Jeremy Looks at the 1871 season

1971

American League - #1 Baltimore vs. #4 Kansas City; #2 Oakland vs. #3 Detroit

Orioles – For the third straight year, the Orioles won over 100 games and were the class of the American League. This was possibly the best overall team of all three and they eventually lost to the Pirates in the World Series. They had three players hit over 20 HR, led by Frank Robinson’s 28 HR. They even had seven guys hit double digits in HR and four guys steal double digits as well. But this team is remembered for having four 20-game winners which is unheard of today. 81 of the team’s 101 wins came from Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, Jim Palmer and Dave McNally.

Orioles – C Ellie Hendricks, 1B Boog Powell, 2B Davey Johnson, SS Mark Belanger, 3B Brooks Robinson, OF Paul Blair, Merv Rettenmund, Don Buford and Robinson. SP – Duh. Cuellar, Dobson, Palmer and McNally. Closer – Eddie Watt.

Who had the honor of facing this dynasty in the first round? The Kansas City Royals –only in existence since 1969 and led to 85 wins by manager Bob Lemon. Their most famous player was still not in Missouri yet. They were led by a whopping 15 HR from Amos Otis., but had 101 SB from Otis and Fred Patek. No starting pitcher was over the age of 30 and most were solid if not spectacular. This could have been a mismatch LDS or one of the bigger upsets that you could imagine.

Royals – C Jerry May/Ed Kirkpatrick, 1B Gail Hopkins/Bob Oliver, 2B Cookie Rojas, SS Patek, 3B Paul Schall, OF Otis, Lou Piniella, Joe Keough. SP – Dick Drago, Mike Hedlund, Bruce Dal Canton, Paul Splittorff. Closer – Ted Abernathy.

Oakland finally breaks through in the division – and will continue to do so for quite sometime. In fact, get used to the A’s – after Wild Cards in 1970 & 71, they win the next five divisions and throw in a Wild Card in 1976 to boot. Dick Williams’ team won 101 games in 1971 and pounded the ball throughout the lineup, but Reggie Jackson led the way with 32 HR and 80 RBI. Amazingly enough, nobody on this team hit over .300, but they were able to get on base via the walk at a large rate. Five starting pitchers won at least 10 games, let by 20-game winners Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter.

A’s – C Dave Duncan, 1B Mike Epstein, 2B Dick Green, SS Bert Campaneris, 3B Sal Bando, OF Jackson, Joe Rudi, Rick Monday. SP – Hunter, Blue, Chuck Dobson, Blue Moon Odom. Closer – Rollie Fingers

Taking on the A’s after an off year would have been the Detroit Tigers, who after the 1968 World Series win would have waited until 1972 and 1984 for playoff appearances. With the Wild Card, this team gets berths in 1969 and 1971, as well as future ones in 1981 and 1983. But the Kaline-led Tigers would likely have had a better reputation than they have now with three two more chances to make a World Series run. This Tigers’ team won 91 games for Mr. Billy Martin and were blown out by the Orioles for the East. But now…they have a shot.

Eight players hit double digit home runs, led by Norm Cash’s 32 HR. This team also played good defense and were able to take walks. However, they couldn’t steal a base with a gun, a getaway car and a great alibi. Denny McLain was gone, but Mickey Lolich won 25 games, and Joe Coleman chipped in 20 of his own. This was a dangerous team that could have made a run.

Tigers – C Bill Freehan, 1B Cash, 2B Dick McAuliffe, SS Ed Brinkman, 3B Aurelio Rodriguez, OF Mickey Stanley, Al Kaline, Willie Horton and Jim Northrup. SP – Lolich, Coleman, Les Cain, Joe Niekro. Closer – Fred Scherman.

National League - #1 Pittsburgh vs. #4 Los Angeles; #2 San Francisco vs. #3 St. Louis

Despite being a diehard Yankee fan, I have an affection for the Pirates due to marrying into a Pittsburgh family. True, the Pirates are the forgotten team in the town now, but the 1971 Pirates are beloved. It is hard to revise history and make it tougher for them to keep their crown, but here I go anyway.

