1972 World Series
The Hairs vs. the Squares
The 1972 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1972 season. The 69th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Oakland Athletics and the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. The Athletics won in seven games for their sixth World Series championship and first since 1930, when the team was still based in Philadelphia. This was the first major professional sports championship ever won by a San Francisco Bay Area-based team.
Quick Facts
- Season highlight
- Vida Blue's record that season was 6-10
Lore & Background
This was the first World Series in which both teams wore pullover jerseys, a style that would remain the norm until 1982, after which at least one team in the Fall Classic would wear them each year through 1990, after which traditional button-front jerseys once again predominated. Coincidentally, both this World Series and the 1990 World Series featured the same two teams, the Athletics and the Reds, though with far different results; the Athletics won this one in a hard fought seven games, while the Reds swept the defending champion Athletics in four games in 1990. This was a matchup of the two premier MLB dynasties of the 1970s, with the Reds winning two World Series (1975–76) in four WS appearances, while the Athletics won three straight (1972–74). Iconoclastic club owner Charlie Finley's "Swingin' A's" featured day-glo uniforms, white shoes, much facial hair, colorful nicknames, and explosive personalities, while "The Big Red Machine" was a more traditional franchise with a more traditional look (including a facial-hair ban)—and an everyday lineup with three future Hall of Famers as well as all-time hits king, Pete Rose. The Series was dubbed "The Hairs vs. the Squares."
Reader's Guide
Oakland played the Series without its star outfielder Reggie Jackson, who was injured (pulled hamstring) stealing home in the second inning of the final game of the ALCS at Detroit. Left-handed reliever Darold Knowles was also missing for the Athletics, breaking his thumb on September 27, less than three weeks before the Series opener. With Jackson out, the Athletics were decided underdogs. George Hendrick was inserted into center field for Jackson. And while Hendrick only went 2-for-15 (.133), unheralded catcher Gene Tenace stepped up. Tenace had a poor regular season, hitting only .225 with just five home runs and 32 RBI in 82 games played. He was even worse in the AL Championship series against Detroit, going 1 for 17 (.059), although his one hit drove in the go-ahead run in Game 5. In the World Series however, Tenace was spectacular, hitting four home runs equaling the World Series mark set by Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Hank Bauer. He also had nine RBI in the Series—no other Oakland player had more than one. Tenace was voted World Series MVP. By contrast, the stellar Oakland pitching kept the middle of the Reds lineup quiet for most of the series. Johnny Bench (.270 avg., 40 HR, 125 RBI, NL MVP), Tony Pérez (.283 avg., 21 HR, 90 RBI), and Denis Menke (9 HR, 50 RBI), combined for only two homers and five RBI the entire Series. Perez did lead both teams with 10 hits and a .435 batting average, but 8 of his 10 hits were singles. It didn't help that the Reds' "table-setters," Pete Rose and Joe Morgan were a combined 4 for 30 through the first four games, when the Reds lost three of those games. The teams were fairly equal statistically, each club totaling 46 hits with the same .209 batting average (the combined batting averages were the lowest recorded in a 7-game World Series). The Reds outscored the Athletics by five runs, but all four of their losses were by a single run. Six of the seven games in the series were decided by one run, marking perhaps the most closely contested World Series in history.
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