1975 World Series

Sparky Anderson's "Big Red Machine" had once again dominated the National League, leaving no doubt that their thirty-five year drought was nearing an end. After steamrolling over the ational League West with a twenty game lead, the Reds swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Championship Series and won a ticket to their seventh Fall Classic. The Boston Red Sox had shocked the American League after ending the defending champion Oakland's A's three year reign with a sweep of their own.

Game 1 featured a brilliant debut by Luis Tiant, who had led the Sox rotation during the regular season. The right-handed ace opened the tournament with a 6-0 victory and Boston looked to repeat the effort early on in Game 2. As Cincinnati entered the ninth, they were down 2-1 and running out of chances. However, as the old saying goes "it ain't over till it's over" and Dave Concepcion proved it with a two out, game-tying single in the ninth. After stealing second, Concepcion scored on a 3-2 game-winning double by Ken Griffey which squared the Series at a game apiece.

The Reds mounted a 5-1 lead in the third Game thanks to home runs from Johnny Bench, Concepcion and Cesar Geronimo, but the Sox were able to tie it up with Fred Lynn's sacrifice fly in the sixth, Bernie Carbo's pinch homer in the seventh and Dwight Evans' two run bomb in the ninth. Geronimo continued the rally with a single in the bottom of the tenth and then it happened. Once again, controversy erupted at the plate involving umpire Ken Burkhart, who was responsible for the 1970 debacle involving a "bad tag" call on the Reds' Bernie Carbo. This time however, the ruling would go in Cincinnati's favor, after pinch-hitter Ed Armbrister attempted to sacrifice in the tenth. The bouncing ball landed a few feet from home and as Boston catcher Carlton Fisk sprinted forward to retrieve it, he nearly collided with the batter who was blocking his way. Fisk managed to get to the ball, but made a wild throw past second moving Geronimo to third and allowing Armbrister to reach second. Despite their arguments for an interference call from umpire Larry Barnett, the play stood and the Reds went on to win 6-5 on a Joe Morgan drive into deep center field. Tiant returned for his second start in Game 4 and evened it up with a 5-4 performance, but Cincinnati regained the advantage after Tony Perez (who was hitless in fifteen at-bats so far) nailed Reggie Cleveland for a bases-empty homer as well as another three run shot. Don Gullett and Rawly Eastwick finished the job for a combined, 6-2 outing on the mound.

As the Series shifted back to Boston, it ran into a drenching New England rain that postponed the contest for an excruciating seventy-two hours. Despite the setback, Game 6 proved worth waiting for and has been heralded as one of the greatest games ever. Boston charged to an early 3-0 lead in the first when Lynn sent one into the right field seats at Fenway scoring Carl Yastrzemski and Fisk. The blast came as no surprise to Red Sox fans as the rookie had knocked twenty-one during the regular season while batting .331 with one-hundred five runs batted in. Tiant held the Reds for a tense four innings, but Griffey's two run triple and Bench's run-scoring single evened it up in the fifth. George Foster followed suite adding a two run double of his own in the seventh and Geronimo finished the rally with a lead-off blast over the wall in the eighth. Now up 6-3, "The Big Red Machine" shifted into high-gear and was six outs away from a World Series title. Pedro Borbon, Cincinnati's fifth pitcher started his third inning by surrendering a single to Lynn and a walk to Rico Petrocelli in the bottom of the eighth. Anticipating a disaster, Anderson called for Eastwick as Dwight Evans stepped up to the plate for the potential tying-run. The Reds' reliever came up big striking out Evans and getting Rick Burleson on a liner to shallow left, but Bernie Carbo stepped in for reliever Roger Moret and became only the second man in World Series history to hit two pinch-homers. After Dick Drago sat down Cinci's line-up 1-2-3 to start the ninth, Boston went to work extending the Series.

First, Denny Doyle forced an opening walk. Then Yastrzemski singled him to third as Will McEnaney came in to replace Eastwick. After intentionally walking Fisk to load the bases, Lynn fouled out and Doyle was caught at the plate trying to score. Finally Rico Petrocelli grounded out and the opportunity was gone. With one out in the eleventh, Griffey was on with Joe Morgan at the plate. The All-Star infielder nailed a long drive toward the right-field seats, but Evans made a spectacular, one-handed catch and caught the Reds' base runner off of first. As the Sox took their turn, Pat Darcy (a record tying eighth pitcher) retired his side for the second consecutive inning. Rick Wise (a nineteen game winner) entered the twelfth as both bullpens continued to empty. Boston's top winner found himself in a two on situation with one out, but managed to get Concepcion on a fly ball and Geronimo on a strikeout. Both teams were starting to show fatigue as Fisk and Darcy squared off in the bottom of the inning for another one of baseball's most photographic moments. After launching a rocket toward left-field, Fisk started to run toward first, but stuttered as the ball appeared to be heading foul. The Boston catcher jumped up-and-down waving his arms fair as if to "will" the ball. As it came down it glanced fair off of the foul pole for the 7-6 game-winner.

Game 7 appeared to have left off right where Game 6 had as Boston seized a 3-0 lead in the third inning. However the Reds were determined as well and nabbed a two run homer in the sixth off of lefthander Bill Lee. Pete Rose tied the game three all off a Tony Perez single and the deadlock would last until the ninth. Griffey led off with a walk and managed to reach third on a sacrifice and a groundout. Jim Burton intentionally walked Rose, but Morgan knocked a clutch single up the middle for the 4-3 lead. Will McEnaney made the lead stand up with a 1-2-3, ninth and the Reds emerged as World Champions (with-or-without) a little help from "The Babe".