The 1 0 2 n d WORLD SERIES ( Part One )

( The Date is SATURDAY , 2 1 OCTOBER 2 0 0 6 ,

the 2 9 4 t h Day of the calendar year )



For the third time , the ST . LOUIS CARDINALS and the

DETROIT TIGERS will meet in the WORLD SERIES .

===================================================

===================================================

The Cardinals , nine times the World Series Champions ( 1 9 2 6 ,

1 9 3 1 , 1 9 3 4 , 1 9 4 2 , 1 9 4 4 , 1 9 4 6 , 1 9 6 4 , 1 9 6 7 , 1 9 8 2 )

defeated the Tigers in the 1 9 3 4 Series , four games to three . The

two teams played again thirty - four years later ( 1 9 6 8 ) at which

time the Cardinals , having staked themselves to an advantage of

three - games - to - one , dropped games five , six and seven despite

having the latter two games at home AND despite the ultimate

trump ' card ' ( if You will ) , BOB GIBSON , pitching in the finale .



The 1 9 6 8 Series was meaningful for this typist in that I finally

took an interest in sports at the age of twelve . As a long - time

observer of baseball , I regard 1 9 6 8 as a significant year in

Major League history in that pitching so ruthlessly dominated

batting , and the imbalance was near to disasterous .



Consider : American League batting champion CARL

YAZSTRZEMSKI of the BOSTON RED SOX could do no

better than a . 3 0 1 average , the only A . L . batter to manage

that threshold . Four A . L . starting pitchers - - LUIS TIANT

( 1 . 6 0 ) , SAM McDOWELL ( 1 . 7 3 ) , DAVE McNALLY

( 1 . 9 5 ) and DENNIS McLAIN ( 1 . 9 6 ) - - had earned - run

averages below 2 . 0 0 . ROGER ANGELL , a sportswriter I

don ' t ordinarily extol , nevertheless got it right when he said

of Baseball that it was dying , owing to lack of interest .



The game , simply said , had become too one - sided in favor of

the pitcher , had a frightful dearth of runs .



A wise , if controversial , remedy was implemented in 1 9 6 9 :

the pitcher ' s mound was diminished from fifteen inches to ten .

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

TIM McCARVER , now a talking head on Major League broadcasts ,

was the Cardinals ' catcher in ' 6 8 . Currently , McCarver is heard to

say the imbalance greatly favors batters vis - a - vis pitchers , and thus

he favors the enlargement of the mound .



I trust McCarver is aware the ten - inch mound has been the standard

since ' 6 9 , meaning we ' ve thirty - eight seasons of experience with it .



The ten - inch mound hasn ' t prevented select pitchers from having

dominant seasons ; just to cite one , RON GUIDRY had an E . R . A .

of 1 . 7 4 , some 3 0 1 stikeouts , and a 2 4 and 3 record with the

NEW YORK YANKEES in 1 9 7 8 . ( Guidry is now the Yankees '

pitching coach . Guidry ' s career statistics are remarkably similar

to those of SANFORD KOUFAX , butt Guidry , alas , is not a

Hall Of Fame inductee , one of many injustices perpetrated by the

schmucks in the Baseball Writers Association Of America . )



Aforementioned Sanford Koufax formerly held the single - season

record for strikeouts , 3 8 2 . It is fair to point out that Koufax

established the record whilst pitching from the fifteen - inch

mound , AND with other teams ' pitchers to victimize every

ninth - at - bat . ( NOLAN RYAN , who bested the old strikeout

mark by one unit in 1 9 7 3 , pitched from the ten - inch

platform and was obligated to face designated hitters . )



NOTE : This is not to demean Sanford Koufax , butt merely

to advance the very real possibility that certain pitchers of more

contemporary times - - after Koufax retired in 1 9 6 6 - - are his

equal or even nominally better . For sure , admirers of Koufax

can not base the Hall Of Fame case for their guy on longevity ,

as Koufax only played tweleve seasons ( 1 9 5 5 through 1 9 6 6 )

and had a mere 1 6 8 career wins , quite modest for a starting

pitcher . Compare that with lefthanded starters WARREN SPAHN

( 3 6 3 ) and STEVE CARLTON ( 3 2 9 ) to cite just two .

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Sanford Koufax did establish the World Series record for strikeouts in

one start , fifteen , against the NEW YORK YANKEES in the 1 9 6 3

World Series , as the Dodgers swept the Yanks . The record lasted

just five years , as aforementioned BOB GIBSON struck out seventeen

Detroit batters in the first game of the ' 6 8 Series .



Gibson ' s overall performance in 1 9 6 8 is astounding : Thirty - four

starts ; twenty - eight complete games ; twenty - two wins , nine losses ;

a minuscule E . R . A . of 1 . 1 2 ; thirteen shutouts ; 2 6 8 strikeouts .

