MLB Baseball's Seasons: 1974

[Music] [Applause] welcome to baseball seasons 1974 7:15 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] at 40 drove in 96 runs hedda batting average of 301 steps in for his first at-bat of the season with two on and one down if somebody well you think you're gonna do it open there you think you're gonna do it this did I you know I can't answer that you know rule rocked why tell people I say the only thing I can do is go out and try the excitement of hair and Erin and put on the finishing touch he told me you know he said dusty says yeah I'm I look for a slider an outsider left field fence rewind back and that's what he did [Applause] [Music] in the old time Cobra [Music] [Applause] my Henry after off-season of anticipation Henry Aaron had immediately made history on opening day 1974 [Music] my great honor setting this trophy symbolic of having time when many conceived to be the greatest record in baseball Aaron's plan was to sit out the Braves next two games in Cincinnati to try and ensure the next step breaking Ruth's record would come at home but baseball's commissioner had other ideas the Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was very serious about I need the play he if I didn't play here he was gonna take some serious action against me you know Hank wasn't trying to fight baseball or anything it's just a matter he just thought that he wanted to break it the record at home the tension was nothing new for Aaron who threw out there chase had learned firsthand how some Americans didn't want a black man to become the homerun King it was a bad bad time and they were letters of Molli hate the death threats it bothered me at the time you know to think that somebody could sit down and write vicious letters to someone I mean it should have been the happiest times lies but oh but it was and it was probably the most driven and the most focused time while Aaron neared Babe Ruth's fabled record in New York the house that Ruth Built was falling apart and in 74 renovations forced the Yankees to play at Shea Stadium in Queens mostly the Yankees hated playing its shape Bobby Mercer in particular who would want to move out of Yankee Stadium you know what are you gonna do they're gonna refurbished remodeled Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium it's gonna be your home park it wasn't very good experience over there because they said wouldn't go to chase Stadium to watching tonight and I believe it you know we get some fans over there but most of the fans were booing us it was like being on the road all season Yankee stadium's dilapidated state was a symbol of urban blight all across America back then and 74 people were feeling very grim about the country there was an oil embargo oil-producing countries of the Arab world decided to use their oil as a political weapon it was a difficult time people lining up early in the morning and sitting in a gas line for miles to get some gas so people could go to work the oil embargo coupled with a stock market downturn prompted a recession and the worst bear market since the Great Depression things were tight you couldn't do a lot of things who wanted to do had to cut back and then there was the burgeoning Watergate scandal in Washington prompting many Americans to question their faith in the government then we had Watergate and every day there was something new and it built and built by welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their presidents a crook well I'm not a crook it was unfortunate for our country that Watergate occurred and divided the country a lot I think in times like that people look to sports as an antidote but in 1974 the two-time defending World Series champion Athletics provided quite a diversion on the field we were rambunctious a group of guys we came to town knowing that we should win most of the games that we played we had what they called swagger we had won the 72 and 73 World Series so there's a confidence factor there's an arrow you can do it again the A's entered 74 with their entire defense and top end of their rotation intact from the previous year the biggest new part was manager Alvin dark immediately expected to lead Oakland to another title Alvin came to the club and he won the respect of all the players he was a man's man he knew his baseball he managed a pitching staff majestic superbly pitching staff was front center above most pitching staffs in the major leagues at that time yeah catfish on earth [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we had talent we had guys that could play the game we didn't make very many mental errors of it and on offense the A's were just as formidable all adding up to make Oakland the favor once again in 74 if the economic outlook was gloomy in the mid 70s the so-called Hughie decade was resplendent in color and character making the a is a perfect fit for the time the team's wyldstyle may have been associated with its players but it echoed all the way up to the owner's suite where Charlie Finley often seemed willing to do anything to draw attention to his team and with the club's on-field success no one was exactly in a position to question him Charlie Finley came up with the idea these wild colorful uniforms gold green two-tone we were white pants with gold tops and green tops on Sunday we wore all white uniforms you know we never knew what