Rather than write my own story about the '73 Red Sox I decided to share with you a great synopsis written by Dan Flaherty of the thesportsnotebook.com. You can see the full article by clicking here.
Eddie Kasko managed in Boston for four years and turned out a winning team every year. His best team was the 1973 Boston Red Sox, who won 89 games. But they were also his last team, as the problem of continuing to finish well behind the Baltimore Orioles led to a managerial change at year’s end. Improved pitching was the reason the ’73 Red Sox won a few more games than their immediate predecessors. Luis Tiant and Bill Lee became rotation regulars for the first time. Each pitched over 270 innings and they combined for 37 wins. 1973 was also the first time in the Kasko regime that Boston had four regular starters pitching over 200 innings. John Curtis and Marty Pattin combined for 28 more wins and consistently took their turn. The bullpen didn’t have depth, but versatile Roger Moret made 15 relief appearances, 15 starts and went 13-2 with a 3.17 ERA. The result was that after spending the previous seasons in the lower echelons of the American League in staff ERA, Boston ranked fifth in pitching for the 1973 MLB season.
Offensively, the Red Sox slipped a bit, but still were the fourth-best in the AL at scoring runs. Centerfielder Reggie Smith finished with a .398 on-base percentage/.515 slugging percentage, both in the top four of the league. Carl Yastrzemski, now 33-years-old, found a power stroke that had been missing for a couple years and slugged .463. He also finished with a .407 OBP and drove in 95 runs. Tommy Harper, the speedy leftfielder, stole 54 bases and set a club record that would stand until Jacoby Ellsbury arrived in Fenway. Carlton Fisk didn’t match the production of his great 1972 rookie year, but still hit 26 home runs and was a leader behind the plate. A decline in production from third baseman Rico Petrocelli was made up for by a good year from Orlando Cepeda, the first Red Sox player to take advantage of the newly-instituted designated hitter rule. Cepeda finished with a .350 OBP and hit 20 home runs.
Boston opened the season by sweeping the New York Yankees three straight in Fenway. The Sox scored 25 runs the first two games, and then won the finale when Cepeda hit a walkoff home run against Yankee reliever Sparky Lyle, whom the Red Sox had foolishly traded prior to the ’72 season. The two rivals then went to New York for two games that they split and Boston was off to a 4-1 start. The Red Sox took a turn for the worse, when they lost four straight at home to the Detroit Tigers, who had edged them at the wire in the 1972 AL East race. Boston pitching gave up 33 runs in the four games. When the Sox made a mid-May return trip to Detroit, the result was three more losses. Boston straggled into Memorial Day with a record of 18-21, though with the Tigers the only AL East team over .500–and not by much–the Red Sox were still just three games off the pace. Boston continued to slog along through June. It was a five-game series in the Bronx in early July, where the Sox won four games, that got them on the move. They cleared .500 for good and it started a 12-4 stretch that pulled them to within a half-game of the lead with a week to go before the All-Star break. The Red Sox eventually reached the midpoint with a 52-44 record, 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees. The Baltimore Orioles were a game and a half out, while the Tigers had slipped to fourth and were six back.
In early August, Boston took three of five in a series at Baltimore and got to within one game of first, but the Sox again followed that up by sliding back, losing six of nine and being swept at home by the Oakland A’s, the defending Series champs (and who would repeat in 1973). Boston was now four games out and responded well, going 10-2. The problem was that the Orioles were heating up and in that stretch, the Red Sox actually lost ground. On September 3, Boston was set to host Baltimore for a four-game set and the Orioles were leading by six games. The Red Sox were ahead of the Yankees and Tigers, but they needed to win three of four in this series if their pennant hopes were to stay alive. Monday was a doubleheader and for 17 innings, it looked like Boston was ready to fold up shop. They trailed the opener 8-1 in the fourth inning and lost 13-8. They trailed 8-2 in the eighth inning of the nightcap. Then a rally that’s arguably the most improbable in the long history of this franchise took place. The Red Sox not only generated four singles, a double and an error to make a stunning seven-run rally against an opponent renowned for its ability to pitch in September, but they did it with their unknown bats. It wasn’t Yaz or Fisk or even Cepeda coming up with the hits. It was Danny Cater, Mario Guerrero, Rick Miller and a still-developing Cecil Cooper that delivered the biggest hits in the stunning 9-8 win. Another unknown was a hero on Tuesday. Luis Tiant and Jim Palmer staged an epic pitcher’s duel. Each were still pitching in the 12th inning of a 1-1 game. Then Ben Ogilvie, still in the developing phase of his own career, homered off Palmer. If you were a Red Sox fan thinking this was destiny, you had reason. Especially when 21-year-old Dwight Evans homered on Wednesday to key a six-run second inning and a 7-5 win. Boston was four games out and still alive.
