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1971 World Series: A Fall Classic Fit For Prime-Time

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The 1971 World Series was the first time the Fall Classic played even a single game at night. The Series as a whole was one worthy of prime-time. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles staged an epic seven-game battle that was decided by a single run. The Pirates prevailed in a World Series that saw the great Roberto Clemente cement his legacy.

You can read more about the season-long paths the Pirates and Orioles took to their respective division titles, their key players and their triumphs in the League Championship Series, at the links below. This article was focus squarely on the seven games of the 1971 World Series.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1971 PITTSBURGH PIRATES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1971 BALTIMORE ORIOLES

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1971 NLCS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1971 ALCS

Homefield advantage worked on a rotation system until 2003, and 1971 was the American League’s year to host. So it was at Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium, on a Saturday afternoon, that this World Series began.

Clemente sought to immediately put his mark on the Series, but his two-out double in the first did not lead to any runs.  In the top of the second, Bob Robertson worked a leadoff walk against Oriole starter Dave McNally. Robertson moved up on a wild pitch. Then, on a groundball to short, the normally reliable Mark Belanger made a throwing error. The Pirates had a run and a man on second base.

Baltimore’s miscues continued when Jackie Hernandez laid down a bunt. This time it was a throwing error by catcher Elrod Hendricks. Another run was in, another runner went to second base. With two outs, Dave Cash knocked an RBI single. It was the only hit of the inning…and enough to stake Pittsburgh starter Dock Ellis to a 3-0 lead.

Frank Robinson quickly cut into that lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the second. Pittsburgh threatened again in the third when Clemente singled and Stargell walked. There was no one out.

It was at this point that McNally not only escaped the inning, but turned the entire game around. He struck out the side to keep it a 3-1 run game. In the bottom of the inning, Belanger and Don Buford singled. Merv Rettenmund went deep and the Orioles had a 4-3 lead.

McNally was now locked in. From the fourth inning through the eighth inning, he retired 15 batters in a row. Only another Belanger error in the ninth broke the streak. Buford homered in the fifth to provide an insurance run and Baltimore grabbed the opener, 5-3.

A rainout pushed Game 2 back to Monday afternoon. The Orioles went to future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer. Pirate starter Bob Johnson didn’t have the same renown, but he was fresh off outdueling another future Hall of Fame pitcher, San Francisco’s Juan Marichal, in the NLCS.

Game 2 began in a way similar to Game 1. A Clemente hit in the first inning didn’t lead to anything. The Pirates put runners on first and second with no outs in the second. This time though, the Orioles weren’t giving out any defensive gifts. Palmer struck out the side and kept the game scoreless.

Frank Robinson led of the bottom of the second with a single. Hendricks worked a walk. Brooks Robinson singled and Baltimore was on the board. Any hopes of a further rally were squelched when Davey Johnson’s line drive went right at Cash and Hendricks was doubled off second.

Clemente kept trying to rally the Pirate offense, with a third-inning double that gave Pittsburgh another opportunity with two men aboard and one out. Palmer got Al Oliver and Robertson to kill the threat.

After another Frank Robinson single in the bottom of the fourth, Bob Johnson got wild, with a walk and a hit batsman. The bases were loaded and there was no one out. Davey Johnson singled to left and scored two runs. Bruce Kison was summoned from the Pirate bullpen to try and limit the damage.

Kison was also wild, walking Belanger and then Palmer (there was no DH even in existence until 1973), scoring another run and keeping the bases load. At 4-0, Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh kept going to his bullpen, this time for Bob Moose. This move worked. Don Buford flied out to left, and Davey Johnson was thrown out at home trying to tag up. The Pirates were in a hole, but they still had a shot.

But Baltimore had momentum and they kept coming in the bottom of the fifth. Five of the first six batters—Rettenmund, Boog Powell, Hendricks, Brooks Robinson and Davey Johnson—singled. It was 7-0, there were two runners on and one out. Bob Veale came out of the bullpen. Again, Belanger and Palmer were walked at  the bottom of the order. It was 8-0 and the bases were loaded. Rettenmund delivered his second single of the inning for two more runs.

At 10-0, it was all over but the shouting. The Orioles later added another run. The Pirates’ Richie Hebner hit a three-run homer in the eighth. But with an 11-3 win and a 2-0 Series lead, Baltimore was firmly in control as the World Series shifted to Pittsburgh.

Steve Blass was the Pirate ace, and the team had won both of his NLCS starts. But Blass hadn’t really pitched well in either one. Now, Pittsburgh’s fate was essentially in Blass’ hands for Tuesday afternoon’s Game 3. He faced off with Mike Cuellar.

Dave Cash started the Pirate first inning with a double down the left field line. An error set up runners on the corners with no outs. Clemente’s ground ball out picked up the run. Stargell worked a walk to keep the rally going. Robertson then hit a line drive, but it went to Brooks Robinson at third, who doubled a runner off to end the inning. It was still 1-0 Pittsburgh.

Blass settled in quickly and the first Baltimore hit didn’t come until a Brooks Robinson single in the fifth inning. Pittsburgh missed a couple chances with a runner on second and one out to add to the lead. But they didn’t miss their chance in the bottom of the sixth. Manny Sanguillen started the frame by slashing a double into the right-centerfield gap. A base hit by Jose Pagan extended the lead to 2-0.

Frank Robinson replied with a solo home run in the seventh that got Baltimore on the board. But Blass was dealing and Pittsburgh would take out insurance. A Cuellar throwing error opened the door in the seventh. Then a walk. Robertson, fresh off hitting four home runs in the NLCS, went deep again here. It was 5-1. That’s where it ended as Blass closed out a three-hitter.

So, we had a Series on our hands again as the lights went on for the first time in the Fall Classic for Wednesday night’s Game 4. The Pirates went with Luke Walker, while the Orioles countered with Pat Dobson.

Baltimore wasted no time. Paul Blair started the game with a single. Belanger and Rettenmund legged out infield hits. A passed ball scored one run. After an intentional walk to Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson picked up another run with a sac fly. The futile throw home allowed Rettenmund to take third, where he scored on a sac fly from Powell. With only one hit out of the infield, the Orioles had three runs. And, hard luck or not, Walker was taking an early shower.

Kison was now entrusted with a game the Pirates simply had to win. And the young reliever got some quick help from his own offense. With a runner on first and two outs in the bottom of the first, Stargell doubled into the gap to put Pittsburgh on the board. Oliver blooped another double. It was 3-2, and there was still a long way to go.

Oliver came through with another two-out RBI in the third, finishing a rally that began with base hits from Hebner and Clemente and tying the game up 3-all.

Pittsburgh missed chances to get the lead in the  middle innings .With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, the speedy Cash grounded into a double play. The bases were filled with one out again in the fifth. This time, Robertson popped up and Sanguillen grounded out. With runners on the corners and one out in the sixth, Oriole manager Earl Weaver went to the bullpen for lefty Grant Jackson.

Hebner hit a line drive, but it went right at Brooks Robinson. After a walk to Clemente, Stargell grounded out. The Pirates had left the maximum of nine runners on base through the 4th-5th-6th inning. As for the Orioles, they had no such problems. Their own offense hadn’t mustered a hit off Kison since the second inning.

Pittsburgh rallied one more time in the bottom of the seventh, against Baltimore’s excellent closer Eddie Watt. Robertson and Sanguillen singled with one out. Vic Davalillo lofted a fly ball to center. Blair, one of the great defensive centerfielders of all-time, flubbed it. Amidst the mess, Robertson took third base…but Sanguillen got hung up between second and third. He was thrown out.

So, after all was said and done, there were runners on first and third, but now there were two outs. Were the Pirates about to let another chance go by the boards? Kison’s spot was due up. Milt May came in to pinch-hit. He got the biggest hit of the Series to this point, a single to center that put the Pirates ahead 4-3.

Pittsburgh closer Dave Giusti picked up where Kison left off, allowing no hits. The Pirates had to fight and scratch and claw to a win game they had dominated, but this Series was now tied two games apiece.

