1975 World Series Game 6 Red Sox 7 - Reds 6

I was 10 years old when this game happened.

I remember staying up very late to watch this game and was so excited when Fisk hit his game ending home run. But the thing that I remember most was our next door neighbor banging two pans together on her back porch in celebration of the win.

Game 6 was well worth the wait, not only for one of the participating clubs, but for all of baseball. It may have been the finest World Series game ever.

Boston bolted to a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Fred Lynn homered into the bleachers in right-center following two-out singles by Carl Yastrzemski and Carlton Fisk. Lynn and fellow Red Sox rookie outfielder Jim Rice had enjoyed sensational seasons in 1975, Lynn batting .331 with 21 home runs and 105 runs batted in and Rice hitting .309 with 22 homers and 102 RBIs before suffering a season-ending arm injury in September.

Tiant protected the three-run edge through four innings, but Ken Griffey's two-run triple and Johnny Bench's run-scoring single knotted the score in the fifth. Cincinnati's George Foster then crashed a two-run double off the center-field wall in the seventh, and Cesar Geronimo drove Tiant from the mound when he cracked a leadoff homer in the eighth.

At this juncture -- the Reds were on top, 6-3, and needed only six more outs to clinch the Series title -- the game had been well played but unspectacular. The spectacular, though, was just around the corner.