we were gonna wear Finley really kind of marketed the ballplayer in a uniform so it involved baseball into the the new era with style and fashion charlie was different any other owner I've ever been around he might stay awake at night thinking of different ideas he is on the ball club and in 74 Finley dreamed up the designated pinch runner Charlie Finley also with a night war trying to bring people to the ballpark brought in herb Washington it was a track star and look I'm this is how good the A's were that they could give up a roster spot and they would use him in games and he would steal bases I don't think he owned a myth he would be an outfielder doing his sprinter stretch and all this stuff and we'd be taking batting practice and matter of fact I know he didn't admit but he could run the Dodgers took aim at success with more traditional methods like a strong and kill Steve Garvey at first Davey Lopes at second Bill Russell at Short and Ron Cey at third in their first full year together in LA [Music] those four guys were so consistent making the defensive plays and being a really good offensive infield I liked watching Bill Russell he can grind out pitchers tougher than anybody else penguin we used to call him the happy-go-lucky penguin but he always knocked in a big run Davey Lopes was the catalyst very fine player great competitor outstanding quickness and speed Steve Garvey was a very durable outstanding player offense was his strength the blossoming Dodger infield got a lay off to a strong start in 74 as the club registered baseball's best record in April but there was also great pitching beginning with 29 year old Don Sutton for longtime LA workhorse and the ace of their staff it was always gonna lead the staff in innings pitched he was always going to be a big winner 18 to 20 games every year and I guess the biggest thing for the manager was he was gonna pitch a lot of innings Sutton was complemented by lefty Tommy John who started the 74 season by becoming the first Dodger ever to win five games in April it seemed like if the ballclub didn't score runs I won 1 to nothing if I gave up four runs the Dodgers would score 6 we had a very good team but a team that was prepared to be tested in the NL West by a club that had already showed an ability to run past them the previous season LA had led Cincinnati by 11 games on June 30th but then the Reds had caught fire surprising the Dodgers and winning the division by three games 1973 were coming that kind of deficit I think they just felt well we did it once we can do it again those Reds teams had a great deal of confidence in themselves they respected the Dodgers but they weren't afraid of the Dodgers the one thing I thought that separated us from Cincinnati was their starting lineup it had much more experience than our starting lineup he thought Matt Joe Morgan Pete Rose Johnny Bench Tony Perez this was a tremendously good ballclub but even with all that talent the Reds got off to an uneven start in 74 leaving manager Sparky Anderson shaking his head we know it's there Sparky said we just have to find a way to turn it loose the Reds come in at the 74 season favorites or at least Co favorites to win the division title Sparky felt like that the Big Red Machine could turn him on could dominate and put some space between them and the Dodgers on April 8th 1974 Henry Aaron stood in Atlanta still chasing baseball immortality tied with Babe Ruth at 714 home runs [Music] [Applause] this crowd is up all around it's tied at 7:14 it was really a damn chilly night and the ballpark was packed Donohue I've never had a very good luck with because he knew how to pitch is very smart my first impression is ok we've got a guy on first base I know if I get a ground ball out of Henry Aaron I have a double play so only way you get DoublePlay damage but you had the throw strikes he knew he's gonna get a strike [Music] you know down deck circle he told me say him get this over with right now I'm gonna hit it over the left-field fence like okay man you've done there every other time that you told me [Applause] [Music] I thought it was a tremendous release for me because it was over [Applause] he believes he was happy they called timeout his family came down my mother I don't know how she got down she got that I understand bite as quick as I could get round Basin it's over it has been a rough rough [Music] but I just thank God it's all over where thank you very much [Applause] how would Henry Aaron describe Henry Aaron 715 home run a swing along driveway back [Music] [Laughter] [Music] while Aaron's home run record dominated the headlines at the start of the season across the game superior pitching would leave the diamond in 1970 for 34 pitchers would throw 250 innings or more the most since 1920 nearly seventies it was a completely different game than what it is today back then the starters they want to complete games that's what they got paid for was complete games and in 74 the number of complete games thrown represented as high a percentage as had been seen in 15 years this is the way things are supposed to be done and it was a thought that when went out there you finished what you started no pitcher embodied this ethic more than the Angels Nolan won the 27 already spinning a growing legend with the single-season strikeout record and two no-hitters in hand I think my principal goal is to