Last game of the season, I was in the bleachers at Fenway Park when the Red Sox had to beat Toronto and the Yankees had to lose to the Indians to force a playoff game the next day.
That all happened and the next day was the infamous game of Bucky Dent. I was not at Fenway that day as I had school and work - I was working at Cerretani's supermarket in Revere when the Bucky Dent home run was hit. The radio cast of the game was playing over the intercom. Most of the shoppers didn't care as they would have been watching the game at home if they did. Mostly housewives at that hour - some of them still in curlers even though it was late in the afternoon.
The great Carl Yastrzemski (still alive and kicking today) had a chance to be the hero as he came up with two on base in the 9th with the score 5-4 but popped up lazily to the third baseman to end the game. All Yastrzemski needed was a base hit and he would have been up there with Bobby Orr and Tom Brady in the Boston sports scene. Oh well.
That game was actually 43 years ago yesterday. How time flies.
Wasn’t it Bucky F’ing Dent?