We were back to midweek afternoon baseball for Thursday’s Game 5. McNally was back on the hill for the Orioles. Robertson got him for a home run in the bottom of the second. Sanguillen singled, and then with two outs, the catcher stole second. It set up an RBI base hit from starting pitcher Nelson Briles.

That was all Briles would need, as Pirate pitching picked up where it left off the previous night. Briles went the distance and threw a two-hitter. Pittsburgh added a couple more runs, one of them thanks to a walk and a rare error from Brooks Robinson, another on a not-so-rare RBI hit from Clemente. The final was 4-0.

Over the final 16 innings of these games in Three Rivers Stadium, the Oriole offense had completely vanished, getting four hits total over that stretch. Baltimore undoubtedly welcomed Friday’s travel day, as they went home with their backs now to the wall.

Homefield advantage and a rotation stocked with four 20-game winners still aren’t a bad place to be. The Orioles trotted out Palmer for Game 6. The Pirates went to Moose, who swung between relief and the pen.

But Baltimore’s bats stayed silent in the early going, while Pittsburgh gave Moose a lead to work with. In the top of the second, Oliver doubled to right, Robertson singled to left and it was quickly 1-0. Sanguillen singled. There were runners on first and second and no one out.

Palmer was able to take advantage of the bottom of the order, work out of that jam and temporarily keep it a 1-0 game. But in the top of the third, Clemente homered. The score was 2-0. It stayed that way until the sixth inning. With Baltimore’s bats in a deep freeze, that two-run gap seemed massive.

Finally, Buford went the other way for an opposite field home run to cut the lead in half. An error by Hebner and a single from Powell set up the Birds with runners on the corners and no outs. Johnson came out of the Pirate bullpen. And facing the heart of the order, Johnson got it done. Frank Robinson popped up. Rettenmund struck out. Brooks Robinson grounded out.

In the bottom of the seventh, a one-out single from Belanger prompted Murtaugh to call for Giusti. With two outs, Buford came through again—this time it was with patience, drawing a walk that moved the tying run into scoring position. Davey Johnson singled. It was 2-2 and the Orioles had some fresh life.

Now it was the Pirate bats that had fallen silent, with Palmer locked in. The 2-2 tie went into extra innings. Weaver, naturally pulling out all the stops, had Dobson, another 20-game winner, come on in relief.

Cash tried to get something going for Pittsburgh, singling with one out in the tenth inning, then stealing second with two outs. Clemente and Stargell were walked. The only arm Weaver wasn’t using today was Cuellar, whom the Orioles hoped would start Game 7. So, McNally came on in relief and induced Oliver to fly to center.

Bob Miller was on in relief for Pittsburgh. With one out, the trio of Frank Robinson, Rettenmund and Brooks Robinson was due up. The group that missed on a golden opportunity in the sixth, didn’t miss here. Frank worked a walk and took third on a Rettenmund single. Brooks’ fly ball to center was deep enough to win the game, 3-2. We were going to a Game 7.

It all came down to Sunday afternoon, with Blass and Cuellar again matching up. A walk and an error gave Baltimore the first scoring opportunity in the bottom of the second. But Belanger’s ground ball to Cash turned into an inning-ending double play. In the third, Buford singled with one out. Blass promptly picked him off first.

So, we were still scoreless going into the fourth. It was time for Clemente. A solo home run to left-center gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Both pitchers were dominating. A one-out double from Hendricks in the bottom of the fifth was the only thing remotely resembling a threat as the tense 1-0 game went into the eighth. That’s when Stargell led off with a single, Pagan followed with an RBI double and Pittsburgh had a huge add-on run.

The run looked even bigger when the Orioles launched a desperate rally in the bottom of the eighth. Hendricks and Belanger singled to put the tying runs aboard with no outs. Tom Shopay, batting for Cuellar, dropped a bunt that moved the runners to second and third. Buford was at the plate. His ground ball to first scored a run, but it also gave Blass room to get Davey Johnson on a grounder to third and keep the lead.

It was still 2-1 when Baltimore came to bat for the last shot in the ninth. The Birds had the muscle of the order and could tie it with one swing. Powell grounded out. Frank Robinson popped out. Rettenmund hit a grounder to short, and that was it. The Pirates were champs.

Clemente finished this Series 12-for-29, and had been the one Pittsburgh player who performed throughout, even in the first two games. He homered twice, including the big Game 7 blast. He sparkled defensively throughout the Series. It’s no surprise he was voted Series MVP.

The ultimate legacy of Clemente would come one year later when he tragically died in a plane crash while on a humanitarian mission to his native Nicaragua. The 1971 World Series serves as the less-important, but still notable baseball part of his legacy.

There were other Pirate heroes. Blass, with two brilliant outings in must-win spots where Cuellar was also pitching well, would have been a worthy MVP himself. Sanguillen collected 11 hits over the seven games.

On the Baltimore side, Brooks Robinson showed he could still shine—even in defeat—on the biggest stage, going 7-for-22. The problem was that he was only the Baltimore hitter to bat over .300 for the Series. Palmer had pitched exceptionally well for the Birds, including the must-win Game 6, while McNally posted a 1.98 ERA in over 13 innings of work. Cuellar had to go into the history books as the hard-luck victim of Blass, but the Oriole lefty certainly pitched well.

Neither team were going anywhere. Each had multiple division titles in their immediate future. But it would take until 1979 for these two franchises to again reach the World Series. Again, they played each other. And again, the Pirates rallied from a two-game Series deficit to win a Game 7 in Baltimore. In our own day, these same two cities have a fierce NFL rivalry. The grudge battles between Pittsburgh and Baltimore were just getting started when they met at the 1971 World Series.

1971 NLCS: The Pirates Muscle Past The Giants

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The Pittsburgh Pirates were a team with unfinished business, having reached the 1970 NLCS before being swept out of the then best-of-five round in three straight. The San Francisco Giants were making their first appearance in a League Championship Series round that was in just its third year of existence. When the Pirates and Giants met in the 1971 NLCS, Pittsburgh spotted San Francisco an early lead before taking over and capturing the pennant.

You can read more about the season-long journeys the Pirates and Giants took to their respective division titles, and about their key players, at the links below. This article will focus narrowly on the games of the 1971 NLCS.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1971 PITTSBURGH PIRATES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1971 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

Homefield advantage was determined on a rotation basis and was done with a 2-3 format. This series would open with two games out west, at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, and then finish at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

The Giants sent future Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry to the mound. The Pirate rotation was lined up with staff ace Steve Blass set to pitch Game 1. It was Pittsburgh who struck first. Shortstop Jackie Hernandez singled in the 8-spot of the batting order, enabling Blass to drop down a sac bunt. Dave Cash doubled to right to score the first run of the series. Richie Hebner then hit a ground ball at the great Willie McCovey. The Hall of Fame first baseman misplayed it and the Pirates enjoyed a 2-0 lead.

San Francisco responded immediately in the bottom of the third and in almost identical fashion. Chris Speier, the #8-hitting shortstop singled. Perry bunted him up. Ken Henderson doubled. It was 2-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, Speier again started a rally with a base hit. Perry again did his job with the sac bunt. A Henderson groundball moved Speier to third, but there were two outs. Blass was on the verge of escaping. Until Tito Fuentes homered. San Francisco was up 3-2. Then the great Willie Mays worked a walk. McCovey atoned for his defensive miscue with another home run. Blass was gone and the Giants were ahead 5-2.

Pittsburgh made a run at Perry in the top of the seventh. Gene Alley, batting in the pitcher’s spot, singled. Cash followed with another single. The heart of the order was coming up with the tying run at the plate. Roberto Clemente, another all-time great in a series filled with them, worked a one-out walk to load the bases. Perry got Willie Stargell to pop out. With the rally on the verge of flaming out, Al Oliver knocked a two-run single, cutting the lead to 5-4.

But Perry buckled down. He got out of that inning and allowed just one more single the rest of the way. Even though San Francisco missed a chance to add on in the bottom of the eighth when they wasted a first-and-second with no outs situation, the Giants still grabbed Game 1, 5-4.

