1975 World Series – Game 3

Game 3

October 14, 1975

Riverfront Stadium

Attendance: 55,392

Game Time Temp: 65-degrees

Starting Pitcher (Boston): Rick Wise

Starting Pitcher (Cincinnati): Gary Nolan

After playing the first two games at boring Fenway Park, Game 3 moves to the beautiful, charming, full-of-character, and round Riverfront Stadium.

Prior to the game Sparky Anderson had this to say about Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Gary Nolan:

On February 20th I didn’t even consider Gary on our roster, he wasn’t even figured as one of our pitchers.

It’s clear that Sparky didn’t go to the General Patton School of Motivational Speaking.

Former Reds GM Warren Giles throws out the ceremonial first pitch – from the stands – to Johnny Bench.  The crowd goes… well, they don’t really react until they see that Hank Aaron is sitting behind him.

The announcer wonders if Pete Rose will ever get to 3,000 hits.  He thinks he has a pretty good chance.  We’ll see.

It was a quiet 1st inning, but in the top of the 2nd Gary Nolan throws a meatball across the plate and Carlton Fisk hits a monstrous homerun (no, not that homerun) into the green seats in left field.  Red Sox lead 1-0.

I used to sit in those same green seats at Riverfront Stadium and tell Barry Bonds how much of a bum he was/is.

Back to the game…

Nothing of importance happens in the 3rd inning, other than the fact that I’d forgotten just how high the outfield wall used to be at Riverfront Stadium.

According to the announcer, Pete Rose has a “video tape machine” at home that allows him to tape the games so his kids can watch.  Those rich baseball players have all the cool toys.

In the bottom of the 4th Tony Perez walks, steals second base, and Johnny Bench hits a towering shot to left field to give the Reds a 2-1 lead.

Reds pitcher Gary Nolan leaves the game after four innings with stiffness in his neck.  Or maybe he just heard Sparky Anderson’s pre-game comments.  We’ll never know.

Here’s a story… of a man named Sparky…

Marty Brennaman takes over the announcing duties in the bottom of the 5th inning.  Is there anyone better?  He has a voice made for baseball.  The Reds should really look into signing this guy up to a long-term deal.

Davey Concepcion leads off the bottom of the 5th by taking Rick Wise downtown with a shot to left-center.  3-1 Reds.  Cesar GERONIMO! goes back-to-back and creams one to right field to extend the Reds lead to 4-1.  A sac fly by Joe Morgan (that ESPN guy) scores Rose from third base and the Reds now have a comfortable 5-1 lead.

Marty in the booth seems to be the good luck charm.

Pitcher Pat Darcy strikes out and the crowd boos him for being such a non-homerun hitting bum.

Pete Rose hits a ball over an incompetent Red Sox (Sock?) centerfielder’s head and stretches it into a triple.  The way Rose was hustling around the bases someone should really come up with a nickname for him that includes the word “hustle.”  Pete Hustle?

Nah!  Needs some work.

The Red Sox score a run in the top of the 6th and 7th innings to inch closer to the Reds (5-3), then Rawly Eastwick gives up a game-tying two-run homer by Dwight Evans in the top of the 9th.  We’re going to extra innings.

In the 10th inning Carl Yastrzemski (he’s a “climax player”) hits one to the wall in deep, deep centerfield, but Cesar GERONIMO! is there to make the catch.

GERONIMO! leads off the bottom of the 10th with a hit, eventually advancing to third on an errant pick-off attempt at 2nd base.  But wait!  Red Sox manager Darrell Johnson and Carlton Fisk are complaining that the Reds Ed Armbrister interfered at home plate.  After looking at the replay, it turns out Armbrister did interfere with Fisk’s throw to second base, but the umpires saw it differently.  Phew!  Fisk is pissed.

Joe Morgan hits a fly ball… to deep center field… but the infield is drawn in…  GERONIMO! scores the winning run from third…

…and this one belongs to the Reds!

It’s just a hunch, but I think this one is going to seven games.

A jubilant Pete Rose had this to say after the game:

“That’s two games in a row for us.  Two more and we’re the champs.  If I was a betting ma… never mind.  Some players you pat their butts, some players you kick their butts, some players you leave alone.”

Cincinnati Reds lead World Series 2-1