#474 - '73 World Series - Game #3

The Series took a day off after the Oakland games and returned on a pretty blustery Tuesday night in NY. Shea Stadium had been mostly restored from the post-game celebration/destruction from the NL playoffs and the team fortified its security with 1,000 National Guardsmen. But Shea was never the best of fields: back then, in fact, instead of the infield dirt being slightly below the grass like at every other field in some places it was higher and more than a few times a grounder that struck the dirt at the edge would bounce back towards the grass like it hit a curb. Such was life in NY in those days. But both teams were happy to be out of the Oakland sun and a cleaner game awaited. This is a great action shot - a shout-out to Night Owl who likes these things – and shows Bert Campaneris being ruled safe at second as Felix Millan holds up the ball and Bud Harrelson circles behind. There was only one instance in the game in which Campy was declared safely into second: a stolen base in the eighth that would prove pivotal. It’s nice when one can pinpoint these shots.

Oakland and the Mets each had their aces going that night: Catfish Hunter and Tom Seaver. Seaver gave up a few hits through the first five – a Joe Rudi double; and singles by Campy and Vic Davalillo – but he also struck out the side twice and finished the fifth with eight K’s and shutout ball. But Catfish, being Catfish, kept things interesting. In the bottom of the first Wayne Garrett – seemingly coming out of his hitting funk – hit his second solo homer to lead off an inning in two games. After Millan and Rusty Staub singled, a pitch in the dirt to Cleon Jones allowed Millan to score. After Jones struck out Catfish messed up a comebacker by John Milner and there were two on with two in. But Catfish got Jerry Grote on a strikeout and then got help from Rudi, who saved two runs by grabbing a Don Hahn shot to left. After a couple relatively quiet innings, Hahn led off the fourth with another liner to left that Rudi couldn’t reach and that bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double. After a couple outs an intentional walk to Garrett – that’s a prop by Oakland – and a single by Millan loaded the bases but Staub grounded out to end the threat. After a single and some scary fly-outs in the fifth the score was Mets 2-0.

In the top of the sixth Seaver channeled a little Catfish in a bad way. After Rudi hit one to the warning track in center, Bando did the same thing but his fell in for a double. A strikeout later Tenace doubled to left, scoring Bando. After a groundout and a quick bottom of the inning the A’s came back in the seventh with three successive pinch hitters but Seaver got them all. So Catfish was gone and in came Darold Knowles for his third game of the Series. He threw shutout ball and in the top of the eighth Campy got things rolling with a single. After the steal from the photo he scored on a Rudi single to right. Tie game. Knowles had a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom and in the ninth Oakland threatened again: new pitcher Ray Sadecki got Davalillo on a grounder; at least he thought he did before Millan flubbed it – he was having a tough run at second – and Pat Bourque then singled. Two on and Sadecki was gone. In came Tug McGraw who got three straight outs. In the Mets’ half Staub lined another ground rule double – he off Paul Lindblad - on two outs but Milner popped up. Again the A’s challenged in the tenth when Bando hit a one-out single to left and then got to second when Millan erred on the relay. A Reggie grounder got him to third and an intentional walk to Tenace had runners at the cornerd. McGraw got Davalillo to fly to right to end the inning. In the bottom after two quick outs Harrelson singled to right and up came Willie Mays to pinch hit for McGraw. In Willie’s last appearance in a game there was no rally-starter but just a grounder to short that got Harrelson. Harry Parker came in to pitch the eleventh and this time Oakland broke through: Ted Kubiak walked and after Angel Mangual struck out the ball got past Jerry Grote for a passed ball. Angel took off for first but he was still out because a batter is only allowed to do that if the base is unoccupied. But Kubiak stole second and scored when Campy singled him in the next at bat. The run was unearned because of the passed ball and Campy got nailed in a rundown but the damage was done. After a Garrett single off Lindblad to open the bottom half, Rollie Fingers came in and got three quick outs and a save. Oakland won 3-2 in the first time in forty years that two consecutive Series games went extra innings. Lindlad got the win, Parker the loss, and Seaver got 12 K’s in his eight innings. He had two excellent post-season games in ’73 and they were both in losses. That must have been pretty frustrating.

