A Look to the Past: 1979 NLCS

Every week, I look through the weekly match-ups and find one that is a postseason rematch. This week the Reds visit Pittsburgh for an important series that will help decide the NL Central.

1979 National League Championship Series

Pittsburgh Pirates 3 Cincinnati Reds 0

The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds are now National League Central rivals, but for a long time, they were in opposite divisions.

The Pirates of the East and the Reds of the West were two of the best teams in their respective divisions during the 1970’s and they met in the NLCS four different times and then once more in 1990. So, as 2011 is the first year that both teams are competitive as division rivals, it is fitting to feature this ancient postseason rivalry.

The Reds and Pirates had matched up three times early in the 1970s with the Reds prevailing each time. The 1972 NLCS was particularly painful for the Pittsburgh faithful. The series went five grueling games with the Pirates having a one run advantage going into the ninth inning of the deciding game. Johnny Bench immediately tied the game with a home run. The winning run scored a few batters later when George Foster scored on a wild pitch.

The Pirates had reason to think that 1979 would be different. The Big Red Machine had started to sputter when they lost Pete Rose and Tony Perez after their latest championship in 1976. Their former skipper, Sparky Anderson, was in the NBC broadcast booth. The Pirates had also won eight more games in 1979 and featured a fearsome middle of the order with Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Bill Madlock. That doesn’t mean the Reds were just pushovers. They still had two of their Hall of Famers in Bench and Joe Morgan. Foster was two years removed from an MVP season in which he hit 52 homers. In 1979, he hit a respectable 30 bombs, good for sixth in the league.

The series opened up at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati with Tom Seaver, another Cincinnati future Hall of Famer, on the mound. He quickly fell behind the Pirates 2-0, but George Foster tied the game with a homer in the fourth. The game stayed that way until the eleventh inning. The Buccos got the first two runners on base and Willie Stargell delivered with a no-doubt homer to right-center. Who else would deliver for the Pirates but for the player known as “Pops”.

Game Two was another close, pitcher’s duel, this time featuring normally forgettable pitchers Jim Bibby and Frank Pastore. The Pirates took a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning when back to back doubles by the Reds against Pirate ace reliever Kent Tekulve tied the game. Again, the game went into extras. Undaunted, the Pirates took the lead in the tenth when Parker singled home Omar Moreno for the eventual game-winning run.

Bert Blyleven will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in just a few weeks. It has taken him far too long to receive this honor as his numbers and longevity were certainly up there with other Hall of Famers. The one knock on him, which kept him out of the Hall for a long time, was his inability to win big games. He was given the ball in Game Three and while the Pirates certainly supplied him with enough runs, he had no trouble going the distance in a dominant 7-1 win. Stargell was again the offensive hero with a homer and three runs batted in.

The 1979 NLCS was certainly much closer than the 3-0 sweep would indicate. The Pirates pulled out two extra inning wins on the road. Their excellent bullpen kept the Pirates in each game until “Pops” and the rest of the Lumber Co. provided the dramatic hits late. Once they returned home, they handed the ball of to their Hall of Famer to finish off the sweep. It was clear from the beginning that the better team won. The Pirates would go on to defeat the Baltimore Orioles in seven games in the World Series.

MVP: Willie Stargell