Nine Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game

by Daniel Okrent

But pennants are not won by one hit, or even one game, despite what the standings say. The roots of the Milwaukee success in 1982 (they went on to win the American League pennant playoffs against the California Angels, then lost the World Series in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals, who had a young outfielder named David Green in the lineup) stretched back months and years, in countless directions: to Jim Gantner's fortuitous twelfth-round selection in the 1974 draft, to Bud Selig's support of Harvey Kuenn during his physical tribulations in the late 1970s, to Harry Dalton's apprenticeship with the Orioles in the 1950s. Ray Poitevint had scouted and signed David Green out of Nicaragua. Ray Scarborough (who died of a heart attack early in July) had lobbied hard for the trade that sent Green to St. Louis and had brought Fingers and company to Milwaukee. After his eventually wasted efforts with Paul Molitor, Sam Suplizio had taught Charlie Moore the fundamentals of outfield play. George Bamberger had insisted that Dalton retrieve Gorman Thomas from the Texas Rangers. George Blaeholder of St. Louis had perfected in the 1930s the pitch that Rollie Fingers had built his success upon.