I got a book for Christmas23, just a bit late for my observance of MLB76.
I probably checked out this book from the Paducah Public Library 20 times when I was growing up, and I don't know that I actually ever read a word. I'm sure I did read the stuff about the A's and a paragraph here and there, but what I remember looking at over and over and over again were three things: the logos, ...
... the pictures and diagrams of the stadiums, ...
... and, of course, the baseball cards.
The cards are from the 1975 Topps set, and, even by the time this book came out in 1976, there were, of course, hiccups in terms of which teams the different players were now on. That bothered me even then, and now I think I would've replaced the 1975s with cards of from seasons in which the players had landmark seasons for that team. So, for example, in the case of the Padres, I might've replaced the '75 Willie McCovey, Dave Winfield and Johnny Grubb with 1970 Clarence Gaston (for his team-record-going-into-1976 .318 batting average that season), 1971 Clay Kirby (231 strikeouts) and 1972 Nate Colbert (111 runs batted in).
Yes, Wise Guy, I am aware that's actually a '72 Gaston, '70 Kirby and '70 Kellogg's Colbert. I didn't start collecting until 1975, so my collections are spotty before then. I'm not trying to pull a fast one on you.
Oh, by the way, I'd keep the 1975 Randy Jones, because he won a team-record 20 games that season. Or, if the Prentice-Hall publishing deadline would've allowed, I'd slip in his 1976 card, for the season he got 22 wins and broke his own team record.
Yes, this is a good plan.
But why all the Padres? Because I'm going to use this book to accompany me through MLB77 at the HP, at least when the stadium pictures and diagrams still line up with what the teams are using in 1977, and today 1977's YouTube game that I'm working to is Cincinnati and San Diego. Jones, in fact, is pitching for the Padres.
16 Apr 1977, Sat The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, Ohio) Newspapers.com
Randy Jones was a really big deal in 1977--made one of the Street and Smith's covers and was the National League All-Star pitcher in the Topps set that year.
Somebody should really alert Randy Jones that he's getting so much love at the HP today. Oh, my gosh, he's on Twitter!
Just a note from your Neighborly Lefthander... The next time a team knocks down Fernando Tatis with a inside fastball and our pitcher doesn’t knock somebody on there ass, I’m going ballistic. I’m tired of this shit. Respect...
— Randy Jones (@RJBBQ35) September 21, 2020
He deserves it.
1977 is one of the best seasons in baseball history.
ReplyDeleteI'm just so glad all of the Reds/Yankees/Red Sox/Phillies foolishness is over and we're back to the A's being the best team in the majors again.
DeleteI loved that book
ReplyDeleteOh, me, too, Anonymous. Me, too!
DeleteThere was a golf book I used to get out of the library that was the same way. It had these great little graphics for the golf courses layout.
DeletePoor Randy Jones has been run after giving up seven hits and four runs in two and a third. Reds lead, 4-1, with Bob Bailey leading off the fourth for Cincinnati, now against San Diego's Tom Griffin ...
ReplyDeleteCincinnati is pitching Woodie Fryman, the Ewing, Kentucky, native whom the Reds picked up along with Dale Murray in exchange for Tony Perez and Will McEnaney during the offseason.
ReplyDeleteThis trade turned out to be bad for the two-time champs for at least a couple of reasons.
ReplyDelete"Beginning in 1970, the Reds went to the World Series four times in seven years, winning back-to-back world championships in 1975 and 1976, with Pérez starting at first base. Following the Reds sweep of the Phillies in the 1976 League Championship Series and New York Yankees in the 1976 World Series (the only time a team has ever swept the postseason since the League Championship Series was introduced in 1969), Pérez was traded to the Montreal Expos with Will McEnaney for Woodie Fryman and Dale Murray. After his trade, the "Big Red Machine"—considered one of baseball's all-time greatest teams—sputtered and never again got into the Series, reaching the playoffs but one more time in 1979. Sparky Anderson, the Reds manager during the championships of the 1970s, has stated in many interviews since that Pérez was the leader, and heart and soul of those teams."
