E9: The Bucky Dent Game: A Personal Look at the 1978 Yanks-Sox Tiebreaker

A rivalry doesn’t become legend overnight; it’s built pitch by pitch until one swing echoes for decades. We’re stepping into October 1978 at Fenway Park with an eyewitness who felt the bleachers shake, as the Yankees and Red Sox fought a one-game tiebreaker that turned role players into symbols and routine plays into folklore. From the bathroom ticket hustle at dawn to a cracked bat in the seventh and a blinding sun in the ninth, this story shows how baseball history is really written—by inches, instinct, and nerve.

We rewind the wild pennant race: Boston’s monster lineup and upgraded rotation, New York’s midseason chaos, and Bob Lemon’s steady hand guiding a 52–21 surge. You’ll hear about the coin flip that set Fenway as the stage, Steinbrenner’s combustible reaction, and the Hall of Fame talent scattered across the diamond—Guidry’s fire, Rice’s MVP bat, Munson’s toughness, and Gossage’s closing glare. Then we break down the game’s turning points: Yaz homering off a dominant lefty, Torrez in command through six, Bucky Dent’s stunning fly that kissed the Green Monster net, and Reggie Jackson’s crucial insurance blast.

The finish is as cinematic as baseball gets. The Red Sox rally to within one, Fenway roaring. Lou Piniella stabs a sun-lost liner that freezes a runner and flips the inning’s math. Finally, it’s Goose vs Yastrzemski with the season on the line—and a first-pitch pop to Nettles ends it 5–4. We connect the strategy, psychology, and serendipity of each moment, showing why this game still ranks among MLB’s greatest and why “Bucky bleeping Dent” remains a phrase of pure pathos for Boston.

If you love baseball history, Yankees–Red Sox lore, or the small decisions that swing big games, this one’s for you. Hit follow, share it with a fellow fan, and leave a review telling us which moment you think decided 1978.

Email us at fungosandfastballs@gmail.com

Transcript

Setting The Stage At Fenway

Jerry 0:00

Hey friends. We got a full episode today on the 1978 Yankees Red Sox American League East tiebreaker game, better known as the Bucky Dent game. So no first pitch or mercifully bad jokes, those will come later. So let's jump right in.

Jerry 0:22

Hello and welcome to Fungos and Fastballs, the podcast of baseball history and trivia. I'm your host, Jerry Dynes. Let's jump into today's episode. Welcome, listener. Jerry here, joined by my producer and Greek chorus stand in Brooke, but she's mikeless today, as we have a return of a very special guest, my friend and Uber Red Sox fan, Mike Walsh. Mike, thanks for coming back again today.

Mike Walsh 0:50

Thank you for having me back.

Jerry 0:52

This is your second visit here to the podcast, which means in a troubled world, harmony can be achieved as Yanks and Red Sox fans can hang out together. What do you think, Mike? Has the animosity between Sox and Yanks fans chilled out over the years?

Mike Walsh 1:07

I don't I guess the maybe a little bit.

Guest Arrival And Rivalry Temperature

Jerry 1:31

Certainly probably not in the heat of game time, but uh I don't know. It seems like lately we have to combine to face our common enemy, the Blue Jays. Correct. This week's episode uses the Wayback Machine to travel back to October 1978 to one of the greatest games of all time. Don't take my word for it. So back in 2011, the MLB Network did a nice series with Bob Costas and Tom Verducci called MLB's 20 Greatest Games. This one came at number 11. And from time to time, our podcast is going to return to some of those games and more. So this episode came about because I was watching that MLB TV, MLB Network series, which they air almost incessantly in the offseason, and number 11 comes up, the 1978 American League East tiebreaker game. And so I'm texting Mike again, Red Sox fan, and he replies back, I was at that game. I was stunned, and so I knew we had to have him back to hear this story. So, Mike, first tell us about the lead up to the game. Did uh how'd you get in? Did you have tickets?

