Washington Redskins Quiz: 1) Most passing yards, season? 2)
Most TD passes, season? 3) Most TDs, career? 4) What two
players had 13 receptions in a single game? [One did it twice…
both post-1980.] 5) Only two have scored 4 TDs in a game.
Name them. 6) Most passing yards, career? Answers below.
[The following is for baseball junkies. There is some other
“stuff” down below it.]
Boston Red Sox, Part II
Ah ha! You Sox fans thought I was finished with the horror flick
that is this team since 1918. You thought that since I ran a story
on Boston’s Freedom Trail last Tuesday that I wasn’t going to
pick up the Sox story from where I left off Thursday. And so we
continue with Johnny Mac’s Baseball Chat…as we move into the
1970s. [For you new readers, you can access the archives below
for all previous editions.]
By 1975, the Red Sox had surrounded the aging Yaz with some
impressive young talent. Carlton Fisk was establishing himself
as a premier catcher, Rick Burleson was a good looking
shortstop, and they assembled a brilliant outfield of Jim Rice,
Dewey Evans and MVP / Rookie of the Year / Gold Glover
Freddy Lynn. They won the East comfortably and dismissed
Reggie Jackson and the A’s 3-0 for the pennant. Then on to the
World Series and the awesome 108-54 Big Red Machine from
Cincinnati. In keeping with the Sox bad luck, however, Jim Rice
had broken his wrist late in the year and would not appear in the
Series.
What followed was a classic. Boston’s Luis Tiant, the ageless
wonder, was brilliant in Game One, throwing a complete game
5-hit shutout. Tiant’s teammate, “The Spaceman,” Bill Lee, was
nearly as brilliant in Game Two, nursing a 2-1 lead into the
ninth. But the Reds tallied twice off reliever Dick Drago with 2
out, as Ken Griffey Sr. drove in the winning run.
Game Three has its own place in the history of the sport. The
Sox, down 5-1, rallied to take the game into extra innings. With
Cesar Geronimo on 1st in the bottom of the tenth for the Reds,
pinch hitter Ed Armbrister was called on to bunt. He laid one
down in front of the plate and hesitated, causing a collision
between himself and catcher Fisk. Fisk then threw wildly to
first, allowing Geronimo to take third. An intense argument
ensued, with the Sox claiming interference on the play, but it was
to no avail and Joe Morgan singled home the winning run shortly
thereafter.
Tiant was gallant as they come in Game Four, throwing 163
pitches in the 5-4 Red Sox victory. Lynn made a brilliant catch
in the ninth, preserving the win for El Tiante. But then Tony
Perez awoke from a 0 for 15 collar hitting 2 homers to support
Don Gullett as the Reds took Game Five, 6-1, for a 3-2 Series
lead. That set the stage for what many consider the greatest
game in Series history.
Delayed three days due to rain, Boston was able to start Tiant
again. Cincy starter Gary Nolan didn’t have much that day,
allowing a first inning three-run jack to Lynn. Then a bevy of
relievers kept it close until the Reds were able to tie it in the fifth,
with Griffey’s triple being the damaging blow. They finally
chased Tiant with 2 in the seventh and one more in the eighth,
taking what seemed like a commanding 6-3 lead. But with 2 on
and 2 out for Boston, manager Darrell Johnson sends Bernie
Carbo up to pinch-hit against Rawley Eastwick. Quickly down
two strikes, Carbo just manages to foul off a good pitch. Not
choking up a millimeter, Carbo goes for the downs and hits the
next offering into the centerfield bleachers to tie it up. That
would be the most famous home run in Red Sox history, for the
next 90 minutes or so, anyway.
Boston loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth,
but Lynn hit a lazy fly to left and George Foster threw out Denny
Doyle at the plate. The Reds threatened in the 11th and with
Griffey on first, Morgan blasts one to right field. Dewey Evans
dives into the stands, making a spectacular grab and then doubles
up Griffey, who was off and running at the crack of the bat. The
game goes into the 12th, with Cincy trotting out Pat Darcy, their
8th pitcher of the game. Fisk leads off and clubs a 1-0 sinker
deep to left. Fair or foul??? Fisk is willing the ball fair as he
trots up the line…it’s fair, it’s fair…Sox win!! We now have a
new most famous home run in Sox history. What a game.
Game Seven…Fenway Park. This is it, all those years of
frustration are about to be wiped away, as the mighty Reds are on
the verge of being vanquished. Cincy starts ace Don Gullet
while Boston counters with the Spaceman. Gullet doesn’t have
it, actually walking home 2 runs as the Sox grab a 3-0 lead.
