September 10, 1978: On this Sunday morning, Boston Red Sox fans could have been forgiven for feeling like the narrator of Kris Kristofferson's 1969 country music classic, best known for its version by Johnny Cash:
For the New York Yankees: A share of 1st place in the American League Eastern Division was on the line. For the Red Sox: Keeping themselves in good position to keep their best chance at a World Championship in 60 years.
Well, I woke up Sunday morning
with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad
so I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
and found my cleanest dirty shirt.
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day...
with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad
so I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
and found my cleanest dirty shirt.
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day...
On a Sunday morning sidewalk
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
that makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short of dying
that's half as lonesome as the sound
of a sleeping city sidewalk
and Sunday morning coming down.I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
that makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short of dying
that's half as lonesome as the sound
of a sleeping city sidewalk
For the New York Yankees: A share of 1st place in the American League Eastern Division was on the line. For the Red Sox: Keeping themselves in good position to keep their best chance at a World Championship in 60 years.
Legend has it that, before the Sunday afternoon game, Carl Yastrzemski, as team Captain, went into manager Don Zimmer's office, and begged him to start Bill Lee against the Yankees.
Lee, part pitching ace and part mad philosopher, was known as the Spaceman. He used a sinking fastball to go 12-5 vs. the Yankees in his career. And he was a lefthander, and, thanks to the Kansas City Royals in the previous year's AL Championship Series, the word had gotten around that, "The Yankees can't hit lefthanded pitching."
Zim refused to start Lee, and (according to the legend), to explain why, reached into his desk, and showed Yaz a bunch of newspaper clippings he had saved, in which Lee had insulted him, calling him things like "the Designated Gerbil."
Zim said he was sticking with his established choice for the game, Bobby Sprowl, a 22-year-old from Sandusky, Ohio with 1 major league game (7 innings) under his belt. To be fair, Sprowl was also a lefthander. Zim said he was told by Sox scouts that Sprowl "has icewater in his veins."
Sprowl got knocked out of the box in the 1st inning, and the Yankees took a 5-0 lead. Ed Figueroa pitched well, and Goose Gossage stopped a Sox rally in the 9th. Yankees 7, Red Sox 4.
I ask you: Does this look like somebody
with icewater in his veins?
Reggie Jackson went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Yaz, who had long been one of the great clutch hitters in baseball history, went 0-for-3 with a walk.
In 4 games, the Yankees had outscored the Red Sox 42-9. The sweep was completed, and the teams were tied for 1st place, with 20 games to go, including 3 more between them, the following weekend at Yankee Stadium.
The series became known as the Boston Massacre, after the 1770 event outside what's now known as the Old State House in downtown Boston, often considered the beginning of the American Revolution.
What happened to Sprowl? The kid with "icewater in his veins" made 1 more appearance for the Sox in '78, was traded to the Houston Astros, made 3 major league appearances for them in '79, 1 more in '80, and 15 more in '81, spent the next 3 seasons in the minor leagues, and threw his last professional pitch before turning 30. He's now a college coach in Alabama.
It's become accepted Red Sox lore that Zimmer kept Lee out of the starting rotation out of spite; and that, if he'd started Lee instead, Lee would have beaten the Yankees. The truth? Rather than being the answer to the hole in the rotation that Sprowl couldn't fill, Lee was the hole in the rotation.
On July 15, 1978, Lee was 10-3, and a big reason why the Sox had a big Division lead. From then until September 7, the start of the Boston Massacre series, he'd made 9 appearances, pitching 48 1/3rd innings. He was 0-7. His ERA was 5.96 -- and that doesn't count 5 unearned runs during that stretch. And 3 of those losses were by 1 or 2 runs. Had Lee been just a little bit better in any one of those 3 games, there never would have been a Bucky Dent Game.
What happened to Sprowl? The kid with "icewater in his veins" made 1 more appearance for the Sox in '78, was traded to the Houston Astros, made 3 major league appearances for them in '79, 1 more in '80, and 15 more in '81, spent the next 3 seasons in the minor leagues, and threw his last professional pitch before turning 30. He's now a college coach in Alabama.
It's become accepted Red Sox lore that Zimmer kept Lee out of the starting rotation out of spite; and that, if he'd started Lee instead, Lee would have beaten the Yankees. The truth? Rather than being the answer to the hole in the rotation that Sprowl couldn't fill, Lee was the hole in the rotation.
On July 15, 1978, Lee was 10-3, and a big reason why the Sox had a big Division lead. From then until September 7, the start of the Boston Massacre series, he'd made 9 appearances, pitching 48 1/3rd innings. He was 0-7. His ERA was 5.96 -- and that doesn't count 5 unearned runs during that stretch. And 3 of those losses were by 1 or 2 runs. Had Lee been just a little bit better in any one of those 3 games, there never would have been a Bucky Dent Game.
