Yankees 1978 - Final Outs NYY vs Boston-Frank Messer audio & WPIX video
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- From 10/2/1978 and for the 1st time: The final two outs of the one game AL divisional playoff game NY Yankees vs Boston at Fenway Park as called by Frank Messer--we took the WPIX-TV video, edited out White's call, and inserted Messer's rarely heard radio call (well-done Frank!). Produced by Brad Abrell.
Forty years ago I skipped school to watch this game, best damn decision I've ever made !
I hurried home, adrenalised, freshman in highschool, just in time for Dent's homer
I hear ya. Got home and saw the last three innings. Tigers fan too so didn't care who won
Pretty sure i did too lol
I was home “sick” that day. 🤒
I remember this game, I don't remember school that day? My mind says it was a Saturday. If not then I must have come home and watched the latter half of the game. My dad never would have let me skip school over a game. I think I remember my dad watching, he wouldn't have skipped work over it. I don't know my childhood is a fog.
Was 8 year old Northern New Jersey kid watching this game. Great memories of this game and the old WPIX announcing team. Thanks for uploading.
8 year old in Oakland. First real baseball memory that's stuck.
Frank Messer was a total pro, boy do I miss him
As do I. Sterling and Waldman just don't do it for this long time Yankees fan.
Messer, White and Rizzuto...Doesn't get any better then that...When you have to listen to Kay and Cone you appreciate those 3 all the more !!
Those two I can tolerate up to a point. As for Sterling & Waldman, they make miss the days when the games were on WPIX Channel 11/ WABC 770. Regardless of who was behind the mike. And let's not forget SportsChannel & MSG Network.
Yeah, Staats and Kubek were great as well !!
I remember them as well covering Jim Abbott's no-hitter against The Tribe in '93.
I ran all the way home after school to watch this and I wasn't disappointed.Lived in Massachusetts but a lifelong Yankee fan.
This never gets old. Messer,White, and Rizzuto were the best!
bill white sucked
I was 20 years old and a student at Fairfield University in Connecticut. We were sitting in the bar on campus filled with both Yankees and Red Sox fans. I'm from Springfield Ma. So my heart was and still is with the Sox. The bar was very loud watching this great game. But when the Sox got 2 runners on in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs the bar suddenly got a little quiet. I looked at a lot of my friends who were Yankee fans and the fear they had on their face. Because Yaz was coming up to bat. He popped out off of Gossage but I will never forget the looks on my buddies faces. That was respect for one of the greatest clutch hitters ever.
Yaz certainly was a brilliant player, and one of the great clutch hitters ever, not to mention a very classy guy. In Boston, they worship someone from Long Island, right outside NYC.
I'm sorry he never won a ring. He deserved it.
Thanks for this. I was at my Met fan friends house watching the last inning. When Remy singled and Rice and Yaz were coming up I couldn't take watching anymore. I ran outside to my car and listened to Frank Messer call the game on radio. I vividly remembered he advised people driving to be careful. So great to hear it again. Messer was a true pro.
One of the most tense battles of the 1970's. Great players, great game.
2004 was the all mighty redemption but I still came back to hell to watch this clip.lol.Still great memories of this greatest rivalry in all sports.
took a LONG time to get to 2004 though. Many long and painful years. Weird is now I just don't care about the Red Sox. or even much of baseball for that matter. I was 16 and CRIED when they lost in 86. Now, could literally care less.
For me,this was the best Yankee,Red Sox game evah...
Some say it was the greatest overall baseball game ever played
There is a book about this titled “The Greatest Game”. No argument here.
Nothing went right for the Red Sox in that final half inning. I was listening to this audio broadcast in the car, it's the first time I've heard the call by Messer in 37 years! I distinctly remember him saying popped up, popped up and then nettles, nettles, like there was an echo! I remember almost having a heart failure when he called the Pinella play. This is possibly the greatest game in the history of major-league baseball!