They can taste it in Boston now. Lee is sailing along, shutting
them out thru 5. The sixth seems innocent enough…Rose is on
first with one out and a routine grounder looks like an inning-
ending double play. Rose slides hard into Doyle at second,
forcing the throw off-line and extending the inning. Perez steps
to the plate and Lee decides, for some reason known only to him
and his pharmacist, to uncork his euphus pitch, a 40-mph arching
lob that resembles a slow-pitch in softball. Perez waits the hour
or so for the pitch to arrive and drives it into the bullpen for a 2-
run dinger. Lee develops a blister and leaves, then Rose ties the
game with a single in the 7th.
We remained tied until the 9th, when manager Darrell Johnson
has an inexplicable brain lock of his own bringing in rookie Jim
Burton to start the inning. Griffey works a walk and is sacrificed
to second by Geronimo. Driessen grounds out, moving Griffey
to third. Rose walks on a 3-2 count, bringing up the clutch Joe
Morgan. He lines a soft one to center, just out of the reach of the
charging Lynn. Griffey scores the go-ahead run. The Sox go
quickly in the bottom of the inning, with Yaz popping out to end
the most exciting Series ever, at least of my lifetime.
Tantalizingly close, but no ring.
The Red Sox are dazed, stumbling to two third-place finishes in
’76 and ’77. They have an aging staff of Tiant, Rick Wise,
Fergie Jenkins and Bill Lee. They pick up a young stud starter
from the Indians, Dennis Eckersley, and acquire veteran right-
hander Mike Torrez from the hated Yankees. With Tiant still
effective at 38 and second-year man Bob Stanley going 15-3 in
relief, the Sox are coasting to the division championship. Oops,
here come the Yankees in the rear view mirror. A seemingly
insurmountable lead is down to a few games when the Yankees
sweep them in the infamous “Boston Massacre.” To their credit,
the Sox actually fight back in the last week to tie the race back
up and force a one game playoff at Fenway, but Bucky Dent’s
homer off Torrez ended the nightmare season and the Yanks
went on to win yet another championship.
Boston drifted around the next 7 seasons, never seriously
contending, with another talented squad that just didn’t measure
up to its potential. Lynn had a monster year in 1979, but slipped
a bit in 1980 and was traded to the Angels, as per his request. He
wouldn’t regain his early form and his career would have to be
labeled disappointing. Fisk was thought to be aging at 32 and
was shipped to the White Sox, where he only lasted another 13
years (!) on his way to the Hall of Fame. Burleson blew out a
rotator cuff and was more or less finished by 30. Eck had a few
so-so years as a starter, so he was shipped out. [I think we know
how that turned out…if you don’t remember, see next year’s Hall
of Fame ballot.] John Tudor, who showed some promise as a
lefty starter (not an easy thing to be in Fenway) was traded away,
only to later lead the Cardinals to two pennants. Rice and Evans
stuck around for the rebuilding years, and Boston did manage to
assemble a solid squad. Wade Boggs, Marty Barrett, Rich
Gedman, Bruce Hurst, Oil Can Boyd and young flamethrower
Roger Clemens all made their way to the majors through the Red
Sox farm system.
1986…yup, this is the year. This will be different. It’s destiny
smiling on us for a change. After winning the East easily over
the Yanks, the Sox found themselves down 3-1 to the Angels for
the A.L. pennant. Luckily, the Angels have some pretty bad
mojo of their own and the Sox rally to win the series. Dave
Henderson, a late-season pickup from Seattle, provided the spark
with a 2-out, 2-strike homer off Donnie Moore in game five.
[Moore commits suicide 3 years later.] Now, on to New York.
The Mets had gone 108-54, but had been pushed hard by the
Astros in a classic NLCS. Suddenly, they looked beatable. The
Sox struck first at Shea, with Hurst and young Calvin Shiraldi
teaming up for a 4-hit shutout, besting a game Ron Darling, 1-0.
[Editor: I was at this affair. It was cold and miserable and simply
a crappy game.] They then roughed up the Mets stud Dwight
Gooden and took Game Two by a 9-3 margin (although Clemens
did not pitch well either). Home to Fenway for three (if needed),
up 2-0. Can’t get any better than that.
