Monday Milestone: Pudge
“Bottom of the twelfth, in stepped Carlton Fisk. Old Pudge. Steps up to the plate, you know, and he's got that weird stance. And BAM! He clocks it. High fly ball down the left field line! Thirty-five thousand people, on their feet, yellin' at the ball, but that's not because of Fisk. He's wavin' at the ball like a madman. He's going, "Get over! Get over! Get OVER!" And then it HITS the foul pole. OH, he goes apeshit, and 35,000 fans, you know, they charge the field, you know?”
– Robin Williams as Sean Maguire in ‘Good Will Hunting’
This Week in History
1975, October 21
Carlton Fisk drives a home run that hits the foul pole at Fenway Park in Boston giving the Red Sox a 7-6 victory and tying the World Series at 3-3.
It’s one of those moments that lives on. It was as intense as it gets. Extra innings at Fenway Park, the 1975 World Series hanging on a thread, with neither the Cincinnati Reds nor the Boston Red Sox able to break the deadlock.
At the time the Cincinnati Reds were beginning a dynasty. The Big Red Machine boasted Pete Rose and that season, had won their division by twenty games, the dominance continuing through the post season, sweeping Pittsburgh to arrive at the World Series.
Meanwhile the Bambino Curse still haunted the Red Sox after 57 years. In just their third visit to the World Series since then, and after an explosive seventh inning in Game 1 and a win in Game 4, by the time the series headed back to Fenway for Games 6 and 7 the series was in the balance. Cincinnati would need to win on the road to take the pennant.
In Game 6, the Sox started brightly in front of their home fans with a three run homer in the opening inning before the Reds got two back for the Reds in the fifth, and with another single for Cincinnati, the match was tied at 3-3. With more runs in both the seventh and eighth, Cincinnati led 6-3, on the cusp of victory. But then the game swung again in the bottom of the eighth, as Bernie Carbo, cleared the Green Monster with a three run homer to tie the game at 6-6.
To maintain perspective, the perennially disappointing Red Sox were as close to World Series victory as they’d been since the Bambino. Imagine the emotional investment. They dared to dream as the game went to extra innings.
Then in the bottom of the twelfth, catcher Carlton ‘Pudge’ Fisk took centre stage, lifting Pat Darcy’s second pitch high and left. Wow he smacked it, driving it hard and straight down the left field line. Time stopped for 35,000 Red Sox fans, as they leapt to their feet, praying for the ball to fall fair as it headed straight towards the left field foul post. Pudge sprinted towards first base desperately throwing his arms to the right, pleading for the ball to fall good. He knew it was close. A nation held its breath as the ball actually slammed into the foul pole for a home run.
What a finish! The Red Sox had won, and the World Series was tied. At Fenway Park players and spectators alike rushed onto the field in jubilation…
Of course Boston would go on to agonisingly lose Game 7 and continue the Curse of the Bambino, but that day at Fenway was theirs.
Years later, after a career spanning 24 years at both Boston and the Chicago White Sox, Pudge would end up in the Hall of Fame. But of his 376 home runs in a decorated career, none were as important as that night at Fenway Park, a moment that will live on in baseball folklore forever.
The Milestone Five: Famous moments in World Series History
5. Burned into the brains of Red Sox fans was the ball rolling through the legs of Bill Buckner at first base in 1986, resulting in the winning run to the New York Mets. The Mets would win Game 7 and the Curse of the Bambino would continue.
4. Kirby Puckett in the bottom of the eleventh in the 1991 World Series hits Charlie Leibrandt over the fence to give the Minnesota Twins the win in Game 6 over the Atlanta Braves. The Twins would go on to win Game 7 and the World Series.
3. Bill Mazeroski in the moment that all Little League kids dream of, took the plate tied at 9-9 at the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, promptly hitting Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry out of the park and winning the pennant for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
2. Kirk Gibson in his only appearance in the 1988 World Series, suffering from a stomach virus and injuries to both legs, hit the unhittable Dennis Eckersley over the fence to win for the LA Dodgers and hobbled around for his homer. The Dodgers would go on to beat the Oakland A’s 4 games to 1.
1. Carlton “Pudge” Fisk slams the ball into the foul pole at Fenway Park, after “waving it over” in the twelfth inning keeping the 1975 World Series alive, as 35,000 Red Sox fans rushed the field.