Any loss in a series this short is a big one, but in 1971 this first game might have seemed even bigger. In 1969 and 1970, the LCS round in both leagues ended up in sweeps. Baltimore would deliver another sweep in the 1971 ALCS. So, we were still waiting for a series where the team that lost the first game could answer—even once.

Pittsburgh would turn to Dock Ellis for Sunday afternoon’s Game 2. San Francisco had to go to the final day of the season to clinch the NL West and this spot was where that showed up in the pitching rotation. Juan Marichal joined with Perry in giving the Giants a 1-2 punch of future Hall of Famers. But Marichal had to win the season finale and was thus unavailable until Game 3. John Cumberland was a pretty good swingman, going back and forth between the rotation and the pen. But he wasn’t Juan Marichal.

Cumberland worked around singles from Cash and Clemente in the first, thanks a strikeout/caught stealing double play that took Cash off the bases. And the Giants went to work right away on Ellis. Fuentes singled with one out and moved up on a passed ball. Mays ripped an RBI double for the game’s first run. After McCovey was intentionally walked, Dave Kingman singled. The bases were loaded, there was one out and San Francisco was poised to break this open early.

Instead, Ellis struck out Dick Dietz, a good-hitting catcher. Al Gallagher grounded out and the Pirates stayed within 1-0. They promptly tied it up in the top of the second with a double by Bob Robertson and an RBI single from Manny Sanguillen.

Speier was proving to be a problem for Pittsburgh pitching and the #8 hitter again got something going with a double to start the bottom of the second. He eventually scored on a single from Henderson. San Francisco took that 2-1 lead into the top of the fourth.

Robertson homered to tie the game. After a Sanguillen single, Cumberland was removed for Jim Barr. Sanguillen stole second and scored on a single from Hernandez. The Pirates were up 3-2 and that extended to 4-2 when Gene Alley homered in the fifth.

Ellis had settled down by the sixth inning, when San Francisco made their next move. Gallagher was hit by a pitch. Speier singled. With no one out and two aboard, Ellis was removed. Bob Miller came out of the Pittsburgh bullpen. A walk to Henderson was sandwiched between two strikeouts. With the bases loaded, Mays was at the plate.

In a moment of high drama, Miller got the out he could tell his grandchildren about, getting the great San Francisco outfielder to fly out to right. After all that, it was still 4-2 Pirates.

Pittsburgh then took out insurance—a lot of it—in the top of the seventh. Cash doubled. Oliver and Clemente singled. It was 5-2. Robertson blew it open with another home run, extending the lead to 8-2. For good measure, Robertson hit his third blast of the game in the ninth to make it 9-2. A two-run shot by Mays in the bottom of the ninth was too little, too late for San Francisco in a 9-4 loss. We finally had a League Championship Series that would not be a sweep.

Day baseball was still the order of the day for LCS play, so Tuesday’s game at Three Rivers was in the afternoon, even as the Baltimore-Oakland ALCS matchup was also during the day. Marichal was on the mound for San Francisco against Pittsburgh’s Bob Johnson. The Giants were still in good position, with the two aces, Marichal and Perry lined up for these next two games.

Enter Bob Robertson. The Pirate first baseman homered again for a 1-0 lead in the second. At which point, Marichal went into lockdown mode. But so did the more unheralded Johnson. It was still 1-zip when San Francisco batted in the top of the sixth.

Henderson singled. When the ensuing sac bunt attempt when to Hebner, the Pirate third baseman threw the ball away—so badly, that Henderson came all the way around with the tying run. The Giants eventually loaded the bases with two outs. Johnson got Gallagher to ground out and keep the score 1-1.

Hebner tried to atone for his mistake with a single to lead off the bottom of the sixth. An error put runners on first and second with one out. The heart of the order was at hand. Marichal struck out Stargell, got Oliver and kept the game tied.

The duel between Marichal and Johnson went into the bottom of the eighth. There were two outs and no one aboard. Hebner, at the heart of so much of the action all day long, was there again. He homered. Pittsburgh turned the game over to closer Dave Giusti, who set down the side in order in the ninth. The Pirates had both the game and the series, 2-1.

Game 4 provided a Perry-Blass pitching rematch. Their back to the wall, San Francisco came out on the attack. After a Cash error opened the game, Fuentes and McCovey each singled. A run was on the board and there were men on first and second.

Blass struck out Bobby Bonds, limiting the damage and keeping it a 1-0 game. Cash promptly redeemed himself with a single and then took third on a Hebner double. Clemente’s base hit scored both runs and Pittsburgh had the lead.

Speier’s big series continued with a home run in the top of second. With one out, Henderson and Fuente singled. With two outs, McCovey came to the plate. The big first baseman went deep. The Giants were up 5-2 and while it was very early, there was every reason to think Perry could now take them to a Game 5.

Instead, the lead didn’t even last the inning. Sanguillen led off the bottom of the second with a single. Bill Mazeroski, the veteran hero of the Pirates’ 1960 World Series champs, came off the bench to bat for Blass. Maz singled with one out. Hebner came to the plate with two outs. He ripped a three-run jack and we were tied 5-5.

Pittsburgh threatened again in the third and fourth, but Perry twice wiggled out of situations with two runners on. The 5-5 tie held to the bottom of the sixth.

Cash got something going with a one-out single, and then moved to second on a groundout from Hebner. The veteran Clemente stepped up and delivered the two-out RBI single that put Pittsburgh ahead 6-5. Perry was gone. San Francisco’s excellent reliever, Jerry Johnson was on to try and keep this a one-run game.

After an intentional walk to Stargell, Oliver came to the plate. Power had defined this game and Pittsburgh’s play in this NLCS generally. So perhaps it was fitting that a three-run jack from Oliver all but sealed the deal.

Bruce Kison had come in for Blass and the young Pirate pitcher was outstanding into the seventh. The tying run never came to the plate in what was now a 9-5 game. Giusti nailed down the final seven outs. When Bonds grounded out to third, the Pirates were going to the World Series.

For San Francisco, it would be a long time before they returned to the October stage. It was 1987 when the Giants returned to the NLCS. It took two more years, to 1989, before they won a pennant. And it was 2010 before San Francisco won a World Series.

As for Pittsburgh, a World Series championship was less than two weeks away. After spotting the Baltimore Orioles two games in the Fall Classic, the Pirates roared back to win a seven-game series. Pittsburgh would return to the NLCS in 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1979, winning a second championship in that ’79 postseason.

1971 Los Angeles Dodgers: A September Drive Comes Up Short

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The Dodger franchise, long the most consistent in the National League, had experienced boom times after moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958. Previously known for winning pennants, but experiencing World Series frustration (save one glorious moment in 1955), the Dodgers rattled off World Series championships in 1959, 1963 and 1965. They won another pennant in 1966. But in the late 1960s, the team slowed down. There were a couple losing years. Winning baseball returned in 1969 and 1970. The 1971 Los Angeles Dodgers built off that and contended to the very last day of the regular season.

Los Angeles had four horses in their starting rotation, who combined to make 142 starts. Al Downing delivered a 20-win season and a 2.68 ERA. Don Sutton was 26-years-old and eventually bound for the Hall of Fame. Sutton won 17 and his ERA was 2.54. Claude Osteen’s 14 wins came with a 3.51 ERA. Bill Singer’s numbers were pedestrian—10-7 with a 4.16 ERA, but functionable for a #4 starter.

Manager Walter Alston got excellent work from Jim Brewer out of the bullpen, with 22 saves and a buck-88 ERA. Depth was a little lacking, but the rotation and Brewer were enough to give Los Angeles the fourth-best ERA in the National League.

Dick Allen was the key to an offense that had pretty good balance overall. Allen finished with a stat line of a .395 on-base percentage/.468 slugging percentage. He hit 23 homers and drove in 90 runs.

No one else stood out in the everyday lineup, but many made steady contributions. Wes Parker played first base and finished with a .347 OBP. Maury Wills, the great 38-year-old base stealer, could still run and he swiped 44 bags. Willie Davis had a respectable stat line in center of .330/.438. The same went for Willie Crawford in left field, at .334/.442.