ReplyDeleteAlso Wikipedia: "Fryman was traded with Dale Murray to the Cincinnati Reds for Tony Pérez and Will McEnaney on December 16, 1976. He and Reds manager Sparky Anderson did not get along, and Fryman's record stood at 5–5 with a 5.38 ERA when he announced his retirement midway through the 1977 season.
ReplyDeleteBurt Hooton shut out the Giants this Saturday afternoon in 1977, and the Astros lost to the Braves. So now the Dodgers are alone atop of the National League West. Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman said he listened to that game and noted that seven of the eight fielders in the Los Angeles batting order were batting .320 or better on the season. The eighth Dodger was their All-Star first baseman, Steve Garvey, who entered April 16 with a .233 average.
ReplyDeleteFryman of Ewing is getting plenty of help in against the Padres from his middle infielders. Both second baseman Joe Morgan and shortstop Dave Concepcion have both made plays that got a rise out of even the San Diego Stadium crowd. Still 4-1, Reds, after five innings ...
ReplyDeleteIt's still 4-1 in favor of the visiting Reds, and Fryman of Ewing is still pitching in the seventh inning. Now he's joined on the diamond by Doug Flynn of Lexington, who comes in to play third base down the stretch in place of Pete Rose.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia: "Flynn was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. He attended Bryan Station High School, where he starred in baseball, basketball and football, playing quarterback on a 12–1 team. He went to the University of Kentucky on a combination baseball-basketball scholarship. While attending Kentucky, Flynn and some friends went to a Cincinnati Reds tryout camp in Somerset, Kentucky. Flynn made the cut. After one more tryout camp and yet another audition at Riverfront Stadium, the Reds signed him as an amateur free agent in 1971."
ReplyDeleteAs previously, previously and previously noted, I'm a huge Woodie Fryman guy and have made a couple of trips up to Ewing to see from where he hailed, but I guess I've jinxed him today. Jerry Turner leads off the seventh with a single, and then Billy Almon walks, and now here comes his new friend, Sparky Anderson, to give Fryman the hook.
ReplyDeleteSo on comes Murray, the other pitcher Cincinnati acquired from Montreal in exchange for Pérez and McEnaney, to face Winfield, and Winfield triples down the right field line! It's now 4-3, Reds, with no one out in the bottom of the seventh ...
ReplyDeleteDave Winfield, that is.
DeleteNow batting: ex-A George Hendrick. On deck: ex-A Gene Tenace.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the A's, they're great again in 1977, as you can see from the standings above. I'll get more into that, but I don't want to check the April 17, 1977, Oakland newspaper for more detail because I don't know who wins this April 16 game and don't want to see a score.
ReplyDeleteWarming up in the San Diego bullpen: ex-A Rollie Fingers.
ReplyDeleteTenace sacrifices home Winfield, and we're tied at 4 through seven innings in San Diego ...
ReplyDeleteIt's still 4-4 in the ninth, and the Reds come up with a couple of two-out singles (pinch-hitter Mike Lum and former Bryan Station Defender quarterback Flynn) against Fingers. Ken Griffey (Sr.--Ken Jr. is 7) comes to the plate ...
ReplyDeleteGriffey singles into left ... and substitute left-fielder Gene Richards throws out Cesar Geronimo at the plate! The Reds' half is over; it's still tied at 4, and the Padres have Winfield, Hendrick and Tenace scheduled to bat against a new Cincinnati pitcher, Rawly Eastwick.
ReplyDeleteOh, my gosh! Winfield sends a liner to deep center that ricochets off the glove of Geronimo and off the wall, but Geronimo recovers the ball in time to throw out Winfield at third!
ReplyDeleteIt's scored a double for Winfield and 8-5 putout. Now Hendrick ...
ReplyDeleteWhat a game! I'm freaking riveted.
ReplyDeleteI love the internet and the HP.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Hendrick has already stopped doing interviews; I thought that came later, in St. Louis. I wonder if Steve Carlton has yet.
ReplyDeleteHendrick singles to left-center.
ReplyDeleteTenace singles ... Hendrick to second ... Eastwick has faced three batters and given up a double and two singles ... now up is third baseman Doug Rader, who every Topps collector from the middle 1970s knows was nicknamed "The Red Rooster" ...
ReplyDeleteRader strikes out. Two out. Up: Catcher Dave Roberts, who is hitless with two strikeouts in four at-bats.
