For the World Series cards
Topps gets all red, white, and blue with us which will take my seriously
limited template skills to task. Game 1 was a Saturday day game in Oakland between two teams
that went down to the wire in capturing their respective league crowns. Topps
gives us the score of each game on the front as well as an action shot and this
one features go-to – at least in this series – reliever Darold Knowles before he
lets one fly to either Jim Beauchamp or Wayne Garrett, the only two batters he faced
that day. That’s Joe Rudi in left field behind him and since Joe seems to be a
shade towards center I am opting with lefty Garrett being the batter.
Oakland went into the Series as a 13-10 favorite, probably on
better power since these guys were pretty evenly matched elsewhere. The Mets
were still without their best hitter, Rusty Staub, who was still nursing a
banged-up shoulder from the NL playoffs. But the two teams matched up really
well pitching-wise and NY could be tough on defense when the team was healthy.
That was always a big supposition in ’73 but with just Rusty out they were
pretty close. Soon-to-be homer champ Hank Aaron threw out the game’s first ball
and Jim Nabors – see Claude Osteen’s post – sang the National Anthem. Ken
Holtzman for Oakland
and Jon Matlack for NY were the game’s starters and each was off an excellent
turn in the playoffs.
With Staub out a guy named
Willie Mays got a chance to start and Willie got the first hit of the Series in
the top of the first with a liner that zoomed by Sal Bando. He got left there though, and
there was no further action until the top of the third when Bud Harrelson got
to second on a walk and a sacrifice bunt by Matlack. But he got stranded also.
Then things got interesting in the bottom of the inning: Dick Green walked and
up came Holtzman, who hadn’t hit for a year – there were no DH’s in the Series.
Ken tried for a bunt, missed, and Jerry Grote threw out Green going to second
for the second out. Holtzman then doubled a shot up the leftfield line and then
scored when Felix Millan booted a Bert Campaneris grounder up the middle. Campy
then stole second when Matlack made a bad pick-off throw and scored when Joe
Rudi singled. Sal Bando then singled to center – a play on which poor Willie
Mays showed his age – but Reggie Jackson then popped up to end the inning. So Oakland was on top with
two unearned runs. That’s no fun.
In the fourth Cleon Jones
rapped a double off Holtzman and came in on a John Milner single. Jerry Grote
then hit one to deep center that scared everyone until Reggie – yes, Reggie –
made a beautiful catch. 2-1 Oakland
and then things quieted considerably. Jesus Alou nearly hit one out in the
bottom of the inning and NY threatened again in the fifth after Matlack walked
but got erased when a Wayne Garrett bunt attempt went skyward – he couldn’t get
a break at the plate – and became a double play. Good thing too because Felix
Millan then tripled. But Willie ended the rally by popping out. Holtzman left
in the bottom of the inning for pinch hitter Angel Magual and he was followed
by Rollie Fingers who supplied some drama in the sixth when he put runners on
the corners via a single, groundout, and passed ball before striking out
Harrelson in one of those four-out innings. Matlack was still going strong when
he was lifted for pinch hitter Ken Boswell who singled. That mini-rally got
snuffed quickly when Garrett – see? – grounded into a double play. Milner
singled in the eighth but went nowhere. Oakland
then threatened in the bottom of the inning when a Campy single, Rudi
sacrifice, and a Bando walk put two on. But Reggie ended the inning on a
groundout. In the ninth a walk by pinch hitter Ron Hodges took Fingers out and
Knowles came in to get Beauchamp and – oof! – Garrett. 2-1 A’s.
On the individual game card
backs Topps gives us just the offensive side of things with those old box
scores that show putouts, assists, and errors instead of RBI’s. That Millan E
was pretty costly. You can glean a little bit of pitching info from the
catchers’ putouts, most of which are K’s. The guys without positions listed
were pinch hitters. Staub never actually got up. He was supposed to bat for Tug
McGraw in the ninth but then Dick Williams changed to lefty Knowles and Yogi Berra brought
in righty Beauchamp. Chess game stuff. Here are the pitching lines:
Pitching
|
IP
|
H
|
R
|
ER
|
BB
|
SO
|
ERA
|
Matlack
|
6.0
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
-
|
McGraw
|
2.0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
8.0
|
4
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
-
|
|
Holtzman
|
5.0
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
1.80
|
Fingers
|
3.1
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
-
|
Knowles
|
0.2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
9.0
|
7
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
5
|
1.00
|