1970 World Series

[SteveA]

Will air on MLB Network tomorrow, starting with game 1 at 7:00 AM.   From 7AM to 6PM.   

[Just Regular]

Leagues have broken a lot of good stuff out of the vaults with the vacuum, and I'm discovering some of the best fun is in watching the intros and post game shows.

In the opening moments here, Curt Gowdy mentions Riverfront opening in July, so I hop on B-Ref, and danged if Crosley Field isn't the co-home stadium.  These NL champs had Age 22 Bench and Concepcion, Age 28 Perez, Age 29 Rose - I never think of any of those future Big Red Machine pillars as playing anywhere but Riverfront.

SP's Gary Nolan and Palmer compared as young righties rebounding from arm problems in a big way.  Nolan was 1-13 in the 1966 draft as a high school RHP, and then pitched 227 Age 19 innings in the show in '67, and starts World Series Game 1 three years later, so DL/Grayson....there you go.

Buford leading off Top of 1st highlighted for club record 109 walks, and leading off '69 Series with a HR.  Gowdy praises Nolan's great change up, and that Nolan said bad arm made him do it.

Actual quote from announcer: Nolan can strike you out - he's averaged SEVEN strikeouts per 9 innings in his brief NL career?!?!

MVP Powell batting 3rd gets 3 infielders on the right side.

I saw old man Palmer some as a grade schooler, but this is my first time getting to see him work at the peak of his powers.

After a 1-out double, Perez (sac fly to RF) and Bench (RBI single) both first ball swinging, announcers think must be scouting report.  Batting 5th, Lee May singles on 2nd pitch, and Phoebus starts warming up.  This is after like 10 pitches total for the first five batters faced.  These are also 3 of the 5 hits the Reds will get in 8.2 innings against Palmer today.

Brooks ends top of 1st spearing a line drive from the 6th place hitter to get Palmer out of his jam, and start the legend building.

/End 1st inning report

[SteveA]

I was only 6 in 1970 and have no recollection of the series.   I'm DVRing the whole day and plan to watch a game a day for the next 5 days.

[accinfo]

I watched Game 2 earlier this week.  I was just amazed in the top of the 9th inning with two outs the Orioles were winning 4-3 and I think it was Dave Johnson who singled.  They then intentionally walked the 8th hitter Mark Belanger to pitch to Palmer.  Weaver let him bat with runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs.  That just floored me.  Palmer retired the first two in the bottom of the 9th and walked Pete Rose on 4 pitches and Weaver pulled him for Pete Richart , Lefty on lefty.  He ended the game on one pitch.  I don't know how many pitches Palmer had thrown through 8 innings.  Of course it never came up.  I am sure it was well over 100.  

[SteveA]

1 minute ago, accinfo said:

I watched Game 2 earlier this week.  I was just amazed in the top of the 9th inning with two outs the Orioles were winning 4-3 and I think it was Dave Johnson who singled.  They then intentionally walked the 8th hitter Mark Belanger to pitch to Palmer.  Weaver let him bat with runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs.  That just floored me.  Palmer retired the first two in the bottom of the 9th and walked Pete Rose on 4 pitches and Weaver pulled him for Pete Richart , Lefty on lefty.  He ended the game on one pitch.  I don't know how many pitches Palmer had thrown through 8 innings.  Of course it never came up.  I am sure it was well over 100.  

Geez, thanks for spoiling it for me!   

[accinfo]

Geez, thanks for spoiling it for me!   

 

Sorry Steve!  I won't tell you who won the series!

[Just Regular]

20 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I was only 6 in 1970 and have no recollection of the series.   I'm DVRing the whole day and plan to watch a game a day for the next 5 days.

Guess I have you there amigo, I was only 6 in 1979, but have carried a big antipathy for Kent Tekulve and Sister Sledge throughout life.  Then the Steve Stone year, then the strike year, then the Brewers race year and finally that sweet sweet Age 10 dogpile, a good age I suppose if it needs must you only get one into middle age.

[AnythingO's]

21 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Geez, thanks for spoiling it for me!   

Just watch Brooks on D, it's a highlight reel. Maybe the interviews with Sparky and Bench afterward. The comments about Brooks are worth it.

[Just Regular]

I didn't know if Buford's record still stood.  Wikipedia said Lu Blue, and the B-Ref franchise page gives this fun list of 100 walk seasons in franchise history, with Milligan/Cal/Belle scraping the bottom in their peak BB years.   Harlond Clift looks almost like Mike Trout on a WAR list here.  Singleton '75 for real, as my brain defines real.

