|
Game 1: BRO 7, STL 3
Game 2: STL 10, BRO 6
Game 3: STL 4, BRO
3
Game 4: STL 7, BRO 2
Game 5: STL 5, BRO 3
PROBABLE STARTERS
Game 1
STL: Bob Shaw (R)
(11-7, 3.33, 1.25 WHIP)
BRO: Bob Friend (R) (16-10, 3.51, 1.30 WHIP)
Game 2
STL: Luke Walker
(L) (9-5, 3.37, 1.31 WHIP)
BRO: Woodie Fryman (L) (16-6, 2.75, 1.16 WHIP)
Game 3
BRO: Bill Stoneman (R) (9-3, 2.81, 1.22 WHIP)
STL: Ron Kline (R)
(15-10, 3.89, 1.23 WHIP)
|
GAME 1 -- Brooklyn 7, St. Louis
3
BOXSCORE
 McAuliffe
Sparks Rally, Bas Take Game 1
BROOKLYN (Oct. 2) -- The Brooklyn
Superbas rallied to erase an early deficit, winning 7-3 at Frank Thomas
Memorial Stadium to improve their all-time record in World Series
openers to 8-2. After falling behind 2-0 on Reggie Smith's two-run
double in the top of the third, Dick McAuliffe drove in Brooklyn's first
run and launched the two-run homer in the fourth inning that put them
ahead for good. McAuliffe drove in four of the Bas' seven runs, and
leadoff man Ollie Brown had four hits and scored twice. Bob Friend
allowed just seven hits and three runs in eight innings, but nearly lost
his chance for a win when reliever Tom Murphy loaded the bases in the
ninth with one out, giving St. Louis two last chances at a game-tying
grand slam. But Roy White nubbed a comebacker to the pitcher, forcing
out Roberto Clemente at the plate, and Jimmie Hall grounded out to first
to end the game. The win was Brooklyn's eighth win in their last nine
World Series home games.
GAME 2 -- St. Louis 10 , Brooklyn 6
BOXSCORE
 Clemente
Grand Slam Levels Series
BROOKLYN (Oct. 3) -- The clubs are all square after St. Louis
routed Brooklyn 10-6 after jumping to an early lead with Roberto
Clemente's second inning grand slam. Brooklyn starter Woodie
Fryman got in a jam with two walks and two singles, and Clemente socked
a 3-2 pitch 367 feet to give the Maroons a 5-0 lead. Brooklyn
scratched back two runs in the bottom of the fifth, and got within two
runs in the eigthth, but St. Louis put the game away with a four-run
ninth inning that featured a two-run double by Johnny Romano.
Rookie lefty Luke Walker pitched well in an abbreviated outing, allowing
just two runs in five innings, while Fryman, also making his World
Series debut, was chased in the sixth trailing 6-2.
After a
travel day tomorrow, the Series moves to St. Louis for Game 3.
Bill Stoneman (9-3, 2.81) is slated to face Ron Kline (15-10, 3.89).
GAME 3 -- St. Louis 4 , Brooklyn 3
BOXSCORE
 Morgan
Homers Lifts Maroons
ST.
LOUIS (Oct. 5) -- Joe Morgan's solo homer in the seventh inning broke a
3-3 tie, and St. Louis' celebrated bullpen threw three shutout innings,
as the Maroons took a 2-1 lead in the 1969 World Series with a 4-3 win
at Sportsman's Park. The game was a see-saw battle with four lead
changes. Brooklyn's Bill Stoneman and St. Louis' Ron Kline
exchanged shutout innings for the first three frames, each allowing just
one hit, before Ed Charles singled in Dick McAuliffe in the top of the
fourth for the game's first run. The Maroons immediately leveled
on Ellie Hendricks' RBI groundout to score Mike Hegan in the bottom half
of the frame, then took a 2-1 lead when Roy White singled home Tony
Taylor in the bottom of the fifth. Taylor was hit by a pitch to
lead off the inning, and advanced to second on Kline's successful
sacrifice. The lead was short-lived, however, as McAuliffe led off
the sixth with a single, setting up Mickey Mantle's two-run blast that
restored the Bas' lead, 3-2. Stoneman then walked Mike Hegan, and
Jim Fregosi slapped a single, setting up Game 2 hero Roberto Clemente's
game-tying RBI single. Pinch hitter Jimmie Hall narrowly missed a
home run two hitters later, but instead the game went 3-3 into the
seventh. Morgan's go-ahead homer came with one out in the seventh,
and Ray Crone allowed just a two-out single in the seventh, Sparky Lyle
retired the Superbas in order in the eighth, and closer Bob Locker came
in to lock it down in the ninth. Locker looked well on his way to
his first postseason save after Tim McCarver popped up and the 8-9
hitters were due up, but pinch hitter Pat Kelly, with just 19 hits in
his UL career after a September call-up, tripled to the gap in
left-center. But Kelly never advanced the last 90 feet after
Locker struck out pinch hitter Jim Hickman looking and Ollie Brown flied
out to right center.
