December 20, 1980: The Boston Red Sox Miss Their Deadline

December 20, 1980: The management of the Boston Red Sox inadvertently give themselves a public relations nightmare.

When Tom Yawkey owned the Red Sox from 1933 to 1976, he spent his vast fortune however he wanted, and gave his players nice salaries. When he died, his widow Jean inherited his fortune. She liked baseball, but liked Tom's money more. So she had her new general manager, Haywood Sullivan, lowball the players.

Unfortunately for Sox fans, Yawkey's death came just as free agency was taking shape in baseball. Big signings Bill Campbell (1976-77) and Mike Torrez (1977-78) didn't quite work out, and so Sullivan became reluctant to make any more big signings.

After the 1980 season, the contracts of catcher Carlton Fisk and center fielder Fred Lynn, both among the best players in the game, and key figures on their 1975 team that won the Pennant and their 1977 and 1978 teams that just missed Division titles, expired.

Sullivan mailed new contracts to them -- postmarked the day after the contractual deadline. In other words, they became free agents, not just because Sullivan and Mrs. Yawkey were cheap, but because Sullivan was spiteful. Fisk signed with the Chicago White Sox.

This came on top of a trade on December 10: The Sox traded shortstop Rick Burleson and 3rd baseman Clavell Lavern "Butch" Hobson, a former University of Alabama quarterback, to the California Angels for 3rd baseman Carney Lansford, center fielder Rick Miller (a former Red Sock), and pitcher Mark Clear.

On January 23, 1981, the Sox traded Lynn and pitcher Steve Renko to the Angels, for outfielder Joe Rudi, and pitchers Frank Tanana and Jim Dorsey. They thought they had bought Rudi (and Rollie Fingers) in the Oakland Athletics' 1976 fire sale, but the purchase was canceled by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

Lansford gave the Red Sox 2 .300+ seasons, but Rudi and Miller were done. Tanana had 1 awful season for them, and was traded, and won another 136 games in the major leagues. Dorsey was a throw-in, the remainder of his major league career consisting of 2 games each for the Red Sox in 1984 and '85.

Burleson had 1 more All-Star season. Lynn remained an All-Star for a few years, although injuries kept him from reaching the Hall of Fame as had been expected.

Lynn helped the Angels win the AL West in 1982, although Burleson was hurt and missed most of that season, ending the starting portion of his career at age 31. Fisk helped the ChiSox win the AL West in 1983, and ended up playing longer on the South Side than he did in the Back Bay. It would be 1986 before the Red Sox made the Playoffs again.

After Mrs. Yawkey's death, The Yawkey Trust straightened things out. Both players have been elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, and Fisk's Number 27 has been retired. Since his Number 27 was not available on the White Sox, he reversed it to 72, and they retired that number. Fisk hit 376 home runs, formerly held the records for home runs and games played by a catcher, was named to 11 All-Star Games, and has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. A statue of him stands inside the White Sox' Rate Field.

Injuries kept Lynn from being seriously considered for Cooperstown, but he managed to hit 306 home runs and be selected for 9 All-Star Games.

It was bad management decisions like this one -- not any curse, real or imagined, placed on them by Babe Ruth or "the baseball gods" or anyone else -- that explains why the Red Sox didn't win a World Series between 1918 and 2004.

*

December 20, 1980 was a Saturday. Soccer stars Ashley Cole and Martín Demichelis were born.

Baseball was out of season. There were 2 games in the NFL, both in Florida. The Chicago Bears beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 14-13 at Tampa Stadium. And the New York Jets beat the Miami Dolphins, 24-17 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. NBC experimented by broadcasting this game without announcers.

There was 1 college football bowl games played that day: Florida beat Maryland, 35-20 in the Tangerine Bowl at Orlando Stadium (now Camping World Stadium).

There were 7 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Denver Nuggets, 120-114 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 107-102 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Houston Rockets, 133-109 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Kansas City Kings, 107-103 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the expansion Dallas Mavericks, 101-98 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The San Diego Clippers beat the Utah Jazz, 103-91 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 122-119 in overtime at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. Eddie Johnson of the Hawks led all scorers on the day with 40 points.

