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March 19, 2008

October 1, 1972

It was such a different game back in 1972. Just for the fun of it, let's look back to October 1, 1972 in Yankeeland.

On that day, the Indians were in New York to play a doubleheader against the Yankees.

In the first game of the doubleheader it was Fritz Peterson on the mound for the Yankees against Gaylord Perry for the Tribe. Both pitchers went 11 innings in this contest - which Cleveland won in eleven. In the top of the 11th, Peterson allowed a double followed by a ground-out and sac fly...and he ends up losing the game 2-1. The time of the game? Two hours and 19 minutes.

In the second game of the twin-bill, two throwing errors by Yankees catcher John Ellis in the 6th inning led to two unearned runs, costing the Yankees a 3-2 led, and the game which they ended up losing by a score of 4-3. To make matters worse, in the bottom of the 7th, with the Yanks down by a run, Ellis came to the plate with one out and the bases loaded, and he hits into a 5-2-3 interference double-play.

That's as tough a doubleheader loss as you can find.

Eight weeks later, the Yankees would trade John Ellis, with Jerry Kenney, Charlie Spikes, and Rusty Torres to the Indians for Graig Nettles and Jerry Moses. And, fourteen weeks after the Ellis trade, Fritz Peterson announced that he was swapping families with fellow Yankee pitcher Mike Kekich.

Posted by WW Staff at March 19, 2008 02:31 PM

Comments

I remember Johnny Ellis well. Big, strong kid... built like a bull. Couldn't do very much except hit the ball hard.

I remember one game when he was up. The OF was playing very deep. He hit a scorching line drive to left. The OFer chased back, turned, leaped, and caught it on the warning track, some 400+ feet from the plate.

The ball was hit so hard, it was a bang-bang play. I remember cursing the Stadium dimensions that day. It just seemed so unfair.

Posted by: singledd [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 19, 2008 04:57 PM

When I was a kid, I ran into Fritz at a local Chicken Delight. His pre-swap, pregnant wife was in the car. I still have the napkin he signed.

Posted by: Rich [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 19, 2008 05:43 PM