(My new American Thinker post)
It was early September, and we got together on Sunday to watch baseball. I should remind you that the NFL did not start as early back then. After my mother's Cuban food, we got started. We didn't realize back then that we'd be watching the 1978 version of the Boston massacre.
Let me give you a little background. By mid-July 1978, Boston had a 14-game lead over defending World Series champ New York. In August, the Yankees started to win, and the Red Sox started to lose. To be fair, Boston was hit with a ton of injuries. In early September, the Yankees came into Boston four games back.
And the Yankees started hitting and scoring. It got so bad that my father commented that the Gods of baseball were wearing pinstripes. My guess is that many were saying the same thing in New England.
This is how Andrew Mearns recalls that weekend 45 years ago today:
The Yankees made up a 10 games in a little over a month, then came to Fenway Park for a four-game showdown from September 7-10. What followed would become known as the "Boston Massacre." New York made a quick statement in the first game by bombarding former teammate Mike Torrez, Andy Hassler, and Dick Drago for 14 singles and 11 runs within the first four innings.Don Zimmer, Boston's manager, felt his team was ready for the next game on September 8th, taking solace in the fact that the 15-3 beating "still only counts as one game." Two rookies named Jim started against each other, Beattie for the Yanks and Wright for Boston. Only Beattie emerged with a good game, as he shut out the powerful Red Sox lineup for eight innings on three hits. Meanwhile, the Yankees continued to thrash the opposing pitching staff--Wright, Tom Burgmeier, and "Spaceman" Bill Lee surrendered 13 runs and 17 hits. The game was basically over once the Yankees took an 8-0 lead in the second, powered by a three-run homer from Jackson, who battled through a virus to stay in the lineup. Lou Piniella finished a mere single shy of the cycle. A couple of unearned runs against Beattie in the ninth made the final score 13-2.
The Yankees sought to secure the series victory in the third game of the series. The Red Sox appeared as hopeless as ever, and the fact that they had to deal with a pitcher in the middle of one of the greatest seasons in the history of baseball only made matters worse. Ron Guidry carried a sparkling 20-2 record and a 1.84 ERA into the game; he would somehow find a way to make his season look even better. Leadoff hitter Rick Burleson singled to center to begin the game, and after a sacrifice bunt moved him to second base, Jim Rice beat out a slow ground ball to shortstop Bucky Dent (Burleson was forced to stay at second though). That was it for the Red Sox on September 9th. Guidry no-hit them for the remaining 8.2 innings. On the Saturday afternoon broadcast, broadcaster Tony Kubek remarked "This is the first time I've seen a first-place team chasing a second-place team."
In the series finale, the Yankees incredibly had an opportunity to tie for first place, an idea that seemed inconceivable only a few weeks ago. The pitching situation had become so dire for Boston that rookie southpaw Bobby Sprowl took the hill for only his second career start on September 10th. He did not make it out of the first inning, removed after a double play, four walks, and a single. Third baseman Graig Nettles singled home two more runs against reliever Bob Stanley. By the end of the top of the fourth, the Yankees held a 6-0 lead. Starter Ed Figueroa gave up a few runs, but won the game with six innings of three-hit ball. Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage saved it with three solid innings of his own. The final score was 7-3, and the Yankees were officially tied for first place.
New York swept a four-game series, outscoring Boston 67-21. It was brutal for the home fans, who could not believe what they were watching. They saw their stars drop fly balls and mess ground balls.
To their credit, Boston won the last 9 and forced a dramatic one-game playoff in Fenway. The Yankees won it on Bucky Dent's H.R.
It was a baseball series of the unexplainable. After all, were the Red Sox that bad or the Yankees that good? I guess you're never as good as you look when you win or as bad as you look when you lose.
My mother had a great expression to explain the unexplainable. It was apparently something she had heard from a baseball announcer years before. Like many young people back in Cuba, she used to listen to baseball on the radio. This is what Mother used to say: "La pelota es redonda pero viene en caja cuadrada." It loosely translates to "The ball is round, but it comes in a square box."
I heard that a million times. Many Boston fans 45 years ago today understood what my mother used to say. It was her favorite way of reacting to the unexplainable, or exactly what came to be known as baseball's Boston Massacre.
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