Page 284 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 277
into the right- eld upper deck, driving in the nal three runs of the game, and becoming just the second rookie to drive in 10 or more runs in a game. In addition, he set a rookie record with 16 total bases.
“It’s funny. I hadn’t slept, I had felt lousy. I went out to the park early to try and forget what was going on in the morning. Funny about my swing. When I’m tired, I seem to hit the ball better. I guess it’s because I wait on it better, and make better contact,” said Lynn after the game.2
In Boston’s rst trip to the Motor City, in April, fans in the center- eld bleachers threw golf balls at Lynn, and in the rst game of this series, green smoke bombs were tossed at him.3 By the end of this game, the only thing thrown Lynn’s way was applause.
After Lynn’s historic night, he was now third in batting average at .352, second in home runs with 14, and was leading the league in runs batted in (50) and runs scored (42). He was well on his way to becoming the rst player to ever win the Rookie of the Year award
and the league Most Valuable Player award in the same season.
Sources
Retrosheet
Video of Lynn’s at-bats Personal recollection:
e summer of 1975 occurred during my eighth year. I would turn 9 years old two days after the end of the epic World Series between Boston and Cincinnati, but as of mid-June of that year, I still hadn’t discovered baseball. An older neighbor had a paper route, and on June 19 I was helping him fold papers for delivery that day. We looked through one of the papers, and at the top of the sports sec- tion of the Pawtucket Times the headline read: Lynn 3 HRs, 3B, 10 RBI. To an 8-year-old who really hadn’t discovered baseball yet, it made quite an impression. I became a lifelong Red Sox, and Fred Lynn, fan because of that game.
Notes
1 Peter Gammons, “Lynn Rewrites Rookie Book With Power Act,” e Sporting News, July 5, 1975.
2 Ibid.
3 Larry Paladino, “Tiger Fans Certainly Saw Lynn At His Best So Stood And Cheered,” AP, June 19, 1975.