Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Email me at btimmermann@gmail.com
Select a date:
During the radio broadcast of today's game between the DBacks and Pirates in Pittsburgh, Pirates radio analyst Steve Blass told a story about how the San Diego Padres flew out to Pittsburgh at the end of the 1973 season to make up a game that he said had no bearing on the playoffs. And he said the Padres won 22-3.
First of all, the Padres flew out to Pittsburgh because the Pirates still had a chance to finish in a tie for the NL East. At the end of play on September 30, the Mets were 81-79, the Cardinals were 81-81, and the Pirates were 80-81.
On October 1, the Mets were scheduled to play a doubleheader in Chicago and the Padres flew out to makeup an earlier rainout. The Padres had actually finished their regular season on a Saturday, September 29. I'm assuming that was because the Chargers had a home game.
So the Padres had a day off to make the always fun San Diego to Pittsburgh commute. If the Pirates won and the Cubs swept the Mets in the doubleheader, there would have been a three-way tie for the NL East.
The Mets won the division though by winning the first game at Wrigley by a 6-4 margin before a crowd of 1,913. The second game of the doubleheader was canceled. The Pirates had been playing at the same time and just finished out their game. The Padres won, but they didn't score 22 runs.
They scored four runs. The Padres won 4-3. A crowd of 2,572 looked on.
As today's game has gone on, the Pirates announcers (Blass, Lanny Frattare, and Greg Brown) have pretty much stopped talking about the game and are discussing characters from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
But I remember the 1973 NL East race.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.