Just like the other three teams, the Giants had a great manager, this one in John McGraw; All four teams will be led by Hall of Fame Managers (Just waiting on Joe Torre of the Yankees to join the bunch). The Giants unfortunately had a blunder in "Merkle's Boner", and would fall short of a World Championship. The A's are the other team in this division who fell short of a World Title, falling to the 1931 Cardinals (before they were labeled the "Gas House Gang").
My first match-up would be against APBA player, Tom Johnson. He brought the 76' Reds to the tourney, someone else happened to bring the other championship counterpart of the "Big Red Machine", the 75' team as well. There is really not too many differences between the two championship teams; Ken Griffey, Cesar Geronimo & Dave Conception had better seasons in 76', while Johnny Bench & Tony Perez went backwards from their 75' numbers. 1975 Reds had better pitching overall, Will McEnaney was off in 76', didn't have the year he had in 75', while Rawly Eastwick had a better year in 76'. I guess it would be the same argument with what team is better between the 1992 & 1993 Blue Jays? Although, those two teams had plenty of differences with personnel, the Reds were basically the same bunch. Plus did I mention Joe Morgan was a beast at second base?!
GAME #1 - 1912 Giants at 1976 Reds
at Riverfront Stadium
Starting Pitchers:
NYG - Christy Mathewson (A-YZZ) (23-12, 2.12 ERA & 134 K's in 310 IP)
CIN - Pat Zachry (B-X) (14-7, 2.74 ERA & 143 K's in 204 IP)
Bottom of the 1st
After Rose grounded out, Ken Griffey laced a single to left. Griffey would go on and steal second base. Mathewson would lose Joe Morgan, taking first on a walk. Runners on 1st & 2nd, one out -- George Foster crushes the ball, sending the ball into the right field stands at Riverfront; Mathewson seemed shocked that Foster got hold of that one, a three-run homer.
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| Zachry pitches game of his life. |
Johnny Bench follows with a single, while Tony Perez strikes out. Dave Conception steps up to the plate & delivers, sending this one over the left field fence, two-run homer for Conception. The Giants bench is stunned, while McGraw is in disbelief. Cesar Geronimo smacks a single to left, while Dan Driessen, the DH, gets a single, moving the base runner to 3rd Base, which Driessen then followed with a stolen base. The Reds look to add to their big lead, but Mathewson gets Rose (the 10th batter in the inning) to pop up.
Reds 5, Giants 0
Top of the 3rd
Both teams would go 1-2-3 in the second inning, now onto the 3rd.
Pat Zachry would walk the lead-off hitter Beals Becker, Becker would then steal second on Bench's arm. Art Fletcher (shortstop) would put the Giants on the board with a single over second. Buck Herzog grounds out, moving the runner to second, one out. Zachry walks Fred Snodgrass, runners now on first & second -- but the Giants would strand the runners with back-to-back fly-outs without advancing the runners.
Reds 5, Giants 1
Bottom of the 3rd
Johnny Bench leads off the inning with a double. The very next play, Tony Perez smacks a deep grounder up the middle, in which the second baseman Larry Doyle gets to it, but sends it air mail over Fred Merkle's glove at first, Bench comes around third to score from second, while Tony Perez trucks into second. Error on Doyle, while Cincy adds another run. Dave Conception hits a fly to right, to move the runner to third, one out. Cesar Geronimo also flies out, no advancement by Perez. Dan Driessen gets his pitch, and sends it over Beals Becker's head out in left field. Pete Rose would end up grounding out, making that the third out, but the damage was done. Reds 8, Giants 1
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| Driessen delivers in the DH role. |
Between the 3rd & 6th Innings
The Reds' Pat Zachry would retire 10 consecutive players, until Larry Doyle's two-out single in the top of the 6th Inning.
The 7th Inning
Both teams would tack on a run, with an RBI single by the Giants' Art Fletcher (his 2nd RBI) and a RBI single for Cesar Geronimo. Reds 9, Giants 2
Top of the 9th
Pete Rose bobbles the grounder by Fred Merkle, Merkle is safe on first, count that a error by Rose. The Giants put the Hit & Run into effect, and it's a success as Chief Meyers drives Merkle to third, Meyers on first. 1st & 3rd, no outs, down 9-2, the Giants are trying to get something cookin' with the DH - Josh Devore stepping up to the plate, but he would hit into a double-play which would at least drive in Merkle. Beals Becker would fly out to finish the game.
