The World Series

by Stephanie Peters

  But the Pirates were no slouches either. Their record of 95–59 was nearly even with New York's 97–57.

  Still, most baseball followers didn't think Pittsburgh stood a chance against New York. The Yankees had been world champions eighteen times. The Pirates hadn't even won a pennant in more than three decades.

  At first, they seemed correct, for the leadoff batter, Yankee Tony Kubek, knocked out a single. But then Hector Lopez hit into a double play and the threat was defused, at least for the moment.

  Then Roger Maris came to the plate. He did just what Yankee fans hoped he would do — he clobbered a home run. Then cleanup hitter Mickey Mantle made the third out.

  Art Ditmar was on the mound for New York. He faced six batters and gave up a walk, a double, and three singles, to hand the Pirates three runs and only one out!

  Five hits, three runs? Manager Casey Stengel yanked Ditmar before any more damage was done. Ditmar's replacement, Jim Coates, retired the next two batters to end the painful inning.

  By the top of the ninth, the Pirates had jumped ahead 6–2. Four runs is a comfortable lead but not insurmountable, especially for a team as powerful as the Yankees. Their first hitter, Gil McDougald, belted out a solid single. A minute later, however, he trotted back to the dugout after being forced out at second. Bobby Richardson was still on first, though. Then Elston Howard blasted a home run! Suddenly, Pittsburgh's four-run lead had narrowed to two — and when Tony Kubek singled, it seemed possible that the Yankees could steal the game from the Pirates.

  They didn't. Despite being outhit 13 to 8, Pittsburgh won, 6–4.

  The next day, Pirates fans flocked to the stadium, hoping to see their team go up by two. Instead, they watched New York ring the home team's bell to the tune of sixteen runs, two of which were classic Mantle homers. And the third game was even worse —Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford allowed the Pirates only four hits and no runs while New York racked up sixteen hits for ten runs to go ahead in the Series two games to one.

  Amazingly, Pittsburgh squeaked out a 3–2 win in game four to tie the Series. Then they outhit the Yankees the next day on their way to a 5–2 win and their first Series lead.

  Whitey Ford was back on the mound for game six. He confounded the Pirates' batters again to earn his second shutout of the Series. The Yankees, meanwhile, crossed home plate twelve times! With the score at three games each, the Series was going into a seventh deciding game.

  Statistically, the Series seemed weighted in the Yankees' favor. They had a six-game total of 46 runs; the Pirates had 17. The Yankees had 78 hits; the Pirates had 42. The Yankees had eight home runs; the Pirates had one. The Yankees had shut out the Pirates twice; in both those games, the Pirates had allowed the Yankees to get into the double digits.

  Yet if the Pirates went into game seven feeling demoralized, they didn't show it. They scored four runs while holding the Yankees scoreless. In fact, New York didn't get on the board until the top of the fifth, and then only for one run.

  Then came the sixth inning. After all but shutting down the New York offense, pitcher Vern Law gave up a single and a walk before being relieved by Roy Face.

  But Face fared no better. While Maris fouled out, Mantle singled, scoring Bobby Richardson and sending Tony Kubek to third. Then Yogi Berra clocked a three-run homer. Suddenly, the Pirates were in the hole, 5–4!

  The score was still 5–4 at the top of the eighth. Face retired New York's biggest threats, Maris and Mantle — only to walk Berra, give up singles to Bill Skowron and Johnny Blanchard, and then a double to Clete Boyer! The score leaped from a manageable 5–4 to an unwieldy 7–4 before the inning finally ended.

  Pittsburgh fans at Forbes Field slumped in their seats. Their team had just two at bats to overcome a three-run lead. Given their hitting stats, two didn't seem nearly enough.

  First up in the bottom of the eighth was pinch hitter Gino Cimoli. He tapped out a single. Then Bill Virdon plugged a grounder right toward shortstop Tony Kubek.

  Kubek crouched for the easy catch. Thock! The ball struck something in the grass and ricocheted right into Kubek's neck! As Kubek lay in the dirt, clutching his injury, Cimoli charged to second and Virdon reached first.

