There are just some moments that baseball fans remember vividly, and they always seem to pass the test of the time. We now return to October 15, 1972 for game 2 of the 1972 World Series. The A’s were coming off a surprising win in game 1 and they looked to really put the Cincinnati Reds against the wall with a win. Before the game, Jackie Robinson would make his last public appearance of his life in throwing out the first pitch. He’d express his hopes that one day he’d look into a dugout and see a black face managing the ball club. Nine days later, Robinson would pass away.
The question going into the series was simply, how are the A’s going to score without Reggie Jackson? And that was answered in game 1 with Gene Tenace’s heroics. Though I’m sure the pundits were thinking that it was all beginner’s luck. On the mound for the A’s would be their trusty ace, Catfish Hunter. They had to feel good with Catfish on the mound.
The Reds would be sending out the 22 year old, Ross Grimsley. Pete Rose would be leading off for the Reds with Joe Morgan following him and Johnny Bench hitting cleanup, it was up to Catfish Hunter to keep the Big Red Machine in check just like Ken Holtzman had done the day before.
The first inning was relatively uneventful with Joe Rudi providing the only hit among the two teams. The scoring would start in the top of the second for the A’s and like it always seemed to happen for the A’s throughout history, it would come from the most unlikely part of the order. Sal Bando would start off the inning with a single, before getting retired from a George Hendrick fielder’s choice, Gene Tenace would then fly out for the second out and then Dick Green would get a ground ball to squirt through the infield and that allowed Hendrick to get into scoring position with two outs for Catfish Hunter and the pitcher’s spot.
And once again, an A’s pitcher would deliver, Catfish’s line drive would drop in front of Pete Rose and Hendrick would easily score because he was running on contact with with outs. It was 1-0 A’s, and they felt comfortable with the type of game that was being played. Bert Campaneris actually singled in the next at bat, but sadly Dick Green would get thrown out at home by Pete Rose to end the inning.
With Catfish back on the mound, he continued to hit the corners striking out the side after getting into a second and third with nobody out situation. Catfish would continue to get more of a cushion, after Matty Alou grounded out to start the inning, Joe Rudi and his weird closed stance expanded the lead with one swing of the bat. Rudi crushed a pitch from Grimsley and it soared over the head of Charlie Hustle for a solo home run and that seemed to quiet the Cincinnati fans.
It didn’t matter if the Reds got any hits, Catfish would just find sneaky ways to make them entirely meaningless. Pete Rose led off the third with a single, but he’d go no further than first, thanks to Joe Morgan fouling out, Bobby Tolan popping out, and Johnny Bench flying out to center.
In the fourth, the Reds would once again start the inning with a leadoff single and once again, he’d go no further. Tony Perez singled to start the inning, then Catfish induced a groundball by Denis Menke which rolled over to Bert Campaneris who flipped the ball to Dick Green at second, who relayed it to Mike Epstein for the 6-4-3 double play.
Catfish Hunter wouldn’t get a one-two-three inning until the 7th inning, in the 5th, he really had to grind out of a jam. With one out, Ted Uhlaender came in to pinch hit for the starting pitcher, Ross Grimsley, who’s day was done after 5 innings. Uhlaender would double to create the flame that could ignite the Big Red Machine. Pete Rose this time would fail to get on base by flying out to right. With two outs, Joe Morgan would reach on an error by Catfish Hunter thanks to Morgan’s tremendous speed. This allowed Uhlaender to advance to third and with runners at the corners and two outs, Bobby Tolan came to the plate in a critical spot. Reds Manager, Sparky Anderson sent the speedy Joe Morgan and he stole second base to leave first base open. It was a no-brainer for Anderson, Tenace’s arm can be tested, Joe Morgan’s a great base stealer, and who knows, maybe Catfish will be more willing to walk Tolan to load the bases and bring up Johnny Bench.
Once again, Catfish would prevail by forcing Tolan to pop out to Bert Campaneris to end the inning with no damage done. Sparky Anderson brought in Pedro Bourbon in relief of Grimsley and he’d do his job against the A’s in the 6th and 7th. Catfish must’ve felt like he had found new life, and if he hadn’t, after the bottom of the 6th, he certainly did. He wanted nothing to do with the dangerous, Johnny Bench, so he walked him. And after that, it was smooth sailing for Catfish, he’d get Perez and Menke to groundout and then he’d get Cesar Geronimo to fly out and end the threat.