And there were 10 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers and the Minnesota North Stars played to a tie, 3-3 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The New York Islanders beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Boston Bruins and their fellow New Englanders the Hartford Whalers played to a tie, 4-4 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-2 at the Checkerdome, as the St. Louis Arena was known at the time.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Rockies played to a tie, 3-3 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 3-3 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-4 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, Arsenal defeated Manchester United, 2-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.

October 21, 1975, The Carlton Fisk Game

October 21, 1975: In The Curse of the Bambino, his somewhat skewed history of his beloved Boston Red Sox, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy called it "a brilliant autumn day in New England," following a 3-day delay for rain. Brilliant though the Tuesday afternoon may have been, Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is played at night at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox, Champions of the American League after winning its Eastern Division and beating the 3-time defending World Champions, the Oakland Athletics, in the AL Championship Series, trail the Cincinnati Reds, a.k.a. the Big Red Machine, Champions of the National League after winning its Western Division and beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLCS, 3 games to 2, and must win to force a Game 7.

The Sox haven't won the World Series in 57 years, including a loss as recently as 1967. The Reds haven't won the World Series in 35 years, including 2 Series losses in this decade already. Boston is looking for its 1st title since 1918; Cincinnati, for its 1st since 1940. Both teams need it badly. Something's gotta give.

Just 14 years later, Shaughnessy wrote, "Game Six has taken on a life of its own in the years since it was played, and it gets larger and more thrilling in each retelling. Some distance allows that there may be other contenders for the title of The Greatest Game Ever Played, but by any measure, 1975's Game Six will stand as one of the top ten games in World Series history, and one that came at a time when baseball needed it most." Shaughnessy was right.

In The New Yorker magazine, Roger Angell wrote, "Game Six... what can we say of it without seeming to diminish it by recapitulation or dull it with detail?" Roger, one of the greatest writers ever on the subject of baseball, was wrong on this one: The details are necessary.

Due to the rain, Sox manager Darrell Johnson was able to start Luis Tiant, winner of Games 1 and 4, on full rest. Reds manager Sparky Anderson started Gary Nolan. Fred Lynn, who, that season, became the 1st player ever to be awarded his league's Rookie of the Year and its Most Valuable Player award in the same season, hit a home run that gave the Sox a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning, and Tiant pitched shutout ball through 4.

But, as they would say in English soccer, Three-nil, and they fucked it up. The Reds got 2 men on in the 5th, and Ken Griffey Sr. sent Lynn to the wall. Lynn crashed, telling NBC's Bob Costas years later that he'd hurt his ribs, and that, for a moment, he was barely conscious and couldn't feel his legs. Griffey's triple scored 2 runs, and then Johnny Bench singled Griffey home to tie the game. A 2-run double by George Foster in the 7th and a solo homer by Cesar Geronimo in the 8th gave the Reds a 6-3 lead, with just 6 outs to go for the title.

Typical Boston choke, leading to a Reds win? As ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend!" Six-three, and they fucked it up. In the bottom of the 8th, Reds reliever Pedro Borbon (who, like Griffey, would later see his son and namesake play in the major leagues) gave up a single to Lynn and a walk to Rico Petrocelli.

Sparky brought in Rawley Eastwick, who struck out Dwight Evans and got Rick Burleson to line out to left. He got 2 strikes on Bernie Carbo, a former Red, pinch-hitting for pitcher Roger Moret (who had relieved Tiant in the 8th), but Carbo drove one to dead center, and tied it up.

In the bottom of the 9th, Denny Doyle drew a leadoff walk. Carl Yastrzemski singled him over to 3rd. Sparky brought in reliever Will McEnaney, and had him intentionally walk Carlton Fisk. Did Sparky have a premonition? If so, it didn't help him later on.

Lynn flew to left, and Foster threw home. Doyle tagged up and broke for home, because he thought Sox 3rd-base coach Don Zimmer was telling him, "Go, go, go!" In fact, Zim was saying, "No, no, no!" Doyle was out at the plate. Had he scored, winning it for the Sox right there, this would still have been a superb game, but not the legendary game that it became -- except within New England. Outside those 6 States, few baseball fans would have ranked it as an all-time great game. Instead, it went to extra innings.

Dave Concepcion singled and stole 2nd with 1 out in the top of the 10th, but Sox reliever Dick Drago stranded him. Pat Darcy sent the Sox down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 10th.

