October 19, 1972: Ángel Mangual wins Game 4 for A’s with late pinch-hit single

Ángel Mangual celebrates his game-winning hit in Game Four of the 1972 World Series. (Courtesy of the Athletics.)

When Oakland Athletics fans think of World Series heroes for the A’s of the early 1970s, they might think of Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Gene Tenace, or Catfish Hunter. They would not likely mention Ángel Mangual. But it was Mangual’s clutch, game-winning single in the ninth inning of the pivotal Game Four of the 1972 Series that may have sent the A’s on the path to win the first of three consecutive championships, and their first World Series win since the 1930 Philadelphia A’s led by Connie Mack beat the St. Louis Cardinals.

Mangual’s undistinguished career, mostly with Oakland in the mid-1970s, gave little hint of the glory that would befall him at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on the night of October 19, 1972. He was “at most, a minor actor in a supporting role of the great Oakland A’s teams of the early 1970s.”1 And in truth, he had little to do with the A’s being in the World Series that season.

The A’s finished with a record of 93-62 in the strike-shortened 1972 season to take the American League West Division by 5½ games over the Chicago White Sox.2 They were led by the hitting of Jackson, Rudi, Mike Epstein, and the speedy Bert Campaneris, as well as the pitching of Hunter, Ken Holtzman, Rollie Fingers, and Blue Moon Odom. Oakland’s 134 home runs led the AL. Jackson, Hunter, and Fingers were all eventually elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

To get to the World Series, the A’s had to first get past the East Division champion Detroit Tigers in the best-of-five American League Championship Series. Oakland took the first two games at home, then the Tigers won the next two games in Detroit. The decisive Game Five followed the pattern of great pitching, but the A’s pulled out a 2-1 win and won their first AL pennant since 1931.

Facing the A’s in the World Series were the National League champion Cincinnati Reds, in the embryonic stages of what became the Big Red Machine a few years later. The 1972 Reds were led by future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Tony Pérez, as well as Pete Rose. Cincinnati’s pitching staff was anchored by Jack Billingham, Ross Grimsley, and Gary Nolan, along with relievers Clay Carroll and Pedro Borbón.

The NLCS between the Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates also took five games to deliver a champion. The teams split the first four games with alternating victories, the Pirates taking the first and third games and the Reds the second and fourth. The finale was another close contest, with the Pirates ahead 3-2 going to the bottom of the ninth. Bench’s dramatic home run tied the game and paved the way for the Reds’ come-from-behind win to take the pennant.3

Star slugger Reggie Jackson saw no action in the 1972 World Series because of a hamstring injury sustained in the playoffs against Detroit.4 Still, the A’s got off to a fast start, winning the first two games in Cincinnati behind the pitching of Holtzman and Hunter and timely homers from Tenace and Rudi. The Reds turned the tables for the first game in Oakland, winning 1-0 behind the combined three-hit pitching of Billingham and Carroll.5

After the Game Three win, momentum may have favored the Reds going into the fourth game on October 19, a cool, overcast evening with temperatures in the high 50s.6 A’s manager Dick Williams sent Game One starter Holtzman to the mound while manager Sparky Anderson picked Don Gullett to start for the Reds.7

Both pitchers found their form early as no runs crossed the plate in the first four innings. No runner advanced beyond second base. All hits to that point were singles, three by the Reds and one by the A’s. Holtzman retired the Reds in order in the top of the fifth.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Tenace lined a home run into the left-field seats to give Holtzman a slim 1-0 lead. Tenace was the hitting hero of Game One when he collected two round-trippers, and his homer in Game Four gave him three hits in the Series – all home runs.8

Holtzman continued his masterful performance and, thanks in part to a double play, faced just six batters in the sixth and seventh innings. But the A’s were also held scoreless despite Gullett’s yielding two singles in the sixth and a double in the seventh inning.

In the top of the eighth, the Reds took a narrow lead. Dave Concepción singled and reached third on a sacrifice and a groundout. A tiring Holtzman was replaced by Vida Blue, who walked Morgan and yielded a two-run double to right by Bobby Tolan. Suddenly the Reds were ahead 2-1 and it appeared that Tolan might be the star of the game.

Borbón relieved Gullett in the bottom of the eighth. He quickly induced three groundouts from the A’s, giving up only a harmless single to Rudi. Pérez touched Blue for a single leading off for the Reds in the ninth. Williams brought in Fingers, who squelched any hope of a Reds rally by picking off Pérez, then retiring Hal McRae and Denis Menke.

With Borbón pitching and Carroll ready in the bullpen, the Reds had to be confident heading to the bottom of the ninth in a pitchers’ duel. First baseman Mike Hegan grounded out third to first to open the inning. Gonzalo Márquez, hitting for George Hendrick, lined a single to center, and fans cheered for a comeback. Allan Lewis was inserted to run for Márquez.

