October 7, 1972: A’s win ALCS opener in 11 innings thanks to Gonzalo Márquez’s pinch-hit single

When Game One of the 1972 American League Championship Series between the Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers went into extra innings, A’s rookie Gonzalo Márquez turned to teammate Dagoberto “Bert” Campaneris and made a bold prediction. “If I get to pinch-hit,” Márquez said in Spanish, “I’ll win the game.”1

Márquez got his chance in the bottom of the 11th. With Detroit leading 2-1 and runners on first and second and one out, he drilled a single past Norm Cash at first base to tie the game. When Al Kaline’s throw from right field got past third baseman Aurelio Rodríguez, another run scored, giving Oakland an electrifying walk-off victory. It was the first postseason win for the Athletics franchise since 1931.2

The hero was a little-known Venezuelan with only 21 career at-bats in the big leagues. Márquez had been a first baseman in the A’s minor-league system since 1966, hitting for a high average with little power. In 1970 he batted .341 in his first year at Triple A, falling short of winning the American Association batting title by one percentage point.3 But his mother fell seriously ill, and he sat out the entire 1971 season to take care of her.

Márquez returned to the Triple-A Iowa Oaks in 1972 and continued to hit over .300. He was called up by Oakland on August 11 and made his major-league debut that night with the A’s fighting for first place. The 32-year-old – believed to be 26 at the time – started only one game, a meaningless contest on the final day of the regular season.4 Márquez went an impressive 7-for-16 (.438) with 3 RBIs as a pinch-hitter, helping Oakland finish 5½ games ahead of the second-place Chicago White Sox in the AL West Division.

Márquez was initially left off the postseason roster. But when pitcher Darold Knowles broke his thumb, Oakland manager Dick Williams chose to replace him with Márquez and go with just eight pitchers.5 “I wanted another bat to use with our second base situation,” Williams explained.6

The situation Williams was referring to was his habit of pinch-hitting for his four weak-hitting second basemen in key situations – even in the early or middle innings.7 It was not unusual for Williams to use three or four second baseman in a game, and in September a second sacker played the entire game only three times.

While the A’s clinched their division with six days left in the regular season, Detroit claimed the AL East Division title by capturing two out of three from the Boston Red Sox in a season-ending winner-take-all series.8

Detroit’s ace, Mickey Lolich, got the start in the ALCS opener on October 7. Five days earlier, he had moved the Tigers into first place with a masterful 15-strikeout performance against the Red Sox. The 32-year-old lefty finished the regular season with a 22-14 record and a 2.50 ERA. Catfish Hunter took to the mound for the A’s. He boasted a 21-7 record and a 2.04 ERA, which was third best in the AL.

Casey Stengel tossed out the ceremonial first pitch.9 The 82-year-old Hall of Famer, who had managed the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks from 1946 to 1948, received a warm welcome from the 29,566 fans in attendance.10

After both pitchers recorded one-two-three innings, Cash led off the second for the Tigers. The 38-year-old slugger came into the game hitting .324 with 8 homers in 71 career at-bats against Hunter. Cash continued his dominance by lining a 2-and-1 fastball over the right-field fence for a home run.11

Oakland put two runners on base with one out in the bottom of the second on an infield single and a walk.12 After catcher Gene Tenace flied out, Williams sent Ángel Mangual in to pinch-hit for his starting second baseman, Dick Green. Lolich escaped the jam by retiring Mangual on a groundout.

Campaneris walked with one out in the third, and Matty Alou looped a single to right field to put runners on the corners.13 Campaneris came home with the tying run on Joe Rudi’s sacrifice fly.

Hunter set the Tigers down in order in innings three through six. His streak of 15 consecutive outs was snapped when he walked his nemesis, Cash, with one out in the seventh. Hunter also issued a two-out walk before escaping the inning unscored on.

Detroit catcher Duke Sims opened the ninth with a double. Only six Tigers had reached base against Hunter, but Williams brought in southpaw Vida Blue with the left-handed-swinging Cash up next. (Blue had been merely average in 1972 after winning the AL MVP and Cy Young Awards the previous season, so he was shifted to the bullpen for the ALCS.14) Cash bunted and third baseman Sal Bando’s throw to first was dropped by second baseman Ted Kubiak, putting runners on the corners with nobody out.