Pete Rose led off the top of the 11th, and turned to Sox catcher Fisk, and said, "Can you believe this game?" (Some sources have Rose's comment as, "Some kind of a game, isn't it?") Fisk may not have taken kindly to that, because Drago -- who would bean Thurman Munson in a Yanks-Sox game at Fenway 3 years later -- hit Rose with a pitch.

Griffey bunted, and, unlike the Ed Armbrister play in Game 3, did not even appear to interfere with Fisk, who threw Rose out at 2nd. With Griffey on 1st and 1 out, Joe Morgan, who would be named the NL's MVP that season and the next, drove the ball to right field, and at Fenway the right-field fence was, and remains, only 3 feet high. Evans reached over the fence to make a great catch, and then started a double play, throwing to Yaz, who threw to Burleson who had run over to cover 1st, to eliminate Griffey and end the Reds' rally.

The Sox went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 11th. In the top of the 12th, Tony Perez and Foster singled off Rick Wise, but Wise stranded them.

At 12:34 AM on October 22, 1975, Fisk led off the bottom of the 12th against Darcy, and hit a 1-0 pitch down the left-field line. It had enough distance. But would it be fair? Or would it be foul? Fisk, as though it would actually influence the flight of the ball, waved his arms to his right. The ball hit the pole near its top, for a home run. Final score, Boston 7, Cincinnati 6. The Series was tied, and would go to a Game 7.

John Kiley, the organist at Fenway Park (and also at the Boston Garden, thus the answer to the corny old trivia question about "the only man to play for the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins"), played George Friedrich Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." Then he played "Stout-Hearted Men." Then he played "The Beer Barrel Polka." ("Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun.") Then he played "Seventy-six Trombones" from the Broadway musical The Music Man. (I have no idea why he played that one.)

The shot of Fisk thinking he can wave the ball fair, which I've dubbed the Fenway Twist, is the most familiar clip in the history of televised sports. (As they had with every World Series since 1947, NBC was televising it, although they would begin to alternate with ABC starting with the 1977 season, until 1989.)

From seeing this clip so much, and hearing so much talk about Game 6 of '75 from Red Sox fans, a reasonable person might have asked (through 2004 anyway), "Wait a minute. The Red Sox haven't won the World Series since 1918. That means... they lost Game 7! So why do people make such a big deal about this homer?" Well, it won one game, not a World Series, but it was still one of sports' greatest epics.

Game 6 of the 1975 World Series has been called "The Greatest Baseball Game Ever Played" by many people. Certainly, it is in the discussion, along with Game 8 in 1912 (Game 2 was tied when called due to darkness), Game 7 in 1924, Game 7 in 1960, and Game 7 in 1991, and also with the 1951 Giant-Dodger Playoff and the 1978 Yanks-Sox Playoff.

In 1981, baseball historian John Thorn published Baseball's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them. In 2010, the MLB Network listed this game on top of their list of MLB's 20 Greatest Games -- limited in scope, due to the availability of surviving videotape, to 1975 onward. Due to the timing -- 1975 to 1980 -- along with the Bucky Dent Game, it was 1 of 2 games to make both lists.

Dick Stockton, born in Philadelphia but grew up in Queens, then the 32-year-old lead broadcaster on Sox games for WSBK-Channel 39, and previously for Boston Celtics games on WBZ-Channel 4, then an NBC station, was the lead broadcaster for NBC in this Series.

A 22-year-old writer from Quincy named Lesley Visser was part of The Boston Globe's coverage. Stockton and Visser would both go on to become key cogs in CBS Sports' programming. Supposedly, they met on this night. Other sources say they met at another Boston-based event in 1982. Either way, they married in 1983, but got divorced in 2010, and each has since married someone else.

And, of course, this game has also been cited in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, discussed by the characters played by Robin Williams and Matt Damon.

Of course, as Shaughnessy pointed out in his book, in the 1986 World Series, Game 6 would prove disastrous for the Red Sox. So now, if you're in New England, or in the presence of a Red Sox fan anywhere else, and you say the words, "Game Six," they have to ask, "Which one?"

