October 1, 1973: Padres fly cross country to beat Pirates in season finale

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ bid for a fourth straight National League East Division title in 1973 remained alive, even though the Pirates trailed the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals when the schedule’s final day had concluded. With rainouts rescheduled for Monday, October 1 – a Mets-Chicago Cubs doubleheader and a single game between Pittsburgh and the San Diego Padres – a three-way tie for first between the Mets, Cardinals, and Pirates was still possible. But New York beat Chicago to clinch the division and moot the rest, including San Diego rookie left-hander Randy Jones’s 4-3 win over Pittsburgh at Three Rivers Stadium.

What the Pittsburgh Press described as a “light, but persistent rain” postponed the Pirates and Padres on Saturday, July 21, during San Diego’s second of two scheduled visits to Pittsburgh in 1973.1 With a doubleheader slated for Sunday and the All-Star break up next,2 the game went unplayed.3

A makeup seemed unlikely. The Padres, assumed to be relocating after the season,4 were headed for the NL’s worst record. Pittsburgh had struggled after star right fielder Roberto Clemente’s death in an offseason plane crash and rotation leader Steve Blass’s sudden loss of command; the Pirates were chasing the Cubs and Cardinals in the NL East.

But Chicago and St. Louis collapsed,5 and the Pirates and Montreal Expos pushed to the head of the division by mid-September.6 The Mets – in last place and 12 games under .500 on August 26 – then blazed into the race with a late surge of their own,7 seizing first on September 21 after beating Pittsburgh four times in four days.8

On the morning of Sunday, September 30, the last day of the regular-season schedule, the NL East standings were a remarkable sight. Five teams – the Mets, Cardinals, Pirates, Expos, and Cubs – still had a chance at the division title.9 None was assured a .500 winning percentage; New York and St. Louis led the pack with 80 wins, Pittsburgh and Montreal had 79 wins, and Chicago had 76. Possibilities included a five-way tie for first, all with losing records.10

Three contenders had unresolved rainouts. The Mets had arrived in Chicago for four games in three days,11 including a doubleheader on Saturday,12 but two days of rain had prevented play.13 New York could win the division by sweeping Sunday’s doubleheader, or by splitting it and getting help in the other NL East games.14 Otherwise, the Mets and Cubs would play two on Monday.

The Pirates hosted the Expos with the July 21 game still pending.15 The Padres had declined to play in Pittsburgh on August 30, a mutual offday.16 San Diego’s final scheduled game was on September 29,17 and the Padres waited in California to hear whether a cross-country trip was necessary to make up the rainout.18

Sunday’s scores came in, beginning with the Cubs’ doubleheader-opening 1-0 win.19 Pittsburgh eliminated Montreal and guaranteed Monday makeup games by routing the Expos.20 The Cardinals beat the last-place Philadelphia Phillies, notching their 81st victory and knocking out Chicago.21 The Mets won the doubleheader’s second game to match St. Louis’s win total and clinch a tie for the title.22

For only the second time in American or National League history – and the first involving clubs not in contention – a championship hinged on makeup games after the final day of scheduled play.23 The Mets and Cubs lined up again at Wrigley Field, and the Padres, with a record of 59-102, flew their aging Lockheed Electra to Pittsburgh for an afternoon date.24 One win would give the Mets the title. A Cubs sweep meant a tiebreaker for New York and St. Louis. Pittsburgh could make it a three-way playoff by beating San Diego.

The action in Chicago began around noon Eastern time. By the first pitch in Pittsburgh, about an hour and a half later, the Mets had a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning behind ace Tom Seaver.25 The Pittsburgh Press noted a “dismally gray” day, with “rain pelting intermittently on the naked stands.”26 Just 2,572 – the smallest crowd in Three Rivers Stadium’s 3½ seasons – had come.27 No-shows included Padres reliever Vicente Romo, absent from the team flight without authorization.28

Starter Bruce Kison was a dependable swingman for the 1971 and 1972 Pirates, but the 23-year-old right-hander went on the disabled list in March 1973 with a sore shoulder,29 then spent most of the season in Triple A to strengthen his arm. Back in the majors in September, Kison made six starts, winning all three of his decisions and posting a 3.03 ERA.

