4/6/73: It was a blue "Monday" for Expos as Cubs win opener, 2-1

Editor's Note: Back in the 1970's, people in Chicagoland would stay up and watch the WGN late-night newscast Night Beat. One of the highlights during baseball season would be the day's Cubs highlights, complete with play-by-play. Here's how a typical highlight package would've appeared on 4/6/73, opening day at Wrigley Field: 

MARTY MCNEELEY: "A crowd of over 40000 gathered at Wrigley Field to usher in the 1973 baseball season as the Cubs hosted the Montreal Expos. It all started out with a great big bang!"

JACK BRICKHOUSE: "Torrez fires, the pitch is on its way to Rick Monday, it's hit to right field, back goes Singleton, back-back-back. HEY-HEY! HEY-HEY! Leadoff home run for Rick Monday, Cubs lead it 1-0 in the very first inning! Whoo boy!" 

MCNEELEY: "The Cubs would add to that lead in the 4th when Joe Pepitone singled with 1 out. Ron Santo walked, then was forced out on a Glenn Beckert force out with Pepitone moving to 3rd. Then came Randy Hundley." 

BRICKHOUSE: "Hundley gets a sign, Pepitone holding on the bag at 3rd. Torrez fires from the stretch, it is lined to left field, base hit! Pepitone scores, Beckert heads all the way to 3rd, big 2-out RBI for Randy Hundley, it is 2-0 Cubs!" 

MCNEELEY: "Cub starter Fergie Jenkins retired the first 12 Expos batters, then gave a leadoff single to Ron Fairly to open the 5th. Fairly was still on 1st with 1 out when Jenkins went to his slider."

JIM WEST: "The pitch to (Bob) Bailey, ground ball to Kessinger at short, throws to Beckert for one, back to Pepitone, DOUBLE PLAY! And the side is retired!" 

MCNEELEY: "It was still 2-0 Cubs in the 8th when Jenkins ran into trouble, Ken Singleton and Bob Bailey both getting singles putting runners at the corners with nobody out. Jorge Roque bounced one to Fergie to get Singleton home and put the Expos on the board, but Fergie got out of it by striking John Boccabella out and getting pinch-hitter Boots Day to bounce to Kessinger at short. In the home half of the 8th, Pepitone singled with 1 out and Santo doubled Pepitone to 3rd. Then came Glenn Beckert and a huge play." 

BRICKHOUSE: "Pepitone on the bag at 3rd, Beckert waiting for the signal. (Mike) Marshall from the stretch, here's the pitch. Fly ball center field, Roque is there, he makes the catch, tagging is Pepitone, here's the throw from Roque, Pepitone is OUT! The Cubs lose an insurance run at home on a beautiful throw by Roque with an excellent tag by Boccabella at home."

MCNEELEY: "Which brings us to the 9th. Ron Hunt led off with a single to left, then was sacrificed to 2nd by Tim Foli. Whitey Lockman then brought in Bob Locker to put out the fire, getting Mike Jorgensen to fly out to left, then came Ron Fairly."

BRICKHOUSE: "Locker fires, the pitch to Fairly is grounded slowly to Santo at 3rd, he throws to 1st, the Cubs hang on to beat the Expos in the home opener by a final score of 2 to 1! Whoo boy, what a game!" 

MCNEELEY: "The Cubs had 2 runs on 9 hits with no errors, the Expos, 1 run on 5 hits with 1 error. Jenkins gets the win, Torrez takes the loss, Locker with the save. Same 2 teams again tomorrow, Milt Pappas vs. Balor Moore. Our coverage starts with the Lead-Off Man at 1 o'clock here on channel 9."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4/6/73: Ryan uneven as Royals spoil Presidential opener, 4-1

President Nixon "helped" a recently returned POW throw out the ceremonial 1st pitch of Opening Night at the Big "A," but The Ryan Express came out a bit uneven as the Royals put a little tarnish on the Halos, 4-1. Ryan pitched 8 innings, striking out 8, but missed the zone quite a few times for the uneven 8 K/7 BB line, with the brunt of the damage in the 4th, as the Royals scored 3 times with Freddie Patek chasing home 2 on a bases-loaded single and Cookie Rojas bringing in one more to give the Royals a manageable 4-0 cushion after 3-1/2. Beautiful Downtown Burbank native Steve Busby made sure the Angels wouldn't be "Laughing-in" as he throttled the Halos for 8 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts before giving way to Bruce Dal Canton in the 9th, who allowed the lone Halo run on a 2-out single by Vada Pinson before getting would-be tying run Frank Robinson to bounce to Paul Schaal at 3rd to end the game.  KCR 4-9-1 CAL 1-11-0 WP-Busby (1-0) LP-Ryan (0-...
Read more

4/6/73: Red Sox hang on to beat Yankees in the inaugural DH game, 4-2

The Crimson Hose jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but hung on to beat their hated rivals from the Bronx by a final of 4-2 in the game which inaugurated the DH at Fenway Park . After the Yanks went scoreless in their half of the 1st, Tommy Harper led off the Sawx half with a walk, then stole second. Luis Aparicio brought him home with an RBI single, then was forced on a Carl Yastrzemski grounder to short.  Reggie Smith singled to left, moving Yaz to 3rd, then DH Orlando Cepeda walked to load the bases. Rico Petrocelli then lined to short, followed by a 2-out bases loaded single by Carlton Fisk bringing home Yaz and Smith. The Sawx continued to make things worse for Yankee starter Mel Stottlemyre in the 2nd when Tommy Harper drew another walk, stole 2nd and scored on a 2-out single by Yaz. Reggie Smith singled to left, but could only watch as Yankee LF Roy White uncorked a perfect throw to 3rd to cut down Captain Carl, ending the inning. Luis Tiant was cruising along in the top...
Read more

4/6/73: Aaron hits 674, but Astros shut down the rest of the Braves, 3-1

On his first at-bat of 1973, Henry Aaron started the final pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run  record by hitting a Dave Roberts pitch just barely over the left field wall for # 674. That, however, was the last anyone seen of the Braves at Atlanta Stadium on opening night.  Roberts would limit the Braves to just 4 hits, none however after the 4th inning as Cesar Cedeno and Doug Rader countered Aaron's blow with solo shots of their own in a 3-1 win over the otherwise punchless Braves. Before Aaron's homer in the bottom of the 1st, Cesar Cedeno destroyed a Gary Gentry pitch. smashing it over the left field fence. Rader's solo shot came in the top of the 8th, all but finishing off Gentry, who aside from those two solo blasts, pitched a respectable game in his Braves debut.  But Roberts was just plain solid, allowing just 4 hits, striking out 6 and after back-to-back singles by Dusty Baker and Darrell Evans in the 4th, held the Braves hitless with a walk over the last 5-...
Read more