I seem to remember back in 1968 — that was the Last True World Series, for those who remember a time when the NL and AL didn't have "divisions". The Cardinals played the Detroit Tigers, and, IIRC, the Cardinals were considered the better team at the time.
But the base-running turned out not to be a plus for St. Louis, even with the famous Lou Brock in the line-up. Perhaps one reason was that their bats were pretty quiet as well (I particularly remember Brock stealing bases with abandon; but getting little or no support from his teammates). But both sides had low batting averages in the era of the late '60s (with the Yaz' regular season batting title at .301).
Detroit's Mayo Smith struggled to get hitting into the lineup, moving an outfielder, Mickey Stanley, to the shortstop position. The Cardinals' pitching was good, with Bob Gibson their lead pitcher; but that was the year that Mickey Lolich went unconscious for Detroit, winning three games of the seven-game series, while Denny McLain won the fourth.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-10-27 11:00 pm (UTC)I seem to remember back in 1968 — that was the Last True World Series, for those who remember a time when the NL and AL didn't have "divisions". The Cardinals played the Detroit Tigers, and, IIRC, the Cardinals were considered the better team at the time.
But the base-running turned out not to be a plus for St. Louis, even with the famous Lou Brock in the line-up. Perhaps one reason was that their bats were pretty quiet as well (I particularly remember Brock stealing bases with abandon; but getting little or no support from his teammates). But both sides had low batting averages in the era of the late '60s (with the Yaz' regular season batting title at .301).
Detroit's Mayo Smith struggled to get hitting into the lineup, moving an outfielder, Mickey Stanley, to the shortstop position. The Cardinals' pitching was good, with Bob Gibson their lead pitcher; but that was the year that Mickey Lolich went unconscious for Detroit, winning three games of the seven-game series, while Denny McLain won the fourth.