MLB Baseball's Seasons: 1971

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to baseball seasons 1971 greatness in the game [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] with brooks robinson's iconic 1970 World Series performance still fresh in everyone's mind the Orioles entered the 1971 season as a favorite to reach their third straight World Series I don't think anybody really thought about defending the World Championship we just figured we were do exactly what we did in 69 and 70 and then we're probably gonna end up in the World Series and when you played for Earl Weaver it was all about winning two pennants and as many full seasons as managers he expected a lot but on the other hand I think most of us understood that if Earl was gonna be the manager that come October we would be playing in the postseason on the heels of two consecutive 100-plus win seasons the Orioles edition of righty Pat Dobson bolstered an already formidable staff could have four 20-game winners this year McNally play our Palmer now Pat Dobson and while the O's represented baseball's old guard and AL East [Applause] [Music] the Western Division Oakland Athletics were ushering in a younger hipper 70s love their maverick owner Charlie Finley wanted his team to stand out from the back we had these white shoes before Joe Namath had white shoes we had these Kokhba uniforms while other team had a great uniform on the road and like uniform at home we had all kind of the multicolored uniform configuration that you could think of and this colorful break-in tradition seemed to suit the City of Oakland perfectly they had a lot of political unrest going on in Oakland they had the Black Panthers were at their height though being who they were at that time you had Berkeley which was adjacent to Oakland you had the Vietnam conflict still going on so we had this one common bond which was you want to cede Oakland A's play are you play for Oakland A's new manager dick Williams was four years removed from delivering the Red Sox to an impossible dream World Series birth in 1971 he was hoping for a similar outcome as his young team appeared on the rise it was a pretty good club it was basically built from guys that had come through the organization together no question Oakland was on the move with position players like Burt campaneris Reggie Jackson Sal bando and Joe Rudi and future Hall of Famers catfish hunter and Raleigh fears headlining the pitching staff these guys had a lot of talent and they just kind of gelled and came together during the 71 season with just a little help provided by a 21 year old pitching phenom with the most colorful name over in the National League East the Pittsburgh Pirates were also poised for a successful 71 campaign having just come off their first postseason appearance in a decade seen 70 would came off of a championship season we have beaten the playoffs by the Reds and we felt that we had an opportunity to get back three future hall-of-famers broad leadership to the box second baseman bill Mazeroski slugger willie stargell and the multi-dimensional Roberto Clemente P and Stargell and Mazeroski were great examples of how to go about your craft if you watch them you couldn't help but notice how they went about their work I always considered them to be my professors at the University of baseball and if you couldn't learn from them you couldn't learn from anybody Danny Murtaugh the Dean of pirate you had guided Pittsburgh to a championship in 1960 now he hoped his tenured Corps sprinkled with an influx of talented underclassmen could once again become a world serious we had been stocking up our minor-league system so going into 1971 we knew that we were a good baseball team meanwhile there was a different kind of excitement in eastern Pennsylvania the first ball was not thrown out it was dropped from the Arco helicopter and caught by police catcher Mike Ryan Don were hit the first homer at the vet while future Hall of Famer Jim Bunning recorded the first April 27th would be another historic day for baseball as Hank Aaron joined Babe Ruth and Willie Mays in the 600 home run Club mind-boggling was the word that comes to my mind when you start looking at 600 that's hitting 30 home runs for 20 years in a row when I think of people that influenced the way that I've played Mays was a name that was up there but right next to him was Hank Aaron but really was still the man as Charlie Fox's 1971 Giants were still led by the say hey kid there's only one we made who's the greatest all-around ballplayer I put on a pair of spike but Mays wasn't the lone superstar on a ballclub that stockpiled stars names like Willie McCovey Gaylord Perry and Juan Marichal also graced the giants roster it was just an interesting team to be around because of the diverse personalities and the greatness you take a team now any team you want to look at and find me for a Hall of Famers I don't think you'll be able to do that that talent that had propelled the Giants to a nationally best 902 wins in the sixties yet only translated one World Series appearance the Giants had ended the decade with five straight second-place finishes and began the Senators by finishing third after the 62 series we thought we learn it every