December 11, 1975: A Big Day of Yankee Trades

Mickey Rivers

December 11, 1975: The New York Yankees trade right fielder Bobby Bonds to the California Angels for center fielder Mickey Rivers and pitcher Ed Figueroa.

The Yankees also trade George "Doc" Medich to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 2nd baseman Willie Randolph and pitchers Ken Brett and Dock Ellis. (Unlike Medich, "Dock" was his actual birth name.)

Early in the 1977 season, the Yankees traded Ellis, outfielder Larry Murray and infielder Marty Perez to the Oakland Athletics for pitcher Mike Torrez. Right before that season, they sent outfielder Oscar Gamble, pitcher LaMarr Hoyt, pitcher Bob Polinsky and $250,000 to the Chicago White Sox for shortstop Russell "Bucky" Dent.

Just before George Steinbrenner bought the team, but after he had begun negotiations, so he probably gave his okay to it, the Yankees sent catcher John Ellis, 3rd baseman Jerry Kenney, and outfielders Charlie Spikes and Rusty Torres to Cleveland for 3rd baseman Graig Nettles and catcher Jerry Moses. A year after that, the Yankees sent pitcher Lindy McDaniel to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Lou Piniella.

While the White Sox got a Cy Young season out of Hoyt, and McDaniel helped make the Royal pitching staff one of the best in baseball (more due to his teaching than to his pitching, as he was near the end of his career), each and every one of these trades was genius for Yankee GM Gabe Paul (especially since he was the Indian GM for the Nettles trade, knowing he was going to the Yankees, in what was clearly a conflict of interest).

Specifically about the Rivers & Figueroa for Bonds trade: With the San Francisco Giants, the team for whom his son Barry would later become a legend, Bobby Bonds was one of the best players in the game, a rare combination of good power and great speed. Steinbrenner couldn't resist, and sent the beloved Bobby Murcer to Candlestick Park to get him. (Murcer would be reacquired in 1979.)

Bonds was a classic Brian Cashman player: Batted righthanded, had a lot of power, struck out too much (at the time, he had seasons of 189 and 187 strikeouts, then MLB records), took risky chances on the bases that hurt often enough to make people think the times it paid off weren't worth it, and had his season curtailed by injury. He had good stats for the Yankees in 1975, but didn't really fit in. It wasn't a question of should he be traded, but for what.

Figueroa joined a rotation that already had the 1st big free agent signing, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, and Ellis. It would soon have prospect Ron Guidry. Figgy was key for the 1976 Pennant and the 1977 World Series. In 1978, he became the 1st Puerto Rican-born pitcher to win 20 games in a season. He remains the only one.

Ed Figueroa

At the time of the trade, the Yankees were managed by Billy Martin. Rivers was Billy's kind of player: A contact hitter with a little power, great speed, smarter on the bases than Bonds, and a good fielder. He was a little flaky, but he was the ideal leadoff hitter for the late 1970s Yankees.

Randolph was a Martin-type player, too: A 2nd baseman like Martin had been, got on base, ran well, good defense. He would remain their starting 2nd baseman for 13 years, and would receive a Plaque in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park.

Willie Randolph

The Yankees would need a June 15 deadline day trade to secure the American League Pennant in 1976, but lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. A few more deals were made, and they won the World Series in 1977 and 1978.

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December 11, 1975 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 109-95 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Washington Bullets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 117-109 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Buffalo Sabres, 122-99 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Phoenix Suns, 110-106 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 101-89 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association: 

* The New York Nets beat the Indiana Pacers, 124-123 in overtime at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Billy Knight (no relation to Bobby) scored 36 points in defeat.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Virginia Squires, 111-100 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat their traditional rivals, the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at the Boston Garden. Steve Vickers and Wayne Dillon each scored 2 goals for the Rangers. And the Minnesota North Stars beat the Kansas City Scouts, 5-3 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

And there were 2 games played in the World Hockey Association. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Calgary Cowboys, 3-2 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary. And the Indianapolis Racers and the San Diego Mariners played to a 3-3 tie at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

September 8, 1978: The Boston Massacre, Game 2

Carl Yastrzemski

September 8, 1978: The injury bug had hit the Boston Red Sox' pitching staff as well, as unheralded Jim Wright started at Fenway Park. But the New York Yankees' starter didn't seem to be much better: Rookie Jim Beattie. But Sox fans were calm: Surely, the Yankees couldn't unleash another 15-3 beating like they did the next before.

Close enough: The Yankees scored 2 runs in the 1st inning, and 6 in the 2nd. Wright was chased in the 2nd, and Tom Burgmeier was brought in to pitch. He gave up a home run to Reggie Jackson -- incredibly, the only home run the Yankees hit in this series, in which they instead singled and doubled the Sox to death.

This was the 1970s. It wasn't yet considered permissible to say the word "sucks" in public. "Stinks" was the preferred term. Yet, whenever Mr. October came to the plate, the Fenway bleachers rang out with a chant of "Reggie sucks!" Eventually, the Bleachers at Yankee Stadium would resound, countering the Fenway chant of "Yankees suck!" by delivering "Boston sucks!" And considerably cringier chants than that.

As with the night before, a Yankee hitter, in this case Mickey Rivers, got 3 hits before Butch Hobson, the Sox' 9th-place hitter, could make his 1st plate appearance. This time, Mick the Quick also did so before the 8th hitter, George Scott, could do it.

Ordinarily quite the power hitter, Scott was in the middle of a slump that would eventually reach 0-for-36. When asked about it after the game, he said, "Some of these guys are choking, man." And the word "choke" became forever associated with the Red Sox. Even the events of October 2004 couldn't remove them, as the events of September 2011 would prove.

(Scott batted .233 in 1978. Take out the 0-for-36, and it would have been .255.)

In contrast, Beattie cruised, pitching what turned out to be the best game of his life, allowing 2 runs, both unearned, and only needed Ron Davis to get the last out.

Yankees 13, Red Sox 2. The Yankees were now 2 games out, after being down 14 on July 20. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

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September 8, 1978 was a Friday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that night:

* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. In support of Tom Hausman, Willie Montañez went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs, giving him 7 in the last 2 days.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 4-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Rodney Scott doubled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, 1-0 and 2-1. Dick Ruthven pitched a 3-hit shutout in the opener. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 in the opener, but 2-for-3 with a walk in the nightcap, in support of Jim Kaat.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Eddie Murray went 1-for-4.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4. Pete Rose went 1-for-4. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with a walk.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Paul Molitor went 0-for-4, but did draw a walk. Rod Carew, uncharacteristically, went 1-for-4.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Ken Forsch pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 9-7 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). George Brett didn't drive in any of those 9 runs, going 0-for-4. Lyman Bostock hit a home run for the Angels. Just 16 days later, he was dead.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 11-4 at the Oakland Coliseum.