With baseball’s Fall Classic beginning this week, what was the first World Series you remember watching as a kid?

For me, it was the 1970 showdown between the Orioles and the Reds. There are some faint memories of the Mets-Orioles the previous year, but the 1970 one was a definite.

One of the images that will always stay ingrained with me is seeing how big Orioles’ first baseman Boog Powell seemed to be. And Curt Gowdy’s melodic and methodical calls still can ring in your ears and are among the game’s best.

In fact, the 70s contained arguably some of the best World Series ever played. There was the kind of pitching over the era that we likely won’t see again anytime soon, as well as its share of timely hitting.

When you take a hard look, the decade was dominated by the A’s, Reds, Orioles, Yankees and Pirates.

During this version of my Yesterday column — reminiscing about sports and pop culture from the 1960s, 70s, 80s and sometimes before and beyond — I’ll look back at some of the 70s World Series’ teams, as well as some pop culture items from the decade.

And do you remember the Mongols?

Brooks’ Boys ... The 1970 series belonged to Orioles’ third baseman Brooks Robinson, who was a force with his glove and bat. Robinson was the hallmark of third basemen before Mike Schmidt.

You have probably seen Robinson’s backhand grab of Lee May’s one-hop smash just inside the third base foul line that Robinson backhanded to his right, threw in the air, and got May by a few steps in Game 2 of the series.

In Game 1, Robinson hit a home run in the seventh inning that broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Orioles a 4-3 victory. Jim Palmer threw 132 pitches — yes, not a typo — over eight innings with five walks and two strikeouts.

Robinson, who was a baseball-old 33 at the time, hit .429 in the series to gain MVP honors and help the O’s to a World Series ring in five games. Teammates center fielder Paul Blair and catcher Elrod Hendricks, both known for their gloves instead of their bats, hit .474 and .364 respectively, in the series. A young infielder named Bobby Grich didn’t play in the series.

In the regular season, the Orioles won 108 games and the AL East by 15 games. Powell was the league’s MVP with his 35 homers, 114 RBIs and a .297 average, as three other players received MVP votes.

Future Phillie outfielder Roger Freed only appeared in four regular-season games with a .154 average, and how many of you remember reliever Eddie Watt, who was a Phillie in 1974 with a 1-1 record and a 3.99 ERA with six saves in 42 games?

Palmer and His Pals ... The Orioles’ starting staff in the early 70s was among the most dominant ever in the game.

In 1970, Palmer posted a 20-10 record with a 2.71 ERA over 305 innings with 199 strikeouts. He twirled 17 complete games and had five shutouts.

Dave McNally went 24-9 with a 3.22 ERA and 185 strikeouts over 296 innings — and 16 complete games. Mike Cuellar was 24-8 with a 3.48 ERA and 190 strikeouts over 296 innings, and had a league-high 21 complete games, despite allowing a league-high 34 homers and 115 earned runs.

The trio wasn’t recognized as strikeout artists, but instead for their craftiness to know how to stay in games.

Remember when pitchers hit? In the series, McNally hit .250 and Palmer was at .143.

An interesting stat on Palmer is that he won 20 or more games in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978, yet didn’t achieve 300 career wins, gaining 294 over 19 seasons.

Seeing Red ... Along with the Orioles, the Reds were in the infancy stages of “The Big Red Machine,” and Johnny Bench was making his mark after he won the Rookie of the Year in 1968.

In the 1970 series, Lee May hit .389, and Dave Concepcion was at .333 among the regulars. Bench struggled with his .211 average, and Pete Rose hit .250 as the Reds’ right fielder.

In the series, the Reds’ starting pitching behind Jim Merritt and Gary Nolan floundered, and reliever Clay Carroll was their most effective arm, allowing five hits over nine innings with 11 strikeouts. Carroll was 9-4 with a 2.59 ERA and 16 saves during the season.

During the regular season, Merritt recorded an overall 20-12, 4.08 season with 12 complete games. Nolan went 18-7 with a 3.27 ERA and 180 strikeouts over 250.2 innings.