San Diego’s Dwain Anderson led off the first with a single and tried to take third on Gene Locklear’s single to left.30 Willie Stargell’s throw to Richie Hebner beat Anderson for the out, but Locklear advanced to second. He scored on Nate Colbert’s two-out single for a 1-0 lead.

The Padres had selected Randy Jones, a native of Orange County, California, out of Chapman College in the June 1972 amateur draft.31 In June 1973 they promoted him from Double A to the majors, and soon afterward he was taking a regular turn in San Diego’s rotation.32 Jones had pitched against the Pirates once, on July 20; he allowed four runs in eight innings and received a no-decision.33

Before Jones’s four-hit complete game against the NL West champion Cincinnati Reds on September 26,34 second-year Padres manager Don Zimmer, down to his final days on the job,35 indicated he had selected the 23-year-old Jones to start the makeup game.36 Jones retired all nine Pirates he faced in the first three innings.

With one out in the fourth, San Diego center fielder Ivan Murrell drove Kison’s pitch to center. Gene Clines stepped forward on contact, but the ball sailed over his head and cleared the fence.37 Murrell’s ninth homer of the season pushed the Padres’ lead to 2-0.

Jones made it 10 outs in a row to begin the fourth, but then walked Clines, and Al Oliver’s drive landed between Murrell and right fielder Cito Gaston, who accidentally deflected the ball toward center.38 Clines scored on Oliver’s double, Oliver scored on Gaston’s error, and the game was tied, 2-2.

Richie Zisk was up one out later. Since July, the 24-year-old Zisk had emerged, in Clemente’s absence, as Pittsburgh’s most frequent starter in right field.39 He connected on a home run to center, his 10th of the season, to put the Pirates ahead, 3-2.

Staked to the lead, Kison opened the fifth by walking Anderson and Locklear. They attempted a double steal, and Sanguillén’s throw to third bounced past Hebner.40 Anderson came home on the error, knotting the game again.

In Chicago, New York first baseman John Milner turned Glenn Beckert’s liner into a game-ending double play; the Mets had 82 wins and the NL East crown.41 As the Pirates batted in the fifth, pitcher Dave Giusti leaned out of the dugout and looked toward the press box.42 Broadcaster Bob Prince pointed his thumb down, signaling New York had won.43 Giusti removed his cap and put it over his heart.44

Minutes later, in the top of the sixth, the center-field scoreboard carried the news: “FINAL SCORE: METS 6 – CUBS 4. THE PIRATES ARE NOW PLAYING FOR A SECOND-PLACE TIE WITH ST. LOUIS.”45 The Associated Press reported a “ripple of boos” in response.46

A drizzle fell on the field,47 and the Padres went back ahead. Fred Kendall and Murrell singled against Bob Moose, who had relieved Kison. The inning seemed at a dead end when eighth-place hitter Dave Hilton grounded into a double play, but Jones followed with a double, scoring Kendall for a 4-3 Padres’ lead.

Jones set down the Pirates in order in the sixth and pitched around two-out singles in the seventh and eighth. He returned to the mound for the bottom of the ninth, and Oliver led off with a single.

Stargell, who led the majors with 44 homers and 119 RBIs, had begun the day batting .301, but three hitless at-bats, including two strikeouts, had dropped him to .29942. Fanning for the third time, he finished with a .299 average.

Right-handers Zisk and Sanguillén were up next, and Zimmer went with righty Mike Corkins. Corkins recorded the final two outs for his third save, the last of his major-league career, and the Pirates’ and Padres’ seasons were over.48

Jones had his seventh win of the season and San Diego its 60th.49 The trip reportedly cost the Padres $14,000, and their share of the gate was just $900.50 A franchise move appeared imminent. “Today there are no more San Diego Padres,” proclaimed the San Diego Evening Tribune.51

Pittsburgh came in third at 80-82; the run of consecutive division titles was over. From 1969 through 1983, it was the Pirates’ only losing season outside of 1981’s strike-shortened campaign.

