September 28, 1972: Athletics erase 7-0 deficit to clinch AL West Division title

“We could have quit and said ‘wait until tomorrow.’ We didn’t,” said Oakland A’s manager Dick Williams, after the A’s erased a 7–0 deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins, 8–7, and clinch the AL West title on Thursday, September 28, less than a week before the end of the season.1

After winning the AL West and subsequently being swept by the Orioles in the AL Championship Series in 1971, the Athletics clinched a tie in the division with a doubleheader sweep against the Twins on Wednesday. Both wins were extra-inning walk-off victories by the scores of 1–0 in 11 innings and 2–1 in 10 innings. With the wins, the Athletics moved 5 1/2 games ahead of the second-place White Sox with six games to play.

Sal Bando, who was having a subpar year according to his batting average of .236, drove in Matty Alou in both walk-off wins. The second game featured complete games by both pitchers. Ray Corbin took the loss after pitching 9 1/3 innings, giving up nine hits and striking out five. Catfish Hunter pitched 10 innings, giving up six hits—all singles—striking out 11, and walking none while throwing 151 pitches. “I told him I couldn’t pitch anymore so he better end the game,” Catfish said.2

The Athletics had one more game at home against the Twins before hitting the road for three games in Kansas City and winding up the regular season with two games against the California Angels in Anaheim. Bando really wanted to win the last home game, “so we can get a mental rest on the road.”3

Thursday’s potential pennant-clinching game was a make-up game originally scheduled for Tuesday, September 26. Dick Woodson was on the hill for the Twins against Blue Moon Odom of the Athletics.

Odom retired César Tovar on a groundout and Danny Thompson on a popout to second baseman Dick Green to start the game. Harmon Killebrew walked and Jim Holt singled to right. Rick Renick walked to load the bases. Steve Braun doubled in Holt and Killebrew. Steve Brye walked and Odom struck out George Mitterwald to end the top of the first. Woodson retired the Athletics in order, and the Twins led, 2–0, after one inning.

The score remained the same through four innings, but the Twins’ bats came alive in the top of the fifth. Tovar and Thompson singled and Killebrew walked to load the bases. Holt singled in Tovar, chasing Odom. Bob Locker came in to pitch. Renick greeted him with a sacrifice fly, and the Twins were up, 4–0. Braun singled in Killebrew, with Holt stopping at second. Brye singled in Holt. Locker then struck out Mitterwald to record his first out. Woodson followed with an RBI single, scoring Braun. Tovar, batting for the second time in the inning, grounded out to second, with Woodson being retired on a force out.

The Twins were up, 7–0, in the middle of the fifth, and it looked like the Athletics would have to wait to pop the champagne bottles until they were on their season-ending road trip.

Entering the bottom of the fifth, Woodson had held the Athletics to just one hit—a third-inning double by Matty Alou. But Mike Epstein homered on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fifth to put the Athletics on the board. Gene Tenace followed with a walk, but Woodson retired Ted Kubiak, Don Mincher (who pinch-hit for Locker), and Alou to keep the damage to just one run.

Gary Waslewski entered the game to pitch for the Athletics. He loaded the bases with one out but was able to retire Braun on a fly out to left and struck out Brye to end the rally.

Woodson walked Bert Campaneris to start the bottom of the sixth. Bando singled to center with Campaneris advancing to third. Woodson got Joe Rudi to hit into a 6-4-3 double play, but Campaneris scored on the play. Epstein flied out to right, and the sixth inning ended with the Twins up, 7–2.

Waslewski retired the Twins in order in the top of the seventh.

Woodson retired Tenace in the bottom of the seventh on a 6-3 grounder. Mike Hegan, who batted for Kubiak, walked. Ángel Mangual, pinch-hitting for Waslewski, doubled to left, with Kubiak stopping at third. Alou singled to left, scoring Hegan, with Mangual advancing to third. That was it for Woodson. Wayne Granger came in to pitch and Campaneris, the first batter he faced, grounded to Thompson at short. Granger flipped the ball to second baseman Braun for the force out on Alou, but an error by Braun allowed Mangual to score an unearned run. Bando then singled in Campaneris for another unearned run. Granger got Rudi to ground into a 5-4 fielder’s choice, retiring Bando at second and thus retiring the side, but not before the Athletics had cut the Twins lead to 7–5.