other year but the 71 team by then Marichal McCovey and mays were getting old despite their age 80 core the Giants remained a threat due in large part to the Ascension of their fourth year right fielder Bobby Bowden's he was an offensive force for ball club a kind of guy that you need at the top of your order to jumpstart the team Bobby's 7 April home runs serve notice that the giant influx of youth would inspire the team's aging veterans to make one last go at greatness in 71 [Music] looking back in 1971 it would be hard not to notice that certain cultural trends still remain from the celebrated 60s hair for one mod clothing listen sported by Cleveland Indian Ken the hawk Harrelson of course the players dug music back then too but their iPods of the day were 8-track tapes but to really gauge America and baseball and suddenly one one would have to look no further and so shocking numbers from a bygone era a nice new car could cost about four thousand dollars while the gas to run it was 40 cents a gallon that same 40 cents could also buy a pack of cigarettes but beginning in 1971 television ads for them were bad but of all the numbers related to 71 the most staggering were those posted by starting pitchers many still worked out of form annotations and in 1971 the highest percentage of starters in nearly 50 years worked at least 250 innings guys were asked routinely to go high in the 200s and many of them in the 300s and some of them in the mid 300 Fergie Jenkins used to go out there and routinely finished just about everything that he was in between starts I would throw batting practice I would do a lot of running and that contributed to a lot of that strength being able to go as long as I did Jenkins led the league in wins being started and completed and also set a career high in any he's pitched Fergie finished the year 11 games over 500 for the third-place Cubs capturing the loan sion the lord of his career i think it kind of told people that Ferguson Jenkins was a pretty good ballplayer but Tigers ace mickey lowlich had the most staggering statistics but fast man but why by low voltage is 71 pitching resume shouldn't have come as a surprise after all Mickey had won Game seven of the 68 Fall Classic by hurling his third complete game of the series on only two days rest knowing how fast Mickey work through strikes kept aboard I kept his team in the game and those demonic Indians that you're talking about a one season hey I don't think it was a winnable with a major league I 25 wins one might have expected millage to be a shoo-in for the AL syoma but not so as one pitcher appeared out of the blue and here comes despite a blue kid from Mansfield Louisiana of all places how do you describe by the blue one way you can describe him a long loose arm vitae in 1971 he was phenomenal I feel I would predict that I'd win 58 you know they're just from my physical area had just left Fort Bragg North Carolina and I was in the best shape of my life after a short visit to the majors in 69 who made sure of a long lease by fishing a one-hitter and a no-hitter during his September look over last year and those credentials earned in the 1971 opening day start presidential open in Washington DC I lost to the Washington Senators I was pitching against a guy named Denny McLain the last 30 game winner I obviously was nervous but after that game I felt into a groove of what they now call in nizam provided completed and won all six of his remaining April starts three by shutout with ten wins by the end of May blue propelled the first places to a seven-game lead in the AL West [Music] he's getting all these stuff over and he's in a good group right now and there's no telling how many games you'll win the way he's pitching right now he might ever get beat and you have a team that have a center fielder Billy Mays at first base was Willie McCovey right field was Bobby Bonds and you had Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry on the hill if we can get that third pitcher we're gonna win a pennant how do you like that good good breathing the swagger the Giants stormed from the starting gate by posting an 18 and 5 April record we play good we played a lot of hitting good pitching the future Hall of Fame duo of Juan Marichal the Gaylord Perry he set the tone early as they combine to complete and win their first 6 April starts when amar Shah Gaylord Perry goes out there to pick you know you have a great chance in winning 40 year old Willie Mays was be lying his age by hitting 11 homers by the end of May but in case he faltered the Giants felt they had the next with him Avis as a young kid hearing those things you know it was always a compliment to me that people respected my ability and that made me believe in myself quite a bit because I felt that if people believe that in me I should be able to do that in myself the total athletes fittings running the bases or fielding his system and he came to a team with maize and the Giants who were looking for a successor so it was a natural [Applause] Bonz was electric in 1971 his 13 home runs through May helped the Giants build a ten and a half game lead over the Dodgers the mix of young and old appeared to be meshing it was a unique game but the team I think