Despite a well - earned reputation as a ' head - hunter ' , Gibson only

hit seven batters with pitches in ' 6 8 . Incidentally , the E . R . A .

works out to be just thirty - eight earned runs allowed in 3 0 4

innings pitched . ( Gibson only yielded forty - nine runs total . )



Gibson , like Koufax before him , was blessed in having a ' pitcher ' s

park ' for his home starts , the ' old ' BUSCH STADIUM ( home field

for the Cards from 1 9 6 6 through 2 0 0 5 ) . The defense was exceptional ,

with a lineup that included Tim McCarver , DAL MAXVILL , JULIAN

JAVIER and the late CURT FLOOD ' up - the - middle ' ( catcher ,

shortstop , second base and centerfield , respectively . )



Hall Of Fame inductee ORLANDO CEPEDA , the National League ' s

Most Valuable Player the previous year , played his second ( and last )

season with the Cards in 1 9 6 8 ; Cepeda would be traded to the

ATLANTA BRAVES for eventual Hall - Of - Famer JOE TORRE .

ROGER MARIS , still the single - season home run record - holder

at the time , finished his Major League career playing right field for

the Cards in 1 9 6 7 and ' 6 8 . LOU BROCK , also a Hall - Of - Fame

inductee , played left field and batted leadoff ; his 9 3 8 career stolen

bases were the most of any Major League player until RICKEY

HENDERSON surpassed it . MIKE SHANNON was at third base ;

RED SCHOENDINST was the manager .



STEVE CARLTON , just four years away from a breakthrough season

with the PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES ( more about that in a moment )

was with the cardinals in 1 9 6 8 butt did not start in the World Series ;

rather , the Cardinals ' rotation had Gibson pitching games one ,

four , and seven ; NELSON BRILES started games two and five ;

RAY WASHBURN pitched the third game , and the sixth .



( As promised : Steve Carlton , pitching for the worst team in

baseball , won 2 7 games and lost just ten times in 1 9 7 2 .

The Phillies had an abysmal 5 9 and 9 7 record in ' 7 2 - -

hence Carlton alone accounted for forty - five per cent of

Philadelphia ' s wins that year . )

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

The DETROIT TIGERS had the best record in baseball ,

1 0 3 wins and 5 9 losses , in 1 9 6 8 . DENNIS McLAIN ,

traded by the CHICAGO WHITE SOX to the Tigers for

eventual NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

power forward DAVE DeBUSSCHERE ( ! ) , became the

first Major League pitcher to win thirty ( 3 0 ! ) games in

one season since DIZZY DEAN of the Cardinals did so

in 1 9 3 4 . ( McLain finished 3 1 and 6 in 1 9 6 8 . )



Anxious to maximize their offense , Tigers manager

MAYO SMITH benched shortstop RAY OYLER and moved

centerfielder MICKEY STANLEY to the infield . JIM NORTHRUP ,

who hit two grand slams in a 1 9 6 8 regular season game and would

hit another in Game Six of the ' 6 8 Series , moved to centerfield .

Hall - Of - Fame inductee AL KALINE played right field ; WILLIE

HORTON was in left field ; DICK McAULIFFE was the second -

baseman and the leadoff batter ; BILL FREEHAN was the catcher ;

NORM CASH , 1 9 6 1 ' s American League batting champion , was

at first base , while DON WERT and the aging ED MATHEWS ,

the latter also in the Hall Of Fame , alternated at third base .



The shuffling of the lineup did not help the Tigers at all against

Bob Gibson , as Detroit scored only one run in eighteen innings

in Games One and Four . Ray Washburn was the winning pitcher

against EARL WILSON , and Tim McCarver hit a home run as the

Cards defeated the Tigers , 7 to 3 , in the third game , the first of

three at Detroit ' s TIGER STADIUM .



Detroit did win handily in the second game , 8 to 1 , as MICKEY

LOLICH , Tigers ' left - handed starter , pitched the first of three

World Series wins en route to winning the Series M . V . P . award .

( Gibson , winner of three games in the 1 9 6 7 Series against Boston ,

and Lolich were the last pitchers to attain the trifecta before

RANDY JOHNSON achieved three wins in the 2 0 0 1 Series . )



The clutch pitching of Mickey Lolich was critical in the fifth game ,

as Detroit avoided elimination with a 5 to 3 win . McLain , hurting ,

received painkilling injections before Game Six and pitched the

Tigers to a 1 3 to 1 win at Busch Stadium . Lolich returned to the

mound in Game Seven with just two days of rest ( Gibson had three

days off between starts ) and the two starting pitchers hurled six

scoreless innings apiece in the decisive game .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The baserunning of the Cardinals , ordinarily a strength ,

betrayed them in Game Seven as both Lou Brock and

Curt Flood were picked off first base by Mickey Lolich .

Still , the likelihood was that St . Louis would win this

game , with the Cards playing at home and with Gibson

pitching . Going into the top of the seventh inning ,

Gibson had hurled twenty - four innings against the

Tigers ' formidable power - hitting lineup , and had

permitted only one run .



Yet the Tigers came through with three runs in the seventh

inning , as Jim Northrup delivered a triple over the head of

Curt Flood to break the scoreless tie . Essentially the

Series was decided on Northrup ' s at - bat - - only Mike

Shannon ' s home run in the ninth inning off Mickey

Lolich prevented a shutout .



Lolich deservedly took the Series M . V . P . , just as

Gibson had done the previous year AND in 1 9 6 4 .

Despite allowing four runs in his final World Series

start , Gibson ' s E . R . A . in the ' 6 8 Series was a more

than respectable 1 . 6 7 . More impressive yet was his

run of seven consecutive wins in three World Series

playoffs - - two in 1 9 6 4 , three in 1 9 6 7 , two in 1 9 6 8 .



***************************************************************

***************************************************************