Sept. 5, 1977 – Indians 4-5, Yankees 3-4
- Sal Maiorana
- Sep 5, 2017
- 2 min read
CLEVELAND – Baseball. Sometimes it’s just impossible to figure out, and this night was a prime example.
Over the previous four weeks the Yankees had gone 24-3 to open a commanding 4.5-game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East. They flew into Cleveland to start a five-game series against the dreadful Indians having beaten them in 13 consecutive games stretching back to July 1, 1976.
So what happened? The Indians swept a doubleheader, and up in Toronto, the Red Sox swept a pair from the Blue Jays, both by shutout, and just like that, two games were shaved off the not-so-commanding Yankee lead and the AL East was right back in play.
The announced crowd for the twin-bill was 28,184 at cavernous and rickety Cleveland Stadium, and it seemed like about half were rooting for the Yankees.
“When I ran down to the bullpen in the fifth inning (of the opener), I noticed that about 50 percent of the people in the stands between third and home had Yankee helmets on. It was nice to stick it to all those Cleveland Yankee fans and remind them that we have a team in town, too.”
The Cleveland fans who were rooting for the Indians were waving pieces of cloth that read “I Hate The Yankees Hankee.” Noticing this, Billy Martin couldn’t help himself. “Maybe the damn things worked,” he said. “Don’t people know handkerchiefs are unsanitary, waving all those germs around.”
Soon-to-be legendary Cleveland radio personality Pete Franklin had conceived the hate hankies and at one point in the first game, he took over the PA system and implored the fans to give Martin and Catfish Hunter a Yankee Hankee welcome.
The Indians snapped a 2-2 tie in the first game when Andre Thornton hit a RBI triple off Hunter, and then scored when Bruce Bochte greeted Sparky Lyle with a RBI single in the seventh. Reggie Jackson’s homer cut the deficit to 4-3 in the eighth, but Kern slammed the door shut after that to end the Indians long losing streak to the Yankees.
In the nightcap, the Indians achieved a winning streak with a dramatic comeback. They broke up a scoreless pitchers’ duel between Mike Torrez and Rick Waits by scoring three times in the seventh, Bochte delivering the big blow with a two-run double. However, New York answered with four in the top of the eighth on the strength of just two hits, two walks, an error, and a wild pitch, all off Kern.
But, in the bottom of the eighth with Torrez still on the mound, John Lowenstein tied it with a solo homer and Thornton won it with a two-out RBI double.
What? Really? That happened? It did.
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