History of the World Series – 1975

In truth, a drenching New England rain caused the 72-hour postponement, a delay that proved frustrating for Manager Sparky Anderson’s Big Red Machine. Coming off a 20-game romp in the National League West race and a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Championship Series, the Reds were primed to wrap up their first Series crown in 35 years. Anderson’s team had lost Game 1 of this fall classic to Boston standout Luis Tiant, 6-0, but proceeded to win three of the next four contests and held a three games-to-two edge.

The Red Sox, who had ended Oakland’s three-year reign as major-league baseball’s kingpin by sweeping the A’s in the American League Championship Series, were eager to send Tiant to the mound for the third time in this Series as they eyeballed a chance to square the Series. Besides firing a five-hit shutout in the opening game, Tiant had gone the distance in a 5-4 Game 4 victory.

Game 6 was well worth the wait, not only for one of the participating clubs, but for all of baseball. It may have been the finest World Series game ever.

Boston bolted to a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Fred Lynn homered into the bleachers in right-center following two-out singles by Carl Yastrzemski and Carlton Fisk. Lynn and fellow Red Sox rookie outfielder Jim Rice had enjoyed sensational seasons in 1975, Lynn batting .331 with 21 home runs and 105 runs batted in and Rice hitting .309 with 22 homers and 102 RBIs before suffering a season-ending arm injury in September.

Tiant protected the three-run edge through four innings, but Ken Griffey’s two-run triple and Johnny Bench’s run-scoring single knotted the score in the fifth. Cincinnati’s George Foster then crashed a two-run double off the center-field wall in the seventh, and Cesar Geronimo drove Tiant from the mound when he cracked a leadoff homer in the eighth.

At this juncture — the Reds were on top, 6-3, and needed only six more outs to clinch the Series title — the game had been well played but unspectacular. The spectacular, though, was just around the corner.

Pedro Borbon, Cincinnati’s fifth pitcher of the night, began his third inning of work by yielding a single to Lynn and a walk to Rico Petrocelli in the last of the eighth. With the potential tying run approaching the plate in the person of Dwight Evans, the Reds’ Anderson summoned relief ace Rawly Eastwick. Eastwick seemed up to the challenge, striking out Evans and getting Rick Burleson on a liner to short left. Up next would be reserve outfielder Bernie Carbo, pinch-hitting for reliever Roger Moret.

Carbo, who had walloped a pinch homer in Game 3, sent a charge into the Fenway Park throng by drilling an Eastwick pitch into the center-field bleachers. The blow drew Boston even at 6-6 and made Carbo only the second man in Series history to belt two pinch homers in one fall classic (Chuck Essegian of the Los Angeles Dodgers accomplished the feat in 1959).

After Dick Drago retired the Reds in order in the top of the ninth, the Red Sox went to work against Eastwick in the bottom of the frame. Denny Doyle coaxed an inning-opening walk and Yastrzemski followed with a single that sent Doyle scampering to third and Eastwick heading to the showers. Will McEnaney then issued an intentional walk to Fisk, loading the bases with no one out.

It took some doing, but the Reds dodged this bullet. Lynn lofted a foul fly to short left, where Foster made the catch. Red Sox second baseman Doyle, exhibiting considerable daring but perhaps questionable judgment, tried to score on the play and was thrown out, Foster to Bench. Petrocelli then grounded out.

The Red Sox had blown a golden opportunity, the kind of misdeed that often proves haunting. And so it seemed in the 11th when, with Griffey on base and one out, Joe Morgan smashed a drive toward the right-field seats. Evans, a 23-year-old outfielder in his third full season with the Red Sox, raced to the front of the stands and made a leaping, one-handed catch. Griffey, well past second base, was doubled up at first.

Reds righthander Pat Darcy then retired Boston in order for the second consecutive inning, sending the game into the 12th. Rick Wise, the Red Sox’s top winner in ’75 with 19 victories, came on to pitch and quickly found himself in a two-on, one-out situation, but Wise got Dave Concepcion on a fly ball and Geronimo on a strikeout.

Darcy, Cincinnati’s Series record-tying eighth pitcher of the game, went head-to-head against Fisk to begin the bottom of the 12th. While the Reds had dodged a bullet in the ninth, they couldn’t dodge a cannon blast here. Fisk blasted a high drive to left field. The only question was: fair or foul? Fisk, applying some body English as he left the batter’s box, jumped in ecstasy as the ball ricocheted off the foul pole. Home run! Boston 7, Cincinnati 6.

Players and fans alike were wrung out. There clearly was no way that Game 7 — despite being the decisive contest — could match what had unfolded in Game 6.

The seventh game did take a back seat although the finale was up for grabs down to the last inning. Boston had seized a 3-0 lead in the third inning, but Red Sox lefthander Bill Lee yielded a two-run homer to Tony Perez in the sixth and was charged with another run in the seventh when Pete Rose tied the game with a single off reliever Moret. The teams remained in a 3-3 deadlock entering the ninth.

In the ninth, Griffey walked and reached third on a sacrifice and a groundout. After a walk to Rose, Morgan looped a single to center off lefthanded reliever Jim Burton. Cincinnati was on top, 4-3, and Reds’ bullpen standout McEnaney made the lead stand up with a 1-2-3 ninth. The Reds were champions.

Anderson’s powerhouse team had been pushed to the limit. After losing Game 1, Cincinnati was down, 2-1, at the end of eight innings in Game 2. However, Concepcion came through with a two-out, game-tying infield single in the ninth and, after Concepcion stole second, Griffey followed with a game-winning double as the Reds notched a 3-2 victory.

Getting homers from Bench, Concepcion and Geronimo, Cincinnati mounted a 5-1 lead in the third game, but Lynn’s sacrifice fly in the sixth, Carbo’s pinch homer in the seventh and Evans’ two-run homer in the ninth made it 5-5. Geronimo then opened the last of the 10th with a single and pinch-hitter Ed Armbrister attempted to sacrifice. Armbrister’s bunt bounced just a few feet in front of the plate and catcher Fisk sprinted out to field it. With Armbrister in his path, Fisk had trouble getting to the ball, then threw wildly to second base. The ball sailed into center field, enabling Geronimo to reach third and Armbrister to get to second.

The Red Sox screamed for an interference call from home-plate umpire Larry Barnett, but never got it. Rose was walked intentionally, filling the bases with no one out. After pinch-hitter Merv Rettenmund struck out, Morgan drove a fly ball over the head of drawn-in center fielder Lynn and the Reds were 6-5 winners.

Tiant’s second victory of the Series tied the classic at two games apiece, but Cincinnati regained the edge when Perez came alive in Game 5. Hitless in the first four games and 0-for-15 against Boston after striking out in his first at-bat in the fifth game, Perez proceeded to rock Reggie Cleveland for a bases-empty home run and a three-run shot. Don Gullett, receiving last-out help from Eastwick, was a 6-2 victor.

Now, after a day of travel, the action shifted back to Boston. Of course, it turned out to be a travel day plus three days of plotting by the baseball gods.