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1977 baseball season

1977 Pittsburgh Pirates: The Chuck Tanner Era Starts

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The 1977 Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to get back into the postseason. After winning the old NL East five times in the six seasons from 1970-75, the Pirates slipped to second place behind the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976. Pittsburgh also had a new manager. After the retirement and subsequent passing of franchise legend Danny Murtaugh, the Pirates got aggressive in going after the manager they wanted. The front office traded starting catcher Manny Sanguillen to the Oakland A’s to get skipper Chuck Tanner. A new era was ready to start in Pittsburgh.

But getting back to the playoffs meant something considerably different in 1977 than it does today. Back then, both leagues had just two divisions, an East and a West. Only the first-place teams qualified for the postseason. Pittsburgh had won 92 games in 1976 but came up short. They would be better in 1977—but still not good enough.

The Pirates had a balanced starting rotation led up by 23-year-old John Candelaria. The lefthander made 33 starts and posted a dazzling 20-5 record with a 2.34 ERA. It was only good for fifth in the NL Cy Young voting—which was probably too low, but if you look at the contenders, you can see there was a high bar among National League starters. Either way, “the Candy Man” gave Pittsburgh a legitimate ace.

Jerry Reuss, Jim Rooker and Bruce Kison filled out the rotation. They all had their ups and downs. But they consistently took their turns, combining to start 95 games. And there was help behind them. The bullpen had been strengthened by offseason trades.

Pittsburgh acquired Grant Jackson and Terry Forster for some depth. But the big piece was Rich “Goose Gossage.” Only 25-years-old, the Goose would one day become the most feared flamethrower of his day. He came at a price—the Pirates gave up a good outfielder in Richie Zisk to get Gossage from the Chicago White Sox. But the Goose saved 26 games, won 11 more, and finished with a 1.62 ERA. He got further support from submarine-style reliever Kent Tekulve, who picked up ten wins with a 3.06 ERA.

The depth, combined with Candelaria and Gossage’s excellence, gave Pittsburgh the third-best staff ERA in the National League.

The everyday lineup underwent a bit of a makeover. Zisk was gone. The Pirates also lost corner infielder Richie Hebner in free agency—to Philadelphia no less. Pittsburgh also had a strange relationship with veteran second baseman Tommy Helms. After a trade to get Helms in ’76 didn’t work out, the Pirates sold him to Oakland. Then they got him back as the signature piece in a deal that cost them five players—including future stars in starting pitcher Rick Langford and outfielder Tony Armas. After all of this, Helms didn’t play much and was well past his prime.

In addition to all the maneuvering, veteran first baseman Willie Stargell also struggled with injuries. Knee, elbow, and hamstring problems limited “Pops” to 63 games.

But there was still plenty of talent on hand, and it started with rightfielder Dave Parker. “The Cobra” won the batting title with a .338 average. He hit 21 homers, drove in 88 runs, and finished third in the MVP voting. After an off-year in ’76, second baseman Rennie Stennett exploded with a .336 batting average. Leftfielder Al Oliver finished with a .353 on-base percentage and slugged .481. Bill Robinson was 34-years-old, but he stepped in at first base for Stargell and batted .304 with 26 home runs and 104 RBIs.

Tanner also committed the Pirates to a running game. In an era where stolen bases were a bigger part of the game than they are today, Pittsburgh stole more bags than anyone. Shortstop Frank Taveras led the way with 70 steals. Speedy centerfielder Omar Moreno swiped 53. Stennett stole 28 bags. As running games go, the Pirates might not have rivaled the great duo of Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier with the Steelers as the best in Pittsburgh. But the baseball version of the ground game was pretty good.

The Tanner era got off to a less than auspicious start, when the Pirates lost three straight at home to the St. Louis Cardinals, giving up 28 runs in the process. But Pittsburgh bounced back pretty quickly. They took a couple games from Philadelphia at home in late April. They swept the Cincinnati Reds, the two-time defending World Series champs in early May, scoring 26 runs in the three-game set. Those series wins over the Phils and Reds were part of a red-hot 15-2 stretch that vaulted Pittsburgh to a 2 ½ game lead in the NL East.

But a visit to Wrigley Field in Chicago, where the  Cubs were a key contender in the East, resulted in a three straight losses over Memorial Day weekend. Pittsburgh dropped two of three in Philadelphia out of the holiday. On June 1, the Pirates were 27-17, 1 ½ games back of Chicago, with both St. Louis and Philly also in the mix.

