9-26-61: Reds' Lynch-pin delivers pennant

Jerry Lynch, who set a record for pinch homers in 1961 with five, didn't homer in the pinch but certainly delivered in the clutch with a two-run shot that in the eighth inning that put the Cincinnati Reds ahead in their pennant-clinching 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 26.

Frank Robinson, the 1961 National League MVP, stated his case on Sept. 26 with a two-run homer that tied the game in the Cincinnati Reds' 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs that clinched the Reds' first pennant in 21 years. Robinson also scored the Reds' final run and finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

By Phil Ellenbecker

 It wasn't Lynch in the pinch, but it was most certainly timely.

 Jerry Lynch, who set a single-season record for pinch-hit homers with five in 1961, clubbed a two-run dinger in the eighth inning that snapped a 3-3 tie Sept. 26 of that year as the Cincinnati Reds clinched their first National League pennant in 21 years. Lynch's homer made the difference in a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on a Tuesday afternoon.

  Lynch, also the all-time leader in pinch homers with 18, started on this day in left field and was 0-for-3 when he came to the plate in the eighth with two outs and Vada Pinson on first via a single. On a 2-2 count, Lynch sent a pitch far over the right-field bleachers off Bob Anderson for his 13th homer of the season.

  “Don’t worry, Pete, I’ll get one," Lynch had promised coach Pete Whisenant before coming to bat, according to Jim Brosnan in "Pennant Race," his diary of the 1961 Reds season. "Hit it on the fists or something.” 

  Also quite timely was a two-run homer the inning before by Frank Robinson, the 1961 NL MVP, which tied the game at 3-3. Robby's 37th homer of the season came after Gordy Coleman led off the inning with a walk.

  And penning an almost-perfect closing script for the clincher was "The Professor," Brosnan, known both during and after his playing days as an author but also a pretty fine relief pitcher, especially this season. Brosnan struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 Chicago ninth to finish with three innings of one-hit shutout relief. Brosnan had pitched for the Cubs from 1954 to 1958

  After Robinson tied the game in the seventh, he tried to do the Cubs a favor by committing an error in the bottom half of the inning with two out, allowing Ernie Banks to reach second base. But Brosnan, who'd come on at the beginning of the inning, struck out George Altman and relatively breezed the rest of the way, an infield single by Ron Santo in the eighth the only blemish on his victory-earning outing.

  Brosnan improved to 10-3 in his seventh appearance of the year in which he went three or more innings. His four strikeouts were a season high. He would finish the season at 10-4 with a 3.04 ERA and 16 saves, good for third in the NL. But he hadn't been so great against the Cubs coming into this game -- 0-2 with an 8.37 ERA in eight appearances.

  “'My God, I could lose three games to these guys!' I thought," wrote Brosnan in "Pennant Race," a follow-up to "The Long Season," his diary of the 1959 season. "For once, however, I knew I had good stuff. My slider was fast and sharp, the best I’d had all year."

"The Professor," Jim Brosnan, was known as a writer both during and after his baseball playing days, but his pitches spoke loudly on Sept. 26, 1961. He threw three innings of shutout relief to nail down the Cincinnati Reds' pennant-clinching 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs, his former team. He also drove in an insurance run in the ninth inning.

  Robinson added to his MVP case and Brosnan helped his cause in the ninth. Robby doubled leading off and scored an insurance run on a single by Brosnan off Glen Hobbie. Robinson went 2-for-4 on the day with two RBIs and two runs scored. He'd finish the season hitting .323 (sixth in the league) with 37 homers (third) and 124 RBIs (second).

  The Cubs led 3-0 through five innings. They grabbed the early advantage in the first against Bob Purkey when Altman doubled in Don Zimmer. Zimmer had singled, advanced to second on a passed ball by Reds catcher Johnny Edwards and went to third on Banks' ground out.

  Edwards, having trouble with the deliveries of knuckleballing Purkey, committed another passed ball that allowed Altman to third. But Purkey knuckled down to get Billy Williams on a fly for the third out.

  Chicago upped the lead in the fifth with a small-ball rally that included a single to left field by Anderson, back-to-back infield singles by Richie Ashburn and Zimmer, and an error by shortstop Kasko on a ball by Banks that allowed Anderson to score. Altman then drew a bases-loaded walk for his second RBI, Ashburn crossing the plate to make the score 3-0.

