October 14, 1975: In a game featuring 6 home runs‚ 3 by each team‚ Game 3 of the World Series is won by the Cincinnati Reds over the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 in the 10th inning at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
The inning is marked by a controversial play involving Cincinnati's Ed Armbrister and Boston's Carlton Fisk: Armbrister, a backup outfielder, lays down a sacrifice bunt, and seemingly hesitates breaking out of the batter's box; Fisk's subsequent throwing error leads to the Reds' winning run. The Sox scream for an interference call from umpire Larry Barnett‚ but to no avail.
Tony Kubek, former Yankee shortstop and now one of the NBC broadcasters, says on the air that Barnett blew the call. Barnett ends up getting thousands of angry letters, some of them death threats, nearly all of them from the New England States.
Left to right: Fisk, Barnett, Red Sox manager Darrell Johnson,
Red Sox shortstop Rico Petrocelli
The Red Sox won Game 4. The Big Red Machine won Game 5. Game 6 was an all-time classic, won by the Red Sox on Fisk's walkoff home run in the 12th inning. The Reds won Game 7, 4-3, on a 9th inning single by Joe Morgan. The Reds won their 1st World Championship in 35 years. Red Sox fans, who'd waited 57 years, would have to wait 29 years more.
The Armbrister play happened 47 years ago, but Red Sox fans still complain about it. It was even mentioned in the U.S. version of the movie Fever Pitch. Finally having won 4 World Series has done nothing to diminish Sox fans' feelings about it. They still think that, if interference had been called on Armbrister, they would have won the Series.
Barnett made the right call: There was no interference. Watch Armbrister's eyes: He's surprised that the ball went practically straight up into the air, and that made him hesitate. Intentional interference simply cannot be seriously called on that play.
The game was still tied. Curse of the Bambino or no, the game was still tied when it happened. Considering everything that went wrong with the team from 1918 to 2003, if they had gotten the call their way, they still could have lost the game later, possibly in another shocking way.
And the Red Sox blew Game 2, Game 5 and Game 7. They led Game 2, 2-1 going into the 9th inning, but Johnny Bench led off with a double. Johnson pulled Bill Lee, and replaced him with Dick Drago. Tony Pérez moved Bench to 3rd on a groundout, and George Foster popped up. But Dave Concepción singled up the middle to tie the game, and Ken Griffey Sr. doubled Concepción home.
Had the Red Sox held that lead, and nothing else changed, there never would have been a Game 7. And Fisk's home run to win Game 6 would have won the Series, and made him the greatest sports hero in New England history. And Barnett's alleged bad call wouldn't have mattered. But they didn't hold that lead.
In Game 5, they led 1-0 going into the bottom of the 4th, but gave up a run in the 4th, a run in the 5th, 3 runs in the 6, and a run in the 8th. Pérez hit 2 home runs. The Sox pulled a run back in the 9th, but lost the game, 6-2. Again: Had the Red Sox held that lead, and nothing else changed, there never would have been a Game 7. And Barnett's alleged bad call wouldn't have mattered. But they didn't hold that lead.
And in that Game 7, they took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd, and held it into the top of the 6th. Then Lee decided to get cute. He started throwing his blooper pitch. He threw one to Pérez,
who deposited it onto the Massachusetts Turnpike, making it 3-2. The Reds tied the game in the 7th when Griffey walked, stole 2nd, and was singled home by Pete Rose.
In the 9th, Griffey led off with another walk. Cesar Gerónimo bunted him to 2nd. A Dan Driessen groundout got him to 3rd. Rose was walked intentionally to set up the force play, but Morgan singled off Jim Burton, and the Red Sox couldn't answer in the bottom of the 9th. Cincinnati 4, Boston 3, for the game, and for the World Series. Had they just prevented the Reds from scoring for 9 more outs, the Barnett non-call would have been a footnote in baseball history, a minor annoyance on the magical way to a title.
Umpire Larry Barnett was not the reason that the Boston Red Sox lost the 1975 World Series. They had many chances to win it, but they couldn't finish it off. This seems never to have occurred to Red Sox fans. But then, it's been a long time since I gave up on expecting Red Sox fans to be rational. They still blame Don Zimmer for 1978, and they still believe that David Ortiz didn't cheat.
Ed Armbrister would also help the Reds win the World Series in 1976, and played 1 more season in the major leagues. He died in 2021, at 72 years old, in his native Bahamas, where he ran a youth baseball league, and was a consultant to the national Ministry of Sports.
Armbrister flanked by league employees
Larry Barnett continued as an MLB umpire until 1999, and was the home plate umpire for the Jeffrey Maier Game in the 1996 American League Championship Series, although he had nothing to do with the game's controversial call by Rich Garcia.
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October 14, 1975 was a Tuesday. Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't start for another 9 days. The ABA season started the day after that. There were 3 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the cross-State Kansas City Scouts, 5-1 at the St. Louis Arena.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 7-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
And there were 3 games in the WHA:
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Edmonton Oilers, 8-5 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Toronto Toros beat the Houston Aeros, 6-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* And the Calgary Cowboys beat the Indianapolis Racers, 5-3 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.
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