The Pirates won two of three from the Cubs in a home series that nudged them back to within a half-game of the lead. But a sequence against teams from the West Coast went poorly. Pittsburgh went 6-11 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and San Diego Padres. The Pirates dropped three of four in St. Louis later in the month. They went on to Philadelphia got four straight defeats handed to them.

On July 8, Pittsburgh was in the danger zone, 8 ½ games off the pace. The Phillies were making a return visit to old Three Rivers Stadium. The four-game weekend series had considerable urgency.

Trailing 7-3 in the eighth inning of Friday night’s opener, the Pirates got rolling. A four-run rally was keyed by doubles from Oliver and Stennett. In the ninth inning, consecutive two-out singles from third baseman Phil Garner, catcher Ed Ott, and Parker set up Pittsburgh to win on a bases-loaded walk.

Saturday afternoon was even more dramatic. An anticipated pitcher’s duel between Candelaria and eventual NL Cy Young winner Steve Carlton turned into a back-and-forth slugfest. The game went 12 innings. Forster and Jackson had kept the Pirates afloat with 5 1/3 combined innings of solid relief. They were rewarded when backup infielder Mario Mendoza, legendary for his light-hitting, knocked a two-out RBI single to win 9-8.

Sunday would be an old-fashioned doubleheader, with just 20 minutes in between games. Pittsburgh churned out a 5-1 win in the opener behind a good outing from Reuss and a solo blast from Garner to get the early lead. The second game was another wild offensive affair. Trailing 10-7 in the bottom of the seventh, Garner ripped a bases-loaded/two-out double that tied the game. Robinson promptly knocked him in with the go-ahead run. The 12-10 win capped off a big four-game sweep. Pittsburgh was back in the race.

By the All-Star break a week later, the Pirates were 50-42. They trailed the Cubs by a 5 ½ games. The Phils were 2 ½ back in second place. The Cardinals were starting to fade, 8 ½ back and in fourth.

Cincinnati would fall from their championship perch this season (the Reds were in the Western Division under the geographically-challenged alignment of the era), and Pittsburgh swept Cincy three straight out of the break. It was the start of an 8-0 homestand that slashed the NL East lead to 2 ½ games. The Cubbies were starting to fade when they came to Pittsburgh on August 8 for a three-game set. Philadelphia was now dead even in the NL East, and the Pirates were hot on the heels of both teams.

On Monday night, Pittsburgh trailed Chicago 6-5 in the ninth inning. A double from Moreno and single from Stennett set up runners on the corners. After a sac fly tied the game, Ott ripped a triple to center to win it. Pirate bats went quiet on Tuesday night, mustering only six hits in a 4-1 loss. They handed the ball to Candelaria to try and secure the series win on Wednesday night.

Candelaria gave seven solid innings, but left in a 1-1 tie. A long night ensued. Gossage pitched four shutout innings. Jackson put five zeroes on the board. We got to the 18th inning still tied 1-1. Finally, Ott came through again—a sac fly for the win.

Pittsburgh was moving past Chicago, but Philadelphia was sizzling in the late summer. The Pirates swept the New York Mets five straight but failed to move the needle in the division race. By Labor Day, Pittsburgh had a solid 77-59 record. But they were seven games behind the Phils.

Taking two of three from Philly in a series that started on Labor Day, chipped away at the lead a little bit. A week later, the Pirates and Phils split a pair. That just wasn’t going to be enough. Pittsburgh played well in September, including a 10-1 stretch. But Philadelphia never gave an inch. The Pirates trailed by as many as nine games, and never got closer than five, which is where it ended up.

The final record was 96-66. That’s excellent by any measure, third-best in the National League and seventh-best in baseball overall. In our own era, it would be an easy playoff season and with Pittsburgh playing well down the stretch, who knows what might have happened in October. But that wasn’t the way it worked in 1977. The Pirates went home.

Pittsburgh had one more year of this to deal with in 1978, when they again had a nice year, again finished strong, and again finished second to their rival across the state. But the big return wasn’t long in coming. In 1979, the Pirates not only returned to the top of the NL East, they went on to win it all.

Darkness Before The Dawn: The 1977 Milwaukee Brewers

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Following a respectable 1974 season, there were some hopes that major league baseball was finally coming into its own in Milwaukee after just five years. But terrible seasons in 1975 and 1976 ruined any optimism. The 1977 Milwaukee Brewers weren’t any better in the won-loss column. But they did start to put some pieces in place, and those efforts would pay off in the immediate future.