Throw in that blooper pitch that Tony Pérez turned into a home run in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, and Bill Lee may be more responsible for the Red Sox not winning the World Series from 1975 until 2004 than any single person. And yet, he is celebrated by Sox fans, because no Sox player ever hated the Yankees more.
And if Zim was keeping Lee out of games due to spite, why would he have brought him in to relieve in Game 2 of this series, the 13-2 Yankee win? He went 7 innings, and allowed only 1 earned run -- although he allowed 4 others that were charged to starter Jim Wright. If you had a must-win game, would you trust the start to a guy who pitched 7 innings only 2 days ago, no matter how good he was? I wouldn't. Don Zimmer didn't.
By the way, Zim did bring Lee in during that September 10 game. He pitched 2 1/3rd innings, allowing no runs -- but the game was already lost. And pitching 2 1/3rd innings effectively isn't the same as pitching 7 or more. There's no guarantee that Lee would have been the right choice to start, even if he hadn't gone 7 just 2 days before. So, obviously, Zim was willing to put his personal feelings about Lee aside.
By the way, Zim did bring Lee in during that September 10 game. He pitched 2 1/3rd innings, allowing no runs -- but the game was already lost. And pitching 2 1/3rd innings effectively isn't the same as pitching 7 or more. There's no guarantee that Lee would have been the right choice to start, even if he hadn't gone 7 just 2 days before. So, obviously, Zim was willing to put his personal feelings about Lee aside.
The Yankees also took the 1st 2 games of the next weekend's series, to rise to 3 1/2 games ahead. In just 2 months, they'd gained 17 1/2 games. But the Sox won the Sunday game, with Eckersley beating Beattie.
And that's when things turned around again. The Sox won 10 of their last 12, including their last 8. The Yankees won their next-to-last game, against the Indians, with Figueroa becoming the 1st (and still only) Puerto Rican-born pitcher to win 20 games in a season. But on October 1, they lost the season finale, with Rick Waits, one of those lefthanded pitchers they supposedly couldn't hit, shutting them down.
And that's when things turned around again. The Sox won 10 of their last 12, including their last 8. The Yankees won their next-to-last game, against the Indians, with Figueroa becoming the 1st (and still only) Puerto Rican-born pitcher to win 20 games in a season. But on October 1, they lost the season finale, with Rick Waits, one of those lefthanded pitchers they supposedly couldn't hit, shutting them down.
The Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-0, on a shutout by Luis Tiant. The Fenway scoreboard put up, "THANK YOU RICK WAITS."
Did you think I was kidding?
Did you think the Red Sox wouldn't be that petty?
There would be a Playoff game the next day. The Red Sox won a coin flip, and the game would be at Fenway Park.
The Sox felt like everything they'd done from April 8 to September 6 was wasted. The Yankees must've felt the same about everything they'd done from July 20 to September 30. Now, the regular season was over, and both teams had 99 wins... and neither team was guaranteed a berth in the postseason proper.
It would come down to 9 innings on an Autumn Monday afternoon at Fenway Park. And the story would get no less wild than it had already been.
*
September 10, 1978 was a Sunday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-9, completing a 4-game sweep at Shea Stadium. Dwight Bernard was the winning pitcher, in relief of Jerry Koosman. Willie Stargell had an RBI single as a pinch-hitter.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4 with a walk. Ken Reitz tripled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench hit a home run. Pete Rose went 1-for-4.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The Twins won in spite of Rod Carew going 0-for-4. They got a home run from Glenn Borgmann. Paul Molitor went 0-for-5. Robin Yount did not play.
* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 13-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Carney Lansford went 4-for-5. Don Baylor went 2-for-5 with 5 RBIs, including a grand slam. Nolan Ryan went the distance, striking out 12. George Brett went 2-for-3.
* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
* A doubleheader, forced by the previous day's rainout, was split at the Oakland Coliseum. The Texas Rangers won the opener, 8-3. The Oakland Athletics won the nightcap, 2-1.
* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays were rained out at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. The game was never made up.
This was also the opening week of the NFL's regular season, and these games were played that day:
* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 34-24 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 21-20 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The Miami Dolphins beat the Baltimore Colts, 42-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
* The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 35-30 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.
* The Detroit Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 15-7 at Tampa Stadium.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 21-10 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Cleveland Browns beat their in-State rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals, 13-10 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Don Cockroft kicked a 27-yard field goal to win it in overtime.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the New Orleans Saints, 28-17 at Milwaukee County Stadium.
* The New England Patriots beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 16-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Houston Oilers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-17 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Oakland Raiders beat the San Diego Chargers, 21-20 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium and SDCCU Stadium). The Raiders won it on the last play of the game, a controversial one known as the Holy Roller Play. I have a separate entry for that event.
* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 10-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* The Chicago Bears beat the San Francisco 49ers, 16-13 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Denver Broncos, 12-9 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rick Danmeier kicked 4 field goals, including a 44-yarder for the win in overtime.
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