Williams brought in Rollie Fingers to pitch to Willie Horton; Tigers manager Billy Martin responded by inserting the left-handed-swinging Gates Brown as a pinch-hitter.15 After Fingers retired Brown for the first out, Martin called for the suicide squeeze with Jim Northrup at the plate.16 Much to Martin’s chagrin, Northrup bunted the ball foul and later hit into a rally-killing 4-6-3 double play.17

Nobody on either team then reached base until the 37-year-old Kaline, in his 20th season with the Tigers, batted with one out in the 11th.18 He slammed a slider from Fingers over the left-field wall, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead. The next batter, Sims, tripled, only to be stranded at third when Fingers retired Cash and Mickey Stanley on groundouts.19

Lolich returned to the mound for the bottom of the 11th and surrendered a leadoff single to Bando. Blue Moon Odom pinch-ran and he advanced to second when Mike Epstein sliced an opposite-field single into left field.20 The managerial wheels continued to turn as Mike Hegan ran for Epstein and rookie right-hander Chuck Seelbach came on in relief of Lolich.21 Tenace, who was 0-for-4 and had stranded six baserunners, bunted. But Rodríguez pounced on the ball and fired a strike to shortstop Ed Brinkman covering at third; Brinkman’s relay to first pulled second baseman Dick McAuliffe off the bag, preventing Tenace from being doubled up.22

With one out and runners on first and second, Márquez pinch-hit for second baseman Dal Maxvill.23 After Seelbach got ahead 1-and-2, Márquez fouled off four consecutive pitches.24 He drilled the next pitch between Cash and McAuliffe and into right. Hegan scampered home with the tying run, and Tenace headed for third.

Kaline’s throw was an accurate one-hopper that narrowly missed hitting Tenace as he slid headfirst into third. The ball skipped past Rodríguez and rolled to the wall beyond the Oakland dugout, allowing Tenace to race home with the winning run.25

Márquez “set Charles O. Finley’s exploding scoreboard into action with his big hit,” wrote Hal Bock of the Associated Press. “The A’s spilled out of the dugout and surrounded the rookie pinch-hitter, who seemed calm in all of the commotion.”26 Márquez had became the fourth Venezuelan to drive in a run in a major-league postseason game.27 “It was the biggest hit of my life,” he said.28

Márquez’s pinch-hitting magic continued throughout the postseason. He had a pinch-hit single and scored what would have been the series-clinching run in the top of the 10th inning of Game Four had the Tigers not rallied for a stunning victory. But Oakland won the AL pennant thanks to outstanding pitching from Odom and Blue in Game Five.29

The A’s went on to defeat the Cincinnati Reds in a thrilling World Series that went the full seven games. (It was the first of three consecutive World Series titles for Oakland.) After struggling in the ALCS,30 Tenace hit four homers, knocked in nine runs, and was named the World Series MVP.

Márquez contributed three hits in five pinch-hit appearances, including a single in Game Four that ignited a game-winning rally in the bottom of the ninth. His three hits tied the record for the most pinch-hits in a fall classic.31 As of 2024, no player had more pinch hits in a World Series than Márquez.

When the designated hitter was introduced in 1973, Williams considered using Márquez in that role before deciding to go with a power hitter.32 Márquez played infrequently early in the season and he was demoted to Triple-A Tucson in June. After hitting .329 for the Toros, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs on August 29 in return for first baseman Pat Bourque.33 When the trade was announced, the Oakland Tribune referred to Márquez as “last year’s pinch-hit hero.”34

Márquez played his last big-league game in June 1974 and in December the Cubs sold his contract to Puebla in the Mexican League. He hit .235 in a major-league career that was limited to just 115 regular-season at-bats, 47 of which were as a pinch-hitter.35 Márquez continued to play baseball in Venezuela until he died tragically in a car accident in December 1984. He was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Harrison Golden and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to using the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, Retrosheet.org, The Sporting News contract cards, and Rory Costello’s SABR biography of Gonzalo Márquez. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play information for this game was taken from the article “Marquez’s Hit Turns It Around” on page 37 of the October 8, 1972, edition of the Oakland Tribune. The Detroit Tigers radio broadcast of the game can be found on YouTube, as can the video highlights.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK197210070.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B10070OAK1972.htm

Photo credit: Gonzalo Márquez, courtesy of the Oakland Athletics.

