August 1, 1971: Dodgers beat Reds on walk-off catcher’s interference in 11th inning

By August 1971, the American and National Leagues had combined to play a little more than 90,000 games in the twentieth century, and roughly 8,300 of those games had ended in a walk-off,1 a single play that scored the winning run for the home team in the ninth inning or later. Even with those staggering numbers, there were still things that could happen on a baseball diamond that there was no record of ever happening before.

The Cincinnati Reds were enduring a disappointing 1971. After finishing the previous season with 102 wins and winning the National League pennant with the youngest roster in the majors, the team appeared built to dominate for the next decade, like some sort of large, crimson-colored, mechanical contraption. This year’s team, however, was 49-60 and riding a four-game losing streak, including its last two against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 56-51 Dodgers, who’d finished a distant second to Cincinnati in 1970, were in a similar spot in 1971, trailing the San Francisco Giants by nine games with just over two months remaining. Los Angeles wanted to wrap up this homestand with a sweep of the defending NL champs and carry that momentum into their coming two-game series at Candlestick Park,

To make a serious run at the division title, the Dodgers would need to get some key pieces back from injury and back to form, such as starter Bill Singer After a handful of late-season appearances in the mid-1960s, the lanky right-hander finally made Los Angeles’ Opening Day roster at the age of 22 in 1967, the year after Sandy Koufax retired. For the next three seasons, Singer was a workhorse in the rotation, starting 105 games, averaging almost 260 innings per season, winning 45 games with an earned-run average of 2.60, and making the 1969 All-Star Game.

But he missed about half the 1970 season, first to hepatitis and then to a broken finger, and 1971 wasn’t shaping up as the comeback Dodgers fans hoped for. Singer started the season with four consecutive losses and nine in his first 11 starts. In mid-June he was sidelined for a month with a pulled groin and lost all three of his starts after returning, tying him for most in the NL at 13. Manager Walter Alston compared Singer’s situation to “going through a second spring training.”2

After leadoff hitter Pete Rose grounded out, Ty Cline reached first on a throwing error by third baseman Steve Garvey, his 10th error in just 44 games and his fourth in 24 hours. The previous night, he’d returned after missing five weeks with a fractured wrist and committed three errors. During the season, fans joked that whenever the 22-year-old Garvey played third, “it was Ball Night at Dodger Stadium.”3

Cline went to second on a wild pitch, which contributed to reigning NL MVP Johnny Bench drawing a walk. But Singer escaped the predicament thanks to the defense behind him turning a groundball off Tony Pérez’s bat into a double play, second baseman Jim Lefebvre to shortstop Maury Wills to first baseman Dick Allen.

In the bottom of the inning, a pair of two-out singles off Reds starter Jim McGlothlin put the Dodgers on the scoreboard. Bill Buckner, suffering the effects of the flu, reached first on a shot to center field, made it to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a single to right field by Allen.

Singer retired the next nine hitters in order and held the Reds scoreless in the fifth despite surrendering a single and a double, the first hits off him in the game. McGlothlin kept the game close, scattering four singles and a double over the next four innings without allowing a run.

In the sixth inning, the Reds tied things up. Singer surrendered consecutive singles to McGlothlin, Rose, and Cline. Bench then hit a grounder toward short that resulted in Rose being called out for interference and home-plate umpire Harry Wendelstedt ordering McGlothin back to third.4 McGlothin scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly by Pérez, and Singer was bailed out when Cline attempted to steal home but was tagged out.5

Los Angeles retook the lead five hitters later. McGlothlin gave up back-to-back one-out singles to Willie Crawford and Lefebvre. Tom Haller added an RBI single after Garvey struck out looking. With the pitcher’s slot in the batting order coming up, McGlothlin stayed in the game for what was expected to be an easy out, but Singer drew a walk and Reds manager Sparky Anderson went to his bullpen.

Wayne Granger, who’d led the majors with 35 saves in 1970 and 90 appearances in 1969, was no longer the Reds closer.6 Anderson preferred Clay Carroll and his wider array of pitches in that role. Granger defused the situation, getting a grounder for a force at second base.

Singer was perfect in the seventh and eighth, as was Granger in the seventh before handing over the game to Carroll for the eighth. The closer quickly found himself in a jam after a walk, a single, and an error that advanced both runners, leading to Carroll intentionally walking Haller to set up a force out at home.

Pinch-hitting for Singer, Wes Parker hit a sacrifice fly to center fielder Hal McRae, scoring Lefebvre to put the Dodgers up 3-1 and just three outs from sweeping Cincinnati. Parker stayed in the game at first base, and Allen replaced Garvey at third. Jim Brewer, the Dodgers’ closer since joining the team in 1968, took the mound and retired Bench, walked Pérez, and sat down pinch-hitter Lee May.

Down to the Reds’ last at-bat, Anderson pulled Al Ferrara from the bench. The 1967 “Dodger of the Year”7 was batting just .119 and had only three hits since the Reds acquired him in May in a trade with the San Diego Padres.

Ferrara smashed Brewer’s offering into the left-field seats, tying the game with his first and only homer of the season, as well as the last of his career.

Carroll held the Dodgers scoreless in the ninth, and neither team scored in the 10th. In the 11th inning, Pérez finally put the Reds ahead, 4-3, with a two-out solo homer off reliever Pete Mikkelsen.