The Dodgers got further production from a combo of Duke Sims and Tom Haller at the catcher’s spot, with OBPs of .357 and .346. The steady, across-the-board contributions, anchored by Allen, was enough for the L.A. lineup to also rank fourth, in what was then a 12-team National League, in runs scored.

Los Angeles got off to a slow start at 5-8, but bounced back by winning eight of ten in a stretch that included the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, the reigning division champs in the National League.

Here might be a good place to step back and remind younger readers that each league had just two divisions, an East and a West in 1971. Only the first-place finisher went to the playoffs. In fact, the very existence of divisional play had just begun in 1969. So, the proud Dodger franchise was still seeking its first NL West title.

Cincinnati and Atlanta, in a tortured display of geography had been situated in the NL West (while the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs were in the East). The Reds had won both this division and the National League pennant in 1970. The NL West also included the Houston Astros, who did not move to the American League until 2013. The rest of the division was rounded out by the Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.

It was the Giants who were off to the hot start and Los Angeles went to northern California and lost a series in May. The Dodgers were also swept three straight by the Pirates, a team destined to win the World Series in 1971. They lost two of three to a good St. Louis team. And when the Giants came south, the Dodgers again lost two of three.

So, when the season reached the Memorial Day turn, Los Angeles was a pedestrian 25-24. The good news is that Cincinnati was playing terribly. The bad news was that San Francisco was scorching, off to a 36-14 start. The Dodgers were staring at an early 10 ½ game deficit and no wild-card cushion to fall back on.

The early part of summer brought better baseball. A three-game sweep of the Montreal Expos (today’s Washington Nationals) keyed a 7-2 stretch. Los Angeles won five in a row, including a two-game sweep of San Francisco. The Giants slumped and the Dodgers quickly slashed the deficit to 3 ½ games.

A slump before the All-Star break—four straight losses to the Cubs and a series loss to the Giants, left Los Angeles six games out of first. But they were back in business, and with Cincinnati still fallen and unable to get up, the Dodgers were the only team in position to make a second-half run at San Francisco.

But the latter part of summer would be a missed opportunity. The Dodgers lost 10 of 18 in a sequence that included the Pirates and the Reds. Los Angeles did pick up two more wins over San Francisco and again nudged to within 4 ½ games. But in late August and early September, the Dodgers lost 11 of 18 against beatable teams in the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets and Montreal.

When Labor Day arrived, Los Angeles was eight games behind San Francisco. The only saving grace was that there were still five head-to-head games. But the Dodgers had no margin for error and those big battles would begin on Labor Day afternoon in Chavez Ravine.

A young first baseman named Steve Garvey was 21-years-old and just starting to get some playing time. Garvey homered and drove in two runs in this Monday opener. So did the veteran Wills. The Dodgers won 5-2. On Tuesday night, they erupted for four runs in the first inning. Willie Davis and Allen had two hits and two RBIs apiece. This time the result was a 9-3 rout. And in the Wednesday finale, Singer outdueled San Francisco’s great Juan Marichal, winning 3-0.

The Dodgers barreled out of that series and swept the Padres on the weekend. When Los Angeles went north for the return series in San Francisco, the lead was suddenly down to three games.

And L.A. picked up where they left off on Monday night. Allen, Crawford and Davis all homered. Holding a 5-4 lead, Brewer retired the last seven Giant batters to seal the win. On Tuesday, Los Angeles trailed 5-3 in the ninth. As good as this stretch had been, even a single head-to-head loss would be devastating to the pennant drive. Pinch-hitter Manny Mota came off the bench and hit a bases-loaded double that scored all three runs. The Dodgers won 6-5.

Now, the race was on. L.A. briefly slipped and fell back to 2 ½ games off the pace, but on the final weekend of the season were able to sweep Atlanta. The final three games would be on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. And the deficit was just a single game.

Both contenders were playing beatable teams. The Dodgers were hosting the Astros, while the Giants were in SoCal to play the Padres.  Singer was clutch in the Tuesday night opener, tossing a three-hitter. Wills’ two-out RBI base hit in the eighth inning gave L.A. a 2 -1 win. San Francisco held serve.

Disaster came on Wednesday night. Downing was rocked the first inning, the game got out of hand and Los Angeles suffered an 11-0 loss. They had to wait as the Giants and Padres went extra innings. San Diego pulled it out. The Dodgers had a stay of execution.

Sutton stepped up in Thursday’s finale, pitching a six-hitter. His single in the seventh inning also started the key rally that got Los Angeles a 2-1 win. But the out-of-town scoreboard was not providing good news. San Francisco had given Marichal an early lead, one he would not relinquish. The Dodgers’ noble September drive had come up a game short.

The 1971 season still saw the return of real pennant race baseball to Los Angeles. But it would take until 1974 to finally get that first NL West flag.

How The 1971 San Francisco Giants Won The NL West

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The move west had been good for the Giants franchise. After two losing seasons ended their tenure in New York, the team began playing winning baseball as soon as they arrived in San Francisco in 1958. They consistently contended over the next decade-plus and won a National League pennant in 1962. The 1971 San Francisco Giants continued in that tradition, but also foreshadowed decline. A blazing start allowed the ’71 Giants to capture the NL West title. But the fact a race that was comfortably in hand nearly got away from them portended some rougher sailing ahead.

Bobby Bonds, the father of future San Francisco superstar Barry, was the Giants’ best player. At the age of 25, Bobby posted a stat line of .355 on-base percentage/.512 slugging percentage. He hit 33 home runs. Bonds drove in 102 runs and scored 110 more, ending up fourth in the MVP voting.

Willie McCovey was one of the great players in franchise history and at 33-years-old, the first baseman was still going strong, with a stat line of .396/.480. Dick Dietz provided pop from behind the plate, with 19 home runs and a .387 OBP. Ken Henderson chipped in with a .370 OBP playing left field.

And there was another franchise legend, one you may have heard of, that was still making a contribution. The great Willie Mays turned 40-years-old in May of 1971. His numbers weren’t dazzling—18 home runs and a .271 batting average. But Mays’ patience at the plate enhanced his value even further. Drawing  a league-leading 112 walks, he ended up with an OBP of .425.

All of which enabled San Francisco—even with offensive weak spots around the infield—to finish third in the National League for runs scored.

The starting rotation was anchored by two future Hall of Famers. Gaylord Perry was 32-years-old and went 16-12 with a 2.76 ERA. Juan Marichal, now age 33, was 18-11 and his ERA clocked in at 2.94. Perry and Marichal combined to start 74 games.

The bullpen was anchored by Jerry Johnson. With his 18 saves (in an era where there were nowhere near the save opportunities relievers enjoy today), 109 innings pitched and a 2.97 ERA, Johnson made his way onto a few Cy Young, and even MVP ballots. John Cumberland was a reliable swingman between the rotation and the bullpen, with a 2.92 ERA.

But the depth in both the rotation and the bullpen was problematic. A couple of young arms in Ron Bryant and Steve Stone combined for 41 starts and had ERAs ranging from the high 3s to the low 4s. The other bullpen arms, Don McMahon and Rich Robertson had ERAs on the high side of 4. The result was that San Francisco’s composite staff ERA ended up sixth in the NL, right in the middle of what was then a 12-team league.

The National League of this era was split into just two divisions, an East and a West, and only the first-place finisher qualified for postseason play. The Cincinnati Reds were situated in the NL West. The Reds had won the pennant in 1970 and were considered the team to beat. San Francisco’s ancient rival from both coasts, the Los Angeles Dodgers, were always competitive. With no wild-card fallback, the Giants had no slack.

San Francisco blew out of the gate to a 12-4 start. That stretch included a series win over the World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates, keyed by shutouts from Stone and Bryant. The Giants grabbed two of three from the Reds. By the early part of May, San Francisco had spurted to a 6 ½ game lead. Cincinnati and Los Angeles were each coming into Candlestick Park for some good early season baseball.