ReplyDeleteA dog has run onto the San Diego Stadium field! A Padres ball boy is chasing him down. It's getting late back in Cincinnati for this foolishness.
ReplyDeleteMarty Brennaman: "First the Super Chicken and now a dog."
ReplyDeleteSan Diego sold Roberts, the first overall pick by the Padres in 1972 draft out of the University of Oregon, this past offseason to the expansion Toronto Blue Jays and then traded back with Toronto for him before the regular season start. And now Roberts singles over leaping Geronimo, scoring Hendrick.
ReplyDeleteFinal in San Diego: Padres 5, Reds 4.
N.L. West through April 16:
ReplyDeleteDodgers 6-2
Astros 5-3
Braves 4-4
Padres 4-5
Giants 3-5
Reds 2-6
"It's always confusing when Reggie Cleveland pitches for Boston against the Indians. It's tempting to say Ray Boston defeated Cleveland ... or something like that."
ReplyDeleteI always liked Lindsey Nelson (whose call of a Cubs-at-Mets game April 17, 1977, I'm finishing up today), but I'm bonkers for him now that I'm reading his autobiography.
Tom Seaver completes a one-hit shutout of the visiting Cubs, and the Mets stay just off the N.L. East lead with a 6-0 win.
ReplyDeleteN.L. East as of the start of April 18, 1977:
Cardinals 6-3
Expos 4-3, 1 game back
Mets 5-4, 1
Cubs 4-4, 1.5
Pirates 4-4, 1.5
Phillies 1-6, 4
Dave Newhouse quotes Angels president Red Patterson in today 1977's Oakland Tribune from an Anaheim, California, cocktail party: “If Charlie Finley can finish higher with the A's with what he has, than we can with what we have, then I’ll get out of baseball."
ReplyDeleteFace, Red:
ReplyDeleteWhite Sox 6-2
A’s 7-3
Royals 5-4, 1.5 games behind
Twins 6-5, 1.5
Rangers 4-4, 2
Mariners 6-7, 2.5
Angels 5-7, 3
Now 1977 the White Sox are 7-3 and the A's are 8-4. After Thursday, April 21, off, the A.L. West co-leaders start a three-game series in Oakland tonight. The visitors are scheduled to pitch 1-1 Steve Stone, and the home team sends out a long-familiar face--which is unusual for the A’s this year--Vida Blue.
ReplyDeleteBlue, the 27-year-old left-handed power pitcher, was A.L. everything in 1971: MVP, Cy Young winner, ERA champ. He was an All-Star again in 1975, and last season he was 18-13 with a 2.35 ERA. The Yankees wanted him, and the A’s wanted him to be a Yankee last June—but Charlie Finley’s sale was vetoed by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
ReplyDelete(There was a biography of Mike Torrez by Jorge Iber and published in 2016 in which Blue apparently is said to have said, "I hope the next breath Charlie Finley takes is his last. I hope he falls flat on his face and dies of polio.” I don’t know the circumstances of the quote, but I do know that I now want to at least take a browse through this Mike Torrez bio.)
Blue’s only start so far in 1977 came in Oakland's ninth game. He pitched pretty well: three unearned runs, five hits, three walks and eight strikeouts in eight innings. But he lost, 3-1, to the Twins.
The offensive leaders of the 1977 A’s, pruned by free agency and replenished by trades and gleaning, are a potential new star and proven old one:
ReplyDelete— Left-fielder Mitchell Page is hitting .391 with three home runs, 15 runs batted in and two stolen bases. He’s 25 and came over in a trade with Pittsburgh along with Tony Armas, Doug Bair, Dave Giusti, Rick Langford and Doc Medich for Chris Batton, Phil Garner and Tommy Helms.
— First baseman Dick Allen is hitting .342 with two homers and 10 RBI. He’s 35 and was a spring signing after not extending his second Phillies stint after an injury-hampered 1976.
Armas has been the most frequent starter at right field. Manny Sanguillen has done most of the catching; he also came over from Pittsburgh in a trade, but this one for the manager, Chuck Tanner. Earl Williams shares first and designated-hitter duty with Allen; he was another much-traveled, last-minute pickup in the spring.