that probably wasn't good enough to ever lead that division by 10 and a half games but at the end we wound up winning because since then a wasn't quite ready yet 71 was indeed a disappointment for the Reds fresh off a World Series berth a year prior Sparky Anderson's bunch had high expectations expectations big no you won't but uh the game still gonna be played between lines and we'd have a talent to compete that here surprisingly the hitters of the prolific Big Red Machine endured this refrain twice first Ken Holtzman of the Cubs no hit them and only 20 days later the Phillies Rick wise found a way to top that hit 2 home run wise well laid off he hit a home run in the filth accounting for two of the Phillies three runs [Music] [Applause] he's a good hitter and he was a great competitor on the mound buying a ground ball and hit the heuerman Ivan de wises do you pitch a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds you've done a heck of a job Pedro's fans and he's nothing for three we had battled to the count of three and two and I was gonna go with my best pitch and that was a fastball there is the 3-2 pitch [Applause] right great ballgame how do you feel really tremendous feeling I can't describe it that was my day of a Sun so to speak I donated the bat the ball my glove to the Hall of Fame that's there forever I'm very proud 35 year old Bob Gibson and the Cardinals we will he is proud commemorating a Gibson's August no-hitter versus the Pirates I would like to give to Bob videotapes and tape recordings of the no-hit game and the designers rendition of the ring which is being made for Bob to commemorate this event this event is something that is very important in my life it always will be thank you very much [Music] Gibson 16 wins in 1971 were second best on the Cardinals staff trailing Steve Carlton's 20 but the Cardinals story was the MVP year of their man at the hot corner Joe Torre in 1969 the Colonel's had traded first baseman Orlando Cepeda to the Braves for catcher Joe Torre going over st. Louis it was exciting for me but he puts a ton of pressure on you to watch I had just won an MVP I know there's a big favorite st. Louis in 71 for the first time in his career Torre was a full time third baseman and the change on defense appeared to bolster his offensive production he would lead the league with personal bests and hits RBIs total bases and a batting average of 360 to [Music] when you realize you does not have the kind of speed to be the right man Aaron Auer amazed he's got a pretty hit all of his balls hired and get clean bass test they say every time at that you get one pitch to hit that particular year I wasn't missing that pitch behind Tory's Poti back the cards would stay in NL East contention for much of 1971 the 1971 all-star game took place in Tiger Stadium and with 20 future Hall of Famers highlighting the rosters this game would be long [Music] 71 all-star game in Detroit I mean it was a who sue Frank Robinson right-field I have Takano watch myself because they're easily I could walk up say will you sign this baseball for me sir to the top three homerun hitters of all time Mays and Erin are hitting number one and two of an average lineup hitting around 360 370 at the time I still felt out of place with all those great players and I'm not trying to say that to be humble it's just the way I felt at the time these guys were so much more awesome than I was the American League losers of eight straight all-star games hoped ride a blue awesome himself with a record 17 wins at the break could help stop the street I do remember pitching to Willie Mays who was my childhood idol to pitch the Willie Mays in the 1971 all-star game that was pretty cool Aparicio up blue retired is idle in a one two three first but ran into second inning trouble Dajjal on first one out one strike to Johnny bang [Applause] another future hall-of-famer would add to the national leagues to nothing lead in the top of the third [Applause] [Music] they'll fight upload I recently found out that the homerun Hank Aaron hit was his first extra-base hit in all-star competition look it up Asha lead starter doc Ellis was hoping for his third scoreless inning when he faced the most dangerous pinch hitter I felt at the time like why was I pinch-hitting so early in a game however I do remember saying to myself that they're just getting me out of the way because I'm just a young kid have a race you on first nobody out one ball two strikes to Reggie Jackson remember standing at third base when doc Ellis threw that pitch to Reggie [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I saw that ball take off and I didn't think it would ever ever land unfortunately that transformer up there which has never been hit before it kept it from being measured how far that ball went away and if it hadn't hit that it would gone to China Australia or somewhere because that was the hardest hit ball ever saw [Applause] Jaxon's blast brought the junior circuit within a run and then later in the inning Frank Robinson also came up with a man aboard Robinson was named the game's MVP as his shot but the American League ahead to stay but there would be more strokes of power first by Harmon Killebrew in the sixth inning [Music] it