July 4, 1977 – Yankees 7, Indians 5

NEW YORK – It was a happy 47th birthday for George Steinbrenner, and we’ll assume a happy 201st birthday for the country as the Yankees swatted four home runs at Yankee Stadium, where only 15,920 showed up for the holiday night game.

That number more than any other stood out to me as I looked at this game. It was certainly a different era for baseball, a time many of us in the baby-boomer generation recognize as the good old days for the game. But it certainly wasn’t a good time for in-stadium attendance because on most days and nights, even in New York, there were more empty seats than occupied ones.

There is no place in baseball today, not even apathetic Miami, where you’d see a crowd of only 15,000 for a holiday ballgame. But on July 4, 1977, a sampling of the announced crowds shows there were only 21,000 at Fenway Park in Boston, 13,000 in Milwaukee, 22,000 in Pittsburgh (for a doubleheader), 11,000 in Seattle, and 14,000 in San Francisco.

In 1977, the Yankees led the American League in attendance at 2.1 million. That’s it, 2.1 million, less than 26,000 per game for a team playing in the nation’s biggest market that ultimately won the World Series, in a newly-remodeled ballpark. And that was the Yankees’ highest total since drawing close to 2.3 million in 1949.

Think about that. Almost the entire 10-pennant, seven-World Series championship tenure of Casey Stengel, a time when Mickey Mantle was larger than life, the Yankees did not reach 2 million in attendance. In 2016, only seven teams failed to reach 2 million, five of those finished in last place in their division, and only one – the AL champion Indians – had a winning record.

Times sure have have changed. Since 1999, the Yankees have not drawn less than 3 million, and in the last four years old Yankee Stadium stood, the team topped 4 million each year.

In the ballgame, Ed Figueroa, who hadn’t pitched since June 19 due to a back problem, earned his first victory in a month, and he did exactly what Billy Martin needed him to do – eat innings. He pitched into the eighth before fading, and then Ken Clay hung on for dear life to get the final five outs.

“I had to get eight innings out of Figueroa tonight,” Martin said. “Holtzman couldn’t throw (elbow), Tidrow was a little tired, Sparky, I could have used him for one hitter. If tonight was one of those nights where the starter got hit early I’d have had to suffer. I had to go with Clay, I had no one else. Thank goodness Figueroa’s back isn’t hurting.”

Martin was certainly suffering in the ninth. Cleveland loaded the bases with none out and Paul Dade’s two-run single made it 7-5. However, Clay did some great work as he got Rico Carty to fly to right, and then induced Buddy Bell to hit into a game-ending double play.

The Yankees had some breathing room because Chris Chambliss, Roy White, and Graig Nettles all hit solo homers in the second inning off Wayne Garland, and Lou Piniella hit a solo bomb off Sid Monge in the eighth.

After the game, the Yankees designated 35-year-old veteran Jimmy Wynn for assignment, essentially ending his brief tenure with New York during which he hit just .143 and hit one home run in 92 plate appearances. The Yankees called up Dell Alston from Triple-A Syracuse to take his spot on the roster.

“I’ve been a professional for 16 years and I’m not going to the minors,” Wynn said. “I told him (GM Gabe Paul) that I haven’t had a chance. If I got a chance, would produce.” Wynn was signed by the Brewers and he ended up playing his final 36 major-league games in Milwaukee where he hit .197 with no home runs. The man nicknamed Toy Cannon retired prior to the 1978 season with 291 career home runs.

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