Home MLB World Series – the 1974 version

World Series – the 1974 version

by Matt Smith

Staying with the thrifty theme, I sat down late Saturday afternoon and enjoyed some free baseball action courtesy of the MLB.com/Live feature.  The classic game broadcast from 16.00 was Game One of the 1974 World Series between the Oakland A’s and the Los Angeles Dodgers.  It was a lot of fun to watch, both from the perspective of it being an exciting ballgame as well as providing a history lesson of what the World Series was like back in the early ‘70s. 

The 1974 World Series was a clash between two teams that couldn’t have been more different.  The Dodgers were the classy, corporate side who had won 102 games during the regular season in a calm and professional manner.  The A’s on the other hand staggered from one controversy to another, with team mates fighting among themselves and the eccentric owner Charles Finley driving players to distraction.  Through all the disharmony, the A’s had won two World Series on the spin (beating the Reds in ’72 and the Mets in ’73, both times by a final score of 4-3) and were looking to make it three in a row. 

The difference between the two teams was perfectly illustrated by their chosen attire for the series opener.  The Dodgers were resplendent in classic, spotless white uniforms set off by the rich blue of their caps and their team name across their chest.  Even the curly hair bursting out from under starter Andy Messersmith’s cap couldn’t make the team look anything less than business like.

There was nothing classic about the A’s uniform though: strikingly vivid yellow jerseys with a large green ‘A’, white trousers (pants), yellow and green socks and white cleats.  Their outfit was so bright that it should have carried a health warning.

This was the seventies, don’t forget.  There was plenty of impressive facial hair on display, not least Rollie Fingers’ trademark handlebar moustache, plus some substantial sideburns courtesy of thick-set Dodgers reliever Mike Marshall.  Another thing seemingly in vogue at the time was the practice of wearing just one batting glove, normally on the bottom hand, when going up to bat.   It also has to be said that the announcers’ choice of clothing wasn’t much better than what the A’s had turned up in.  We were offered a long hard look at the hideous jackets and shirts being worn by the NBC crew of Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubek and Vin Scully during one piece to camera and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Their fashion sense aside (I’m sure it looked good at the time), the announcers were a treat to listen to.  Scully is still going strong with the Dodgers at the age of eighty-one and the easy-mannered, lyrical tone of his commentary is the same today as it was back in ’74.  One of the rare qualities he possesses is the knowledge that sometimes the best way to capture the magic of a sporting moment is to keep quiet and let the crowd and the pictures tell the story on their own.  Particularly with TV today, the ‘less is more’ maxim is completely ignored by most broadcasters.

You could best describe NBC’s coverage as minimalist in comparison to Fox’s current bells and whistles approach.  NBC did use a ‘splitscreen’ view whenever a runner was on first base, but that was about as fancy as it got.   There were no ‘hot zones’ and super slow-mo replays, no tracking baserunners or clocking the speed of each pitch, nor even a constant reminder of the score.  By and large it was just the action on the field being accompanied by some well-chosen words.  It made for a refreshing change.

Not that I’m a complete philistine about these things: where you can use technology to give viewers a better understanding of the game then those tools should be embraced.  NBC were doing the most they could with what they had at their disposal, it’s just that back in the seventies this meant having more than one camera tracking a single play.

Trailing by 3-1 and with two out in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers’ centre fielder Jimmy Wynn hit a long drive to left-centre field.  Nobody was really sure what had happened at first, but the announcers proudly told us that they had three different camera angles to refer to and we watched them one-by-one with growing excitement. 

Both left fielder Joe Rudi and centre fielder Billy North jumped up at the wall to snatch the shot from the sky, but after a quick examination of North’s glove came the realisation that the ball had eluded them.  It had bounced over the wall for a solo home run and North gave the fence a frustrated kick in revenge.  That frustration didn’t last long as Catfish Hunter came to the mound and closed out the game for the A’s by a final score of 3-2, helping them on their way to a five-game series win and their third straight World Series triumph.

As someone who came to baseball in 1998, watching this game really brought home two key differences between the World Series of years past and the version I have known.

Firstly, this was a unique match-up.  The teams hadn’t battled against each other in interleague play earlier in the year.  They hadn’t even met during Spring Training.  While the two sets of players were not complete strangers, Messersmith had faced the A’s in his days with the California Angels for example, Dodger blue and luminous A’s yellow hadn’t graced the same diamond before (although fashion experts would hardly shed a tear about that).  There are many reasons why interleague play should be scrapped and keeping the Fall Classic as one of only two occasions when the two leagues meet (the other being the All-Star game) is among them.

However, what really made the game stand out for me was that it was played in glorious sunshine.  Sporting events played out under a blanket black sky do have their own special atmosphere, but baseball was made to be played in daylight.  TV is king and Fox pays a lot of money for the right to broadcast the World Series.  Naturally they want to show the games when they can maximise the audience and the advertising revenue, which means the prime time evening slot. 

Still, it would be great if even just one game was guaranteed to be played under blue skies each year, with the grass glistening in the sun, the white baselines gleaming and the outfielders trying to shield their eyes while tracking a high fly ball.  If we kept the current schedule of playing games one and two on Wednesday and Thursday night before an off-day, game three could be played on Saturday afternoon (Sunday afternoon would create an unwanted clash with NFL games). 

Selig would definitely not support my stance against interleague play, but he has expressed his desire for a day game in the World Series.   

Here in Britain, moving the first pitch forward to three in the afternoon eastern time (eight o’clock in the evening our time) would be a welcome change from the 1.30 in the morning starts we normally have to cope with.  I doubt Five would be too keen on giving prime time Saturday over to baseball, but it could always go on Five US and with the switchover to digital rapidly approaching, most homes should be able to watch the channel in due course.

However, such technicalities are unlikely to come into play. The only way a day game could be introduced is if it’s part of the next World Series rights contract and the current deal doesn’t expire until the end of 2013.  Add in the fact that MLB would be reducing the potential value of the contract by stipulating that one game must be played during the day and the likelihood of it happening doesn’t seem high.

That’s a shame because baseball played under sunny skies has a unique charm.  At least we still have footage of old World Series games such as this one between the A’s and the Dodgers to help us enjoy that experience.

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2 comments

Joe Cooter December 8, 2008 - 10:02 am

I wish i was logged on at that time, because there are many classic games I’d love to see. I don’t suppose they’ll show at some point, they’ll show Don Larsens perfect game. I have never had the opertunity to see it in its entirety.

Reply
Matt Smith December 8, 2008 - 9:10 pm

Hi Joe. I was reading about Larsen’s perfect game only the other day. The game was filmed for the U.S. Armed Forces and was supposed to be destroyed soon after, but someone had the foresight to save it. There’s a good little four minute clip about it on MLB.com, but it would be great to see the whole thing.

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