Bases on Balls

1.	Lu Blue • 1929	126
2.	Roy Cullenbine • 1941	121
3.	Harlond Clift • 1938	118
	Burt Shotton • 1915	118
	Ken Singleton • 1975	118
6.	Lyn Lary • 1936	117
7.	Harlond Clift • 1936	115
8.	Harlond Clift • 1941	113
9.	Harlond Clift • 1939	111
10.	Burt Shotton • 1916	110
11.	Don Buford • 1970	109
	Ken Singleton • 1979	109
13.	Bobby Grich • 1973	107
	Bobby Grich • 1975	107
	Eddie Murray • 1984	107
	Ken Singleton • 1977	107
17.	Harlond Clift • 1942	106
	Randy Milligan • 1992	106
	Norm Siebern • 1964	106
	Mickey Tettleton • 1990	106
21.	Lu Blue • 1928	105
22.	Harlond Clift • 1940	104
	Boog Powell • 1970	104
24.	Cal Ripken Jr. • 1988	102
25.	Albert Belle • 1999	101

[SteveA]

Finishing up Game 1, some thoughts:

   -- Curt Gowdy mentioned that the O's weren't used to artificial turf, as the only artificial turf infield in the AL was in Chicago.   I had to look it up.   I had no idea/recollection that Comiskey Park had a turf infield (but an all grass outfield) from 1969-75.

   -- Palmer wasn't sharp early but he got that high fastball working in the late innings.

   -- A brief shot of Jay Mazzone, the Orioles bat boy who was born with no hands

   -- Man we did get a big break on the play at the plate with Elrod.   Not only did Elrod try to tag the runner with the glove while the ball was in his hand, but I don't think he even made the tag with the glove.   The ump blew it and there was no replay back then.

   -- How come this is in black and white?   Get Smart switched from B&W to color in 1965, I think Gilligan did too around that time.   The Super Bowls started in 1967 and they were all in color.

   -- While it's great to see Brooks, Frank, Boog, etc, it really warmed my heart to see Mark Belanger again.   You just don't see as many highlights of him, his stooped batting stance, how far he choked up on the bat.    And he snares the line drive to end the game, just like Cal in Game 5 in 1983.

[Just Regular]

Made it to about the 7th inning stretch, and other stuff that made an impression was:

-Gowdy marveling the Orioles spent 25000 in medical bills on young Palmer's bad arm and back.

-Prime Tony Perez looks Miguel Cabrera-ish in the box.  He also made a nice play at 3B to rob Brooks his first time up to perhaps wave the red flag in front of the bull.

-Brooks having an early throwing error on a fairly easy play before the defensive pyrotechnics really got under way.

-The announcers lauding Boog as a level swing/pure hitter guy despite his size, and for the first time a Freddie Freeman framework for understanding Powell retroactively dawned on me.

-The Elrod empty glove tag play at the plate wasn't new, as the ump who blew the call was in the Baseball Hall of Shame books delightful in the 80's.

-Sparky getting a "youngest" manager in MLB callout, undering Earl who was only 40 himself then.

-Gowdy promoting Game 2 tomorrow with coverage starting at 12:35 EDT with Koufax and Mantle in the studio.

-Age 20 Milt Wilcox warming in the Reds pen.  This is the same old dude the '84 Tigers carried to 18 wins, that middle school me probably perceived as Morris/Petry awesome on that juggernaut.  He had a K-Rodish MLB debut, throwing a few dominant NLCS innings 20 innings into his career.

-A C'Mon Man for MLB network, who skipped Palmer's bottom of the 4th "due to time constraints".  This on a day they've given a 3-hour block to rebroadcast a 2:24 game.  I was toying with charting his pitches to see how high Earl let his count go in a tight game all the way through, though seeing generally how fast balls went into play, especially out of the gate, I suspect it isn't too crazy.

 

 

[Just Regular]

It was also new to me that Davey Johnson played college hoops at Texas A&M.  He would I think have been a couple years before the famous Texas Western team from the Glory Road movie.

And because internet...

https://www.pinterest.jp/pin/496592296383558076/?amp_client_id=CLIENT_ID(_)&mweb_unauth_id={{default.session}}&amp_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.jp%2Famp%2Fpin%2F496592296383558076%2F&amp_expand=true

[tntoriole]

20 hours ago, SteveA said:

I was only 6 in 1970 and have no recollection of the series.   I'm DVRing the whole day and plan to watch a game a day for the next 5 days.

I was 13 and at game 3 with the Dave McNally grand slam.   Frank and Don Buford hit homers too.  Brooks did his Hoover deal....He turned a double play to kill the Reds in the first inning after first two got on that was a third to first double play, then later in the game, fifth or sixth, he had that dive to his left grab of Johnny Bench liner....

[SteveA]

Game 2 thought:

   -- 70 O's were 40-15 in 1 run games!  Another 1 run win in this one, had to come from. Behind again.

   -- So e good plays in this series by Tony Perez at 3B and Lee May at 1B. Never thought of either as very good with the glove.

   -- Promo for game 3 in Baltimore said it would be Tuesday at 12:30.  So even weekday Works Series games were in the daytime!

   -- Frank is 0 for 9 so far in the series

   -- Don Gullet throwing heat out of the Reds pen at age 19

   -- Dock Hall has a perfect 2.1 innings of relief to end the 1 run victory.  Blair goes back and runs the last one down on the warning track.  Hall, by the way, is a "40 year old math whiz"

[spiritof66]

On 6/26/2020 at 1:27 PM, SteveA said:

I was only 6 in 1970 and have no recollection of the series.   I'm DVRing the whole day and plan to watch a game a day for the next 5 days.

I'm old enough to have seen all six World Series (in person for a game or two in three of them) in which the Orioles played.  Not quite as impressive as Jim Palmer -- he pitched in all six.