1975 World Series

vs. 1975 World Series (4-3) Cincinnati Reds (108-54, NL) over Boston Red Sox (95-65, AL) BR 1975 World Series Summary

Introduction

The 1975 World Series was between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds. It was ranked as the second greatest World Series by ESPN. Cincinnati won the series, 4 games to 3.

The Cincinnati Reds won the National League West division by 20 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers then defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, three games to none, in the National League Championship Series. The Boston Red Sox won the American League East division by 4 ½ games over the Baltimore Orioles then defeated the Oakland Athletics, three games to none, in the American League Championship Series.

The Reds won the series in seven games on a 9th-inning single by Joe Morgan. The sixth game of the Series was a 12-inning classic at Boston's Fenway Park. While there are many memorable moments from that game (among them Red Sox pinch hitter Bernie Carbo hitting a game-tying home run in the 8th; Reds reliever Will McEnaney pitching out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the bottom of the 9th; and Boston's Dwight Evans making a spectacular 11th-inning catch to rob Joe Morgan of a go-ahead home run), it is remembered in Boston for the walk-off home run hit in the bottom of the 12th by Carlton Fisk. Fisk's home run gave the Sox a 7-6 win to send the series to a deciding seventh game, which the "Big Red Machine" won to clinch the first of back-to-back World Series championships.

The series also included Red Sox starter Luis Tiant's extended mediations while communing with someone in center field during his windups while pitching, a controversial play involving Fisk and the Reds' Ed Armbrister in Game 3, Tony Pérez' home run off a Bill Lee blooper pitch in Game 7, and many other memorable events.

Umpires

• Art Frantz (AL), Nick Colosi (NL), Larry Barnett (AL), Dick Stello (NL), George Maloney (AL), Satch Davidson (NL)

Summary

NL Cincinnati Reds (4) vs. AL Boston Red Sox (3)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance	Time of Game
1	Reds – 0, Red Sox – 6	October 11	Fenway Park	35,205	2:27
2	Reds – 3, Red Sox – 2	October 12	Fenway Park	35,205	2:38
3	Red Sox – 5, Reds – 6 (10 inns)	October 14	Riverfront Stadium	55,392	3:03
4	Red Sox – 5, Reds – 4	October 15	Riverfront Stadium	55,667	2:52
5	Red Sox – 2, Reds – 6	October 16	Riverfront Stadium	56,393	2:23
6	Reds – 6, Red Sox – 7 (12 inns)	October 21	Fenway Park	35,205	4:01
7	Reds – 4, Red Sox – 3	October 22	Fenway Park	35,205	2:52

Composite Box

1975 World Series (4-3): Cincinnati Reds (N.L.) over Boston Red Sox (A.L.)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Cincinnati Reds	2	0	0	6	7	5	3	2	3	1	0	0	29	59	2
Boston Red Sox	5	1	3	5	0	2	7	3	3	0	0	1	30	60	6
Total Attendance: 308,272   Average Attendance: 44,039
Winning Player’s Share: – $19,060,   Losing Player’s Share – $13,326 * Includes Playoffs and World Series

Quotes of the Series

And Cincinnati has won the World Championship, beating the Red Sox 4 to 3. - Curt Gowdy, on NBC Television after the final out.

Carbo hits it into dead center into the bleacheeeeers, WE'RE TIED UP!! - Joe Garagiola, calling Bernie Carbo's dramatic game-tying three-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning of Game 6.

This is some kind of game, isn't it? - According to Carlton Fisk, Pete Rose turned and said this to him when Rose came to bat in the 10th inning of Game 6.

The 1-0 delivery to Fisk. He swings... long drive, left field... if it stays fair, it's gone... HOME RUN! The Red Sox win! And the series is tied, three games apiece! - Ned Martin on NBC Radio, calling Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning, game-winning home run off Pat Darcy in Game 6. There it goes! A long drive, if it stays fair...HOME RUN! - Dick Stockton's call of Fisk's home run on NBC Television.

Tied - Bill "Spaceman" Lee when asked after game 2 to describe the series thus far.

Trivia

• The image of Carlton Fisk waving his Game 6, 12th inning home run fair was caught on tape because the cameraman stationed inside Fenway Park's Green Monster noticed an enormous rat coming toward him and did not move his camera after the hit.
• Game 7 was watched by an estimated 75 million TV viewers.
• These were the final major-league games to be played before arbitrator Peter Seitz's decision two months afterward, which nullified baseball's reserve clause and ushered in the free agent era.

Further Reading

• Mark Armour, ed.: The Great Eight: The 1975 Cincinnati Reds, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2014. ISBN 978-0-8032-4586-0
• John Kuenster: Heartbreakers: Baseball's Most Agonizing Defeats, Ivan R. Dee Publishers, Chicago, IL, 2001. ISBN 978-1566634120
• Bill Nowlin and Jim Prime: From the Babe to the Beards: The Boston Red Sox in the World Series, Sports Publishing LLC, New York, NY, 2014. ISBN 978-1-6132-1727-6
• Joe Posnanski: The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, HarperCollins, New York, NY, 2009. ISBN 978-0061582561
• Matthew Silverman: "The 1975 World Series", in Bill Nowlin and Cecilia Tan, ed.: '75:The Red Sox Team that Saved Baseball, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2015, pp. 293-308. ISBN 978-1-933599-97-7

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NL Championship Series (3-0) Reds over Pirates

World Series (4-3) Reds over Red Sox

AL Championship Series (3-0) Red Sox over Athletics