R H E
1912 GIANTS 3 4 1
1976 REDS 9 15 1 F
WP - Zachry (CIN) / LP - Mathewson (NYG)
POST-GAME:
- Pat Zachry (CIN) - 9 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 R, with 9 K's & 3 walks.
- Johnny Bench (CIN) - 3-for-5, 2B, 3 runs.
- Ken Griffey (CIN) - 3-for-5, 2 SB's & run.
- Dave Conception (CIN) - 2-for-4, 2-run HR, SB
- Dan Driessen (CIN) - 2-for-4, 2-run HR, SB
- Art Fletcher (NYG) - 2-for-3, 2 RBI.
- Christy Mathewson (NYG) - 8 IP, 14 H, 8 ER, 9 R, 4 K & 2 BB's, 3 HR's allowed.
GAME #2 - 1976 Reds at 1912 Giants
at the Polo Grounds
Starting Pitchers:
CIN - Fred Norman (B-X) (12-7, 3.09 ERA & 126 K's in 180.1 IP)
NYG - Rube Marquard (A-XZ) (26-11, 2.57 ERA, 175 K's in 294.2 IP)
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| The Giants' Rube Marquard. |
The Reds picked up where they left off, as Pete Rose hits a solo HR to right, off of Rube Marquard -- Rose & Perez were the only two Reds to not get involved in Game 1's hit parade. Ken Griffey steps up to the plate, he had three hits in the opener in Cincy, he gets hold of this one which won't take long to send it into the right field stands at the Polo Grounds; Back-to-Back home runs for the Reds, their 5th long-ball in 9 innings of at-bats, against two pitchers who had a combined 49 wins in 1912!
Marquard walks the next batter in dangerous Joe Morgan, Morgan steals on Chief Meyers, and now there is a man on second with no outs, down early 2-0. George Foster smacks this one, but it will die at the warning track in right, which Morgan easily tags up & moves to third base. Johnny Bench would hit a deep fly to center, Morgan will tag up & score easily. Bench goes back to the dugout, high-fives a-plenty with his sac fly. Reds 3, Giants 0
Top of the 3rd
Ken Griffey leads off with a single to right, making it his 5th hit in 7 at-bats, the Giants simply have had no answer for Griffey, or for most of the Reds for that matter. Joe Morgan steps up to the plate, he was walked last time up -- he smacks a double, Griffey scores easily. George Foster tacks on another run by hitting a double of his own, the Reds are off to another early big lead. Johnny Bench pops up behind the plate, and Tony Perez flies out. Two runs in this inning, and two outs, Dave Conception steps up to the plate, and smacks his 3rd hit of the two-game series, scoring in Foster. Cesar Geronimo racks up another single, his 4th hit in 6 at-bats, as Conception moves to 3rd. Dan Driessen flies out, as Rube Marquard momentarily stops the bleeding. Reds 6, Giants 0
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| Griffey had 5 hits against the Giants. |
Bottom of the 4th
Larry Doyle finally gives the fans at the Polo Grounds something to cheer about, a solo blast to right field off of Fred Norman, only the second hit of the ballgame for the Giants. Fred Merkle follows the at-bat up with a ground out. Chief Meyers draws a bases-on-balls, as the DH Josh Devore pops up for the second out. Two outs, Red Murray delivers an RBI double (scoring in slow Meyers). Trailing by four, the Giants continue to slowly chip away as Art Fletcher, not known for his bat (even in dead-ball standards) drives in his 3rd RBI of the series, by smacking a double to left center (Murray scores). Two outs, trailing by three, Buck Herzog up at the plate, and what's this?! Fletcher tries to steal third, Bench fires a missile to third, Rose applies the tag -- OUT! Not before the Giants get three runs back -- Reds 6, Giants 3
From the 3rd through the 6th Inning
The Giants' Rube Marquard suddenly has silenced "The Big Red Machine" with retiring 10 consecutive batters, including three strikeouts in this stretch -- trying to give his team a chance. The Reds finally got a hit again in the top of the 7th, but couldn't get anything going.
