FanPost

Wildest Game in Person, Angels at Tigers 1971,......

I was 10 years old when my father took our entire family of 8 to Tiger Stadium for a tilt against the Angels. I loved all the Tiger players but my favorite was Jim Northrup. He played center field (my position in Little League) and he handled the bat really well,...we sat in the left field stands. Jim Northrup did not have his finest day at the plate that day. The game went into extra innings and the Angels got a rally started in the top of the 13th. And, with a runner on 1st (and 2 out) Sandy Alomar stroked a solid double to deep center that clanged off the barrier where Northrup, with his back to the infield, fielded the ball. He spun and throw a rope to SS Eddie Brinkman who had run out behind 2nd base to cut-off, who in turn threw a strike to Bill Freehan who applied the tag to the runner who was trying to score from 1st base! When Northrup batted in the bottom half of the 13th and I was yelling and pounding my glove, hoping for a hit. Nope, Jim struck out for the 4th time that day and the inning ended deadlocked at 3. The game ground on and many fans had hit the exits but my family hung in there. At the beginning of the 16th, my dad announced that, as much as he wanted to stay to the end, we still had the bus ride back to Lincoln Park to consider, so no matter what, he was going to pull the plug when the 16th ended. Joe Niekro came on to pitch and got 3 outs. Norm Cash lead off the bottom half and he popped out to 3rd, and that brought Northrup up for his (lucky?) 7th plate appearance of the day. Lloyd Allen pitched and Jim Northrup swung. The sound of hard ash smacking leather echoed around the park and the ball sailed into the right field stands and disappeared from sight. Suddenly, and after nearly 5 hours, Tigers were winners and my guy was the hero!

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