win 20 games but if I don't win 20 games and also set a new strikeout record I'm definitely on crap in 74 Ryan tallied 367 K's becoming the first pitcher in the modern era with three straight 300 strikeout seasons and it is final start of the year he threw his third career no-hitter [Applause] despite Ryan's dominance the Angels finished last in the AL West a far contrast from the surprising Rangers whose mercurial manager Billy Martin looked to match the success he had in Minnesota and Detroit in his first full season in Texas Billy would do anything to win a game the players picked up on that a lot of times players will take on the persona of the manager Billy Martin knows how to get the best side of the guys and he just know how to motivate and get the guy ready to play a game Martin's newly acquired is Ferguson Jenkins also helped stabilizing the pitching staff while in the outfield 23 year old Jeff Burroughs won the AL MVP in just his second full season when you're on a good ballclub things that start going good and you're really looking forward to going the ballpark again to uh sieving one another game and after that game is only looking forward to going back [Applause] [Music] when the season was over I think Billy Martin was the manager of the year Jeff Burroughs is MVP I was a comeback player of the year so I think it proved to fans in Texas that we had a strong organization the Rangers went from last place to second in the AL West falling short only to the two-time defending world champions as the 1974 season reached its halfway point the Dodgers owned baseball's best record which made it fitting that LA said a group of five players to the all-star two and an RBI the list included Steve Garvey who earned the start at first base with the NL as a write-in candidate and became the first such all-star to win game MVP I just can't express in words itself the thanks to all the people across the country that got me here and I think this is my way of repaying them because this isn't my trophy tonight it's there's one Dodger standout not at the Midsummer Classic was Tommy John as just a week earlier the lefty pitcher had suffered a frightening injury on the mound right as I got to accelerate through I felt this pain in my elbow that I've never felt before I went oh man and the ball just kind of looped up to the plate he just walked off the mound into the dugout up the runway and into the training room and at that point nobody really knew anything about what he'd done in the training room John consulted with team dr. Frank Jobe and Dodgers reliever Mike Marshall who also happened to be working on his PhD in exercise physiology it was a serious injury he actually pulled all of the muscles that attach to the medial epicondyle off of the bone and that belly of the muscles were laying in the middle of his forearm well about half way down instead of being a test at the elbows it should have been and I was very concerned for what would happen to Tommy as a result of that very serious injury 1974 there were no MRIs no CT scans the only way they can tell if you tore a ligament is hold the humerus down and open the elbow up like this yeah that's Luce John the season was over and the only course of action was an experimental procedure to replace the damaged ligament in the elbow with a tendon from another part of the body the whole idea of coming up with this ligament transplant was the idea of dr. Frank Jobe and he of course he had to talk Tommy into it because I think one of the selling points had to be that Tommy without this you're not gonna pitch again I said well I want to pitch major-league baseball again and I'll do whatever I've got to do let's have it done so we had the first Tommy John surgery done but Tommy John surgery was first performed with Tommy John it wasn't hunters Tommy John surgery this was like creating the Six Million Dollar Man the cyborg this was like putting a man on the moon this was something completely innovative no one really thought it was going to work but it was just out of desperation that Tommy John and his doctors tried this surgery on the same day as John's injury pitching greatness was recognized on a mound in st. Louis as the Cardinals Bob Gibson became just the second pitcher ever to record 3,000 strikeouts there hadn't been very much fanfare about it because that's the way you know Gibby was and he didn't look at those things and talk about them when it happened I can recall the excitement and the joy that I felt for him as baseball history was being made on and off the diamond America reached an unprecedented historical juncture when the president took to the airwaves on the night of August 8th I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow Vice President Ford will be sworn in as president at that hour in this office the players what I remember really didn't focus on it politics for the most part is they not interested in it but a few weeks later politics in baseball did intersect when Yankees owner George Steinbrenner pled guilty in federal court on charges related to illegal contributions to Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign what he did was he skirted the law by having his employees with the shipbuilding company donate money to Richard Nixon's re-election campaign and it wasn't their money what I did was I went to my employees and I said look if you give a