Pirates – Big numbers – 97 – for the amount of wins. 48 – for the amount of HR for Willie Stargell. 341 – for Roberto Clemente’s batting average. 30 – a surprisingly high number of saves for closer Dave Giusti for this era of baseball. This was a very good team – one that doesn’t get enough credit as it got overshadowed by the various dynasties of the 1970s (Orioles, A’s, Yankees) and by another Pirate team (1979).

Pirates – C Manny Sanguillen, 1B Bob Robertson, 2B Dave Cash, SS Gene Alley, 3B Richie Hebner, OF Stargell, Clemente, Al Oliver. SP – Steve Blass, Dock Ellis, Bob Johnson, Luke Walker. Closer – Giusti.

Taking on the Bucs would be the Dodgers, another team like the Royals that may have gotten more historical weight if they got to enjoy Wild Cards in 1970-71, plus Wild Cards mixed with Division Titles that would have given them a run of playoff appearances from 1970-78.

This team won 89 games for long-time manager Walter Alston and were once again offensively challenged. It was Dick Allen that led the team with 23 HR as he and Wes Parker split 1B duties with Parker spending time in the OF. The Dodgers got solid pitching from 20-game winner Al Downing and another 41 wins from Claude Osteen, Don Sutton and Bill Singer. Future Cy Young Award winner Doyle Alexander made his first 12 starts as a 20-year-old rookie.

Dodgers – C Duke Sims, 1B Dick Allen/Wes Parker, 2B Jim Lefebvre, SS Maury Wills, 3B Steve Garvey/Bobby Valentine, OF Willie Davis, Willie Crawford, Bill Buckner. SP – Osteen, Sutton, Downing, Singer. Closer – Jim Brewer.

The Giants get the division crown here, but in yet another historical resurrection, the Giants would have had playoff berths from 1969-71, and 1973 with a Wild Card system and just maybe could have ended that drought for the franchise dating back to 1954 that still exists today.

Unlike the recent Giants’ clubs, this one was not Willie McCovey’s, it was Bobby Bonds’ team as he hit 33 HR, stole 26 bases and slugged .512. The offense was more spread around than before and Perry and Marichal anchored a staff that was not too deep for the regular season, but in a short series could cause great damage.

Giants – C Dick Dietz, 1B McCovey, 2B Tito Fuentes, SS Chris Speier, 3B Al Gallagher, OF Bonds, Ken Henderson, Willie Mays. This team saw the first brooding HR from future rat-delivery man Dave Kingman. The worst player to hit the most HR. SP Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Ron Bryant, John Cumberland. Closer – Jerry Johnson.

Returning to the playoffs for the first time since losing the 1968 World Series are the St. Louis Cardinals. They won 90 games and were led by NL MVP Joe Torre who had a season for the ages - .363 BA, .553 SLG, .421 OBP, 24 HR and 137 RBI. Only Torre and Joe Hague had double digit HR totals in typical Cardinals fashion. St. Louis was of course led by Steve Carlton’s 20-9 season and 16 wins from Bob Gibson. This could have been a very dangerous teams come playoff time.

Cardinals – C 21-year-old Ted Simmons, 1B Hague, 2B Ted Sizemore, SS Dal Maxvill, 3B Torre, OF Lou Brock, Matty Alou, Jose Cardenal, Jose Cruz. SP – Carlton , Gibson, Reggie Cleveland, Jerry Reuss. Closer – Moe Drabowsky.

My Predictions –

AL - Orioles over Royals in three and Tigers over the A’s in five – Royals are out of their league here and I just have a feeling that the Tigers would have been a really tough team in the playoffs having won in 1968 and also having 1969 playoff run as well.

Tigers over Orioles in seven. I don’t know – maybe I just see that Orioles club as the 1970s version of the LaRussa A’s – a very good team that struggled to win the big game. With an extra round of playoffs, that quality could have led to their getting picked off in the AL playoffs.

NL – Pirates over Dodgers in four and Giants over Cardi
nals in five. Best series of the bunch is the Giants/Cardinals. Those teams seem very evenly matched, but I guess I’ll have to go with SF so I can keep the magic of the 1996 Yankees alive for Torre!

Pirates over Giants in seven – Bucs are still better than the Giants even after all these years.

World Series – Pirates over Tigers in five – As I said earlier, this is a great team that history forgot and no matter who we throw into the playoffs, the Bucs win their championship.

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