Reggie is not celebrating.
October 12, 1972: The Oakland Athletics defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and take the American League Pennant. It is the 1st Pennant for the "A's" since they were in Philadelphia in 1931, 41 years and 2 moves earlier.
John "Blue Moon" Odom was the winning pitcher, outpitching Woodie Fryman. Odom pitched the 1st 5 innings, and Vida Blue, the superstar pitcher of the previous season, pitched the last 4 for a very clutch save.
The Tigers had scored on a Bill Freehan groundout in the bottom of the 1st inning. In the top of the 2nd, A's manager Dick Williams ordered a double steal. Mike Epstein was on 1st base, and he stole 2nd. Seeing Reggie Jackson on 3rd base, breaking for home, Tiger shortstop Dick McAuliffe cut Freehan's throw off, and threw back to him. Reggie was safe, but tore his hamstring, and was out of the game.
The winning run scored in the top of the 4th inning. George Hendrick led off by grounding to McAuliffe, but he made a bad throw to 1st base. Sal Bando bunted him over to 2nd base. Epstein struck out, but Gene Tenace singled Hendrick home. Odom and Blue made the lead hold up.
After the game, in spite of the joy of the Pennant, Odom and Blue give new meaning to the team's nickname, "the Swingin' A's." Blue asked Odom, "How come you starters can't finish what you begin?" He answers his own question by grabbing his throat, the universal "choke" sign. Odom took exception to this, and started a brawl. It was quickly broken up.
Reggie was unable to play in the World Series, and when introduced before the games, came out of the dugout on crutches. He would make up for that many times, as he is the only man to win World Series MVPs with two different teams: The A's in 1973, and the New York Yankees in 1977.
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October 12, 1972 was a Friday. This was also the day of the race riot about the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. I have a separate entry for that event.
The National League Pennant had been decided the day before, when the Cincinnati Reds won Game 5 of the NL Championship Series over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The A's went on to beat the Reds in the World Series, in 7 games.
In the World Hockey Association, the New England Whalers made their debut. They defeated the Philadelphia Blazers 2-0 at the Boston Garden. They would win the 1st WHA title in 1973. Tired of being mistreated by their landlords, the NHL's Bruins, they would move to Hartford in 1975.
In 1979, following the WHA's collapse, they were allowed into the NHL, and changed their name to the Hartford Whalers. In 1997, they moved to become the Carolina Hurricanes, winning the Stanley Cup in 2006. (UPDATE: And again in 2026.)
Also on this day, the Winnipeg Jets, the team that came to define the WHA in so many ways, debuted. So did the obligatory New York Tri-State Area franchise in the league, the New York Raiders. Christian Bordeleau scored 4 goals, including the club's 1st, and the Jets won, 6-4. Only 6,273 fans come out, mainly because the legal maneuvering that would allow Bobby Hull to play for the Jets had not yet been settled, and he wasn't available.
The Raiders wanted the new Nassau Coliseum, but got pushed around by the expansion Islanders. The Garden was willing to take them in, but they were low priority. Marvin Milkes, the Seattle Pilots general manager made infamous by Jim Bouton's book Ball Four, was their GM -- that should tell you what kind of organization they were. Their main radio announcer was a young John Sterling.
By midseason, their ownership had bailed, the league took them over, they spent the 1973-74 season in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill as the Jersey Knights -- the only South Jersey team ever to be remotely considered "major league," and folded.
The Jets would be considerably luckier, settling the situation with Hull (the Golden Jet, for whom the team was named), reaching the 1st WHA Finals (where they lost to the Whalers), and winning the title in 1976, '78 and '79.
Taken into the NHL, and stripped of their big stars (Hull played out the string in Hartford, while Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson were sold to the Rangers), they collapsed immediately, set an NHL record for longest winless streak, and became known as Lose-ipeg. They would recover somewhat, but never got close to a Stanley Cup, and became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996 and the Arizona Coyotes in 2014. The Atlanta Thrashers became the new Winnipeg Jets in 2011.
The Raiders wanted the new Nassau Coliseum, but got pushed around by the expansion Islanders. The Garden was willing to take them in, but they were low priority. Marvin Milkes, the Seattle Pilots general manager made infamous by Jim Bouton's book Ball Four, was their GM -- that should tell you what kind of organization they were. Their main radio announcer was a young John Sterling.
By midseason, their ownership had bailed, the league took them over, they spent the 1973-74 season in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill as the Jersey Knights -- the only South Jersey team ever to be remotely considered "major league," and folded.
The Jets would be considerably luckier, settling the situation with Hull (the Golden Jet, for whom the team was named), reaching the 1st WHA Finals (where they lost to the Whalers), and winning the title in 1976, '78 and '79.
Taken into the NHL, and stripped of their big stars (Hull played out the string in Hartford, while Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson were sold to the Rangers), they collapsed immediately, set an NHL record for longest winless streak, and became known as Lose-ipeg. They would recover somewhat, but never got close to a Stanley Cup, and became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996 and the Arizona Coyotes in 2014. The Atlanta Thrashers became the new Winnipeg Jets in 2011.
One more WHA game was played that day: The Houston Aeros beat the Chicago Cougars, 3-2 at the Sam Houston Coliseum.
There were 3 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the Nassau Coliseum. This was only the 2nd game, and 1st win, in regular-season play for the expansion Isles.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Atlanta Flames, 3-0 at the Montreal Forum. This was the 4th regular-season game for the expansion Flames, who had only won 1 to this point, their debut, against the Islanders.
And the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
The NBA season had just started, but had no games on this day. There were 3 in the American Basketball Association:
* The Carolina Cougars beat the Virginia Squires, 123-115 at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Memphis Tams, 109-105 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. George Thompson scored 34 points in defeat.
* And the Utah Stars beat the Denver Rockets, 115-104 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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