Sept. 10, 1977 – Blue Jays 19, Yankees 3
- Sal Maiorana
- Sep 10, 2017
- 2 min read
NEW YORK – That score you see above, that’s not a misprint.
The expansion Toronto Blue Jays, a team sadly devoid of top-end talent, one that was essentially a Triple-A level club, put up 19 runs against the hottest team in Major League Baseball.
This had not happened to the Yankees since the Detroit Tigers scored 19 in a 1925 game, Lou Gehrig’s rookie season. The 19 runs were obviously a Blue Jays record, and were also the most scored by any major-league team to date in 1977. If anyone thought the Indians sweeping a doubleheader from the Yankees earlier in the week was unusual, this result doubled the intrigue.
“Just one of those games,” said Billy Martin, though the loss cost the Yankees in the standings because Boston beat Detroit again and pulled within two of New York with 20 games remaining. “Whether you lose by one run or 16, what’s the difference?”
He had a point, but this was a bit ludicrous given the opponent. Roy Howell, who had been a somewhat middling player in two seasons for Texas before his trade to Toronto on May 15, had the game of his life, and what would have been the game of many players’ lives. He went 5-for-6 – a single, two doubles and two home runs for 13 total bases – while scoring four times and driving in nine.
“I like this park,” said Howell, who made his major-league debut for Martin’s Texas team in 1974 and played for Martin until Billy was fired midway through 1975. “It’s good to be on the other side of the fence for a change. Nine ribbies, wow, that’s a month.”
The nine RBI were exactly one-third of what Howell’s season total was at the start of the day. “We’ve been in need of this, kind of a morale booster, knocking off one of the big guys,” said Howell, referring to the fact that before this stunning day, the Blue Jays had lost 13 of their last 14.
When he was asked how much this embarrassing loss would hurt the Yankees’ push toward the division title, Martin shrugged it off. “I don’t believe in things like that. That’s comic-book stuff, nothing to do with professional baseball teams.”
Catfish Hunter started for the Yankees and was gone inside four innings after getting tagged for six runs on seven hits and a walk including home runs by Howell and 39-year-old DH Ron Fairly. Ken Clay was bombed for five runs in 1.2 innings, Stan Thomas gave up three, Larry McCall two, and Ken Holtzman three. However, it wasn’t all bad pitching. There were four Yankee errors that resulted in eight of the 19 runs being unearned.
All in all, the worst game the Yankees played all year.
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