ReplyDeleteThe other most-frequent starting batters have been holdovers (second baseman Larry Lintz and center-fielder Bill North) or home-grown (third baseman Wayne Gross and shortstop Rob Picciolo).
The star of the pitching staff so far is right-hander Torrez (3-0 and 2.52 earned-run average). He’s 30 and came over at the end of spring training last season, in the deal that sent Reggie Jackson to Ken Holtzman. He was great in 1976: 16-12 and 2.50. So far in 1977, he has pitched complete-game victories in Oakland’s first and 12th (and most-recent) games of the season.
ReplyDeleteThe other A’s starting pitchers so far have been new-from-Pittsburgh Medich three times (1-0, 4.58); new-from-Texas Jim Umbarger twice (0-2, 8.06), and holdovers Mike Norris (0-0, 2.16) and Stan Bahnsen (1-0, 2.57) and new-from-Pittsburgh Langford (1.0, 2.70) once apiece. The top relievers are each Oakland newcomers: ex-Brave and lefty Pablo Torrealba (1.0, 0.00, two saves) and ex-Pirate and righty Giusti (0-1, 2.88, two saves).
ReplyDeleteThe Norris start was the most exciting. In Oakland’s fourth game, the Angels scored twice in the top of the first and then turned things over to Nolan Ryan. Norris stuck around to go eight innings of two-hit pitching; he struck out five and walked two. There was no decision for Norris, however, as Oakland didn’t finally overcome Ryan until late, once A’s manager Jack McKeon had already gone to Giusti and Torrealba. Norris was Oakland’s No. 1 draft choice in January 1973, out of San Francisco Balboa High School, and he has been promising in the bits of two major-league seasons he played in before this year: 5-5, 4.07.
ReplyDeleteSo it looks pretty definitively to me that Oakland is starting its next dynasty—around the young core of Page and Norris and maybe Armas, Gross, Langford and Picciolo supported by plucky veterans Allen, Blue, Giusti, North, Sanguillen and Torrealba ... maybe Medich and Williams. #GreenCollar!
ReplyDeleteEric Prewitt has a story in the Friday, April 22, 1977, Oakland Tribune, in which he talks about how Jackson, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi and Gene Tenace used to complain about Finley’s policy of flying the A’s commercial instead of charter. “A’s players get some early wakeup calls and sit around airports a lot,” Prewitt writes.
ReplyDeleteThe new crop of young A’s are not complaining, Prewitt writes. “That’s better than 12-hour bus trips,” he quotes Page as saying.
Page and Gross, in fact, each have already had their salaries bumped by 50 percent this season by Finley—from $20,000 to $30,000 annually. Page dedicated one of his homers last week to Finley.
A broadcast of Tonight 1977's A's-White Sox game does not appear to be available on YouTube, so I will be working today to ends of games I started from earlier this season. They're all businessperson's specials to me, because during the biz day is the only time I listen. But the one I'm listening to right now actually is being billed as a "Businessman Special," by Marty Brennaman on Cincinnati's WLW. It's a Wednesday-afternoon game from April 20 with the Dodgers at Riverfront Stadium. It's 3-1, Los Angeles, after Ron Cey's two-run homer in the top of the fifth ...
ReplyDeleteWe've got Fred Norman vs. Don Sutton. Davey Lopes homered on the game's second pitch, and then Ken Griffey doubled home Cesar Geronimo a couple of innings ago, and then Cey just put Los Angeles back ahead.
ReplyDeleteThe WLW broadcast that probably some 12-year-old recorded on cassette tape via a corded microphone propped up against a radio speaker suddenly is touch and go, so I might be switching over to one of the other videos that YouTube user "Classic Baseball on the Radio" so graciously has posted.
ReplyDeleteIn the bottom of the seventh, Pete Rose doubles with one out and then moves to third when Griffey reaches on Steve Garvey's error. Thomas Charles "Tommy" Lasorda, a 49-year-old from Norristown, Pennsylvania, who is in his first full season as Dodgers' manager, visits Sutton on the pitching mound to discuss Joe Morgan's upcoming at-bat ...
ReplyDeleteMorgan dribbles a ball to Garvey, and the Dodgers eventually tag out Rose on a rundown between third and home. There are two out, and Morgan and Griffey are at second and third, respectively ... now George Foster ...