was a record-tying sixth hole none now ahead six to four Tiger workhorse mickey lowlich closed things out with a two inning safe star showcase [Applause] in breaking their eight-game losing streak American League manager Earl Weaver had satisfied his passion to win every game his team played he was cocky I liked that he was a very confident and intense competitor he hated to get he instilled in Leicester we were the best when we went out on the field we should be the best keep us right the ballgame come on and we went out there and took the attitude of let's go out and show the world that we are the best the Orioles of the class of the American League 69 we won a hundred and nine games 1970 we won a hundred and eight games [Music] 101 games so that was a pretty good dynasty puh-pow Brooks Robinson Frank Robinson was their tremendous lineup veteran player mark Belanger Davey Johnson and Brooks Robinson flash leather on the field while center fielder Paul Blair added a fourth Gold Glove to the Reds he couldn't hit a wall little Paul Blair's head he couldn't hit a ball through Davey Johnson or a mark Belanger as great as the defense was it was still overshadowed because it was the pitching staff the top winner the Baltimore staff Dave McNally the one 21 game did something I don't think will be done again bombers won 11 games and years to be headed for another 20 game season well you'd have to put it right up there with the best of all time and everybody is out of the dugout to congratulate Mike four 20-game winners Pat Dobson acquired in an offseason trade from San Diego to strengthen the Baltimore depth we had contrasting styles and all four of those 20 game winners Jim had the great fastball mike cuellar a left-handed screw off pitch [Music] [Applause] Pat Dobson who's one of the funniest guys you'll ever want to meet we call him the snake because he had a great overhand curveball dave mcnally is one of the ultimate competitors if you needed a win he was going to be the guy that won at the baseball it took me four or five years to redevelop you control and I just got this by a repetition doing it over and over again it was the best staff that ever pitched near major leagues with the big four accounting for 81 total wins and over a thousand innings the Orioles cruise winning the American League East by 12 games over the Detroit Tigers some 250 miles away the Pittsburgh Pirates were winning their division using a totally different approach [Applause] [Music] the 1971 pirates lineup was a formidable presence intimidating even the leaves best pitching staffs [Applause] leading the NL inwards hits homers and slugging percentage the 71 Pirates were an offensive machine we have such good hitters with humanity and Stargell and Sangan and Dave - Oliver heaven Robertson we had a good pitching staff it might have been a little overshadowed by the fact that we had such a good hitting ballclub and offense is more fun so it usually gets more attention that was a team that was really tough offensively people you took a look at that line up the sky report certainly starts with Clemente and starts those guys were just out of this world willie stargell led the league with forty eight homers while rocking in a hundred twenty five runs playing left field he would make a strong case for MVP I had been watching Miller Stargell since 1960 when I signed so there was no surprise that he had emerged into the kind of player he had become by the time 1971 came Arad by 71 Roberto Clemente also had the resume of an established star during the sixties Clemente compiled the decades highest batting average 328 when you talk about Roberto you knew he was a superstar there was no question then he had ten hits in a doubleheader last August against the Dodgers yet despite four batting titles 10 Gold Gloves and a world championship to his credit club that he felt underappreciated i feet of plate anywhere else but Pittsburgh I think you'd certainly hear a lot more about it at least equal ability Clemente was overshadowed by he really resented the fact that he didn't get the publicity as guys like Aaron and Mays and mantle but the only thing that he couldn't do that these guys could do was hit with power perhaps it was that lack of power or Clemente's adversarial style with the press that kept him under publicized on and off the field from that his commanding presence was impossible to ignore he had this ability to turn a veteran baseball player into a ten-year-old kid you never wanted to take your eyes off of him you didn't want to miss anything he did Roberto Clemente had become an ambassador for Latin American ballplayers much like the great Satchel Paige was for Negro league ballplayers and in 1971 Paige became the first player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Negro League committee write the date on who my wife is pages recognition in August 1971 came a month prior to Clemente and his racially diverse group of teammates making history of another kind one time this year Danny Murtaugh start at nine blacks and as he said when it comes to making out my lineup my players know I'm not colorblind Dean Klein's mentioned to me that we had nine black players I didn't even notice it and I don't think anybody