Great Teams of the Past season number 6 got off to an exciting start with an extra-innings thriller between the 1971 Oakland Athletics and the 1977 New York Yankees. Willie Randolph had a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th to give the three-time defending champs the win on opening day. There were entertaining games up and down the schedule, with two contests decided by one run and the other two ending in two-run margins.
New York 3, Oakland 2 (11 inn.)
Sal Bando had an RBI single in the first inning, then singled and scored on Tommy Davis’ double in the sixth inning to account for Oakland’s runs. The Yankees’ Reggie Jackson hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning. It stayed 2-2 into extra innings. Both teams had multiple changes to win. New York had the bases loaded with no one out in the sixth and with one out in the ninth but couldn’t score. Oakland got runners to third base in the ninth and 11th innings but couldn’t bring him home. In the bottom of the 11th, the Yankees again loaded the bases with one out, and Willie Randolph provided a walk-off RBI single.
1971 OAK ATHLETICS AB R H BI 1977 NY YANKEES AB R H BI
Bert Campaneris 5 1 2 0 Mickey Rivers 5 0 0 0
Joe Rudi 5 0 2 0 Roy White 5 0 1 0
Reggie Jackson 5 0 0 0 Thurman Munson 4 1 1 0
Mike Epstein 4 0 0 0 Reggie Jackson 4 2 2 2
Sal Bando 4 1 2 1 Chris Chambliss 5 0 2 0
Tommy Davis 5 0 1 1 Lou Piniella 5 0 2 0
Rick Monday 4 0 1 0 Graig Nettles 3 0 0 0
Dave Duncan 5 0 0 0 Willie Randolph 4 0 2 1
Dick Green 4 0 0 0 Bucky Dent 4 0 0 0
TOTALS 41 2 8 2 TOTALS 39 3 10 3
1971 OAK ATHLETICS 100 001 000 00 -- 2
1977 NY YANKEES 000 200 000 01 -- 3
LOB--1971 OAK ATHLETICS 10, 1977 NY YANKEES 10. ERR--Dick
Green, Reggie Jackson, Bucky Dent. 2B--Tommy Davis, Roy
White. 3B--Willie Randolph. HR--Reggie Jackson. SACB--Graig
Nettles. SB--Bert Campaneris.
1971 OAK ATHLETICS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Vida Blue XY 8.00 6 2 2 2 4 1
Mudcat Grant RZ [L] 2.33 4 1 1 2 0 0
1977 NY YANKEES
Ron Guidry XY 8.00 6 2 2 3 6 0
Dick Tidrow YZ [W] 3.00 2 0 0 1 1 0
Los Angeles 5, Philadelphia 3
The Phillies took a 2-0 lead after a couple of RBI groundouts in the second and third innings. But the Dodgers got one back in the fourth on Joe Ferguson’s RBI single, and went up 4-2 in the fifth as Bill Buckner had an RBI single and Willie Crawford had a two-run double. Jim Wynn’s sacrifice fly made it 5-1 in the seventh. Bob Boone had an RBI single in the eighth to cut the Phillies’ deficit to 5-3, but they got no closer.
1977 PHI PHILLIES AB R H BI 1974 LA DODGERS AB R H BI
Bake McBride 4 1 0 0 Davey Lopes 5 1 1 0
Garry Maddox 3 0 1 0 Bill Buckner 4 2 2 1
Mike Schmidt 1 1 0 0 Jim Wynn 3 0 0 1
Greg Luzinski 2 0 0 0 Steve Garvey 4 2 3 0
Richie Hebner 4 0 1 1 Willie Crawford 3 0 2 2
Jay Johnstone 3 1 1 0 Ron Cey 4 0 1 0
Bob Boone 4 0 1 1 Joe Ferguson 4 0 1 1
Ted Sizemore 4 0 0 1 Steve Yeager 2 0 0 0
Larry Bowa 4 0 0 0 Bill Russell 4 0 0 0
TOTALS 29 3 4 3 TOTALS 33 5 10 5
1977 PHI PHILLIES 011 000 010 -- 3
1974 LA DODGERS 000 130 10x -- 5
LOB--1977 PHI PHILLIES 7, 1974 LA DODGERS 8. ERR--Larry
Bowa. 2B--Jay Johnstone, Davey Lopes, Steve Garvey, Willie
Crawford. 3B--Bill Buckner. SACF--Jim Wynn.
