The First Modern Playoffs 50 Years Ago

TRIVIA QUESTION: In the modern era (beginning in 1903), there were only three tie games in the World Series. One team was involved in two of them. Which team was it?
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  Luis Aparicio began his big league career with the Chicago White Sox, played with the Orioles as a key asset in the mid-1960's including the World Championship year, before moving back to the White Sox. He finished his career playing three years in a Boston Red Sox uniform.  

It may be hard to believe but until 1969 baseball pennants were decided by the two best records in the National and American Leagues. In 1969 baseball expanded and the first playoffs were established 50 years ago! It was October 4th, 1969 when the first divisional playoffs began. The Twins faced the Orioles in Baltimore and the Mets took on the Braves in Atlanta.

(Hank Aaron hits two run homer in Game Three of the 1969 Playoffs)

In the NL series it was Mets ace Tom Seaver against Braves ace knuckle-baller Phil Niekro. Two future Hall of Fame pitchers squared off and while both pitched all but an inning or two, neither was really effective. Seaver gave up five earned runs in seven innings, Niekro gave up nine but only four earned in eight innings. 

The first run of the game was scored in the second when the Mets Art Shamsky singled, Ken Boswell drew a walk and Jerry Grote singled home Shamsky. Boswell scored on a passed ball and the Mets led 2-0. The Braves played it close for a while but despite solo homers by Hank Aaron and Tony Gonzalez, the Mets won it 9-5. 

The big inning came in the eighth with the scored tied at four. The Mets scored five runs, four earned (an Orlando Cepeda error) to put the game away as only the Mets could do. New York went on to sweep the three game series and face the Orioles in the World Series.

The AL series was all about the power of the O's. Jim Perry opened against Mike Cuellar and Perry was brilliant except for one pitch; the gopher ball, three of them. He gave up solo homers to Frank Robinson, Boog Powell and of all people light hitting, Mark Belanger. For their part the Twins were playing pretty much the same game. Tony Oliva's homer provided two of the Minnesota runs. The other came when Oliva doubled, took third on an error and scored an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Allison.

With the Twins leading 3-2 in the ninth Powell led off the bottom of the inning with a dinger to tie it, 3-3. The game almost ended in regulation. Brooks Robinson singled and went to second on an error. Another error put runners at first and second. A ground ball later put Robinson on third with two out. Believe it or not he was out trying to steal home.

The Twins loaded the bases in the 12th but veteran Dick Hall struck out Leo Cardenas and got Johnny Roseboro to fly out. The bottom of the 12th saw Belanger single off Ron Perranoski. Andy Etchebarren bunted him to second and one out later Paul Blair laid down a bunt, beat it out for a single and Belanger came around to score the winning run, 4-3.

The Orioles would go on to face the Mets in the Series only to lose to the Amazin's in the first National League World Championship for New York in more than a decade.

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1967 Orioles - Top to Drop

TRIVIA QUESTION: One of the key players in the Orioles 1966 run to the World Series, would finish his career with three seasons playing for the next team to win the AL pennant; the Boston Red Sox. Who was that player?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  While Frank Robinson's 1966 Triple Crown year gave him 49 home runs to lead the AL, he was followed by Harmon Killebrew with 39, and teammate Boog Powell who hit 34.

While the 1966 Baltimore Orioles were a barn burner led by Frank Robinson's Triple Crown season, the 1967 season was a super flop. No one could have expected Robinson to repeat but his .311 average coupled with 30 homers and 94 RBI was nothing to sneeze at. The rest of the team, especially the pitching, simply fell apart. 

 The Orioles went from on top of the world to sixth place the next year. They went from 34 games over .500 to nine games under .500. What happened?

Only one pitcher, Tom Phoebus won in double figures. His 14 wins at least doubled everyone on the staff except Jim Hardin who was a major bright spot. Hardin, a 23 year old rookie, led the starters with a 2.27 ERA in 111 innings while going 8-3. Aside from the continued dominance of Moe Drabowsky as the closer (1.60 ERA in 95 innings) the rest of the staff was pretty much a disaster. Injuries didn't help.

Jim Palmer (a 15 game winner in 1966), Dave McNally, Wally Bunker and Steve Barber combined for 48 wins in the championship season. They had 17 in 1967. The bullpen remained fairly solid but overworked. Palmer only pitched 49 innings due to arm problems and was actually sent to the minors and then had surgery before restarting his Hall of Fame career.

At the plate, Boog Powell went from 34 homers to 13, Russ Snyder went from .306 to .236, Luis Aparicio dropped 40 points and stole fewer bases because of it, while Curt Blefary, Paul Blair and Andy Etchebarren all were very close to the previous season's marks. Brooks Robinson was almost exactly the same at .269 and hitting 23 and 22 home runs. His teammates didn't help. In 1966 he drove in 100 but only 77 the following season. 