Anderson then called on his bullpen ace Carroll and Tenace greeted him with a single to left, with Lewis stopping at second. Facing the second pinch-hitter of the inning, Carroll yielded a game-tying single to veteran Don Mincher. Tenace, now the potential winning run, held at third. Pitcher Odom was sent in to run for Mincher. Williams then called on one more pinch-hitter, Puerto Rican native Ángel Mangual, who sent Carroll’s first pitch into right for a game-winning single as Tenace hustled home. For Mangual, it turned out to be his only moment of glory, but it was a memorable one as his teammates mobbed him when he reached first base.9

The 49,410 fans at the Coliseum erupted in celebration. The A’s now had a 3-games-to-1 advantage in the World Series when just moments earlier it seemed the Reds would draw even at 2 and 2. Three pinch hits in one inning set a new World Series record.10 In addition, Williams utilized two pinch-runners in the bottom of the ninth.

The winning hit came with a drawn-in infield and just eluded second baseman Morgan as it sailed into right field. Manager Anderson said the decision not to walk Mangual and set up a potential double play was based in part on the ability of the on-deck hitter. “I’d rather pitch to Mangual than to Bert Campaneris, who was up next. I thought we could handle Mangual,” Anderson told reporters.11

Anderson was no doubt frustrated with the loss but said pitching wasn’t the main problem. “Imagine our club losing three games by one run – and scoring just six runs in four games,” he said.12 The point was made clear by the top three batters in the Reds’ order: Rose, Morgan, and Tolan – were a collective 4-for-44 over the first four games.

The A’s connected for four consecutive singles in the inning and reliever Carroll threw only five pitches but took the loss. For Fingers, it was his first World Series victory.

Now the A’s were in command with a 3-games-to-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Cincinnati rebounded to take Game Five the following afternoon. Home runs from Rose and Menke paced the Reds in a 5-4 win that sent the World Series back to Cincinnati. Tenace hammered his fourth homer of the Series in the loss.

Despite it being a pitchers’ series, neither team had a complete game. “The two teams hit an identical .209. Oakland was outscored 21-16. Fingers relieved in six games. Tenace, the Series MVP, had four homers, 9 RBIs, and a .348 average.”13 Tight, hard-fought, and not always pretty, but for the A’s it didn’t matter. They were on their way to three consecutive World Series titles.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the following:

Thorn, John, Phil Birnbaum, and Bill Deane, eds., Total Baseball, 8th Edition (Toronto: Sport Media Publishing, 2004).

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK197210190.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B10190OAK1972.htm

Notes

1 SABR biography of Ángel Mangual by Geoffrey Dunn. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/angel-mangual/.

2 Associated Press, “Players, Owners Agree to ‘Play Ball’ Saturday,” Tampa Bay Tribune, April 14, 1972: 1. Eighty-six games were postponed by “the first general strike in the 103-year history of the sport” and were not made up.

3 The decisive October 11 contest was the last game for Pirates star Roberto Clemente who died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972, while on a humanitarian mission to aid victims of a Nicaraguan earthquake.

4 Ron Bergman, “A’s Go It Without Reggie,” Oakland Tribune, October 14, 1972: 11. Jackson “ruptured his left hamstring, pulled a calf muscle and strained knee muscles attached to the hamstring.” The injury occurred in the second inning of the final ALCS game in Detroit when Jackson stole home on the front end of a double steal to tie the game at 1-1. Also see Glenn Schwarz, “Campy OKd for Series,” San Francisco Examiner, October 13, 1972: 61.

5 Herb Michelson, “Rain Washes Out Third Game, More on the Way,” Modesto Bee, October 18, 1972: 61. As a result, there was no day off for travel between Game Five in Oakland and Game Six in Cincinnati.

6 Lowell Reidenbaugh, “Late 3M Rally Boosts Athletics; Series Stock,” The Sporting News, November 4, 1972: 7.

7 In addition to the six Hall of Fame players on the field, both managers, Sparky Anderson and Dick Williams, later gained Hall of Fame membership.

8 Reidenbaugh, 7.

9 Geoffrey Dunn, SABR biography.

10 Curt Smith, “1972 A’s: A World Champion Worth the Wait,” in Chip Greene, ed., Mustaches and Mayhem, Charlie O’s Three-Time Champions (Phoenix, Arizona: SABR, 2015). https://sabr.org/journal/article/1972-as-a-world-champion-worth-the-wait/

11 Herb Michelson, “A’s Rally in 9th Trips Reds 3-2,” Sacramento Bee, October 20, 1972: 63.

12 Pat Frizzell, “Reds All Broken Up,” Oakland Tribune, October 20, 1972: 54.

13 Smith.