My GAME 7 Experience -- Have Faith in You And The Things You Do and You Won''t Go Wrong

Wednesday was a relatively quiet day for athletics at North Shore Country Day. That allowed me to get home before 6 pm --  for the first time in weeks -- and prepare for a GAME 7!

I have been lucky to attend some pretty cool athletic events over my 52 years. Attending the London Olympics in 2012 was probably the pinnacle. But the runner-up to that experience was attending Game 7 of the 1979 World Series which featured my home town team Baltimore Orioles and the "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Other than the Summer Olympics, to me there is nothing bigger than a World Series Game 7 in Major League Baseball.  Although the World Series happens every year, a Game 7 only happens once and a while. In Major League Baseball, there have only been 37 including Wednesday's. I come from a family of baseball fans (some who are now even San Francisco Giants fans!) and in high school I lived a short 15 minute walk away from Memorial Stadium -- home of the Baltimore Orioles.

Memorial Stadium Baltimore

From the mid 1970's through the early 1980's, I regularly attended at least a dozen Oriole (from now on also referred to as "the O's") games a summer and sometimes over twenty. To get into the stadium and sit in the bleachers in the mid-1970's, it could cost as little as 85 cents. Most of the time I sat in Upper Deck General Admission seats which even into the 1980's were no more than $2.50. The Upper Deck in Memorial Stadium was also the coolest place in Baltimore during hot and humid summer evenings. 

To me the "fair" ticket prices led to the O's being a democratic team. There was no elitism in the stands where I sat. All of Baltimore enjoyed this team. But I digress. 

When the O's made it to the playoffs and then the World Series in 1979, I was at the peak of my baseball fandom. I had attended at least 25 games that summer. I was in my senior year of high school, and "my" team was proving itself to be the best team in baseball -- they won 102 games in the regular season, leading the Majors. However, I had one problem that I thought would prevent me from attending any post season games. My Dad -- who loves baseball -- had (and still has today) this philosophy about the post season in baseball. You watched post season games from home.  

With that kind of philosophy, I never thought I would ever see any of the '79 post season games live. And that's how things started. 

I watched from home. 

Don Stanhouse - pic from Baltimore Sun

In the American League Championship Series, it took the O's only four games to dismiss the Anaheim Angels -- I still wonder where Anaheim is. The O's should have won the series in 3 games, but their closer Don "Full Pack" Stanhouse blew the save in Game 3 to give the Angels one win. For those of you who don't know, Stanhouse earned the nickname "Full Pack" from O's manager Earl Weaver because he caused Earl to smoke a Full Pack of cigarettes as he made every save an adventure. Stanhouse was legendary for being called up in the 9th with a lead, loading the bases with no outs and then pitching out of the jam.

In the World Series, the O's split the first two games in Baltimore with the Pittsburgh Pirates -- they won game 1 and lost game 2. Then went to Pittsburgh and won game 3 and game 4 for a 3-1 lead. 

To us Baltimoreans it looked like the World Series was a lock even though the O's lost game 5 to the Pirates. The O's were returning to Baltimore needing to just win one of the last two games. And this was probably the greatest lesson of this series -- projecting too far ahead in sports is a waste of time, and maybe even foreshadows doom.  

But those projections led to an opening for me. In Baltimore, if you wanted to attend any of the post season you had to buy tickets for every potential post season game ahead of time. That was a total of seven games -- three potential ALCS tickets and four potential World Series tickets. And when the O's returned to Baltimore, my Dad started running into people at work who were growing tired of the late nights at Memorial Stadium. They had seen four games and maybe they had a spouse or a girl friend or whoever they split the tickets with who had a busy job and couldn't afford another night at Memorial Stadium. So I believe my Dad came home before game 6 with two tickets. 

Not that I am sore about this still today, but I was not the first one in the family picked to go to the ball game. I don't remember who got the nod in our family to attend a World Series game first -- I think it was my brother Denis -- but I know I did not. 

Game 6 should've ended it all. The O's started Jim Palmer -- possibly the most dominant starting pitcher of the 1970's -- and all they had to do was win. Sadly the O's bats had gone cold, and they lost 4-0. 

In 1979, the American League had to play by National League "rules" which meant the O's outstanding Designated Hitter -- Lee May -- was not allowed to bat other than in pinch hitting roles. That did not seem to hinder the O's in the first four games but by Game 6 there seemed to be something wrong with Oriole bats and having the American League pitchers hit -- after not hitting in years -- many of O's fans believe was a major factor in the ultimate Pirate comeback. 

I love the unexpected and the spontaneous. Don't get me wrong, I like to plan and believe in plans for my life, my family and our athletic department. But when the unexpected happens, I usually think that means possibility. And on October 17th, 1979, the unexpected happen. My Dad found out early in the day, that he could get one Game 7 ticket.

And then I got the nod to go.

I wish I remember the man I went with. I believe he was a colleague of my fathers. I was just so excited to go. I was going to be in the stadium when the Orioles won the 1979 World Series!

He had two tickets in the Upper Deck along the 3rd base line.

The O's were starting Scott McGregor who had thrown a shutout against the Angels to clinch the ALCS and had pitched a complete Game 3 win in the World Series. How was it possible for him to lose?

The O's got the early 1-0 lead when second baseman Rich Dauer hit a home run in the bottom of the third. But Hall of Famer Willie Stargell hit a 2 run homer off McGregor and the O's key bats remained cold.  In the bottom of the 8th, the O's had bases loaded and their best hitter Eddie Murray up to bat and he flied out. Murray went 0-21 in the last five games. Known as "Steady Eddie" his lack of offensive production during that series is still mysterious to us Oriole fans. The O's seemed to collapse in the top of 9th when two Pirates were hit by pitched balls leading to two more runs.

The Orioles couldn't do anything in the bottom of the ninth, and the Pirates completed an incredible comeback to become World Champions. Ironically, if the Giants win Wednesday (I am writing this as the game is being played, and it is tied 2-2) they will be the first road team to win a Game 7 since that memorable night of October 17th, 1979.

Walking down the ramps of the stadium and out to the exit was one of the strangest feelings I have ever had at a sports event. It was so crowded and a mix of some fans who were quiet, some who had been over served and saying stupid stuff, and a few Pirates fan who walked out quietly trying to hide their huge grins. 

There were a lot of lessons in that game for me. Maybe my Dad was right. The postseason seems really great on TV. Although I am glad I got to see Game 7 in 1979, the outcome seemed to over whelm the actual play. The regular season and the process of earning a championship seemed more how I wanted to remember that year.

It's still hard for me to listen to the Pirate theme song -- Sister Sledge's "We are Family". However, there is one lyric that I love from that song. It is Sister Sledge's Golden Rule: "have faith in you and the things you do and you won't go wrong." The Pittsburgh Pirates in October 1979 applied that rule and completed a legendary comeback against the Orioles.

The song in a bittersweet way also reminds me of one of the most memorable summers of my life. Here it is for those who don't remember. Despite the Oriole loss, this song will always remind me of Game 7.