Milwaukee went on the free agent market and signed third baseman Sal Bando, one of the key players for the Oakland A’s teams that won three straight World Series championships earlier in the decade. The Brewers made a bold move when they dealt power-hitting first baseman George Scott, their best position player, to Boston, and got Cecil Cooper in return. Cooper’s career seemed to be floundering. But this would prove to be a steal for the Brewers in the coming years.

They drafted Paul Molitor in June out of the University of Minnesota, and while Molitor didn’t see big league action this year, the future Hall of Famer would emerge the following season. A trade for lefty starter Mike Caldwell didn’t pay immediate dividends, but Caldwell eventually found a career revival in Milwaukee.

A big trade with Kansas City really didn’t pan out—the Brewers dealt catcher Darrell Porter and starting pitcher Jim Colborn in exchange for Jamie Quirk, Jim Wohlford and Bob McClure. The deal wasn’t terrible—Quirk and Wohlford were respectable position players, McClure was a decent arm who could both start and relieve and nobody given up was a star. But Porter was the best player in the deal and the balancing scales favored K.C. on this one.

But when you make a lot of moves, not every one will work out. Milwaukee was at least shaking things up and, all things considered, were starting to make themselves better.

Cooper immediately acclimated to his new surroundings and hit .300 in 1977, along with 20 home runs. Bando popped 17 homers and drove in 82 runs. Sixto Lezcano was coming into his own in rightfield, finishing with a stat line of .358 on-base percentage/.503 slugging percentage.

Don Money, after a couple down years, roared back with a .348/.470 stat line that included 25 home runs from his second base position. And a young shortstop by the name of Robin Yount, just 21-years-old and already in his fourth big league season, hit .288 .

There was no depth and no one beyond these players made any significant contributions. The Brewers still finished 10th in the 14-team American League for runs scored. But a lineup was starting to come together.

Pitching had been a serious problem in recent years and even if this franchise’s best years, remained a gnawing issue. Jim Slaton was the top starter, with a 3.58 ERA in 21 starts. Young starters in Jerry Augustine, Lary Sorensen and Moose Haas rounded out the rotation. None finished with a winning record. None had an ERA under 4.

Caldwell made 12 starts after his acquisition in early summer and struggled to a 4.58 ERA. The biggest disappointment was Bill Travers, who had started to emerge in 1976, slipping back and finishing with 4-12 record and 5.25 ERA over his 19 starts. McClure was the only reliable arm in the bullpen, with a 2.52 ERA. And the Brewer staff collectively finished 11th in the American League for composite ERA.

Milwaukee was not only an American League franchise prior to 1998, but the structure of the league and postseason itself was quite different. Each league had only two divisions, an East and a West. Only the first-place teams qualified for the playoffs, going directly to the League Championship Series. The Brewers were situated in the AL East, where the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox were the clear frontrunners and battled each other to the final weekend of the season.

And it was the Yankees and Orioles that were on the schedule to open the season. New York had won the pennant in ’76 and would win it all this season. Milwaukee went into Yankee Stadium to open the season. Travers got the ball and pitched well, scattering 11 hits and working into the eighth inning. But a lack of run support led to a 3-0 loss.

After a day off, the Brewers bounced back behind Augustine, who worked eight good innings. He was aided by a three-run fifth inning, when an RBI single from Yount was one of the shortstop’s two hits. The Brewers won it 3-2. Sunday’s game was a tight one, tied 1-1 in the ninth with Haas working into the eighth inning. In the top of the ninth, Lezcano went the other way for a home run to rightfield and won it 2-1. Milwaukee had a series win to get this season started.

They came home to face Baltimore, then get the return visit from New York. Travers took the mound in the home opener against the Orioles and lost a hard-luck 1-0 decision to Baltimore great Jim Palmer. Slaton took the ball for the second game and dealt a complete-game three-hitter. He got some support—Yount, Cooper and Bando combined for seven hits out of the 2-3-4 spots in the lineup and keyed a 5-0 win.

After a day off, the Yankees came in for a weekend series. A five-run fifth was the highlight of Friday night, including a two-RBI triple from Cooper. Lezcano drove in three runs and the Brewers won 7-4. On Saturday, Milwaukee trailed 4-1 in the ninth. They were facing Yankee closer Sparky Lyle, who would win the Cy Young Award for his work out of the bullpen this season.

