1973 World Series

Lore & Background

The Mets won the NL East division by 1+1⁄2 games over the St. Louis Cardinals, then defeated the Cincinnati Reds, three games to two, in the NL Championship Series. The Athletics won the AL West division by six games over the Kansas City Royals, then defeated the Baltimore Orioles, three games to two, in the AL Championship Series. This was the first World Series in which all weekday games started at night. This was the last World Series in which each team produced and sold its own game programs for its home games. Reggie Jackson was named the World Series MVP. Jackson batted .310 with seven hits and six RBIs and a home run and scored three runs. Jackson was only the second player to be named league MVP and World Series MVP in the same year. Sandy Koufax was the first in 1963.

In Their Own Story

The October air over the Coliseum tasted like cut grass and cheap beer. You could feel it in the stands—that low, sustained hum of a crowd that had already won last year and was now watching the A's do it again, as if checking a box on a list. A kid in the third row, maybe ten years old, sat cross-legged on his father's knees, a crumpled program in his lap, watching Catfish Hunter wind up from the mound. The Mets' batter swung, missed, and the kid didn't even flinch. He'd seen this before. He'd see it again next year, and the year after that. But in this moment, in this particular October, the A's were simply doing what they did: making the other team's best players look like they were playing in a different sport. The hum in the stands never broke. It just got louder.

Reader's Guide

The 1973 Mets' .509 season winning percentage is the lowest posted by any pennant winner in major league history. At 82–79, the 1973 New York Mets had the worst record of any team to play in a World Series. The Oakland Athletics secured the pennant by overcoming the Baltimore Orioles in the 1973 ALCS. The Athletics, defending champions, still possessed a formidable lineup headed by a healthy Reggie Jackson (.293, 32 HR, 117 RBI, 22 stolen bases) who would be named league MVP in 1973. The pitching staff featured three 20-game winners, Ken Holtzman (21–13), Catfish Hunter (21–5), and Vida Blue (20–9), with Rollie Fingers (22 saves, 1.92) serving as the A's ace relief pitcher. Oakland reliever Darold Knowles became the first pitcher to appear in every game of a seven-game World Series.

Did You Know?

• The 1973 Mets had the worst record of any team to play in a World Series, at 82–79.
• Reggie Jackson was only the second player to be named league MVP and World Series MVP in the same year, after Sandy Koufax in 1963.
• Oakland reliever Darold Knowles became the first pitcher to appear in every game of a seven-game World Series.
• The 1973 World Series was the first in which all weekday games started at night.
• Willie Mays recorded the final hit of his career in Game 2 of this Series.