The series against the Reds started the week. On Monday night, infielders Al Gallagher and Tito Fuentes knocked two hits apiece and Marichal delivered a complete-game 3-2 win. Tuesday night’s win came easier—Bonds, Dietz and McCovey all homered, Perry was staked to an early lead and coasted home to the 6-1 victory. Wednesday afternoon’s finale started even faster—a six-run first inning was keyed by  backup infielder Hal Lanier ripping a bases-loaded double. Bryant went the distance and completed the sweep, 7-2.

After a day off on Thursday, it was time to face the Dodgers. The Giants trailed 4-3 going into the bottom of the seventh. In short order, three singles, two walks and a couple errors by the Dodgers led to a big inning and an 8-4 win.

Marichal was brilliant again on Saturday afternoon, but the game was still scoreless into the bottom of the seventh. Mays led off with a double and was able to score on a base hit by Dietz. Marichal made it stand up for a 1-0 win.

Finally on Sunday, the bullpen failed and couldn’t hold a 5-3 lead. The ultimate 9-6 defeat prevented San Francisco from sweeping the week, but it was all still an impressive early statement and the NL West lead grew to nine games.

By the time Memorial Day arrived, San Francisco was soaring at 36-14. They had a healthy 10 ½ game on L.A. and were plus-11 on the Houston Astros (a National League team until 2013). Cincinnati was playing poorly and stared at a 15-game deficit.

No one can stay that hot, and the Giants didn’t. Even with a softer schedule out of the holiday weekend, they lost 11 of 16. The Dodgers heated up and quickly slashed the lead down to five games. A series with the San Diego Padres was the right tonic—San Francisco swept a five-game series that included a pair of doubleheaders. In early July, the Giants won another series with the Pirates.

At the All-Star break, San Francisco was 55-36. Los Angeles was within six. Cincinnati was still 15 out and the Reds would not be in contention the rest of the way.

The Giants picked the pace up again coming out of the break. They won six of seven games against the Pirates in the latter part of July. There were some downsides in August—series losses to NL East contender St. Louis, and dropping two straight to Los Angeles. But by Labor Day, the Giants’ record was still 82-58 and their edge on the Dodgers had nudged back out to eight games.

There were five head-to-head matchups between San Francisco and Los Angeles in early September. Picking up even one win, and certainly two, could ensure this NL West race got put to bed without drama.

Instead, the Giants went south and lost three straight to their rival, getting outscored 17-5 in the process. Then they dropped a weekend series to lowly Atlanta. In the blink of an eye, Los Angeles was within three games of the lead.

There was still a two-game set with the Dodgers back in Candlestick the following week. The Giants lost both of those games too. The lead was slashed to a single game. San Francisco was able to stop the bleeding the following week, but the margin remained a tantalizing single game as each team entered the final series of the season.

All the action was in SoCal—San Francisco was visiting San Diego, while Los Angeles hosted Houston. Perry took the ball on Tuesday night and did what an ace does. He shut down the Padres. Shortstop Chris Speier hit a three-run blast and the Giants won 7-1. The Dodgers had a tighter affair, but kept the pressure on with a 2-1 win.

Wednesday night’s game was tight and went to extra innings tied 1-1. L.A. was getting crushed, on their way to an 11-0 loss. The opportunity to clinch was there. But in the bottom of the 10th, Johnson, so good all year, gave up a three-run walkoff blast to Padre slugger Nate Colbert. The 1971 NL West race was going to the last day of the season.

Marichal was the man with the ball. Like Perry before him, Marichal did what an ace does. He never let the Padre offense get going. A couple hits by Fuentes fueled a steady offensive attack. The Giants had a comfortable 5-1 lead going into the ninth. Marichal induced Colbert to hit one on the ground to short. Speier threw to McCovey and the Giants were NL West champs.

San Francisco might have barely hung on, but they did establish some early momentum in the NLCS against Pittsburgh. Hosting the first two games of what was then a best-of-five series, the Giants won the opener and took an early lead in Game 2. But Pirate power muscled up and several big home runs turned the tide in that game. The Giants had to settle for a split of their home games. They lost Games 3 & 4 in Pittsburgh and the season had come to an end.

1971 was still a terrific year for baseball in San Francisco. The downside was really that this ended the run of good seasons the franchise had enjoyed since moving west. Five of the next years saw the Giants under .500. They did not return to serious contention until 1978. They did not make the NLCS again until 1987. It took until 1989 to win the National League pennant. And the first World Series championship in their West Coast home? That was an even longer wait, not coming until 2010.

How The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates Won The NL East

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The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates were coming off a season where they won a division title and reached the National League Championship Series. In this ’71 season, the Pirates were even better—they again reached the postseason. This time, they won the NLCS. And at World Series time, the great Roberto Clemente secured his baseball legacy in leading Pittsburgh to a championship.

Clemente, now 36-years-old, was not slowing down in rightfield. He hit .341, and his slugging percentage was up over. 500. Clemente finished fifth in the National League MVP voting. But he wasn’t the best player in the Pirate lineup this season. That honor belonged to the man on the opposite corner of the outfield.

Thirty-one-year old Willie Stargell had a spectacular season in 1971. Stargell hit 48 homers, drove in 125 runs, scored 104 runs, slugged an astonishing .628 and posted an excellent on-base percentage of .398. This, along with playing on a division winner, would normally have made Stargell a slam-dunk pick for MVP. But with Joe Torre, then playing third base in St. Louis, having a spectacular season of his own, Stargell had to settle for runner-up in the final MVP tally.

Stargell and Clemente were the keys to the lineup, but a team that scored more runs than anyone else in the National League had other weapons. Bob Robertson played first base and finished with a stat line of .356 OBP/.484 slugging, while popping 26 home runs. Dave Cash played second base, hit leadoff and posted an OBP of .349. Manny Sanguillen was behind the plate and his stat line was a respectable .345/.426. Al Oliver slugged .446 in centerfield. Richie Hebner played third base and slugged .487.

Pittsburgh’s pitching staff was led by Steve Blass and Dock Ellis, who combined to make 64 starts. Blass’ 2.85 ERA was the best among staff regulars and he won 15 games. Ellis went 19-9 and finished with a solid 3.06 ERA.

Bob Johnson and Luke Walker had ERAs in the mid-3s. Bob Moose and 21-year-old Bruce Kison were adequate at the back end of the rotation. Dave Giusti saved 30 games and finished with 2.93 ERA. Nelson Briles shuffled between the rotation and the pen, finishing with an ERA of 3.04.

All in all, it added up to a staff that was in the “good but not great” category, finishing fifth in a 12-team National League for ERA. But that was more than good enough to win, given the bats Pittsburgh had.

After a month of mediocre play, the Pirates started to pick it up in May. They went 6-5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, the teams who would battle it out to the final day in the NL West. Pittsburgh took three of five from Cincinnati, the defending NL pennant winner, but headed for a rough year in 1971. On the down side, the Pirates dropped four of seven games to the New York Mets.

All in all though, Pittsburgh was consistent enough to reach Memorial Day with a record of 28-19. They were in third place, 2 ½ games back of St. Louis, with New York nestled in between.

It’s worth noting for younger readers that the concept of divisional play was only in its third season and each league had just an East and a West. Pittsburgh—along with St. Louis and the Chicago Cubs—were in the NL East. They were joined by the Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos (today’s Washington Nationals). Only the first-place finisher would reach the postseason, going directly to the NLCS.

So, while the start was pretty good, it was still a big series when St. Louis came into Pittsburgh on June 1. Cash got the party started in Tuesday night’s opener with a leadoff double, the first of his three hits, and it keyed a five-run outburst that included a two-out, two-run single from Ellis. Dock wasn’t too bad on the mound either, tossing a three-hitter and winning 9-0.

It was more of the same on Wednesday night, with Cash getting three more hits. Vic Davalillo, a reserve outfielder with great bat control, had three hits in the 2-spot of the order. Stargell drove in three runs and Pittsburgh won 10-1 behind six good innings from Walker. Even though Bob Johnson had a rough night and lost the finale to Cardinal ace Steve Carlton 7-1, the series got the Pirates moving in the right direction.