  Two men on, no outs? Pittsburgh fans sat up a little straighter.

  The third batter, Dick Groat, singled to score Cimoli and send Virdon to second. The score was now 7–5. There were still no outs and runners on first and second. One sacrifice bunt later, those runners had advanced to second and third. One good hit could score Virdon; a great hit could tie the game.

  But the next batter, Rocky Nelson, flied out. That brought up right fielder Roberto Clemente. Clemente did what Nelson hadn't been able to do, namely, rap out a single to score Virdon.

  Pirate fans leaped to their feet with a roar. The home team was within one of tying the game!

  Now Hal Smith came up. Smith was a solid player but not a top hitter. No one expected him to provide the run they needed.

  Yet Smith did provide — and how! When reliever Jim Coates delivered his pitch, Smith blasted the ball deep for a three-run homer! The slugfest ended with the next batter, but the Pirates were once again ahead, 9–7.

  The 1918 Boston Red Sox team photo (Babe Ruth second row, fourth from left). Ruth pitched the team to their fourth World Series win of the decade.

  Lou Gehrig crosses home, thanks to a two-run homer by Babe Ruth in the New York Yankees 1932 World Series victory.

  “The Catch,” made by Willie Mays during the 1954 World Series.

  Bill “Maz” Mazeroski comes home after hitting the first ever Series-winning homer in 1960.

  Carlton Fisk waves his arms, willing his blast during the 1975 World Series to drop fair. The ball struck the foul pole for a home run.

  In 1977, Reggie Jackson does what only one other player—Babe Ruth—had ever done before: hit three consecutive homers in one game in the World Series.

  Kirk Gibson, sidelined with painful injuries, came off the bench to hit a two-run, game-winning homer in the 1988 World Series.

  The Boston Red Sox reverse the 86-year-old “Curse of the Bambino” by winning the 2004 World Series.

  There was still one inning left, however, and the Yankees used their turn at bat to full advantage. The first batters singled. Roger Maris popped a foul ball for the first out, but the threat of two ninners on base still remained. Mickey Mantle made good on the threat by singling one runner home. They needed only one more to tie things up. They got it in classic fashion.

  Yogi Berra was up. He drove the ball down the first-base line. Mantle, at first, started for second just as first baseman Rocky Nelson gloved the ball and stepped on the bag. Berra was out — and Mantle would have been, too, if Nelson had managed to tag him before he returned to first base. But he didn't. Mantle dove for the bag and slid under Nelson's glove a split second before the tag.

  And meanwhile, the runner on third had taken off for home. When he scored, the game was tied at 9 apiece.

  That's how the score remained when the Pirates came up in the bottom of the ninth. If they could push across just one run, they would beat the seemingly unbeatable Yankees. If they didn't, the game would go into extra innings. That, they knew, could very well prove disastrous for them.

  Leading off for Pittsburgh was Bill Mazeroski. “Maz,” as he was known, had had a strong Series so far, including a two-run homer in game one. He ]stood at the plate, facing reliever Ralph Terry. Terry's first pitch was high. Maz let it go by for ball one. The second pitch was also high. This time, however, Maz swung — hard.

  Boom!

  The sound of bat hitting ball echoed around the stadium for a microsecond before being drowned out by the roar of the crowd. It was a home run, the first World Series–winning homer ever!

  Maz rounded the bases waving his cap and grinning ear to ear. Pittsburgh fans jumped, screamed, and danced in the stands. Sure, the Yankees had beaten them in stats — outhitting, outfielding, and outpitching the Pirates in nearly eve
ry game — but in the end, the only stat that mattered was the final score of the final game. And thanks to Maz, that score was Pittsburgh 10, New York 9. The Pirates were world champs for the first time since 1925.

  Unfortunately for Pirates fans, the decade would end without Pittsburgh reaching the Series again. New York returned for the next four years, winning back-to-back championships in 1961 and 1962, but then losing it twice in a row.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  1970s

  1975: The Best Sixth Game Ever

  After their second straight World Series loss in 1964, the Yankees' star finally began to fade. The team that had won nineteen World Series since 1923 wouldn't return to the big game until the next decade. During their absence, other teams rose to greatness. The most notable being the Oakland Athletics. The A's were “three-peat” champs in 1972, 1973, and 1974, making them the second team in Major League history to win more than two in a row.