dollar I'll give three to the campaign I thought it was necessary for us company and I gave my own personal money there was no question about that he wound up pleading guilty to lesser charges he suffered probably worse at the hands of Bowie Kuhn who suspended him for two years than he did with the government Steinbrenner's tenure as Yankee owner had just begun but he was already raising eyebrows in New York George Steinbrenner made contributions to the Nixon campaign and it said set a tone for newspaper people in general to have an opinion of this man who came from Cleveland to run the Yankees [Music] they don't come around often in baseball a team so good its destiny is to become a dynasty [Applause] the Athletics of the 1970s were propelled by power but also at the speed to lead the league in steals one of the attributes that the A's had that people overlook is our base running ability for years we had campy campaneras and bill north at the top of the order when you have speed on the base path it just really has an impact and while the A's had leading trouble scoring runs their pitching staff also had no visible weakness we had everything we had left hand pitching right hand pitching mental relief closing and leading the way was a pitcher on his way to the Sion Jim catfish hunter was always recognized as the ace of our pitching staff he always set the bar for how he worked out and I went about his business in between stars and we kind of followed his lead then of course when catfish applied and picture two hit shutout against Kansas City I wouldn't want to go ahead and picture two hit shutout against sitting myself hunter would win 25 games on the season thanks to a combination of southern guile and pinpoint control you walk a man he starts the first base that he has a heart attack and falls dead before he gets there they're gonna get somebody else and put him on first base except a guy hits the ball and he's running the first base falls down he breaks his leg or whatever if you can get the ball in there soon enough you gonna get him out there's no way he can get first base [Music] that philosophy of no mercy fit the entire roster well as catfishing company glided to a fourth straight al West Division title by a five-game margin over the Rangers the AL East meanwhile was full of question marks and streaky teams the Red Sox started the season promising ly if not with the confidence of fans and observers in Boston I don't think people really knew what to expect o 74 the young players the Rice's limbs head and yell arrived and those who were in Boston couldn't stay healthy long enough to achieve any momentum the first big blow came when pitcher Rick wise was overused early in the season it got wise to be there consistent pitcher that traded Reggie Smith who was a tremendous platform and then wise got hurt he pitched the 12 innings on opening day cold rainy weather and he was never the same the whole rest of the season the Sox suffered further when 26 year old star catcher Carlton Fisk went down ending his season in late June tore up was me and I'm never going to see in the next day that in the hospital will in Cleveland then it was very clear that there was no chance he was coming back that year still the Sox took a two and a half game lead into August but then their offense sputtered as the team hit just five home runs in a month when the rival Yankees were picking up steam maybe it was a coincidence but the Yanks got hot just as two of their most legendary players were inducted into the Hall of Fame and now the latest Yankees were scoring some runs of their own and by September 4th the team completed a seven and a half week worst to first climb as they grew more comfortable playing their home games at Shea look it was a good part from the team head in because the gaps were a fairly big in that particular year I think I'm a hit over 300 and the team played very well too but just when it seemed like the Yanks were headed for their first postseason in a decade the wins in the east chieftain yet again they held the lead in the middle of the month and they let it slip out of their grasp I don't think they knew how to win like the Orioles knew how to win while the headlines had focused on the fall of the Sox and the rise of the Yanks the Orioles had quietly been making their move winning 28 of 34 games under the watchful and relentless eye of manager Earl Weaver there's life I don't have account weaver believed that fundamentals were the most important advantage they could have and so while other teams were taking batting practice by the hour after hour the Orioles had everybody over there with Weaver screaming at them about which base to cover every bump every pickoff play every cutoff plane the veteran Laden Orioles roster was as in years before heavy on pitching and defense and despite Weaver's preference for the big blast the team did much of its winning with small ball we had to utilize our speed and if I'm batting fourth on that team I'm not hitting a home run these guys are getting a base and I'm not gonna mid with singles so they realized the one or two runs are in the game with that recipe for success Baltimore won its last nine games of the season to capture the division of course the reward wasn't entirely desirable a playoff matchup with the two-time defending champions [Music] and a year headlined by pitching