No Clemente thread. This is more of a general World Series post, but there ought to be one.
A few years ago, a friend passed on some World Series broadcasts on VHS when he bought a DVD recorder. They’re games that TSN here re-broadcasted during the ’94 strike. I just watched Game 7 of the ’71 Series. A lot of these games have been posted online now; you can watch the same game on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zBhRvQIqW0
I was watching at the time--either my second or first World Series. My memory of ’70 is dimmer, but I clearly remember rooting against the Pirates in ’71--primarily to be different than my parents, and I think the idea of four 20-game-winners caught my interest--clearly remember the buzz around Clemente, remember Kison’s great game, etc.
Clemente had a phenomenal Series, but he wasn’t quite as dominant in Game 7 as legend might have it. He hit a home run for the first run of a 2-1 win, otherwise didn’t have a hit (and struck out in the 9th). Very moving in the clubhouse after the game when Bob Prince gives him the mic and he begins by speaking to his parents in Spanish. (Prince first addresses him as Roberto, then switches to Bobby.) Also a nice ovation from the Orioles fans when he comes to bat in the 9th.
Two things among many that jumped out at me. At one point, Curt Gowdy and Chuck Thompson (don’t remember him at all) are discussing how fast Mike Cuellar and Steve Blass work, and Gowdy makes reference to how people are looking for ways to speed up the game. So I guess that’s been an ongoing issue for at least 40 years. (This particular game, by the way, clocked in at 2:10!)
Also, Blass. There’s no pitch count on Baseball Reference, but when Murtaugh sent him out to pitch the 9th, he’d pitched one complete game in the Series already, had just survived a rough 8th (two hits and a run), and had Boog Powell (1970 MVP), Frank Robinson (Frank Robinson), and Merv Rettenmund (.318, 5.8 WAR in ’71) coming up. The Pirates didn’t even have Giusti, their closer, warming up. Not advocating for then or now, just pointing out how incredibly different things were. Blass retired the side on eight pitches.
― clemenza, Sunday, 30 March 2014 16:50 (ten years ago) link
four months pass...
eleven months pass...
two years pass...