REGIONAL #6:  I’m not sure what happened when I selected the teams for this bracket sometime in the early 80’s, but it was loaded with talent, including four pennant winners from the Old Timers series.  The first game was a faceoff between two such teams, the 1934 Tigers and the 1961 Reds, although I was interested to see that the ELO ranks indicated that the Reds were only the 4th best team in the NL that season.  That didn’t seem to bother them, as they jumped to a 5-2 lead over the Tigers that lasted until Jim O’Toole falls apart in the 8th, mauled by a 7-run rally fueled by the Killer G’s of Gehringer, Greenberg and Goslin, and the Tigers move on with a 9-5 comeback win.  The next game in round one featured their Series opponents, the 1934 Cardinals, against the 1972 Angels and Nolan Ryan.  Looking forward to a possible rematch, the Cards save Dizzy Dean for later rounds and go with Bill Walker to start, and that almost proves disastrous as Vada Pinson and Ken McMullen both contribute 2-run doubles, but Rip Collins hits a homer and the Cards prevail with a tight 6-5 win.  The fourth pennant winner was one of the ELO 100 best teams of all time, the 1921 Yankees, and they score for six straight innings against Catfish Hunter and the 1967 A’s, but the A’s put up five runs on Jack Quinn in the first two innings to push the Yanks who ultimately slog to the 9-6 win.  Finally, the 1974 Royals take an early 2-0 lead against Fergie Jenkins and the 1980 Rangers, courtesy of a John Mayberry homer, but the Rangers score unearned runs in the 7th and 8th on three KC errors and the game heads to extra innings.  The Royals score a run in the top of the 10th and it’s time for Al Fitzmorris to try to finish what he started, but he only gets one out as 36-year old Rusty Staub’s RBI single powers the Rangers to the walk-off 4-3 win.  

The first semifinal game is the highly anticipated rematch of the 1934 Series, with the 1934 Tigers and Schoolboy Rowe facing off against the 1934 Cardinals, who had saved Dizzy Dean for specifically this purpose.  And that decision proves to be a masterful one, as Dean tosses a shutout just like he did in Game 7 of the Series, Joe Medwick contributes a two-run double, and the Gashouse Gang replicates their success against the Tigers with a 4-0 win.   The other semifinal doesn’t quite go as expected, as the 1921 Yankees and surprise starter Harry Harper struggle to cling to a 2-0 lead provided by Home Run Baker against the 1980 Rangers.  That all falls apart in the 7th, as the Rangers pile 6 runs on Harper, led by big hits from Bump Wills and Richie Zisk, and the Rangers, the only non-pennant winner to make the semifinal round, shock the Yanks with a 6-2 win to gain the finals.

Bump for runs

That sets up a final between the 1934 Cardinals and the 1980 Rangers, with the Cards getting Pepper Martin back from an injury suffered in the first round.   In the early going, the Cards are baffled by Charlie Hough’s knuckler, and the Rangers push to a 2-0 lead on RBI from retreads Bud Harrelson and Johnny Grubb.  Martin and Frankie Frisch finally get to Hough in the 7th and tie it up, but in the bottom of the inning Tex Carleton gets taken deep by Bump Wills for a two-run homer, and although Rip Collins pushes across a run in the 9th it’s not enough as the Rangers managed to take the regional title in a group loaded with far superior talent.