Wohlford led off with a single. Cooper promptly homered and it was tied 3-3. Bando tripled with one out. When Lyle struck out Money, it looked like extra innings were at hand. Until reserve outfielder Steve Frye singled and the Brewers walked it off, 4-3.

Travers took the ball on Sunday. Again, he didn’t get much run support. But this time it didn’t matter. He tossed a complete-game shutout. Yount homered. Milwaukee completed a sweep, 2-zip. They were off an running to a 6-2 start on this season.

By the first week of May, the Brewers were still 14-9 and in first place. Milwaukee fans had seen this movie before though. They had enjoyed early leads in both 1975 and 1976 as well. So, when a stretch of games against Detroit and Cleveland went poorly, it was like watching a rerun. By Memorial Day, the Brewers were at .500, 24-24 ,but still within four games of the division lead.

Kansas City was the class of the old AL West and the Brewers won a series over the Royals in early June. Milwaukee was still hanging in on the Fourth of July, 38-39 and within five games. The schedule to end the first half would be heavy on Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles. But it went poorly. The Brewers lost seven of ten against the three AL East powers, lost three others on top of it and arrived at the break with a record of 41-49.

The second half opened the same way the first half ended—10 games against New York, Boston and Baltimore and a 3-7 record. August was even worse. A schedule that included six doubleheaders in the season’s hottest month was not going to be kind to a team that lacked depth, and the Brewers went 11-23. By Labor Day, they were 58-84 and no one in Wisconsin was going to neglect the Green Bay Packers in September for these Brewers. The final record ended up 67-95.

It was the third straight year of 95-plus losses. Only the arrival of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays kept Milwaukee out of last place in the 7-team AL East. It was an ugly record. But some help had arrived. More was on the way. And the greatest six-year stretch in franchise history was immediately around the corner.

The Year That Was 1977 Sports

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1977 sports was a year where tradition-laden teams stepped up and won championships. It would hard to find three teams with more lore in their respective sports (or more bandwagon-jumping fans who’ve rooted for them over the years) then the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Notre Dame football. All three reached the top in 1977.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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The Yankees provided 1977 with its signature sports moment. After first winning a tough AL East race with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, then being pushed to the brink by the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series, the Yankees won three of the first five World Series games and came home to the Bronx ready for a party.

And what a party Reggie Jackson threw for everyone. The slugger, in his first year in New York, hit three home runs on three consecutive swings and gave the franchise its first World Series trophy in fifteen years.

The Cowboys used a smothering defense to dominate at every key point of the 1977 NFL season—from a season-opening win over defending NFC champ Minnesota, to a playoff shutdown of Chicago’s MVP running back Walter Payton, to dominating the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game rematch.

It wasn’t that Dallas couldn’t score—they had the second-best attack in the league—but the defense was just exceptionally dominant, and they sealed the deal with a 27-10 rout of the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.

Notre Dame lost a game early, increasing the rumblings about third-year coach Dan Devine, but once Joe Montana got firmly established as the starter, the Irish were off and running. They reached #5 in the polls by New Year’s Day, and got a Cotton Bowl shot at #1 Texas.

The Longhorns had Heisman Trophy running back Earl Campbell, who was one of the great college backs of the modern era and playing a de facto home game in Dallas, looked set to cap it off with a national title (which would have set the table for a Dallas-area sweep of the college football and NFL titles).

But Notre Dame and Montana had other ideas, and the Cotton Bowl was never close. The Irish won 38-10 and with a series of unexpected outcomes in other bowls, made an improbable jump from fifth to first in the final polls.

Read more about the 1977 New York Yankees
Read more about the 1977 Dallas Cowboys
Read more about 1977 Notre Dame football

The world of basketball had surprises in both college and the NBA and they were highlighted by a player and coach at opposite ends of the career spectrum. The Portland Trail Blazers were led by 24-year-old center Bill Walton and when they pulled consecutive upsets of the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers and won the NBA championship, it looked like a dynasty was in the works. That didn’t work out, but 1977 was still a magical year in the Pacific Northwest.

And in college, the old Marquette warrior, head coach Al McGuire, had announced his retirement. The 1977 Warrior team wasn’t one of his best, but they scraped their way into what was then a 32-team NCAA Tournament and then kept scratching their way to the Final Four in Atlanta.

