When discussing the most memorable home runs in Major League history, a number of moments come to mind. Bobby Thompson. Carlton Fisk. Joe Carter. Kirk Gibson. All of these players, and numerous others, hit walk-off home runs that cemented their place in baseball history. But what about famous home runs that were not walk-offs? How many of them immediately come to mind? Perhaps the most famous non-walk off home run in baseball history belongs to Bucky Dent.
Bucky Dent, a native of Georgia, was picked sixth in the 1970 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox. In 1977, the White Sox traded him to the Yankees for three players and cash. Now Dent was a good shortstop and decent hitter, but was hardly considered to be a slugger. Over the course of twelve major league seasons, Dent only hit forty home runs total. His season high was eight, and only twice did he hit more than five. Dent was a three-time All-Star and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 1974. However, he would hardly be a well-remembered ballplayer if it were not for one swing of the bat.
The year was 1978. Dent was the starting shortstop amidst a team stacked with the like of Reggie Jackson, Chris Chambliss, Thurman Munson, Graig Nettles, Willie Randolph, Catfish Hunter, Goose Gossage, Ron Guidry, Lou Pinella, Mickey Rivers and others. Despite the talent of the team, the Yankees got off to a horrible start. As of July 6, the Boston Red Sox lead the American League East by ten full games. On July 19, the Sox led the Yankees by 14 games. An unsatisfied George Steinbrenner replaced manager Billy Martin with Bob Lemon. Miraculously, the Yankees went 19-8 in the month of August, and shaved Boston’s lead down to six games.
One week into the month of September, the Red Sox lead was four games when the Yankees arrived at Fenway Park to play a four game series, a series that, when over, would be labeled as “The Boston Massacre. The Yankees won all four games in dominating fashion, crushing the Sox 15-3 and 13-2 in the first two games. Ron Guidry threw a complete game shutout in the third game. After a 7-4 victory in the fourth game, the Yankees and Red Sox were tied for first place in the division.
The final three weeks of the season saw the two teams take turns as division leaders. With a victory on the season’s final day, Boston tied New York atop the standings. Both sat at 100 wins and 62 losses. The Yankees had made up incredible ground, but the Red Sox had finished the season strong. The stage was set for a one game playoff to decide the division champion. After 162 games, Boston and New York would play one more to determine who would represent the American League East in the 1978 MLB playoffs. Back then there was no wild card team, so the winner would make the playoffs and the losing team’s season would be over. Only in baseball could such a story be written. To have the long and arduous season come down to a single game seemed almost epic. One could not write a more exciting storyline.
The playoff game took place at Fenway Park. The pitching matchup was Cy Young Award winner Ron Guidry versus former Yankee Mike Torrez. Both pitched beautifully. The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead on a Carl Yastrzemski home run and a Jim Rice rbi single. They had all the momentum. New York’s playoff hopes were fading quickly. Then came the top of the seventh inning. With two on, Bucky Dent came to the plate. He’d hit just .120 in his last 20 games combined. With a one and one count, Dent fouled a pitch off his foot, cluing him in that he was using a cracked bat. Teammate Mickey Rivers gave him a bat. On the very next pitch, Dent connected with a hanging Torrez breaking ball that was caught by a strong wind and sent just over the top of the Green Monster, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
In the words of tv announcer Bill White, “Deep to left! Yastrzemski will not get it — it’s a home run! A three-run home run for Bucky Dent and the Yankees now lead it by a score of three to two!”
New York scored two more runs, then Boston scored two more runs. Gossage closed the game out, not without the drama of two Boston baserunners, and the Yankees won the game 5-4 and clinched the AL East pennant. The Yankees went on to sweep the Royals to win the American League crown, then beat the Dodgers in six games to win the World Series. To this day, Dent is referred to as “Bucky Bleeping Dent” by Red Sox fans everywhere.
Superstitions and questions about Dent’s famous home run abound. Was this another instance of the supposed “Curse of the Bambino”? How does a 5’11”, 181-pound shortstop, who had only hit five home runs in the regular season, connect for one of the most famous home runs in Yankees and baseball history? What if Dent hadn’t switched bats? What if there was not a strong wind blowing out to left? Would the ball have fallen short for an out or a game tying single or double? Did playing the game at home actually end up hurting the Red Sox, as the home run barely cleared the Green Monster, which is 8 feet shorter in distance in left field than Yankee Stadium and 20 feet shorter in left-center? Had Torrez not hung a breaking ball, had Dent not timed his swing perfectly, had a strong wind not sent the ball over the wall, history could have easily been written differently.
The 1978 pennant race between the Yankees and Red Sox is just another chapter in one of the greatest rivalries in sports. The Bucky Dent home run is one of a thousand storylines written on those pages. Any baseball fan knows that moments like this define a player forever. Dent played shortstop for the Yankees until 1982, when he was traded to the Texas Rangers. In 1984, he returned to the Yankees, but never played in a game, then finished the season as a member of the Kansas City Royals before retiring. He served as a coach in the Yankees minor league system and mentored new draft pick Derek Jeter in 1992. Dent then acted as a bench coach for the Cincinnati Reds for almost two years. He now runs “Bucky Dent’s Baseball School” in Florida. According to Wikipedia, “the primary baseball field is a replica of Fenway Park, with the Green Monster stuck in time to the moment when Bucky hit his famous home run.”
Bucky Dent’s career statistics are hardly anything to gawk at. A .247 career average, 40 home runs, 17 stolen bases, 423 rbi’s and 451 runs. Hardly anything impressive, except for that one home run. On that autumn afternoon of 1978 in Boston, Bucky Dent wrote his name in the pages of baseball history with one swing of the bat. Rarely does a single moment determine the legacy of a man as it did in the case of Bucky Bleeping Dent.