Notes

1 Ron Bergman, “Marquez’s Hit Turns It Around,” Oakland Tribune, October 8, 1972: 37.

2 The previous postseason win for the franchise was by the Philadelphia Athletics over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game Six of the 1931 World Series. Lefty Grove was the winning pitcher. The Athletics lost Game Seven. The franchise missed the postseason for the next 40 years. (The Athletics had won the World Series in 1929 and 1930.) The Oakland A’s were swept in the 1971 ALCS by the Baltimore Orioles.

3 Twenty-one-year-old first baseman Chris Chambliss of the Wichita Aeros won the batting title with a .342 average. Márquez was named the American Association’s All-Star first baseman in a vote by the league’s sportswriters. Bill Hodge, “Chambliss Wins Association Hitting Title,” Wichita Beacon, September 12, 1970: C-1; “Spriggs Is Only Royal to Land All-Star Spot,” Omaha World-Herald, September 18, 1970: 35.

4 When Márquez began his professional career, he produced an ID with a birth year of 1946. His birth certificate has a birth year of 1940.

5 Knowles broke the thumb on his pitching hand when he fell while running to first base after batting on September 27. Williams considered replacing Knowles with another lefty, Don Shaw, but southpaw Vida Blue was shifted to the bullpen for the ALCS. Ken Holtzman and Dave Hamilton were his other lefty relievers. Shaw had an ERA of 14.04 in 11 relief appearances in 1972. He never pitched in the big leagues again. Herb Michelson, “Is It Tigers, Sox or Spitz for A’s?” Sacramento Bee, September 29, 1972: D-1.

6 United Press International, “Williams Backs Strategy,” Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner, October 8, 1972: D-1.

7 The four second basemen on the A’s roster were Dick Green, Ted Kubiak, Dal Maxvill, and Tim Cullen. Larry Brown played 46 games at second base early in the season; his last game was on June 18. He missed the rest of the season with a back injury. Oakland second basemen combined to hit .213 with no homers and 29 RBIs in 1972. Ron Bergman, “Brownie’s Treatment,” Oakland Tribune, August 30, 1972: 43.

8 A players strike delayed the start of the 1972 season by two weeks. Missed games were not rescheduled, so some teams played more games than others. Detroit trailed Boston by a half-game when the two teams opened the season-ending three-game series at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers won the first two games to clinch the division. Boston beat Detroit on the final day of the season to finish a half-game out of first place.

9 Tom Kane, “Gonzalo Fidgeted All the Way to Victory,” Sacramento Bee, October 8, 1972: F-3.

10 There were several reasons for the approximately 20,000 unsold seats. The game was televised locally and there were college football games being played nearby (USC at Stanford, Ohio State at University of California). Watson Spoelstra of the Detroit News wrote that the empty seats were “another smudge in the four-year attempt to sell the [new] playoff system.” All three World Series games in Oakland sold out. Karen Emerson, “It Was a Great Day for A’s Fans,” Oakland Tribune, October 8, 1972: 1; Watson Spoelstra, “Tiger Tracks,” Detroit News, October 8, 1972: D-6.

11 Watson Spoelstra, “A’s Beat Tigers on Kaline’s Error,” Detroit News, October 8, 1972: D-1.

12 The infield single was on a hard-hit ball by Reggie Jackson that ricocheted off Lolich. Spoelstra, “A’s Beat Tigers on Kaline’s Error.”

13 Alou, the National League batting champion in 1966, joined the A’s after an August 27 trade with the St. Louis Cardinals. Oakland traded Alou to the Yankees after winning the 1972 World Series. Hal Bock (Associated Press), “Gonzalo Marquez (?) Sparks A’s,” Shreveport Times, October 8, 1972: D-1.

14 Blue went from a 24-8 record and a league-leading 1.82 ERA in 1971 to 6-10 and a 2.80 ERA in 1972. His adjusted ERA (ERA+) was 102 in 1972 – 2 percent above league average after adjusting for park effects.

15 Brown came into the game with a league-record 84 career pinch hits. He ended his career in 1975 with 106 pinch hits. As of the end of the 2024, he still held the record for the most career pinch hits in the AL.

