| 1975 National League Championship Series | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
| Dates | October 4–7 | |||||||||
| Umpires | John Kibler Andy Olsen Frank Pulli Billy Williams Tom Gorman(crew chief) Art Williams | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | NBC WLWT (CIN) KDKA-TV (PIT) | |||||||||
| TV announcers | NBC:Joe Garagiola andMaury Wills (in Cincinnati) Curt Gowdy andTony Kubek (in Pittsburgh) WLWT:Ken Coleman andWoody Woodward KDKA-TV:Bob Prince andNellie King | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
The1975 National League Championship Series was a best-of-five match-up inMajor League Baseball’s1975 postseason between the East Division championPittsburgh Pirates and the West Division championCincinnati Reds. It was the seventhNLCS in all. The Reds swept the Pirates in three games and went on to win theWorld Series against theBoston Red Sox.
Cincinnati won the series, 3–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 4 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 3,Cincinnati Reds – 8 | Riverfront Stadium | 3:00 | 54,633[1] |
| 2 | October 5 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 1,Cincinnati Reds – 6 | Riverfront Stadium | 2:51 | 54,752[2] |
| 3 | October 7 | Cincinnati Reds – 5, Pittsburgh Pirates – 3(10) | Three Rivers Stadium | 2:47 | 46,355[3] |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Cincinnati | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 8 | 11 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Don Gullett (1–0) LP:Jerry Reuss (0–1) Home runs: PIT: None CIN:Don Gullett (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pirates struck first in the second offDon Gullett when he hitDave Parker with a pitch with two outs beforeRichie Hebner's double andFrank Taveras's single scored a run each, but in the bottom half, Gullett's RBI single offJerry Reuss with two on cut the Pirates' lead to 2–1. Next inning, after two walks,Tony Perez's RBI single tied the game and two outs later,Ken Griffey's two-run single put the Reds up 4–2. In the fifth, the Reds loaded the bases with no outs offLarry Demery on a walk and two singles before Griffey's sacrifice fly andCesar Geronimo's groundout scored a run each. Gullett's home run then made it 8–2.Bob Robertson's two-out RBI single with two on cut the lead to 8–3, but Gullett pitched a complete game to give the Reds a 1–0 series lead.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Cincinnati | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | X | 6 | 12 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Fred Norman (1–0) LP:Jim Rooker (0–1) Sv:Rawly Eastwick (1) Home runs: PIT: None CIN:Tony Pérez (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tony Pérez's two-run home run in the first offJim Rooker gave the Reds a lead they never relinquished. The Pirates cut it to 2–1 in the fourth offFred Norman whenWillie Stargell hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a wild pitch and after a walk, scored onRichie Hebner's groundout, but in the bottom half, three straight leadoff singles gave the Reds that run back. After a double steal, Norman's sacrifice fly extended their lead to 4–1. In the sixth,Ken Griffey hit a leadoff single offKent Tekulve, stole second and third, and scored onKen Brett's balk. Next inning,Bruce Kison hitJoe Morgan with a pitch to lead off. After stealing second, Morgan scored on Perez's RBI single.Rawly Eastwick pitched three innings of relief as the Reds' 6–1 win gave them a 2–0 series lead.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Rawly Eastwick (1–0) LP:Ramón Hernández (0–1) Sv:Pedro Borbón (1) Home runs: CIN:Dave Concepción (1),Pete Rose (1) PIT:Al Oliver (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The only drama of the Series came in Game 3 played atPittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium.
The home team sent left-handerJohn Candelaria to the hill to try to stem the Red tide and the 21-year-old rookie responded magnificently. He yielded a home run to Dave Concepción in the second inning, but going into the eighth had a 2–1 lead, the result of Al Oliver's two-run homer in the Pirate sixth inning offGary Nolan. Candelaria struck out the first two batters in the eighth. That gave him a total of 14 for the game, a new playoff record. Concepción's circuit clout had been the only Reds hit to that point.
But, inexplicably, he lost his control and walkedMerv Rettenmund, a pinch-hitter.Pete Rose then blasted a home run to put the Reds ahead, 3–2. WhenJoe Morgan followed Rose's homer with a double, Candelaria left the game. The Pirates tied the game in the ninth when relief pitcher Rawly Eastwick walked in the tying run with two out.
But it all served merely to delay the inevitable. The Reds got three hits and two runs off veteran Ramón Hernández, the third Pittsburgh hurler, in the top of the tenth.Ken Griffey hit leadoff single, moved to second on a balk, then to third on a groundout before scoring onEd Armbrister's sacrifice fly.Pete Rose singled before Morgan's RBI double padded the Reds' lead to 5–3.Pedro Borbon retired the Pirates in order in the bottom of the inning as the Reds clinched their third pennant of the decade.
This game, and Game 3 of the1975 American League Championship Series, were the first league championship series games played at night.[4] Both were regionally televised byNBC.
1975 NLCS(3–0):Cincinnati Reds overPittsburgh Pirates
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 29 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 20 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total attendance: 155,740 Average attendance: 51,913 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||