1975 World Series – Game 1
Having been born in April of 1975 I was a little too young to remember the 1975 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds (YAY!) and the Boston Red Sox (BOOO!). ESPN recently called the ’75 Series the second greatest World Series of all time (the #1 spot is indefinitely reserved for the next time the Cubs win the World Series).
Most people remember the ’75 World Series for Carlton Fisk’s famous homerun from Game 6 (if you haven’t seen that by now, the terrorists have won), but Reds fans prefer to remember the ’75 World Series as that time the The Big Red Machine beat the Boston Red Sox 4 games to 3, becoming Major League Baseball’s Greatest Super Champions of the Universe.
I hope I didn’t ruin anything there.
Excluding the Fisk homerun and a handful of other highlights, I’ve never seen any of the games before.
Until now.
Thanks to a wonderful new technology called a “DVD” (Digital Video Disc), I was able to watch the original broadcasts of all seven games from the 1975 World Series.
Game 1
October 11, 1975 Fenway Park Attendance: 35,205 Game Time Temp: 60-degrees Starting Pitcher (Boston): Luis Tiant Starting Pitcher (Cincinnati): Don GullettThe ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Secretary of Treasury, William E. Simon, who was booed mightily by the Boston crowd because, at the time, New England had some of the highest oil prices in the country. Or maybe they booed because they’re Red Sox fans and Red Sox fans will boo anything that isn’t directly related to the Red Sox.
1975 was a glorious time for baseball. Pete Rose was in his prime, Johnny Bench was behind the plate, and TV color commentators could get away with saying things like, “He got him with the high, hard one” without getting fined by the FCC.
For some reason, back in 1975, American League teams played by National League rules in the World Series (i.e., no designated hitter). I never knew this was the case (or when it changed), so if anyone can shed some light on this in the comments, I’d appreciate it.
Here’s a picture of Marty Brennaman and Sherlock Holmes calling the game:
If you love a good pitcher’s duel, then Game 1 was for you. Red Sox starter Luis Tiant was nasty, pitching a complete game, five-hit shutout. Don Gullett, coming off a 15-win season in ’75 (despite breaking his thumb during the season) was sloppy at times, but managed to get out of trouble in every inning until the 7th inning when the wheels came off. A combination of Reds pitchers manged to give up six runs in the 7th, and with Luis Tiant being Luis Tiant, the game was essentially over.
Red Sox win: 6-0
A disappointed Pete Rose had this to say after the game:
“Yeah, we lost this game, but we’re the Big Red Machine and I have a feeling that the Series is going to go seven games, we’re going to win four of those games, and Carlton Fisk is going to have a dramatic homerun in Game 6. But what do I know? By the way, I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.”
Boston leads World Series 1-0
The lack of the World Series DH at the time was because everyone still viewed it as the silly device that it is.
Really, though, it was because the DH was still technically an experiment. It only began in 1973 (I used to have Ron Blomberg’s baseball card!) and I think the DH rule was renewed year-to-year or something. According to Wikipedia it was used in the World Series for the first time in 1976.
Interleague play started the same way – as an experiment which, before you knew it, was entrenched.
Interesting… thanks for the background.
And over 30 years later we’re still dealing with the stupid DH rule.
That Pete Rose sure is an insightful guy.
He might make a good manager some day.