Oct. 2, 1977 – Yankees 8, Tigers 7
- Sal Maiorana
- Oct 2, 2017
- 2 min read
NEW YORK – The only thing left to play for was winning a 100th game for the 13th time in franchise history – and first since 1963 - and the Yankees did it in dramatic fashion, rallying for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to subdue the Tigers.
On the morning of Aug. 7, the Yankees were 59-49 and trailing the Red Sox by five games in the AL East. This final victory enabled them to close out the season on a 41-13 run, and 2.5 games clear of the Red Sox and Orioles who had their season finale rained out at Fenway.
Elrod Hendricks, in his 11th plate appearance of the year, ripped a two-run double to tie the score, and then Dell Alston drove in the winning run with a well-placed bunt between the mound and first base that allowed Chris Chambliss to score.
If you recall, earlier in the year, Billy Martin was pleading with general manager Gabe Paul to recall Hendricks from Syracuse before a game against Toronto because he needed a third catcher in order to give Thurman Munson proper rest. Paul had said, “If we have to depend on a player hitting .105 at Syracuse to enable us to beat an expansion team with the kind of talent that we have provided, we are indeed in bad trouble.”
Hendricks admitted that as he was rounding the bases the day before when he’d hit a two-run homer, “I was thinking about that all the way around the bases.”
Martin said after the game the rotation for the first three games of the ALCS against Kansas City would be Don Gullett, Ron Guidry, Mike Torrez and Ed Figueroa, assuming Figgy’s shoulder was OK. If a fifth game was necessary, it was looking like Dick Tidrow.
“We’ve completed only a third of the season,” said Reggie Jackson. “We’ve earned this, but we still have a long way to go. We’ve got to win the playoffs and get into the World Series. We will not get beat four straight this time, I’ll you that.”
Once again, Reggie being Reggie. Not only did he provide some bulletin board fodder for the Royals, he was essentially saying that if he had been with the Yankees in 1976, they wouldn’t have lost in four games to the Big Red Machine.
Comments