But the destiny storyline couldn’t hold. The Red Sox lost two of three at home to Detroit and slipped 5 1/2 games out when it was time to play two more games with the Orioles, this time in Baltimore. Again, Boston would not go quietly. Yaz, Cepeda, Miller and Fisk all had two hits in the opener. Tiant left with a 4-3 lead and another unknown–this time reliever Bobby Bolin–got that last seven outs in a 4-3 win. But the drive finally crested when Pattin gave up seven runs in the first four innings of an 8-3 loss. Over the next two weeks, the Sox went 6-7 and fell 10 1/2 back. They swept the Milwaukee Brewers at home to end the year, but the decision on Kasko’s fate was made–he was out as manager. Kasko continued to have a great career in Boston. He moved into the scouting department and spent the next twenty years there, eventually becoming VP of Scouting & Development. Kasko was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2010. His managerial tenure was a success too–winning teams every year and his best team his final season. He just couldn’t keep up with Baltimore.
With 13 new cards made this is the smallest team set for the 1973 season.
Buddy Hunter his .429 for the Bosox in 1973, but it was only in 7 AB's over 13 games. Strangely he appeared with the big club 3 times, in alternating seasons (1971, 1973 & 1975). A career .252 hitter in 11 minor league seasons its kind of amazing that he even got a shot at the biggs or that he remained in AAA Pawtucket for 5 straight seasons (1975-79) before Boston decided to spare him from another .220 season. After a year away from baseball he returned to manage the Red Sox Single A affiliate in Winston-Salem, NC.
After being drafted by the Sox in 1968 Cooper ripped up minor league pitching. In his first season in rookie ball he hit .452 in 84 AB's. The following two seasons he hit .297 and .336 respectively. After hitting .343 in AAA-Pawtucket he got his first promotion to Fenway and hit .210 in 42 AB's. Back in AAA in '72 he hit .315, but only .235 in a brief cup of coffee in the Bigs. In 1973 he was promoted for good, but hit .238 with only 3 homers in 101 late season at bats. From 1974-1976 he hit close to or over .300, but had trouble getting a regular spot in the lineup with great players like Yaz and company ahead of him. Cooper's .053 (1-19) showing in the '75 World Series vs the Reds might have been his undoing in Boston. After the '76 season he was traded to the Brewers in order to reacquire Bernie Carbo and George Scott. The deal helped both teams, especially the Brewers, who got themselves a gold glove All-Star 1st baseman who made 5 All-Star games and led the league in RBI's twice.
Skok pitched all of 11 games (0-1, 6.28, 1sv) with the Sox in '73. He was sent to Texas in the Fergie Jenkins deal, but just seemed to languish in the minors. As a 30 year old he got a chance with the pitching challenged Braves in '78 (3-2, 4.35, 2sv). After another similar performance in '79 (1-3, 3.98, 2sv) he was farmed out for good. In his final season in organize ball (1980) he was 6-3, 2.93, 5sv in AAA Richmond, but at 32 he was not part of the Braves future plans.
The well traveled Cater was in his second season with Boston and hit .313, but only played in 63 games. He did manage to have a one of his 18 four hit games on August 12th vs the Angels. Not only did he have 4 hits, but he had 4 runs scored and 4 runs knocked in. Cater was in the middle of a 5 year stretch where he progressively played less and less games until his final season (1975) where he moved over to St. Louis and had just 8 hits in 35 AB's. Forever in New York he's remembered as the man the Yankees traded to Boston to steal Sparky Lyle.
Pole made his Major League debut on August 3, 1973, starting the second game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles. He surrendered six runs in 3⅔ innings pitched and received the loss, as the Orioles won 8–2.v He remained with the team, and spent the next four seasons moving between the rotation and the bullpen for the Red Sox. Pole's career was nearly ended by an injury during a game against the Orioles on June 30, 1975, when a line drive by Tony Muser struck him in the face. The ball had been hit so hard that it bounced into foul territory near third base, scoring two runs on the play. Pole sustained a broken jaw and damage to the retina of his right eye. The damaged eye never fully recovered, and he ultimately lost ninety percent of the vision in that eye. Pole recovered from his injuries in time to pitch in the 1975 World Series, walking the only two batters he faced in a 6–2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in Game 5. The Red Sox ultimately lost the series in seven games.