else on a team noticed it but at the end of the game the writers are asking about it and how a sudden I find out wow you know and then I was on a team just made history I'm very proud to be a part of that historic event perhaps the Pirates biggest win in a year they chopped their division by seven games over the Cardinals in 71 I guess you have to say it's been a year of the open Age the Big Green Machine the gala Green Giant we've really put it together this year with a great manager a great pitching staff some great offense with some great defense Reggie Jackson led the offense with 32 homers while the rotation future catfish hunter and his 21 and 11 record still neither future hall-of-famer was the A's biggest story in 1971 the world but he is the complete fissure he certainly took I think our game by storm that particular year he just dominated everything that seems to attract a lot of attention of the fans fighter roaring whirling and devouring batting averages pulls the crowds attendance was always high everywhere he pitched we go into a town of presses on a wanna be me before I pitching they're gonna say I'm the greatest dish the greatest step a lot of people read this may come out and see for themselves am I really humanizing really true is it happening it was happening all right and when blue in his 22 and 5 record appeared on the cover of Time magazine in August it was confirmation right I had transcended his sport TV shows in the newscast and all that was speaking about by tableau I like publicity it's nice to be able to go into uptown and have so many thousands people to know who you are the people just loved just his name just just brought in a lot of people and he signed it I guess a million signatures that year right a blue changed the lead they called the American League to junior circuit but he changed it but he started winning those games he brought in an extra 10 15 20 thousand people he really helped them early that year every so often the exports of an athlete gripped the nation in 1971 blues mix of boozing fastball and electric personality in raptured America in the process he became the youngest pitcher ever to win both the MVP and say yo I just happen to fall into this thing I didn't go out to pitch to be a star just went out to pitch as hard as I could every time I pitched in some kind of way that translated into me having a great season in 71 71 would also prove memorable a pair of iconic sluggers as Harmon Killebrew and Frank Robinson both hit late-summer milestone home runners we played a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers and I hit number 499 in the first game so I went in and told the clubhouse kid I said order the champagne cuz I'm gonna hit the five runs the second game of the doubleheader Robinson delivered on his promise as he connected in the ninth inning off Tiger pitcher Fred Sherman and always wind up delivers bailiff activist going on [Applause] forty-year-old Willie Mays had no milestone homeruns in 71 and after hitting the 11 homers to May he managed to hit only seven more for the remainder of the year having the older players they're not gonna have that energy lower stamina at the end of season that they had in the beginning the Giants built a ten and a half game lead by the end of May and they were surprised nobody expect them to do that well and they hit a wall I know the pictures throwing so many games we used to get tired given I was in the mound every every four days with red day rest and it's not easy to do that the whole year for the slumping Giants fatigue wasn't limited to their older players their young shortstop was feeling it as well Chris Speier the time was 19 years old and one of the things that Charlie Fox did as a manager was he played him every day and by August you could almost see his tongue hanging on the infield ground he just ran out of gas from June on the Giants were five games under 500 and a terrible September provided some pennant race drama they lost 16 of their last 24 games and allowed the Dodgers to get back in it on the final day of the season Juan Marichal needed to defeat the Padres to guarantee that the Giants would win their division the lead had shrunk to just one game you always had a chance with marichal his winning percentage was off the charts so you were in a good situation - al answered the call with a five-to-one win [Music] [Applause] [Music] but winning would prove bittersweet for the Giants as their near collapse impacted their chances in the NLCS against Pittsburgh the team they dominated all season they had to use Mara on the final day of the season therefore he wasn't able to pitch in games one and two in San Francisco that seemed of little consequences Gaylord Perry and the Giants continued their regular season mastery over the box by winning Game one of the playoffs five to four we dominated the Pirates all year had to hit but Bob Robertson had the playoffs of his life the slugging first baseman blasted three games two homers and drove in five runs in a 94 pirate rout he'd had another long ball in a game three win and the Pirates went on to win the series in for reaching their first Fall Classic since 1960 over in the American League the playoffs would hit new versus