McGuire was there with two other respected coaches who had their eyes on a first ring, in North Carolina’s Dean Smith and UNLV’s Jerry Tarkanian. Both had a long career still ahead of them though, and they weren’t going to get in the way of Al’s moment.

Marquette beat North Carolina in the championship game and if Reggie’s three home runs on three swings was 1977’s top moment, then the sight of the rugged McGuire in tears on the bench as the clock ticked down is surely its most enduring image.

Read more about the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers
Read more about the 1977 Marquette Warriors

And we save the Montreal Canadiens for last, not because they weren’t great, but because they were so great as to lack drama. The NHL was already very top-heavy at this time, with five teams drastically separating from the rest of the pack. And within that group of five, Montreal separated themselves even further, coasting to the Stanley Cup.

Read more about the 1977 Montreal Canadiens

 

1977 Chicago Cubs: A Blazing Start Followed By More North Side Disappointment

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The Chicago Cubs had been contenders each year from 1967-73, but, unsurprisingly, given the history of this franchise, they had never won a division title. They slipped to 75-87 in both 1975 and 1976 and made a managerial change. Herman Franks enjoyed a successful run with the San Francisco Giants, with four straight second-place finishes from 1965-68 in what was then a ten-team National League with no divisional splits.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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Franks was brought on to lead the 1977 Chicago Cubs and for a few tantalizing months it looked like the Cubbie Hour of MLB history had finally arrived. Then another cruel late summer and early fall reminded us that indeed, the Cubbies are still the Cubbies.

Chicago made a significant trade prior to the season, trading centerfielder Rick Monday and relief pitcher Mike Garman to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both players would help the Dodgers upend the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati and win the National League pennant. But the Cubs got value in return—first baseman Bill Buckner and a good defensive shortstop in Ivan DeJesus.

Another deal saw Chicago’s good-hitting third baseman Bill Madlock dealt to San Francisco, part of a package that brought Bobby Murcer back in return. Murcer was one of the better offensive rightfielders of the time, and he hit 27 home runs for the Cubs in 1977. The deal also netted a new third baseman in Steve Ontiveros who made sure that the Cubs—at least in the short-term—didn’t miss Madlock. Ontiveros posted a .390 on-base percentage.

Murcer and Ontiveros were two parts of an offense that ranked third in the National League in runs scored. Manny Trillo, a second baseman who was great with the glove, was also pretty good with the bat, putting up a .339 OBP. Jerry Morales in centerfield had a .348 OBP/.447 slugging percentage. Larry Bittner played around the diamond and his .345 OBP made him a steady offensive asset.

The power was a little weak—Murcer was the only player to hit more than 20 home runs, something that stands out even more when you consider the hitters’ haven that Wrigley Field is. But at the end of the day, offense was not the reason the 1977 Chicago Cubs didn’t win the NL East. Pitching was.

Chicago pitching ranked 8th in the NL in ERA and was heavily reliant on two great arms. Rick Reuschel was the ace of the rotation, winning 20 games with a 2.79 ERA. At the end of the bullpen was Bruce Sutter, a second-year pitcher who was not only pitching well—31 saves with a 1.34 ERA, but was redefining the game.

Sutter was having success throwing the split-fingered fastball, the first to really use the pitch regularly. And he was one of the pioneers of the closer’s role, along with Rollie Fingers in Oakland and Goose Gossage who went from the Chicago White Sox to the Pittsburgh Pirates before really gaining fame with the New York Yankees.

The rest of the Cub rotation was spotty, with Ray Burris, Bill Bonham and Mike Krukow all having ERAs up over 4. The bullpen had another good arm in Willie Hernandez, a 22-year-old lefty who worked 110 innings with a 3.03 ERA.

Chicago came flying out of the gates, and at the end of June, were sitting on a 47-22 record. They were 8 ½ games up on the Philadelphia Phillies—who had won the NL East in 1976, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had been this division’s cornerstone team through 1975 and was looking to reclaim their status.

A road trip to St. Louis started to show some cracks. The Cubs lost to their archrival in a pair of pitchers’ duels, 2-1 and 3-1, and then got crushed 10-3. Reuschel and Sutter combined to salvage the finale with a 4-0 shutout, but this was part of a stretch where Chicago lost seven of eight.

Right before the All-Star break, Chicago went to Philadelphia and again lost three out of four. The lead over the Phils was cut to 2 ½ games. St. Louis had faded, while Pittsburgh lurked at 5 ½ out.