The Mets jumped on Oil Can for 4 in the first and coasted to a 7-
1 win behind Bob Ojeda. Instead of coming back with Hurst,
McNamara (the Boston skipper) decides to go with Al Nipper,
10-12 in the regular season with an ugly 5.38 ERA. Nipper
hadn’t pitched an inning in the ALCS, but McNamara rolled the
dice with him anyway. Snake eyes…Gary Carter hits 2 homers
and Dykstra added another as the Mets evened things with a 6-2
victory behind another stellar effort by Darling. At the very least
the Mets would get another game at home. A win in Game Five
would almost clinch for them. But Bruce Hurst came up big for
a second time as the Sox again handled Doc Gooden in a 4-2
victory. It was on to Shea.
Clemens took the hill for the clincher, opposed by veteran Bobby
Ojeda. The Sox got 2 early runs, but the Mets tied it with 2 in
the fifth. Boston reclaimed the lead with one in the 7th, but New
York again tied it in the 8th. I will kindly spare my Boston
friends the gory details of the infamous 10th inning. Anyone
unfamiliar with them shouldn’t be reading this article anyway.
Game Seven is not all that well remembered because of Game
Six, but the Sox had an early 3-0 lead off a spent Darling and had
Met killer Hurst on the hill. Sid Fernandez turned in a brilliant
middle relief stint, keeping the Mets in the game until a rally in
the 6th tied the contest. Strawbery and Series MVP Ray Knight
hit homers and Keith Hernandez had a clutch hit as the Mets
roughed up Schiraldi en route to an 8-5 victory. Another one that
was so close you could taste it. Unbelievable stuff…perhaps the
greatest post-season ever, all things considered. Every series a
nail-biter, extra-inning games galore, heroes and goats, more
than enough to go around. And the Sox lose another
heartbreaker.
And this year? Stay tuned.
Stuff
–Speaking of this year’s Red Sox, by way of follow-up to my
reference to Manny Ramirez in the last chat, as I was leaving
Boston on Tuesday, the radio guys were saying that Manny, who
had been sick during the weekend’s Yankee series yet was seen
in a bar on Saturday night, was indeed out that evening, but with
Yankee coach Willie Randolph and not drinking. Still doesn’t
absolve him by any stretch, however. He should have been in
bed with a freakin’ hot water bottle, eating Jell-O.
–And last time I also made reference to the Boston Latin
(English) School, the oldest public offering in the country. Well,
Phil W. was incensed, nay, outraged, that I didn’t mention that
former NBA star / choker Patrick Ewing went there as well.
Somehow, when I was typing the names of the likes of John
Hancock, Sam Adams, and Ben Franklin, the thought never
crossed my mind that Patrick Ewing learned to read at the
school, too; using the term loosely, I might add.
–September 14, Santa Barbara, the wedding of the, err, week.
J. Lo and Ben Affleck (…AFLAC!…). 400 invitations went out
and I’ve been running down to the woman in charge of the mail
for our office building here every hour. I can’t believe I haven’t
received mine yet! This blows.
–Speaking of weddings, singer Janis Ian is getting married to 14-
year partner Patricia Snyder in Toronto, now that such
proceedings are legal in Ontario.
Born Janis Eddy Fink, 4/7/51, Ms. Ian had a troubled childhood
dealing with the middle name ‘Eddy’ so she changed her name.
At age 14 she wrote “Society’s Child,” a story about teenage
interracial love. Atlantic Records paid for the session when the
record was cut but Atlantic and 22 other companies subsequently
turned it down. Finally, Ian signed with Verve Folkways
Records and it released the song, but it got off to a very slow
start as many of the stations found the lyrics too controversial. [I
was 8-9 years old at the time and had no freakin’ idea what it
was about. The music was good, however.]
Then in April ’67, Leonard Bernstein featured the song in a
CBS-TV special, “Inside Pop – The Rock Revolution” after a
New York Times critic had given Bernstein a copy. By July the
tune was #14 on the Billboard Pop Chart. Ian was just 16. But a
year later, disillusioned by the demands of the pop marketplace,
Janis retired to live in Philadelphia.
She returned 3 years later, though, to do live performances and in
September ’75 her single “At Seventeen” (‘I learned the truth at
17 / That love was meant for beauty queens’) hit #3, earning the
Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance. And here’s some big
time trivia. In October ’75, Ian and Billy Preston were the guests
on the first-ever “Saturday Night Live.” You’re reading Bar
Chat.
–Back to Philadelphia, with Hurricane Fabian churning out in
the Atlantic (good luck, Bermuda!), you can’t help but think of
Fabian the singer. Born Fabiano Forte Bonaparte, 2/6/43, in
Philly, Fabian was just a good lookin’ kid sitting on a stoop,
seriously, when Frankie Avalon’s manager spotted him.
