1970 Deluxe Past Season with transaction and lineups available now!
1970: Baseball Enters a New Decade
by Steve Ehresman
As the United States moved into the post-Woodstock era, the Vietnam War continued to rage, bitterly dividing the nation, but the Apollo 13 crew made it home safely, showing American ingenuity at its best. The psychedelic 1960s had come to an end, and America stood on the threshold of a roller coaster decade no one could have predicted. Although challenges lay ahead, the American people, like the Apollo 13 crew, possessed “the right stuff,” meeting the unknown with courage and hope.
As it always has in troubled times, baseball remained a steady, calming influence, “a bridge over troubled waters.” The 1970 season itself was a bridge between decades, as the Baltimore Orioles asserted their dominance, winning a World Series title to compensate for their loss to the New York Mets in 1969, and the Cincinnati Reds fired on all cylinders, providing fans with a preview of the Big Red Machine.
The MVP of the American League, Boog Powell of the Baltimore Orioles (35 home runs, 114 RBI, .297), and the MVP of the National League, Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds (45 home runs, 148 RBI, .293), reflected the excellence of their respective teams. Bench’s 1970 season may be the greatest by a catcher in major league history, as he led the National League in both home runs and RBI.
These all-star performances were joined by Frank Howard (44 home runs, 126 RBI), Alex Johnson (.329), and Bert Campaneris (42 SB) of the Junior Circuit and Rico Carty (.366) and Bobby Tolan (57 SB) of the Senor Circuit to give fans a season of superlatives, truly "one for the ages."
On the mound, Dave McNally and Jim Perry (24 wins), Diego Segui (2.56 ERA), Sam McDowell (304 SO), and Ron Perranoski (34 SV) set the pace in the American League. Their counterparts in the National League, Bob Gibson and Gaylord Perry (23 wins), Tom Seaver (2.82 ERA, 283 SO), and Wayne Granger (35 SV) put up equally admirable numbers in the National League.
The 1970 major league season entertained and thrilled, giving Americans a chance to catch their collective breath before the coming decade, in which a political scandal, an oil embargo, and a hostage crisis would rock the nation. Through it all, baseball produced Hall of Fame stars and legendary dynasties that made their own headlines and printed their names indelibly in our nation’s history.
Diamond Mind has the 1970 season ready to ship, complete with everything you need to celebrate the Baltimore Orioles and to prepare for the Big Red Machine. With DMB, you can manage powerhouse teams just like Earl Weaver and Sparky Anderson. Maybe you can even rewrite history.
The 1970 Deluxe Past Season database contains everything you need to play games using teams and players from the 1970 season -- a full set of ratings and statistics for every player who appeared in the big leagues that year, plus team rosters, manager profiles, ballpark ratings, transactions, and league schedules. Statistics include official batting, pitching and fielding totals with left/right splits for all batters and pitchers.