The return visit to St. Louis came on June 10 for a sort-of weekend series that would go on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Blass took the ball for the opener and won 3-1, with the key hit being a two-run single in the sixth from Sanguillen. Friday night was another offensive party. Sanguillen had three more hits. Stargell homered. Ellis did it again with his bat, driving in three runs. And the Dock did it again on the mound, winning 11-4 for his ninth win of the year.

Saturday night’s finale was a good baseball game and a taut affair. With two hits and two RBIs from Stargell, Pittsburgh was tied 3-3. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Oliver homered. Pirate reliever Mudcat Grant closed it, getting Torre to ground out to end the game.

The sweep was complete. Beating the Cardinals five times in six tries had moved Pittsburgh into first place in the NL West. Then they went 18-9 up until the All-Star break. Their record was a sparkling 57-31 and their division lead was a healthy 9 ½ on the Cubs, 10 on the Mets and 11 on the badly slumping Cardinals.

The latter part of the summer saw the Pirates slump. They went 9-10 in a home-and-home sequence against the three West Coast teams, the Giants, Dodgers and Padres. Pittsburgh’s lead was big enough for that not to be a big deal, but it combined with a disastrous four-game set at home with St. Louis. The Pirates only scored six total runs, lost all four games and the Cardinals surged to within 3 ½ games.

Then Pittsburgh lost three of four in Cincinnati. Facing the possibility of a collapse, the Pirates planted their feet and won 10 of the next 13. By Labor Day, the Pirates were still 84-57 and their margin on the Cardinals was 5 ½ games. No one else was in the race. Pittsburgh was in control, but still had five head-to-head games with St. Louis in September.

They responded like a battle-tested team would, immediately winning five straight. The lead was pushed to 7 ½ in mid-September. St. Louis came to old (then new) Three Rivers Stadium for two games. Even one win would all but finish off this race.

Actually, the Pirates won both. Ellis beat Carlton 4-1 with help from a two-run shot by Oliver. On Wednesday night, Walker pitched well, while the Cardinals beat themselves with walks and errors. Pittsburgh won 6-1.

It was the following Wednesday night—appropriately enough on the return trip to St. Louis—that the division was clinched. Facing the great veteran, Cardinal Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, the Pirates won 5-1 behind good work from Walker and Giusti out of the bullpen. When the closer induced Joe Hague to hit a ground ball to Robertson and the first baseman took it himself, the champagne could flow.

There was more champagne to be uncorked in the Steel City this October. Pittsburgh faced San Francisco in the 1971 NLCS. After losing the first game on the road and then falling behind early in the second game, the Pirates were in trouble in what was then a best-of-five series. Until Robertson homered three times to lead a Game 2 rally. Pittsburgh came back home and won two more, with Robertson, along with Hebner hitting more clutch home runs. The Pirates had their first National League pennant since the magical championship year of 1960.

The 1971 World Series would be one of baseball’s memorable Fall Classics, but it didn’t start that way. Pittsburgh started on the road with two losses to the defending champion Baltimore Orioles. But Blass got things turned around with a win back home in Game 3. Meanwhile, Clemente was hitting and he was making plays in the field. Pittsburgh won two more at home. Back in Baltimore, a 10-inning loss in Game 6 set up a decisive seventh game.

It was Blass and Clemente who did the job. The pitcher had his second brilliant outing of the Series. A Clemente homer started the scoring and Pittsburgh won a 2-1 nailbiter. They were champs.

More winning was coming in a decade that already saw the Pirates 2-for-2 in winning the NL East. They won the division again in 1972 before losing a crushing NLCS to the Reds. Pittsburgh won division titles in 1974 and 1975. After three years of running behind Philadelphia, the Pirates returned to the top of the NL East in 1979. And they ended the decade the way it had opened, with another pennant, and another seven-game World Series victory over Baltimore.

1971 ALCS: A Third Straight Sweep For The Orioles

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The League Championship Series round was only in its third year of existence in 1971, but the Baltimore Orioles were already old hands at it. The Birds had swept what was then a best-of-five series the previous two years and won the World Series in 1970. The Oakland A’s were the newcomers. The difference in experience showed at the 1971 ALCS, as Baltimore made it three in a row—not just pennants, but sweeps.

You can read more about the season-long paths the Orioles and A’s took to reach this postseason and about their key players, at the links below. This article will focus exclusively on the games of the 1971 ALCS.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1971 BALTIMORE ORIOLES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1971 OAKLAND A’S

Homefield advantage was done on a rotation basis and it was the AL East’s turn to host. The series opened in Baltimore on a Sunday afternoon. The Orioles sent one of their four 20-game winners, Dave McNally, to face Oakland ace Vida Blue who would merely win both the Cy Young and MVP awards this season.

Oakland showed no signs of cold feet with a second inning  assault. In short order, Sal Bando doubled, Angel Mangual tripled and Dave Duncan doubled. The score was 2-0 and there was nobody out. Dick Green dropped down a sac bunt to move Duncan to third.  Blue came to the plate—this was two years before the advent of the DH rule in the American League.

Duncan was thrown out on the basepaths and that threat was ended. But in the top of the fourth, Mangual delivered again–a one-out RBI double that drove in Tommy Davis. The A’s were up 3-zip and had the best pitcher in baseball on the mound.

In the bottom of the fourth, Davey Johnson and Merv Rettenmund hit back-to-back doubles, the first hits Blue had given up. Boog Powell singled to right. One run was in and there were runners on the corners with one out. Brooks Robinson was at the plate, but Blue got him to ground to Bando at third and start an inning-ending double play. Oakland’s lead held at 3-1.

It stayed that way until the seventh, when Baltimore finally got to Blue. A leadoff walk issued to Frank Robinson was the original source of Blue’s troubles. Brooks Robinson singled. After a flyball out, there were runners on the corners, but Blue was on the verge of escaping against the bottom of the order. Instead, 8-hitter Mark Belanger singled, cutting the lead to 3-2. Curt Motton, batting in McNally’s spot, slashed a double. The game was tied 3-all with runners on second and third.

Paul Blair finished the job with a two-out, two-run double that gave Baltimore a 5-3 lead. Oakland had a threat in the eighth, after Bert Campaneris led off the inning with a double, with Joe Rudi and Reggie Jackson coming to the plate. But ace Oriole reliever Eddie Watt slammed the door and Baltimore took Game 1.

Prime-time baseball in LCS play was something else still a couple years off, so Monday’s Game 2 started at 1 PM. Baltimore had another 20-game winner to go to, this one being Mike Cuellar. Oakland had another rising star in Catfish Hunter.

Oakland again got a leadoff double in the second, this one from Tommy Davis. This time the rally died with no runs. In the bottom of that inning, Rettenmund singled, but was thrown out trying to stretch into a double. Brooks Robinson responded with a solo home run. Two more singles, one by Cuellar, put two on with two outs. But Catfish got Don Buford to fly out. An inning that could have been big ended with just one run.

The Birds used the long ball again, this time off the bat of Boog Powell, to take a 2-0 lead in the third. Oakland finally got on the board in the fourth. Bando doubled and scored on a two-out base hit from Duncan. The A’s threatened in the sixth when Reggie Jackson led off with a double and was bunted up to third.

Oakland was poised to tie the game…but Bando and Mangual were unable to drive in the run. Baltimore kept their 2-1 lead going into the late innings.

Hunter had been in control since the third, but the inability to keep the ball in the yard did him in again late. Elrod Hendricks homered for Baltimore. Powell went deep again in the eighth, this time a two-run blast. Cuellar went the distance. With a 5-1 win, the Orioles had held serve at home and were one win from the pennant.

The travel day had been lost when the opening of the series had to be postponed from its scheduled Saturday start date. That meant a long flight across the country and a quick turnaround with a day game on Tuesday. The difference between the rotations also started to show up. Oakland’s Diego Segui was a good arm, to be sure. But Baltimore simply trotted out another 20-game winner—the future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer.

A couple of first-inning walks put Segui in immediate trouble, the bases loaded and no outs. But he sandwiched big strikeouts of Frank and Brooks Robinson around a sac fly from Hendricks. The Orioles only got one run.