UPDATE: The Reds have a team Hall of Fame. Elected from this 1975 "Big Red Machine" have been 1st baseman Tony Pérez, 2nd baseman Joe Morgan, shortstop Dave Concepción, 3rd baseman Pete Rose, left fielder George Foster, center fielder César Gerónimo, right fielder Ken Griffey Sr., catcher Johnny Bench; pitchers Gary Nolan, Don Gullett, Pedro Borbón, Jack Billingham, Fred Norman and Clay Carroll; manager George "Sparky" Anderson, general manager Bob Howsam, and broadcasters Joe Nuxhall and Marty Brennaman.

The Red Sox also have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1975 Pennant winners, they have inducted 1st baseman Yastrzemski, 3rd baseman Petrocelli, catcher Carlton Fisk, shortstop Rick Burleson, left fielder Jim Rice, center fielder Fred Lynn, right fielder Dwight Evans, pitchers Luis Tiant and Bill Lee, team owner Tom Yawkey, general manager Dick O'Connell, scout George Digby, executives Edward Kenney and Dick Bresciani, groundskeeper Joe Mooney, guest relations director Al Green, public address announcer Sherm Feller, broadcasters Ken Coleman and Ned Martin, and longtime vendor Arthur D'Angelo. 1st baseman George Scott had been traded away, but would be brought back.

*

October 21, 1975 was a Tuesday. Tom Waits releases his album Nighthawks at the Diner, including the song “Eggs and Sausage.” In that song, he sings, "Baby, you gotta understand, I'm in a graveyard charade, a spaceship masquerade." Good metaphors for the 1970s.

It was midweek for football, and the World Football League folded. I have a separate entry for that event.

The NBA and the ABA wouldn't start their seasons for another 2 days. But 3 games were played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 5-5 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-1 at the St. Louis Arena. From 1977 to 1983, the Arena was named the Checkerdome, because the Blues were owned by St. Louis-based Ralston Purina, whose logo was (and is) a "checkerboard square."

In the World Hockey Association that night:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the New England Whalers, 6-1 at the Colisee de Quebec.

* The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Indianapolis Racers, 2-1 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 7-0 at the Winnipeg Arena. 

October 14, 1975: The Ed Armbrister Game

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.

Left to right: Fisk, Barnett, Red Sox manager Darrell Johnson,

Red Sox shortstop Rico Petrocelli

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.

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. 

*

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. 

September 7, 1978: The Boston Massacre, Game 1

September 7, 1978: The New York Yankees go into Fenway Park on this Thursday night for a 4-game series against the Boston Red Sox, who lead them by 4 games in the American League Eastern Division -- having led them by 14 games on July 20. This 1st game was a makeup of the rainout of July 4.

It is generally agreed at the time that, to really make it a race, the Yankees will have to win 3 out of 4. Sox fans are confident their boys can take 3 out of 4 and finish the hated Yankees off.

But, just as the Yankees had been riddled with injuries in June and July, their bench barely keeping their heads above water, now, it was Boston's turn to see if they could overcome injuries. Carlton Fisk was catching with bad ribs. Butch Hobson was playing 3rd base with bone chips in his elbow, leading the former rocket-armed University of Alabama quarterback to made an alarming 43 errors before he finally got benched.

1st baseman George Scott, known as Boomer for his usual heavy hitting, was playing with a bad finger. 2nd baseman Jerry Remy, a particular pain in the neck in games with the Yankees earlier in the season, was out with a hand injury.

And right fielder Dwight Evans had been beaned, and was having what we would now call post-concussion syndrome. This forced the moving of the Sox' Most Valuable Player candidate, Jim Rice from left field to right field, and the team's greatest legend among active players, Carl Yastrzemski, away from the 1st base-designated hitter platoon he'd been in with Scott, and back to his former position of left field. And he was wearing a back brace.

The Yankees' biggest star at the time, Reggie Jackson, said:

It's hard to explain, but, somehow, we all seemed to believe we would win up there. Sure, we had our work cut out for us, and we knew it wouldn't be easy. But there was something in the air which made everyone even more confident.

On the 2nd play of the game, Hobson made a throwing error. This led to the Yankees scoring 2 runs in the 1st inning, 3 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd, and 5 in the 4th, knocking out Mike Torrez, who'd signed with the Sox in the off-season, after being one of the Yankees' own heroes in the previous year's World Championship season.