With Dave Hamilton pitching for the Athletics in the top of the eighth, Thompson grounded out to third. Killebrew walked but was retired in an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Reggie Jackson struck out to open the Athletics’ half of the eighth. Epstein followed with a single to right. Dave Duncan entered the game, pinch-hitting for second baseman Tim Cullen. Allan Lewis also entered the game, pinch-running for Tenace. Duncan ripped a single to center, loading the bases. Vida Blue came in to run for Duncan. Mangual singled to center, scoring Lewis and Epstein, with Blue advancing to third. Dave LaRoche entered the game to replace Granger. He got Alou to foul out to first and Campaneris to fly out to center to end the inning with the scored all knotted up at 7–7.

Rollie Fingers entered the game for the Athletics to begin the ninth against the Twins. He struck out Renick, walked Braun, and struck out Jim Nettles, who was pinch-hitting for Brye, for the second out. Fingers retired Mitterwald to end the inning and send the game into the bottom of the ninth all tied up.

LaRoche hit Bando with a pitch to start the bottom of the ninth. Dal Maxvill, who came into the game to play second base in the top of the ninth, doubled to left, Bando scored, and the Athletics had come from a seven-run deficit to beat the Twins, 8–7, to clinch the Al West for the second straight year. “I’ve had hits before,” said Maxvill, “but this was one of the most important hits I’ve ever had. I guess you could say the most important.”4 Maxvill played 11 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals before being traded to the Athletics on August 30. This was his first RBI since joining the A’s.

Bando had an intuition about what was going to happen in the inning. “I told Maxvill that I was going to get hit by a pitch and he would have to get me home,” Bando told sportswriter Dick O’Connor, who added, “Maxwell nodded his head because when Bando says something is going to happen, it does.”5 LaRoche proceeded to hit Bando in the leg with a pitch, sending Maxvill to the plate. He squared off to bunt on the first three pitches, but they were all balls. He took a strike and then got the hit-and-run sign from third-base coach Irv Noren. Maxvill hit a line drive to left-center to score Bando.

The attendance for the game was 9,155, partly because it was a short-notice make-up game that was originally scheduled for the previous Tuesday. The season attendance total for 1972 was 921,323, surpassing the record set in 1971 of 914,993.

The A’s clinched the AL West with the win and got their wish of clinching at home before embarking on a season-ending five-game road trip. In the postseason, they would face the winner of the AL East, which was still up for grabs. The Yankees hung on to their slim hopes with a win over the Tigers. The Tigers’ loss and a Red Sox win moved the Red Sox to a 1 1/2-game lead over the Tigers. The Tigers and Red Sox each had six games to play, including a three-game series against each other to see who would take on the Athletics in the American League Championship Series, scheduled to begin on October 7 in Oakland.

Photo credit

Sal Bando, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Baseball-Reference.com and Stathead.com for game and statistical information.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK197209280.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B09280OAK1972.htm

Notes

1 Associated Press, “A’s Clinch Title: ‘A Lot of Men’ in Oakland,” Sacramento Union, September 29, 1972: 7.

2 Dick O’Connor, “Championship ‘on ice’ for Red-Hot A’s,” Peninsula Times Tribune (Palo Alto, California), September 28, 1972: 27.

3 UPI, “A’s on the Brink of A.L. West Pennant,” The Californian (Salinas, California), September 28, 1972: 23.

4 Hal Bock, “Athletics Rule AL West,” Fresno Bee, September 29, 1972: 21.

5 Dick O’Connor, “A’s Don’t Care Who They Meet in Playoffs,” Palo Alto Times, September 29, 1972: 36.