38 Years Ago Today

And 28 years before they put seats on the Green Monster.

To be fair, Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds actually began on October 21st, 1975 but went into extras.

While the timekeeping may not have been as detailed or meticulous back then, it's well known that it was past midnight when Reds reliever Pat Darcy took to the mound in the bottom of the 12th to face leadoff hitter Carlton Fisk.



The thing is that as much as Fisk's walkoff homer propelled him into Red Sox lore, Boston still lost the series in 7 games, the fleeting triumph doing nothing to stem the rise of a cottage industry of 'curse' folklore that persisted until 2004.

In 1975, the NFL was only a few seasons into their merger with the nascent American Football League and this whole 'Super Bowl' thing. There was real concern at the time that football's meteoric rise would marginalize baseball and replace it in a number of markets once considered safe. The 1975 World Series, put those concerns to rest pitting the upstart Red Sox against what many say was the best baseball team in the postwar years- Cincinnati's Big Red Machine.

It will be another National League powerhouse in the Midwest that the Red Sox will face tomorrow- a somewhat familiar one, as Boston and St Louis have already met three times in the World Series since the end of WWII. In fact, out of all the current members of the National League Central, the only club Boston hasn't faced in the World Series is Milwaukee.

Yet, to look at the 2013 Boston Red Sox, with their 12 walkoff wins and defiant bravado in the face of the carnage that was wrought on another Boston sports institution one fateful April afternoon, one can't help but sense that this may very well be only the beginning of something special.

This Day in Red Sox History- Oct 22nd, 1975; Fisk Waves it Fair

Before the 2004 and 2007 World Series and historic comeback in the 2004 ALCS, this was the closest the Red Sox came to World Series triumph since the roaring twenties: The iconic image of Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk using all the body english he could muster to wave fair a fly ball he hit off of Cincinnati reliver Pat Darcy in the bottom of the 12th inning of Game 6 in the 1975 World Series.

So engrained is the image in the psyche of Red Sox Nation [before they even started selling plastic cards- NANESB!] that the fact that the Cincinnati Reds would win the deciding Game 7 the following night was almost an afterthought. Fisk himself joked that he liked to tell people that the Red Sox won the World Series that year 3 games to 4.

It would be another 11 seasons before the Red Sox got anywhere near a deciding game in the World Series, and that too would evaporate with a ground ball rolling between the wickets of one Bill Buckner- at which point certain Boston sportswriters began what amounted to a cottage industry with talk of a curse.

Whether or not there was some otherworldy voodoo or hexes at work, all that came to an end 8 years ago with the Red Sox advancing to the World Series on an improbable comeback when they were three outs away from getting swept in the best-of-7 ALCS by their hated archrival, the New York Yankees. From there, Boston swept the St Louis Cardinals for their first World Series title in 86 years. The curse was gone- but one look at the animated Fisk makes one wonder if there ever was a curse to start off with.

Oh Rats! How Boston's Fleeting Triumph in the 1975 WS and a Giant Rodent Were Behind the (Accidental) Birth of the 'Reaction Shot'

"If it stays fair.....Home Run!"

With the current Red Sox in a state of disarray, I thought that the 36th anniversary of Game 6 in the 1975 World Series might be worth revisiting.

Back in 1975, it was a little unusual to be playing baseball this late in October. However, the series had been postponed by rain for three straight days in Boston and Game 6 didn't get underway until October 21st.

Although the Red Sox got out to a quick 3-0 lead that night, the Big Red Machine managed to tie things up and then take a 6-3 lead thanks to a home run by George Foster in the 7th and a solo shot from Ceasar Geronimo in the 8th.

In the bottom of the 8th, Bernie Carbo belted a 2-out, 3-run homer to tie the game up at 6-6 [Years later, Carbo would later claim he showed up to the ballpark high for Game 6- NANESB!] but the Red Sox would manage to squander a bases-loaded nobody out situation in the 9th, sending Game 6 to extra innings.

In the top of the 11th, Boston outfielder Dwight Evans would make an outstanding diving catch of Joe Morgan's line drive seemingly headed for the right field seats to begin a double play.

I wouldn't be surprised if many of the regular visitors to this blog knew what happened next, when Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk led off the bottom of the 12th inning. 'Pudge' took the first pitch for ball one off of Cincinnati's Pat Darcy. Then he took the next pitch deep where it soared into the misty night sky before ricocheting off the left-field foul pole for a walk-off home run to seal the Red Sox win for Game 6.

What stood out about Fisk's homer wasn't so much the distance or his timing. Rather, it was his body language- caught thanks to NBC cameraman Lou Gerard, who was filming from inside the Green Monster- the Vermont native wearing #27 earnestly waving the ball fair as he jumped sideways down the baseline at 12:33 AM on October 22nd, 1975.

Years later, NBC sports director Harry Coyle explained that Gerard's filming of the exhuberant Fisk making his way down the baseline was purely by accident. If the ball was hit anywhere near him, Gerard was supposed to track the ball with his camera. Well- the ball hit the right field foul pole on the Green Monster. So what happened?

Lou says to me, "Hey, Harry, there's a rat right here next to me and it's moving closer.'

"Well, it was a misty night and, with Lou looking a rat in the eye, it was tough to pick up the ball. So when Fisk swung, Lou stayed with him at the plate and got the whole bit -- Fisk frantically trying to wave the ball fair and then the home-run trot," Coyle said. "Give that rat credit, not me, for what may have been the greatest shot in televised sports."

Think the rat story is mere exaggeration or hyperbole?

Boston Globe photo

Then ask yourself this: Why do you think the hawks that nest in Fenway Park are so well-fed?

This Day in History, October 22nd 1975.

(AP/Boston Globe)

Today marks the 34th anniversay of Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning walk-off home run off of Reds reliever Pat Darcy in the bottom of the 12th inning in Game 6 of the World Series . According to most baseball writers and fans who were around to witness it live, Game 6 was the stuff of legends. However, Game 6 itself started on October 21st, 1975 with Luis Tiant starting for Boston and Gary Nolan starting for Cincinnati but it was going on 12:30 AM by the time it was the bottom of the 12th at Fenway Park. The iconic footage of Fisk waving the ball fair as he sprinted out of the batter's box was quite inadvertent- the NBC camreaman positioned inside the Green Monster wanted to track the trajectory of the ball, but instead remained still and kept the camera on Fisk while a large rat was crawling across his feet.