Bottom of the 7th
Buck Herzog leads the game off with a single, following that up by swiping second base. Fred Snodgrass grounds out, runner advances to 3rd base. Beals Becker steps up & draws a walk, the Giants are in business to do something here -- runners on first & third. Larry Doyle grounds out, Herzog stays at third, while Becker moves to third; two outs, runners on 2nd & third. The Reds' starting pitcher Fred Norman is called for a balk, Sparky does not like the call, Herzog scores, Becker moves to third. The Giants suddenly have the tying run at the plate with Fred Merkle stepping up, big at-bat for the Giants, but nothing comes of it as Merkle grounds the ball to Conception, Conception to Perez, the threat is over.
Reds 6, Giants 4
Bottom of the 8th
Chief Meyers leads off the inning with a single. John McGraw looks down his bench, and decides to have Tillie Shafer pinch-run for the slow base runner Meyers. The move pays off as Shafer steals second base on Bench's arm. The Reds' Sparky Anderson comes out of the dugout, motions to the bullpen, Norman can't be too disappointed, usually Sparky pulls his starting pitchers out at the first sign of trouble, hence his nickname "Captain Hook". The Reds will bring in the rookie reliever Manny Sarmiento to deal with the DH Josh Devore, in which he gets Devore to pop it up in the infield. Red Murray follows by grounding out, but moves the runner over to third base. Two outs, tying run at the plate & runner on third again for the Giants, and the batter is Heinie Groh. Groh came into the game during the bottom of the 6th for Art Fletcher, he flew out against Norman, let's see how he holds up against Sarmiento -- Another grounder to Conception, this will be a ground out, and the Reds escape another scoring opportunity by the Giants.
Reds 6, Giants 4
Top of the 9th
Rube Marquard continues to stay in the zone, as he mows down Cincy's lineup 1-2-3, striking out the last batter (Pete Rose). It's been the story of two Marquard's in this one -- Counting the last out of the top of the 3rd, Marquard has retired 19 of the last 20 batters for the Reds; after allowing 6 runs in the first three innings. For you APBA nuts, he pitched better as a Grade B than when he was a Grade A!
Bottom of the 9th
Sparky Anderson goes to his closer Rawly Eastwick. Eastwick for the second season in a row, led the National League in Saves with 26 during the 1976 campaign (He was tied for the lead with 22 in 1975); sporting a 2.09 ERA. The first batter he will face is Buck Herzog, who is 1-for-6 during the series, he got on board last time & stole second, scoring on the balk -- he pops up, one away. Fred Snodgrass, who also has been quiet (batting 1-for-7) grounds out to second. It's all up to Beals Becker, who has drawn three walks already this series, but he will swing away & come up empty with a strikeout. Eastwick holds down the hatches, and the Reds sweep their two-game series with the 1912 Giants -- A good way for the Reds to start off the series.
R H E
1976 REDS 6 10 0
1912 GIANTS 4 7 1 F
WP - Norman (CIN) / LP - Marquard (NYG) / SV - Eastwick (CIN)
POST-GAME:
- Ken Griffey (CIN) - 2-for-4, solo HR, 2 runs (5-for-9, plus 2 SB's in series).
- Pete Rose (CIN) - 2-for-4, solo HR.
- Cesar Geronimo (CIN) - 2-for-4, 2B (4-for-9 during series)
- Joe Morgan (CIN) - Series: 2-for-6, RBI double, with 3 BB's, 2 SB's & 3 runs. Silencing his bat overall, but he still found ways to contribute.
- Giants' starting pitching: Allowed 5 HR's during series.
- Chief Meyers (NYG) - 2-for-3, BB & run (3 hits in last 4 at-bats of series).
From the press box, while playing the 98' Yankees -- word is that the Reds' bats stayed cool, for at least their 3rd game, Tom Johnson's Reds ended up splitting with Gary's 1931 Athletics. I never seen the dice in a competitor go from red-hot (for 12 innings) to ice-cold (the last 6 innings, plus his match-up against the A's).
For me, I had my opportunities in Game 2 and could smell a possible comeback victory, but it wasn't in the cards. This game & my fourth game (2nd game vs. 98' Yankees) are good footnotes for me, for what could have been victories, and what could have sealed my fate to move on to the playoff round. I think each of us in the Bill Veeck Division could all sit back and say if this play or this game bounced this way, I could have moved on; that's the beauty of APBA & the game of baseball. The 1998 Yankees (Doug Schuyler) would move on to the playoffs from our division, and in my next post detailing our two-game series against each other -- you will see one of the big reasons, and big wins by him, that helped him accomplish the Division Title. I heard he pulled off a great victory in his fifth game (1st game vs. Reds) that was pivotal as well.
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