1977 PHI PHILLIES IP H R ER BB SO HR
Steve Carlton X [L] 6.33 10 5 5 3 6 0
Ron Reed XZ 1.67 0 0 0 0 1 0
1974 LA DODGERS
Andy Messersmith X [W] 7.33 3 3 3 8 6 0
Mike Marshall YZ [S] 1.67 1 0 0 0 0 0
Baltimore 6, Boston 4
Baltimore scored all six runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Davey Johnson had a two-run double in the fourth and Frank Robinson slugged a three-run homer in the fifth. Boston got a solo homer from Butch Hobson in the fifth and a two-run double from Fred Lynn in the sixth. Baltimore’s pitchers retired the final 11 Red Sox hitters.
1978 BOS RED SOX AB R H BI 1969 BAL ORIOLES AB R H BI
Rick Burleson 4 0 1 0 Don Buford 3 0 0 0
Jerry Remy 4 0 0 0 Paul Blair 3 1 1 0
Jim Rice 4 1 1 0 Brooks Robinson 4 2 2 0
Carl Yastrzemski 3 0 0 0 Boog Powell 4 0 2 0
Carlton Fisk 4 1 2 0 Frank Robinson 4 2 1 3
Fred Lynn 4 1 1 2 Davey Johnson 4 1 1 2
George Scott 4 0 0 0 Mark Belanger 4 0 0 0
Dwight Evans 4 0 0 0 Marv Rettenmund 4 0 1 0
Butch Hobson 4 1 1 1 Elrod Hendricks 2 0 0 0
TOTALS 35 4 6 3 TOTALS 32 6 8 5
1978 BOS RED SOX 000 013 000 -- 4
1969 BAL ORIOLES 000 330 00x -- 6
LOB--1978 BOS RED SOX 5, 1969 BAL ORIOLES 5. ERR--Rick
Burleson, Davey Johnson, Mark Belanger. 2B--Fred Lynn,
Carlton Fisk, Davey Johnson. HR--Butch Hobson, Frank
Robinson. SB--Rick Burleson, Marv Rettenmund.
1978 BOS RED SOX IP H R ER BB SO HR
Dennis Eckersley YZ [L] 4.67 7 6 5 2 1 1
Jim Wright Z 2.33 1 0 0 1 0 0
Dick Drago Y 1.00 0 0 0 0 0 0
1969 BAL ORIOLES
Mike Cuellar YZ [W] 7.00 6 4 3 1 3 1
Dave Leonhard 1.00 0 0 0 0 0 0
Eddie Watt Y [S] 1.00 0 0 0 0 1 0
Pittsburgh 7, Cincinnati 6
The Reds led 3-1 after five innings, which included an RBI double by Johnny Bench and a solo homer by Pete Rose. The Pirates went up 4-3 in the sixth with the help of Richie Hebner’s two-run triple. Gene Alley crushed a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put Pittsburgh up 7-3. The Reds didn’t go quietly. They loaded the bases with two outs and Bench cleared the bases with his second double, making it a one-run game. But Pittsburgh got the final out for the win.
1971 PIT PIRATES AB R H BI 1975 CIN REDS AB R H BI
Dave Cash 4 0 1 0 Pete Rose 2 3 2 2
Gene Clines 5 0 2 0 Ken Griffey 4 0 0 0
Roberto Clemente 5 1 1 0 Joe Morgan 4 1 1 0
Willie Stargell 5 0 0 0 Johnny Bench 5 0 2 4
Manny Sanguillen 5 2 3 0 Tony Perez 5 0 0 0
Bob Robertson 4 2 3 2 George Foster 3 0 1 0
Richie Hebner 5 0 1 2 Dan Driessen 4 1 0 0
Al Oliver 4 1 2 0 Dave Concepcion 4 0 1 0
Gene Alley 3 1 1 3 Cesar Geronimo 2 1 0 0
TOTALS 40 7 14 7 TOTALS 33 6 7 6
1971 PIT PIRATES 010 003 030 -- 7
1975 CIN REDS 110 010 003 -- 6
LOB--1971 PIT PIRATES 9, 1975 CIN REDS 8. ERR--Manny
Sanguillen. 2B--Manny Sanguillen, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench
(2). 3B--Richie Hebner. HR--Gene Alley, Pete Rose.
SACF--Pete Rose.
1971 PIT PIRATES IP H R ER BB SO HR
Steve Blass Y [W] 7.00 5 3 2 5 5 1
Nelson Briles YZ 1.33 1 2 2 1 2 0
Dave Giusti Y [S] 0.67 1 1 1 1 0 0
1975 CIN REDS
Don Gullett Y [L] 7.00 10 4 4 2 7 0
Pedro Borbon RZ 1.00 3 3 3 0 1 1
Pat Darcy 1.00 1 0 0 1 0 0