old school Baltimore Orioles we knew they were gonna be tough starting staff that they had and you know they were winning 20 games so we knew we had our hands full for them to come in and knock off the Baltimore Orioles that would have been a big feather hat but it was instilled in us that if we do our job nobody can beat us this series would play out as expected Oakland's young and brash 2e who wasn't quite ready for greatness and the O's would sweep their way to their third straight World Series the Orioles have been established a two-to-one favorite the witnessed world sir why not they've got four 20-game winners they won a hundred games again during the season it's a beautifully balanced baseball machine we felt pretty good about playing the Pirates and we felt we couldn't beat the fire after all World Series are often won with pitching and the Orioles were the team with four 20-game winners the Pirates had none which made for an apparent mismatch ever since the first day of spring training everybody has told me my pitching hasn't been strong enough and here it is we're in an October Classic even the heart and soul of the Pirates was coming under fire one of the players on the Orioles said that the man with all the rated knees wasn't as good as some of the other players in the league and I think that kind of got under a girl's scanner so with perceived disrespect as a backdrop Game one pitted 19 game winner doc Ellis against Baltimore's Dave McNally the O's didn't look like defending champs in the top of the second allowing three unearned runs on only yeah flanger going to third but in the bottom of the frame fragrances blast [Applause] seemed to open the door for more Orioles lowball the Orioles have runners on first and second and myrrh retina [Applause] dave mcnally settled down retiring 19 straight batters Unruh to a complete game 3 hitter by the Pirates 3 it was expected let's put it that way it was sweet game 2 was all Baltimore as the Orioles brand roughshod over the Pirates [Applause] nothing Baltimore despite the eleven to three blow out the Pirates gifted right fielder Roberto Clemente made a captivating late-game statement the high-flying arrived over rabbit world here's retsyn coming the crew the runner was safe but he had to just sit there and look at that play and say that special what a magnificent throw from Clemente he couldn't carried it over there any better and rapmon just get there we lost the first two games and Baltimore was on a row they'd won the last 11 regular season games they swept their playoffs so you know how they're feeling for confidence but Danny Murtaugh did say after the second game you haven't seen the real pirates yet and when this even shifted to Pittsburgh for Game three pirate pitchers began to assert themselves I thought that we were gonna win that series after we won those first two games but we ran into Steve Blass Blass was fantastic through six it is allowing only worn harmless single he pitched some great baseball against it kept throwing me curveballs and I couldn't hit their single one run lead in the bottom of the seventh the Pirates had two aboard nobody out hoping to add an insurance run I go walking up to the plate and I haven't looked down at Franco she act coach Franco she AK flashing the bunt sign he was given the bunt sign by Franco see after a third-base coach not once but twice I didn't see no sign I don't think he ever knew the bunt sign I don't know if he ever bunted in his life so oblivious to the bunt sign he went ahead and swung away I get back to the dugout bill Mazeroski taps me on leggy Cindy Ron did you know the bunt sign was on I said what so I haven't looked down the bench down and there's Murtagh Donaghy's guys hat down he just left the Pirates leading five to one one out away from the first victory of the series for the Pirates there's a drive right down to cash on a short hop the Buccos with a plant and he pitched a magnificent three hitter today and while a World Series three hitter was certainly nothing new something about was welcome you the very first night game in World Series history we've had 397 World Series games played before this one all in the daytime and here we are for this historic event the starting pitchers 20 game winner Pat Dobson for Baltimore and Luke Walker won 10 games and lost 8 it looked as though the Orioles would on both Walker and the night dispatching the Pirates starter in that first game the warning track but it's good for a three nothing lead trailing three to nothing and down two games to one the Pirates rolled the dice with a 21 year old rookie brueski sin had a very rocky time of it in game 2 over in Baltimore I had a little trouble getting the ball over the plate I threw nine pitches and eight of them are balled I was very displeased with my performance [Applause] I knew I had to come the game and throw strikes and get the ball over the plate luckily that's what I did not only did keys in throw strikes it looks good but he dramatically turned the game and the series around blanking meals for six and a third innings allowing no walks and only one hit which gave us a picnic when you come in being down like that you're asked the whole I mean he did exactly that he gave us