16 Jack Berry, “9th-Inning Flop Costly to Tigers,” Detroit News, October 8, 1972: D-1.

17 “We should have gone home in the ninth,” Martin barked after the game. “It was a suicide squeeze and the player didn’t bunt the ball [properly].” Berry, “9th-Inning Flop Costly to Tigers.”

18 Kaline led the Tigers with a .313 batting average in 1972. He hit 10 homers and drove in 32 runs in 278 at-bats.

19 The Tigers were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the game.

20 Most onlookers were expecting Epstein to put down a sacrifice bunt. Clif Keane, “A’s Sting Tigers,” Boston Globe, October 8, 1972: 61.

21 The 24-year-old Seelbach went 9-8 with a 2.89 ERA in 1972. He led the Tigers with 14 saves, although he shared closer duties with lefty Fred Scherman (12 saves).

22 McAuliffe tagged Tenace, but first-base umpire Nestor Chylak ruled that Tenace had already touched first base. Jim Hawkins, “Oops! Error Beats Tigers,” Detroit Free Press, October 8, 1972: E-1.

23 Maxvill was the third Oakland second baseman to be replaced by a pinch-hitter in the game. Kubiak took over at second after Green was removed for a pinch-hitter in the second inning. Maxvill took over at second after George Hendrick pinch-hit for Kubiak in the ninth.

24 Newspaper accounts differ on whether Márquez fouled off four or five consecutive pitches. According to the Detroit Tigers radio broadcast, he fouled off four consecutive pitches.

25 Tenace said the throw did not hit him and the television replay confirmed it. Seelbach was backing up at home, so no player was backing up the throw to third. Kaline was charged with an error despite the throw being “on the mark.” Kaline made only 1 error in 116 chances in right field during the regular season. He won 10 Gold Glove Awards in his career, all between 1957 and 1967. George Ross, “The Sad Analysis of Al Kaline’s Error,” Oakland Tribune, October 8, 1972: 37; Keane, “A’s Sting Tigers”; Joe Falls, “Seelbach ‘Made the Right Play’ on Throw − Billy Martin,” Detroit Free Press, October 8, 1972: E-5.

26 Bock, “Gonzalo Marquez (?) Sparks A’s.”

27 The three previous Venezuelans to drive in a run in an AL or NL postseason game were Luis Aparicio, César Tovar, and Dave Concepción. Carlos Ascanio drove in six runs for the New York Black Yankees of the Negro National League in 1946, but he did not appear in any playoff games.

28 Campaneris, a native of Cuba, translated for Márquez during postgame interviews. The pair had been teammates in the Venezuelan Winter League. United Press International, “Williams Backs Strategy.”

29 Odom got the start and held the Tigers to one unearned run in five innings. Blue picked up the save with four shutout innings as the A’s won 2-1. The AL did not name an ALCS MVP until 1980, but if one was awarded in 1972, Odom would have been an excellent choice. He went 2-0 and did not allow an earned run in 14 innings pitched. Odom limited the Tigers to just five hits and two walks in those 14 innings.

30 Tenace went 1-for-17 (.059) with three walks, five strikeouts, and one RBI in the ALCS. His only hit was a single off starter Woody Fryman in the fourth inning of Game Five that knocked in what turned out to be the series-winning run.

31 Márquez became the fourth player with three pinch-hits in a World Series. The previous three were Bobby Brown of the New York Yankees (1947), Dusty Rhodes of the New York Giants (1954), and Carl Warwick of the St. Louis Cardinals (1964). Ken Boswell of the New York Mets became the fifth in 1973.

32 Herb Michelson, “A’s Bow to Bosox, 6-4, Trade Marquez,” Sacramento Bee, August 30, 1973: D-2.

33 The A’s recalled Márquez on August 8, but he had only two at-bats for Oakland in August – both as a pinch-hitter. He hit .240 in 25 at-bats with Oakland in 1973. Márquez hit .224 in 58 at-bats with the Cubs in 1973.

34 “Marquez Dealt for Cub Slugger,” Oakland Tribune, August 30, 1973: 37.

35 Márquez went 13-for-47 (.277) with 6 RBIs as a pinch-hitter in the regular season. In the 1972 postseason, he was 5-for-8 (.625) with 2 RBIs as a pinch-hitter.