Friday, May 22, 2009

I watched the 1964 World Series film on the MLB Network a few days ago, largely because my friend Jim Bouton won 2 games during the Series. What I found interesting was some of the differences in the games over the last 45 years.
    • There were four complete games in the seven game series (one each by Bouton and Mel Stottlemeyer and two by Bob Gibson, one of those a 10 inning game). By contrast, there were no complete games in the 2008 World Series. In fact, the last complete game in a World Series was in 2003, when Josh Beckett (then of the Marlins) beat the Yankees in Game 6.
    • Games were significantly shorter. The longest game of the '64 Series was game 1, which clocked in at 2 hours and 42 minutes. In 2008, the shortest game was 3:05 (game 2), and the longest game (game 3) was 3:41. A lot of the additional time is generated by longer advertising time between innings and more frequent pitching changes, but I have to think that the elaborate batters box and pitchers mound rituals undertaken by today's players adds to the time as well. It looked to me like there wasn't a lot of wasted motion in the 1964 games.
    • People in the stands didn't wear a lot of team logo gear. Sure, there was a Yankees or a Cardinals hat here or there, but most people looked like they were dressed for a night at the theater. It was especially strange in St. Louis, where we have gotten used to the stands being a sea of Cardinals red.
    • Despite the fact that Mickey Mantle won game 3 with a home run in the bottom of the 9th, no one used the word "walkoff".
    • Harry Caray, the Cardinals announcer at the time, was the narrator for the World Series film. He sounded much different than the lovable cartoon character most of us remember from his days with the Cubs.
The film was fun to watch. It was a 7 game series, won by the Cardinals. The Cards had just overcome the Phillies after their epic collapse down the stretch. Both teams featured future Hall of Famers: Mantle and Whitey Ford for the Yankees; Lou Brock and Gibson for the Cardinals.

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