As the 1972 playoffs began, the bloom was off the League Championship Series. Born in ’69, the first six tilts had produced five sweeps and a 3-1 rout, and those who had opposed the newfangled divisions were feeling vindicated. But the ’72 affairs at last would show the concept’s up side: Both were full-length thrillers with momentum shifts, late rallies, daring moves, hard feelings and controversy, with 5 of 10 games settled by one run.

Detroit scored in the 2nd on Norm Cash‘s solo HR, but the A’s equalized the next inning on a Joe Rudi sac fly. The game stayed 1-all into the 11th. Hunter was lifted in the 9th after a leadoff double, which led to a golden chance for Detroit: Cash’s sac bunt(?!?) off Vida Blue was mishandled by 2B Ted Kubiak (this was the year that Dick Williams shuffled his second sackers like short relievers), putting men on the corners with no outs. But Rollie Fingers pulled a Houdini, getting a popup from PH Gates Brown and a 4-6-3 DP from Jim Northrup. So Lolich went back out for the 9th, and then the 10th (after batting in the top half with 2 outs and nobody on).

Top of the 11th, one out, Al Kaline — batting 2nd in the order (you have to love Billy Martin’s tactics, if not his people skills) — homered off Fingers. Catcher Duke Sims tripled, but the Tigers failed to tack on when Cash and Mickey Stanley grounded out. Still, they were 3 outs from taking Game 1; and since the last 3 games of this best-of-5 would be back East, if needed, winning the opener would have been a big edge for Detroit.

In the home 11th, Lolich — still Lolich — yielded singles to the first two men and then departed with the tying run on 2nd, having pitched to 42 batters; no postseason pitcher since has faced so many. With righties coming up, Martin called in his righty relief ace, the talented rookie Chuck Seelbach, who’d been especially good in the last month and had saved the division-clincher over Boston. Gene Tenace laid one down, but Aurelio Rodriguez fired to Ed Brinkman covering third to get the lead runner. With second-baseman-of-the-moment Dal Maxvill due up (.217 career BA), Williams sent in the lefty pinch-hitter, Gonzalo Márquez.

Who?

Gonzalo Márquez was a 26-year-old rookie, one of two MLB players that year who hailed from Venezuela. Called up in August from AAA Iowa (he hit .309 there, after a .341 mark in 1970 that ranked 4th in the league), he had mainly pinch-hit for Oakland down the stretch, with 8 singles in 21 ABs. Márquez had two big go-ahead hits in the final week, once helping deny Nolan Ryan‘s 20th win. As a first baseman, his utter lack of power kept him from having a real MLB career, but his line-drive stroke made him ripe for the moment.

Márquez pulled Seelbach’s pitch through the hole into right. Al Kaline, the 10-time Gold Glover, made a snap decision: He could not get the pinch-runner Mike Hegan, steaming for home to tie the game, but he had a bead on Tenace heading for third. At 37, Kaline was no more the rangy marvel who had once roamed center field, but he still had a strong and accurate arm; in the past two years, he’d notched 11 assists with just one error in 213 OF games.

Kaline fired to third. But the sure-handed Rodriguez could not corral the bounce; it skipped past him, and Tenace ran home with the winning run. A home-run hero minutes before, the icon in his 20th year with Detroit now wore the mantle of defeat.

Oakland rolled in game 2 behind a brilliant Blue Moon Odom (3 singles, no walks), but this game is remembered mainly for Bert Campaneris throwing his bat at Lerrin LaGrow and getting banned for the rest of the series. Detroit had already lost SS Brinkman to a back injury.

Back home, the Tigers stayed alive on the battery power of Joe Coleman (14-K shutout) and Bill Freehan (HR, 2B, 2 Runs and a sac bunt, from the cleanup spot).

Game 4 was the opener all over again, but the Tigers’ turn to rise from the grave in extras. The Lolich-Hunter rematch was another draw, 1-1 through 9. The A’s reached Seelbach for 2 in the 10th, a rally started by a Marquez pinch-single, but they left a run on the table when Kubiak didn’t score from third on a two-out single. (Must have been a dribbler in front of home; anyone recall the play?) Detroit’s old guard rallied: Six batters, all veterans of the ’68 title, reached base, with a little help foreshadowed by the 7th-inning footnote, “Gene Tenace moves from C to 2B.” Cash, who never did hit lefties well, worked a walk off Dave Hamilton to force the tying run, and Northrup followed with the winning hit.

In game 5, Detroit sent Woodie Fryman back up against Odom. Fryman had been waived by Philly in July with a 4-10 record, but he went 10-3, 2.06 for Detroit, starting 14 of their final 53 games, and won the division clincher over Luis Tiant. He’d been touched up in game 2, but with the season on the line he was sharp, allowing 4 hits and a walk through 8 IP. Detroit struck first, but Oakland tied it in the next half on Reggie Jackson‘s leg. After a leadoff walk, Reggie stole 2nd, moved up on a flyout, and with 2 down and a man on 1st, swiped home on the tail end of a double-steal, called safe on a close play. (A torn hamstring suffered on the play would keep Jackson out of the ’72 Series.)

In Oakland’s 4th, a leadoff errant throw by Dick McAuliffe — his 4th miscue in as many games taking Brinkman’s place at SS — set up the go-ahead run, which scored with two away on Tenace’s single, the only hit of the frame. The Tigers, in their last six innings (four against Blue), never got a man past 1st base.

The A’s went to the World Series and began to build their legend, winning in 7 with 4 one-run victories; Tenace was the MVP, and Fingers logged 10.1 IP over 6 games. Gonzalo Marquez went 3 for 5 as a pinch-hitter in the Series, starting the winning rally in game 5; but despite his obvious ability that role (he went 6 for 21 the next year), his limitations were just too great, and when he failed to hit in a starting trial with the Cubs, his U.S. career was essentially over, though he would play many more years in Mexico and Venezuela.

Detroit would keep the core intact for one more year; seven lineup regulars plus Lolich, John Hiller and Gates Brown were all together for at least 1966-73, and most of them for more. The club was in 1st place as late as August 14, 1973, but Martin wore out his welcome during a losing stretch; by August’s end, Martin was gone and the Bengals were buried behind the red-hot O’s. It would be 12 years before another Motor City playoff game.