The Wild 1978 Pennant Race

Sneaking Into Fenway For Tickets

Mike Walsh 2:45

Well, the as you as many know, the Red Sox tied on the last day of the season. So there's a whole thing where they were the Yankees were 14 games behind early in the season. They came back, blew past the Red Sox, Boston Massacre four-game series in September, and they actually went up by I think three and a half games at one point, with maybe two weeks to go in the season. And then it was a race to the wire, and the Red Sox were a game behind. The Yankees kept winning, the Red Sox kept winning, and to the last day when they when the Yankees finally lost and the Red Sox won it, it ended up in a tie. So in talking with my college buddies immediately after the game ended, two of us two others besides myself made plans. One of them had to work at a Wendy's till midnight on the Cape. So we went and picked him up. Probably got to Fenway around two in the morning. No tickets to be had. They had already been already sold out. So I'm really not sure. What time was this? 2 a.m. 2 a.m. Yeah, because the game was afternoon. Right. So I'm not sure what we did from 2 to 7. I know we didn't sleep, so I guess people were just everybody was just talking about the excitement of what's what's going to happen, but we sh still wanted to stay and see if we could find some tickets. And somewhere probably eight, nine in the morning, we came across a gentleman who had some tickets to sell. He was afraid of getting arrested for scalping. He made us walk with him like three blocks into, I don't know if it was a fast food restaurant or a bar or whatever, into the back, into the bathroom, where he finally pulled out the tickets and and we we bought them. I think we paid maybe thirty dollars each for center field bleacher tickets, which was you know back in 78s, that was that was a lot of money.

Jerry 4:39

Sounds very sketchy, Mike. I know, I know. How old were you at the time?

Mike Walsh 4:43

I would have been 22. 22. Yeah.

Jerry 4:46

So you're right. I mean, nowadays these tickets would be hundreds and hundreds of dollars. You got them for 30. Right. Which back in 78, that's a decent amount for a baseball game.

Mike Walsh 4:58

A lot of money for me. Yeah. But but it really is one of those games you really just couldn't miss if you could get in to go see it.

Jerry 5:06

So as Mike pointed out, I mean, let's go back in time here. In 1978, a little different from today, Major League Baseball had 26 teams. The American League at that time had 14, and the National League had 12. The American League's divided into East and West. Kansas City Royals had handily won the American League West for the third season in a row. And they're waiting to see who their opponent is. And as Mike pointed out, the Red Sox led the division most of the series. The Yankees were third behind the Sox and Brewers, and then with some injuries, dipped down to fourth. And then on July 19th, uh it was a mess. The Yankees were 14 games back. Reggie Jackson was suspended indefinitely, quote, unquote, eventually reduced to five days for defying manager Billy Martin's instructions to bunt, and Reggie was not going to bunt. And then soon after that, reading the tea leaves that his job was probably not too long, Billy Martin resigned, and a more even-handed more even-headed and a more even-headed manager, Bob Lemon, finished the season. What do you remember about the Boston team that season?

League Context And Yankee Tumult

Mike Walsh 6:19

I remember that they had really had improved their pitching staff. As a Yankee fan, you will remember that the year before the Yankees had won the World Series. I do. And the winning pitcher in two of those games was Mike Torrez. And the Red Sox picked up Mike Torrez in the offseason free agency. And we also picked up Dennis Eckersley in a trade with Cleveland. So we had Torrez, Eckersley, and Tiant, and Bill Lee as kind of the starting four. Spaceman. And and just I mean, the year before was that we had this incredible lineup and they they were all back the next year. In 77, you'll probably remember Baltimore, New York, and Boston came down to the last weekend of the season, and Boston was playing Baltimore, and they kind of knocked each other out, and then the Yankees won the division. So and Boston had the same team. I mean, they had a monster lineup. They started out with this new pitching staff just blowing through everybody and had a huge lead. The Yankees, like you said, maybe third, maybe fourth at one time. And and then, you know, I don't have any sympathy for the Yankees. So, you know, and yet now since it happened, I realize they had a lot of injuries in the beginning of the season. Well, to a certain extent, the injury bug hit the Red Sox in the in the second half of the season, but not as bad as the Yankees had. So there was a little of that, but but I don't know, no excuses. I mean, they just and it's not like they had a losing record the second half of the season. They were still over 500, but not as but not as many games as they were early in the season, and the Yankees went on a I don't know, 50 to 25, something like that.

Jerry 7:58

Yeah, I mean that's exactly it. Um everyone views that, and it was not a Sox, it was not a Sox crash by any by any standards. The Sox were 38 and 35 from mid-July onwards. So they were playing winning baseball, but just the you're right. The Yankees were playing over 700 baseball, 52 and 21 in the last 73 games. You had mentioned they went into uh Boston and had a four-game sweep, uh, since known as the Boston Massacre.

Mike Walsh 8:28

15-3, 13-2, 7-0, 7-4. I'll never forget it.

Jerry 8:34

Not that you're uh not that you're uh holding grudges or keeping track. And you mentioned the pitching, but of course you had Carl Yastrzemski, yes, and you had the 78, who would be the 78 American League MVP with Jim Rice there. So on paper, you know, one would say, you know, maybe the the Sox were the better team.

Boston’s Roster And Arms Reload

Mike Walsh 8:55

No excuses because all said and done, when they played head to head, when it mattered most, the Yanks won six out of seven. And and I guess seven out of eight if you count the count the uh you know the playoff game.

