Rick B. was a sportswriter around the country for many years and now works for IBM. As a point of reference, in the year of the Dent home run, Rick was making about $200 a week for his efforts. For Rick’s sports website and his top 10 sports moments, click here: SPORTSLIFER BLOG
It was 1978. The Bucky Dent game, Yankees versus Red Sox.
At the time I was a sportswriter with the Fitchburg Sentinel & Leominster Enterprise. Although I wasn’t a beat reporter, I had a pass to Fenway Park for the 1978 season and went to more than 50 games that year, including the playoff. The paper wouldn’t pay me overtime to cover, but I convinced them to at least pay for my mileage from Fitchburg to Boston. That day (a Monday afternoon as I recall) I took my buddy’s car (minus a window on the driver’s side) and drove the 50 miles into Boston. I wound up in standing room, right next to Jack Parker, who to this day is still Boston College’s hockey coach.
Very few Yankee fans in the park that day. I still remember Yaz dropping to his knees when Dent’s home rippled the net above the Green Monster. The Sox rallied in the ninth and the place was going nuts. But Yaz popped to Graig Nettles at third, and it was like someone pulled the plug. Deadly silent, you could hear the Yankees celebrate. Grown men walked out of there crying. I got to visit both locker rooms later. The contrast in emotions sticks in my mind: the Yanks jubilant, the Sox devastated.
For another baseball-related Boomer story, click here.