Future Phillies’ skipper Pat Corrales was Bench’s backup, and Bobby Tolan was in his prime in center. Don’t forget future Phils’ GM Woody Woodward, who shared shortstop with Darrel Chaney.

The “Big Red Machine” was in high gear in 1975 and 1976 winning titles, and they lost the series in 1970 and 1972.

And where have you gone, Angel Bravo?

Those Swingin’ A’s ... Talk of the 1970s would not be complete without mentioning the A’s dynasty from 1972-74.

However, you can trace their success back to 1971 when they won 101 games and their first division title in Oakland with new manager Dick Williams. It was a year that paralleled some of the Orioles’ legendary starting pitching.

Vida Blue, who often gets overlooked, was 24-8 with a league-leading 1.82 ERA and eight shutouts, along with 24 complete games and 301 strikeouts in 322 innings. Catfish Hunter was 21-11 with a 2.96 ERA, 16 complete games, and 181 strikeouts in 273 innings.

You can add side-winding lefty Ken Holtzman, who also often gets overlooked. Holtzman won 59 games over those three years.

The A’s were some of baseball’s most colorful teams with plenty of personalities and characters. They certainly were fun to watch during the mid-70s, and owner Charlie Finley was the ringmaster of the group that ranged from Reggie Jackson to Rollie Fingers.

Finley began to break up the team in 1975, and the team easily could have won some more titles if they were kept intact.

We likely will never see a team like that anytime soon.

Series of Songs ... The 1970s featured countless hits from all varieties, but here is one man’s “World Series’ selection (not in any particular order):

“Let It Be” (1970); “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (1970): “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975); “Free Bird” (1973); “Born to Run” (1975); “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (1973); “Go Your Own Way” (1977); “Imagine “(1971); “Staying Alive” (1977); “Hotel California” (1977); ‘Dancing Queen” (1976); and “Maggie May” (1971).

Let me know what you think.

Completing the Story ... In reference to Cuellar’s 21 complete games in 1970, who led MLB in that category?

The Cubs’ Ferguson Jenkins had 24.

Another Classic Game ... In 1970, Ideal released “Sure Shot Baseball” and it was also billed as “Hank Aaron Baseball.”

I remember having this game and actually having some fun with it.

You would roll a ball down a small chute in the outfield, and your partner took a swing at it with a small wooden bat. Depending on where you hit it, you could have a home run, single, double, or triple on what plastic stadium it sailed over if it wasn’t caught.

There were plastic base runners to help highlight your game.

It was another simple game that worked.

Readers Write

On Names and “Animals”

Hello,

I enjoy reading your column.

From a recent column, I recall nearly all the names you listed. One that I remembered, not so much because of him, but because of his father.

Pete LaCock’s father was Peter Marshall, host of the Hollywood Squares, and other game shows. Marshall was a stage name. You probably already knew that, but just in case.

By the way, I always got a kick out of George “The Animal” Steele.

Ed Ortolaza

Walnutport

WWWF/WWE Wrap ... Do you remember the Mongols?

They were a tag team in the 1970s composed of Geeto Mongol (real name Newton Tattrie) and Bepo Mongol (title contender Nikolai Volkoff).

They were the two-time WWWF International Tag-Team Champions managed by Tony Angelo, and held the belts from 1970-71 for a combined 501 days.

Gorilla Monsoon and Pedro Morales once defeated them for the title, but the Mongols defeated the likes of Monsoon paired with Chief Jay Strongbow, along with Manuel Soto and Jose Rivera in other defenses.

The original Mongols wrestled until 1973 when Volkoff left. From there, Bill Eadie, better recognized as the Masked Superstar, the Destroyer, and X in his later days, took over as Belo and he and Geeto teamed together until 1977.

Eadie moved on to make an individual name for himself in various roles until he retired in 2017.

Volkoff passed away in 2018 at the age of 70, and Tattrie passed away in 2013 at the age of 82.

Your thoughts are always welcomed; email them to tnsports@tnonline.com.