Jerry 9:08

So hey, let's no spoilers here. Granted it's uh 50 years ago. Because of this amazing final stretch, with eight games left, the Yankees are up in the division by one game, but Boston wins their last eight games of the season. And so the Yanks had to win on game 162, which they did not. They lost to Cleveland.

Mike Walsh 9:33

Rick Waits.

Jerry 9:34

Indeed. I'm constantly amazed that to this day that with 162 games a season, how often playoff spots come down to the last game or two. Yeah. But then, so what happens? You have you have a tie, and we need AL East division winner, so we got to play a tiebreaker. And who decides who's home? A coin flip. And Boston wins the coin flip. So for all that wonderful playing with the Yankees at the tail end, they're the visiting team. The Yankees lose the coin flip, have to travel up to Boston. A classic quote by owner George Steinberger. He was very annoyed with the team president for losing the coin flip. The team president called heads, and Steinberner's quotes was heads, you imbecile. How in the hell could you call heads when any dummy knows tails comes up 70% of the time? So that that uh encapsulates George Steinwerner there. But the game was packed with talent. There were five future Hall of Famers in that game. The Sox had three, right?

Jerry 10:41

Yaz, Jim Rice, and Carlton Fisk. And the Yankees had uh two future Hall of Famers, Reggie Jackson and closer Goose Gossage. But they had a strong team, too. On the Yankee side, you had Ron Guidry, the Louisiana Lightning, starting. In addition to Reggie, you had Thurman Munson, my favorite player as a kid. And just to set the scene here, Mike and I are sitting across from each other. He's got his Red Sox sweatshirt on. I've got my number 15 Munson jersey on, so seemed appropriate. But uh Graig Nettles, great third baseman, speedster Mickey Rivers, and batting ninth, shortstop Bucky Dent, who I think we'll get to later.

Mike Walsh 11:21

Yeah, and the Red Sox, in addition to the people that you mentioned, I mean, you had Rick Burleson at shortstop, Jerry Remy at second, Butch Hobson was the third baseman most of the year. In this game, I think he was the DH because he had an injury. He was. Yeah, and uh and Dwight Evans actually was on that team, and he was actually injured. He had gotten beaned in late August and was out, and they put him back on the roster late, but he didn't play much, and he did he did pinch it in the game.

The Boston Massacre And Momentum

Jerry 11:53

Though I was young, it sounds like Mike and I are two sides of the same coin here, even though uh I was quite young at the time. I think we can both name the uh respective lineups of our our favorite teams at that time. Steinbrenner, back to Steinbrenner, an interesting thing is a year before they had the AL Cy Young winner, Sparky Lyle, as the closer. And not satisfied with that, George Steinbrenner went out and acquired Goose Gossage from the Pirates as the closer this season. So here you have Sparky as the closer. He gets bumped now for Gossage, which which prompted the famous quote from third baseman Greg Nettles to Sparky saying, You went in one season from Cy Young to Cyanara.

Mike Walsh 12:38

Sparky Lyle, who was a Red Sox originally, who they traded to the Yankees for Danny Cater. I forget what year that was, and Danny Cater didn't end up being what they thought he was going to be in a trade for Sparky Lyle.

Jerry 12:56

So you're seeing moments like this, a little of that that Sox Yankees rivalry, bitterness, fans remember, fans remember. So let's get to the game itself. Game starts out a little slow. Scoreless first, Yankees are scoreless in the top of the second, and then who comes up in the second, Mike to homer?

Mike Walsh 13:17

My favorite player of all time, Carl Yastrzemski. Laid into one, fast ball from Guidry and smoked it.

Jerry 13:25

Yeah. What's amazing is, I mean, Ron Guidry was great against left-handers. I think it was only his second homer all year to a left-handed hitter. And then nothing happens until the sixth inning. Yankees are scoreless. So your pitching did great job there, Torrez. But then in the bottom of the six, the Sox get a little insurance run there.

Mike Walsh 13:49

Yeah, I believe I don't I can't remember who was on base, but I know Jim Rice had the hit that drove in the second run.

Jerry 13:56

Yeah. Rick Burleson was on third, and then Rice gets the single to drive him in. And then Torrez holds the Yankees through that first six innings to two hits. And then we get to the top of the seventh. Mike, you were there. Do you remember any of that?

Mike Walsh 14:13

Yeah, I remember it. It I want to say there was an out, and there were a couple maybe a walking a hit or a couple of hits, and a second out. And of course, Bucky Dent comes up and you kind of breathe a sigh of relief now. You got two out. All you gotta do is get Bucky Dent out, who's Yeah.

