(Carded Teams from the 1972 season of Major League Baseball)
“I'll always maintain that the best Series I was ever involved in was the 1972 World Series against Oakland. That's because those were the two of the finest ball clubs to go against each other that you'll ever see in I don't know how long.”
-Sparky Anderson
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It's been two and a half years since my realization that the 1972 World Series was unplayable if carded by normal means. The 1972 Reds came from an offensive context almost half of a run stronger than the 1972 Oakland As. While some of this difference would be accurately reflected in the pitching cards, in general any Series involving the two teams would not be competitive if based on the normal carding. So I’ve also prepared 1972 using a normalized method, just as I did for 1968 and 1981.
I've discussed the new normalization approach in a previous post; the last two and a half years was spent actually testing it. I carded in bits and pieces both the most run starved and run scoring seasonal environments in both leagues. It takes so much effort to card and publish a season that it seemed a waste of time to do the full approach for 1972 unless I could be sure that this approach was going to work. But I tested it, and I'm now confident that it does indeed work, and so I'm posting both the 1972 American and National Leagues carded using both methods, and I'll let gamers judge the results.
In the American League, Baltimore once again has the best pitching staff, but an uneven lineup (missing Frank Robinson, traded to the Dodgers) meant they can't pull away from Detroit or Boston. The Sox can hit, as every position but first has solid hitters, and the lineup features a hot newcomer, catcher Carlton Fisk, who would make Boston a contender for most of the next decade. The real dilemma for the Boston manager is what to do with swingman Luis Tiant, a Cy capable starter or reliever on a team that needs both. The Yankees featured center fielder Bobby Murcer and catcher Thurman Munson, and at one point they made a charge behind Sparky Lyle and their great bullpen, but they lacked deep enough starting pitching to contend. Cleveland had one big horse - Cy Young Award winner Gaylord Perry who finished with a 1.92 ERA and won 24 games for an otherwise bad team. Milwaukee was led by slugging first baseman George Scott and outfielder John Briggs.
The White Sox used 49 starts from ace Wilbur Wood to run essentially a three man starting rotation, with Stan Bahnsen and Tom Bradley filling in the other spots. Wood, a knuckleballer, threw a league high 367 IP in 49 starts and won 24 games. The Sox were led on offense by first baseman Dick Allen, who batted .308 and smashed 37 HRs and 113 RBI. Second baseman Rob Carew batted .318 for a Twins team that had a nice lineup, but a bit of a power outage, as they struck only 93 homeruns. The Twins did have four great pitchers in Bert Blyleven, Jim Perry, Dick Woodson, and Jim Kaat. Kaat, 10-2 through 15 starts on July 2, broke his pitching hand sliding at Comiskey Park and was out for the year, at the time he was also having his best year at the dish, batting .289 with two home runs and five extra base hits in 49 plate appearances.
In spite of hitting the fewest homeruns, Kansas City had one of the best offenses in the AL in 1972, led by first baseman John Mayberry and speedsters shortstop Freddie Patek and outfielder Amos Otis. They had the highest batting average in the league and highest on base percentage, and they finished second in the league in doubles. The Angels had a rotation of Nolan Ryan, Clyde Wright and Rudy May, and led the AL in strikeouts. Ryan threw 9 shutouts with 329 strikeouts, but their lineup scored the least runs in the league. Texas, still suffering from the loss of the left side of their infield in the Denny McLain trade, was so bad they had a book written about this season.
Billy Martin did a great job of getting the most out of the aging Tiger lineup, managing platoons out of the three outfield and second base positions and creating a third and fourth starter out of journeymen swingmen. The Tigers had superb fielders at shortstop in Eddie Brinkman, third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez, and outfielder Mickey Stanley. The lack of pitching depth past Lolich and Coleman almost cost them the flag, but Martin righted the ship by obtaining Woodie Fryman in a trade right as third starter Tom Timmerman was starting to fade. Fryman was the Doyle Alexander of 1972, finishing 10-3 with a 2.06 ERA. The Tigers won the East on the final weekend of the season.
The A’s weren’t quite the finished product of their 1973 team, batting only .240 while leading the league in homers behind their troika of outfielders Reggie Jackson and Joe Rudi, and first baseman Mike Epstein. What the A’s had going for them was a staff that could throw a shutout every night in starters Catfish Hunter, Ken Holtzman, and Blue Moon Odom, backed up by a deep and talented bullpen featuring Horacio Pina, Darold Knowles, Bob Locker, and Rollie Fingers. This pitching depth was the difference maker in both post season series, and for the three years between 1972 and 1974 they would be extended at times, but they would not break. They were able to hold off the game Tigers in a hard fought five game AL Championship Series in part because they made the plays and pitches the Tigers didn’t.
In the National League the Reds fielded a tremendous lineup led by MVP catcher Johnny Bench, second baseman Joe Morgan, and outfielder Pete Rose, as well as a talented pitching staff. They prevailed in five games in the NL Championship Series over the defending champion Pirates, who were led by first baseman Willie Stargell, catcher Manny Sanguillen and outfielder Roberto Clemente, playing in his final year before his untimely death. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth against the NL’s top reliever, palm baller Dave Guisti, Bench launched a long home run to tie the game, and Bob Moose wild pitched in the winning run. In spite of their great teams in the middle of the decade, Pittsburgh would not break through to the World Series until 1979.