In the bottom of the inning, pinch-hitter Joe Ferguson reached on a leadoff single off 36-year-old lefty Joe Gibbon. Parker laid down a sacrifice and Gibbon misplayed it, letting the ball slip from his fingers twice before finally fielding it. Parker was safe at first and Gibbon was tagged with an error. Gibbon struck out Wills but not before uncorking a wild pitch to that allowed both runners to advance.

Manny Mota was walked intentionally to load the bases and set up a force play at the plate. But first Gibbon hit Buckner on the knuckles with a pitch. Both Anderson and Bench tried to argue that Buckner had been swinging when he was hit, but Wendelstedt awarded the hitter first base, forcing Ferguson home to tie the game, 4-4.

Allen hit a grounder to shortstop Woody Woodward, who fired home to catch Parker and keep the Reds alive for one more batter. With Crawford at the plate, Mota and third-base coach Danny Ozark noted how long and deliberate Gibbon’s windup was and floated the idea of trying to steal home. After watching one pitch to get his timing down, Mota broke for home on the second.

Bench leapt forward to snatch the ball and tag Mota, but instead of the game heading to the 12th inning, Wendelstedt signaled that it was over. The crowd of 20,323 accepted the win, less with cheering than with confusion as to what exactly had transpired. 

“Bench jumped in front of the plate and gave [Crawford] no opportunity whatsoever to hit the ball,” Wendelstedt explained, dismissing Anderson and Bench’s argument that Crawford hadn’t attempted to swing, so Bench couldn’t interfere with something that didn’t happen. “It’s interference when the catcher deprives the batter of the opportunity to swing.”8

Anderson consulted Rule 7.07 and understood the umpire’s decision but still disagreed with the interpretation. “A rule is a rule, but you’d think that guys enforcing them would exercise a little common sense,” he complained.9

Once the dust settled and the umpires consulted the rule, Bench was tagged with an error, Gibbon was charged with a balk, and Crawford was awarded first base, forcing Mota home and negating his stolen base. It was the first time in major-league history that a game ended on a walk-off catcher’s interference, and for more than 50 years, it was the only time.10

In the remaining two months of the season, the Dodgers and Reds were the two best teams in the National League, with records of 32-22 and 30-22 respectively. San Francisco, on the other hand, staggered into the postseason, going 23-29 the rest of the way, just enough to hold off Los Angeles by one game.11

Author’s Note

This Games Project article was inspired by the July 21, 2025, game between the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, the second game in major-league history to end on catcher’s interference in extra innings. Many fans waiting in line outside the men’s room were asking each other whether they’d ever seen such a thing. One who’d been listening to the radio call shared that it had last happened in 1971 but didn’t know any further details. I looked up walk-off catcher’s interference calls on Stathead and was shocked to learn how infrequent they were. Since I planned to write up that Phillies game and knew I’d have to reference this one, I wanted to make sure I could link an article for the hardcore fans of going down SABR rabbit holes.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Troy Olszewski and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Willie Crawford, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN197108010.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1971/B08010LAN1971.htm

Notes

1 The actual number of walk-offs is impossible to know at this time, but the author is willing to stand by his sloppy, back-of-an-envelope estimation. Retrosheet data has, as of August 2025, recorded play-by-play data going back to 1912, though pre-1969 data is only 96.4 percent complete and accurate. Per that data, as found via Stathead, there were 6,884 walk-off plate appearances from 1912-1970 and 138 through July 31 of the 1971 season, a total of 7,022. Tacking on an extra 1,283 based on the average 116.7 walk-offs per season multiplied by 11 for 1901-11 gives a total of 8,305.

2 Earl Lawson, “Sparky Fumes over Controversial Play,” Cincinnati Post, August 2, 1971: 12.

3 Rob Neyer, Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Lineups (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 119. In 1973, the Dodgers moved Garvey to first base and, in 1974, he won the MVP Award and the first of four consecutive Gold Gloves.

4 It’s unclear what happened here other than that Rose was called out for interfering with the play. The Los Angeles Times coverage says, “Bench hit a grounder to shortstop that hit Pete Rose, breaking from second.” Ron Rapoport, “Confusion Reigns – and So Do the Dodgers, 5-4,” Los Angeles Times, August 2, 1971: III-1. The Cincinnati Enquirer, however, says, “Bench bounced to Maury Wells and interference was called when Rose ran into him.” Bob Hertzel, “LA Beats Reds on ‘Interference,’” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 2, 1971: 27.

5 The out is scored “catcher-to-shortstop-to-catcher.” With the bases loaded, there couldn’t have been an attempt at a double steal, so it appears that Cline broke for home when Haller attempted to pick off Bench at second base.

6 Granger made 70 appearances in 1971, enough to lead the NL but 13 short of Milwaukee Brewers reliever Ken Sanders, who led the majors with 83.

7 Ferrara led the eighth-place Dodgers in 1967 with a .272 batting average and 16 home runs, and tied for second on the team with 50 runs batted in. The team scored just 519 runs in 1967, second worst in the majors.

8 Gordon Verrell, “Dodgers ‘Steal’ One – Big, Bad Giants Next,” Long Beach (California) Press-Telegram, August 2, 1971: C-1.

9 Lawson, “Sparky Fumes over Controversial Play.”

10 On July 21, 2025, Phillies batter Edmundo Sosa checked his swing on a pitch from Red Sox reliever Jordan Hicks and made impact with catcher Carlos Narváez’s glove in the 10th inning of their tied game. Sosa was awarded first base on catcher’s interference, which forced Brandon Marsh home with the game-winning run.

11 The Dodgers and Reds also went a combined 11-1 (LA 7-0; Cincy 4-1) against the Giants for the remainder of the season.