50 Years Ago Today

 

 Hear it here!

 

It was six years ago that I wrote about the moment that stands at the top of a sportscasting career that spanned over five decades.

It was the legendary home run hit by Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston that sent the 1975 World Series to a seventh and deciding game against the eventual champions, the Cincinnati Reds.

It was more than simply a dramatic shot that extended baseball’s Fall Classic. There have been a few of those, but it served as milestone for baseball which had fallen off in popularity, leading to concern for its standing as America’s national pastime.

I was blessed to play a role in the drama as the announcer who called the home run for NBC in prime time. To be clear, I was in the right time at the right place and isn’t that the story for so many events in everyone’s lives. I revisit that time here because it is the 50th Anniversary of that World Series and moments surrounding the drive that gave the Red Sox a 7-6 victory in the 12th inning.

Imagine, 50 years.

Old timers may remember the game and my description of the home run, “If it stays fair….home run”. I then paused for 36 seconds as the Fisk, the Red Sox catcher ran the bases avoiding fans who had run onto the field trying to somehow grab hold of him, the sounds of organist John Kiley playing the “Halleujah Chorus”, the place going wild.

Then Fisk jumped before he landed on home plate, mobbed by his teammates, and not until he reached the dugout did I talk again, stating that there would be a 7th game in this 1975 World Series.

I have mentioned how the NBC brass decided to alternate he play-by-play announcers going into the 10th inning. Normally the first 4 1/2 innings would be handled by the network voices, either the great veteran Curt Gowdy or Joe Garagiola, the former catcher who brought personality and humor to the booth.

But for this game, they wanted Garagiola, who was working TV for Game 6, to be on the mike the last 4-1/2 if the Reds were to win and clinch the Series.

So I began the game on play-by-play and Joe finished up. But the game was tied 6-all.

That’s when NBC chose to alternate innings with me working the 10th, Joe the 11th and so on. That kind of decision would never be made today, when the network voice would probably do every inning until it was over.

Baseball had fallen on hard times. Despite a full 7-game series in 1972 and 1973, won by a colorful Oakland A’s, there seemed to be a decrease in overall audience interest.

Then, in 1974, the A’s were victorious again, wiping out the LA Dodgers 4 games to 1.

But television ratings for the Series dropped 20%. The game was regarded as too slow. There was so much of a decrease in offense the American League adopted the designated hitter rule the year before. Attendance leveled off.

Baseball needed a shot in the arm.

They almost didn’t get it in ‘75. After the Reds won game 5 to take a 3-2 lead, the Series moved back to Boston. The game was originally slated to be played on Saturday October 18th, but a New England nor’easter socked in the city. Heavy rains engulfed Boston on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Counting the travel day off the previous Friday, that meant there was no baseball to be played for four days.

You could feel the interest waning. There seemed little enthusiasm for the World Series whenever it would resume. The attitude that prevailed was, ‘let’s just get this thing over with’. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn declared that game 6 would be played in prime time, and the weather cleared for the contest on Tuesday October 21st.

For some reason I had not even thought of what jacket and tie I would wear for the on-camera opening. I have no recollection why. When I got into my taxi to head for Fenway Park, I asked the driver to drop me off at Saks Fifth Avenue. There, I purchased a brown and orange tie that would work with my brown jacket. I put it on in the store, found another cab and was on my way to the ballpark. I can’t believe to this day how casual I was about getting myself ready for what could be the deciding game of a World Series.

But it’s all true.

Then, of course, the game itself. A gem. The Red Sox took a 3-0 lead on Fred Lynn’s 3-run homer in the first inning. The Reds tied it with 3 in the 5th, then added two more in the 7th and a single run in the 8th to take command 6-3 into the bottom of the inning.

The crowd was understandably  subdued until pinch-hitter Bernie Carbo, who had once been drafted by Cincinnati over the great Johnny Bench, hit a pinch 3-run homer to tie the game at 6.

It stayed that way until extra innings. Even in the 9th, the Red Sox loaded the bases with none out and couldn’t get the one run that would end it.

There were opportunities galore in the 10th and 11th for both teams, featuring a brilliant catch in the first few rows of the right field stands by Dwight Evans of the Sox that turned into a double play for Boston.

You couldn’t catch your breath. Then came the 12th inning.

Rick Wise retired the Reds in the top half, and now the Red Sox came to bat. Fisk leading off. The Reds used 8 pitchers in the game. The last was right-hander Pat Darcy.

Fisk took ball one. Tony Kubek left the booth to get ready for a post-game interview on the field. He leaned into the Cincinnati dugout. Their manager Sparky Anderson called to his pitching coach to ask how many pitches Darcy had thrown. Pitching coach Larry Shepard informed the skipper the number was 28. The manager remarked that it was the most pitches he had thrown in one outing all season.

The next pitch was hit by Carlton Fisk off the left-field foul pole for a game-winning home run that has never been forgotten.

“If it stays fair…….”

50 years ago.

At the age of 32, I naturally figured there would be identical or better moments I might experience in a career I was hopeful would last forever.

It never happened.