The Giants met the Pirates in 1971 in their first ever NLCS. It was just best 3 out of 5 then. The Giants took the first game 5-4 but the Pirates won the next three 9-4, 2-1 and 9-5, then went on to beat the Orioles in the World Series. The Pirates' stars were Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The Giants had a roster full of future hall of famers; Mays, McCovey, Marichal and Perry, as well as many other fine players such as Bobby Bonds, Dave Kingman, Chris Speier and Tito Fuentes.
I was there at Candlestick for game two, Sunday, October 3rd, and got to see fucking Bob Robertson hit three homers.
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My dad got tickets for Game 1 and took the family to Candlestick. I was 11 years old, just shy of my 12th birthday. We saw Gaylord Perry pitch, Willie McCovey hit a home run, and the Giants win.
I remember listening to games on a transistor radio in my Algebra 2 Class at the now defunct Del Valle High School in Walnut Creek. The Teacher sort of politely, but knowingly, ignored me. After the final out of the last game, I quietly announced the bad news to the Class.
Right now, our good buddy, Zo (aka Dan), is in surgery - without going into the details on this public forum, we are all praying for his successful surgery & speedy recovery.
I remember listening to the radio broadcast at elementary school. They actually piped the game through the school PA system. I can't recall any details though...
Chris Speier was my hero, I hated Kingman, and thought Bonds was the greatest RF ever.
Go ZO!!! We will all be pulling for you.
A few details & stats jump out at me from the 1971 Giants:
- Willie Mays, in a down year at the age of 40, stole 23 bases in 26 attempts. Wow!
- Too bad the Giants traded George Foster before his prime.
- Jim Barr!
- Al Gallagher, one of my all-time last favorite Giants. Yuck!
- Jerry Johnson, so-called Closer, another unreliable Giant.
I was going on 7 years old when the Giants and Bucs squared off! This was the beginning of my love affair with the G-men!
Funny thing is, now I have a 6-year old son myself and he so into Giants baseball! (Worse than me at that age.)
Thanks for taking me down memory lane!
Hi, it's BroBob, using Jon's sign-in.
Zo, you be well soon. Sucks to be you. Enjoy this preview of old age.
I like to flaunt my geerzerdom by random jogs down memory lane. Although 1971 sounds like long, long ago I was already technically an adult, in my first semester at San Francisco State College. I'm pretty sure I just said to myself "I think I'll just get in my car and go to the game on Sunday," and I did and walked up and bought a ticket. It wasn't a sellout. I remember the Pirates scored early and often, and this one honky would not stop hitting homers.
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