1976 World Series recap

After their tough tussle against the Red Sox in '75, the Reds dispatched the Yankees -- finally playing in October after an 11-year drought -- with relative ease.

Game 1 in Cincinnati matched Reds ace Don Gullett against Doyle Alexander. The latter's mates couldn't solve the former, as Gullett pitched 7 2/3 strong innings to beat the Yankees 5-1.

The Yanks had their best chance in Game 2, as they battled back from a 3-0 deficit to tie things up with a run in the fourth and two more in the seventh. But with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Ken Griffey reached second on shortstop Fred Stanley's throwing error, and one batter later scored the winning run on Tony Perez' line-drive single to left field.

The setting changed for Game 3 -- to legendary Yankee Stadium -- but New York's luck didn't. Cincinnati scored three times in the second inning, and Dan Driessen made it 4-0 with a solo homer in the fourth. The Yanks closed with singletons in the fourth and sixth, the latter coming on Jim Mason's round-tripper, but the Reds salted the game away with two runs of their own in the top of the eighth. Will McEnaney tossed 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to finish off the Yankees and earn the save.

In Game 4, the Reds once again broke through with three runs early on, as Johnny Bench's two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole highlighted a three-run Reds fourth. It was still just 3-2 entering the ninth, but Bench came through again, this time with a three-run blast, and consecutive ground-rule doubles gave Cincinnati one more insurance run. McEnaney went 2 1/3 innings for the second straight game and again picked up the save, this one clinching a second straight World Series for the Reds.

Path to the World Series
ALCS: New York over Kansas City (3 games to 2)
NLCS: Cincinnati over Philadelphia (3 games to 0)

Managers: Sparky Anderson, CIN; Billy Martin, NYY

MVP: Johnny Bench, CIN: .533, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI