher Vern Geishert.
And Foster would not be much of an impact player immediately, spending most of
the following year on the bench and the next year in the minors. It wasn’t
until 1974 that he became the powerhouse he would be.
The more significant trade
involved Lee May, Tommy Helms and Jimmy Stewart (not that one) for Joe Morgan,
Cesar Geronimo, Denis Menke, Ed Armbrister and pitcher Jack Billingham. This
was one of the worst trades of the decade and probably all time.
The most critical players to the
team would be Morgan, Geronimo and Billingham. Morgan made an immediate impact
in his first season, leading the National League in runs scored with 122. He
stole 58 bases and hit 16 home runs. Geronimo was less significant but he would
win the Golden Glove four times with the Reds. Billingham would win 65 games
with the Reds during his first four seasons, a steady force in a pitching staff
that led to Anderson earning his more famous nickname “Captain Hook.”
The offense had been incredibly
explosive with Morgan and Pete Rose, who played left field and led the National
League in hits with 198. (If the 1972 strike hadn’t happened, he would
certainly have had yet another 200 hit season. The offense was very evenly
spread but the major force was Johnny Bench, who had hit 40 home runs and
driven in 125, winning his second MVP in three years.
There was also the fact that,
unlike the A’s, the Reds were clean shaven and were prohibited from growing
facial hair – something no one really cared about on the team. The 1972 series
was framed by some reporters as ‘The Hairs versus The Squares’. No one knew at
the time it was a face-off between two of the greatest dynasties in baseball
history because at this point the world was sure there was only one dynasty
here. And it might have been that way in 1972 were it not for a player no one
thought would be significant at the start of the series – not even him.
Gene Tenace had spent most of the
1972 season as back-up catcher to Dave Duncan. Duncan was by far the better
hitter that year, hitting 19 home runs to Tenace’s 5. But during the season
Duncan, who in the Marine Reserves, spent two weeks out of town. During that
period, while the A’s were stumbling, Tenace had helped steady the team and
earned the starting job. In the ALCS, however, he had only gotten a single hit
which had driven in the winning run in Game 5. But he had still gone 1 for 17. Tenace
was going to start in the series over Duncan, but no one expected much from him
– until Game 1.
In the second inning, with George
Hendrick on base, Tenace came up to bat against pitcher Gary Nolan. Nolan
didn’t seem to be throwing that hard to Tenace. And on the fourth pitch, he hit
out of the park for a 2 run homer.
The Reds fought back in the
bottom of the inning, loading the bases against Ken Holtzman with nobody out.
People might have thought Holtman would fold. The last time in 1971 he’d
started at Riverfront Stadium; he’d thrown his second no-hitter. He got
Geronimo to pop out. Dave Concepion grounded to short. He struck out Nolan. The
Reds were retired with just one run.
In Tenace’s second at bat, Nolan
threw a glacial curve ball and Tenace hit out of the park even further,
becoming the first player in World Series history to hit two home runs in his
first two at bats. It was 3-2. Holtzman went 6 1/3 innings and Fingers closed
it down. The A’s had struck first.
The next day the Reds faced off
against Catfish Hunter who spent the entire day humiliated the Reds in his
first World Series start. He shut the Reds out for eight innings, drove in the
go-ahead run himself while Rudi hit a home run. He had a 2-0 lead in the ninth.
Then Tony Perez led off with a
single. Denis Menke hit Hunter’s first pitch on a high arc towards the 12-foot
wall in left field. It looked like a game-tying homer. Even Hunter thought so.
But the moment the ball left
Menke’s bat Rudi started to calculate. He ran towards left field, right up to
the wall. He had nowhere left to go, so
he leaped up – and caught the ball. He hesitated a moment, which almost
certainly stopped any possibility of catching Perez – who was already at third
– from getting back to first.
Still there were two outs to go.
Geronimo hit a fastball that first baseman Mike Hegan caught. Perez was dead,
but then Hegan lost the ball trying to throw to second. Pinch hitter Hal McRae
hit a line drive that scored Perez. Williams took Hunter out and Finger retired
the last batter to get his second save. The A’s were up 2 games to none, having
won them both on enemy turf.
Finley announced on the plane
ride back to Oakland that he had renewed Williams’ contract for two years. No
one knew that he would be eating those words the next year.
Game 3 was postponed because of
rain which pissed off Kuhn. The next game, scheduled to begin at twilight, made
the game havoc with hitters. Blue Moon Odom struck out 11 batters in seven
innings. Billingham struck out seven over eight. It didn’t help that the field
was sodden with rain from nearly a week’s worth of deluges.
In the seventh, Odom gave up a
single to Tony Perez. Menke sacrificed . Geronimo hit the next pitch into the
outfield which was now a swampland. Perez lumbered around third, stumbled but a
slow Hendrick didn’t bother to travel. Perez scored, giving Cincinnati a 1-0
lead, their first of the entire series.
The game was notable for
something that no series had ever seen. With two on and Johnny Bench up and a
full count on him, Williams set things up as if he were going to walk him but
ordered Fingers to actually throw a pitch to strike him out. Fingers thought
Williams was crazy and Tenace was baffled. It shouldn’t have worked – Morgan
caught on the moment Fingers threw – but it did. Bench was retired. It didn’t
matter in the short-term – the Reds still notched their first win – but it
showed the kind of manager Williams was.
The next day Holtzman was nearly
as dominant in Game 4 as in Game 1. He gave up just four hits in seven innings.