Jerry 14:35

Dent hadn't hit a home run since mid-August.

Mike Walsh 14:38

Yeah, I mean, the worst he's gonna do is get a single and it'll be two to one. You know, you're not expecting anything more than that.

Coin Flip Lore And Hall Of Famers

Jerry 14:45

Yeah, they got Chris Chambliss, the first baseman, gets a single, Roy White gets a single, just a long-standing Yankee at that time, and Brian Doyle, who is filling in for an injured Willie Randolph at second, Bob Lemon decides to pinch hit Jim Spencer for it. The strange thing about this is if Billy Martin was still the manager, apparently Billy used to love pinch hitting in a situation like this for Bucky Dent. So Martin would have probably kept Doyle in, pinch hit for Dent, but Lemon turned it around, and then Bucky Dent comes up, again, not a home run hitter, hadn't hit a home run since mid-August, and actually dealt with blood clots in his leg in spring training and wound up fouling the ball off his foot with this long delay, two-minute delay, at which point they notice he's got a crack under the tape in his bat, and they have to switch the bat out. I don't know if you remember at the time. Torrez doesn't take any practice pitch pitches during this delay. He didn't think the delay would be this long, and so he doesn't take any any pitches. And Mike, you want to take it from here?

Mike Walsh 15:52

Well, the only thing that to this day, whenever you listen to Bill White calling the play, there's like nobody more surprised than him. He he he he announces it as a pop-up almost or as a you know a routine fly ball. And then all of a sudden he goes, It's a home run. It's in the net. Okay. And I guess that most of us were like that too. It's like, oh, you know, Yaz Yaz and left. Yeah, yeah, Yaz isn't left. And you know, Yaz just it's gonna fall into his glove, and then it it fell into the net. You know, it was it was like a high, high pop-up almost, a fly ball, and you're waiting for it to come down into Yaz's glove, and it just caught the net.

Jerry 16:37

Yeah, I heard Lou Pinella said, really, they thought it was gonna come off the wall.

Mike Walsh 16:41

Yeah.

Jerry 16:41

And and you can even see video of just Yaz slouching down, you know, when when it went over there. And you know, he brings he brings three runs home, and then and then they get a fourth one when Mickey Rivers, after stealing second Thurman Munson, drives him home. And then all of a sudden, now the Yankees are up 4-2 after a really unexpected and surprising home run by Bucky Dent over the Green Monster. We had Mike on in episode two talking about the Green Monster. I don't recall you mentioning that as one of your favorite Green Monster moments.

Mike Walsh 17:18

No, probably probably would be down the list a bit, I would think. The other thing is I was talking about Yastrzemski and looking up. You knew a lot of times at Fenway, you knew when it was a home run by looking at Yaz because and the and the pitchers used to get very upset with Yaz about this, because if he knew it was a home run, when they hit it, he would he wouldn't even turn around to look. He'd just stay in his position looking forward. Like nice going pitch. He just gave up another home run, you know.

Lineups, Closers, And Nettles’ Quip

Jerry 17:47

We get to the eighth. Reggie Jackson, famous for his home runs, Mr. October there. He hits a home run. Again, gives a little insurance to the Yanks. They're up 5 to 2 now. Very important run, as it turns out. So we get to the bottom of the eighth, and the Sox start getting some things going.

Mike Walsh 18:05

Yeah, it was that was that was a that was one of the more exciting times of the game. I mean, the crowd really got into it. And I will say that just to go back, I would just say this about Reggie. The fans, of course, are brutal in right field on Reggie, you know. And he he took it all very good naturedly. And of course, after he hit that home run, he he he came out and bowed to the fans when he got out there. So uh but yeah. So the Sox generated a two-run rally in the bottom of the eighth. Yaz drove in another, and maybe Fisk.

Jerry 18:36

Did Fisk drive in?

Mike Walsh 18:37

Fred Lynn. Fred Lynn drove in.

Jerry 18:39

Fred Lynn brought brought in brought in Yaz.

Mike Walsh 18:41

Yeah. So yeah, the crowd's going crazy. 5-4. 5-4, it's still a game. Yeah.

Jerry 18:47

But you see that importance of that Reggie home run there.

Mike Walsh 18:50

Right, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. But a lot of people you speak a lot about Bucky Dent it rightly, so, but yeah, that was the and eventual winning run was Reggie's Homer.

Jerry 19:00

We get to the ninth inning. Yanks are held scoreless. I'm trying to remember who came in uh for Torrez, you remember?

