“Hey, those people in New England don’t forget, do they?” says Torrez. Dent would earn World Series MVP honors when the Yankees won the ‘78 Fall Classic against the Dodgers for the second consecutive year, but Dent says the Fenway homer that got his club to the postseason is a little more special given “the magnitude of the game.”ĭent also got his own distinct label, created by Red Sox fans, after the exclamation point he deposited over the Fenway Green Monster. The tiny Fenway visiting clubhouse was “chaos” after the 5-4 Yankee win, says Dent, and the late Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was in the thick of the bedlam. If you can be of any assistance with additions or corrections, please email:. “It came down to Goose and Yastrzemski, and I’m saying to myself, ‘Come on Goose, just get him to pop it up.’ And he did,” says Dent. The pop fly landed in the glove of Graig Nettles and the Yankee celebration had begun. Gossage gave up two runs in the eighth, and had two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth with two outs when Hall of Fame Sox outfielder Yastrzemski came to the plate. It was up to Hall of Fame reliever Rich “Goose” Gossage to record the final eight outs. Boston Red Sox latest stats and more including batting stats, pitching stats, team fielding totals and more on. “You would hate to make an error, because you either win or you go home.”Īfter Dent’s blast, Munson doubled in a run that same inning, and Jackson later hit a solo home run off reliever Bob Stanley to give the Yankees a three-run cushion. “That game, you knew you can’t make any mistakes,” says Chambliss, who scored on Dent’s homer. But Chambliss says that the ‘78 game was probably the most pressure-filled atmosphere he’s ever experienced. Then I saw (left fielder Carl) Yastrzemski kind of buckle at the wall.”Ĭhambliss, 72, had provided Yankee fireworks two years earlier, with his dramatic, walk-off home run at Yankee Stadium that won the 1976 AL pennant. I hit it pretty good but I didn’t know if it was going to go out. The two teams were tied after 162 games, leading to a one-game playoff, which the Yankees won. The team finished with a record of 10063, finishing one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox to win their third American League East title. He was trying to run a sinker down and in on me again,” says Dent. The 1978 New York Yankees season was the 76th season for the Yankees. “First pitch I saw, (Torrez) didn’t get it where he wanted to. After Dent resumed the at-bat, the very next pitch was right in Dent’s money zone. But Dent says now that when he was being attended to after the foul off his shin, Torrez didn’t throw any warmup pitches to stay loose. Torrez, 75, was brilliant up until the seventh, pitching a shutout and only allowing two hits. It hurt but I knew I was going to have to play through it.” “They had pinch hit for (second baseman) Brian Doyle, and Willie (Randolph) had a hamstring pull, so we didn’t have any more infielders. If you find this type of "free" data useful please considerĪ privately run / non-commercial site in need of financial assistance.“I had a blood clot and wore a guard pretty much the whole year, but it was one game where I said, ‘I’m not going to wear it today.’ Sure enough, I fouled the ball off again,” says Dent. Jim Rice had no big holes." Goose Gossage, a hall of famer himself, summed up (San Francisco Chronicle,, Source) Jim Rice's ability at the plate quite nicely - abilities that included four two-hundred hit seasons in Boston, breaking the record (since broken by Wade Boggs / 7x) of three set by Johnny Pesky, who (at the time) was the only Red Sox player with more than one ( Doc Cramer, Joe Vosmik, Billy Werber, Tris Speaker). He had tremendous power, but yet he was an excellent hitter who could hit to the opposite field or go up the middle. "There's no hitter who scared me, but Jim Rice came the closest. Jim Rice | National Baseball Hall of Fame Plaque | Class of 2009 ( HOF) Did you know that Jim Rice is the last American League (AL) player to finish a season with 400-or-more total bases? The four time (1977, 1978, 1979, 1983) total bases leader finished the 1978 season with 406 total bases, the last 400+ total base season in the AL, previously accomplished by Joe DiMaggio (1937), Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1936), Hal Trosky (1936), Jimmie Foxx (1932, 1933) and Babe Ruth (1921, 1927).
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