Page 313 - 1975 BoSox

306 ’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL
It remained deadlocked heading into the ninth. Johnson, having pinch-hit for Jim Willoughby, Boston’s most e ective reliever in the Series (no runs in 61⁄3 innings), did not bring in his stopper, Dick Drago. Since Drago pitched three innings the previous night, Johnson wanted to stay away from the veteran right- hander.34 e manager opted for a rookie who had pitched to just two batters in the Series, the only batters he’d faced in more than a month. It was a curious choice and heads were scratched and seats squirmed in as left-hander Jim Burton walked Gri ey to start the ninth. ough Rico Petrocelli fell down on the subsequent bunt, he recovered to throw from a sitting position to get Cesar Geronimo at rst. Burton retired Dan Driessen, batting for reliever Clay Carroll, for the second out. Following a visit from the manager, Burton threw almost all breaking balls and walked Rose. at brought up Joe Morgan.
ough Morgan had been the only batter Burton retired in his Game ree appearance, Little Joe’s sacri ce y had knocked the pitcher out of that game. e southpaw gained the upper hand in this confronta- tion, with Morgan fouling o a 1-and-2 pitch to stay alive. Burton threw a slider that Morgan hit o the end of the bat, looping in front of Lynn to give the Reds a 4-3 lead. Rose, who’d be named the Series’ Most Valuable Player, dove headlong into third on the play, the belly op like a coup de grace for Boston as well as the large swaths of the country living and dying with every pitch. Reggie Cleveland entered and kept the de cit at one run, but in this Series there had already been razor-thin scores of 3-2, 5-4, 6-5, and 7-6; 4-3 would ll out the pattern, and the poetry.
Yet three games had been decided in the ninth inning or later — four if this score held up. Anderson went with Will McEnaney instead of Rawly Eastwick, who’d won twice and saved Cincinnati’s other win, but he also had two blown saves. e image of Carbo homering o Eastwick in Game Six was too fresh for the Reds manager. Carbo was, however, out of the game — pulled for defense with the Red Sox clinging to a one-run lead in the seventh — and right-handed- hitting Juan Beniquez batted for lefty-swinging de-
fensive replacement Rick Miller against the southpaw. McEnaney made quick work of Beniquez with a y to right. Denny Doyle, whose 30 at-bats were the most on either team, was called back to the bench for right- handed batter Bob Montgomery, a backup catcher best known as the lone holdout against the batting helmet. ere was so little known about Monty that Gowdy pulled out the media notes, telling the world, “He’s a licensed pilot and a model train enthusiast.” He was also in an apparent hurry as Montgomery hit the rst pitch on the ground to shortstop. ere would be no pinch-hitter for Carl Yastrzemski. Besides being the face of the team, if not the city, Yaz led the Red Sox with nine hits in the Series; and the former Triple Crown winner was as likely as anyone to hit one out of the park, even if he’d hit only 14 home runs in 1975. McEnaney’s eighth pitch of the inning, a 2-and-1 fastball, was skied to center, where Cesar Geronimo caught it and then jumped in celebration as George Foster came over to greet him. e Big Red Machine had its world championship.
“One of the best World Series of modern times for the fans of America,”said Curt Gowdy.35 And he was right. e teams were separated by one run (30-29) and one hit (60-59), with the ERA of the overworked pitching sta s separated by two-hundredths of a point (3.86 to 3.88). Boston had the slight advantage in all those categories, but lost — though not for lack of trying. NBC’s record ratings fueled a revival of the game on television that lasted into the early 1990s.36 Sparky Anderson would win two more World Series, another with the Reds in 1976 and a title with the Detroit Tigers in 1984, when World Series games on a Sunday afternoon still competed with National Football League broadcasts. But Captain Hook is best remembered for his 1975 victory, and he summed up the Series as well as anyone.“We didn’t win the World Series. Baseball did.”37
Sources
Books
Enders, Eric, 100 Years of the World Series, 1903-2004 (New York: Sterling Publishing, 2005).