GAME 4 -- St. Louis 7 , Brooklyn 2
BOXSCORE
Smith Homers
Twice in 7-2 Rout, Maroons on Brink
 ST.
LOUIS (Oct. 6) -- Reggie Smith homered twice, Jim Fregosi added a third
for good measure, and young Joe Niekro pitched a gem as the St. Louis
Maroons opened up a 3-1 series lead with a 7-2 win at Sportsman's Park.
The Maroons scored early and often, talling runs in the first, second,
fourth, fifth, and eighth innings, at never looked vulnerable aside from
a brief moment in the sixth when Brooklyn scored two to cut the lead to
5-2 and threatened to score more. But Niekro, who allowed just
five hits and no earned runs in 6.2 innings, put down the threat, and
St. Louis won going away after Smith and Fregosi added exclamation marks
with solo clouts in the eighth inning. Smith's first homer lead of
the scoring, and the Dark Reds built a 5-0 lead by the fifth inning.
Tony Taylor hit an RBI groundout, Roberto Clemente and Taylor had
back-to-back RBI hits in the fourth, and Mike Hegan added another RBI
groundout in the fifth. Brooklyn loaded the bases with no outs in
the sixth. Joe Coleman reached on Jim Fregosi's error, Ollie Brown
walked, and Hank Aaron singled. But Niekro limited the damage as
the Bas could plate only two runs on Mickey Mantle's single and Jim
Gentile's fielder's choice. Coleman left after sixth innings,
trailing just 5-2, but any rally attempt was stymied by reliever George
Stone's eighth inning. Stone induced groundouts from six of the
eight batters he faced, but the other two were solo dingers that put the
game out of reach.
Game 5 probables are Bob Shaw for St. Louis
(5.0, 9 H, 5 ER in game 1) and Game 1 winner Bob Friend for Brooklyn
(8.0, 7 H, 3 R, 9 K).
GAME 5 -- St. Louis 5 , Brooklyn 3
BOXSCORE
 Maroons
Win World Series
Taylor Caps Rally in Sixth, Mays Scores
Winning Run
ST.
LOUIS (Oct. 7) -- The St. Louis Maroons won their first league
championship in 18 years today, beating Brooklyn for a fourth straight
time, 5-3, to win the 1969 World Series. Third baseman Tony Taylor
was the unlikely hero, stroking a two-run double with two outs in the
sixth to give the Maroons their first lead of the game, and one they
would not relinquish. Brooklyn scored in the first after
"Downtown" Ollie Brown hit a leadoff double off Bob Shaw and scored on
Dick McAuliffe's RBI groundout. They added a second run in the
fourth with three straight singles from the bottom of the lineup: Tim
McCarver, Glenn Beckert, and Bob Friend. St. Louis got a run back
in the bottom of the fourth on Granny Hamner's RBI double, scoring
Roberto Clemente, but Beckert singled again in the sixth with Ed Charles
aboard to give the Bas a 3-1 lead. Friend got into a jam in the
bottom of the sixth, when Jim Fregosi walked and Reggie Smith singled to
lead off the inning. Friend retired Clemente and Hamner, but then
served up back-to-back doubles to a 37-year-old outfielder who hasn't
played a UL game in over a year and a utility infielder who averages 29
RBIs a year. Willie Mays started the game in left and batted
seventh in his first UL game in over a year. Still nursing a
fractured wrist, he struck out swinging in the second and fourth innings
before doubling to the deep left-center in his third at-bat. Tony
Taylor, a 33-year-old utility infielder from Guantanamo, Cuba, has been
in the league 11 years, but never as a regular starter. He played
144 games for the Maroons this year, splitting his time at third, first
and second. His two-out, two-strike double to deep right-center
plated Reggie Smith and Mays, giving the home team a 4-3 lead and
launching the crowd at Sportsman's Park into hysterics. Bob Shaw
allowed a single in the seventh, retired the side in the eighth, and got
pinch hitter Pat Kelly out before yielding to closer Bob Locker, who got
two groundouts from Ollie Brown and Hank Aaron to lock down the win.
Bob Shaw went 8.1 innings and allowed 11 hits but no walks and
repeatedly put down potential threats.
The difference in the
Series came down to bullpens. St. Louis did not allow a run after
the sixth inning in the last three games, as Ray Crone, Sparky Lyle, and
Bob Locker combined for 6.0 shutout innings in Game 3, 4, and 5, twice
allowing the Maroons to rally to late-inning wins. But the MVP of
the Series, fittingly, was St. Louis' best hitter Reggie Smith, who
produced one of the best hitting performances in World Series history,
hitting .550 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs and a 1.471 OPS. His 11
hits is one shy of the record, and came in just five games.
