May 30, 1977 – Yankees 5, Red Sox 4
- Sal Maiorana
- May 30, 2017
- 3 min read
BOSTON – Butch Hobson probably made the right choice when he decided to pursue baseball as a career over football. While he played for legendary coach Bear Bryant at Alabama, Hobson really didn’t have the size to play football at the next level and chances are he wouldn’t have made much of an impact in the NFL.
As a baseball player, Hobson reached the pinnacle of the sport by making it to the major leagues, and during the three-year period between 1977 and 1979 with the Red Sox, the rugged third baseman was a feared hitter who slugged 75 home runs and drove in 285 runs combined.
But just because he chose baseball didn’t mean that Hobson ever got over the enjoyment of playing football. Hobson was a tough guy, and when he had the chance to bowl over a catcher, he took it, such as in the bottom of the ninth inning in this game at Fenway Park.
With the Yankees clinging to a 5-4 lead and Billy Martin leaving Mike Torrez on the mound even though his ace closer, Sparky Lyle, was out in the bullpen fully rested, Hobson drew a one-out walk and promptly stole second base when Bucky Dent dropped a perfect throw by Thurman Munson. Denny Doyle then lined a single into left-center and Red Sox third-base coach Eddie Yost – knowing Mickey Rivers had a weak arm – waved Hobson home.
Rivers, however, threw a one-hop strike to Munson at the plate and Hobson could see he was dead meat, so the only option was to run over Munson and in the hope that he could jar the ball loose. No such luck. Munson crouched low and basically body-blocked Hobson when they met, sending Hobson flying over his back. Hobson landed past the plate and Munson, who had missed the tag, scrambled back to slap Hobson and record the out that protected the Yankee lead. Doyle took second during all that, but remained there when Rick Burlseon grounded out to Dent to end the thrilling game.
“More money,” Rivers said when asked why his throwing had been better in 1977, this being his fourth assist of the season, second in this particular game. “You throw better when you make more money. You do a lot of things better.” What a piece of work Rivers was.
As for the collision, it was just the latest in a series of physical altercations between these two heated rivals in the 1970s, though this one was a clean collision and was not followed by a bench-clearing brawl. “As early as I got the ball, I could’ve stood up and got him, but I figured it was safer to let him hit me,” said Munson. “I just tucked the ball underneath and let him crunch me.”
Torrez outdueled Bill Lee, the Yankees most vocal critic, with both men pitching complete games. Unlike a week earlier when Lee stymied the Yankees in New York, they stroked 10 hits off the left-hander including back-to-back solo homers by Reggie Jackson and Graig Nettles, an RBI single by Jackson and an RBI double by Jimmy Wynn in the fourth.
As exciting a play as the Hobson-Munson collision, what really impressed famed New York Daily News columnist Dick Young the most about Hobson was a foul ball he hit earlier in the game. It flew right into the ABC Monday Night Baseball booth and plunked Howard Cosell.
Young, who hated Cosell, wrote of that incident, “Butch Hobson fouled a ball that sailed into the press box and struck Howard Cosell in what passes for his chest. The crowd of 30,000 cheered, causing Dave Klein (a fellow writer) to notice that if the ball had been six inches or so higher, striking the larynx, America might never have heard Cosell’s voice again. So, to Butch Hobson goes the BBWAA award as the Man Who Almost Did The Most for Baseball in 1977.”
By the way, because this was a national broadcast, the start time was 8:40 p.m. The game was still over by 11. What a wonderful baseball world it was when games didn’t take three-plus hours every single night.
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