Oct. 1, 1977 – Tigers 10, Yankees 7
- Sal Maiorana
- Oct 1, 2017
- 3 min read
NEW YORK – A little more than three months earlier, Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson stood face-to-face trying to beat the hell out of each other in the visiting dugout at Fenway Park.
That was a bad day for the Yankees, one of the worst in franchise history at least in terms of embarrassing the logo, and it was awfully tough to envision that at the end of a long, arduous summer, Martin and Jackson would be hugging each other in celebration of the Yankees winning the AL East title.
But there they were, in the joyous clubhouse at Yankee Stadium, burying the hatchet, and not between one or the other’s skull.
“Take this picture,” Jackson bellowed to photographers as he and Martin reveled in the aftermath of a loss to the Tigers that did not matter because earlier in the night, Boston’s loss to Baltimore officially clinched the crown for New York.
Nobody was concerned that the Yankees, in a way, backed into the title during what was now a three-game losing streak, their longest since the first week of August. They earned this division title by persevering through a rocky start to the season, some terribly inconsistent play that lasted into the All-Star break, and all the drama that pervaded their clubhouse, almost on a daily basis.
“What’s our record since the All-Star break, 49-20?” Martin asked. “Give me four back-in teams like that. It’s real sweet. Winning the second time is not easy. Everybody is gunning for you. It’s like when we used to win every year (when he was playing), everybody was always after us. Every year is going to be tougher when you repeat. Cincinnati found that out.”
Yes, the two-time defending World Series champions, who embarrassed the Yankees with a four-game sweep the previous October, did not make the postseason, losing out to the Dodgers in the NL West. It was tough to repeat, but this Yankees team did it, and did it in the toughest division in baseball.
The game was held up for nearly three hours by rain, which is why the Boston game ended well before New York’s. At Fenway, the Orioles banged four home runs to take control, but there were some tense moments in the bottom of the ninth. Boston’s Bernie Carbo pinch-hit a two-run homer to cut Baltimore’s lead to 8-7, and after Ted Cox’s two-out single, Jim Rice came up against Nelson Briles as the potential winning run. Rice launched a ball into center field, but it wasn’t deep enough to win the game and Elliott Maddox made the catch to stick a fork in the Red Sox.
Going into the AL Championship Series against the Royals - a team certainly looking for some revenge after what happened in 1976 - Martin had some issues to work through with his pitching staff.
One night after Ed Figueroa had to leave his start after three innings with a muscle strain, Mike Torrez, still battling a sore shoulder, was bombed for five runs inside the first three innings before the rain came. Catfish Hunter was still out, and Sparky Lyle was admittedly starting to wear down.
The worrying could wait, though. This was a night to be happy and carefree, and Martin was even able to poke fun at his brushes with unemployment during the year. “If I get fired four or five times and we still win the pennant, that’s all right with me,” Martin joked. “But if you fire me, I’ll haunt you and I’ll beat you.”
At one point, Martin yelled at Jackson over the din of the celebration, his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, “I’m quite proud of you; you showed me nothing. I’ll drink to that.”
Jackson’s retort? “Save me a slug.”
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