The bench did under perform but the club made only a handful more errors and gave up only three fewer earned runs than the previous season.  Perhaps the best explanation after the injury and pitching woes were the Red Sox. It was Yaz's time to take over the Triple Crown and Boston finished 15+ games ahead of the Orioles and went on to face the Cardinals in the World Series.

Hardin by the way would win 18 games the following season and win 17 more the rest of his career, never again matching his first two seasons.  

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1966 The Final NL Weekend

TRIVIA QUESTION: While Frank Robinson led the AL in homers with 49 in 1966, name the two players who finished behind him?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The Cleveland Indians after the 1954 pennant winning season were never really the same club, finishing mostly in the second division or close to it. It wasn't until 1995 they finished in first, winning 100 games.

The last weekend of the season is often critical but never more critical than in 1966 as three teams had come down to the wire in the National League. It was the Dodgers, Giants and Pirates involved with the already eliminated Phillies playing a role. 

Here is the scenario. With three games left the Giants were three back of the Dodgers and were facing the Pirates in a double header on Saturday with the final game of the season on Sunday. The Pirates were a game and a half back of the Dodgers and were at home to face the Giants who had won three straight coming into the weekend. The Dodgers were in Philadelphia for a game on Friday night, an unusual off date on Saturday and a double header on Sunday. An inch of rain fell on the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday, so the twin bill was Sunday.

The key here was the Giants were actually facing a unique scenario. They still had a make-up game with Cincinnati from earlier in the season. So the outcome of the weekend games would decide if the Giants played that make-up game or not. It was a game washed out by rain.

The Giants needed to win all three games hoping for the Dodgers to lose all three to force a playoff (if the Giants won the make-up game). A Pirates sweep coupled with three losses by the Dodgers would hand the Bucs the pennant. All the Dodgers had to do to secure the title was to win one of the final games to eliminate San Francisco and offer up at least a playoff with Pittsburgh.

The Bucs fell first. In the first game of the three game set Ollie Brown and Jim Davenport combined for a couple of hits off Bucs closer Pete Mikkleson in the eighth inning to secure a 5-4 win, backing the 13 hit pitching of ace Juan Marichal. 

In Philadephia the Dodgers were doing their best to pump the TV ratings. Los Angeles fell to Chris Short who won his 19th on Friday night 5-3. After taking the rainy Saturday off, the Dodgers sent Don Drysdale to the hill against Larry Jackson. With the Dodgers leading 3-2 in the eighth, the Phillies put six straight batters on base with walks sandwiched around errors by catcher Johnny Roseboro and third baseman Dick Schofield. Philadelphia plated two runs to take a 4-3 lead and Short picked up his 20th win as he came in to relieve in hopes of getting no. 20. 

The Giants took out the Bucs again as Bobby Bolin pitched and hit his team to victory. Bolin went the distance in pitching a one hitter (second sacker Bill Mazeroski with the lone hit), and in the eighth inning doubled home the clubs first run in a 2-0 win. Tommie Sisk was awesome for the Pirates, but it wasn't to be. 

Who would Dodger manager Walt Alton turn to in this situation to face Phillie ace Jim Bunning? Sandy Koufax. The Dodgers made it anti-climatic early, scoring three runs in the third, capped off by a two run homer by Willie Davis to take a 3-0 lead. With a 6-0 lead, Koufax held sway until the ninth when the Phils scored three to make it 6-3 Dodgers. In today's world of "launch angle and never say never home runs" perhaps a 6-0 lead in the ninth was just a challenge. In 1966 it was impossible against Koufax. Sandy went the distance in pitching a 7-hitter, striking out 10 on his way to picking up his 27th win.

The Giants watched the scoreboard to no avail. Gaylord Perry battled Bob Veale for seven innings and at the end of nine they were tied at 3-3. In the 11th, Steve Blass in relief, fell apart giving up four runs including Willie McCovey's 36th home run of the season for a 7-3 Giants win. 

The season was over. In the books Los Angeles played 162 games to the Giants 161 and took the pennant 1.5 games ahead of San Francisco and three ahead of the Pirates. The victory celebration didn't last long. They Dodgers were blitzed in the World Series, dropping four straight to the Frank Robinson led Baltimore Orioles. 

Koufax with a 27-9 record did not win the MVP Award that season. It went to the Pirates Roberto Clemente who had his best overall offensive season banging 29 homers, .317 BA, 119 RBI and 105 Runs Scored. Even Clemente could not keep the Bucs from dropping all three games on the final weekend.

"NEW SPECIAL OFFER"
Need to get out of a baseball hitting slump, or a golf swing slump? Order my new book "Beating the Slump; An athlete's guide to a better career." See it on Amazon for only $5.99. That is for the Paperback, you can also order Kindle on that link. You can also order paperback copies directly from me via the email below for my other books.

You can get a signed paper back copy of the above book

"Tales of My Baseball Youth - a child of the sixties"

for $15 Shipping Included 

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column.

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/
 
Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.