I thought this might be kind of fun...I dunno, something else to do rather than speculate on the new ownership group or fantasy trade scenarios.
I was born in 1977. The New York Yankees won the World Series, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. Game 6 was the one were Reggie Jackson hit three homeruns.
George Foster was the National League MVP and Rod Carew won it in the American League.
The Cy Young Awards went to Steve Carlton of the Phillies and Sparky Lyle of the Yankees.
Andre Dawson was the National League Rookie of the Year, and Eddie Murray the American League Rookie of the Year.
Ernie Banks, Martin Dihigo, Pop Lloyd, Al Lopez, Amos Rusie and Joe Sewell were all inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Reds went 88-74 in 1977, good for second place in the National League West. This was the year that they traded for Tom Seaver.
The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners came into the league as expansion teams.
Brooks Robinson, Gary Nolan, Cookie Rojas and Tommy Helms all retired from the game.
The Chicago White Sox selected Harold Baines with the number one pick in the draft.
The average major league salary was $76,066 and the league's minimum salary that year was $19,000.
Tom Hume, Mario Soto, Eddie Murray, Bo Diaz, Jack Morris, Lance Parrish, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Clint Hurdle and Jim Clancy all made their major league debuts.
On my birthday, April 7, 1977:
The Mets beat the Cubs 5-3 in Chicago. Tom Seaver was the winning pitcher, going 7 innings, allowing 9 hits and 3 runs with 7 strikeouts. Ray Burris took the loss, allowing 4 hits and 4 runs over 5 1/3 innings. Steve Ontiveros hit a homerun for the Cubs in a losing effort. Skip Lockwood got the save for the Mets.
The Dodgers beat the Giants 5-1 at home. Don Sutton pitched a complete game to get the win, with John Montefusco giving up 3 runs, 2 earned, over six innings for San Francisco to absorb the loss. Gary Thomasson hit a homerun for the Giants in the loss.
The Cardinals abused the Pirates in front of the Pittsburgh fans, 12-6. John Denny got the win for the Cardinals with Jerry Reuss taking the loss for the Pirates. Keith Hernandez hit a homerun for the Cardinals, and Duffy Dyer knocked one out for the Pirates.
The Rangers beat the Orioles 2-1 at Baltimore. Bert Blyleven and Jim Palmer eached went the distance, pitching 10 innings with Blyleven coming out victorious over Palmer. Blyleven struck out eight Orioles, one of which was designated hitter Eddie Murray making his major league debut.
The Indians beat the Red Sox 5-4 in 11 innings at Fenway Park. Dennis Eckersley started the game for Cleveland, going nine innings and striking out nine, while surrendering four earned runs, but it was Dave LaRoche who pitched two innings in relief to pick up the win. Bill Campbell suffered the loss in relief, giving up three runs in 3 1/3 innings. Ferguson Jenkins started for Boston and allowed two runs, one earned over 7 2/3 innings. Buddy Bell hit a homerun for Cleveland, while Bernie Carbo and Dwight Evans went deep for Boston.
The Royals defeated the Tigers 7-4 at Tiger Stadium. Paul Splittorff picked up the win with Mark Littell getting the save. Dave Roberts suffered the loss. Amos Otis and John Mayberry went deep for K.C.
The Yankees shut out the Brewers 3-0 at Yankee Stadium behind Catfish Hunter, with Sparky Lyle picking up the save. Bill Travers took the loss for Milwaukee. Jim Wynn hit a homerun for New York in the game.
The California Angels shut out the Seattle Mariners 2-0 in Seattle with Nolan Ryan pitching the complete game victory for the Angels. Enrique Romo struck out 9 Angels in 7 innings, allowing 2 runs in his major league debut to take the loss. Bobby Grich homered for California.
The Toronto Blue Jays, playing in their first ever game, beat the Chicago White Sox 9-5 at Exhibition Stadium. Jerry Johnson got the win in relief of Bill Singer with Pete Vuckovich getting the save. Ken Brett took the loss, giving up 5 runs in 3 innings. Richie Zisk went deep for Chicago, while Doug Ault knocked two out and Al Woods, pinch hitting in his major league debut, hit a two run shot out for the Blue Jays.
An awful trade.