This was another game in which the Oakland top three hitters did pretty much all the damage. The NY guys did also. Willie’s name looks a bit non-resplendent down there at the bottom, especially considering it was his swan song. Again I include the pitching line:

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Hunter	6.0	7	2	2	3	5	3.00
Knowles	2.0	0	0	0	1	0	-
Lindblad	2.0	3	0	0	1	0	-
Fingers	1.0	0	0	0	-	0	-
	11.0	10	2	2	5	5	1.64
Seaver	8.0	7	2	2	1	12	2.25
Sadecki	-	1	0	0	-	0	-
McGraw	2.0	1	0	0	1	1	-
Parker	1.0	1	1	0	1	1	-
	11.0	10	3	2	3	14	1.64

#132 - Felix Millan

So this time Topps stuck a Phillie in between the '73 Series opponents so we had to wait a card to get to a Met. This one is an action shot of Felix Millan at Shea watching a hit to left-center it looks like. Felix was always moving at the plate; the guy only struck out between 20 and 30 times a season. He used a heavy bat that he choked up on about a third and was a good contact hitter. In '73 he came over to stabilize the NY middle infield. He did that, provided timely hits, and was probably the only regular not to go out with injury that year. That's John Milner in the background wearing what appears to be a powder-blue batting glove. It's very bright.

Felix Millan is the first guy in the last few posts who did not play college ball. Felix grew up in PR, one of nine kids in a pretty poor household. He played local ball after school and was scouted by a bunch of teams. The A's signed him in '64 and sent him to Single A ball in Florida where he did pretty well. But they left him unprotected and he was snatched by the Braves in that year's first year draft. They sent him to Yakima - that must have been fun for a warm weather kid - where he hit well over .300 and was in Double A before the season was out. He did the same thing up a level in '66 and saw some time in Atlanta at the end of the year. The Braves were ready for him to be their number one guy at second in '67 but Felix tore his Achilles and they sent him to Triple A to recover. He would win his league's player of the year award, hitting .310 with nine triples for the league champs. In '68 he came up to Atlanta for good and made an immediate impact. When he went down with a hand injury in the middle of the season for 17 games, the Braves were a game under .500; when he returned they went 6 and 1. Felix batted close to the plate and would get plunked a few times. But he managed to stay more-or-less injury free the rest of his time in Atlanta. While there he made three All-Star appearances, including a start, and won two Gold Gloves. He had some amazingly low strikeout totals. His worst season was '69 when he had 35 Ks in 708 plate appearances. In '72 he injured a hamstring, lost some time, and his numbers declined. Before the '73 season he was sent to NY with George Stone for Danny Frisella and Gary Gentry.

Millan was a key player for NY during the '73 season and did well against the Reds in the playoffs but not so super in the Series. From '74 to '76 he would continue as the Mets regular second baseman posting around a .280 average with excellent defense and his habitually low strikeouts. In '77 Felix had a slow start and his season was shattered in a game in which he got in a fight with Pirates catcher Ed Ott who threw Millan on the ground, wrecking Felix' shoulder. That was it for the season and the Mets. The next three seasons he played in Japan and in '79 he would win the league batting title, hitting .346. He would hit .306 over there in total and after some nagging injuries that cut into his '80 playing time he retired. In the majors Felix hit .279 with only 242 Ks in almost 1,500 games. In the post-season he hit .254 with ten runs in 15 games. He is the top 50 for career DP's turned at second base.

After playing Millan returned to PR and got college and masters degrees (I do not know in what). He did some work for Atlanta and the Mets in various community-related capacities. He presently does speaking engagements.

That six-for-six record was broken by Rennie Stennett in '75. As noted above, Felix finished with a pretty good defensive record too. In addition to the DP work indicated, he is 31st in career putouts and 50th in career assists at second base and he was done up top when he was only 33.

Let's use a guy whose already had a post:

1. Millan and Del Unser '75 to '76 Mets;
2. Unser and Bob Boone '73 to '74 Phillies.