Fabian was all of 15 when discovered and the following year,
helped along by the proximity of Dick Clark’s “American
Bandstand,” he had 3 top tens…the #9 “Turn Me Loose,” #3
“Tiger,” and another #9, “Hound Dog Man.” Of course his
recording career was basically over the following year, but do
you think he cared? Hell no. Fabian appeared in countless B-
movies and picked up babes. Not a bad life.
–Hey Toronto, I read in the National Post that the Blue Jays will
have another new logo for next season, mostly gray and black.
As slugger Carlos Delgado proclaimed, “Where is the ‘Blue’?”
Toronto management is touting the fact the new look is
“meaner.” Did the Orioles ever change their logo to make it
meaner? No. Did the Cardinals? No. The Cubs? No. Wahoo
the Indian? No. Mr. Met? Well, actually some of us wonder
about Mr. Met, if you catch my drift.
–Ohio State’s star running back Maurice Clarett won’t be
gracing the football field this year it appears, as serious eligibility
questions remain concerning his academic record. Maybe a
name change would fool the administrators…Maurice Bouquet,
for example.
–Here’s a sad story. The New York Rangers’ great goaltender
Mike Richter has played his last game due to his inability to
recover from two concussions that he suffered in 2002. Your
heart goes out to post-concussion syndrome patients, like former
Jets great Al Toon, because so often they never really fully
recover. Richter, who last played on 11/5/02, appeared in and
won more games than any other Ranger goalie in history and he
was a pivotal figure in the team’s ’94 Stanley Cup triumph. A
good guy, too.
–William Gildea had a front page headline in the Washington
Post on Wednesday concerning the possibility the Chicago Cubs
and Chicago White Sox could actually meet in the World Series.
The White Sox haven’t won a Series title since 1917, while the
Cubs record of futility goes back to 1908. What if this happens?
Said one long-time follower of the sports scene in Chicago, “The
world would end, no question about that. We should all worry
about this.” I am…I really am. Stocking extra water, beer and
Chex Mix won’t cut it, either.
–Hey, just realized we forgot to celebrate another century mark –
the 600th edition of “Bar Chat” back on August 26. My parents
are so proud of me.
–As I write this the Detroit Tigers are 35-102, a winning
percentage of .255. The lowest percentage in the post-1900 era
is .235, 36-117, by the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics who were led
on the mound by 1-16 Tom Sheehan and 1-18 Jack Nabors. [I
wrote of Nabors before…he finished his career 1-25 and died
just one day after his 36th birthday. Geezuz, what an awful story.
Sheehan ended up 17-37, lifetime.]
–I forgot to congratulate Rutgers University for its sterling 24-10
victory over Buffalo on Saturday. Could it be? Could this team
actually win two?
–Did they ever find that 9-foot Komodo Dragon that was
terrorizing Beirut? To my readers in the region, if you smell
something funny under your bed…………..run!!!!
–The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on
Wednesday concerning Lake Chapala in Mexico. It seems this
former tourist hot spot has lost its source of water, a river that is
being diverted for irrigation uses, and not in the most modern
methods to boot. So the bottom line is that many folks purchased
what was then lake front property, say 10-15 years ago, and now
the lake’s edge is a mile away! There’s a lesson here, boys and
girls. Always check your source of water.
–Sports Illustrated’s expert, Dr. Z., has spelled out the NFL
season for you, in case you want to run to Vegas and place some
bets….or go online and lose your life savings, and then some.
NFC – Buccaneers over Eagles
AFC – Chiefs over Steelers
Super Bowl Champion…………….Bucs!!!
Dr. Z’s worst team of 32 is the Arizona Cardinals.
–And your exclusive StocksandNews pick for the whole
shooting match…………………damn, I hate doing this, being a Jets
fan and all, but I’m going with the New York Giants!!!!!
[Of course I just jinxed them.]
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/2/72: #1 “Alone Again
(Naturally)” (Gilbert O’Sullivan…incredibly depressing…I need
a beer) #2 “Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)” (The Hollies
…now we’re talking…my mood has picked up…) #3 “I’m Still
In Love With You” (Al Green)
Washington Redskins Quiz Answers: 1) Passing yards, season:
Jay Schroeder…4,109 (1986). 2) TD passes, season: 31, Sonny
Jurgensen, 1967. 3) TDs, career: Charley Taylor, 90 (1964-77).
4) Art Monk (12/85, 11/90) and Kelvin Bryant (12/86) each had
13 receptions in a game. 5) Dick James (12/61) and Larry
Brown (12/73) are the only two to score 4 TDs in a game.
[Interestingly, James only had 5 TDs the whole season.] 6)
Passing yards, career: Joe Theismann…25,206 (1974-85).
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
