1977 World Series

After an embarrassing sweep by baseball's newest dynasty, the Cincinnati Reds, the American League champion New York Yankees returned to the Fall Classic determined to make amends for the previous year's disappointing finale. The bruised egos and mounting stress had taken its toll on the Yankees organization during the regular season as Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson erupted into a huge argument at Boston's Fenway Park for what the manager termed as "lack of hustle". The fight that followed in the dugout was caught on national-television cameras broadcasting the Saturday afternoon game and both men were blasted in the papers. Both managed to settle their differences, but the damage to their reputations had already been done. The Los Angeles Dodgers, guided by rookie Manager Tommy Lasorda, dethroned the defending champion Reds in the Natioanl League West and steamrolled over the Philadelphia Phillies in the Championship Series. Like the Yankees, Los Angeles featured a potent line-up that included Steve Garvey (thirty-three home runs), Reggie Smith (thirty-two), Ron Cey (thirty) and Dusty Baker (thirty) who set the record as the first ballclub to boast four players who hit thirty or more home runs in the same season.

As the West Coast and East Coast remained locked in a bitter 3-3 tie going into the twelfth inning of Game 1, Paul Blair checkmated the Dodgers with a clutch single that scored Willie Randolph for the opening victory. Los Angeles had revenge the following day after Cey, Smith and Steve Yeager all cracked early inning homers off Catfish Hunter. Burt Hooton faired much better on the mound and tossed a five hitter that evened the Series with a 6-1 triumph. However, New York would jump ahead to a three-game lead as the "Pinstripes" bested Tommy John for a 5-3 decision in the third outing and lefthander Ron Guidry added a 4-2 win in the fourth. Pitching remained a key factor in Game 5, as the hopes and dreams of the Dodger faithful were extended with a masterful, 10-4 complete game performance by Los Angeles ace Don Sutton. All contests up to this point would pale in comparison though to the legendary finale that was about to take place.

Game 6 was certainly the most memorable in the 1977 World Series thanks a spectacular performance at the plate by Reggie Jackson. The Yankees newest "Bomber" was making his eighteenth appearance and it proved to be his greatest as he became only the second player in history to smash three home runs in a single Series game (Babe Ruth did it in 1926 and 1928). In addition, the five home runs in one Series and four consecutive blasts over a two Series-game period was unprecedented.

As Thurman Munson stood on first, Jackson nailed Hooton on his first pitch sending the Yanks ahead with a 4-3 lead. Later in the fifth with two outs and Willie Randolph on first, Reggie launched another rocket off of Elias Sosa that landed in the right-field seats. Finally, he electrified the home team crowd of 56,407 by leading off the eighth with the historic blast into the center-field bleachers. "Mr. October" indeed. Riding on the five RBIs of their slugging champion, the Yanks showed a glimpse of what was "Yankee baseball" and held on for the 8-4 victory that earned their twenty-first World Series title. It was the first crown for the "Bronx Bombers" since 1962.

Jackson's MVP performance against the Dodgers tallied a staggering .450 average with five home runs and eight runs batted in. His offense was the key to the Yankees win as their rotation (minus Torrez who finished 2-0, 2.50 ERA) lacked "the hustle" that Martin liked. Don Gullett and Hunter both went 0-1 and allowed a combined fourteen earned-runs in seventeen innings.