The Mustache Gang Battles the Big Red Machine: The 1972 World Series by John G. Robertson and Carl T. Madden (review)

Reviewed by: The Mustache Gang Battles the Big Red Machine: The 1972 World Series by John G. Robertson and Carl T. Madden David M. Pegram John G. Robertson and Carl T. Madden. The Mustache Gang Battles the Big Red Machine: The 1972 World Series. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2022. 256 pp. Paperback, $35.00. There is a certain mystique about the 1972 World Series, a seven-game battle between the Oakland A's and Cincinnati Reds. Baseball historians and long-time fans will know of it as a "Hairs vs Squares" series, played in the midst of civil unrest and protest, a battle between traditional values and the counter culture. However, none of that would be memorable if the series itself weren't a good one. But it was. In The Mustache Gang Battles the Big Red Machine authors John G. Robertson and Carl T. Madden remind us why the '72 Series was so memorable. However, the authors bypass much of the cultural contexts for this series and focus on the games themselves. In fact the real cultural battle, they suggest, was between the National League and the American League, and over which had a better style of play. The book is a fairly straightforward narrative, which is not at all a detriment. Before focusing on the series itself, Robertson and Madden build this narrative by providing a backdrop. The 1972 season was delayed due to the first players' strike in Major League Baseball history. In chapter one, the authors succinctly describe the circumstances surrounding the strike (pension payments) and how the public was not in favor of it, even though the players were not making "obscene salaries" at the time (8). As a result two weeks of games were cancelled, and teams played an unbalanced schedule: some ended with 154 games, others with 156. This had a particular influence on the American League East division and the battle between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers. In chapter four, Robertson and Madden chronicle the fateful final series between Boston and Detroit, with the Tigers winning two of three and taking the division title as a result. Oddly, due to the shortened [End Page 114] season, the Tigers won the division by a half game, a game Boston was not allowed to make up. The scheduling did not impact Oakland and Cincinnati, as both cruised to division titles. Robertson and Madden provide brief histories of both franchises and how they built their championship contenders before chronicling their relatively easy path to the postseason. Perhaps what made the 1972 World Series special was not just the competitiveness of that Series but the high drama of the League Championship Series that came before. The authors detail these series, since both went five games. In the American League, Oakland shortstop Bert Campaneris was suspended after throwing his bat at pitcher Lerrin LaGrow in Game Two. In the fifth and deciding game, star outfielder Reggie Jackson tore his hamstring while scoring on a double steal—he would be lost for the remainder of the postseason. In the National League, the Reds faced the defending World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates led by Roberto Clemente. The teams traded victories, leading to a decisive Game Five in Cincinnati. Down 3–2 in the ninth, the Reds rallied to win when pinch runner George Foster scored from third on a wild pitch by Pirates reliever Bob Moose. The authors' use of source material is especially effective in chronicling the players' and managers' reactions to the high drama on the field. This manner of detail continues as Robertson and Madden carefully reconstruct the seven games of the World Series. Each game tells its own story and thus requires its own chapter and box score. Six of the seven games were onerun contests, with the first three being won by the road team. In fact five of the seven games were won by the road team, including the Athletics' Game Seven win in Cincinnati. Game Five produced the series' most dramatic moment when pitcher Blue Moon Odom (pitchers did still hit in both leagues at the time) was thrown out at home for the final out—a game Cincinnati had to win...

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