#466 - A's Do It Again

Card fact: The photo here appears to be from the end of one of the games in the 1974 World Series. It's difficult to determine which one since Rollie Fingers successfully closed out three of the four A's wins in the Series. I'm going to say it's from Game 5, which would have been the finale and the most appropriate.

What I thought about this card then: I didn't see it.

What I think about this card now: Out of all the cards in the set, it seems the most hastily put together. Unlike the other cards in the postseason subset, there's no banner telling you it's the World Series, etc. Fortunately, the blurb at the bottom saves the day and mentions the Series.

Other stuff: Rollie Fingers was named the Series MVP after appearing in four of the five games. The A's, of course, were the last team to win three straight World Series until the Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000.

Back facts: Wow, that's a lot of stats crammed into a little space. I find it interesting that the pitching stats were not included, considering it was a pitchers' World Series. The Dodgers hit just .228 as a team and the A's were even worse, hitting .211.

Other blog stuff: That's the end of the postseason subset. Tomorrow we return to player cards, beginning with a stinkin' Giant.

#465 - '74 World Series, Game 5

Card fact: This was an Awesomest Night Card Tournament quarterfinalist on the other blog. The card is sitting in the center pocket of the first page of my night card binder.

What I thought about this card then: I had the mini card, but I don't recall thinking much about it. Ignorance is bliss.

What I think about this card now: I've mentioned before that it's the saddest night card ever. My favorite player, Ron Cey, is watching Joe Rudi trot around third base on his way home with the eventual winning run. Rudi hit a seventh inning home run that broke a 2-2 tie in Game 5.

Other stuff: In the fourth 3-2 game of the Series, the pivotal moment came as the seventh inning began. Some nasty behaving Oakland fans were throwing debris at the Dodger left fielder, Bill Buckner, causing a five-minute delay. While this was going on, the new Dodgers pitcher, Mike Marshall, neglected to warm-up for some unknown reason.

Rudi, the first hitter in the inning, noted this and figured the first pitch from an un-warmed-up pitcher would be a fastball. He guessed right, and deposited that first pitch into the left field bleachers for the game-winning home run.

Buckner made things worse in the eighth inning when he led off with a single that got past outfielder Bill North. Buckner, who could run back then, tore around second and on his way to third. But Reggie Jackson gathered in the ball, fired to Dick Green, whose accurate toss to Sal Bando gunned down Buckner. The Dodgers didn't have anything left after that.

Back facts: Steve Garvey had another hit in this game. He had eight total in the Series and hit .381, by far the best in the Dodgers' lineup.

Other blog stuff: On this date in 1975, the U.S. Attorney General confirms that the FBI kept secret files on the personal lives of presidents, congressmen and others, on the orders of J. Edgar Hoover, who had died four years earlier.

#464 - '74 World Series, Game 4

Card fact: I believe this is a photo of A's starting pitcher Ken Holtzman hitting a home run in the third inning of Game 4. It gave the A's a 1-0 lead at the time.

What I thought about this card then: I didn't see it. This bothered me a lot, because I had a great deal of interest in the World Series cards. If I couldn't own the card, at the very least, I wanted to see it. But for a long time, this was the elusive card of the World Series subset.

What I think about this card now: It looks like Andy Messersmith got the pitch too high.

Other stuff: Even though Holtzman hit that home run, the Dodgers came back to hold a 2-1 lead on Bill Russell's two-run triple in the fourth inning. It stayed that way until things fell apart in the sixth for the Dodgers.

Messersmith walked Bill North to start the inning. He then threw wildly to first on a pick-off attempt, sending North to second base. Sal Bando, in a Series-long slump, then blooped an opposite-field single to right, scoring North. Messersmith made matters worse by walking Reggie Jackson. Joe Rudi, the No. 5 hitter, laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. After an intentional walk to Claudell Washington, pinch-hitter Jim Holt knocked a solid single to score the second and third runs of the inning. A groundout scored the fourth run of the inning.

The Dodgers tried to rally in the ninth, placing two runners on base. But Dick Green made a standout lunging dive on a ball hit by Von Joshua, and turned it into a game-ending double play.

Back facts: This was the only game of the series that did not end with a 3-2 score. In fact, the sixth inning of this game almost matched the total runs in each of the other four games.