The Pittsburgh Press reported from a subdued Pittsburgh clubhouse, “full of handshakes, farewells, and quiet talk.”52

“You have to win like a man and lose like a man,” second baseman Dave Cash said.53

“We have a lot to be grateful for,” said Stargell. “We won three years in a row. But losing this year we only showed we’re human.”54

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Russ Walsh and copy-edited by Len Levin. SABR member Tom Larwin and Jay Rosso of the San Diego Public Library’s Central Special Collections provided helpful assistance in obtaining San Diego newspaper coverage of the game. Gary Belleville and Kurt Blumenau provided insightful comments on an earlier version of this article. The author thanks John Thorn, Official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball, for sharing his ideas on end-of-the-season makeup throughout baseball history.

Photo credit: Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. The author also reviewed game coverage in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, San Diego Evening Tribune, and San Diego Union newspapers.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT197310010.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1973/B10010PIT1973.htm

Notes

1 Jeff Samuels, “Rainy Days Hit Richie,” Pittsburgh Press, July 22, 1973: D-1.

2 The Padres’ three-day visit to Pittsburgh in July 1973 sandwiched Pirates doubleheader sweeps on Friday night and Sunday afternoon around the Saturday rainout. Including a three-game sweep in San Diego earlier in July, Pittsburgh won all seven of its games with the Padres that month. Jeff Samuels, “Easy Does It: Stennett Leads Sweep, 7-4, 7-0,” Pittsburgh Press, July 21, 1973: 6; Jeff Samuels, “Pirates’ Sweep Builds Momentum,” Pittsburgh Press, July 23, 1973: 22.

3 “Yesterday’s scheduled game will not be made up unless it is necessary to either the Pirates or Padres at the end of the season,” the Pittsburgh Press noted. Samuels, “Rainy Days Hit Richie.”

4 In May Padres’ owner C. Arnholt Smith had announced the sale of the franchise to a group of Washington-based investors. Associated Press, “It’s Washington in 1974 for Padre Club,” Escondido (California) Daily Times-Advocate, May 28, 1973: A-8.

5 The Cubs were 47-31 on June 29 and led the NL East by 8½ games. From June 30 through September 16, they lost 33 of 42 games, including losing streaks of six, seven, and 11 games. The Cardinals peaked on August 5 with a 61-50 record and a five-game division lead, but they lost eight in a row in August and seven straight in September.

6 The Pirates won 33 of 55 games from July 18 through September 15 and held sole possession of first place in the NL East from September 12 through September 20. During this stretch, on September 7, manager Bill Virdon was fired and replaced with Danny Murtaugh, who returned to Pittsburgh’s dugout for the fourth time in his career. The Expos jumped from fourth to second with 13 wins in 16 games from August 31 through the first game of a September 17 doubleheader and were as close as one-half game back of Pittsburgh. Bob Smizik, “Robby Back in Groove, Bucs Back in First,” Pittsburgh Press, September 13, 1973: 36; Tim Burke, “Expos Half a Game Out – They Unearned It!” Montreal Gazette, September 17, 1973: 17.

7 The Mets, behind relief pitcher Tug McGraw’s rallying cry of “Ya gotta believe!,” won 22 of 29 games from August 27 through September 25.

8 Phil Pepe, “Just Like ’69: Mets No. 1 Again, 10-2,” New York Daily News, September 22, 1973: 28.

9 Phil Pepe, “2d Rainout Leaves Mets in Limbo,” New York Daily News, September 30, 1973: 126; Bob Smizik, “Bucs Lose, 6-4, Hopes Going, Going …,” Pittsburgh Press, September 30, 1973: D-1; George Langford, “NL Muddle Becomes a Wrigley Puddle,” Chicago Tribune, September 30, 1973: 3, 1.

10 The September 30 edition of the Chicago Tribune included a chart of three-way, four-way, and five-way playoff scenarios to decide the division. “The Wild, Wild N.L. East Show,” Chicago Tribune, September 30, 1973: 3,1.

11 Phil Pepe, “With Game Lead, Mets Can’t Relax,” New York Daily News, September 28. 1973: 82.

12 The Cubs and Mets were postponed because of cold weather on May 14, resulting in the final-series doubleheader. George Langford, “Cubs, Mets Cooled off; Call Game,” Chicago Tribune, May 15, 1973: 3,1.

