The Orioles All Pitched In

In the postgame madness, the Orioles washed down with 240 bottles of Great Western Extra Dry. Murray and Ripken espied each other over the heads of the mob and shared their special handshake. Al Holland, the Phillies' reliever, sought out Murray, shook his hand conventionally and said, " 'Bout time you came out of that slump."

This was the Amtrak Series, originating in Baltimore, destination Philadelphia, making station stops in Cooperstown, Platoon, Hurlersburg, Redemption, Morgantown, Holland, Norway, Foshville, Tater City, Stoogeburg, Drizzle and Puddle. Please watch your step while boarding.

The National League champion Phillies and the American League champion Orioles were as different as, say, cheese-steaks and crab cakes, but they did have a couple of things in common. One was a firm belief in two-platoon baseball. The other was good pitching, and as everyone knows, good pitching beats good pitching.

The Phillies, the road show for the Hall of Fame, had the lowest overall batting average for a Series team since the 1974 A's; the Wheeze Kids also had four players 40 or over, and no Series team has ever had more than two of those. As for the Orioles, they were clear favorites, even though they couldn't use Singleton in his accustomed DH role in this odd-numbered year.

This was also the coziest Series, geographically, since the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers played in 1956. Game 1 on Tuesday was as close as the contending cities, the Phillies winning 2-1. Actually, the Giants won; the game's three home runs were hit by ex-members of the San Francisco team, and former Giant "Mr. T." Holland dispatched the heart of the Baltimore lineup—pity the fools—to save the victory.

It was a rainy night in Baltimore, and the 52,204 fans, many dressed in yellow and orange slickers, looked like so many autumn leaves. Adding to the foliage was President Reagan, wearing a bright red turtleneck under a tweed sports coat. The President arrived at the end of the first inning and left after the seventh, and his visit marked the 12th time a Chief Executive had been to a World Series. The Republicans hold an 8-4 edge over the Democrats.

Another special guest was singer John Denver, whose rendition of Thank God I'm a Country Boy is played during every seventh-inning stretch at Memorial Stadium. Denver, who went to Fort McHenry that day for inspiration, sang the national anthem, and later, in the seventh, he did his own song live.

At 8:17 p.m., Wild Bill Hagy conducted his first spelling bee, and he was followed by a two-minute fireworks display. Hardly had the smoke cleared when Jim Dwyer hit a 3-and-2 fastball from John Denny over the rightfield fence.

McGregor had the Phillies guessing wrong through the first five innings as he faced only one more than the minimum number of batters. But with two out in the sixth and behind in the count 1 and 2, Morgan guessed curveball, got it and sent it into the Phillies' bullpen in right to tie the score. Morgan, 40, thus became the second-oldest man to hit a Series homer—Enos Slaughter was a few months older when he hit one for the Yankees in 1956. "I used to be too short," said Morgan. "Now I'm too old."

After the Orioles hit in the seventh, McGregor was all set to pitch when a crewman for ABC waved him off. "There is a certain flow to the game," said McGregor. "I told that guy never to do that to me again. He already had five minutes. I said, 'Sell your Datsuns some other way.' " Actually, ABC was holding up the game because Howard Cosell was interviewing Reagan.