The week of August 8-14 can live in infamy on the North Side of Chicago. The run-up to the week had been bad. Sutter hit the disabled list on August 3 with arm problems. He would return three weeks later, but the time the closer got back, the damage was done.

Chicago went to Pittsburgh for three games to start the week. The Cubs lead the opener 6-5 in the ninth and Reuschel pitched into the final inning. The ace gave up a double to Omar Moreno, a single to Rennie Stennett and a triple to catcher Ed Ott and Chicago lost 7-6.

An early home run by Buckner and a strong outing from Burris righted the ship on Tuesday, as Hernandez got the save in a 4-1 win. But the finale was a crusher—the Cubs and Pirates played 18 innings and again it was Ott breaking Chicago’s hearts, this time with a sac fly that won it for Pittsburgh.

It was time to come home and play a four-game set with the Phillies on the weekend, one that would conclude with a Sunday doubleheader. Reuschel faced Philadelphia ace Steve Carlton, on his way to the Cy Young Award, in the opener. The Phils won 10-3 in a game that set the tone for the weekend.

Philadelphia scored 10 runs in each of  the first three games, only one of which Chicago was competitive in—they blew a 6-2 lead after six on Saturday. The Phillies hit 11 home runs in the three games, and then the sweep was capped off with a 4-2 win in the nightcap of the Sunday doubleheader.

The awful week ended with Chicago now staring at a 6 ½ game deficit. And the Phillies were hot, keeping the momentum all the way through the season. It would have required an outstanding effort for anyone to keep pace with them, and Chicago’s play was anything but.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 1977 MLB SEASON
The most consequential teams and each postseason series

The Cubs started the month of September with a 72-60 record, and finished the season at 81-81. You could still draw an optimistic conclusion—Chicago had their best season in three years—but it wouldn’t be the Cubs if the collapse wasn’t the beginning of some sort of end. The team went 79-83 the following year and again played mediocre in 1979. Franks was fired at the tail end of that year, though since the firing came with the team record at 78-77, I suppose the skipper can lay claim to a winning season. The club itself finished sub-.500.

Sutter would win the Cy Young Award in 1979, but find his ultimate glory in St. Louis, where he closed out the 1982 World Series for the Cardinals. Hernandez would eventually win a Cy Young Award, MVP and close out a World Series of his own…for the Detroit Tigers in 1984. Chicago spent a few more years in futility before finally getting their own postseason trip in 1984. The search for a World Series title went on for nearly another forty years, before finally ending in 2016.

1977 Chicago White Sox: A Sizzling Summer Raises False Hopes

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The 1977 Chicago White Sox made a managerial change coming into the season. The fortunes of the South Side franchise had started to collapse in 1968 and it had been a decade since the team had even won more than it lost. The White Sox hired Bob Lemon, former ace pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. Chicago saw immediate success in a sizzling summer, although in the end that only served to raise false hopes.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 


Scoring runs was the key to the White Sox’ success for much of 1977. They ranked third in the American League in runs scored, with two big trades serving as the lynchpin. Chicago acquired power-hitting rightfielder Richie Zisk from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage, and another reliever in Terry Forster.

The inclusion of Forster in the deal undoubtedly enraged this writer’s great-aunt, an Irish lady on the South Side who loved the White Sox and made her way down to the bullpen to start chatting with the pitchers. Forster ended up signing a baseball for her and even sending a Christmas card. I trust that Aunt Julia found some solace in the fact Zisk hit 30 home runs and had 101 RBIs for her beloved team in 1977.

In the first part of April, the White Sox’ front office struck again. They dealt shortstop Bucky Dent to the New York Yankees and got designated hitter Oscar Gamble in return. Gamble hit 31 home runs and had 83 RBIs. Chicago also got a young pitcher in Lamar Hoyt, who was not ready to contribute at the big-league level in 1977, but eventually won a Cy Young Award for the White Sox six years later.

Zisk and Gamble were the cornerstones of the offense, and they had good supporting pieces. Catcher Jim Essian had a .374 on-base percentage, and third baseman Eric Soderholm had a .350 OBP. Chet Lemon (no relation to the new manager) was a good all-around player in center, a .343 OBP/.459 slugging percentage, and Lamar Johnson provided some serious pop in a more limited role. In 400 at-bats, Johnson hit 18 home runs and posted a .342 OBP.

