1972 ALCS; A's vs. Tigers

[Chisox73]

Since we are just less than 24 hours away from 1st pitch,let's review the only other time that the A's and Tigers hooked up in the ALCS.

These 2 teams met in the 1972 American League Championship Series.It was a best-of-5 format back then.

That season,the A's went 93-62,finishing 5 1/2 games ahead of Chicago in the AL West.It was thier 2nd straight division crown.The Tigers however barely squeaked in by defeating Boston on the next to last game of the season.The Tigers finished 86-70, 1/2 game ahead of the Red Sox.

[Chisox73]

Game 1 at Oakland was a pitchers duel between Jim "Catfish" Hunter and 1968 World Series hero Mickey Lolich.

Hunter went 8+ strong innings allowing a 2nd inning solo homer to Norm Cash while giving up only 4 hits.Lolich however went 10 innings giving up a run in the 3rd inning on a Joe Rudi sac fly scoring Bert Campaneris.

The Tigers scored off Rollie fingers in the 11th when Al Kaline homered off Fingers to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.But in the bottom of the 11th,the A's had runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out when Gonzalo Marquez singled to Kaline in right.Kaline committed a throwing error allowing both Mike Hegan and Gene Tenace to score and give the A's the 3-2 win and a 1-0 lead in the series.



Detroit 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1- 2 6 2
OAKLAND 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2- 3 11 1

A's lead series 1-0
WP-Rollie Fingers(1-0)
LP- Mickey Lolich(0-1)

HR- DET;Cash(1),Kaline(1)

LOB- DET 6,OAK 10

T- 3:00
Att.- 29,566

[Chisox73]

In the 2nd game at Oakland,what was supposed to be a impressive showing by the A's took a back seat to one of the more infamous moments in post-season history.

In the 7th inning with the A's comfortably ahead 5-0,SS Bert Campaneris was hit in the ankle by a pitch by tigers reliever Lerrin LaGrow.Campy then proceeded to helicopter his bat towards LaGrow thus enciting a bench clearing brawl that had Campy ejected.

Prior to this episode,Campy helped put the A's ion the board in the 1st inning on a base hit,and steals of 2nd and 3rd before coming home on Joe Rudi's RBI single to make it 1-0.

The A's plated 4 runs in the 5th inning when PH George Hendrick led off with a single.He went to 2nd on John "Blue Moon" Odom's sac bunt.Campaneris singled putting runners at the corners with 1 out.

RF Matty Alou then singled scoring Hendrick to make it 2-0 A's.Campaneris went to 3rd.

After Tigers starter Woodie Fryman was lifted,reliever Chris Zachary promptly delivered 2 straight wild pitches,scoring Alou for a 3-0 lead,and eventually moving Campaneris to 3rd.Joe Rudi then walked to put runners at the corners for Reggie Jackson.

Fred Scherman relieved Zachary to face Jackson.After Jackson was sent to the dirt twice in his AB,Reggie doubled home Campaneris and rudi to make it 5-0 A's with Jackson going to 3rd on an error by Tiger SS Dick McAuliffe.

After order ewas restored from the Campaneris-LaGrow incident,the tigers bats were silent the rest of the way.

The Tigers only got 3 hits in the entire game as "Blue Moon" Odom went the distance on a shutout.



Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0- 0 3 1
OAKLAND 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 x- 5 8 0

A's lead series 2-0
WP- John "Blue Moon" Odom(1-0)
LP- Woodie Fryman(0-1)

HR- none

LOB- DET 2,OAK 4

T- 2:37
Att.- 31,068

[Chisox73]

As the scene finally shifted to Detroit for Game 3,it was tigers starter Joe Coleman who made sure the A's would not end Detroit's season so quickly.

With the Tigers down 2-0,and the final 3 at Tiger Stadium,Coleman turned in a fine performance going the distance in a 3-0 Tiger win.Coleman struck out 14 A's in the game while scattering 7 hits and walking 3.

The A's stranded 10 runners in the game.

The Tigers scored twice in the 4th inning off A's starter Ken Holtzman.The key hit was a 2-run single by Ike Brown to put the Tigers on the board.

The A's had thier biggest threat in the 7th when they had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out when Dave Duncan struck out to end the threat.

But the Tigers put the game out of reach in the 8th on a solo homer by C Bill Freehan off Bob Locker to make it 3-0.

Holtzman took the loss going 4 innings,giving up 2 runs on 4 hits.