13 Phil Pepe, “Mets Showered With Double Trouble,” New York Daily News, September 29. 1973: C22; Pepe, “2d Rainout Leaves Mets in Limbo.”

14 The Mets could clinch the division with a split if Montreal beat Pittsburgh and the last-place Philadelphia Phillies beat St. Louis. Those results would have given the Mets an 81-79 record, while ensuring that none of the other teams in the division finished better than 80-82.

15 “Almost unnoticed in the chaotic last few days of the chaotic National League East Division pennant race is the very real possibility – indeed, probability, that the Eastern title will be decided by a Western Division team,” wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Bruce Keidan on September 25. Bruce Keidan, “Bucs’ Brown Nixes Hebner for Carlton,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 25, 1973: 2-D.

16 “The [Padres] had an earlier option,” Joe Donnelly wrote in New York’s Newsday. “They could have come to Pittsburgh to play it Aug. 30 on an off day, after the completion of a road trip in Cincinnati. But the Padres voted to keep their off day and take their chances the game wouldn’t have to be made up at the close of the season because its outcome might have no bearing in the final standings.” Joe Donnelly, “Padres Delay Fishing Trips; It’s Business,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), October 1, 1973: 63.

17 Because the National Football League’s San Diego Chargers had a home game against the Cincinnati Bengals at San Diego Stadium on September 30, the Padres wrapped up their schedule on September 29, losing 3-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in what was presumed to be their final game in San Diego before relocating to Washington, DC. Ron Rapoport, “Dodgers Bid Goodby to San Diego, Win 3-2,” Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1973: III, 1.

18 Donnelly, “Padres Delay Fishing Trips; It’s Business.”

19 George Langford, “That’s All, Folks! Mets R.I.P. Cubs,” Chicago Tribune, October 1, 1973: 3, 1.

20 Charley Feeney, “Bucs Erase Expos, 10 to 2,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 1, 1973: 22.

21 Langford, “That’s All, Folks!”

22 Phil Pepe, “Mets Sure of Tie as Split KOs Cubs,” New York Daily News, October 1, 1973: 62.

23 In 1908 the National League required a makeup game to resolve a tie for first between the Chicago Cubs and New York Giants. The Cubs-Giants game of September 23 had been declared a tie after New York’s Fred Merkle failed to touch second base after an apparent game-winning hit, and both the Cubs and Giants had 98 wins and 55 losses after their scheduled games. Because baseball’s rules at that time required that tie games be replayed in their entirety, Chicago and New York played a makeup at the Polo Grounds on October 8. The Cubs’ 4-2 victory won the NL pennant.

24 “Each Padre was to be by his phone at 2 PM (5 PM East Coast time) [Sunday] to receive the word if the trip was necessary,” Donnelly wrote in Newsday. “They were to take off at 4:30 (7:30), and flying in the club’s Electra, which is not as speedy as the more modern jets, they weren’t expected in Pittsburgh until [Monday’s] small hours.” Donnelly, “Padres Delay Fishing Trips; It’s Business.”

25 New York Mets Radio Broadcast (WHN-AM), “1973 10 01 Mets vs. Cubs Mets Clinch (Bob Murphy, Kiner, Nelson) Radio Broadcast,” YouTube video (Classic Baseball On The Radio), 2:14:31, accessed September 13, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XoeoYHqx90.

26 Pat Livingston, “A Dismal End to the Season,” Pittsburgh Press, October 2, 1973: 30.

27 Prior to this game, the smallest announced crowd at Three Rivers Stadium was 3,764 for the Pirates-Cubs game on April 12, 1973. In 31 seasons at Three Rivers Stadium, from 1970 through 2000, the record low attendance was 1,970 for a Pirates-Mets makeup game on May 16, 1983. Larry O’Reilly, “Weather, Pirates Blamed for Record-Low Crowd,” Pittsburgh Press, May 17, 1983: D-1.

