Page 134 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 127
York Times, Willoughby said, “ ey can have all that long relief stu they want. After I fell out of the rota- tion last year, they tried me ‘long’ and during one spell I went 18 days without getting close to the mound.”3
But Willoughby got only four starts and 40 innings of work in San Francisco in 1974 (1-4, 4.65 ERA) before being sent outright to Phoenix once more. After the season, the Giants traded him to St. Louis in a minor- league deal for in elder Tom Heintzelman. He ex- pected to be invited to spring training with the Cardinals, but wound up starting the season with the Tulsa Oilers in the American Association under manager Ken Boyer. is proved bene cial because minor-league pitching instructor Bob Milliken helped straighten out his delivery.
Willoughby was thrilled to meet one of his idols in Tulsa. Satchel Paige served as both a part-time pitch- ing coach and a greeter at Oiler Field. Willoughby pitched well in Tulsa; well enough for Boston Red Sox general manager Dick O’Connell to select him on July 4 as the “player to named later” to complete a springtime deal in which the Cardinals had received shortstop Mario Guerrero. Boston was on the way to its rst pennant since the 1967 Impossible Dream season, but the team needed bullpen help. Dick Drago was having shoulder problems from overwork and Dick Pole had recently been hit in the face by a line drive. Oilers manager Boyer recommended Willoughby and when Red Sox executive scout Eddie Kasko visited Tulsa in 1975, he was impressed with the right-hander.
Willoughby had never been a short man out of the bullpen before, but he took to it like a duck to water. In 24 appearances with 481⁄3 innings pitched. Willoughby compiled ve wins, two losses, eight saves, and a 3.54 ERA. His rst outing with the Red Sox was rocky, though. In the July 6 nightcap against Cleveland, he gave up a three-run homer to Oscar Gamble. Jim was fortunate in that Boston’s bullpen was depleted at the time. ey needed live arms and didn’t have the option of burying him.
Willoughby did not pitch in the American League Championship Series against Oakland, but he ap-
peared in Games ree, Five, and Seven of the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Willoughby was on the mound in the 10th inning of Game ree when Ed Armbrister bunted and may have interfered with Carlton Fisk’s throw. In a controversial decision, the umpiring crew did not call Armbrister out for interfer- ence. is allowed Cesar Geronimo, who was on rst, to advance to third and Armbrister to advance to second. Roger Moret replaced Willoughby and in- tentionally walked Pete Rose to load the bases. After Merv Rettenmund struck out, Joe Morgan hit a single over center elder Fred Lynn’s head to win the game for the Reds and tag Willoughby with the loss. After a mopup assignment in Game Five, Willoughby was called on to put out a re in the Game Seven. e score was tied, 3-3, in the top of the seventh inning. e bases were loaded and there were two outs with Johnny Bench at the plate. Willoughby retired Bench on a foul pop to catcher Fisk. Willoughby then pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. In the bottom of the inning, though, with none on, two out and the score still tied, manager Darrell Johnson pulled Willoughby for a pinch-hitter, the rusty Cecil Cooper. Cooper popped out to Pete Rose in foul territory.
Jim Burton, the rookie hurler who succeeded Willoughby, wound up giving up a run in the ninth and losing both the game and the Series. A story that has grown into a piece of urban folklore among Red Sox fans tells of a sportswriter going into a Boston area watering hole sometime after the World Series and encountering a solitary drinker mumbling to himself about Darrell Johnson, “He never should have hit for Willoughby.” Peter Gammons also has spun that tale.
Johnson would not have had to pinch-hit for Willoughby had there been a designated hitter during the ’75 Series. In fact, l’a aire Willoughby-Cooper- Burton may have led Major League Baseball toward adopting the designated hitter in the World Series in alternating years. is rule was in place until 1985, when it was modi ed so that the DH was used in American League parks but not in National League parks.