Clinching the Old Fashioned American (League) Way

There was a time when pennants weren't decided in a best-of-7 game series.  Or best-of-5, either.  Teams used to win their league's pennant in a winner-take-all best of 162 game series known as "having the best record in your league".*  Of course, this is also when there were only 20 teams in baseball.  With the advent of divisional play in baseball, the game forever changed with the expansion of the playoffs to include 4 teams (and eventually to today's number of 10 teams).

*until divisional play, the AL had seen only one playoff series in 1948.

There was also a time when the New York Yankees seemed to be the only team to win the American League pennant.  From 1949 to 1964, the New York Yankees were AL Champions all but twice ( '54 Indians, '59 ChiSox).  Much like the Iron Curtain, this too did pass.  When it did, with the Twins representing the American League in 1965, we saw a different team win the pennant each year from 1965 until the creation of divisions in 1969.

What we also have is a bit of a serendipitous collection of the final outs (or seconds after) of the final 4 American League pennants before divisional play in 1965, '66, '67 and '68.  More about each after the jump.

Check the Webbing: Reggie going deep on WHDH-TV (in COLOR)

Happy Opening Day 2018!  Much of the league saw their games played under gray skies (or even postponed) but hopefully this classic color footage will brighten your day!  

Here we have a clip uploaded by MLB.com to their YouTube channel.  As described in the video's info:

6/15/69: Athletics outfielder Reggie Jackson hits his 23rd home run of the season

That's exactly what we get.  Reggie Jackson, in the beautiful sleeveless A's uniforms, takes Sonny Siebert deep into the Fenway bullpen for his 23rd home run of the 1969 season.  This game was broadcast on WHDH-TV and we have Ken Coleman on the wet-blanket call.  

What makes this clip so particularly interesting is where it came from and what it represents.  This footage comes from the New England Museum of Sports.  We've talked about footage from the Sports Museum before. There is an extensive cache of clips and highlights that survived from when WHDH lost their license.  Up until now, it was not known whether MLB was in possession of all of this.  This clip makes it clear they do have it.

Which brings me to the most important point: this June 15, 1969 game survives as a pretty extensive partial.  Roughly 2 hours and 7 minutes of this game, in beautiful color, has been saved.  Sans for part of the top of the 3rd inning, the game is complete into the top of the 8th inning.  This is a pretty sizeable partial color broadcast, which seems to be missing the final reel/tape of the game.  

With this game having been in trading circles for years now, you're left with less hope that the final reel/tape will ever be found.  The full radio broadcast of this June game can be purchased on-line, which would allow fans to finish the game should this ever be offered through and official vendor.  Still, complete or not, this is one of those amazing finds that is the whole reason those of us that are always on the look for stuff continue to search!

When Campy Forgot the Number of Outs

Happy Opening Night!

MLB.com gives us a 17-second clip on their YouTube channel of some vintage color videotape footage.  The wonderful part of this color videotape is that it preserves the remarkable brilliance of Charlie Finley's golden A's vests. 

The green stirrups with yellow socks.  The yellow vests with green sleeves.  The white spikes.  Dressed to the Nines actually lists that this combo didn't exist.  The socks, with the yellow vests should have been white.  These uniforms continued to feature the big green A on them for the second season. The 1970 season would be the first season they were no longer known as the Athletics but as solely the A's.  Modern baseball vests are often a terrible look due to their fit but this look is perfect and timeless.  

As for the game itself, it took place July 19, 1970 at Fenway Park.  More on that, after the jump.

The Monster and His "Hummer"

Dick Radatz was one of the first great power relievers in baseball history.  Dubbed ‘The Monster’ by opposing players, Radatz was a giant by baseball standards.  He had huge hands with a fastball that Curt Gowdy would dub a ‘hummer’.  From 1962-1965, Radatz was one of the best relievers in baseball and earned himself two All-Star Game appearances.    During a time when the Red Sox weren’t very good, Radatz was a star.   

In today’s post, we go sleuthing again to narrow down a date for some video broadcast clips of Radatz pitching against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium.

The Original "Game 162" (October 1, 1967)

First and foremost, Merry Christmas to everyone.  I hope Santa brings you lots of classic baseball on DVD this year!

With the airing of the MLB Productions special Fenway Park Centennial: 100 Years on MLBNetwork the other night, I thought it would be nice to compile a list of the entirety of known footage from the October 1, 1967 game between the Red Sox and Twins.

 
The best part about running this site is having to keep a constant eye out for new footage and try to catalog both in print and your mind what has been seen, while trying to piece it together to understand how much of a broadcast has survived.  With this new program, I got a brief glance at some footage I had never seen thus expanding on the amount of this game that was covered.  After the jump, I'll talk about this 'Game 162' and what we have.