28 Bill Christine, “Padres Prayer – Empty Pews,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 2, 1973: 16.

29 Bob Smizik, “Kison’s Disablement Offers Hope to Pirates’ Mound Pros,” Pittsburgh Press, March 26, 1973: 25.

30 During the final two weeks of the 1973 season, the Padres platooned the left-handed-batting Locklear in left field with rookie Dave Winfield, who had made his major-league debut on June 19, two weeks after the Padres had selected him from the University of Minnesota with the fourth overall pick in the June amateur draft. After starting almost exclusively against left-handed pitching in 1973, Winfield played regularly in 1974, and went on to record 3,110 hits in his 22-season big-league career and gain induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.

31 Chapman College became Chapman University in 1991.

32 Ross Newhan, “Dodgers Held to 4 Hits as San Diego Wins, 4-1: Orange County’s Randy Jones Gains First Major League Victory, Hands L.A. Fourth Loss in Row Before 18,551,” Los Angeles Times, July 4, 1973: III, 1.

33 Charley Feeney, “Stennett Sizzles, Bucs Sweep SD in Pair,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 21, 1973: 8.

34 Bob Hertzel, “Jones Masters Padres in ‘Warmup,’” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 27, 1973: 71.

35 Ritter Collett, “Zimmer: ‘Out As Manager,’” Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald, September 25, 1973: 13.

36 Collett, “Zimmer: ‘Out As Manager.’”

37 Livingston, “A Dismal End to the Season.”

38 “A Dismal End to the Season.”

39 The Pirates had opened 1973 with Sanguillén, primarily a catcher during his first five major-league seasons, starting in right field and rookie Milt May catching. In mid-June, Clines became the regular right fielder, with Sanguillén moving back behind the plate. But Clines injured his ankle in early July and missed three weeks, and Virdon turned to a platoon of the right-handed-batting Zisk and lefty Dave Parker, a 22-year-old rookie promoted from Triple A. Zisk’s hot hitting – a .352 batting average and .552 slugging percentage from July 1 through the end of the season – caused Virdon, then Murtaugh, to play him regularly as the season progressed. Charley Feeney, “Sangy Back Catching, Clines Goes to RF,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 15, 1973: 10; “Pirates Lose Clines, Tap Parker to Fill Hole,” Pittsburgh Press, July 11, 1973: 66; Charley Feeney, “Playing Games,” December 18, 1973, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: 19.

40 Livingston, “A Dismal End to the Season.”

41 The umpires called off the second game of the doubleheader in Chicago because of rain. Steve Jacobson, “The Champagne Flows for Mets Once Again,” Newsday, October 2, 1973: 80.

42 “Zimmer Seeks Job as Padres Win Final,” San Diego Union, October 2, 1973: C-1.

43 “Zimmer Seeks Job as Padres Win Final.”

44 “Zimmer Seeks Job as Padres Win Final.”

45 Charley Feeney, “Epitaph for a Loser,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 2, 1973: 16.

46 Gary Mihoces (Associated Press), “Mets Win National League Least,” Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, October 2, 1973: 12.

47 Livingston, “A Dismal End to the Season.”

48 As of 2023, there has been only one other makeup game at the end of the season with postseason implications. In 1981, the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians made up a rainout on October 5 to determine whether the A’s, “first half” American League West Division champions under baseball’s resolution of the strike-shortened season, were also second-half champions. The Royals beat the Indians and became second-half champions, which gave Kansas City two home games in the best-of-five AL Division Series, rather than the one home game they would have received if Oakland had won both half-seasons. Mike Fish, “Royals Turn Cleveland Finale Into Target Practice, Win 9-1,” Kansas City Times, October 6, 1981: D-1.

49 Jones spent eight seasons of his 10-year career with the Padres. He had a record of 92-105 in 264 appearances for San Diego, winning the 1976 NL Cy Young Award and finishing second to Seaver in 1975.

50 “Padres Win, Lose in Finale,” San Diego Evening Tribune, October 2, 1973: C-2.

51 “Padres Win, Lose in Finale.” In January 1974, with San Diego having sued the NL to block the move, and the Washington investors failing to meet league deadlines for financial assurances, Ray Kroc, chairman of the McDonald’s Corporation, bought the Padres and kept them in San Diego.

52 Bob Smizik, “Pirates Go out With Class – Off the Field,” Pittsburgh Press, October 2, 1973: 30.

53 “Pirates Go out With Class – Off the Field.”

54 “Pirates Go out With Class – Off the Field.”