performances there was no staff better in 1974 than the Dodgers who led the league in ER a and featured a reliever unlike any other in the game [Music] Mike screwball with more probably devastating anything I've ever seen Mike Marshall vog 280 innings in 1974 thanks to his arm and his brain he was one of these guys who was different Marshall was a very intelligent guy who had three degrees from the University of Michigan one of which was in kinesiology which is a study of the anatomy and mechanics I had everything together in my game I know exactly what I could do with what I had I threw all the time Mike's theory was he said I've got to throw often to stay sharp right beside through his ability through his knowledge he taught himself how to train his body in such a way that he could pitch just about every day and Marshall did merely just that in 1974 making a record 106 appearances on route to 15 wins and a league leading 21 saves you always receive relief pitcher maybe have 70 appearances during the course of a year if they're really good but I don't think you'll ever see anyone come up with as many games as Mike Marshall Dib Marshalls collection of theories on mechanics and arm strength were far from conventional but his results on the mound were hard to argue with they made fun of most of the stuff that Mike did you know PI and Mike stuff but I've never seen anybody pitch like that and be as strong as he was throwing bullets and the martial plan worked to perfection as the hurler will the NL sigh young while the Dodgers staff helped keep the Big Red Machine at arm's length the Dodgers were repition team I mean this is you go out to Dodger Stadium you're gonna face great pitching all the time [Applause] the Reds for an offensive juggernaut Cincinnati had won the NL West three of the previous four seasons but despite 98 wins in 74 they came up just a bit short there was a thought on a lot of people's part that they're gonna figure out a way to do it the Dodgers are gonna stumble the Reds are gonna get hot at the right time and they close within a game and a half going into the season's last week and a half [Music] ultimately that season can be defined I mean the Reds were 6 and 12 against the Dodgers on the year so if you're losing that much to the team right in front of you that also is kind of the story in the 74 season in the playoffs the Dodgers faced off against the hard-hitting NL East champion pirates but the Bucs bats were overmatched by the Dodger arms as LA winners of 102 regular season games beat Pittsburgh three games to one to earn their first trip to the Fall Classic in a year's [Applause] [Music] in a World Series the two-time defending champion athletics awaited as Oakland had clinched a third straight AL title by disposing of the Orioles and four games for the first time ever both of baseball's pennant winners hailed from the Golden State this is the beginning now what has been called the freeway series the Continental tilt for the first time in history it's California pretty supremely confident club they thought they had arrived what about your feelings you've got just three Dodgers who have had seen somewhere else there's activity what do you think for some reason we never felt we got our do as a championship team and now the Dodgers were favored the Dodgers were this great team and here we were two times world champions and now we had to prove ourselves all over with their eyes on a third straight title the Oakland A's arrived in LA for the 1974 World Series with added motivation we got some bulletin board materials that said that only two players on our team could possibly play for the dogs and that was catfish hunter and Reggie Jackson and if there was any more proof needed of Jackson's talents he provided it in the top of the second [Music] [Applause] [Music] later on the bar they label one nothing after the a is tacked on another run for a two nothing lead the Stars finally aligned for the Dodger bats in the fifth against Oakland starter Ken Holtzman [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] taking no chances Alvin dark quickly pulled Holtzman turning to Raleigh fingers for a long relief assignment Paulo was real quiet but he knew pitching staff you know what the ball club that he had in 1974 went to the Wall Street if he knew what he was doing he was a good manager - breaking balls and he ran the fastball on the hand ranking in the top of the year he's added another unearned run following a Ron Cey error give themselves some insurance and a two-run lead the damage could have been worse if not for a Dodger rifle lurking in right-center he should to almonds for win makes one throw in Ferguson took it with the better [Applause] Oakland took the 3-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth but then but tiring fingers made a mistake to the toy cannon Jimmy Wynn [Applause] [Music] [Applause] which led Alvin dark to make an unconventional move bringing an ace catfish hunter to finish the game this must be strange to him one relief appearance in the last five years a day later came to epitomize the prevailing theme of the entire season pitching with Ellie's done son and Oakland's by tableau reach in top form on the mound but the Dodgers continue to claw for runs urged on by their talkative third-base coach Tommy Lasorda [Music] [Applause] there goes a runner [Applause] [Music] [Applause] after