October 16, 1971: Pirates wish for Clemente clones as Orioles extend Series to Game 7

After winning three straight games at home, including Nelson Briles’ masterful two-hit, 4-0 shutout in Game Five, the Pirates returned to Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium with the hope of clinching their fourth World Series championship in Game Six. A win in Baltimore was a tall order, 6-feet-3 to be exact, which was Orioles starter and 20-game winner Jim Palmer’s height.1 Palmer already had defeated the Pirates in Game Two, striking out 10 batters in the process, and owned a 6-1 record in the postseason to this point in his career, his lone defeat coming at the hands of the 1969 Miracle Mets. Still, the Bucs had Roberto Clemente, who was batting .385 in the postseason (including a .429 average through five World Series games), and who also was doing his usual stellar job at patrolling right field while appearing to be on a mission to will his team to victory.

A partisan crowd of 44,174 fans was on hand, and they may have become nervous quickly when Clemente stroked a triple to left field after Palmer had retired Dave Cash and Richie Hebner in the top of the first. However, Willie Stargell, who had led the major leagues with 48 homers and had knocked in 125 runs during the regular season, struck out to end the inning. The Pirates’ slugger was slumping badly as he was batting only .133 in the postseason (.250 through the first five World Series games). Pirates righty Bob Moose allowed a leadoff single to Don Buford in the Orioles’ half of the inning, but he escaped unscathed when Davey Johnson hit into a double play and Boog Powell flied out.

In the top of the second, Pittsburgh went to work on Palmer. Al Oliver led off with a double and scored the game’s first run when Bob Robertson, the next batter, lashed a single to left field. Catcher Manny Sanguillen registered the Pirates’ third consecutive hit with a single, but Palmer managed to extricate himself from his jam without allowing another run. The lack of production was a running theme for the Pirates in this World Series as they had stranded 50 runners on base through the first five games. Moose worked another one-two-three inning to preserve Pittsburgh’s 1-0 lead.

Clemente came to bat for the second time in the top of the third and smashed a one-out solo homer to deep right field that extended the margin to two runs in favor of the visitors. After the game, Clemente said, “Lots of people think home runs is the whole thing.… To me, having a great year and helping the ball club is more than to hit homers. I can hit homers, no question in my mind, but the only things [sic] is I don’t particularly care to hit homers.”2 Considering how much trouble the Pirates were having at bringing runners home, Clemente apparently thought differently in this instance, and his round-tripper accounted for the Bucs’ only run of the inning.

Palmer and Moose now registered zeroes on the scoreboard with neither hurler encountering any serious trouble through the Pirates’ half of the sixth inning. The next run to be scored belonged to Baltimore when Buford led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run. Johnson then reached base on an error by Hebner at the hot corner, and he advanced to third on Powell’s single. With runners on the corners and no outs, Pirates skipper Danny Murtaugh pulled the plug on Moose and sent Bob Johnson to the mound. Johnson, who had started 27 games and pitched to a 3.45 ERA during the regular season, bailed out his team by setting the next three batters – including former MVPs Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson – down in order and kept the game at 2-1.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, Johnson’s magical touch did not extend into the seventh inning. Initially, no difficulties appeared to be looming. Mark Belanger hit a one-out single, but Johnson struck out Palmer for the second out of the inning. Then, with Buford batting, Belanger stole second base. After Johnson fell behind in the count to Buford, Murtaugh replaced him in mid-at-bat with Dave Giusti. Buford still worked a walk (charged to Johnson) that extended the inning. The Orioles took advantage of the opportunity and tied the game, 2-2, on Davey Johnson’s single. Giusti did not allow Baltimore to take the lead; however, given Pittsburgh’s lack of clutch hitting with men on base, the road to a Series-clinching win had just become much rockier.

The Pirates were so desperate for runs that Sanguillen tried to stretch his ninth-inning one-out single into a double and ended up being tagged out at second. Palmer finished out the ninth without any additional blemish to his pitching line.

