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THE "GOLD DUST TWINS" AND
A SEASON TO REMEMBER
...
1975
WORLD SERIES, GAME #7
Joe Morgan's
bloop hit wins the World Series
for the Reds in the 9th inning
October 22,
1975 ...
The closest, most intense and most dramatic World
Series in baseball history, came down to a bloop ninth inning single,
hit by Joe Morgan in leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 4 to 3 win and
their first championship since 1940. Five games were decided by one
run, four of them in the final inning and so too it was fitting that
the 1975 World Series ended that way.
This time the Red Sox came away first and scored first. They pounced
on Don Gullett and rattled him for a run, on a walk to Bernie Carbo
and singles by Denny Doyle and one by Carl Yastrzemski that scored
Carbo in the third inning. Then they distracted him to the point of
wildness and Gullett walked Rico Petrocelli and Dwight Evans to force
in two more runs. But the Red Sox left the bases loaded in that third
inning and again in the fifth inning and it would come back to haunt
them.
Bill Lee was sailing along and looked invincible in the meantime. The
Sox were making the big plays, and turning away what few threats the
Reds could put together. In the third inning Ken Griffey got a
lead-off single but Cesar Geronimo grounded into a doubleplay, before
Gullett singled. In the fourth inning Morgan was up first and
singled, stole second and died there. In the fifth Dave Concepcion
lead off with a single then Griffey reached on an error, and no
runners scored. So with a 3-0 lead the Sox were in the driver's seat.
When Tony Perez came to bat in the sixth inning, Lee needed just 10
more outs. With Pete Rose on second base, Lee threw an "Eephus"
pitch, the big lob curve. Perez had seen it before and was ready. The
ball sailed over the net onto Lansdowne Street and just like that it
was a one-run game.
Then in the seventh inning Lee developed a blister, after walking
Griffey and that was it for him. In came Rogelio Moret who got
Geronimo, after Griffey stole second. Pete Rose tied up the game with
a line drive to center and Moret walked Morgan to load the bases.
Darrell Johnson had seen enough and brought in Jim Willoughby, who
got Johnny Bench to hit a high foul pop-up that Carlton Fisk gathered
in.
Sparky Anderson decided on Clay Carroll to hold down the Sox batters
and he did just that in the seventh and the eighth. Six men came up
and six men went back to the dugout.
With Jim Burton now pitching for the Sox in the ninth inning, Griffey
worked him for a free pass. Geronimo dutifully bunted him up to
second base. Dan Driessen batted for Carroll and bounced to Doyle, as
Griffey sprinted over to third base. Johnson decided that Burton
should pitch to Rose, the hottest hitter of the Series. Burton got
the count to 3-2 and lost him. That brought up Joe Morgan. Burton
threw him a good slider, down and away. Morgan went with the pitch
and blooped the ball off the end of the bat, just out of Fred Lynn's
reach. The ball dropped and Griffey scored the go-ahead run, bringing
a deafening silence down on the fans at Fenway.
The circumstances now boiled down to left-hander, Will McEnaney
needing to get three outs. The first batter was a right-hander in
Juan Beniquez, who smashed a line drive right at Griffey in right
field. Bob Montgomery, another right-hand batter, hit his first pitch
to Concepcion at short. That left the Sox' fate in the hands of Yaz.,
who had smashed out nine hits and was a bona fide hero in Boston. He
had done it all for the Sox. Who better? With a 2-1 count, Yaz ripped
into one, but just got under it. Cesar Geronimo camped under it for
what seemed forever and the most dramatic World Series ever played,
belonged to the Cincinnati Reds. The Sox had run out of miracles and
Impossible Dreams. |
