Tuesday, September 20, 2005 |
Random Angels Game Callback
September 20, 1972
It was the last year pitchers would have to hit for themselves in the American League, and Kansas City pitcher Steve Busby was furious. He had a good reason: first base umpire John Rice called time just before Busby swung the bat, voiding a grand slam. As it was, he had to settle for a single that scored a pair, but either one would have been his first major league hit. Minutes before, Rice had ejected Angels starter Rudy May for arguing a call on a Steve Hovley sacrifice bunt, and then, for good measure, threw out Royals manager Bob Lemon. "I heard him call time out," Lemon said after the game, "but, hell, I had to get mad at somebody." Even Royals starter Dick Drago got ejected, for nothing worse than throwing a towel onto the field.It was an era of frustration for baseball. Attendance had fallen some, though not drastically, over the prior year, and as usual, the owners considered a number of tonics for that, but rarely could find agreement. Some, including about-to-be Angels manager Bobby Winkles, called the game "dull", needing an injection of life compared to the always-moving field of football, or basketball's hyperkinetic frenzy. When the American League proposed a "designated pinch-hitter" position, former Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale, unsurprising for a man who once hit .300, sided with the traditionalists, saying, "I don't think they should monkey around with the rules. The game has been the same all these years and I think if you fool around with it, you're just asking for trouble. Where do you stop?"
But finalizing the decision that would make the AL a pitcher's bane would be a long offseason away. Right here and now, Angels third starter May, prior to his suspension, had just started things off terribly and surrendered a grand slam to John Mayberry following three consecutive walks. It was Earl Weaver style baseball, with the Angels on the wrong end. With their starter ejected in the first, the Angels ran through five more pitchers, though most of them would be more successful than May had been, with only Lloyd Allen (2 runs) and Dave Sells (1) allowing further damage. May had good reason to be unhappy; he had just come off five straight complete game victories, including an 11-inning 1-0 win over the Chisox.
The Angels would go on to lose 9-2, the only scoring coming off a Sandy Alomar groundout, and a Chris Coletta single. Coletta, a career minor-leaguer, would get 30 at bats with the Angels that year -- essentially the extent of his major league career. It was a pretty good line, .300/.323/.433, but the next year, he found himself traded, along with the storied Billy Grabarkewitz, as the player to be named later, to the Phillies. The Angels, 67-76 after the loss, were looking up at four teams, 18 games back of Oakland, this despite the addition of a future Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan, to the rotation. Oakland would go on to beat Detroit 3-2 in the ALCS and take the World Series, four games to three, over the Reds.
As usual, thanks to Retrosheet, Baseball Reference, and the Los Angeles Times for research assistance.
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