Herb Washington -- A Great Moment in Baseball
 
In 1974 my roommate Pete (forget his last name) and I were seated down the third base line at Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine, California for game 2 of the World Series.
 
The LA Dodgers of the National League were playing the American League's Oakland Athletics, who were ahead in the series one game to zero.
 
So here we were in game 2, with one out in the bottom of the 9th inning, and visiting Oakland was down 3 runs to 2. It doesn't get any better than this.
 
Oakland rallied when when tying run Joe Rudi got on first base. He was replaced by pinch runner Herb Washington, who will be known for all eternity as owner Charlie Finley's "designated runner". You just had to know that Herb would try to get into scoring position by stealing second base. But the rally soon ended when pitcher Mike Marshall picked him off. And now with two outs, the following strikeout ended it, with the series tied at one game each.
 
The series then moved up to Oakland for games 3-4-5, with the Dodgers losing all three, ending the 1974 series at 4 games to 1 in favor of Oakland.
 
Had games 6 and 7 been necessary, they would have taken place in Los Angeles. Having purchased the tickets in advance, I would have been at game 7. But as it was, I attended just game 2, the only game that Oakland lost
 
During the 1974 and 1975 seasons, Herb Washington appeared in 105 games, scored 33 runs, and stole 31 bases in 48 attempts, never having batted or fielded. Today he is a successful businessman, owing McDonalds franchises in Ohio and New York. Maybe some day one of his two children will provide grandbabies to bounce them on his knee while wearing his World Series championship ring.
 
By Chuck Langenberg
 
Request: I recall a side-story the day after the game, in either the LA Times or the Herald Examiner titled Marshall Teaches Washington Another Lesson. It turned out that as a student at Michigan State University, Washington attended one of Professor Marshall's classes -- and first baseman Steve Garvey attended the Michigan State at the same time. I was not able to find this story on the web. A link to the article, or a Xerox copy would be appreciated and I will prominently publish it. Here is my contact information.
 
Here are some links:
 
Baseball-Reference.com
http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/washihe01.shtml
 
Wikipedia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Washington
 
Independent:
http://z.lee28.tripod.com/sbnsforgottenintime/id24.html