After going 4-2, 2.43 in 31 relief appearances during the '72 season the future looked bright for Newhauser, but injuries limited him to just 21 games (31IP) in both Boston and AAA Pawtucket. 1974 saw him work his back with solid numbers in AAA, but just 2 appearances in the majors. After a disappointing '74 season in AAA (4-7, 3.49) he was released and picked up by the Pirates organization that sent him to AAA-Charleston. That would be his final season in organized ball.
I rescued Dewey from a rookie panel card and gave him his own single rookie card. Although his 1973 season was less than impressive (.223-10-32) the Red Sox brass knew what kind of stud righfielder they had and stayed the course. Dewey rewarded them by hitting .281 in his sophomore season. More importantly he had a howitzer for an arm that helped earn him 8 gold gloves. IMO, the HOF Vets committee, or whatever they call it, needs to really look at this man's case for Cooperstown. In 20 seasons, all except one in Boston, he hit .272 with 385 homers. He only struck out 306 more times than he walked across 10,589 plate appearances.
1973 was the 4th and final season for Kasco at the helm of the Boston Red Sox. His 345-295 (.539) record included 4 straight winning seasons. He was patient with his players and did an excellent job transitioning aging vets out in favor of young stars like Fisk and Evans. His crime: He couldn't beat out the dynastic Orioles. Kasko was a true company man. He took his lumps then moved into the front office for the next 20 years holding various jobs with the Red Sox until he retired. He was honored by the organization by being inducted into the Boston Red Sox HOF in 2010.
Rookie Mario Guerrero hit .233 in 66 games at short and second for the '73 Red Sox. After hitting just .246 in 93 games the following year he was traded to the Cardinals where he split the season between the parent club and AAA-Tulsa. On May 29 of the following year he was traded to the Angels where he spent two seasons as a .280 hitting utility player. next it was on to Oakland for 3 years before his career came to an end.
After three seasons in Boston's farm system, Garman debuted with the BoSox as a September call-up in 1969, and won his major league debut against the New York Yankees just six days after his twentieth birthday. After spending all of 1970 in the minors, he joined the Sox as a September call-up in 1971 and 1972 as well, and made the big league roster out of the bullpen in 1973. He had no decisions in twelve appearances as manager Eddie Kasko used him mostly in mop up roles. Following his only full season with the BoSox, he was traded with John Curtis and Lynn McGlothen to the St. Louis Cardinals for Reggie Cleveland, Terry Hughes and Diego Segui. Garman would spend 2 years in STL, 1 season with the Cubs, a season and a half in LA and half a season in Montreal. 4 times he would reach double digits in saves, but mostly with ERA's over 4.00.
At 35 years of age the Baby Bull had a lot of mileage on his legs. The 1958 NL-ROY and 1967 NL-MVP had his career resurrected by the DH role in 1973. In 142 games he hit .289 with 20 homers, which apparently wasn't enough for the Red Sox brass who gave him his release at the end of the season. The Red Sox management team must have been clairvoyant, because Cepeda only played in 33 games the following season in KC and hit just .215 and was given his outright release on September 27th, 1974. Basically his surgically repaired knees finally gave out. Cepeda did win honor in Boston, which included being named the first AL DH of the year. His first hit in Boston was a walk off HR that defeated the Yankees.
1973 marked the 11th and final year in Culp's career. Culp arrived in Boston in 1968 and had 4 straight double digit win seasons. By 1972 his arm began to give out and he went from being a 200+ inning a year guy down to 105. In 1973 he was 2-6, 4.47 in just 50 innings. A trip to AAA-Pawtucket couldn't get him right, so he retired at the conclusion of the season. Culp was an All-Star in his rookie season (1963) and in 1969. He came in 3rd in NL-ROY balloting as a rookie. He finished his career with a 122-10, 3.58 record, but never made the post season.
Miller was a gold glove caliber outfielder who just didn't hit with enough power to hold down a regular slot. His glove and clutch hitting was good enough for him to play 15 seasons in the majors. In 1973 he played 143 games and hit just .261 with only 6 homers. After 7 seasons in Boston he was traded to the Angels where he played everyday in 1978 and won a gold glove. After 3 seasons in Anaheim he headed back to Boston for 5 more seasons. Miller finished his career with a .269 average and just 28 homers in 4,440 plate appearances.
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