If you know baseball history then there isn't much that needs to be said about the '78 Red Sox. We all know that they had this huge 14 game lead in mid July, but by September the "choked" it all away as the Yankees caught them. What most folks don't know is that the Red Sox didn't choke away their lead the Yankees played over .700 ball from the All-Star break and flat out caught them. Boston actually rallied back themselves in the final week to catch the Yankees and force a 1 game playoff at Fenway. Many a kid in New York remembers hearing Bill White from WPIX saying, "Deep to left...that's a home run by Bucky Dent". Kids in New England remember Graig Nettles gloving Yaz' pop up to third on a fastball that Goose completely overpowered him with, to end the game.
Boston won 98 games in 1978 and went home empty. Manager Don Zimmer catches a lot of the blame for not really using his bench. 38 year old Carl Yastrzemski played in 144 games and began to grind down as the season went on. Yaz hit .277 with 17 homers and 81 RBI's. Carlton Fisk caught 157 games and still managed to hit .284 with 20 homers and 88 RBI's. Dewey Evans and Fred Lynn both were great defensive outfielders who hit over 20 homers, but the AL MVP Jim Rice was the real story. Rice, who followed in a long line of great Red Sox leftfielders (Williams, Yaz...him) hit .315 with 46 homers and 139 RBI's. Rice put up triple crown numbers (he led in HR/RBI) and carried the Sahwks all season. The bench was basically non existent. Jack Brohamer and Frank Duffy spelled the infielders. Neither did much with the stick. Nobody else on the bench had more than 80 AB's.
The pitching staff, by Red Sox standards, was fantastic. Finishing 4th in the league in ERA while pitching 81 games in Fenway is super impressive. Their rotation was in need of help, so they basically fleeced the Indians for a 23 year old name Dennis Eckersley. "The Eck", who years later would become a HOF reliever was a 23 year old starter who won 20 games and had a ERA under 3.00. Boston acquired him and Fred Kendall in exchange for Ted Cox, Bo Diaz, Mike Paxton and Rick Wise. Of that foursome only Diaz had any major league shelf life. Cox and Paxton were major leaguers thanks to expansion and Wise was on the downside of a pedestrian career. The rest of the rotation featured Mike Torrez (16-13, 3.96), Bill "the Spaceman" Lee (10-10 (3.46) and the man with the hidden ball delivery: 37 year old (maybe more) Luis Tiant (13-8, 3.31). The bullpen didn't get a lot of saves thanks to the starters posting 57 complete games. 23 year old Bob Stanley was the pen's work horse throwing 141 2/3 innings. Stanley had an incredible 15-2 (2.60) record as well as 10 saves. Dick Drago (7 SV), Tom Burgmeier (4) Bill Campbell (4) and Andy Hassler (1) setup Stanley, who will pitch 3 innings a game if needed.
The Sahx are managed by the man from Peking (it wasn't Beijing in 1978), Martin King. Martin plays his games from "Red China". This is his 4th KOD and we wait with baited breath each week to read his tongue and cheek post game write up's. In total on I had to create 12 new cards to finish off the 1978 Boston Topps set. Two of the 12 cards (Alan Ripley and John LaRose) required colorization. Once I finished colorizing them I superimposed their photos on top of a background shot of Fenway.
Boston won 98 games in 1978 and went home empty. Manager Don Zimmer catches a lot of the blame for not really using his bench. 38 year old Carl Yastrzemski played in 144 games and began to grind down as the season went on. Yaz hit .277 with 17 homers and 81 RBI's. Carlton Fisk caught 157 games and still managed to hit .284 with 20 homers and 88 RBI's. Dewey Evans and Fred Lynn both were great defensive outfielders who hit over 20 homers, but the AL MVP Jim Rice was the real story. Rice, who followed in a long line of great Red Sox leftfielders (Williams, Yaz...him) hit .315 with 46 homers and 139 RBI's. Rice put up triple crown numbers (he led in HR/RBI) and carried the Sahwks all season. The bench was basically non existent. Jack Brohamer and Frank Duffy spelled the infielders. Neither did much with the stick. Nobody else on the bench had more than 80 AB's.
The pitching staff, by Red Sox standards, was fantastic. Finishing 4th in the league in ERA while pitching 81 games in Fenway is super impressive. Their rotation was in need of help, so they basically fleeced the Indians for a 23 year old name Dennis Eckersley. "The Eck", who years later would become a HOF reliever was a 23 year old starter who won 20 games and had a ERA under 3.00. Boston acquired him and Fred Kendall in exchange for Ted Cox, Bo Diaz, Mike Paxton and Rick Wise. Of that foursome only Diaz had any major league shelf life. Cox and Paxton were major leaguers thanks to expansion and Wise was on the downside of a pedestrian career. The rest of the rotation featured Mike Torrez (16-13, 3.96), Bill "the Spaceman" Lee (10-10 (3.46) and the man with the hidden ball delivery: 37 year old (maybe more) Luis Tiant (13-8, 3.31). The bullpen didn't get a lot of saves thanks to the starters posting 57 complete games. 23 year old Bob Stanley was the pen's work horse throwing 141 2/3 innings. Stanley had an incredible 15-2 (2.60) record as well as 10 saves. Dick Drago (7 SV), Tom Burgmeier (4) Bill Campbell (4) and Andy Hassler (1) setup Stanley, who will pitch 3 innings a game if needed.
The Sahx are managed by the man from Peking (it wasn't Beijing in 1978), Martin King. Martin plays his games from "Red China". This is his 4th KOD and we wait with baited breath each week to read his tongue and cheek post game write up's. In total on I had to create 12 new cards to finish off the 1978 Boston Topps set. Two of the 12 cards (Alan Ripley and John LaRose) required colorization. Once I finished colorizing them I superimposed their photos on top of a background shot of Fenway.
Where can I find a John Larose card? Dawnjbj@gmail.com
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I don't believe any exist. Contact me directly and maybe we can get you a copy of this one :)
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