Mike Walsh 19:09

Torrez. Initially Stanley came in. I think Stanley gave up the uh double to Thurman. And then they at some point Andy, they had a guy that lefty named Andy Hassler who pitched some of the game. I think he did okay. And I think Dick Drago came in to pitch the top of the ninth and did a good job. So held held the four to the bottom of the ninth.

Jerry 19:31

Held it to 5-4, and again, this is the last chance for the Sox. Burleson gets on first, and then Jerry Remy comes up, and he hits a liner to Lou Piniella out in right field. And at the time, I don't think you had press press over the the press boxes were lower or something like that. And so you had the sun. Because remember, this is an afternoon game.

Mike Walsh 19:57

Right.

Jerry 19:57

This is probably at that time, it's probably close to five, maybe. And so Lou Piniella in right field said, hey, for pop-ups, no problem, but for line drives, the sun is coming right at you. You couldn't see them. The ball was hit right at him. And it was hit right at him, and he really couldn't see it. And uh you remember what happened?

Early Innings And Yaz’s Homer

Mike Walsh 20:15

Well, I just, you know, you I've watched the replay so many times now over the years, and he and I've even listened to him talk about it, and it was just like I saw something kind of a little bit to my left, like at the last second, and he just stabbed out his just reached out his glove and and and stabbed it, and and by doing so kept Burleson at second instead of going to third. You know, you just think so many things in baseball, what could have would have, I mean, if if he had just, you know, if he had just deflected it a little and maybe picked it up, but Burleson got to third, or or even worse, it could have got behind him and could have been a disaster. But by holding Burleson at second base was huge because the next batter, Jim Rice, hit a long fly ball to right field, which if Burleson had been on third would have scored. But in this situation, he just went from second to third. So then we've got two out and runners on first and third.

Jerry 21:10

Yeah, Piniella couldn't see the ball. I don't know, divine intervention, you know, maybe God's a Yankee fan. I don't know. I I'm not gonna, I'm not one to judge. But he stays at second. You're very right. Rice gets up, only only moves him over, moves him over to third, I think, right? And then, of course, last up, call your streamsky.

Mike Walsh 21:33

Which, you know, at that time, as a as a all of us longtime Red Sox fans are going, well, this is this was made to be, you know, Yaz is one of the greatest clutch hitters of all time, right? You know, this is this Yaz is gonna, you know, he's gonna hit one in the gap and we're gonna score two runs and have a walk-off, unbelievable celebration. And I think it I'm pretty sure he swung at the first pitch.

Jerry 21:54

Which would have, again, would have also made this game still one of the greatest games of all time if it had gone the other. Way and Yaz had at this point Goose Gossage is in as the closer. Yaz had good numbers against Gossage, and one couldn't help but think, well, what's Bob Lemon thinking? He's got Sparky Lyle. The you know last year's saw young winner on the bench, bring him in from the bullpen. He was warming up in the bullpen, too. So Yaz pops up, foul ball, third baseman Greg Nettles, who we mentioned before, catches it in the final. Yankees five and four. Sox actually had more hits in that game, 11-8. And so the Red Sox went home, and the Yankees went on to beat the Royals in the uh championship series and then face the Dodgers in the 1978 World Series and won that as well. And shortstop Bucky Dent, who had hit only four home runs that season, was forever branded by Boston fans.

Sixth-Inning Insurance For Boston

Mike Walsh 22:53

He was. And the the story, you know, you'll hear all these kinds of stories, but the story was that when the season ended, and Don Zimmer, who was the manager of the Red Sox at that time, drove back down to his home in Florida. He would stop every hundred miles, pull over to the side of the road, and go, f-g D Bucky Dent. And uh and that that has become a a phrase for all Red Sox fans. He's he is no longer Bucky Dent after that after that game. He he has a a more unique name for Boston fans.

Jerry 23:26

Yes. To be podcast friendly, Bucky bleeping dent. Well, thanks so much for joining us today. I again I want to thank Mike for chatting about his socks and even revisiting maybe not the best memory for him. Of course, probably the four 21st century World Series wins that the Sox have had since then make the memories a little maybe a little more palatable.

Mike Walsh 23:49

It is. It is. It's a it's amazing that 80, I mean 86 years. I was I was forty-eight years old when they finally finally won it. Now they won it four times.

Jerry 24:01

So well, maybe we'll have you come back, Mike, for the uh 2003 Aaron Boone game. Gee, thanks. And well, thank you for listening. Thanks especially to Bill, my accountant, who assured me he'd be listening today. I hope you enjoyed. I hope you'll keep listening. And don't forget to like us and subscribe on your podcast platform. This is Jerry Dynes and Fun goes and Fastballs.