The Nitty Gritty Card of the Day

Today's Nitty Gritty Card of the Day is card #1 from 1972 Topps showing the World Champions of 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates. 38 years later the Series starts today. In 1971 Game 1 was a match of Aces, too. For the Pirates it was Dock Ellis (19-9) versus Dave McNally for the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles bats knocked out Ellis quickly as he was pulled after just 2-1/3 innings giving up 4 earned runs on 2 homers. McNally was superb and went 9 innings allowing 3 unearned runs and striking out 9 for the win. Dock Ellis did not return for the Bucs while McNally took the loss in Game 5 and returned the next game to pitch the final frame in Baltimore's 3-2 extra inning victory to earn the win. The Pirates would go on to beat the favored Orioles in 7 games behind Series MVP Roberto Clemente who batted .414 with a pair of timely homers and 4 RBI. 4 runs batted in doesn't jump out at you as amazing, but consider that the Pirates scored only 23 runs over 7 games and it becomes a bit more impressive as he drove in nearly 20% of their runs. It would be Clemente's final World Series. I love this game, I love this hobby, I love it's stories. I can't wait for the first pitch of the 2010 World Series! If you like the Pirates and their cards - I recently received a package with literally 100s of Pirates cards from the 60s, 70s and beyond from Cam at the Reds and More blog. Stick around as I will eventually get these up. The Pirates will ALWAYS be my team in the National League no matter what. Even if they are OLD memories, at least us Pirates fans have the memories of greatness. 38 years LATER.