S-O-M 1961

Dodger catcher Joe Ferguson pulled off an early 1973 gem on a late Saturday night in San Diego, crushing home runs in his first 3 at-bats, staking the Dodgers to a 4-3 lead against San Diego. Fergie's blasts came in the 2nd, 4th and 6th, the latter home run coming with 1 man on. In the 8th however, things took a huge U-turn when the Dodgers sent 12 men to the plate, scoring 8 runs in the inning, 4 of which came on a grand slam by Ron Cey, who had led off the inning with a pinch-hit single. So needless to say, Fergie and the Penguin pounded the Padres into submission on a huge night in the "Mission." Los Angeles 12, San Diego 3 WP-Messersmith (1-0) LP-Norman (0-1)  Cincinnati 10, San Francisco 1 WP-Billingham (1-0) LP-Willoughby (0-1) Grand slam homer by Bobby Tolan in the 6th Montreal 7 Chicago 4 WP-Moore (1-0) LP-Pappas (0-1) Expos score 3 in the first and 3 in the 9th New York 3, Philadelphia 1 WP-Matlack (1-0) LP-Lonborg (0-1) Willie Mays RBI double, Matlack goes dista...

  Detroit 10, Cleveland 5 WP-Lolich (1-0) LP-Perry (0-1) Mickey Stanley 2 HR, Norm Cash 3-run homer in 9th inning. New York 5, Boston 3 WP-Kline (1-0) LP-Pattin (0-1) SV-Lyle (1) Ron Blomberg 3 RBI Baltimore 5, Milwaukee 1 WP-Cuellar (1-0) LP-Lockwood (0-1) Merv Rettenmund 2 HR, 4 RBI Oakland 4, Minnesota 2 WP-Odom (1-0) LP-Hands (0-1) SV-Fingers (1) Bando, Tenace solo homers California 4, Kansas City 3 WP-Wright (1-0) LP-Simpson (0-1) SV-Sells (1) Frank Robinson single, double, RBI, 2 runs scored. Texas 7, Chicago 5 WP-Bosman (1-0) LP-Wood (0-1) SV-Foucault (1) Johnson, Burroughs solo homers. Dick Allen hits for cycle in losing cause. 

  St. Louis 9, Pittsburgh 4 WP-Gibson (1-0) LP-Blass (0-1) SV-Segui (1) New York 6, Philadelphia 5 WP-Seaver (1-0) LP-Carlton (0-1) SV-McGraw (1) HR's-Mays (1) Montanez (1) Montreal 14 Chicago 6 WP-Torrez (1-0) LP-Jenkins (0-1) SV-Marshall (1) HR-Singleton (1) Pepitone (1, GS) Jorgensen (1) Bailey (1, 2) Foli (1) Monday (1) Houston 5, Atlanta 2 WP-Roberts (1-0) LP-Gentry (0-1) SV- York (0-1) HR-Wynn (1) Johnson (1) May (1) Los Angeles 8 San Diego 5 WP-Brewer (1-0) LP-Romo (0-1) HR-Davis (1) Crawford (1) Roberts (1) Hilton (1)  AL DH/NL pitcher batting comparison: DH, 8/27 NL pitchers, 2/23

             123     456     789    R   H     E PHI      020   000    300     5     10     0 NYM    100   104    000    6    14    0 WP-Seaver (1-0) LP-Carlton (0-1) SV-McGraw (1) 1st-Harrelson leads off with triple, scores on single by Millan 2nd-Bowa singles with bases loaded, drives in 2 runs 4th-Jones leads off with double, scores on triple by Milner 5th-Carlton strikes out the side with bases loaded 6th-Millan gives Mets lead with RBI single, Mays hits 3-run homer off Carlton 7th-Tovar pinch-hits single with 1 out, scores on double by Unser, Montanez homers off Seaver 9th-Pinch-hitter Anderson strikes out looking to end game Seaver-7.1 IP, 5ER, 10H 5K, 2BB Carlton-6 IP, 6ER 14H, 5K, 1HBP (Mays)

Thus far in the 1973 season, 4 American League games have been played, resulting in these results for the experiment known as the "Designated Hitter." Through 27 at-bats, here are the numbers:  8 for 27 (.296) 3 home runs, 8 runs batted in. The home runs, Ron Blomberg, Ollie Brown, Tony Oliva. Of those three, Oliva actually homered on Opening Day, the first DH to do so. In this replay, Blomberg was the first DH to do so.  When you consider that actual DH averages were envisioned to be about in the .250 range, that's pretty good for a sample size. As-played lineups will certainly fluctuate those numbers as the season goes on, so the dice will dictate if the DH was an early success or if it was trending to be a "folly." Yet to be heard from, the pitchers as the National League part of the 1973 replay gets under way in earnest.  

Boston 5, New York 4 WP-Tiant LP-Stottlemyre HR-Harper, Blomberg Baltimore 13, Milwaukee 3 WP-McNally LP-Colborn HR-Powell, Baylor, Robinson, Brown Kansas City 5, California 2 WP-Busby LP-Ryan SV-Bird HR-Mayberry  Minnesota 7, Oakland 1 WP-Blyeven (10 strikeouts) LP-Hunter HR-Oliva, Holt, Jackson  Chicago at Texas, postponed rain   

  At Fenway Park Boston, 4/6/1973 BOS 5-10-1 NYY 4-7-2 WP-Tiant (1-0) LP-Stottlemyre (0-1) HR-Harper (1) Blomberg (1)  The DH's: Blomberg 1-4, 2-run homer tied game in 6th; Cepeda 1-4, RBI single in 1st, on the 1st DH at-bat, Blomberg's 1st DH at-bat in 2nd  Carlton Fisk go-ahead/game-winning RBI single in 6th Luis Tiant retired last 11 batters.   Next post: When I play the other 3 scheduled AL games, about Wednesday/Thursday "Good times never felt so good"... (So Good, So Good)

  SFG 2-5-0 CIN 0-6-0 WP-Marichal (1-0) LP-Gullett (0-1) HR-Bonds (nobody on, Top of the 4th) (1) Bobby Bonds: "Gullett was toying with us the 1st 3 innings, so it was a matter of time before he gave us a "gimme" pitch and he did in the 4th. That sent us on our way." Sparky Anderson: "We tried, we really tried. Marichal is just as crafty as ever, just when you think you're about to come through, he fed us a sinker with the bases loaded in the 8th with 2 outs. He stung us, he really did." Joe Morgan: "85% percent of the time, you should have 2nd base stolen. When Dave Rader threw that one in the 8th to cut me down with 2 outs in the 6th, I was numb. That, and leaving the bases loaded in the 8th absolutely killed us."  SFG (1-0) CIN (0-1)

Well, how was 1973, really? Well, Watergate reared its ugly head, Archie Bunker was joking about it and defending Richard "E" Nixon and we were boycotting meat and high prices. How was it really from a baseball standpoint? Well, there was this thing called a Designated Hitter that took the bat out of the pitcher's hand in the American League and a dramatic increase of home runs in the National League, namely some chap from Mobile AL, who perched himself on the doorstep of history at season's end.  Enough about Henry Aaron and the DH, there were other elements to this historic season, elements which I have tried to recreate in my 1973 S-O-M Advanced replay. I made it all the way to late April with some slightly exaggerated numbers, 2 no-hitters, 1 from a guy named Seaver and 1 from a "Dock." When I've done replays in 1961 and 1973, I included the games that were scheduled, even bypassing the fact that some of those games were ppd. And injury rolls took ou...