Reds return to Fenway after 30 years

[jjakq27]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...SPT04/506130367

Monday, June 13, 2005

Returning to greatness

Fenway trip revisits glory days of 1975

By John Erardi

Enquirer staff writer

The Reds will be in Boston's Fenway Park today for the first time since the 1975 World Series, still regarded by many as the greatest ever.

Reds Hall of Famer Jack Billingham, who started Game 2 in Boston in the '75 Series and gave up only one earned run in his three appearances in that Series (9 total innings) has an idea:

The Red Sox should invite former Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk to these interleague games.

"They can let him jump up and down on home plate (like he did motioning the ball fair on his 12th-inning home run in Game 6) and then we can show him our (World Championship) rings," Billingham said.

Cactus Jack hasn't lost a thing in his delivery - at least not off the mound.

He holds the World Series record, minimum 25 innings, for lowest ERA. In his two World Series ('72 and '75), he gave up only one run in 252/3 innings.

But, yes, it still sticks in his craw that Fisk's Game 6-winning HR has gotten so much TV-replay time in the 30 years since that a lot of people think the Red Sox won the'75 Series.

"Our two batboys from '75 - Scott Teepe and Jeff Schachleiter - and a group of 24 other Reds fans are going up to Boston for these games," Billingham said. "They'll be wearing T-shirts that say, 'You got the highlight, we got the trophy.' "

Although Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Tony Perez and Joe Morgan all did some key things in the '75 Series, only Rose (.370) was exceptional.

It's been lost to history how well the non-"Big Four" and some of the starting pitchers and most of the bullpen did.

After the Reds lost Game 1, Billingham gave them the start they needed in Game 2, allowing only one earned run in 5 2/3 innings.

In the ninth inning of Game 2, Reds shortstop Davey Concepcion singled home Bench with the tying run, and Reds right fielder Ken Griffey doubled in Concepcion to win it.

The Reds won Games 3 and 5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati and went back to Boston leading three games to two.

Rain postponed Game 6 for three days, which sent the Reds in search of an indoor workout the day before the Series resumed. They secured a site at Tufts University, but their bus driver got lost on the way there with his load of Reds players, all in uniform, including Reds manager Sparky Anderson.

"Sparky had the driver stop at a filling gas station and he jumped out and asked for directions," recalled Billingham. "You talk about some double-takes from the people at that gas station ..."

Game 6 proved worth the wait for the nation's baseball fans. Baseball had been in a lull, playing a deep second fiddle to the NFL, but this was "The Game" in the World Series that recaptured them.

"I was 13 years old, watching at home in Los Angeles," remembered Eric Davis, who was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame Saturday. "I remember Fisk's home run (in Game 6) and I remember Tony Perez's (two-run) home run off Bill Lee's blooper pitch (in the sixth inning) to get the Reds back in it (trailing the Red Sox 3-2)."

Anderson recalled in a recent trip to Cincinnati that he was so nervous watching Game 7 - he thought for sure he had blown the Reds' chances in Game 6 - that he watched much of the final game through a narrow slit in the protective dugout fence.

"After the World Series, I saw a painting that had me out on the field celebrating, but I couldn't have done that if I wanted to," Sparky said. "I was totally exhausted."

Reds fans who saw Game 7 remember Morgan's soft single to center to win the game 4-3 in the ninth, but it's easy to forget the "small ball" the Reds played to get themselves in that position.

Which is exactly Billingham's point.

In the seventh inning, Griffey walked, stole second and was singled home by Rose to tie the game; in the ninth, Griffey again walked, was sacrificed to second by Cesar Geronimo and scored the winning run on Morgan's single.

"Griffey was key (in that game)," said Billingham, who pitched two scoreless innings. "I've said it before: We had an All-Star team. But it wasn't always the 'Big Four' getting it done."

Reds reliever Clay Carroll also pitched two scoreless innings in Game 7 and McEnaney closed it out.

"We (the Reds bullpen) shut them down (from the fifth inning on)," Billingham said.

Anderson later made a similar point in his book, "Sparky": A terrific bullpen and excellent speed is what separated the Big Red Machine from everybody else.

"If you want to play a power game, we'd stand still and play all the power you wanted," Anderson wrote. "If you wanted to open it up with a speed game, we'd start running."

Two weeks ago in Cincinnati, Anderson praised Griffey for his hitting, speed and defense.

"Everybody remembers Bench, Rose, Morgan, Perez and Concepcion," Anderson said. "Don't forget Griffey, Geronimo and (George) Foster. Without them, we wouldn't have won it."

[BengalszoneBilly]

God I love good reads like that! Good post jjakq!

[bengalboomer7]

Didn't look too good tonight

[bengalindian]

I love it. Give them all the hype. The funniest thing is that, I have a buddy up at school that is a huge Sox fan. He told me, in all seriousness, that the Red Sox have a better history than the Reds. I just laughed in his face and walked away. Give the Reds five years. I'm calling it.

[ArmyBengal]

I love it. Give them all the hype. The funniest thing is that, I have a buddy up at school that is a huge Sox fan. He told me, in all seriousness, that the Red Sox have a better history than the Reds. I just laughed in his face and walked away. Give the Reds five years. I'm calling it.

No way in hell any team has a better history than the Reds. If it wasn't for the "Curse" no one would have given a S**T if the Red Sox won or lost the series last year. I for one was rooting for them, but I found myself more intrigued by the whole "curse" thing than I was by the players on that team. Schilling was the man though !!!

WHODEY !!!

[bengalboomer7]

How can anyone argue with the first ever professional baseball team. The Reds started baseball and no one can argue with that.

[Kirkendall]

Well, I'd say the history is on the side of the Reds compared to the Red Sox, but it's awfully hard to make a case for the Reds against the Yankees.

[CBin2k7]

History is on the side of the Reds, but the Red Sox, Cardinals and Dodgers are close.

[BengalszoneBilly]

I love it.  Give them all the hype. The funniest thing is that, I have a buddy up at school that is a huge Sox fan.  He told me, in all seriousness, that the Red Sox have a better history than the Reds.  I just laughed in his face and walked away.  Give the Reds five years.  I'm calling it.

Tell your friend to put the crack pipe down. The Red Sox have NOTHING to touch the Dynasty called the "Big Red Machine!"

[bengalindian]

I know, I'm pretty sure he was on something, as everyone in college is. Don't worry, I took him to the Betty Ford clinic to get all clean so that his mind isn't all screwed up.