  Edwards, an eventual two-time Gold Glove winner at catcher, was having a tough time up until then. He'd grounded into a double play his first time at bat.

  But the rookie redeemed himself and broke up Anderson's shutout with a homer starting the Reds' half of the fifth. It was his second and final homer of the season. His first had come back on June 28 in his second game and fourth at-bat in the major leagues -- and it came against the Cubs. 

  Anderson forged on until Robinson's double in the ninth. He took the loss and dropped to 7-10, allowing seven hits and six runs, all earned, in his eight innings. He walked four and struck out one.

  Purkey, a five-time All-Star who would finish the year 16-12 with a 3.73 ERA, allowed five hits and three runs, one earned, in five innings before giving way to pinch hitter Gus Bell. He walked two and struck out two.

  Fireballing Jim Maloney came on in the sixth and struck out two in his one-inning stint before Brosnan came in to slam the door. At this time Maloney was relieving more than starting, but he would emerge as one of the NL's premier power pitchers of the 1960s and would throw two no-hitters and lose another in the 11th inning.

  The game featured many present and future standouts, including five Hall of Famers -- Ashburn, Banks, Williams and Santo for the Cubs and Robinson for the Reds. And many people think Pinson, who went 2-for-3 in the game, belongs in the Hall.

  Williams, who went 0-for-4 in the game, would win NL Rookie of the Year honors for '61 after hitting .278 with 25 homers and 86 RBIs. Santo was just in his second season but began to emerge this year with 23 homers and 83 RBIs while hitting .284.

  The Reds, who'd been picked to finish sixth in the NL in the preseason, according to Tony Valley at the Society for American Baseball Research's Games Project, clinched at least a tie for the pennant with the Sept. 26 win and had the crown to themselves after the Pittsburgh Pirates split a doubleheader with second-place Los Angeles that night. They stood 92-59, 4 1/2 ahead of the Dodgers, and finished the season 93-61, four games up. Their win total was the team's highest since a 100-victory season in 1940 that ended with a World Series title.

  The New York Yankees beat the Reds 4-1 in the 1961 World Series.

  The Cubs were 62-89 after Sept. 26, in seventh place and 30 games behind the Reds. They'd finish 64-90, seventh and 29 back, but 17 ahead of Philadelphia -- but still stuck in the doldrums they'd been in pretty much since reaching the 1945 World Series. From 1947 through 1966 they never finished higher than fifth, MVP awards by Hank Sauer in 1952 and Banks in '58 and '59 among their few bright spots. But with their Hall of Famers in tow they'd rise again with third place or better finishes from 1967 to 1972 under Leo Durocher, yet coming up short of a pennant or division title  -- three times runner-up.

A case for Lynch

  Although the Reds had the league's MVP with Robinson, a 21-game winner in Joey Jay and 19-game winner in Jim O'Toole, and probably the league's best bullpen with Brosnan and Bill Henry (16 saves), Lynch might have been as vital to their cause as anybody. On a per-at bat ratio he was highly effective, hitting .315 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs in 96 games and 181 at-bats. Even more impressive was his .404 average in 47 pinch at-bats. His record five pinch homers included ones back-to-back on April 23 and 26.

  He finished 22nd in MVP voting, but one noted baseball observer thought he might have deserved first. In his "Historical Baseball Abstract," Bill James noted, as quoted in a Baseball Almanac post:

   "He hit over .400 as a pinch hitter (19-for-47), with power and played 44 games in the outfield. His slugging percentage of .624 and 50 RBI in 181 at-bats was a far better rate than Roger Maris had that same season, hitting 61 home runs. More than that, Lynch had big, big hits; game after game, when the Reds were in danger of falling short, Lynch came up with the big hit to put them back in front, and the Reds, picked to finish sixth, won the pennant."

  Lynch was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1988, and his Hall of Fame page includes this insightful quote on his pinch-hitting philosophy:

  "The good pinch hitter is the guy who can relax enough to get the pitch he can hit. You almost always do get one pitch to hit every time you bat. So you have to have the patience to wait. And then you've got to be able to handle the pitch when you get it."

