Ken Holtzman and first baseman Mike Epstein wear black armbands on the sleeves of their uniforms to pay respect to the 11 Israeli Olympic athletes who were killed yesterday by terrorists in Munich
On September 6, 1972 — A’s southpaw Ken Holtzman and first baseman Mike Epstein wear black armbands on the sleeves of their uniforms to pay respect to the 11 Israeli Olympic athletes who were killed yesterday by terrorists in Munich. The action taken by the Jewish players, affirming the importance of their faith, is well received by the club, with Reggie Jackson wearing an armband in solidarity, along with skipper Dick Williams being fully supportive of the symbolic gesture made by the Oakland teammates.
On September 6, 1972, the Oakland A’s played the Chicago White Sox at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Coming into the game, the A’s led the American League’s West Division by three games over the second-place White Sox. This two-game series would directly and significantly impact the pennant race, (5) as a White Sox sweep would reduce the A’s lead to only one game. Conversely, if the A’s took both games, their lead would swell to five games, and if they split the series, the lead would remain at three games. (6) Major League Baseball’s playoff format in the 1970s amplified the games’ importance: in each league the winner of the West Division would meet the winner of the East Division in a best three-of-five game series to determine which team would represent the league in the World Series. Unlike today, there was no “wild card” playoff berth. A lot was on the line here, and, if anything, the pressure was on the A’s to win. In 1971, the A’s won the American League West handily by 16 games, only to be swept by the American League East winners, the Baltimore Orioles, in the American League Championship series. (7)
A’s manager Dick Williams started southpaw Ken Holtzman, who had a record of 15-11 coming into the game. Tom Bradley (13-12) was the White Sox starter. Reggie Jackson started in center field and batted fourth; Mike Epstein played first base and hit fifth.
For the record, Oakland won by the count of 9-1. Despite a shaky first inning in which he yielded a run, Holtzman notched a complete-game victory. (8) Epstein went 3-for-4, with two runs scored, while Jackson was 3-for-5 (one of the hits being his 23rd home run of the season), with three runs scored and one RBI. Holtzman was hitless.
Ron Bergman’s account of the game in the September 7, 1972 edition of the Oakland Tribune attributes this quote to Jackson: “I don’t think the Olympics should go on after those killings. I know that if somebody assassinated a couple of our players here in Chicago–some nut who didn’t want us to win–I wouldn’t want to play the rest of the season, World Series, playoffs, nothing.”
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