#477 - '73 World Series - Game #6

Well, this was bound to happen. Up until now Reggie Jackson had a pretty quiet Series. He had a great game in Game 2 with his four hits and two RBI’s. But Oakland lost that one so all the big numbers were wasted. And Reggie, soon to acquire the name Mr. October, was only hitting .190 in the current post-season. So when the AL MVP finally had a big game that meaningfully contributed to his team’s post-season run he was bound to get a card. In this photo it appears he just lined one to left-center which would make it his early-inning double in the sun in Oakland. It’s nice to see a shot of Reggie at the plate where he hasn’t either corkscrewed himself into the ground on a missed strike or is admiring one of his homers. Watching Reggie hustling from the plate would probably have even put a smile on Billy Martin’s face.

For the third time in this Series two starters faced each other for the second time and for this game it was the two staff aces, Tom Seaver and Catfish Hunter. The action started early as Wayne Garrett led off with a walk and Rusty Staub sent him to second with a single. But Catfish got three fly outs to shut NY down. In the bottom of the inning Joe Rudi singled and after Seaver got Bando on a K for out number two Reggie doubled to left-center – my choice for the photo - to get Rudi in and Oakland a 1-0 lead. Catfish then had two 1-2-3 innings with a few deep fly outs while Seaver burned through the order until the third when Reggie pulled an instant replay, this time doubling Sal Bando in with a shot to right-center. From then until the eighth inning each starter put about a guy on an inning with nobody else scoring and Oakland maintained its 2-0 lead.

In the top of the eighth Ken Boswell pinch hit for Seaver and singled. That brought in Darold Knowles who gave up two consecutive singles – to Garrett and Felix Millan – to score Boswell. With runners on the corners Knowles got Staub to strikeout but then got pulled for Rollie Fingers. Fingers got Cleon Jones to fly out, killing the rally. In the bottom Tug McGraw was in and he gave up a single to center to Reggie that Don Hahn misplayed into a two-base error. After a walk to Gene Tenace, Jesus Alou pinch hit for Vic Davalillo and hit a sacrifice fly to deep left that scored Jackson. After Tug got a double play off a Deron Johnson strikeout and a Jerry Grote gun-down of Tenace attempting to steal, the Mets had one more shot. But Fingers went through the order fast to preserve the win. The A’s evened up the Series as Catfish got the win, Fingers the save, and Seaver took another loss.

Reggie’s three hits stick out here like a sore thumb. Here are the pitching lines:

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Seaver	7.0	6	2	2	2	6	2.57
McGraw	1.0	1	1	0	1	1	-
	8.0	7	3	2	3	7	2.25
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Hunter	7.1	4	1	1	1	1	1.23
Knowles	0.1	2	0	0	-	0	-
Fingers	1.1	0	0	0	-	0	-
	9.0	6	1	1	1	1	1.50