  And as for how he handled those pitches, Lynch believes he stood with the best of them when it counted most.

  "The best pinch hitter I ever saw, by far, no question, has to be Smoky Burgess. He was gifted," Lynch told Phil Axelrod in a 1994 Baseball Digest article. "But I was the best clutch hitter because I hit 18 dingers. I rang the bell 18 times. Hey, if you don't think you're the best, who will?"

 When Lynch rang the ball yet again Sept. 26, 1961,the Reds could start ringing up the cash registers for World Series tickets. 

Sources

Play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1961/B09260CHN1961.htm  and  https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-26-1961-cincinnati-reds-clinch-first-nl-pennant-21-years

Jerry Lynch biographical info:  https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=lynchje01

Additional background came from various sources on the Retrosheet and Society for American Baseball Research's Biography Project and Games Project websites, as well as baseballreference.com. 

Not-so-magic Royals moments, '80 Series: K.C. can't cash in vs. Carlton

Steve Carlton was a mass of facial contortions as he bore down to repeatedly turn back Kansas City Royals threats in Game 2 of the 1980 World Series at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium.

Steve Carlton's steely-eyed determination made a major difference in the Philadelphia Phillies' triumph over the Kansas City Royals in the 1980 World Series. Carlton repeatedly left Royals stranded on base as he gutted out a 6-4 victory in Game 2. Then he slammed the door on K.C. in a 4-1 clinching win in Game 6.

By Phil Ellenbecker

  Mike Schmidt was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1980 World Series, and it's hard to argue with that.

  Schmidt, who would also be named the National League MVP for 1980, batted .381 with two homers and seven RBIs, including the Series-clinching runs in a 4-1 Game 6 victory, to help the Philadelphia Phillies defeat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 for the Phillies’ first Fall Classic title in the franchise’s 97-year history.

  But while Schmidt had a great Series, it didn't stand out too much from what others on either team accomplished. For the Phillies, Bob Boone hit. 412 and Larry Bowa hit .375 while turning a record seven double plays at shortstop. If the Royals would have won, Willie Aikens (.400, four homers, eight RBIs) and Amos Otis (.478, eight RBIs) would have been most worthy MVP candidates, while Schmidt's all-time great counterpart at third base George Brett and Hal McRae each hit .375.

  From this partial observer's standpoint, as someone who'd followed the Royals since their first season, the most valuable Phillie, the one who made the difference in a pretty evenly matched Series -- the man who was Public Enemy No. 1 to this Royals fan -- was the man they call "Lefty" -- Hall of Fame southpaw Steve Carlton.

  Carlton, who won the NL Cy Young Award this year with a 24-9 record and 2.34 ERA,  went 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 15 innings in the Series, including seven Ks in seven innings in the Phillies' Game 6 win.

  But what was especially impressive, what truly made him a difference maker, was his performance in Game 2. No, it wasn't a dominating performance, far from it. But it was the kind of performance the great ones summon when they don't have their best stuff, when the opposing team has them on the ropes. You can't win 'em all, but the great ones win the ones they're not supposed to.

  The Royals had Carlton on the ropes all night Wednesday, Oct. 15. They got to him for four runs, three earned, and 10 hits in eight innings. He walked six batters.

  He bent a lot, but the Royals couldn't completely break him, and his resilience, with the help of 10 strikeouts, got the Phillies through to a 6-4 victory at Philly's Veterans Stadium that gave them a 2-0 lead in the Series.

  I can still clearly see the TV close-ups of Carlton on the mound, straining and grimacing, but never flinching, as the Royals constantly threatened. And I'm convinced that if they could have gotten to him a bit more and won the game, they would have won the Series. Beating the Phillies' ace southpaw could have been a huge psychological advantage for the Royals.

  But the Royals couldn't capitalize when they had a chance, and the next time they faced him, with a title on the line, they had no chance.

  How gritty was Carlton on this night? The Royals left 11 men on base, including six in scoring position in six separate innings. And another time they had a runner on second thrown out attempting to go to third on a sacrifice fly for the third out of the inning.

  Four times with runners in scoring position, Carlton got a strikeout. Two other times he coaxed double plays. Four runs for the Royals, but they were so close to a few more.