ReplyDeleteFull count to Foster, who has homered once this season ... "come on, Yahtzee," says WLW's Joe Nuxhall ... nope, ground out ... still 3-1 as the Reds strand two runners for the second inning in a row ... headed to the eighth ...
ReplyDeleteThree up, three down for the Dodgers in the top of the eighth against the new Reds pitcher, Rawly Eastwick ... three up, three down for the Reds in the bottom against Sutton ...
ReplyDeleteLasorda has made two late-inning defensive replacements that Brennaman are typical moves for him: Ted Martinez for Davey Lopes at second and John Hale for Dusty Baker in left.
ReplyDeleteAfter Garvey's leadoff single, Eastwick puts down the Dodgers in the top of the ninth.
ReplyDeleteThen Sutton takes down Cesar Geronimo, pinch-hitter Mike Lum and Rose in the bottom of the ninth for his complete-game win, Dodgers 3 at Reds 1.
I'm thinking we're at peak Lou Rawls culturally. He had his own special last night in 1977, and he's scheduled to be on The Tonight Show tonight. He's got the Budweiser gig. "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine," his biggest hit, was huge second-half of 1976, and he's probably about to go into the studio to do the record with "Lady Love," When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All, which will come out in the fall. Seems like peak Lou Rawls.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of last night's special, they had to do a goodly amount of slicing and dicing to turn "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" into a suitable singalong for Lou and a bunch of children. No "damn," no fooling around with married Doris, no beatdown in the bar.
DeleteTo be fair, all kids really love "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown." At least they did in the 1970's.
DeleteTrue!
DeleteThe AAA affiliate for the 1977 A's is the San Jose (California) Missions. Before their first Pacific Coast League series with the (Padres') Hawaii Islanders, three lesser-used Missions pitchers were placed on the disabled list. When they subsequently showed up in Oakland to throw batting practice to the A's while their Missions teammates were away, The Oakland Tribune shared speculation around the team that the A's wanted to avoid playing for plane tickets to Honolulu for three pitchers who were unlikely to play.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the A's and their pitchers, you probably recognize the new bullpen coach, Bobby Hofman. This is third stint (of four) on the A's coaching staff. (He also serves as the team's traveling secretary and does not travel with the team.) I love every word of Hofman's entire Society for American Baseball Research bio, but I especially enjoyed learning that Hofman played Legion ball with Yogi Berra and in high school with Earl Weaver, and that he fought in the Battle of the Bulge (and then, in a bar with Warren Spahn in 1972, is said to have told a former German soldier whom he met there, "You were the one I didn’t shoot"). For the purposes of this comment, however, the most salient point from the SABR is probably that Hofman once was quoted in The Sporting News as saying, "I got a lot of experience in Oakland. I have nothing but good things to say about Charlie Finley. He treated me great. He fired me four times, but he always hired me back."
"Luckenbach, Texas" is an absolute dynamite song, and I do believe Waylon Jennings is probably my favorite country-western voice there ever has been. But you can really see how crucial Willie Nelson's late appearance in the song is to the original release's perfection.
ReplyDeleteLed Zeppelin is at Freedom Hall tonight in 1977. It goes really well when the show organizers try to get the people at the back of the floor to take a step back to take pressure off the people in the front, and then when he suggests that some of the people at the front of the stage move behind it because they have the best sound system in traveling rock-and-roll today and the performance will sound just as good back there as up here.
ReplyDeleteI've heard handbell choirs do "Stariway to Heaven," and it's OK. But they have to cut off before the tempo change, and the power of the fast back end of the song is what redeems the slow front.
DeleteHere's Elvis Presley doing "Jailhouse Rock" in Milwaukee tonight in 1977. It's the rare search of a date in 1976 and 1977 so far on YouTube that you can't come up with an Elvis Presley performance from somewhere. That dude was doing a heck of a lot of late nights, traveling and takeout at age 42.
ReplyDeleteFrom Hollywood, the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: This Is Ed McMahon, Along With Doc Severinson and the NBC Orchestra, Inviting You to Join Johnny and His Guests, Lucille Ball, Jay Leno, Erma Bombeck and Joey Heatherton--about the Thursday, April 28, 1977, episode--would be the most entertaining play ever put on at the Glema Mahr Center for the Arts in Madisonville, Kentucky.