Catfish would toss one-two-three innings in the 7th and 8th innings which must’ve really buried the Reds in their frustration. Here was a team that was getting base runners, yet none of them were crossing the plate thanks to Catfish’s determination and craftiness. Now that they were late in the ballgame, Catfish seemed to be getting stronger, adding to the struggles of the Reds. In the 7th and 8th inning, 5 out of the 6 outs were fly ball outs with the only exception being a rare strikeout of the man they liked to call Charlie Hustle (Pete Rose). And I’m sure Pete Rose was the most frustrated out of all the Reds, since he’s one of the most competitive athletes ever.
The A’s would nearly add onto the lead in both the 8th and 9th, with Borbon out of the game and Tom Hall into replace him. They’d strand Matty Alou at second and Joe Rudi at first in the 8th, and in the 9th, Bert Campaneris would strikeout with the bases loaded, this seemed to be one of the few times where Campy didn’t come through in the World Series.
Now it was time for the bottom of the 9th, and to no one’s surprise, A’s manager, Dick Williams stuck with his ace for the 9th inning. It would get pretty scary for the A’s in this inning, Tony Perez would single to left, but luckily one of the greatest plays in World Series history was about to happen.
With Denis Menke at the plate, Catfish would toss one right down the heart of the plate that Denis Menke didn’t miss. It was clearly hit well, just a matter of how well. Joe Rudi was in left, and he started racing toward the wall, once he got there, dusk had fallen upon Cincinnati, and fighting the sun, Rudi took two steps to his right while he was against the wall, then, in full extension, Rudi jumped up and caught the ball against the wall in unbelievable fashion. Rudi then took the ball out of his glove, and reached up as if to show how surprised he was that he caught it while also signaling to the umpires, he then fired it back into Campy who nearly doubled off Tony Perez at first. This was one of the greatest catches in World Series history, see it HERE.
The year 1972 had been Joe Rudi’s best. It had been the first season where he had played over 140 games and his numbers were brilliant. He’d finish the year with 19 home runs, 94 RBIs. And his slashline read .305/.345/.486 to go along with a wRC+ of 151 (100 is average) which matched the more heralded, Reggie Jackson. He had an fWAR of 5.3 which was the best of his career and it was good enough to lead the 1972 A’s. His fWAR was higher than a few Hall of Famers that year, Rudi’s fWAR was higher than Willie Stargell (4.8), Reggie Jackson (4.8), Rod Carew (4.3), and Hank Aaron (4.3). And for all that, it was only fitting that Joe Rudi would make the biggest play of the World Series while on the same day hitting what ended up being the game-winning home run.
With one out in the 9th, Cesar Geronimo would hit a ground ball to Mike Hegan at first, Hegan would take no chances and he’d take it to the bag at first to get the second out of the inning. Just in case, Dick Williams made sure that Rollie Fingers was warming up in the bullpen in case Catfish faced any sort of trouble. Hal McCrae would be the next man up as a pinch hitter. And after 26 outs, the Reds finally scored. McCrae would single to left and Tony Perez would race around third to make it 2-1 A’s. Dick Williams raced out of the bullpen, like he had done so many times already in the series (most of the time, not even to make pitching changes) to take out Catfish Hunter and bring in his insurance policy, Rollie Fingers.
Sparky Anderson would bring in Dave Concepcion to pinch run for Hal McCrae thus making the stakes higher with Concepcion’s tremendous speed. Julian Javier would be the next man up in the pitcher’s spot, and Fingers had no issues with Javier as he got him to foul out to Mike Hegan to end the ballgame, and give the A’s a 2-0 series lead heading back to Oakland.
Catfish Hunter’s day ended with a line of 8.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BBs, and 6 K’s to finish with a game score of 71. You wouldn’t know that it was Catfish’s first time pitching in the World Series. Joe Rudi would finish the day 2 for 3, with a home run, a single, and a walk. And defensively, one of the greatest catches in World Series history. Stay tuned, #2 is coming up next week and it’s one of my favorites.
-- Wes
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