Hall of Very Good: Dwight Evans
From SABR member Mike Lynch at the Hall of Very Good on June 18, 2012:
It happened on September 27, 1986 but I remember it like it was yesterday. Toronto Blue Jays veteran righty Jim Clancy had set down the first 14 Red Sox batters he’d faced at Fenway Park when up stepped Dwight “Dewey” Evans with two outs and no one on in the bottom of the fifth. Evans worked the count in his favor, as he so often did, all but forcing Clancy to come at him with fastballs.
He blew one by Evans, who took a lusty rip at an inside heater but failed to connect. Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully was calling the game that day—”That was called challenging,” Scully told the television audience, “here’s my best fastball, see what you can do with it.” Clancy then made the mistake of throwing the same exact pitch in the same exact location. Evans hammered it farther than I’ve ever seen a baseball hammered; in fact, it probably still hasn’t landed. Thanks to Evans, and the shutout pitching of southpaw Bruce Hurst, the Sox clinched at least a tie for the American League East division title that day.
Of course, one home run does not a Hall of Famer make, but it’s an image I’ll take to my grave, along with his otherworldly circus-like catch in the 11th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series that resulted in a double play and kept the Reds from breaking open a contest that was eventually won by Carlton Fisk’s blast off the left field foul pole in the bottom of the 12th.
Read the full article here: http://www.hallofverygood.com/2012/06/hovg-heroes-dwight-evans.html
Originally published: June 20, 2012. Last Updated: June 20, 2012.