Franks was brought on to lead the 1977 Chicago Cubs and for a few tantalizing months it looked like the Cubbie Hour of MLB history had finally arrived. Then another cruel late summer and early fall reminded us that indeed, the Cubbies are still the Cubbies.
The 1977 Chicago White Sox made a managerial change coming into the season. The fortunes of the South Side franchise had started to collapse in 1968 and it had been a decade since the team had even won more than it lost. The White Sox hired Bob Lemon, former ace pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. Chicago saw immediate success in a sizzling summer, although in the end that only served to raise false hopes.
The Kansas City Royals had come into baseball’s national consciousness in 1976, when they dethroned the Oakland A’s Dynasty in the AL West, and then took the New York Yankees to the final inning of the 1976 ALCS before coming up a just short of the pennant. The 1977 Kansas City Royals established that they were here to stay as a contender, but it was a rocky ride for much of the way before the Royals took over the AL West race.
The power tandem of third baseman Mike Schmidt and leftfielder Greg Luzinski anchored the best offense in the National League. They combined for 77 home runs and 231 RBIs. Each had an on-base percentage over .390 and a slugging percentage over .570. Though Schmidt would have a much better career, it was “The Bull”, as Luzinski was nicknamed, that was actually a little bit better with the bat
Lasorda took over a team that had been a consistent contender since the age of divisional play began in 1969. The Dodgers finished second in the NL West six times from 1970-76, and they won the division—and the NL pennant—in 1974 before losing to the Oakland A’s in the World Series.
Pitching was the heart of the team…
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies carried on a lively postseason rivalry, meeting three times in seven years for the National League pennant. The 1977 NLCS was the first of those meetings, and after at least two instances of the Phillies appearing ready to take control, it was the Dodgers who snatched it back and won the pennant.
The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers were old sparring partners in the World Series. Their eight previous meetings in the Fall Classic were the most of any matchup combination and they had met six times in ten years (1947-56) when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn. They met again in 1963 after the Dodgers moved west. So perhaps it was appropriate that the Yankees’ first championship in sixteen years—and first under the ownership of George Steinbrenner—came over the Dodgers in the 1977 World Series.
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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.
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 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.
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.