My Yankee Memory – June 24, 1977

I was very fortunate growing up in Yonkers, about a 15 minute drive down to Yankee Stadium. When I was old enough to go just with the guys, it was an easy bus-to-subway ride. It was even better because my Dad’s best friend (and, consequently, my best friend’s Dad) controlled his companies’ eight box seats.   It was at one of these games that I had my fondest Yankees memory.

On Friday night, June 24, 1977, I was 15 years old and looking forward to baseball camp that summer. The Yankees were six days removed from the embarrassing episode that erupted in a Fenway Park dugout as Yankee manager Billy Martin, replaced RF Reggie Jackson mid-inning for, what the manager perceived as not hustling. As the drama unfolded on national television during the NBC Game of the Week, the Yanks continued to drop further down in the standings, making the pennant won in 1976 look like an anomaly.   The Yanks needed to turn the season around soon.

That Friday night the Red Sox came to New York. We tucked into our seats on a beautiful early summer night – first row in Section 22 – right on the left field tarp. We used to love those seats as kids. Players would always come over to sign autographs and you could always catch conversations – sometimes between players, and sometimes with girls trying to set up “dates” for later that night.

The crowd was electric and the fans were rowdy from the start. Despite my vast experience going to games, I knew this was not just another game when my Dad and his friend leaped to their feet exhorting Catfish Hunter as he walked in from the bullpen after warming up. You could barely hear PA announcer Bob Sheppard provide the lineups. The “new” Stadium (only one year old after the early 1970s renovations), was shaking as the Yanks grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first off of Red Sox starter Bill Lee.

However, that night we got the best and worst of Catfish. In the second inning, Sox LF (and Hall of Famer) Carl Yastrzemski hit a solo homer and 3B Butch Hobson hit a 2-run shot to put the Sox up 3-1. The Yanks came back to tie it in the bottom of the second, knocking Lee from the game. But Big George Scott, the Sox first basemen hit another 2-run shot to give the Sox the 5-3 lead which is where is stood in the going into the bottom of the ninth. Catfish, heading toward the end of his career (and arm issues that plagued him all season) pitched into the ninth inning, only giving up five hits – three of them homers.

Sparky Lyle (who ended up winning the Cy Young Award that year) came in for Catfish and got the last out in the ninth. But the night seemed lost as the first two batters went down easily to Sox reliever (and eventual ESPN baseball analyst) Bill Campbell.   Willie Randolph, Yankee all-star second baseman was the last chance. From my vantage point down the left field line, I saw Yastrzemski cheat in a few steps.   When Randolph hit a rocket toward the wall in left, Yaz’ reaction was priceless – he just turned and started running. Randolph ended up on third and the Stadium was buzzing as LF Roy White stepped to the plate.

White was one of the longest tenured Yankees, having suffered through the terrible Yankee teams of the late-60s and early-70s. As a switch hitter, he was a valuable part of the outfield rotation that included Jackson, Lou Piniella, Mickey Rivers and Paul Blair. White was also a favorite with the kids, who loved to imitate his lefty stance – pigeon-toed and bat down by his hip.   This was Roy White’s seminal Yankee moment.

With Randolph on third and two out, the Yanks down by two, White’s job was to get the run in, or at least, get on so the meat of the order behind him could do some damage.   White took fate into his own hands, as he turned on a Campbell pitch and lined a home run into the lower deck in right field to tie the game.   Red Sox heads hung in disbelief.   In retrospect, it was a miracle the Stadium stayed in one piece.   Over 55,000 people jumped and screamed as one.

The game continued on to the 11^th as the rubber-armed Lyle held the Sox scoreless and when Jackson lined a run scoring single to right to win the game, 6-5, you got the feeling everything was going to be alright. The turning point had come.

The Yanks turned the season around, winning the division by 2.5 games over the Sox and Baltimore Orioles, winning 100 games in doing so.   After beating the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS, they beat the Dodgers in six games to win the World Series for the first time in 15 years, signaling the beginning of a new dynasty in Yankee history.

The game on June 24, 1977 was also the beginning of another Yankee Stadium tradition – the “Boston Sucks” chant. You heard it cascade out of the right field bleachers (where all good chants start), and circle around the upper deck, into the lower deck.   The man sitting behind me had a transistor radio (you youngsters can look that up) and when Yankee play-by-play man (and living legend) Phil Rizzuto realized what the fans were yelling he delivered one of his classic lines, “Ooohh, can they do that?”

From Section 22, the answer came loud and clear – yes we can.