1975 World Series: Off the Pole

The Teams
National League: Cincinnati Reds (108-54) - Seventh World Series (Won in 1919, 1940)
American League: Boston Red Sox (95-65) - Seventh World Series (Won in 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918)

What Happened
Two outs, ninth inning, Game 7. The future Hall of Famer drills a line drive to center that falls just out of reach of the center fielder, bringing home the game- and World Series-winning run. It's a moment that would have been the defining moment of virtually any World Series, one that should have been replayed countless times in baseball annals.

But in the years following the wild 1975 World Series, Joe Morgan's Series-winning hit became an afterthought, the "oh yah, that happened too" moment of the series. Because really, anything that happened after Game 6, after Carlton Fisk waved that ball fair, was going to be overshadowed.

Everybody's seen it, of course. At least, anybody who's a baseball fan has. If you haven't, take a moment:



It's one of the most famous plays in the history of televised baseball: Fisk swinging at the knee-high pitch, watching it fly toward the monster, waving it fair, jumping in the air. One of the most dramatic home runs in baseball history, one that not only provided a defining moment for what was at the time the greatest World Series ever played, but one that changed how baseball was televised forever.

Fisk's home run did a lot to ensure that the 1975 Series would be remembered forever, but those seven games didn't need a moment like that to live on in history. In five of the seven games, the winning run was scored after the sixth inning. It wasn't ever safe to go to bed; if you did, the team that was losing when you went to sleep would have probably come back to win.

The first five games were good, but they were nothing compared to what happened over the final two games in Boston. In Game 6, Rookie of the Year and MVP Fred Lynn etched his name in Red Sox lore with a three-run home in the first inning, a blast that was the greatest home run in Red Sox history until Cincinnati scored three times in the fifth to tie it. The Reds took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth when Bernie Carbo was next to hit the greatest home run in Red Sox history, tying the game with two outs in the eighth. Then Carbo was knocked off Red Sox mountain by Fisk, who waved and leaped his way into Red Sox and baseball history by winning the game in the bottom of the 12th.

As if that wasn't enough, Game 7 was almost as good. The Red Sox again took an early 3-0 lead and again let Cincinnati tie it. This time, instead of Boston coming back with clutch home runs, it was Cincinnati coming through, with Morgan capping off the series with the hit of a lifetime.

There are so many reasons that Joe Morgan's ninth inning single in Game 7 should have been one of the greatest moments in baseball history. His hit gave the Big Red Machine their first championship after a handful of years of coming just close. His hit helped him clinch the title of best all-around player of his generation. His hit won one of the greatest World Series ever played.

But baseball has a cruel way of determining heroes and goats, of determining who gets remembered and who gets forgotten. There's no reason that Morgan should have been forgotten, and maybe forgotten is the wrong word. Overshadowed might be more accurate. Either way, it's hard to find a clip of Morgan's winning hit with original audio, while Fisk's home run is easy to find. In this series, the losers were remembered more than the winners. But most importantly, it's long remembered, and will never be forgotten.

MVP
In spring training in 1975, Cincinnati manager Sparky Anderson famously asked Pete Rose to try out third base, even though Rose had never played the position in his career. Anderson needed to move Rose to make room in the outfield for George Foster, who was starting to blossom into a star. Rose made the switch flawlessly, and the emergence of Foster gave the Reds the deepest lineup in Major League history. It was fitting, then, that Rose was the MVP of the 1975 World Series. He spearheaded the Reds offense throughout the seven games, his .370 average leading his team by far. It was the shining moment of one of baseball's greatest careers.

Scores 
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Cincinnati	0	3	6 (10)	4	6	6	4
Boston	6	2	5	5	2	7 (12)	3

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

2. 1975 - Cincinnati (N) def. Boston (A) 4-3
3. 1924 - Washington (A) def. New York (N) 4-3
4. 2001 - Arizona (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
5. 2011 - St. Louis (N) def. Texas (A) 4-3
6. 1912 - Boston (A) def. New York (N) 4-3 (1 tie)
7. 1992 - Toronto (A) def. Atlanta (N) 4-2
8. 1947 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
9. 1972 - Oakland (A) def. Cincinnati (N) 4-3
Numbers 10-19
Numbers 20-29
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