  In 1975, however, two other teams took the field to battle for the championship. And by all accounts, that Series was one of the most memorable in baseball history.

  That year, the Cincinnati Reds were the dominant team in the National League. The “Big Red Machine,” as they were known, was powered by Pete Rose, Ken Griffey Sr., Johnny Bench, and Dave Concepcion, among others. They crushed the opposition, winning 108 times while losing only 54. In the postseason, they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in three straight games and entered the World Series hungry for victory.

  But their competition was equally hungry — and almost as strong as the Reds. The Boston Red Sox had ended with a 95–65 record thanks to the might of rookie sluggers Jim Rice and Fred Lynn as well as veterans Dwight Evans, Carl “Yaz” Yastrzemski, Luis Tiant, and Carlton Fisk. They, too, swept their opponents in the playoffs. If they won this World Series, it would be their first since Babe Ruth pitched for them in 1918.

  Game one took place on October 11 at Fenway Park. Inning after inning passed without a run. The score was still zero to zero when the Sox came up to bat at the bottom of the seventh.

  First up was pitcher Luis Tiant. He hadn't come up to bat in the last three regular seasons. But World Series rules state that all pitchers must hit and surprisingly, Tiant connected for a single into left field.

  That brought up Dwight Evans, who laid down a bunt toward the pitcher's mound. The pitcher fielded the ball cleanly, turned to throw out Tiant at second, and slipped! By the time he'd recovered, Tiant and Evans were safe on base.

  The next batter bounced the ball between third and short for a single. Bases loaded, no outs — and power hitter Yaz was on his way to the plate. Things did not look good for the Reds.

  A minute later, they looked even worse. Yaz stroked a single to right. Tiant took a trip home, missed the plate, but returned to tag it to give the Sox the first run of the game.

  Two pitchers and two innings later, the 0-0 deadlock had turned into a 6-0 blowout for the Sox. Tiant walked off the field with a complete-game, five-hit shutout under his belt.

  The Reds tied the Series the next day, vaulting over the Red Sox with two runs late in the game.

  Game three looked good for the Reds, who led 5–2 after six innings. But one run at a time, the Sox whittled away the Reds' lead until they'd tied things up and forced the game into extra innings. They came close to going up in the top of the tenth, when Yaz clocked the ball to deep center field. But River-front Stadium has plenty of room for fielders to chase down balls, and that's just what center fielder Cesar Geronimo did. Yaz was out, and when Fisk hit into a double play, the inning ended with the score still tied.

  Geronimo helped the Reds again by leading off with a single to right. Pinch hitter Ed Armbrister came up next with instructions to bunt.

  What followed was a confusing and controversial baseball moment. Armbrister bunted the ball into the dirt right in front of home plate. A split second later, the umpire called it fair.

  Catcher Carlton Fisk darted forward to nab the ball. As he did, he collided with Armbrister. After they separated, Armbrister headed for first and Fisk threw to second, hoping to get Geronimo out.

  But his throw was wild — so wild, in fact, that Armbrister made it all the way to second and Geronimo stood safe at third!

  Sox manager Darrell Johnson raced out of the dugout to protest. According to baseball rules, any runner who interferes with a fielder trying to make a play on a batted ball is automatically out, even if the interference is not intentional. Armbrister had interfered with Fisk and was therefore out — or so it seemed to Johnson, the rest of the Sox, and many others who'd seen the play.

  But the umpire stood by his call. When the Reds pushed across the game-winning run three batters later, the Sox stormed off the field, furious.

  They channeled that fury the next day, beating the Reds 5–4. But game five belonged to the Reds, thanks to two powerful home runs from Tony Perez's bat.

  Like most World Series, this championship had provided plenty of excitement. But game six made every other match look dull in comparison.