+rockintetster The play by Pinella was the play of the game. You're right about nothing going right for Boston in that half inning.
After 42 years I can appreciate what a great game this was. Great play by Pinella.
75 game 6 was best game ever
Was working in a lawn mower shop in a stifling basement, sweating even worse while listening to this on a scratchy radio.
Will never forget it. Loved them all.
My best friend in high school was a Red Sox fan. We had a radio and listened to the game before school let out. The bus couldn’t go fast enough for me on the way home where I was able to catch the ending.
One of the greatest games and definitely one of the greatest seasons for the NY Yankees, especially for a fan.
R.i.P Jerry Remy all sox fans ( my age) were blessed to see you play then all those years in the booth you'll be missed
I'm a NYY fan. Jerry was a helluva player AND broadcaster. On Long Island's east end you could get Remy and Ned Martin on Bosox games. Enjoyed them immensely.
Messer was a TOTAL PRO - so much BETTER then any of the Yankees announcers NOW ! I'd never heard this before since I stayed home from school to watch the game on TV , lol !! His play - by - play here on these final outs only PROVES how good he was !
This was the 1978 World Series, right here. The two best teams in baseball. After 163 games one run would separate them. And the Sox were 90 feet from tying it.
True. If Lou doesn't see that ball at the last second or if it's even just a few feet more to his left, it's a tie game.
@@stumarston6812 or if burelson knew pinella couldn't see it he would have motored to 3rd & jim rice would have driven him in , the fake act of he was under saved that game
The Greatest Game Ever Played.
I still get goose bumps watching the last out. What a game....what a season!!!!!
A miracle that the Yankees escaped that inning. Piniella makes two key defensive plays to save the game. Always remembered how nettles caught that last pop up against his chest.
Supposedly he told Gossage to throw Yaz inside to get him to pop up. Goose obliged and he could hear Nettles say "Nooooooooo!" when he realized it was floating in his direction.
I was a drum teacher in a music studio when this game was on. All lessons ceased after Dent's HR. I don't even remember Messer's call--all I could remember was screaming.
You gotta love the WPIX Video Scoreboard! Great historic clip. Thank you Paul for sharing another historic Yankees masterpiece.
One of the greatest MLB playoff games ever. Yanks played their hearts out.
I could barely breath during the bottom of the 9th as Gossage was struggling to close out the game. What a play by Pinella snaring that ball on one hop to keep the man on second. Probably the most nervous I ever was watching a baseball game. Those Yankee teams in the late 70s were clutch.
Messer is calling the game as it should be called even as, in this case, a Yankee announcer. The fans know the importance of what's going on; the announcer need not scream at them to emphasize that. Vin Scully said announcers need to see with their eyes and not with their hearts, as fans do.
I remember this game as if it were played today. Great memories from so long ago.
I remember I couldn't concentrate at school that day and all i did was watch the clock so I could get home. I didn't get home till the 6th inning and to my dismay they were losing 2-0. I was set up pefectly for Bucky Dent's Homerun.
So many greats played in this game.
Frank Messer was always my favorite Yankee broadcaster...though I loved Bill White and The Scooter as well....I was so upset when Steinbrenner let him go after 1985 to give Bobby Murcer more air time; who was also one of my favorite Yankee players....check out Frank's emceeing Mickey Mantle Day in 1969....classic performance...thanks for the memories Frank
Actually Frank's dismissal had nothing to do with making room for Bobby Murcer. Frank was first taken off TV after the 84 season and did radio only in 1985 and then after 85 he was abruptly let go. Basically both times he was replaced in favor of Spencer Ross who took his place on TV in 85, and then Ross was on radio in 86 with Murcer (who was effectively replacing John Gordon who got banished to pregame and postgame only).
In NY this game was broadcast by both WPIX and the national game on the ABC Network with Cosell.
