October 10, 1968 Game-7-World-Series-St.-Louis-vs-Detroit-Ernie-Harwell-_-Pee-Wee-Reese

October 10, 1968 1:00 pm (CT) at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

In a fitting end to this Series, the two teams' hottest pitchers, Mickey Lolich and Bob Gibson, squared off in what was almost a classic duel, until an infamous hit over the head of Curt Flood. Like McLain in Game 6, Lolich was starting on only two days' rest.

Lolich and Gibson matched scoreless starts for six innings, but in the top of the seventh, Gibson surrendered two-out hits to Norm Cash and Willie Horton. Jim Northrup then hit a hard smash to deep center; Curt Flood, who won numerous Gold Glove awards in his career, misjudged it and briefly started in on the ball before turning around to go back. The ball one-hopped the warning track, two runs scored, Northrup wound up with a triple, and Lolich had all the runs he needed. Flood has been criticized by some who believe he would have caught the ball had his first steps been back instead of in. Jim Northrup said the hit was "40 feet over [Flood's] head. He never had a chance to catch it."[14] However, his teammate Denny McLain claimed in his 1975 book that "Flood blew it." Orlando Cepeda, in his 1998 autobiography Baby Bull, asserts that Flood would have caught the ball, had he not misjudged it. In the October 29, 1968, issue of The Sporting News, both Flood and manager Red Schoendienst indicated they would have expected the normally sure-handed outfielder to catch such a ball. By starting in, Flood had to both reverse direction and then regain his acceleration. He then slipped on the wet grass before recovering his speed, and by that time the ball was well beyond him.[a] Bill Freehan then doubled in Northrup, and in the top of the ninth, Don Wert added an RBI single.

The Cardinals got a run in the ninth on a Mike Shannon homer, but that was all as Lolich pitched his third complete game. The final out of the series was recorded when Bill Freehan caught a pop foul off the bat of Tim McCarver. Gibson struck out eight in the losing cause, giving him a record 35 strikeouts by one pitcher in a World Series, but Lolich was named World Series MVP. This is the last World Series game to date to feature complete games from both starting pitchers.

Cardinals shortstop Dal Maxvill went hitless in 22 World Series at-bats, a record.