Tenace hit a home run for a 1-0 lead. Williams brought in Vida Blue - who spent most of the postseason working in
relief. This time with two on and one out, he walked Morgan and Bobby Tolan
drove in 2 runs. The Reds were up 2-1.
In the bottom of the ninth, the
Reds were still ahead. What happened next was more improbable than the trick
play in Game 3. After one out, Williams called Gonzalo Marquez to pinch hit for
Hendrick. Marquez got his four pinch hit of the postseason. Tenace singled. Two
on. Don Mincher went in to pinch hit for second basemen Dick Green. Mincher had
hit .148 for the season. Mincher hit reliever Clay Carroll’s second pitch to
tie the game and move the runner to third. Angel Mangual was sent in to pinch
hit for Rollie Fingers. Williams replaced Mincher with Odom as a pinch runner –
and then before Odom went out, changed his mind and left Mincher in. The
infield played in, expecting a suicide squeeze. Mangual slapped the first pitch
up the ground, past a diving Morgan. The A’s had won 3-2 and were up 3 games to
1.
The Reds were on the verge of
annihilation. Their pitching staff had given up just eight runs in four
innings, but they were on the cusp of defeat. All they needed was one more win
and Hunter was pitching Game 5.
But Pete Rose had no intention of
letting the Reds go quietly. He hit Hunter’s first pitch of Game 5 for a home
run. It was a sign that offense, which had been in held in check for four
games, was in business. Tenace hit a
three run homer in the second, but the Reds recovered with a homer by Menke and
two rallies that Rose started. The final one put them up 5-4. In the ninth the
A’s put on a rally. Tenace led off but Anderson ordered him walked. Ted Kubiak
popped out. Williams inserted Odom as a pinch runner. Duncan hit a single. Bert
Campaneris just needed to hit a fly ball to tie the score. Unfortunately, he
hit a foul pop-up. Morgan called for it, then slipped as he caught the ball.
Odom was running, but Morgan made a perfect throw to Bench. The Reds were still
alive.
The next day was a disaster. With
their pitching plans shot, Williams found that he had only one option for Game
6 – Blue. Blue, however, had pitched in relief in three of the five series
games already and seven in the post
season.
Blue was exhausted but pitched
fine for five innings, only giving up two runs. Then in the sixth, Tolan hit a
double. Williams went to his bullpen and it became a rout. The Reds won 8-1 and
the series was tied at three games apiece.
The momentum had shifted back to
Cincinnati. And it didn’t help the Reds were stealing the A’s blind. Tenace had
been the offensive force, but defensively he had allowed thirteen stolen bases
in six games. He’d also received a death threat just prior to Game 7 from a
bitter Reds fan who claimed he would shoot him if he hit another home run – and
was found with a loaded hand gun. The FBI was called in for protection.
At the start of Game 7, Williams
made a decision that he hoped would solve two problems. He moved Tenace to
first base, replacing him with Mike Epstein who was in the midst of a 0 for 21
slump. He placed Duncan, the better defensive catcher, behind the plate.
It was a rematch of Game 3 with
Billingham facing off against Odom. In the first, with two out and Mangual on
third , Tenace tapped a two hopper to Menke…which hit a seam in the artificial
turf at Riverfront. Menke missed it and Mangual scrambled home. 1-0 Oakland.
In the fourth, Morgan walked and
took off to second. Duncan nailed with a bullet. Morgan did not test Duncan
again.
In the fifth, Odom faltered. With
2 on and a 2-1 count on Concepion, Williams called in Hunter in relief on two
days rest. Hunter finished the walk. Anderson sent Hal McRae in to bat for
Billingham. McRae hit a fastball that looked like it was about to leave the
park. Mangual caught it. Perez scored but that was all the Reds managed. The
game was tied.
In the sixth, Tenace hit a double
to score Campaneris and Bando drove in another run. It was 3-1. All the A’s
needed was too hold on. Like everything else in the series, it didn’t come
easy.
It would take Hunter, Holtzman
and Fingers to get through the eighth and even then, the Reds got another run. With
a 3-2 lead, Fingers got the first two batters easily. Anderson was left with
the last man on the bench, Darrel Chaney 0-7 in the series. But Fingers hit him
by accident. Now he had to pitch to Pete Rose. Williams wanted to pull Fingers.
Duncan talked him out of it.
Rose hit a ball to left-center.
Rudi grabbed it. The A’s had won their first World Championship since 1930. At
the Oakland Coliseum, filled to capacity with fans watching the Raiders play
the Broncos, burst into applause as those who had transistor radios learned the
happy news.
The unlikely hero was Gene
Tenace, who had hit .348 with four home runs and 9 RBIs. No other A had managed
more than 1. The most runs the A’s had scored in any game was 4 in Game 5,
which they had lost. The starting pitching , the bench and most of all Tenace
had won the Series for Oakland over the Big Red Machine.
It was probably the most
unbridled joy in the aftermath of an A’s championship. 30,000 fans were waiting
when the A’s touched down in Oakland the next day. It was a madhouse that few
who had seen the nearly empty stadiums during the season could have expected.
Even Charlie Finley was beginning to get his due. The Sporting News named him
the Sportsman of the Year, trumpeting his innovative bent for increasing
baseball’s appeal.
But even here, the A’s were still
not taking seriously by the baseball establishment. The widespread sentiment
was that the A’s Championship was a fluke.
The next article will deal with
the 1973 season where some of Finley’s idea continued to gain traction in the
establishment and the A’s continued to find that no matter how much they won,
they would never get respect – certainly not from the owner.
But before that, I will deal with
the most significant and controversial change he made.
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