For the record, here is Bill White's call on Jerry Remy's line drive to right -- I will NEVER forget it:
"Piniella.................CAN'T SEE THE BALL! And they hold the runner at second base! Lou could not see the ball -- fortunately for him, it was hit right at him...........and he got it on the first hop.........(video replay begins)............Here it is again -- ball's out over the plate and Remy lines it to right field, Piniella can't see it -- but then luckily he gets the ball and Burleson decides to hold there -- he might have been out anyway had he gone on to third base, so a wise choice by Eddie Yost! Good play by Piniella fighting the elements here at Fenway Park!
I love pre-covid baseball.
As a kid remember Frank Messer when he first started with the Yankees in late 60s. My dad, who grew up listening to Mel Allen and Red Barber, said Messer would never last. Well, he wasn't always right, but no one ever told him that.
Messer, Rizzuto, and White were the holy trinity of my baseball-infected youth.
This was classic baseball in the fading light of a fall day
in a New England Fall day too! Being from Maine too, when baseball was over meant the COLD long winters were coming. talk about an aura. You wanted the Sox to win to delay the winter as long as possible Played under the lights would never have the same feeling.
Goose said a few months later this was the most scared he ever was pitching. He said he would be fishing in Colorado if he blew it and it calmed him down
Still remember this from 1978
Pinella made a helluva reaction play, and his throw to third was NOT wild, it was probably the best one he ever made. Yankee fans will forever thank God & Bob Lemon for not playing Reggie in right field that memorable day.
Think what would have happneed if he doesn't keep the ball from going to the fence to begin with.
@@HeritageWealthPlanning Epic Sox comeback, Yankee fans [like me] forever haunted and crushed.
man, never knew that when Pinella stopped that Remy hit from going to the fence, that saved the game for the Yanks. Think about it. That ball goes by him, Burleson then advances to third. Rice hits sac fly the next at bat and Bursledon scores to tie the game. Who knows what happens next? Sox go on to beat the Dodgers in teh World Series? Who knows? But, small, seemingly insignificant plays, change the world. It's crazy.
seconds
Goose entered the game in the 7th, put down the rally, then finished the game by retiring Yaz with the tying run at 3rd. In the 163rd game! Goose puts most modern relievers and starters to shame.
Relievers, yes, but starters, no. Goose himself was a failed starter.
"Nettles Nettles"!!!
Mattaeu Mattaeu !!!
I clicked here to watch Goose. He is never mentioned here. Goose was awesome!
Messer, White, & Rizzuto.
0 and 2 against Goose Gossage in a back to the wall situation and RemDog comes through with a clutch single! RIP Jerry Remy
Messer may not have been mel allen but he was the closest we've had on yanks games. Very sooth and professional
How about that??
I'm amazed they played "We Are The Champions" by Queen in Fenway at the end of the game
Yeah, just caught that now. Very surprising.
I had a Dream that it was gonna come down to Yaz and Goose...I woke up without knowing the end result...and then this..wow!
What great memories baseball in the fall air one game your in
The Yankees were 14 games out of first in mid-July - the Red Sox were in first place then. The yanks then won 45 of their next 60 games and won the division title in this play off game. Red Sox fans must have been practically suicidal.
Remember one thing, the Yankees could of never gotten to this playoff game if the Red Sox didn’t fall apart during the second half of the season.
@@nightowl5475
The Red Sox fell apart after half the team got injured. And then they won 9 of their last 10 (before this game) after falling something like 2.5 games back of the Yankees. So give them some credit as well.
@stevenyourke7901
Actually, when the Yankees were 14.5 games back, Baltimore was in first. The Yankees were never more than around 12 behind Boston. Js.
I was 8 years old and remember getting home from school early enough to see the last couple of innings. Pinella saved the Yankees season by just putting his body in front of the ball and pretending to have a beat on it. He he not done that, Burleson would have been at third and scored on the sacrifice to tie the game.
Exactly right.