Other blog stuff: On this date in 1935, the Yankees released Babe Ruth. Say what you want about the Dodgers trying to trade Jackie Robinson to the Giants (Walter O'Malley didn't care WHO you were), but the Yankees released Babe Ruth!

#463 - '74 World Series, Game 3

Card fact: This is the first of two appearances by Rollie Fingers in the World Series subset. He and Joe Rudi both appear twice.

What I thought about this card then: I didn't see it. I do have an older version of this card that I must have obtained when I was a teenager, but I have no idea where or how I got it.

What I think about this card now: Fingers is an excellent choice for this card. Not only was he important to this game, but he was the Series MVP, appearing in four games in the Series.

Other stuff: For the third straight game, the score was 3-2. This game was the turning point of the series. The Dodgers rocketed the ball off of starter Catfish Hunter and Fingers but only had home runs by Bill Buckner and Willie Crawford to show for it.

Meanwhile, Reggie Jackson hit a nubber off the end of his bat that catcher Joe Ferguson lunged for but watched glance off his glove for an error. Jackson who had thrown his bat away in disgust on the play, made it to first. Bill North scored on the play, the first of two runs scored in the third inning by the A's. Starter Al Downing gave up a run-scoring single to Joe Rudi in the next at-bat. The A's scored their third run the next inning when Bert Campaneris knocked in Dick Green who had walked.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, were busy unloading line drives directly at infielders, who turned them into double plays. Crawford hit one in the fourth and Steve Garvey in the eighth. Buckner's homer came in the eighth and after Hunter escaped the inning on Garvey's DP, Fingers came in for the ninth. Crawford hit a home run to start the inning and Joe Ferguson reached on an error. But Ron Cey struck out and Bill Russell hit into the Dodgers' third double play of the game to end it.

Back facts: The series moved to Oakland for Game 3 and stayed there since it lasted only five games.

Other blog stuff: Here is the older version of this card. But it isn't one I pulled in 1975. It's a mystery to me:

#462 - '74 World Series, Game 2

Card fact: Topps used only purple-pink and pink-yellow borders for the World Series cards.

What I thought about this card then: Well, as the only World Series card that depicts the Dodgers doing something successful, I considered it my "shred of decency" card. If anyone would bring up the A's Series win in '74, I'd pick up this card and say, "Yeah, but who won Game 2?" Hey, it was all I had.

What I think about this card now: The card shows Joe Ferguson returning to the dugout after hitting what proved to be the game-winning home run in the sixth inning. It was a two-run shot that gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. I can pinpoint Walter Alston, Jimmy Wynn, Doug Rau and Davey Lopes (behind Rau) in the dugout, but I'm not 100 percent sure on the others. If anyone knows the other players, feel free to shout them out.

Other stuff: Ferguson delivered the big blow, but the other Dodger heroes were Don Sutton and Mike Marshall. Sutton held the A's scoreless for eight-plus innings, surrendering just two hits until the eighth. Then, when Sutton hit Sal Bando and gave up a double to Reggie Jackson to start the ninth, Marshall came in to do his thing.

First, Marshall allowed a two-run single to Joe Rudi that cut the Dodgers' lead to 3-2. Then he struck out Gene Tenace. That brought up pitcher John "Blue Moon" Odom. The A's put Angel Mangual in as a pinch-hitter and pinch-running "specialist" Herb Washington in at first, replacing Rudi. Marshall, who had an excellent pick-off move, snared Washington at first for the second out. He then struck out Mangual to end the game.

Back facts: Catcher Steve Yeager, who was a very light hitter, went 2-for-3 and drove in the Dodgers' first run.

Other blog stuff: I neglected to mention that the '74 World Series was the first all-California World Series. So, I'll do that here. Since that time, there have been three more (1988, 1989 and 2002).

#461 - '74 World Series, Game 1

Card fact: That is Reginald Martinez Jackson there in the photo. He's pictured here most likely because he knocked in the first run of the World Series, a home run to left-center field off of Andy Messersmith in the top of the second inning.

What I thought about this card then: I had the mini card. I really should have disliked Jackson because of what he did to the Dodgers, but I was too young to know anything about the '74 World Series. It wasn't until 1977, and when Jackson was with the Yankees, that he became a problem.

What I think about this card now: It's pretty cool. Wish I knew if he is hitting that homer in this photo.