  After a three-day rain delay, Luis Tiant took the mound. He retired the first three Reds in order. Then, in the Red Sox's first at bats, Fred Lynn lambasted a three-run homer.

  The score stayed 3–0 until the top of the fifth, when the Reds scored twice on a triple by Griffey, and then again on a single by Bench.

  Two innings later, the Reds added two to their side. They added yet another in the eighth with a home run by Geronimo.

  The Sox came up in the bottom of the eighth with the score 6–3. Lynn singled and Rico Petrocelli walked to put runners at first and second, no outs. Bernie Carbo came in to pinch-hit for pitcher Roger Moret. It was Carbo's first at bat of the game. He took two strikes and then connected weakly for a foul ball. One more strike and the inning would be over.

  That strike didn't come. Instead, Carbo absolutely crushed the next pitch, blasting the ball deep into home-run territory to tie the game!

  The score was still 6–6 after nine innings. And after ten innings. And after eleven — although the Reds came very close to winning the game that inning. With Ken Griffey at first, slugger Joe Morgan slammed a sizzling line drive down the right-field line. Griffey took off, certain that the hit was unreachable.

  But nobody told Dwight Evans that. He beat the ball to the wall, nabbed it in the webbing of his glove as he crashed into the concrete, and then threw to first for the double play!

  With the clock ticking past midnight, the game continued into a twelfth inning. But no one watching the game was yawning; it was simply too suspenseful!

  Bottom of the twelfth, the score was still tied. As leadoff batter Fisk readied himself in the on-deck circle, he turned to Fred Lynn and said, “I'm gonna hit one off the wall. You drive me in.”

  Lynn answered, “Sounds good to me.”

  Fisk stepped into the batter's box. He let the first pitch go by for ball one. The next pitch would have been a strike if Fisk had let it go by or had swung and missed. But he did neither. Instead, he connected.

  Boom! The ball soared high in the air toward the left-field line and vanished into the outfield lights. Fisk tracked the ball's flight, and then began hopping and chopping his arms sideways toward right field, willing the ball to stay fair of the foul pole.

  Clang! The ball hit the pole square on! Home run!

  Red Sox fans swarmed the field as Fisk frisked around the bases. When he reached home, he gave a final jump and came down on the plate with both feet.

  “I don't think I've ever gone through a more emotional game,” Fisk told reporters later.

  Sadly for Boston fans, the Red Sox couldn't follow up that amazing win with another the following night. After leading the game 3–2 through six innings, Boston gave up two runs without being able to score any more of their own. The Series outcome didn't come as a surprise to anyone who relied on statistics to predict the winner — after all, the Reds were the strongest team ever in baseball history — but it did come as a disapp
ointment to those hoping for a “Cinderella story” finish.

  Cincinnati took the championship the following year as well, sweeping the New York Yankees in four straight games. But in 1977, the Yankees were back on top, thanks to a record-tying performance by one of the game's best players, Reggie Jackson.

  Jackson had played in two previous World Series, in 1973 and 1974, as a member of the Oakland Athletics (he would have played in three, but an injury during the playoffs sidelined him prior to the 1972 championship). In 1973, he was named the Series MVP, when his two-run homer in the third inning of the seventh game gave the A's the jump they needed over the New York Mets.

  In 1977, Jackson returned to the Series, this time wearing Yankee pinstripes. Once again, he showed the world what a clutch player he was.

  After five games, the Series score stood at New York 3, Los Angeles 2. The Dodgers led game six, 3–2, going into the bottom of the fourth inning. With a runner at first, Jackson came to the plate —and blasted the first pitch thrown for a two-run homer. Then, in the bottom of the fifth inning, he did the same thing again. And then, incredibly, Jackson homered a third time, once again sending the first pitch into the stratosphere. Three consecutive at bats, three first pitches, three home runs!

  The only other player to hit three homers in a row in the World Series? Babe Ruth. New York won the game 8–4, and pocketed their first championship ring in more than a decade. Jackson pocketed a nickname, “Mr. October,” and a place in the history books as the only player ever to hit five home runs in a single Series.