What? Burelson woulda scored to tie the game had the ball got away from Lou. Even if he didn’t, there’s no such thing as the pre-determined outcome in baseball. Rice would’ve thought differently and Goose woulda pitched differently. Either way, Lou made a great play and Yaz popped up to Nettles shortly after. Game over!
Great play by sweet Lou.
traderduke2 Yes, indeed it was a HUGE play traderduke2. Had that ball gotten by Piniella and rolled all the way to the wall, Rick Burleson would have scored easily to tie the game and Jerry Remy at minimum would have been on third as the winning run with the Red Sox's big power hitter Jim Rice coming up needing only a deep fly ball to win the game.
Yep. One of the smartest, instinctual CLUTCH plays I've ever seen. I'm age 54, been a baseball fan since "76
Still haunts mebut after all thee years, I appreciate what a GREAT game this was.
@@tomgoode3658 I don't believe the boxscore showed pitch count. My guess is Gossage threw 40-50 pitches?? Was definitely gassed and hanging on by a thread!
@@traderduke2 Goose pitched 3 innings, I believe.
Why did he call it a wild throw to 3rd base? I looked to me like the 3rd basement got it, and it held the runner.
One of the greatest games I ever saw if Reggie Jackson is in right field I don't think he makes that play
I think nettles suggested that he pitch inside for pop-up. He let out an audible moan when he knew the ball was coming towards him.
A-B-C you later! Frank Messer's home run call on radio.
As history would eventually play out, Goose ended up getting out two future Hall of Famers, Rice & Yaz out with the tying and winning runs on base, with another, Fisk on deck.
George Steinbrenner 'The Boss'
July 4 1930 - July 13 2010
"Popped Up! ... Popped up left side! ... Nettles! Nettles! .... Under it! .... The Yankees win it! The Yankees win it!"
Piniella always ran like he was wearing high heels. I'm surprised the Yankees kept such a defensive liability like him in out in right field for that final inning.
I remember this game as if it were yesterday.
This was the game Bucky Dent hit a big home run was it not? I was in seventh grade in Cleveland and our teacher let us watch part of the game on TV,
Yes, Dent hit a 3 run tater over the Green Monster, then Reggie Jackson hit a 2 run shot in the 8th to give the Yanks a 3 run lead. Boston scored 2 in the ninth before this sequence to make it 5-4 New York..
@@mikefitz6957 no Reggie’s HR was a solo shot. They were up 4-2 at the time and that made it 5-2.
Piniella play on Remy hit to keep burleson at second is the key play.
The Yankees were 141/2 games out in July , then , like my Dad used to always say, don't worry Peter, the Yankees will overtake the Sox in September .......and they did!! More heartache for a Red Sox fan
..
Yankees were 14.5 back of Baltimore, not Boston. Boston was in second at that point.
We had the radio version on too
because Messer was the best
Pinella play on Remy saved the game
46 years ago!
Time sure does fly, doesn't it?
That must of been a hard pill to swallow for Red Sox fans. Gossage came so close to blowing that game. All Yaz needed to do was get a base hit to score the runner on 3rd. Lemon would of taken Gossage out and put in Lyle and the Sox could of rallied!
I remember going to Yankee games when Gossage pitched. He would walk the bases loaded, and then strike out the next 3 hitters. Crazy!
funny they played We Are The Champions by Queen, that was the year the song came out
This was my Red Sox team Yaz Lynn Evens Rice, Wild throwing third baseman butch Hobson, Dennis Eckersley , Bill Lee and Luis Tiant when he was on nobody could touch him. Oh yea Wade Boggs. Catcher Mr. 75 world series home run- mind blank- FISK!!!!! Carlton Fisk. No they were never the team but they were my team.
Boggs wasn't on this team.
HOLY COW!!!
i 'd always thought Lemon would bring Sparky in to face Yaz, since he was always able to get him out......but I'm sure glad he didn't
In Sparky's book, The Bronx Zoo, he ended up respecting Lemon's decision to leave Gossage in. Personally, I would have gone right to Lyle!
