The 1975 National League Championship Series was a best-of-five match-up between the East Division champion

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

and the West Division champion

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. It was the seventh

NLCS The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the winners of the two National ...

in all. The Reds swept the Pirates in three games and went on to win the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

against the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

Summary

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds

Game summaries

Game 1

The Pirates struck first in the second off of

Don Gullett Donald Edward Gullett (born January 6, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from through , most notably as a member of the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that wo ...

when he hit Dave Parker with a pitch with two outs before

Richie Hebner Richard Joseph Hebner (born November 26, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from through , most prominently as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that ...

's double and

Frank Taveras Franklin Crisostomo Taveras Fabian (born December 24, 1949), is a former Major League shortstop from to for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets and Montreal Expos. Career Pittsburgh Pirates Taveras signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as an a ...

's single scored a run each, but in the bottom half, Gullett's RBI single off of Jerry Reuss with two on cut the Pirates' lead to 2–1. Next inning, after two walks,

Tony Perez Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

's RBI single tied the game and two outs later,

Ken Griffey George Kenneth Griffey Jr. (born November 21, 1969), nicknamed "Junior" and "the Kid", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle Marin ...

's two-run single put the Reds up 4–2. In the fifth, the Reds loaded the bases with no outs off of

Larry Demery Lawrence Calvin Demery (born June 4, 1953) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played all or part of four seasons in the majors, from until , for the Pittsburgh Pirates. A native of Bakersfield, California, Demery was the son ...

on a walk and two singles before Griffey's sacrifice fly and

Cesar Geronimo Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...

's groundout scored a run each. Gullett's home run then made it 8–2.

Bob Robertson Robert Eugene Robertson (born October 2, 1946) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman between and , most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won five Natio ...

's two-out RBI single with two on cut the lead to 8–3, but Gullett pitched a complete game to give the Reds a 1–0 series lead.

Game 2

Tony Pérez Atanasio "Tony" Pérez Rigal (born May 14, 1942) is a Cuban-American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and third baseman from through , most notably as a member of the ...

's two-run home run in the first off of Jim Rooker gave the Reds a lead they never relinquished. The Pirates cut it to 2–1 in the fourth off of

Fred Norman Fredie Hubert Norman (born August 20, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from through , most notably as a member of the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that won four divi ...

when

Willie Stargell Wilver Dornell Stargell (March 6, 1940 – April 9, 2001), nicknamed "Pops" later in his career, was an American professional baseball left fielder and first baseman who spent all of his 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1962–1982) ...

hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a wild pitch and after a walk, scored on

's groundout, but in the bottom half, three straight leadoff singles gave the Reds that run back. After a double steal, Norman's sacrifice fly extended their lead to 4–1. In the sixth,

hit a leadoff single off of

Kent Tekulve Kenton Charles Tekulve ( ; born March 5, 1947), nicknamed "Teke", is an American former professional baseball right-handed relief pitcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He also played f ...

, stole second and third, and scored on

Ken Brett Kenneth Alven Brett (September 18, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and the second of four Brett brothers who played professional baseball, the most notable being the youngest, George Brett. Ken played for ...

's balk. Next inning,

Bruce Kison Bruce Eugene Kison (February 18, 1950 – June 2, 2018) was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1971–79), California Angels (1980–84) and Boston Red Sox (1985). Ki ...

hit

Joe Morgan Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...

with a pitch to lead off. After stealing second, Morgan scored on Perez's RBI single.

Rawly Eastwick Rawlins Jackson "Rawly" Eastwick (born October 24, 1950), is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, ...

pitched three innings of relief as the Reds' 6–1 win gave them a 2–0 series lead.

Game 3

The only drama of the Series came in Game 3 played at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

's Three Rivers Stadium. The home team sent left-hander

John Candelaria John Robert Candelaria (born November 6, 1953) is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. Nicknamed "The Candy Man", he played in MLB during the years 1975–1993 for eight teams, the Pittsburgh Pirates, California Angels, New York Mets, New ...

to the hill to try to stem the Red tide and the 21-year-old rookie responded magnificently. He yielded a home run to Dave Concepción in the second inning, but going into the eighth had a 2–1 lead, the result of Al Oliver's two-run homer in the Pirate sixth inning off of Gary Nolan. Candelaria struck out the first two batters in the eighth. That gave him a total of 14 for the game, a new playoff record. Concepción's circuit clout had been the only Reds hit to that point. But, inexplicably, he lost his control and walked the weak-hitting

Merv Rettenmund Mervin Weldon Rettenmund (born June 6, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from through , most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynasty that won three ...

, a pinch-hitter.

Pete Rose Peter Edward Rose Sr. (born April 14, 1941), also known by his nickname "Charlie Hustle", is an American former professional baseball player and manager. Rose played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1986, most prominently as a membe ...

then blasted a home run to put the Reds ahead, 3–2. When

followed Rose's homer with a double, Candelaria left the game. The Pirates tied the game in the ninth when relief pitcher Rawly Eastwick walked in the tying run with two out. But it all served to merely delay the inevitable. The Reds got three hits and two runs off veteran Ramón Hernández, the third Pittsburgh hurler, in the top of the tenth.

hit leadoff single, moved to second on a balk, then to third on a groundout before scoring on Ed Armbrister's sacrifice fly.

singled before Morgan's RBI double padded the Reds' lead to 5–3. Pedro Borbon retired the Pirates in order in the bottom of the inning as the Reds clinched their third pennant of the decade. This game, and Game 3 of the 1975 American League Championship Series, were the first league championship series games ever played at night. Both were regionally televised by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

Composite box

1975 NLCS (3–0):

over

References

External links

Baseball-Reference.com
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National League Championship Series The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the winners of the two Nation ...

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