The 1975 World Series of Major League Baseball was played between the Boston Red Sox (AL) and Cincinnati Reds (NL)….which was ranked by ESPN in 2003….as the second-greatest World Series ever played…..in which Cincinnati won the series in seven games.
This Game 6 would go down as one of the greatest games not only in World Series and postseason history….but in baseball history as well….which thanks to 3 days of rain in Boston….allowed Red Sox manager Darrell Johnson the luxury of both of his best starters, Luis Tiant and Bill Lee, available for Games 6 and 7 at home to try to stave off the Reds.
Boston’s Fred Lynn opened the scoring in the 1st with a two-out, three-run homer off Reds starter Gary Nolan….while the fresh Tiant breezed through the first four innings by holding the Reds to all zeros. The Reds finally broke through in the 5th….with two on as OF Ken Griffey sent a drive to deep center that Lynn almost made a spectacular leaping catch on against the wall….when Lynn would suffer a rib injury, but would continue the game. Lynn told sportscaster Bob Costas during MLB Network’s “Top 20 games in the last 50 years” that for a short time….he was barely conscious and couldn’t feel his legs. Both runs scored as Griffey ended up with a triple….when Johnny Bench singled Griffey home to tie the game at 3–3. In the 7th, George Foster put the Reds ahead with a two-run double….then again in the top of the 8th, César Gerónimo hit a solo homer to chase Tiant….and give the Reds a 6–3 lead. In the bottom of the 8th with Reds P Pedro Borbón on the mound….and with Rawly Eastwick warming up in the Reds’ bullpen…..Borbon gave up a single to Fred Lynn, and then walked Rico Petrocelli….so, Eastwick was brought in to pitch….and then proceeded to strike out Dwight Evans and retire Rick Burleson on a line-out to left….as Eastwick looked on his way out of the inning….but that’s when Bernie Carbo….a former first-round pick of the Reds….who had a pinch-hit home run in Game 3….was called on to bat for Roger Moret….as Reds Manager Sparky Anderson was on the top step of the dugout, ready to call in left-hander Will McEnaney to pitch to the left-hand hitting Carbo. Anderson said later that he was concerned that the Red Sox would call on Juan Beníquez to pinch hit for Carbo if he made the move. Carbo looked hopelessly overmatched by Eastwick….and on a 2–2 pitch, fouled off a pitch on a swing that was described as having “all the athletic grace of a suburbanite raking leaves.”….when on the next pitch Carbo tied the game with a three-run home run just to the left of dead center field.
Supposedly, as Carbo approached 3rd base on his home run trot….he yelled out to former teammate Pete Rose….saying “Hey, Pete…don’t you wish you were that strong?”….to which Rose replied, “This is fun.” Interestingly enough, Carbo admitted in an interview with ESPN in 2010 that he was stoned on drugs and alcohol during this at-bat as well as in Game 7.
The Red Sox looked poised to win the game in the bottom of the 9th….with McEnaney, the Reds’ 7th pitcher on the mound….as they loaded the bases with no outs…when Denny Doyle walked and went to 3rd on a Carl Yastrzemski single….when McEnaney intentionally walked Carlton Fisk to load the bases to face the left-handed hitting Lynn….who flied out on a short fly ball to left….as OF George Foster in foul territory gunned down Doyle trying to score of a tag-up from 3rd. McEnaney then retired Petrocelli, ending the jam….as Doyle would later claim that when he tagged at 3rd….he thought he heard Red Sox 3rd-base coach Don Zimmer yelling “Go, go, go!”….when, in reality, Zimmer was screaming, “No! No! No!”.
In the top of the 11th for the Reds….with Ken Griffey on 1st….as Joe Morgan hit a deep drive to right off Dick Drago that looked to be headed over the fence….but OF Dwight Evans made a spectacular catch near the visitors bullpen in deep right to rob Morgan and double Griffey off first…..and then the Reds mounted another threat in the top of the 12th….as Tony Pérez and Foster drove one-out singles off Rick Wise….but Wise retired Dave Concepción on a fly to right and struck out Geronimo to end the threat.
Finally, Red Sox C Carlton Fisk faced Pat Darcy….the 8th pitcher that Reds manager Sparky Anderson used….when Fisk took Darcy’s 2nd pitch and lifted a high drive down the left-field line….as the ball struck the foul pole well above the Green Monster at Fenway Park. In what has now become an iconic baseball film highlight….the NBC left-field game camera caught Fisk wildly waving his arms to his right after hitting the ball and watching its path while drifting down the first base line….as if he was trying to coax the ball to “stay fair”. The ball indeed stayed fair and the Red Sox had tied the Series…. and this game became ranked # 1 in MLB Network’s 20 Greatest Games….and as of 2017, this is the last World Series game the Reds have lost.
Any way you cut the pie….this video is MLB history at it finest….and certainly another “nugget of gold” in our ImaSportsphile treasure chest of memories….which makes this MUST SEE TV for any and all baseball fans.