Yankee catcher Thurman Munson collected 3 singles and an RBI, and 2nd baseman Willie Randolph reached base 3 times, all before Hobson, the 9th and last man in the Sox batting order, even came to bat for the 1st time.

In spite of a 12-0 lead going into the bottom of the 4th, manager Bob Lemon, himself a Hall of Fame pitcher, took Catfish Hunter out, due to a pulled groin muscle. Ken Clay relieved, and got the win despite giving up a home run to Fisk. Yankees 15, Red Sox 3. The Yankees are now 3 games back.

Reggie had an RBI single in the 1st. Yaz hit a triple off Catfish.

What the heck, it's only one game, right? In the words of Nathan Salant, in a book he wrote after the season, put it, imagining what a Sox fan would think, "After all, 15-3 losses were made to be laughed at. It couldn't happen again... "

The series ended up being given the name given to the shooting of 5 locals by British troops in downtown Boston on March 5, 1770: "The Boston Massacre."

*

September 7, 1978 was a Thursday. This was also the day Keith Moon, the drummer for The Who, died of a mix of drugs and booze. And Canadian actor Devon Sawa was born.

These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day:

* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 9-4 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Joel Youngblood and Willie Montañez hit home runs, in support of Nino Espinosa. Montañez had 4 RBIs. Gary Carter, with the Expos at the time, went 0-for-3.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Robin Yount went 2-for-5 for the Brewers.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 6-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Ken Griffey Sr. all hit home runs for the Reds. For the Padres, Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day, and both lost.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Neither the Cardinals' Lou Brock nor the Pirates' Willie Stargell played in this game.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 3-2 at the Astrodome.

* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 7-6 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* Not scheduled to play that day: The Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics.

June 17, 2009: Iván Rodríguez Breaks the Record for Games Caught

June 17, 2009: The Texas Rangers beat their cross-State, then-Interleague rivals, the Houston Astros, 5-4 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. David Murphy singled Ian Kinsler home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

For the Rangers, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Nelson Cruz hit home runs. For the Astros, Hunter Pence went 4-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs, and Carlos Lee also homered.

Iván Rodríguez, a Rangers legend, played for the Astros in this game, going 1-for-5. It was his 2,227th game at the position of catcher, setting a new major league record. He surpassed the total of 2,226 set from 1969 to 1993 by Carlton Fisk. Like Fisk, Rodríguez was nicknamed "Pudge." Unlike Fisk, however -- he was a Boston Red Sock, but not of the 21st Century -- Rodríguez has long been suspected of steroid use.

Fisk actually played longer, 13 seasons to 11, with the Chicago White Sox, who released him the day after his 2,226th game as a catcher. By 1 game, he surpassed the old record, set from 1972 to 1990 by Bob Boone.

Rodríguez reached the postseason with the Rangers in 1996, '98 and '99; in 2003 with the Florida Marlins, winning the World Series; and 2006 with the Detroit Tigers, winning the American League Pennant. He was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1999. He finished his career with 2,844 hits, including 311 home runs, 14 All-Star Game berths, 13 Gold Gloves, and 2,427 games as a catcher. Fisk and Boone remain 2nd and 3rd on the all-time list.

*

June 17, 2009 was a Wednesday. These other Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Nationals, 3-2 at the new Yankee Stadium. John Lannan outpitched Chien-Ming Wang. Adam Dunn hit a home run. For the Yankees, Robinson Canó and Johnny Damon hit home runs. Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-3 with a walk. Derek Jeter did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Nick Markakis went 4-for-4. Aubrey Huff went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs. Matt Wieters went 1-for-3 with a home run and 2 RBIs. For the Mets, Gary Sheffield went 2-for-4, including a solo shot for his 507th career home run. He would hit just 2 more.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Florida Marlins, 6-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. David Ortiz went 1-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-1 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Scott Richmond struck 11 batters out in 8 innings, outpitching Jamie Moyer. Rod Barajas, Aaron Hill, and, of course, former Phillie Scott Rolen hit home runs for the Jays. Jayson Werth homered for the Phils, but Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley each went 0-for-4, and Ryan Howard went 1-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-8 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. J.J. Hardy hit a sacrifice fly to score Prince Fielder with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago White Sox beat their crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Albert Pujols went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Kansas City Royals, 12-5 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-3 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres, 4-3 at Petco Park in San Diego. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-4 with a stolen base.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Los Angeles Angels beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.