Other stuff: Game 1 set the tone for the rest of the Series. Four out of the five games in the Series were decided by 3-2 scores, and the losing team scored two runs in every game of the series.

Jackson knocked in the first run, but Ken Holtzman played a key part, too. As the starter, he went only four-plus innings (Rollie Fingers came in during the 5th inning and lasted until the 9th. Catfish Hunter got the save!). But Holtzman scored the A's second run when he doubled with one out, went to third on a wild pitch, and came home on Bert Campaneris' sacrifice bunt.

The third A's run proved costly for the Dodgers. In the eighth inning, with Campaneris on second and one out, Ron Cey (ouch) threw errantly to first on a ground ball by Sal Bando and Campaneris scored. The run was costly because Jim Wynn would homer in the ninth inning for the Dodgers and pull them within one.

Back facts: Boy, do I love boxscores on the back of baseball cards. You can see that the Series started on a Saturday, which surprised me a little because as a kid I remember the Series always starting on a Tuesday.

A couple notables for me is that the Dodgers' starter, Messersmith, got two hits. Also, L.A. outhit Oakland 11-6. The Dodgers stranded 12 runners.

Other blog stuff: All the World Series cards in this set that I saw as a kid were minis. I had Game 1, Game 2 and Game 5 all in mini form.

Here is Game 1 in regular and mini form:

Also, there is a cool video on the 1974 World Series. I was alerted to this by wobs of the 1974 Topps-Pennant Fever blog.

#460 - '74 N.L. Championships

Card fact: That is Pittsburgh's Frank Taveras in the photo. I'm reasonably sure the other guy is Steve Garvey, but it's kind of hard to tell.

What I thought about this card then: You have no idea how awesome I thought this card was in 1975. Think of it: I loved action cards, because they were so rare then. I loved moment-in-time cards (I still do). I loved cards of Dodgers doing well. Add it all together and this quite possibly was the card that I was most impressed with in the entire set.

What I think about this card now: The dust rising from second base is terrific.

Other stuff: If that is indeed Garvey, then this is a play from the third inning of Game 1 of the 1974 N.L. Championship Series. Garvey hit a one-out double off of Jerry Reuss at Three Rivers Stadium. He was stranded there, but the Dodgers won the game 3-0.

Back facts: The Dodgers were almost as impressive with their pitching in this series as the A's were in their championship series. Don Sutton threw a four-hit shutout in Game 1, then allowed just three hits in Game 4. Andy Messersmith did pretty good in Game 2, too. Only a blow-up by Doug Rau in Game 3 mucked things up.

Other blog stuff: If you're a team collector, would you put this card in your binder if you rooted for the Dodgers or Pirates? Right now, this card is in my team binder, but I don't know if it would be if the Pirates were my favorite team.

#459 - '74 A.L. Championships

Card fact: This is the first card in an eight-card subset reviewing the 1974 postseason. It is a similar format to what was used by Topps from 1972-74, one card apiece for the respective league championships and then a card for each game of the World Series. In 1970 and 1971, Topps also devoted a card to each game of the league championship series.

In fact, designating a card for each game of the World Series was a Topps practice from 1967-75. Sadly, that practice would end with the 1976 set.

What I thought about this card then: Never saw it.

What I think about this card now: I cannot figure out which play this is during the A.L. Championship. That's obviously Brooks Robinson sliding into what appears to be second base. In all of the games of the series, Robinson rarely got on base (he either flew out, grounded out or hit a home run). I can find only one possibility, in Game 2, when Robinson reaches on a walk with two outs and then Earl Williams grounds out from second to first for the third out. But why would Dick Green be vaulting over Robinson as if he was turning a double play if it was a simple grounder to second for out No. 3?

I sure hope this a photo from the A.L. Championship. It'd be sad if it wasn't.

Other stuff: The A's won their third straight A.L. Championship in four games, but it wasn't all that easy. The A's lost Game 1 and Games 3 and 4 were nail-biters. NBC broadcast the series. The announcers were Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubek and Frank Robinson.

Back facts: You have to love linescores on the back of baseball cards. Game 3 looks like a hell of a game. Vida Blue threw a two-hitter, struck seven and walked none.

Other stuff: The purple-pink border combination ties the pink-yellow border combination for second place with this card. Both have been featured on 35 cards, so far. The two color combinations will pick up a few more cards in this subset as they're just about the only color combinations featured.