an opportunity to come back behind a la la' vers second RBI of the game the Pirates tied the game of three then pinch-hitter milk may had a chance to untie it in the seventh and when Dave Justice closed it out the series was even in the 1971 season was down to a best of three pivotal Game five in Pittsburgh would once again favor Baltimore with 21 game winner Dave McNally opposing spot starter Yeltsin Briles I was hurt last game of the season was supposed to pitch a playoff game in could and Murtaugh Illinois then off of the pitching mound for more than 10 days still gave me the ball Broyles took the ball and never gave it back allowing only two baltimore singles Bryl spun a masterful for nothing shutout this bird wins Game five of the World Series now ahead three games to two one pirate was drawing little attention despite a 12 game world series in extreme [Music] [Applause] Roberto Clemente had hit safely in all seven games in 1960 plus five so far in 71 [Music] typically Clemente had flourished in the Fall Classic without receiving much attention at least until game six that was his time to show the whole baseball world what we've been seeing around here for 20-some years [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it was his showcase it was his World Series couldn't take my eyes off him I mean it was like there was a spotlight aura and now a homer in the third guess his eleventh and first homer in the series and the fires lead two to nothing it was a coming-out party for him he showed the world exactly what he was capable of it showed the five tools that he had to number five his arm which saved the winning run from scoring in the ninth picked it up and through maybe a better strike to sank in on one hop than I had thrown it was a treat to watch him it was a treat for baseball fans to watch what he was capable of doing and somehow commend his brilliant game six was not enough to offset the will of the defending Jenny [Applause] [Music] this is something you dream about all your life to 7 game in the World Series do you think you'll have any trouble sleeping tonight I'm sure of it you will no problem game 7 is everything they say it is times 10 Steve Blass gets a second crack at the Orioles and there are symptoms of wildness in the blast delivery and Weaver fixed this spot the challenge blast on a technicality when mr. Weaver came out in the first inning and delayed the game on some rule that I didn't even know about I was actually so nervous I appreciated him stopping the game so I could get over that case of the nerves he picks it from the side of the rubber he's got 15 I got so upset with him I forgot how nervous I was Blass settled down to the tune of only two hits allowed through seven shutout innings [Music] mike cuellar was almost as good hurling three and two thirds in a is a perfect baseball but then he had to stare down a rather torrid pirate dinner [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in the 8th inning each team tallied a run making the score to 2-1 pirates it was nip and tuck all the way but received to shut those guys down in the last game at their building was some kind of a performance [Music] [Applause] this is emblematic of the World Championship in 1971 and I think your team has earned it as a championship squad that came from behind to win like champions in winning this series MVP award Roberto Clemente had showcased every one of his five tools proving once and for all that he was indeed the great perhaps the trademark moment for Hispanic Americans for people of the Caribbean came at the end of the series when the first thing he did is Bob Prince interviewed was asked to speak his parents to seek their blessings and benediction and to speak in Spanish to me I can be part of a team in this unit but sometimes the good Lord smiles on you and gives you your moment in the Sun in the 1971 season and the 1971 World Series was finally the opportunity given Roberto to display the quality individual that he was and the quality player that he was he certainly took advantage of it and all the world could see that he was special thanks to a transcendent effort by Roberto Clemente the Pirates were champions despite their loss Baltimore would win more games in the 70s than any other al team and the four 20-game winners in 71 have stood the test of time as no pitching staff has approached this remarkable feat the last team to boast three 20 game winners would be the 73 A's with catfish hunter Ken Holtzman by tableau at the core of three straight World Championships beginning in 1972 from Roberto Clemente in 1972 would tragically be his final season and he seemed to sense that one year earlier when asked about the timeline for collecting his 3000th hit [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Clemente's haunting premonition came true three months later while attempting to deliver aid to earthquake stricken Nicaragua Roberto's plane crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico today Clemente's legacy is as strong as ever one that was cemented on baseball's grandest stage in 1971 [Music]

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Length: 47min 58sec (2878 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 09 2019