Well it broke my heart. But 2004 came around and erased all that anger. I think 2004 was as bad for new york as 1978 was for the Sox.
No, it wasn’t, since the Yanks had won 4 titles from 96-01 and since the real NYY fans knew that the ‘04 team just wasn’t that good. Weak starting rotation. Jeter knew when they were up 3-0 that if they didn’t finish the sweep, they could be in real trouble given the Yankees starters.
@@anthonydonofrio3869I remember that when Torre declined the insulting offer from George, Michael Kay was interviewed by Dan Patrick on ESPN. Kay said the one real mistake Torre made as Yanks manager was not bringing back Missions to pitch game 4. This was because the series was pushed back one day due to game 3 being rained out. So when Moose pitched in game 5, he was on extra rest, which Moose hated. He was the Yankee starter who always have the Sox the most trouble. Guess Joe wanted to save him for Game 1 of the WS, and we'll.....
@@robbarbieri8676
Missions?
@jimwerner... Stupid autocorrect. I meant Mussina, who was the Yankees best starter against the Sox back then. Thanks for catching that.
@@robbarbieri8676
👍
What a difference from what you hear on the Yankee radio network nowadays! This is baseball how it should be described. Messer was a real pro. Absolutely terrific! I miss him and Bill White dearly. Conversely, John Sterling is an over rated , self serving, pompous jerk. His side kick, Susan Waldman, adds absolutely nothing to the radio casts. I can't listen without getting angry about how far down the drain the broadcasts, or the game itself for that matter, has fallen.
That’s why I gave up on MLB. Actually, after Reggie left in 82, I stopped following the Yankees.
RIP Jerry Remy
This coming right after the Boston Massacre. It was a very ugly,cursed, tortured and traumatizing year in Boston.
Boston Massacre was in early September. The Red Sox were something like 2.5 back with ten to play, then went on a 9-1 run to tie after 162.
@jimwerther Worst year of my life. Weren't the Sox up by 14 at the end of July? I swear....I knew then they wouldn't make it.
@@gabevachon326
The Yankees fell to 14.5 back at one point, but the Yankees were in fourth place. The biggest Boston lead was 9 games, over Milwaukee, with Baltimore in third place. That's when Boston got hit with a whole bunch of injuries.
Yankee fans were so luck to hear Messer, Rizzuto and White. No one has come close since except Ernie Harwell.
I remember the anticipation when I first tuned in to Ernie Harwell in the late 1980s, as I'd gone to the midwest for school. And then being incredibly disappointed. I found him unbelievably boring.
Best 9 inning game ever
Piniella's deke = pure genius. If he doesn't hold the lead runner at 2nd, Red Sox would've scored at least the tying run.
I remember watching the start of the game in school. If Pinella doesn't make that play in right it's a different ballgame....
If this game was played today. Sparky Lyle would've been brought in to face YAZ
Vinny Barone if it was played today I doubt sparky would be able to play lol
@@bryggreen77 He would have just thrown him sliders, like he always did
If this game was played today, it would still be going…
They must of flew the hell out of town,right after that.
i always wondered if Lemon had brought Lyle in to pitch to Yaz, if he'd have gotten him out
yaz never bailed against lefties, he would have tattooed him
That is a great question. One has to remember that prior to 1978, Sparky Lyle was the ace reliever for the New York Yankees and won the Cy Young Award of the A.L. in 1977. However, once Gosage became a free agent, the Yankees signed him and Lyle became number two. Nevertheless, both were at the top of the prime. I wish I could say the same for the terrible Ken Clay, who (along with Dave Pagan) was the worst pitcher to come out of the Yankees' farm system of Syracuse in 1970s.
lyle's effectiveness had waned quite a bit in 78. i really doubt lemon even casually considered it.
@@DonQwantsyou Lyle always said he was able to get Yaz out, but I agree, had to stick with the Goose
also if yaz got a hit vs lyle and tied the game, lemon would only have had lyle to finish it and that was not where he wanted to be.