Game 7s
Simultaneously, I'll rank all the Game 7s. The ones that have appeared in my countdown so far:

2. 2001: Arizona 3, New York (A) 2
3. 1960: Pittsburgh 10, New York (A) 9
4. 1924: Washington 4, New York (N) 3
5. 1997: Florida 3, Cleveland 2
6. 1912: Boston (A) 3, New York (N) 2 (game 8)
7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
8. 1975: Cincinnati 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
10. 1926: St. Louis (N) 3, New York (A) 2
11. 1962: New York (A) 1, San Francisco 0
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
14. 1952: New York (A) 4, Brooklyn 2
15. 1971: Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
17. 1972: Oakland 3, Cincinnati 2
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
20. 1986: New York (N) 8, Boston 5 
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
23. 1973: Oakland 5, New York (N) 2
24. 2002: Anaheim 4, San Francisco 1
25. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
26. 1947: New York (A) 5, Brooklyn 2
27. 2011: St. Louis 6, Texas 2
28. 1965: Los Angeles (A) 2, Minnesota 0
29. 1964: St. Louis 7, New York (A) 5
30. 1957: Milwaukee 5, New York (A) 0
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago (N) 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0
34. 1934: St. Louis (N) 11, Detroit 0 
35. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0
36. 1956: New York (A) 9, Brooklyn 0

October 21, 1975: If it stays fair...

BOSTON - It is the mother of all reaction shots, one of the most famous in baseball history. It is because of this one moment, lasting just a few seconds, that sports telecasts now dedicate at least one camera to follow the player instead of the ball, in the hope that another shot will come around like that one. So in short, one player's gestures changed how sports were televised.

And it all happened by accident.

Because of the limitations brought on by the stadium's design, there was very little room for a left-field camera in Fenway Park. About the only place there is room is inside the Green Monster itself, where a camera man could peek the lens through a hole in the wall to cover some of the action.

That's where NBC cameraman Lou Gerard spent game 6 of the 1975 World Series - stuck in the cramped quarters of the Green Monster and trying not to get distracted by the rats that lived there. So while Gerard's training told him he had to follow the ball no matter what, he had no choice but to keep the camera trained on Carlton Fisk in the bottom of the 12th. As a ball Fisk hit flew deep and toward the Green Monster and started hooking toward the foul pole, Fisk started hopping and waiving his arms, trying to will the ball to stay fair. When it did, careening off the foul pole to force game 7, Fisk leaped in the air, both hands closed in fists as he punched the sky. And Gerard was there to capture it all.

..........

The 1975 World Series was recognized even as it was happening as one of the best of all time. Three of the first five games had been one-run games, with the lead changing hands in the late innings of all three. Cincinnati had won two of those tight ones and entered game 6 with a 3 games to 2 lead in the series. The Reds took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth of game 6 before the Red Sox got two runners on base. Enter Reds closer Rawly Eastwick. Eastwick quickly got two outs, then worked a 2-2 count against Boston's Bernie Carbo. Carbo looked terrible on the first 2-2 pitch, fouling one off with an awkward swing. He has since admitted that he was stoned during this at bat, which could explain the awkwardness, but it doesn't explain the 420-foot home run he hit to straightaway center on the next pitch.

Given new life in the eighth, the Red Sox had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. With Denny Doyle on third, Fisk hit a shallow flyball to center field. Third base coach Don Zimmer was yelling "No, No, No," indicating that Doyle shouldn't try to score, but Doyle heard "Go, Go, Go," so he went, easily getting thrown out at the plate.

The next good chance to score came for the Reds in the top of the 11th. With Ken Griffey Sr. on first, Joe Morgan hit a line drive that seemed destined to land in the first row of the right field seats, but Boston right fielder Dwight Evans made a running catch right at the foul pole, then fired to first to double off Griffey.

The Reds got two more runners on base in the 12th but couldn't score. Leading off the 12th was Fisk. After taking a ball, Fisk swung. And he watched it fly, and he hopped, and he waved. And he entered into history.

.........

Fisk's home run has come to define the series, providing the most exciting moment of one of the most exciting championships ever played. It instantly became the most famous home run in Red Sox history, tying the series and giving Boston one chance to win the World Series at home. After a classic series, game 7, scheduled for the next night, was expected to be just as exciting. It certainly lived up to the expectations.