That '70s Series

[Squigglenob]

The first game of the 1975 World Series was an afternoon tilt, played on Saturday, October 11. I didn't have a ticket, so I watched from inside a watering hole around the corner from Fenway Park called Copperfield's. There were no sports bars in those days, no Sam Adams beer, big screen TVs, cell phones, twitter, Wally the Green Monster, pink hats, Monster Seats or anything else that revolves around the highly effective but somewhat repulsive marketing tool called Red Sox Nation, which didn't exist back then either.

ESPN was still four years away, and the only sports talk shows in town were Guy Mainella's "Calling All Sports" and Eddie Andelman's "Sports Huddle," both on WBZ-AM. We read the 'Globe' and the 'Herald' and rooted for guys named Pudge, Yaz and Dewey against a team of future Hall-of-Famers named Bench, Morgan and Rose (who's still waiting).

I drank Budweiser and watched on a color set perched over the far right-hand side of the bar. It wasn't crowded, the TV volume was down and the radio was turned on. The bartender was hunched over wiping beer glasses and humming along to a pop hit called "Games People Play."

Two blocks away, U.S. Treasury Secretary William Simon threw out the first pitch and Luis Tiant spun a six-hit shutout that lasted two hours and 27 minutes. The next day the 'Globe' ran a cartoon of Tiant pulling the plug on Sparky Anderson's Big Red Machine. New England fans were enthralled and reacted with...

Read the rest of the story by Chip Ainsworth: http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2011/09/11/that-70s-series

[era veteran]

1. I was a Big Red Machine Fan and loved watching them

I saw that game in W Germany on AFN. Good times great baseball, pre first strike.
I don't care for it now, the game just sucks with watered down overrated talent.

The Reds, down 6 runs in the 4th and you would still bet on them. RIP Sparky