Pitching was more problematic, and that’s being kind. The White Sox ranked 10th in the league in ERA and did not have a single starter with an ERA under 4. Lerrin LaGrow had a good year out of the bullpen, saving 25 games with a 2.46 ERA, but his was the only notable performance.

Chicago’s rotation was populated by three young arms—Francisco Barrios, Kevin Kravec and Chris Knapp that took the ball regularly and were going through growing pains. Wilbur Wood was the other end of the spectrum, now 35-years-old and his former effectiveness gone. And Steve Stone may have won 15 games, but the ERA was 4.51.

In spite of the pitching issues, Chicago spent the first three months playing very steady baseball. There were no dramatic streaks, good or bad, and at the end of June they were 40-32. The White Sox were a game back of the Minnesota Twins, where first baseman Rod Carew was making a run at the .400 mark (he would settle for .388 and the MVP award). The Kansas City Royals, who had won the AL West in 1976, were 3 ½ games off the pace.

Summertime in Chicago saw the White Sox start to sizzle. They won nine in a row, split a pair with Kansas City and when Minnesota begin what would be a sharp fall from grace, the White Sox suddenly found themselves with a  four-game lead. Kansas City was coming to town for a four-game set that would bring July to an end.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 1977 MLB SEASON
The most consequential teams and each postseason series

It would be an electric weekend on the South Side, complete with a Sunday doubleheader. The White Sox trailed the opener 8-6 I the seventh, but behind a balanced offensive assault led by three hits apiece from Chet Lemon and the speedy Ralph Garr, Chicago won 11-8.

Another comeback was ahead on Saturday. The bats were quiet for six innings and the Royals were up 3-0, but once again the final three frames were big. Soderholm’s three-run blast was the key blow in a 6-4 win.

Sunday’s first game was Chicago rally again, and not once but twice. Stone and KC’s Marty Pattin were hooked up in a pitcher’s duel that the Royals led 2-1 in the ninth. An error set up a game-tying single from Chicago infielder Jorge Orta. Kansas City scored twice in the tenth. Chicago opened their half of the 10th with first baseman Jim Spencer drawing a walk and Chet Lemon homering to tie it. Soderholm drew a walk, was bunted over and scored on a single by Garr.

Chicago lost the nightcap, but they concluded the series and the month of July with a 5 ½ game lead on Kansas City. As it turned out though, the rally of Sunday’s early game would be the final real high point of 1977.

The White Sox came out of that series and dropped three of our at home to Texas, giving up 32 runs in the three losses. Chicago then paid a return visit to Kansas City for a three-game weekend set.

Knapp had lost the finale of the previous series to Royals’ ace Dennis Leonard. The two pitchers picked up where they left off to open this series and Kansas City jumped all over Knapp for a 12-2 win. On Saturday, the White Sox led 3-1 after seven innings, but the bullpen collapsed in a 6-3 loss.

On Sunday, Chicago attempted to bring back their comeback mojo. They were trailing 2-1 in the ninth, in the game thanks to a great outing from Ken Kravec and then Gamble tied it up with a home run. Kravec came out for the ninth and walked Royal centerfielder Amos Otis. The pitcher was pulled, but Otis was bunted over and singled in.

That healthy lead Chicago had enjoyed in the AL West (prior to 1994, the leagues were split into just two divisions with no Central in existence) was all but gone, down to a half-game.

The Royals had a head of steam and they wouldn’t look back, barreling down the stretch and winning 102 games, the most in major league baseball. The White Sox didn’t collapse, but nor did they play particularly well, and were helpless in the face of the KC freight train. Chicago lost eight of their next twelve, but stabilized and split their next fourteen games.

Chicago trailed by five games on Labor Day and went 16-14 during the month of September, but it was still a good 12 games behind Kansas City.

There was still plenty of reason to be optimistic. The White Sox had won 90 games and by the standards of today, would have been in contention to the very end (the sixth-best team in the AL, they would have been barely nipped for the last playoff spot). What’s more, they had done it with young pitchers who would presumably get better.

That didn’t happen. By the time the White Sox enjoyed real success, in the division title year of 1983 all of Barrios, Kravec and Knapp were out of the organization. Bob Lemon would taste success sooner—but only after the White Sox fired him midway through 1978, and he was promptly picked up by the New York Yankees, who immediately began a legendary rally from 14 games back to catch the Boston Red Sox and go on to win the World Series. The fans of the South Side, including Aunt Julia, had longer to wait for playoff baseball.