{"id":6688,"date":"2020-06-12T05:18:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T02:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/yankees-overcame-crazy-obstacles-in-best-new-york-comeback-ever\/"},"modified":"2020-06-12T05:18:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T02:18:00","slug":"yankees-overcame-crazy-obstacles-in-best-new-york-comeback-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/yankees-overcame-crazy-obstacles-in-best-new-york-comeback-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"#Yankees overcame crazy obstacles in best New York comeback ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Yankees overcame crazy obstacles in best New York comeback ever<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n This week The Post takes a fresh look at the \u201cbest of\u201d New York sports history \u2014 areas that are just as worthy of debate, but that haven\u2019t been argued incessantly. Today\u2019s edition: the best comeback in New York sports history.<\/em><\/p>\n

The summer of 1978 hardly seemed like it was setting up for the Yankees to pull off one of the most dramatic comebacks in baseball history.<\/p>\n

Coming off a World Series<\/a> victory the year before, they found themselves in fourth place and 14 game<\/a>s behind the first-place Red Sox in the AL East on July 19.<\/p>\n

They were still 8\u00bd out on Aug. 20, but managed to trim that deficit to just four games by the time the Yankees visited Fenway Park for a four-game series that began on Sept. 7.<\/p>\n

What happ<\/a>ened then became known as the Boston Massacre, four straight wins by the Yankees by a combined score of 42-9 that moved them into a tie with the Red Sox atop the division.<\/p>\n

The Yankees eventually went up by as many as 3\u00bd games, but gave away the last of that lead on the final day of the regular season, which forced a one-game playoff.<\/p>\n

At no point, though, did Bucky Dent believe the Yankees weren\u2019t going to finish on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a classic game at the end of a phenomenal year,\u2019\u2019 Dent said by phone. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain how we pulled it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bucky<\/img>
Bucky Dent belts a home run off Mike Perez in the seventh inning of the Yankees\u2019 Al East clinching victory over the Red Sox in 1978.<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dent provided the big blow in the winner-take-all contest, a three-run homer to give the Yankees the lead in the seventh inning. And he\u2019s not surprised the season still resonates with fans \u2014 and is considered the best comeback in New York sports history by The Post\u2019s sports department.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all,\u2019\u2019 Dent said. \u201cYou had it all: drama, our most bitter rivals and it wasn\u2019t just one game or one series. There\u2019s a reason it\u2019s stood the test of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, it resulted in two nicknames: The Boston Massacre and Bucky [bleeping] Dent and one of the most memorable sports quotes with Billy Martin\u2019s line: \u201cOne\u2019s a born liar, the other\u2019s convicted\u201d when speaking about Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner.<\/p>\n

Following their first title since 1962 the year prior, the Yankees lost four of their first five games to start the \u201978 season. They recovered to get to 29-15 on May 29, but then went nine games under .500 through July 17 to fall to 47-42.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the season went from disappointing to bizarre \u2014 including Thurman Munson being moved to right field and Jackson having his playing time reduced.<\/p>\n

In the middle of a July winning streak, Jackson was suspended for ignoring a sign from the dugout \u2014 then Martin resigned under pressure a week later, a day after his infamous quote about Jackson and Steinbrenner.<\/p>\n

Bob Lemon replaced Martin and that, according to Dent, was a key part of the turnaround.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat relaxed the team,\u2019\u2019 Dent said. \u201cBob calmed everyone down and just said, \u2018Go play.\u2019 You could feel the tension go away.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The team also dealt with injuries to Dent, Catfish Hunter, Mickey Rivers and Willie Randolph, who all spent time on the disabled list.<\/p>\n

Despite Lemon\u2019s impact, the Yankees opened September 6\u00bd games behind Boston, the same deficit they had faced on Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we got guys back and healthy, we had Catfish to go along with [Ron] Guidry, who we knew we were winning with every five days,\u2019\u2019 Dent said. \u201cOnce we started winning two of three and three of four, we felt like we would keep rolling. Our mindset was that we needed to pick up one game a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also had seven games remaining against Boston, which Dent said the Yankees knew \u201cwould make or break our season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came the four-game series at Fenway in early September.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was our chance,\u2019\u2019 Dent said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/img>
The Yankees celebrate after their AL East-clinching win over the Red Sox in 1978.<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They made the most of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t play well without timely hitting, great pitching and defense,\u2019\u2019 Jackson said. \u201cAnd the players were there, from Thurman, to [Lou] Piniella, to [Graig] Nettles, to Dent and Randolph and [Chris] Chambliss. \u2026 Of course, we had Ron Guidry, the best pitcher in baseball and that made a difference \u2014 and [Goose] Gossage and [Sparky] Lyle.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Boston\u2019s manager that season, Don Zimmer, recalled the infamous series in 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me ask you a question, it was a four-game massacre, right?\u201d Zimmer said. \u201cHow many doubles and home runs were hit? It was base hit after base hit. As a manager, all you could do was bring in another [pitcher] and try and bring in another and try it. Nothing worked. When they say massacre, somebody used the right word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson, also in 2003, remembered the aftermath of the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember sitting next to Lou Piniella in the clubhouse after the fourth game and I asked him, \u2018What do we do now?\u2019 \u201d Jackson said. \u201cHe was smoking a cigarette, turned to me and said, \u2018We keep winning.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The winning, which actually began before the Massacre, extended to a 13-2 run, including the first two games of the Yankees\u2019 next series against the Red Sox, this time in The Bronx. They went up by 3\u00bd games, but the Red Sox never went away and caught the Yankees on the final day of the season, leading to the one-game playoff.<\/p>\n

After the Yankees lost a coin toss, the game was played in Boston, but that didn\u2019t shake Dent\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just locked in at that point,\u2019\u2019 Dent said. \u201cWhen that team was focused, we were hard to beat. We had so many tough guys that had been through it all before. We always felt we were gonna win [the division], even when things didn\u2019t work out for us that last day.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Boston took a 2-0 lead into the seventh, when Dent hit his three-run homer. The Yankees went up 5-2 before Gossage allowed two runs in the eighth and the Yankees held on for the victory, then went on to beat the Royals in the ALCS. In the World Series, the Yankees pulled off another comeback, winning four in a row after dropping the first two games to the Dodgers to win their second straight title.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo do what we did under the circumstances made it even better,\u2019\u2019 Dent said. \u201cIn both \u201977 and \u201978, whatever was going on off the field didn\u2019t impact what we did on the field. \u2026 It was a group of guys that wouldn\u2019t lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Additional reporting by George A. King III<\/em>\n <\/div>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

If you want to read more Sports News<\/a> articles, you can visit our General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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“#Yankees overcame crazy obstacles in best New York comeback ever” This week The Post takes a fresh look at the \u201cbest of\u201d New York sports history \u2014 areas that are just as worthy of debate, but that haven\u2019t been argued incessantly. Today\u2019s edition: the best comeback in New York sports history. The summer of 1978…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13318,8486,13317],"class_list":["post-6688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-but-that-havent-been-argued-incessantly-todays-edition-the-best-comeback-in-new-york-sports-history-the-summer-of-1978-hardly-seemed-like-it-was-setting-up-for-the-yankees","tag-this-week-the-post-takes-a-fresh-look-at-the-best-of-new-york-sports-history-areas-that-are-just-as-worthy-of-debate","tag-yankees-overcame-crazy-obstacles-in-best-new-york-comeback-ever"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}