ReplyDeleteA’s traded Torrez to the antsy Yankees this week in 1977—for pitcher Dock Ellis, infielder Marty Perez and a minor-league outfielder (Larry Murray).
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, they won two of three in Anaheim against the Angels and start a three-game series in Boston tonight. Ellis is scheduled to make his first A’s start.
A.L. West as Friday morning, April 29:
A’s 12-7
White Sox 10-6, 0.5 games back
Twins 12-8, 0.5
Royals 10-7, 1
Rangers 8-8, 2.5
Angels 8-12, 4.5
Mariners 8-14, 5.5
A.L. East:
Brewers 10-5
Orioles 8-7, 2
Yankees 9-9, 2.5
Blue Jays 9-10, 3
Red Sox 7-9, 3.5
Tigers 7-11, 4.5
Indians 5-10, 5
Dick Allen is wearing "WAMPUM" on his 60 jersey with the A's, instead of his name. It's in honor of Wampum (Pa.) High School, from which he graduated in 1960.
ReplyDeleteAllen has played 1,714 major-league games. Tom Weir in today’s Oakland Tribune:
Allen, supposedly Mr. Mean during 15 years of baseball, has never been thrown out of a game.
“What for?” He asks. “Everybody’s ready to yell at the umpire, but no one pats him on the back when he gives us one.”
Weir writes that Allen, 35, was apparently frustrated with his team when on Tuesday, despite its beating California, Manager Jack McKeon was ejected for the second night in a row and the game was delayed multiple times because of arguing by young A’s on various base-paths calls. “I’ve never seen such a bunch of crybabies,” Allen told Weir.
N.L. West:
ReplyDeleteDodgers 15-3
Giants 8-9, 6.5
Braves 8-10, 7
Astros 8-10, 7
Reds 7-10, 7.5
Padres 8-13, 8.5
N.L. East:
Pirates 9-6
Cardinals 10-7
Expos 8-6, 0.5
Cubs 7-7, 1.5
Mets 6-9, 3
Phillies 5-9, 3.5
Tonight 1977's Donnie & Marie features Andy Griffith, Bo Diddly and the cast of What's Happening. It opens with my new favorite version of "One Bad Apple;" the ice skaters really give that song some umph!
ReplyDeleteThis is a rerun from fall 1976, and it introduced the What's Happenings to the Channel 3 audience before that series got debuted. Rerun, Roger and the tall, sensible main character (I can't remember his name) come out and sing "Sir Duke" with Donny and Marie. Other than maybe "Superstitious" or whatever from a Sesame Street, "Sir Duke" was my first favorite Stevie Wonder song. But not knowing what the song was actually about, I misheard the lyrics for years to have a line about Dr. J.
ReplyDeleteThe What's Happening cast also appeared on this 1977 week's Brady Bunch Hour variety show. But that was a first-run episode, so, this time, it's What Happening trying to give the Bradys with Fake Jan a boost.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I ever watched a whole What's Happening!!. Sorry I left off the two exclamation points initially, and sorry I had the cast mixed up. Roger ("Raj") is the tall main guy; the guy whom I thought was Roger is Dewayne. This show came out of the non-Norman Lear strain of the production company that Norman Lear had with Bud Yorkin, and it had some success (rated 25th, 42nd and 28th in the order of its three seasons) despite getting jerked around the schedule a good bit by ABC (seven different slots) and having all sorts of production problems, as detailed by super Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteWho not whom.
DeleteThe Love Boat is still baking. It took three pilot movies to figure out what they were doing, and, tonight in 1977, Channel 3 is rerunning the first of them. In this moive, which originally aired in 1976, none of the regular cast who will end up in the series is featured. The second movie, which aired Jan. 21, 1977, settled the casting of Gopher, Doc and Isaac, the bartender, and then a third is coming May 5, which introduces Julie, the cruise director, and says the original captain is on leave and being replaced by, Capt. Stubing.
