1970 World Series

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, spiritof66 said:

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.

I had no idea.  He should mention that sometimes during a broadcast.

[WillyM]

On 6/26/2020 at 7:44 PM, SteveA said:

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.

It's quite true that Elrod did not tag the runner with the ball.  It is also true that the runner, Carbo, slid wide of the plate and did not touch it on his way past.

The proper thing for the umpire to have done would have been to make no call, and wait to see whether the runner could make it back to the plate before the catcher could tag him.

It always appeared to me that Elrod knew darn good and well that he hadn't made a legal tag, so he immediately started to roll over and get back to the plate.  I believe that he would have been in position to block the plate and tag Carbo before he could get back.

But when the umpire yelled "You're out!" Elrod realized he no longer needed to tag Carbo.  What he needed to do was check and make sure the other runners weren't trying to advance, which is what he did.  Then he just flipped the ball to Palmer. 

Reds apologists have noted that Carbo eventually touched the plate while he and Sparky Anderson were stomping around and arguing the decision, but time had been called, so the run could not possibly count.

[ShoelesJoe]

Watched a couple of the games, and was struck by how many future MLB managers there were between the ‘70 Reds and Orioles. Just off the top of my head and not doing any research, and just from the players in uniform (not any of the coaches) I counted seven guys who’d be managers someday. I suspect that if I dug into the internet and looked up every player there’d be a couple more that made it as well. That feels like a lot of future managers on the active rosters of just two teams. 

[Just Regular]

Moving through Game 2 now, when the Reds roughed up Cuellar a bit.  There was an in game graphic the Reds were 17-3 at home vs. LHP.  They gave Lee May's Roenicke splits and he'd hit over .325 v. LHP the last few years, and rookie Hal McRae (another guy like Milt Wilcox from "my time") got switched in as a platoon OF.

Bernie Carbo was highlighted as the Reds 1st round pick during a Bench at-bat when his 2nd round pick biographical detail was mentioned.  Carbo had had a heck of a 1970, but really fell off the map after that.  Anyway, the B-Ref draft pages start with 1965, and the Reds had McRae down draft behind Carbo/Bench - that's quite a year.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?team_ID=CIN&year_ID=1965&draft_type=junreg&query_type=franch_year&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0

[scOtt]

On 6/26/2020 at 7:44 PM, SteveA said:

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.

When I watch these old replays I'm always amazed at the HIGH FBs the umps called back then.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, scOtt said:

When I watch these old replays I'm always amazed at the HIGH FBs the umps called back then.

The catchers were all just really good at framing those.

[Just Regular]

Elrod just with the 2-run double to cap the 5-run 5th decisive in Game 2, the afternoon after he had the game tying HR to erase Cincinnati's early Game 1 lead as well.

Hendricks was the Oriole I interacted with most the two years I had a favorite job Tarp Crew'ing for the team.  Once a homestand we'd get bullpen duty, mostly meaning opening the outfield fence door to let RP in.  Elrod was bullpen coach both seasons so a guy we tended to see the most of (generally player fraternization a no-no), and I wish high school me would have known this stuff to reminisce about.

You can imagine the positional previews for the '70 Series - Elrod v. Bench a huge Cincinnati edge, but here's Hendricks on the road with .137 WPA in Game 1 and .258 WPA in Game 2.

[Just Regular]

22 hours ago, SteveA said:

 -- 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.

Just saw May's nice 3-6-3 in Game 2, just as he had one in Game 1.  

It makes it a little more fathomable to me how in '77 he could have made rookie Eddie a 110-game DH, perhaps passing on 3-6-3 tips.

[eddie83]

MLB Network and MASN both showed the 1970 World Series broadcasts last week. 

I wanted to mention but the game was already half over by the time I saw it but about 10 days ago MLB Network showed Game 2 of 1979 ALCS. I have never seen a game from that series before. My Dvr is set to record a lot of the old games but it didn’t pick it up all the way but I was able to get part of it. 

[Just Regular]

Coming back from commercial for the Bottom of the 9th of a 1-run World Series game, the announcer gives 5 NFL scores, the last talking over the first pitch of the inning.

[Just Regular]

More gold in the Game 3 intro.

Firstly, just Chuck Thompson himself.  He was in the booth with Gowdy, and Curt passed it off to him for a tour of the ballpark.

As they do the panorama from behind the plate, Chuck describes the "problem" with the batter's eye beyond CF, that the white houses on 33rd Street mess with the hitter's vision from a RHP's release point, and Chuck even volunteers a guy "like Jim Palmer".

By my earliest memories of Memorial, the big scoreboard was up in that arc, so I never knew the houses across the street used to be in view!

[Just Regular]

Chuck calling the ceremonial first pitch from Lefty Grove mentions it is the 50th Anniversary of him joining the International League Orioles in 1920.  Five years later, he began his career leading the AL in strikeouts every year from Ages 25-31 his first 7 years in the show, averaging about 7 rWAR/year.

He got to 106.7 rWAR anyway, putting him just ahead of Greg Maddux.

He was very wild that first year in MLB though, so perhaps wouldn't have been as good in his early 20's.  If you give him 5 WAR/year for those Age 20-24 seasons (he was born in 1900 so the years/seasons match exactly), 130ish would vault him past Seaver, Nichols, Alexander to trail just Johnson/Young/Clemens* all-time.  I think I saw Corn highlight Big Unit leading league in Walks at 25, so did Grove as a MLB rookie.  Here's where I have to leave it to Drungo, but I imagine Grove pitched very well for Baltimore in the early 20's.

They also showed the anthem by the BSO with vocals from a Morgan State professor of music, and it was odd NOT to hear the O!

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, scOtt said:

When I watch these old replays I'm always amazed at the HIGH FBs the umps called back then.

 

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

The catchers were all just really good at framing those.

The legal definition of the strike zone was different.   

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

 

The legal definition of the strike zone was different.   

I know.

Just think how many strikeouts we'd have with that strikezone.

[Just Regular]

Sideline reporter asks Lefty Grove if Brooks or Pie Traynor is greatest 3B ever, and he says "there's no comparison because they're just the same".

I think of sideline reporters as a newer thing, so mostly here marvel that we've got Lefty Grove in a sideline interview opening the half-inning with McNally's grand slam.

And why did I never know that McNally's blast came off the reliever who that year recorded the first 35 SV season in MLB history?  Who naturally went unused as his team lost a pair of 1-run games before being called into the 6th inning of a Game 3 slipping away.