The 1972 Cubs finished second in the East as the last squad of their Golden Era. Leo Durocher, who had built the team, was fired mid year and the team never found the footing to keep up with the Pirates. Jim Hickman had taken over Ernie Bank’s place at first but the rest of the Cubs great late sixties infield of Santo, Kessinger, Beckert and Hundley were all older and nearing the end. Billy Williams had perhaps his best year with 37 HR and 122 RBIs, and the team had five good starters including Ferguson Jenkins, Burt Hooton and Milt Pappas, but an uneven bullpen kept them from breaking through. The Mets got great years from pitcher Tom Seaver and Rookie of the Year Jon Matlack, as well as bullpen ace Tug McGraw, but the lineup suffered from injuries and poor hitting as the Mets slipped to third place. The Cards got good years from aging veterans Bib Gibson, who won 19 games at the age of 36, outfielder Lou Brock, who hit .311 and stole 63 bases at 33, and young catcher Ted Simmons, who batted .303 and drove in 96 runs, but they no longer had the pitching depth to take advantage of their team speed and defense. The Expos had a couple of nice starters in Bill Stoneman and Mike Torrez, and a great relief man in Mike Marshall who won 14 games and saved another 18 out of the bullpen. Shortstop Larry Bowa and outfielder Greg Luzinski were the bright spots in the lineup for the last place Phillies, but Steve Carlton turned in a season for the ages, every bit as impressive as Denny McLain’s 1968 total of 31 wins. Carlton posted a 1.97 ERA and 30 CG in 41 starts, finishing 27-10 in 346 innings for a last place team that only won 59 games. 5-6 at the end of May, Lefty then won fifteen consecutive decisions up to August 17, and for the season he threw 8 shutouts and struck out 310 batters for good measure. Easily winning the Cy Young Award, this effort is probably among the top two dozen seasons in baseball history.
During their time in the Astrodome, from 1965 to 1999, the Houston Astros led the NL in runs scored exactly twice- 1998, the Randy Johnson team, with Biggio and Bagwell leading a posse of good hitters to 874 tallies, and this year, 1972, with a measly 708 runs. Despite the paltry total this was the only Astro team to lead all of baseball in runs scored in spite of the Astrodome, and they did it with a deep and talented lineup, with outfielders Cesar Ceceno, Jimmy Wynn, and Bob Watson, third baseman Doug Rader, and first baseman Lee May all contributing at least 16 homers and 82 RBIs. Unfortunately the pitching staff beyond Larry Dierker and Don Wilson lacked depth as the Astros finished tenth in ERA. The opposite problem existed in Los Angeles, where Don Sutton, Claude Osteen and Tommy John anchored the league’s best staff, but nobody, even Frank Robinson, could top 20 HRs. The Dodgers did build for the future though, moving outfielder Bill Russell to shortstop for good following Maury Wills’ holdout, and finding a gem in utility man and part timer Steve Garvey.
Atlanta’s catcher Earl Williams, outfielders Dusty Baker and Ralph Garr, and third baseman Darrell Evans, sound batters all, joined first baseman Hank Aaron on his match to immortality. The Braves had a nice lineup but finished dead last in NL ERA despite Phil Niekro’s 16 wins. San Francisco finished 9th in ERA and 10th in fielding to squander great seasons from outfielder Bobby Bonds, who smacked 26 HRs and stole 44 bases, and All-Star shortstop Chris Speier. Dan Diego first basemen Nate Colbert clubbed 38 homeruns and drove in 112 for the otherwise moribund Padres, who featured the Major’s only 20 game loser in Steve Arlin, who finished 10-21 I spite of a decent 3.60 ERA.
The 1972 World Series is still considered a 7 game classic, and more than once Sparky Anderson has said his greatest regret was this Series loss. Both teams were deep and talented, but the A’s were missing outfielder Reggie Jackson who was injured in the last game of the ALCS. Six of the seven games were settled by one run, putting pressure on the game’s best bullpens, and in back to back games first the Reds bullpen, in Game 4, and then the Oakland bullpen, in Game 5, handed the enemy a win in the last licks. But the Reds loss in Game 4, where they allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth to lose 3-2 after taking a 2-1 lead in the top of the 8th, was the most damaging loss. It left them trailing 3–1 in games, and in the seventh game, while they had the tying run on base and Pete Rose at the plate, Rollie Fingers slammed the door. Fingers pitched in six games, with a win, a loss and four saves, and a little known backup catcher named Gene Tenace hit .348 with four home runs, a double and 9 RBIs.
The Normalized cards for both leagues I think give you the real picture for these teams- the A’s depth and power and pitching, and the Reds multiple styles of offense, speed, power and batting. Enjoy these cards.
1977 is next, “The Bronx is Burning”