the successful hit-and-run le needed an RBI in the clutch [Music] doing cheerleading tele- [Applause] [Music] [Applause] two more runs met site server through nothing shut out into the night but a check swing doubled by Jackson and it is afternoon Mike Marshall come in and with runners on second and third against Marshall Joe nice today [Applause] at which point Alvin dark called on the legs of the Leeds only designated runner we still have this kid named herd Washington who mr. Finlay dub as the pinch runner extraordinaire and he was on the ball team at that task specifically just a pinch rug but Marshall had a sense of how to exploit Washington's lack of baseball experience getting a jump here is different than getting that jump in the 60 yard dash there's no gun trying to time it you've got to read that picture and some people can give you phony cues [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Marshall earned the save and la the three to win the 1974 World Series was headed to Oakland tied at a game apiece tied at 1-1 the old California 1974 Fall Classic moved north to Oakland for Game three where after earning the save in the opener catfish hunter was ready for more is do that one game pictures you want on the major leagues and catfish had the Dodger pads on the line early [Music] meanwhile le starter alt down he gave up three early runs and was knocked out in the fourth you ever get credit Oakland they were strong from 1 to 25 in their lineup but I thought our ballclub was a much better ballclub and then we could have beaten them but our game should have been the little ballgame but when Bill Buckner stepped to the plate in the top of the eighth against hunter he looked to fight the pitcher with power [Music] [Applause] Rowley fingers came in to close out the a but in the 9th gave up another run before finding an efficient way to secure another nail-biting [Applause] [Music] he's picked up where they left off in Game four with lefty Ken Holtzman continuing the string of impressive Oakland pitcher [Applause] while also contributing at the plate [Applause] to this day I will not forgive Ken Holtzman for hitting home run because I've played in three World Series I've yet to hit one it was one of those things that the A's somehow did something always different things like that just happened to our ballclub guys rise to the occasion guys like pinch-hitter Jim Holt who hit 143 with Oakland in the regular season but came up big when it counted most with a bases loaded in the sixth [Applause] [Applause] holts timely knock broke a 2-2 tie and the hearts of the dodger faithful as the A's protected their three-run lead with more pitching and defense yes a little second baseman dick Greene who didn't get a single hit in that World Series but I'm sure that Dodgers had nightmares about him diving into the hole to snare a ground ball that should've gone through [Applause] with the three games to one series lead the Athletics were on the cusp of a third straight title and enter Game five looking to clinch at home well I think a lot has to do with winning we had won the 72 and 73 World Series so there's a confidence factor there's an arrow you could do it again the Dodgers would not go quietly [Applause] [Music] [Applause] then in the bottom of the seventh a several minute game delay disrupted Mike Marshalls meticulous warm-up regimen there was something going on out in left field remember the umpires called timeout there was an announcement my routine before an inning are through five pitches that was it I knew the sequence I was gonna throw it to Joe Rudi that was all pre-planned before the game started and I didn't feel a need to throw any more pitches and so Marshall simply waited for the delay to be order he just kept loosening his arm I guess I didn't think anything of it other than it seemed kind of strange he wasn't warming up but it gave time for Joe Rudi to develop a hunch Joe told me later that with Mike not warming up he figured he's going to throw him a first pitch fastball and sure enough he did [Applause] the baseball gods had spoken and now the Oakland A's prepared to take their place in history [Applause] [Music] we had talent we had guys that could play the game that's why we went we didn't make any mistakes out [Music] [Applause] we beat a good team from LA but they had never encountered the Oakland A's in Oakland a style of baseball in the rest is history c'est la vie la [Applause] the ace 3-peat was the first in baseball since the star-studded Yankee teams of the late 40s and 50s but Oakland's dynasty would end after 1974 since Mike Marshall is record-setting 1974 season no pitcher has challenged his Highmark of 106 relief appearances [Music] Tommy John would miss all of 1975 while recuperating but against all odds returned to the Dodgers in 76 winning 10 games in 31 starts to earn Comeback Player of the Year honors since then Tommy John surgery has impacted nearly 200 careers [Music] after the media glare at the start of the 74 season faded Henry Aaron comfortably returned to baseball as usual his last career home run when he was 42 years old came on July 20th 1976 number 755 [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you

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Id: JiHy0fRESBI

Length: 44min 58sec (2698 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 15 2019