Oct. 6, 1977 – ALCS Game 2: Yankees 6, Royals 2
- Sal Maiorana
- Oct 6, 2017
- 4 min read
NEW YORK – Ron Guidry shut down the Royals with a superb complete-game three-hitter, basically saving the Yankees season and sending the American League Championship Series back to Kansas City tied at a game apiece.
But Guidry was merely a sidebar to the primary drama of the evening at raucous Yankee Stadium, an incident in the top of the sixth inning that blew the roof off what was now the most contentious rivalry in baseball, even surpassing Yankees-Red Sox for vitriol.
Hal McRae, one of the toughest customers in the game, the true definition of a hard-nosed ballplayer, took it way too far with an egregiously dirty body block takeout of Willie Randolph to break up a double play at second base. It was a play that crossed the line between hustling aggression and malice.
If you really want to see how different the game was in 1977 compared to today, all you have to do is check out the video below.
McRae, who should have been called for interference which would have meant the tying run that scored on the play would not have counted, saw nothing wrong with the play and, apparently, neither did second base umpire Marty Springstead.
“It’s not my prerogative to tell a player how to slide,” Springstead said. “If he’s out of the base line that’s interference. But he wasn’t out of the base line, he threw a body block.”
He sure did, and McRae was patting himself on the back after the game.
“Maybe I’m playing in the wrong era,” McRae said. “But that’s the way I play ball and I have for eight years. Maybe high-priced ballplayers are afraid to get hurt these days. Sure, it was a clean shot. I intended to knock him down and hoped the runner would score from second base. I’m going into the base and I’ve got three feet on either side of the bag. It’s legal to get him.”
Ron Guidry was brilliant in defeating the Royals to even the ALCS at 1-1.
Kansas City had opened the scoring in the third inning on Fred Patek’s sacrifice fly, but Cliff Johnson tied it with a solo homer off Andy Hassler in the fifth. Later in the inning, Randolph singled, took second on a balk, and scored on Bucky Dent’s single to give New York a 2-1 lead.
And so began one of the most electrifying innings of the 1977 season. Patek doubled with one out and McRae walked. George Brett then hit a grounder to third where Graig Nettles fielded the ball, but bobbled it ever so slightly as he was transferring to throw. That millisecond forced his feed to Randolph to be late, and that gave McRae the chance for the wipeout. With Randolph sprawled on the ground and the ball not in his possession, Patek scampered home with the tying run.
Billy Martin raced onto the field to protest the non-call to no avail as 56,320 mean-spirited patrons rained boos down on the field.
“That was no slide, it was a clip,” Martin said, using an illegal blocking term from football. “I didn’t play as a gentleman all the time, but I didn’t think it was very professional. I told Randolph later, the next time he comes down there, if he’s out by five feet even, don’t tag him, hit him right in the mouth with the ball.”
Randolph, who escaped injury, was obviously pissed. “I’m young, he could have hurt me. I’ve got my career, I’ve got a family. But he comes in high. Look, everybody slides into everybody, and I like to slide hard, too. But he made a high rolling block and it just wasn’t called for. That’s not baseball. Then he grabbed me, which is also illegal. He got me that way early last season, too, and I came down on my wrist and sprained it. Next time, if he’s coming into the bag, if he’s not down and if I’m throwing for a double play, he’ll get hit with the ball.”
Willie Randolph, Cliff Johnson, Bucky Dent and Chris Chambliss congratulate Ron Guidry after his complete-game gem.
What mattered most for the Yankees is what happened after the play. Guidry got out of the jam without allowing another run, and in the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees responded like champions, scoring three times to seize control of the game as the sellout crowd went berserk.
With two outs and Thurman Munson at first after a single, Whitey Herzog lifted Andy Hassler in favor of Mark Littell and that proved disastrous. Lou Piniella singled Munson to third from where he scored on Johnson’s double. After an intentional walk to Chris Chambliss, Randolph, appropriately enough, hit a sizzler between Brett’s legs at third, and the error allowed Piniella and Johnson to score to make it 5-2.
From there, Guidry locked it down by retiring nine of the last 10 Royals, Brett’s single in the ninth the only blemish.
“Now each team is faced with this arithmetic, that you’ve got to win two out of three,” said Reggie Jackson, who didn’t endear himself to his teammates when he remarked that while McRae’s slide was hard, he was giving him the benefit of the doubt. “They will be in their home ballpark and they’re a psychological ballclub, an emotional ballclub. They’re young guys, they’re excitable, they’re up. When they get rolling, they’re tough.”
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