ReplyDelete"There were typically three storylines in each episode. One storyline usually focused on a member of the crew, a second storyline would often focus on a crew member interacting with a passenger, and the third storyline was more focused on a single passenger (or a group of passengers). The three storylines usually followed a similar thematic pattern: One storyline (typically the 'crew' one) was straight-ahead comedy. The second would typically follow more of a romantic comedy format (with only occasional dramatic elements). The third storyline would usually be the most dramatic of the three, often offering few (if any) laughs and a far more serious tone."
Very cool that Wikipedia spelled that out. I hadn't ever quite worked out the structure on my own.
I remember the Love Boat movies, and they did get me excited for the TV show when it came on the air. At the time, I thought this whole thing was an updated version of "Love, American Style."
DeleteGreat comparison!
DeleteThe Red Sox blasted Dock Ellis--eight hits and seven earned in five innings. A's squander a two-home-run night from Wayne Gross and lose in Boston, 7-4. Game 2 of the series is this Saturday afternoon, April 30--Mike Norris vs. Luis Tiant, with the new fielders acquired from the Yankees, Marty Perez at second and Larry Murray in right field, on Jack McKeon's lineup card.
ReplyDeleteTom Weir's lede in the April 30 Oakland Tribune: "So far, it's not the greatest trade Charlie Finley ever made."
DeleteRoyals (11-7) move winning-percentage points ahead of the A’s (12-8) and to the top of the American League West. Brewers, Dodgers and Cardinals continue to lead their divisions.
DeleteOakland's Wayne Gross homered again, and Boston won again. Saturday-afternoon final from Fenway: Red Sox 8, A's 4.
ReplyDeleteI knew this was coming, of course, but it has been fun to see the MLB77 A's thrive in the first several weeks of the season. I don't know exactly when they turn horrible for a couple of seasons. These two losses in Boston after trading away Mike Torrez might be the first true frost of the late '70s A's winter. I hope not.
Carlton Fisk homered twice, and the Red Sox beat the A's, 6-4, on Sunday afternoon, May 1, 1977, in Fenway Park. I just audibly gasped in the coffee shop where I'm working after watching the animation at BacktoBaseball.com. Oakland led 2-0 after the top of the first, before Fisk tied it in the bottom of the fourth, and then 4-2 after the top of the seventh, before Fisk put the Red Sox ahead for the first time in the bottom of the eighth. It was heartbreaking--Larry Murray, the new outfielder from the Yankees, had singled in the two seventh-inning runs, and I thought it was partytime.
ReplyDeleteI just remembered that I have the 1977 Street and Smith's Official Yearbook: Baseball, with Thurman Munson on the cover. So I can see that the A's are now going to Baltimore for single night games on May 2 and 4. Then they go to the Bronx for a four-game series with the Yankees. Meanwhile, on May 2 the Dodgers kick off a four game series in Dodger Stadium against the Mets.
ReplyDeleteHere's Expos at Dodgers on Sunday afternoon, May 1 ...
ReplyDeleteRon Cey, by the way, was the most recent National League player of the week; Hal McRae of the Royals was the A.L. guy.
ReplyDeleteIt's 5-2, Los Angeles, going to the Dodger half of the seventh. Del Unser has really hurt you guys, sacrificing in Tony Perez for the game's first score off Don Sutton and then slugging a three-run, two-out homer in the sixth against Elias Sosa ...
ReplyDeletePage 17 of the 1977 Street and Smith's Official Yearbook has an ad for "Extra Innings: The Ultimate in Table Baseball," and I think it's safe to say that this ad changed my life.
ReplyDeleteS and S predictions for 1977 in the National League:
ReplyDeleteEAST:
1. Philadelphia
2. Pittsburgh
3. New York
4. St. Louis
5. Chicago
6. Montreal
WEST
1. Cincinnati
2. Los Angeles
3. San Diego
4. Houston
5. Atlanta
6. San Francisco
Dodgers get two on in the eighth, but Steve Rogers strikes out Cey to end the inning, and now Gary Carter has just hit his second solo home run of the day. Expos are up, 6-2, in the top of the ninth--still none out ...
ReplyDeleteRogers bats in the ninth, so he'll be going for the complete game. Los Angeles still trails, 6-2 ...
ReplyDeleteMontreal IP H R ER BB SO
ReplyDeleteRogers S (W) 9.0 7 2 2 3 6