OAKLAND 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0- 0 7 0
Detroit 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 x- 3 8 1

A's lead series 2-1
WP- Joe Coleman(1-0)
LP- Ken Holtzman(0-1)

HR- DET;Freehan(1)

LOB- OAK 10,DET 5

T- 2:27
Att- 41,156

[Chisox73]

the 2nd extra-inning contest of the series,Jim Northrup's bases loaded single in the 10th inning sent the Tiger fans home happy with a 4-3 win and forcing a 5th and deciding game for the 1972 American League Pennant.

It was a rematch of Game 1 starters Catfish Hunter and Mickey Lolich as both pitchers went deep into the game.

Hunter went 7 1/3 giving up a solo homer to Dick McAuliffe in the 3rd inning,while Loloch went 9 innings giving up a solo homer to Mike Epstien in the 7th to tie it at 1,where it stayed through 9.

In the 10th,the A's scored twice off Chuck Seelbach on an RBI double by Matty Alou,and an RBI single by Ted Kubiak to make it 3-1 Oakland.

Withm the A's only 3 outs away from thier 1st pennant since moving to Oakland,the Tigers roared back when McAuliffe and Al Kaline both singled to lead off the 10th off Bob Locker.Joe Horlen replaced Locker and threw a wild pitch to PH Gates Brown,advancing both runners 90 feet.Brown then walked to load the bases.Bill Freehan then reached on a fielder's choice and an error on Gene Tenace to score McAuliffe to cut the A's lead to 3-2 and the bases still juiced and 0 out.

Dave Hamilton came in for Horlen and walked Norm Cash to score Kaline with the tying run.Then the next batter Jim Northrup singled home the winning run to give Detroit the win,and send the ALCS to a 5th and deciding game for the 1st time.



OAKLAND 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2- 3 9 2
Detroit 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3- 4 10 1

Series tied 2-2
WP- John Hiller(1-0)
LP- Bob Locker(0-1)

HR- OAK;Epstien(1)-DET;McAuliffe(1)

LOB- DET 11,OAK 8

T- 3:04
Att- 37,615

[Chisox73]

the 5th and deciding game for the 1972 American League Pennant,the Oakland A's came away with a 2-1 win over the Tigers at Tiger Stadium to claim thier 1st pennant since moving to Oakland,and the franchise's 1st pennant since 1931 when they made Philadelphia thier home.

The Tigers got on the board in the bottom of the 1st inning when after Dick McAuliffe singled,Al Kaline struck out,then Duke Sims walked to put McAuliffe into scoring position.After a passed ball by Gene Tenace advancing both runners,Bill Freehan grounded out 6-3 scoring McAuliffe to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

In the Oakland 2nd,Reggie Jackson walked to lead off,then stole 2nd.He advance to 3rd on a fly out to right by Sal Bando.

After Mike Epstien was hit by a Woodie Fryman pitch,the A's pulled a daring double steal as Gene Tenace struck out.Epstien stole second,and as Bill Freehan's throw came to 2nd,Jackson broke for home.Jackson beat the throw back to the plate and was safe at home to tie the game at 1.

But at the same time,Jackson pulled an hamstring on the slide and would not return for the rest of the post-season.

The A's went ahead for good in the 4th when George Hendrick(in for Reggie) reached on a McAuliffe error to start the inning.Sal Bando then sacrificed Hendrick over to 2nd and would later score on a single by Tenace to give the A's a 2-1 lead.

The Tigers would get just 3 more hits the rest of the way as Vida Blue would pitch the last 4 innings for the save,and more importantly,the 1972 American League Pennant.



OAKLAND 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0- 2 4 0
Detroit 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0- 1 5 2

A's win series 3-2
WP- John "Blue Moon" Odom(2-0)
LP- Woodie Fryman(0-2)
Save- Vida Blue(1)

HR- none

LOB- OAK 6,DET 6

T- 2:48
Att- 50,276

[Zito75]

Wow, thanks for doing the research and posting those summaries, ChiSox73. Let's hope that we can keep the winning ways going starting today!

[ACrank]

Thanks - great memory flashbacks....

(i'm disappointed - i expected ESPN Classic to rebroadcast the highlights from that series.)

One thing i noticed - a ten inning playoff game going 3 hours and 4 mins!!! Now a days that would run 4 hours, at least, and i'd be fighting off sleep to see the end of it....

[Chisox73]

Glad that I can help bring back memories here.:gt

Growing up,those A's team were some of my favorite teams to watch.And yeas,I have most of those post-season programs from that era.