The
Series triumph caps a very difficult decade for St. Louis, a team that
began its existence with seven straight winning seasons (including a
championship, a pennant, and four second place finishes) fell on hard
times with only three winning seasons from 1958-67 before posting its
first back-to-back winning campaigns in 1968-69. The championship
came as a surprise for GM Timothy J. Smith, who felt his club was still
a year or two away from peaking. The challenge now till be to try
repeating in a division that has seen four different winners in as many
years.
For Brooklyn GM Rick Magar, the loss comes as a bitter
disappointment. But on the other hand, Mickey Mantle and Hank
Aaron are contracted through 1971, Dick McAuliffe is set to return on a
relatively modest arbitration contract, and the youth corps, led by
Ollie Brown, Joe Coleman, Bill Stoneman, and George Stone, has
tremendous potential.
World Series Preview
The 1969 Fall Classic is a rematch of the inaugural UL World Series in
1957, but the Brooklyn Superbas and St. Louis Maroons have taken two
completely different paths to this year’s championship.
For Brooklyn, 1957 marked the
beginning of a run of eight straight East Division titles, six of which
resulted in World Series rings.
Add their titles from 1955—in the pre-divisional era—and 1966, the
post-Reed era, and the Screaming Bats won eight league championships in
the span of a dozen years. For
the Gateway City, however, 1957 was the first and
only appearance in the UL’s showpiece series until this year.
In fact, after seven straight winning seasons from 1951-57, the
Maroons could only muster three winning seasons in the next 11.
The club once dubbed the bridesmaid but never the bride (after
four second place finishes in five years from 1952-56) wasn’t even near
the chapel in the past decade.
BY THE NUMBERS
BROOKLYN
1st in runs –
1st in batting average and hits, 2nd
in OBP and SLG, 3rd in HR, 8th in SB
6th in runs allowed
– 6th in ERA (6th in
starters, 4th in bullpen), 1st in strikeouts
ST. LOUIS
6th in runs
– 2nd in walks and extra-base hits, 5th
in SB, 6th in OBP and SLG.
3rd in runs allowed
– 1st in ERA (4th in
starters, 2nd in bullpen), 2nd in strikeouts, 3rd
in HR allowed
BROOKLYN
Top Hitters:
CF Mickey Mantle (.330-33-121, .936 OPS)
SS
Dick McAuliffe (.295-31-110, .886)
LF Hank Aaron (.285-24-100, .854,
14 SB)
1B Jim Gentile (.290-21-64, .888)
RF Ollie Brown
(.306-11-76, .773)
Rookies:
CL Dan McGinn (5-2, 2.73, 19 saves, 1.15 WHIP)
SP/MR Bill
Stoneman (9-3, 2.81, 1.22 WHIP in 24 games, 9 starts)
OF Pat Kelly
(.253-3-7, .695 OPS in 23 games)
2B Dave Nelson (.264-0-8, .602 OPS
in 28 games)
MR George Stone (1-0, 3.77, 1.40 WHIP in 7 games)
Will not play:
SP Sammy Ellis (11-5, 4.02, 1.38
WHIP) (strained tricep, Sept. 18)
CL Dan McGinn (5-2, 2.73, 19 saves,
1.15 WHIP) (herniated disc, Sept. 26)
Former Maroons now with Brooklyn:
1B Willie Horton (.283-13-49, .779 in 94 games)
MR Ken “Daffy”
Sanders (2-1, 2.03, 6 saves, 1.11 WHIP in 37 games)
ST. LOUIS
Top
Hitters:
RF Reggie Smith (.302-27-95, .870 OPS, 14
SB)
C Johnny Romano (.263-13-61, .765)
SS Jim Fregosi (.287-6-59,
.734)
LF Roy White (.259-8-52, .766)
Rookies:
1B Jack Hiatt
(.229-0-5, .637 OPS in 70 games)
1B Mike Hegan (.262-9-38, .396 OBP
in 119 games)
C Ellie Hendricks (.242-7-35, .710 OPS in 83 games)
Will not play:
SP Don
Sutton (2-0, 0.81 ERA, 0.69 WHIP in 6 starts)
3B Charlie Neal
(.214-3-14, .650 OPS in 65 games)
PH Willie Mays (no games in UL,
.300-9-55, .850 OPS in 105 games in Denver) (will miss first two games
with fractured wrist)
Former Superbas now with St. Louis:
SP Lew Burdette (9-8, 4.97,
1.41 WHIP in 29 games, 20 starts)
MR Ray Crone (7-5, 3.44 ERA, 1.29
WHIP in 73 games)
1B Granny Hamner (.275-1-20, .726 in 97 games)
MR Chet Nichols (9-3, 2.51 ERA, 5 saves in 90 games)
(all four played
against St. Louis in 1957 World Series)
|
