1970 World Series

vs. 1970 World Series (4-1) Baltimore Orioles (108-54, AL) over Cincinnati Reds (102-60, NL) BR 1970 World Series Summary

Introduction

The 1970 World Series matched the American League champion Baltimore Orioles against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds, with the Orioles winning in five games.

The Baltimore Orioles won the American League East division by 15 games over the New York Yankees then defeated the Minnesota Twins, three games to none, in the American League Championship Series. The Cincinnati Reds won the National League West division by 14 ½ games over the Los Angeles Dodgers then defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, three games to none, in the National League Championship Series.

In this series, Emmett Ashford became the first African American to umpire in the Fall Classic. It also featured the first World Series games to be played on artificial turf, as Games 1 and 2 took place at Cincinnati's brand-new Riverfront Stadium.

The most controversial play of the Series, and one of the more bizarre in Series play overall, occurred in the 6th inning of Game 1. With one out and two Cincinnati Reds runners on base – Tommy Helms at first and Bernie Carbo at third – pinch-hitter Ty Cline hit (ironically) a "Baltimore chop", a high bouncer, in front of the plate. Umpire Ken Burkhart promptly called a fair ball and found himself caught in the middle of a play when C Elrod Hendricks snatched up the ball and spun around in an attempt to tag out Carbo who was speeding home. Hendricks tagged Carbo with his mitt while holding the ball in his other hand. Burkhart, who was knocked to the ground, called Carbo out on contact, although replays showed that his back was to the tag. Carbo had also missed touching the plate in his diving slide. Reds manager Sparky Anderson ran out of the dugout and argued with Burkhart about the play. Carbo touched home plate incidentally during the argument. The play stood, the score remained tied at 3-3, and the Orioles eventually won, 4-3. To this day, there is still no rule covering the situation of an umpire getting in the way of an attempted tag.

Brooks Robinson won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award hitting .429, which broke the record for total bases with 17, tied the record for most hits in one game with four, and tied teammate Paul Blair for most hits in a five-game Series with nine.

Total Baseball described Brooks Robinson's fielding as "other-wordly defense at third [which] gave Reds righthanded hitters nightmares through the Series."

Prior to Game 1 a reporter asked Brooks "The Hoover" Robinson if he thought he would be able to play defense on the artificial grass. Robinson cooly replied, "I'm a Major League third baseman. If you want to go play in a parking lot, I'm supposed to stop the ball."

Dave McNally, not especially known as a hitter, became the first pitcher to hit a World Series grand slam home run.

Upon hearing that Brooks Robinson had won the MVP award and a new car from Toyota, Reds' catcher Johnny Bench said, "If we had known he wanted a car that badly, we'd all have chipped in and bought him one."

This was the last World Series in which all games were played in the afternoon.

Umpires

• Ken Burkhart (NL), Red Flaherty (AL), Tony Venzon (NL), Bob Stewart (AL), Bill Williams (NL), Emmett Ashford (AL)

Summary

AL Baltimore Orioles (4) vs. AL Cincinnati Reds (1)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance	Time of Game
1	Orioles – 4, Reds – 3	October 10	Riverfront Stadium	51,351	2:24
2	Orioles – 6, Reds – 5	October 11	Riverfront Stadium	51,351	2:26
3	Reds – 3, Orioles – 9	October 13	Memorial Stadium	51,773	2:09
4	Reds – 6, Orioles – 5	October 14	Memorial Stadium	53,007	2:26
5	Reds – 3, Orioles – 9	October 15	Memorial Stadium	45,341	2:35

Matchups

Game 1

October 10, 1970 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Baltimore Orioles            0  0  0    2  1  0    1  0  0     4  7  2
    Cincinnati Reds              1  0  2    0  0  0    0  0  0     3  5  0

    PITCHERS: BAL - Palmer, Richert (9)
              CIN - Nolan, Carroll (7)

               WP - Palmer
	       LP - Nolan
             SAVE - Richert

   HOME RUNS: BAL - Powell, Hendricks, B. Robinson
              CIN - May

  ATTENDANCE: 51,531

Game 2

October 11, 1970 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Baltimore Orioles            0  0  0    1  5  0    0  0  0     6 10  2
    Cincinnati Reds              3  0  1    0  0  1    0  0  0     5  7  0

    PITCHERS: BAL - Cuellar, Phoebus (3), Drabowsky (5), Lopez (7), Hall (8)
              CIN - McGlothlin, Wilcox (5), Carroll (5), Gullett (8)

               WP - Phoebus
	       LP - Wilcox
             SAVE - Hall

   HOME RUNS: BAL - Powell
              CIN - Tolan, Bench

  ATTENDANCE: 51,531

Game 3

October 13, 1970 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Cincinnati Reds              0  1  0    0  0  0    2  0  0     3  9  0
    Baltimore Orioles            2  0  1    0  1  4    1  0  X     9 10  1

    PITCHERS: CIN - Cloninger, Granger (6), Gullett (7)
              BAL - McNally

               WP - McNally
	       LP - Cloninger
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: CIN - none
              BAL - F. Robinson, Buford, McNally

  ATTENDANCE: 51,733

Game 4

October 14, 1970 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Cincinnati Reds              0  1  1    0  1  0    0  3  0     6  8  3
    Baltimore Orioles            0  1  3    0  0  1    0  0  0     5  8  0

    PITCHERS: CIN - Nolan, Gullett (3), Carroll (6)
              BAL - Palmer, Watt (8), Drabowsky (9)

               WP - Carroll
	       LP - Watt
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: CIN - Rose, May
              BAL - B. Robinson

  ATTENDANCE: 53,007

Game 5

October 15, 1970 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Cincinnati Reds              3  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0     3  6  0
    Baltimore Orioles            2  2  2    0  1  0    0  2  X     9 15  0

    PITCHERS: CIN - Merritt, Granger (2), Wilcox (3), Cloninger (5), Washburn (7), Carroll (8)
              BAL - Cuellar

               WP - Cuellar
	       LP - Merritt
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: CIN - none
              BAL - F. Robinson, Rettenmund

  ATTENDANCE: 45,341

mlb.com coverage of Game 5

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Composite Box

1970 World Series (4-1): Baltimore Orioles (A.L.) over Cincinnati Reds (N.L.)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Baltimore Orioles	4	3	6	3	8	5	2	2	0	33	50	5
Cincinnati Reds	7	2	4	0	1	1	2	3	0	20	35	3
Total Attendance: 253,183   Average Attendance: 50,637
Winning Player’s Share: – $18,216,   Losing Player’s Share – $13,688 *Includes Playoffs and World Series

Reference(s)

• David S. Neft and Richard M. Cohen: The World Series, 1st ed. St Martins Press, New York, NY, 1990, pp. 330-334.

External Links

• 1970 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
• 1970 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)
• 1970 World Series at Baseball-Almanac.com
• That Black and Orange Magic at SI.com
• 1970 World Series box scores and play-by-play at Retrosheet.org
• History of the World Series - 1970
• Reds History at redshistory.com

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NL Championship Series (3-0) Reds over Pirates

World Series (4-1) Orioles over Reds

AL Championship Series (3-0) Orioles over Twins