Polman: The week the 1978 Red Sox were relentless heroes
From SABR member Jeff Polman at FireBrandAL.com on September 25, 2013:
Go ahead, MLB Video and ESPN Classic. Remind us as often as you want. Show that choked-up little Dent swing, that feeble flick of a bat against Mike Torrez, that wind-aided pop fly with two aboard that landed in the nets and made Yaz drop his head and kneel in pain. We can take it. Especially with the Sox winning the East this year on the heels of two world titles since 1978’s Black Monday happened.
I’ll never forget watching that game in my parents’ basement, how my father and I could barely speak when it ended, how I then had to drive four and a half hours back to my place in Vermont, oblivious to the sweet, crisp autumn air and brilliant early foliage because I was virtually in a coma.
Fortunately, what has stayed with me since then is not The Game, or the infamous Massacre that preceded it by three weeks, but the stretch from September 23 to October 1, 1978, when the Red Sox had to win every contest they played to have a chance of tying the Yankees for the AL East title. Let us revisit this underappreciated and just plain forgotten slice of pressurized heroism…
Read the full article here: http://firebrandal.com/2013/09/25/pre-bucky-week-sox-relentless-heroes/
Originally published: September 25, 2013. Last Updated: September 25, 2013.