Baltimore had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, but Clemente came to the Pirates’ rescue once more. Giusti issued a one-out walk to Belanger and, after Tom Shopay (batting for Palmer) flied out, Buford smashed a double off the right-field wall. Clemente “played the carom perfectly on Buford’s shot, then threw a one-hop strike to the plate from deep in the corner to keep Belanger nailed at third.”3 Giusti induced an inning-ending grounder from Davey Johnson, and it was time for what turned out to be only one extra inning.

Pat Dobson went to the hill for Baltimore in the top of the 10th. Cash lined a one-out single to right field and stole second base as Hebner struck out. Orioles manager Earl Weaver had Dobson issue an intentional walk to Clemente, a decision that Weaver later told the press was “one thing you guys aren’t going to second-guess me about.”4 Weaver then replaced Dobson with Dave McNally, who walked Stargell unintentionally to load the bases. Once again the Pirates failed to capitalize on a scoring opportunity as Oliver lofted a fly ball to center field for the third out.

Bob Miller, the third Pirates pitcher of the day named Bob, opposed the Orioles in the bottom of the 10th. He was destined to follow in the footsteps of the previous two Bobs by allowing the Orioles to score one run. Vic Davalillo, who had pinch-hit for Giusti in the top of the inning, remained in the game, replacing Oliver in center field.

Miller retired Powell on a grounder to second but then walked the second batter he faced, Frank Robinson. Merv Rettenmund stroked a base hit to center field, and the Orioles had runners at the corners with only one out. Brooks Robinson sent a fly ball to Davalillo in center field on which Frank Robinson attempted to score. Sanguillen had to leap up the third-base line for Davalillo’s throw and was unable even to attempt a tag on Robinson as he crossed the plate with the decisive run in a 3-2 Baltimore triumph.

After the game, a crestfallen Davalillo explained, “It was supposed to be a two-hop throw, but the ball took off instead of sinking. It only took one hop, and it was a high one.”5 There was, of course plenty of second-guessing of Murtaugh’s decision to put Davalillo in center in the final frame. Oliver had been caught by surprise, saying, “I started to go to my position. I heard someone call and when I turned around, Vic was trotting out. It was a funny feeling going back in. I don’t know why I was taken out. I always expect to play.”6 When Murtaugh was asked if he had considered sending Gene Clines to center instead of Davalillo, he responded, “No. As far as I’m concerned, Davalillo’s arm is as good as Clines’s.”7

It was common knowledge that one Pirates outfielder had a golden arm that was better than all others. A reporter asked Frank Robinson, “Would you have tried to score if Clemente had caught the ball?” Robinson answered, “Clemente is a helluva outfielder, but I don’t think he can cover two positions,” leading the Pittsburgh Press’s sports editor to lament, “If Clemente were twins, the Pirates would have won it in four straight.”8

There was, of course, only one Roberto Clemente. In the next day’s Game Seven, he homered in the fourth inning for the game’s first run, and the Pirates rode Steve Blass’s stellar pitching effort to a 2-1 victory and a World Series championship. Clemente, who had batted .414 (12-for-29), had run like a gazelle on the basepaths, and had intimidated Baltimore baserunners with his arm, was named the MVP.

SOURCES

The author consulted b​aseba​ll-re​feren​ce.​com and r​etros​heet.​org for the box score and play-by-play of the game.

NOTES

1 Palmer (20-9) was not the only 20-game winner on the Baltimore staff; he was joined by Dave McNally (21-5), Pat Dobson (20-8), and Mike Cuellar (20-9). The 1971 Orioles were only the second team to have four 20-game winners in a single season, after the 1920 Chicago White Sox. Considering how pitchers are used in the twenty-first century, the odds that a third team ever will accomplish this feat are infinitesimally high.

2 Roy McHugh, “If Clemente Were Only Twins,” Pittsburgh Press, October 17, 1971: 82.

3 Bob Maisel, “The Morning After,” Baltimore Sun, October 17, 1971: 21.

4 McHugh.

5 Bill Christine, “Pirates Lose in 10th, 3-2; Blass in Final [sic],” Pittsburgh Press, October 17, 1971: 81.

6 Ken Nigro, “Bucs Blame Bounce of Ball,” Baltimore Sun, October 17, 1971: 21.

7 Christine.

8 McHugh.