Football was out of season. The NBA Finals ended 3 days earlier, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic in Game 5. The Stanley Cup Finals ended 2 days before that, when the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7.

May 20, 1976: The Yanks-Sox '76 Brawl

Left: Lou Piniella and Carlton Fisk. Right: Bill Lee.

May 20, 1976: The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox begin a 4-game series at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.

In 1967, there had been an exchange of beanballs there that led to a bench-clearing brawl. In 1973, at Fenway Park in Boston, a home-plate collision between the teams' All-Star catchers, Carlton Fisk at the plate and baserunner Thurman Munson, led to another big brawl. Now, as the Sox were defending American League Pennant winners, and the Yankees were trying to start a new dynasty, the old rivalry was well and truly back on.

In the bottom of the 6th, with the Yankees leading, 1-0, Lou Piniella on 2nd base and Graig Nettles on 1st base, Otto Vélez singled to right field. Piniella came around to score, but Fisk got the throw from Dwight Evans in right. "Sweet Lou" barreled into "Pudge," hoping to make him drop the ball, but it's no use: Fisk hung on, and Piniella was, unquestionably, out.

In retaliation, Fisk shoved Piniella, and here we go again. This one was even nastier than the brawls of '67 at The Stadium and '73 at Fenway.

The combatants were separated, but Sox reliever Bill Lee -- who may have hated the Yankees more than any Red Sock ever, at least until the Roid Sox of 2003-16 -- started yelling at Nettles, claiming that Nettles had hurt his shoulder. Spewing obscenities like a typical drunken lout Sox fan, "the Spaceman" (may NYPD Detective Sam Tyler of Life On Mars, wherever he is, forgive me) called Nettles out.

Lee was a pretty good pitcher up until this point, but this incident may have been the effect of drugs on his brain. (He has occasionally expressed his liking of marijuana, which usually leaves one much mellower than this.) If you call Graig Nettles out, he's going to clobber you. He did. Yeah, it was a sucker punch, but then, Lee was a sucker.

The Sox went on to win the game, 8-2, but lost the fight, only split that 4-game series, and were well back of the Yankees, who went on to win the Pennant.

Lee later said, "The Yankees fought like hookers swinging their purses." First of all, How would he know how hookers fight? And second of all, What does it say about him that he still lost the fight?

Sox fans like to say that Nettles ruined Lee, a great pitcher until then, but who never recovered. Actually, Lee was only a pretty good pitcher until then, and Lee did recover -- after yet another brilliant Sox trade, sending Lee to the Montreal Expos for Stan Papi. Not the Papi that Sox fans like to remember.

*

May 20, 1976 was a Thursday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3 at Shea Stadium. Yes, both New York teams were at home on the same night, and both lost. Despite facing the team in 1st place in the National League Eastern Division, a roadtrip of only 100 miles for their fans, the Mets only drew 16,914 fans. But then, the Yankees, facing their arch-rivals in a key AL East race, only got 28,418.

At any rate, Mike Schmidt hit a home run for the Phils, Dave Kingman for the Mets, and former Red Sox AL Cy Young Award winner Jim Lonborg outpitched reigning NL Cy Young winner Tom Seaver.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Woodie Fryman (7 2/3rds inning) and Dale Murray combined on a 7-hit shutout.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Surprisingly, Rod Carew went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Willie Stargell went 1-for-4.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-5 with an RIB.

* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Dave Winfield hit a home run.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Pete Rose went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* And the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers and the Milwaukee Brewers were not scheduled.

The NBA Playoffs were between the Conference Finals and the Finals. The Boston Celtics went on to beat the Phoenix Suns in 6 games. The NHL season ended 4 days earlier. The Montreal Canadiens swept the Philadelphia Flyers in 4 straight in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Game 1 was played in the World Hockey Association Finals. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Houston Aeros, 4-3 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has been converted into the "Central Campus" of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.) The Jets won in 4 straight, to take their 1st title. They would win 3 of the WHA's last 4 titles.