1970 National League Championship Series

1970 National League Championship Series
Team (Wins) Manager(s) Season
Cincinnati Reds (3) Sparky Anderson 102–60, .630, GA: 14½
Pittsburgh Pirates (0) Danny Murtaugh 89–73, .549, GA: 5
DatesOctober 3–5
UmpiresJohn Grimsley, Fred Blandford, Hank Morgenweck, George Grygiel (Game 1); Stan Landes, Paul Pryor, Doug Harvey, Bob Engel, Harry Wendelstedt, Nick Colosi (Games 2–3)
Broadcast
TelevisionNBC (national broadcast)
KDKA-TV (Pirates' broadcast)
WLWT (Reds' broadacast)
TV announcersNBC: Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek (in Pittsburgh)
Jim Simpson and Sandy Koufax (in Cincinnati)
KDKA-TV: Nellie King and Bob Prince
WLWT: Joe Nuxhall, Pee Wee Reese, Jim McIntyre, and Ed Kennedy
← 1969 NLCS 1971 →

The 1970 National League Championship Series was a match-up between the East Division champion Pittsburgh Pirates and the West Division champion Cincinnati Reds. The Reds swept the Pirates three games to none and went on to lose the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles. The series was the second NLCS.

The series was notable for featuring the first postseason baseball played on artificial turf (which was used in both ballparks, which both also opened at midseason). It was also the first of ten NLCS series between 1970 and 1980 that featured either of the Pennsylvania-based MLB clubs representing the NL East, the Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates.[1][2] The only time neither team appeared in the NLCS during that period was in 1973, when the New York Mets won the NL East.

Due to a one-day strike by major league umpires, the series was begun using four minor league umpires, with the regularly assigned crew—including union president Wendelstedt—returning for Games 2 and 3.

  1. ^ Von Benko, George (July 7, 2005). "Notes: Phils–Pirates rivalry fading". Phillies.MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2011. From 1974–80, the Phillies and Pirates won all seven National League East titles (Phillies four, Pirates three).
  2. ^ "Pirates perform rare three-peat feat 4–2". USA Today. September 28, 1992. p. 5C. The Pirates...won three (NL East titles) in a row from 1970–72.

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