The Dodgers were still in Brooklyn when they hired Walter Alston to be their manager in 1954. One year later, a franchise that had become famous for its near-misses won one of the sport’s historic World Series titles. A managerial tenure that would span over two decades and cover both coasts was underway. Alston was […]
For the first half of the 1970s, the Oakland A’s were the pre-eminent franchise in Major League Baseball. Starting in 1971, the A’s had won five straight AL West titles. The middle three seasons of that run, from 1972 through 1974, saw Oakland win three consecutive World Series championships. But the embryonic age of free […]
Danny Murtaugh was an institution in Pittsburgh. And speaking of institutions, the Pirates themselves were one in the NL East division they called home until the realignment of 1994. From 1970 through 1975, they Bucs won this division five times and won the World Series in 1971. The 1976 Pittsburgh Pirates marked the end of […]
The 1976 baseball season saw the New York Yankees return to prominence, winning the AL East for the first time since the divisional split took place in 1969. The Kansas City Royals were a completely fresh face on the postseason stage, capturing the AL West and ending the Oakland A’s dynastic run of the early-to-mid 1970s.
George Steinbrenner bought the team in 1973 and towards the end of the 1975 season, he hired Billy Martin as manager. The 1976 New York Yankees would be George & Billy’s first run together, and they returned this proud franchise to prominence.
The 1976 Boston Red Sox were a young team with solid veteran leadership, coming off a season that saw them come within one run of a World Series title. By rights, 1976 should have been a big year with another run at what was then an elusive championship for the franchise. Instead, the year was marked by drama off the field and underachievement on it.
After winning five AL East titles in the six years from 1969-74, the Baltimore Orioles had to settle for a close second place in 1975. The front office made some big moves to try and get the franchise back on top in 1976. They swung a deal to get none other than Reggie Jackson. Reggie […]
The 1976 MLB season ushered in a new era for baseball—the era of free agency, which had previously appeared only in snippets, but now loomed over the entire sport. But before the new era could begin, the old order had to get a fitting conclusion, and so it was the Big Red Machine, the great Cincinnati Reds teams rolled to a second World Series title.
One team was the powerful defending champions, already one of the dominant teams of the decade and looking to secure the legacy of a dynasty. Another was the team making its first World Series appearance in over a decade. It was the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees.
The Reds were the Big Red Machine, the defending World Series champions, with three pennants and four NLCS appearances already under their belt from 1970-75. The Phillies were the up-and-comers, who had displaced the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL East. While the Phils would become postseason regulars in the ensuing eight years, they were a fresh face in 1976.
The 1976 Cincinnati Reds came to spring training having found redemption the previous October. After World Series losses in 1970 and 1972 and an upset loss in the 1973 National League Championship Series, the Reds had gotten over the top in an epic seven-game World Series against the Boston Red Sox, a Series that ranks high on the list of the best ever. The offensive juggernaut known as the Big Red Machine was looking to build on a championship legacy securely established
The Phils were a proud franchise, but they were on hard times. They had not seen the World Series since 1950. Even a winning season had been elusive since 1967. Danny Ozark took the managerial reins in 1973, and by ’75, the Phils finally won more than they lost. Now the question was if they could overtake the Pittsburgh Pirates, the traditional power in what used to be the National League Eas