It was Palmer’s turn to get out of some trouble in the bottom of the first. With runners on first and second and one out, the Oriole starter got Mike Epstein and Bando to keep Oakland off the board.

The pattern continued in the top of the third. Baltimore had two on and one out. Frank Robinson hit a hard line drive…that went right at shortstop Campaneris who doubled off the runner and killed the threat. When Reggie Jackson homered in the bottom of the inning, we had a 1-1 tie.

Oakland had their chance to get the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Palmer issued a couple walks. But the bottom of the order was up. Green and Segui were retired. A game with a lot of action still had a tight 1-1 score.

The constant playing with fire got Segui burned in the top of the fifth though. Buford led off with a single. Powell worked a one-out walk. A Frank Robinson groundout moved both runners up, to second and third. Hendricks walked. Two outs, the bases loaded and Brooks Robinson at the plate. The hero of Baltimore’s 1970 postseason run, Brooks knocked a single to center and picked up two runs. Oakland manager Dick Williams pulled Segui and brought in Rollie Fingers, but the damage was done.

Bando homered in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 3-2. But the Orioles took out some insurance in the top of the seventh. A walk to Powell was followed by an RBI double from Frank Robinson, who in turn took third on a futile throw home. That enabled another run to score on a wild pitch. It was 5-2 and the Orioles could taste the champagne.

The A’s made noise in the bottom of the eighth though. Reggie Jackson homered again to make it 5-3. Mike Epstein singled. The tying run was coming to the plate in the person of Bando, who was enjoying a good series. But his groundball to short started a double-play. Palmer locked in and struck out the final four batters. Baltimore was officially 9-0 in ALCS play over three years and going back to the World Series.

There was no ALCS MVP honor awarded until 1980. Baltimore’s balanced attack left them with several good candidates for a retroactive honor. Powell went 3-for-10 and homered twice. Davey Johnson also went 3-for-10. Buford and Blair had three hits apiece while starting just two games.

But the honor would have to go to Brooks Robinson. In going 4-for-11, he narrowly had the top batting average of any Oriole regular. He hit the home run that got Baltimore started in Game 2 and had the biggest hit of the clinching Game 3. None of the starting pitchers worked more than one game and no reliever stood out.

On Oakland’s side, Bando and Reggie Jackson, with four hits apiece stood out. The lack of great outings from Blue and Hunter is ultimately what did the A’s in.

Baltimore briefly kept their momentum going, winning the first two games of the World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. But then the Oriole bats fell silent and they ultimately lost a heartbreaking seven-game series.

As for Oakland, they would be back in spades. This was the first of five straight trips to the ALCS. Starting in 1972, the A’s would win three straight World Series. Two of the ALCS triumphs in that span came against the Orioles. Baltimore and Oakland were the dominant American League teams of the early 1970s and this 1971 ALCS was their first postseason showdown.

1971 Cincinnati Reds: An Unexpected Step Back

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The 1971 Cincinnati Reds came into the season with high hopes. A core group of young players had won a breakthrough pennant in 1970. From the perspective of history we know that this core group would do great things throughout the coming decade. But 1971 proved to be a year where nothing really clicked. The Reds did go wire-to-wire—but it was under .500 the entire way.

We know this cast of talent today as The Big Red Machine and many of them had off-years. Johnny Bench was a microcosm of the team. Coming off an MVP year in 1970, Bench still hit 27 home runs, but his overall stat line was a meager .299 on-base percentage/.423 slugging percentage. Tony Perez was similar at third base, hitting 25 homers, but the stat line a fairly pedestrian .323/.438.

There were non-productive offensive seasons from Tommy Helms at second base, Dave Concepion at short and Bernie Carbo in leftfield. Pete Rose played right field and hit .304—although for the man who would eventually become the sport’s all-time hit leader, even that was off the normal pace.

The one man who didn’t struggle in 1971 was Lee May. The Reds’ first baseman ripped 39 home runs, drove in 98 runs and finished with a stat line of .332/.508. But May’s production wasn’t enough to keep the Cincinnati lineup from slipping to ninth in the 12-team National League for runs scored.

The starting rotation was respectable. Don Gullett was the best of the group, winning 16 games and posting a 2.65 ERA. Gary Nolan and Jim McGlothlin had ERAs in the low 3s. Ross Grimsley won ten games with 3.57 ERA. Clay Carroll was a good and versatile reliever, saving 15 games, winning 10 more, working over 90 innings and finishing with an ERA of 2.50.

But while all of those were good to decent seasons, none was a standout and the depth—save for Wayne Granger’s 3.33 ERA in relief—was lacking. Cincinnati’s staff ERA ended up seventh in the National League.

The Reds dropped the first four games in the season in an overall 4-8 start. They lost three of four at home to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who would contend to the final day. Cincinnati dropped two of three at home to San Francisco, the team who ultimately won the NL West. When the Reds made their return trip to the West Coast, they lost seven of nine against the Dodgers, Giants and the lowly San Diego Padres.

Baseball’s alignment in 1971 had just two divisions of six teams apiece in each league. Cincinnati, by some convoluted thinking was in the NL West, as were the Atlanta Braves (meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals were in the NL East—good luck trying to make sense of that if you’re teaching geography to grade-school age baseball fans). The rest of the NL West included the Dodgers, Giants, Padres and the Houston Astros.

Furthermore, only the first-place finisher could go to the postseason. So when Cincinnati was 20-28 by Memorial Day, while San Francisco was soaring at 36-14, the Reds were in serious trouble.

Cincinnati stabilized the ship a bit in June, going 16-15 (doubleheaders were more common in 1971, accounting for 31 games in a 30-day month). But the Reds gave back the progress by losing seven straight going into the All-Star break, including three straight at the eventual World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

The record was 41-51. They were in fifth place and staring at a 15-game deficit. The only good thing that happened during the first half of the season was that the Reds swung a trade with the Giants, sending Frank Duffy and Vern Geishart to San Francisco in exchange for an outfielder named George Foster. The trade didn’t make immediate impact, but would eventually come to be seen for the mammoth steal that it was.

Cincinnati still had pride and they demonstrated it in when the leading NL West contenders came to Riverfront Stadium for a stretch of games that began on July 15. San Francisco, still comfortably in the division lead rolled into town for a three-game set.

Gullett started Thursday night’s opener, worked into the eighth inning and the pitcher’s duel was still tied 1-1 in the ninth. Perez won the ballgame with a two-out walkoff blast in the bottom of the ninth. When the Reds dropped a tough 4-3 decision on Friday night and then trailed 2-0 going into the ninth inning on Saturday, it looked like this would be just another tough series loss in a season full of them.

Then pinch-hitter Jimmy Stewart singled. Rose singled. Ty Cline put down a bunt intended to move the tying runs into scoring position. Instead, Cline beat it out and the bases were loaded. With nobody out, May worked a walk to cut the lead to 2-1. Perez delivered his second walkoff hit of the series, a two-run single that won it.

After splitting two games with the Padres on Sunday and Monday, the Dodgers came in on Tuesday night. Cincinnati broke open a 1-1 tie in the seventh with a five-run outburst, keyed by a three-run double from Helms. That momentum rolled right into Wednesday when the Reds scored six runs in the first three innings. That included a two-run single from Nolan, who went on to a complete-game 6-2 win. Even though the Reds dropped the finale and were nowhere near getting back in the race, the homestand proved to be spark for the rest of the season.

Cincinnati went on to go 19-10 through the month of August, including taking three of four at home from the Pirates. The Reds got oh-so-close to the .500 mark at 66-67 on August 27 before losing a couple games. Going into the final weekend, Cincinnati was 79-80, but they dropped the final three games. The final record was 79-83.

San Francisco and Los Angeles went to the wire and Cincinnati was there to play spoiler in September. They won four of five against the Giants in September and took three of five from the Dodgers. It wasn’t enough to matter in 1971. But it sent a message that the Reds were on the way back. By 1972, they were back in the World Series. They broke through and won the World Series in both 1975 and 1976. And they never had another losing season until 1982. 1971, particularly it’s first half, was just a strange aberration.