  Let's take a closer look at how "Lefty" negotiated this mine field:

• With runners at first and second base and two out in the first inning, a fielder's choice grounder by Amos Otis got Carlton out of the inning.
• Again with runners at first and second and two out in the second, Carlton struck out Willie Wilson.
• Again with runners at first and second in the third, this time with one out, Otis grounded to shortstop Larry Bowa, who went to Manny Trillo at second, who went to Pete Rose at first for the double play.
• The Royals only got one on in this fourth, and the Bowa-to Trillo-to Rose combo struck again to end the inning with a double play off the bat of Jose Cardenal.
• Yet again in the fifth, first and second, two out, and Carlton fanned cleanup hitter McRae.
• The Royals finally broke through with a run in the sixth off Trillo's error, cutting the Phillies' lead to 2-1. But with -- guess what? -- runners at first and second and one out, Carlton dialed up another 6-4-3 double play, Frank White doing the dubious honor for the Royals this time.
• A two-run double by Otis moved the Royals ahead in the seventh, and John Wathan's sacrifice fly to center with one out made it 4-2. But when Otis tried to advance from second on Wathan's fly out, center fielder Garry Maddox threw him out at third with the help of Rose's relay.
• And here we go again, first and second, two out in the eighth, and U.L. Washington whiffs.

Larry Bowa batted .375 and turned a record seven double plays at shortstop to help the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals in six games in the 1980 World Series. He turned three double plays to help Steve Carlton escape numerous jams in a 4-2 victory in Game 2.

  And then the Phillies made the Royals pay by scoring four runs off K.C. closer Dan Quisenberry to go up by the final margin.

  Ron Reed relieved Carlton in ninth, and after he struck out pinch hitter Darryl Porter, McRae singled to bring the tying run to the plate. Otis hit into a fielder's choice and Wathan struck out, and that was the ballgame.

  You can pin the blame for this one on Quisenberry's failure to protect the two-run lead. Quiz -- who would win the first of five Rolaids AL Fireman of the Year awards this season, with 33 saves the first of five league-leading seasons -- retired the Phillies in order when he took over for starter Larry Gura starting the seventh. But after walking the leadoff batter in the eighth he was rocked for four hits, including doubles by pinch hitter Del Unser and Schmidt. That led to four runs, and ultimate doom.

  You can also point to Otis, who although he drove in half the Royals' runs also left five men on base, grounded into a double play and got thrown out for the third out of an inning.

  And you can also point to the absence from the bottom of the sixth on of all-time clutch performer and 1980 AL MVP Brett. He had to sit out because of pain from a case of hemorrhoids.

Steve Carlton, the 1980 NL Cy Young Award winner, and George Brett, the 1980 AL MVP, square off in Game 2 of that year's World Series. Brett had to leave the game in the sixth inning because of pain from a case of hemorrhoids.

  But when all was said and done, you can't ignore the repeated escape acts of Lefty. He was a difference maker, most definitely.

  The opportunities were few and far between when the Royals faced Carlton again in Game 6. He retired K.C. 1-2-3 in three of his first seven innings, got out of another in three batters with the help of a double play started by Bowa, and faced only four batters in the three others with the help of another Bowa-started DP.

  When the Royals got their first two runners on in the eighth, Phillies manager Dallas Green brought in Tug McGraw, who got out of bases-loaded jams in both the eighth and ninth to close out the 4-1 win and the Series.

  So in the end, missed chances again for the Royals. They left 54 men on base in the Series to 41 for Philly, including 11 precious ones against Lefty in Game 2.

  Carlton, who finished his 24-year career with a 329-244 record, 3.22 ERA and 4,413 strikeouts (fourth all time), used to plunge his pitching fist to the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket of rice to develop the necessary hand strength to throw his tight slider. That helped him win four Cy Young Awards.

  On that Wednesday night in Philadelphia, whenever they threatened, the Royals were so much rice pudding in the hands of Carlton.

Sources:

Play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1980/B10150PHI1980.htm  

Series summary:  https://www.royalsreview.com/2019/8/7/20731942/a-look-back-at-the-1980-world-series  
Additional background came from various sources on the Retrosheet and Society for American Baseball Research's Biography Project and Games Project websites, as well as baseballreference.com.