Sept. 27, 1977 – Yankees 2, Indians 1
- Sal Maiorana
- Sep 27, 2017
- 2 min read
NEW YORK – When the Yankees signed Dave Kingman a couple weeks earlier, they did so thinking his booming bat could help them clinch the AL East.
So, how perfect was this? There Kingman was, at the plate with runners at second and third in the bottom of the ninth of a 1-1 game. What happened next wasn’t exactly what the Yankees had in mind, but it worked out just fine as Indians reliever Jim Bibby uncorked a wild pitch which allowed Thurman Munson to chug home with the winning run.
It was a huge moment, especially because the Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the Blue Jays, and the Orioles defeated the Tigers, meaning that the Yankees remained in complete control of the division.
The inning began with Munson singling to left field, then moving up to second on a wild pitch by Bibby, a pitcher who had thrown only nine wild ones all season. Indians manager Jeff Torborg chose to intentionally walk Reggie Jackson once that happened, and that brought up Lou Piniella.
It was revealed after the game that Billy Martin had wanted to Piniella swing away with no out. But Sweet Lou ignored the manager and dropped down a bunt that proved to be critical as Munson and Jackson both moved up a base.
“I didn’t want to pop up or hit a grounder right at somebody,” Piniella said. “Besides, it’s easier to bunt a ball than hit it (tell that to major leaguers today, almost none of whom know how to bunt). It wasn’t a particularly good bunt, but it did the job.”
Now, Torborg had another decision to make. Pitch to Kingman, or walk him to load the bases and hope to get Chris Chambliss to hit into a double play.
“Our charts indicate that against Bibby, Chambliss has never hit a ground ball,” Torborg said. “So, if you walk (Kingman), bing, there’s a fly ball. Besides, a big swinger like (Kingman) gives you a chance for a strikeout, and Bibby’s a good strikeout pitcher.”
And, in the seventh, Bibby had struck out Kingman with runners on first and third, the 10th time he’d struck out in his first 21 at-bats for the Yankees. So Torborg’s reasoning all made perfect sense, until it didn’t matter once Bibby threw it to the backstop.
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