Nowadays, they would've gone to Lyle to face Yaz for the last out.
doubt it.
Nowadays, the game would still be playing….
ゴッセージはいい。
1978 YANKEES GREATEST BASEBALL TEAM EVER!!!!
The Pinella sun catch was in the 9th inning??? Wow what luck!!! Thats baseball.
...the baseball Gods got us back in 2004 w/ Tony Clarks miraculous ground rule double...still have nightmares about that play...Series was over if that stayed in play...Over without a doubt.
Agreed. When that happened, McCarver said Ruben Sierra was going to score from first. I didn't think he was going to, until I watched the synced up replays. As the ball goes into the stands, Sierra was at least a stride and a half past third, headed home. Unless that ball hits the wall and bounces straight into Gabe Kapler's throwing hand, and he makes a perfect throw, Sierra scores easily. Yeah, that loss still bothers me, as do '01 and '03 in the WS.
Tony Clark was only in the game because John Olerud got injured. Without Olerud's injury, the Yankees win that series in four or five. Olerud was one of the great clutch hitters of his era, and was playing brilliantly in that series until he got injured. Tony Clark was lousy in the clutch; after that ground rule double, he basically did nothing. The Olerud injury is the secret turning point of the series.
He said steinbrenner congrats the fans?
Notice that Rice hit a sac fly and nobody ran over and congratulated him ??
No one scored on his fly ball, Remy tagged up and moved to third.
@@jamesd2128 The point I'm making is that today, you hit a sac fly and advance the runner, they come over and pat ya on the ass
@@DD-fm7xb Just to be pedantic, what Rice did wouldn't be scored as a sac fly, but I get your point. That Red Sox team in 78 wasn't exactly a close knit group of guys, great team, but not a butt slappin bunch for sure .
@@jamesd2128Burleson went from second to third.
@@robbarbieri8676 Thanks for the correction.
Gossage was choking all year long in 1978. He nearly choked here. But he got Yaz and went on a run after that.
Always wondered about Yaz swinging 1st pitch, he was late on fastball too
Second pitch. He took a breaking ball for ball one.
Rice got a little anxious swinging at first pitch.
Frank Messer, Bill White, and (The Scooter) Phil Rizzuto.
New York lies in between, right in the middle of two of America's most envious cities, Boston and Philly and both hate us for everything we are,,,winners.
Should’ve taught players to fly
Bad geography
Great victory, Red Sox was our pets
Messer was great. Unlike that ego maniac Sterling.....who makes it all about himself. I can't listen to him.
Goose was struggling from the time he came in. In the beginning of the year, he was blowing saves left and right as the best lefty in the league and Billys reliever was sitting on his hands. Goose spoke about how he figured they would he a lefty righty team he thought but it never happened. Sparky was throwing in the pen Ken Clay was never coming in but yaz vs Sparky was there and Lemon asked an infielder ti come to the mound (nettles ran over ) to buy more time??? That non mobe and that had to be something Lem was wrestling with. Funny you never hear about that. Lemons HOF pitching gut kept Goose in i guess Sparky had that screwball .. it was a big gamble for the popup as opposed to Yaz yanking one out of the park , but that was the plan at thw mound as Hoose busted him inside to end it
I'll be sure to catch WWWD Schenectady for some rock after the game.
Was that Larry David at the end of the video? ha
Yanks should have had Yaz. Could have, should have but didn't.
Yanks won 4 World Series during Yaz's career. Yaz won zippity-do-dah.
@@TheBatugan77 Yaz didn't play every position. Yaz wasn't in the front office. I mean he is one guy and a Hall of Famer. You can't blame him for his team's not being good enough.
Yaz was a brilliant player, and tremendous clutch hitter. A real gentleman, too. It's sad he never got a ring. Boston fans revere him, nevermind that he's from Long Island.
Remy Martin!