1971 Baltimore Orioles: A 3rd Straight American League Pennant

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The 1971 Baltimore Orioles came into the season riding high. They were fresh off winning their second World Series title in five years. With a lineup in its prime, they were poised for a repeat effort. The ’71 Orioles came awfully close to doing just that. An excellent team that again rolled the rest of the American League, they fell just one game short of going back-to-back.

Baltimore’s pitching staffs of this decade live on in baseball lore and no season stands out more than 1971. The four starters—Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson—were all 20-game winners. It was only the second time in baseball history that a quartet of starters all hit the 20-win threshold and it was also the most recent. Given the way the handling of pitchers has changed in the ensuing half-century, it’s a pretty fair bet that the ’71 Oriole rotation will be the last to pull of this amazing feat.

The rotation was also perfectly balanced. Palmer’s ERA of 2.68 was the best, although McNally and Dobson were both under 3. Cuellar’s ERA clocked in at 3.08. They combined to start 142 games. And to further underscore the strength of balance over a single ace, none of the rotation finished in the top three of the American League Cy Young voting.

There wasn’t a lot of need for the bullpen, but when necessary, Eddie Watt did yeoman’s work, with a 1.82 ERA in his 39 innings. But no true reliever worked more than 45 innings. Other pitchers, from Dick Hall to Tom Dukes to Pete Richert to Grant Jackson, filled out the starts not taken up by the Big Four and did modest relief work along with it.

Baltimore’s staff ERA was the best in the American League. And it combined with an offense that was also the AL’s best. Frank Robinson led the way. The rightfielder finished with a stat line of .384 on-base percentage/.510 slugging percentage, ripped 28 homers and finished with 99 RBIs. Frank finished third in the AL MVP voting.

Brooks Robinson (no relation to Frank, as a glance at a photo will quicky confirm) was 34-years-old at third base, but coming off his dominance in the 1970 World Series, he was still going strong. Brooks hit 20 homers, drove in 92 runs and was fourth in the final MVP results. On the other side of the infield, first baseman Boog Powell followed up his 1970 MVP campaign with 22 homers and 92 RBIs of his own. Don Buford played left field and he combined his dazzling .413 OBP with a solid .477 slugging percentage.

Davey Johnson, known to a future generation as a successful manager, was still in his prime at second base and put up a solid .351/.443 stat line. Mark Belanger was known for his great defense at shortstop, but with patience at the plate, he also posted a .365 OBP. Paul Blair in centerfield and Elrod Hendricks behind the plate rounded out a defense that excelled at the key up-the-middle spots.

Merv Rettenmund wasn’t officially a starter, but manager Earl Weave got him starter’s at-bats. With a .422/.448 stat line it’s not hard to see why. And with depth like this, it’s not hard to see why Baltimore racked up runs.

The Orioles came firing out of the gates and won eight of the first ten, including taking a series from AL East hopeful Detroit. But two straight losses to the Tigers in the rematch triggered a descent into some sluggish play. Baltimore went 13-10 over their next 23 games. By Memorial Day, the Oriole record was solid, at 26-18. But they were 2 ½ games back of the Boston Red Sox, with Detroit four off the pace.

Here’s a good place to step back and remind younger readers that this was only the third year of divisional play. As recently as 1968, the World Series was simply the team with the best record in each league and no playoff rounds preceding. Even after the expansion of 1969, there were still only 24 teams in the major leagues and each league had simply an East and West division.

Thus, without a Central Division, the Orioles, Red Sox and New York Yankees shared the AL East with the Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers (an American League team until 1998). And there was no wild-card fallback. It was finish first or go home.

Baltimore re-established their footing in the early part of summer, taking advantage of a soft part of the schedule to go 18-5 and surge into first place by a comfortable seven games. They went to Fenway Park for a four-game set that offered an opportunity to put an even firmer grasp on control of the division.

But after taking the Friday night opener 7-3, the Birds were swept in a Saturday doubleheader and lost again on Sunday. They scored just five runs in those three losses. A return home to face Detroit resulted in a 15-6 loss, before Baltimore recovered and won the next night to salvage a split of the two-game set.

The AL East lead was down to four games and then shrunk to 2 ½ by Fourth of July Weekend. The Red Sox were the prime challenger, with the Tigers six off the pace. Baltimore went to Detroit for a key series on the holiday weekend.

It didn’t start well. The Oriole bats could only muster five hits off Tiger ace Mickey Lolich and wasted a good outing from McNally in a 3-1 loss. It was Blair, known far more for his glove than his bat, who turned around the attack on Saturday. Blair doubled twice, drove in four runs and keyed an 8-1 win that stopped the bleeding.

In Sunday’s rubber match on the Fourth, Powell hit a two-run homer in the first. Cuellar grinded out a complete-game 3-2 win. Baltimore was back on their feet and closed the first half by winning six of eight. At the All-Star break, the lead was back up to 5 ½ over Boston and 8 over Detroit.

The roller-coaster continued after the break though, with the Orioles going 5-6 and seeing the Red Sox creep to within 2 ½ games. In late July, Baltimore hosted Oakland for a big series. The A’s were running away with the AL West, so for them this was a possible preview of the ALCS. For the Orioles, it was a big series in a tight pennant race.

Dobson took the ball in the opener of a Tuesday night doubleheader and was brilliant, tossing a four-hitter and outdueling Oakland’s Catfish Hunter for a 1-0 win. In the nightcap, the bats stepped up. Powell had three hits, Rettenmund drove in a couple runs and Baltimore took an early 4-0 lead. Grant Jackson, on the mound, faltered and the A’s rallied late to tie it 4-4.

Oakland had bullpen ace Rollie Fingers in the game. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Powell doubled, Brooks homered and Baltimore had the doubleheader sweep. In Wednesday night’s finale, it looked like a good night from Cuellar would be wasted. The Orioles trailed 2-0 in the ninth inning. Base hits from Buford and Rettenmund brought Fingers in. And the Birds beat the future Hall of Famer for the second straight night. This time it was Frank Robinson going deep for the 3-2 win.

Over the weekend, a good Kansas City Royals team came in. Palmer and Dobson tossed shutouts and the lead was back to 6 ½ games. Now, it was time for Baltimore to put this race to bed, right? Not quite yet. The Orioles lost four of six to Boston and New York. Baltimore was still up 4 ½ games, but there was a big series in Fenway at the end of August that could still swing the pendulum the other way.

But the heat of August favors teams with good pitching, and Baltimore never let it come to that. They took advantage of another soft schedule stretch to go 14-5. Boston slumped. By the time the Orioles went to Fenway, their division lead was soaring at 11 ½ games.

Baltimore still had a mid-September slump, primarily against Detroit, and the lead shrunk to 5 ½ games. But there were only 11 to play by that point—and the Oriole response was to close the season with eleven straight victories.

The clinching moment came in Yankee Stadium on September 22. On this Wednesday evening, Powell homered twice and Palmer won his 19th game. When New York’s Ron Hanson grounded to Belanger, who flipped it to Johnson for the force-out, the Orioles were AL East champs.

Now 3-for-3 in winning this newly created division, Baltimore had bigger fish to fry. That started with Oakland in the ALCS. The A’s would become the dynasty of the early 1970s, but this was their first appearance on the postseason stage. The Orioles were old hands at pressure games and it showed. Baltimore won what was then a best-of-five series in three straight. They were going to the Series for a third straight year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were the last obstacle to a repeat championship. When the Orioles grabbed the first two games at home, this World Series looked all but over. But Pittsburgh, led by the great Roberto Clemente, turned things around on their homefield and won three straight. Baltimore answered with a home win in Game 6. In a Game 7 heartbreaker, the Orioles lost a 2-1 game.

Baltimore continued to enjoy tremendous success all the way through this decade and the early part of the next one. But the 1971 team was, while not the end of an era, at least the end of a chapter. For the  past three seasons, the Orioles had owned the American League. The A’s and Yankees were about to take turns as the AL’s best. Baltimore still won division titles in 1973 and 1974, but it took until 1979 to get back to the World Series. And it took until 1983, with a completely different cast of players, for the World Series trophy to return to Charm City.