As a number's guy there are a few dates that are easy to remember-December 7, 1944(D-Day), November 22, 1963(JFK Assassination), and September 11, 2001(Terrorist Attack on New York City and Washington D.C.) As a Yankee fan, there are a few very memorable dates and today is one of them.
On this day, forty-one years ago, The New York Yankees played their bitter rivals, The Boston Red Sox, in Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the greatest baseball games ever played since it decided one of the greatest pennant races of all-time. Both teams finished the season 99-63 and the winner of this game would send that team into the playoffs.
The game was very much like the season. The Red Sox were winning 2-0 late in the game and during the season they were ahead of the Yankees by 14 1/2 games, which appeared to be an impossible deficit to overcome. In the bottom of the seventh inning, light hitting short stop, Bucky Dent of the Yankees, hit a three-run homer to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead when they were down to their last seven outs of the season.
But, the Red Sox fought back as they did during the season. In September, The Yankees beat The Red Sox four straight games in Fenway Park to tie The Red Sox for first place. During the month, they went ahead by a couple games, but the Red Sox won their last seven games to tie The Yankees.
The game came down to the bottom of the ninth inning with The Yankees hanging on to a 5-4 lead. (courtesy of Reggie Jackson's home run) With two outs and the tying run on third, future Hall of Famer, Carl Yastrzemski, came up to face future Hall of Famer, Goose Gossage of The Yankees.
I was kneeling on the floor in front of the television with my hands in a praying position and I watched the final pitch of the game. It was a pop-up in foul territory just to the side of third base and Graig Nettles caught the ball and The Yankees had finally finished off The Red Sox to go to the playoffs. I still remember how that moment felt, it was thrilling.
The Yankees went through the playoffs and won The World Series for the second year in a row, but today, forty one years ago, was the day that is most remembered in the 1978 baseball season.
To celebrate that day, I got a young Yankee fan excited. I was delivering to an office building, wearing my Yankee hat. The receptionist was a Yankee fan and she told me that her uncle was coming into town tonight and he's a big Boston Red Sox fan. I told her to ask him what happened forty-one years ago today and if he didn't remember, just say... Bucky Dent.
No matter how many championships The Boston Red Sox win, their fans will always remember Bucky Dent and the day his home run silenced their crowd and destroyed their season. It was forty-one years ago today.
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