My biggest gripe with interleague play is its propensity to waste too much of my time with unimportant storylines.
A perfect example? This weekend’s series pitting the Boston Red Sox vs. the Cincinnati Reds.
You know what the big hype is surrounding this series? A game-winning home run in Game Six of the 1975 World Series hit by a member of the team that didn't even go on to win that series.
If you were actually alive to see and subsequently remember Carlton Fisk's Game Six blast, it truly was a big deal—for a couple of days in 1975.
But didn't Cincy's win in Game Seven render it somewhat meaningless? Isn’t this one of the more overblown home runs in the history of the game? If it were any other team except the Boston Red Sox, would we still be hearing about it?
Call me anachronistic. Or practical.
But mostly, call me bored.
That game was played almost 33 years ago. I wasn’t even born yet. Neither were several players who will have impact on the weekend series. Good grief. Ken Griffey Jr. was only five-years-old.
What’s MLB got up its sleeve for an encore? “Baseball fever…catch it?”
This just isn’t a good matchup, which is why I get sick of Major League Baseball dumping interleague play on us in tiny increments twice before the All-Star Break.
Bostonians don’t know the Midwest exists. Midwesterners know Boston exists, but don’t really care.
The Red Sox can pretty much acquire anybody they open their vault to. Within three years, the Reds are going to lose most of the young core of players they’re currently building around.
From Cincy’s standpoint, it's good news that attendance will be up for the weekend. Just like it is every year the Indians come to town for the vaunted “Battle of Ohio.”
But for the most part, the only thing I’m terribly excited about is that the national media's slobbering love of the Red Sox means that at least my beloved Reds get a national Saturday game on television.
So I’ll tune in at 3:30 p.m. for today’s first pitch.
Actually, make it 3:40.
Just in time to miss highlights of an old fossil home run dug up from the 1970’s.
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3 months ago
Greg, the Fisk highlight is a twisted bastardization of the “paying it forward” concept. When Fisk batted, we Red Sox fans had to endure 30 minutes of him tugging at his sleeves-wristbands-crotch before every pitch. Couple that with Garciaparra’s later obsessive-compulsive antics at the plate, and we’ve had enough!! So, it’s a see-how-you-like-it kind of pass-along. It’s cheap and brutal, but there it is.
Manny being Manny plays well. If it were, “Oh, that’s just Manny being Carlton,” we Red Sox fans would have slit our wrists long ago.
from 3 months ago
That's probably true. I've been a Reds fan all my life. I first saw the Fisk homer when I was eight. Being young and unaware of the history of the 1975 World Series, I thought, "Wow, it must have been awesome that that's how they won the World Series."
Then I learned that the Reds won Game Seven. And I thought to myself, "They LOST Game Seven? Then who cares?"
Anyway, I did manage to miss any highlight of the homer, if any was played at all.
Oh, by the way, the Red Sox are up 2-1 without actually having knocked in an run yet. So, um, go Reds.
3 months ago
You're right Greg. Other than the other facets of Kirk Gibson's homer that made it cooler than Fisk's (injured Casey at the bat imagery), it's meaningful because the Dodgers WON that series and Gibby's blast was instrumental. I think Fisk's blast fired the imagination of Bostonians prior to them winning the series a couple times, because it was the only thing they could point to in their winless tenure. Now that they are multiple champs, that shot is ABSOLUTELY meaningless. Even more so than before.
from 3 months ago
Thanks Daniel. Gibson's shot is one of the all-time favorite sports moments in my lifetime. I don't even like the Dodgers, but that was awesome.
3 months ago
Part of what makes the Fisk home run so meaningful was that the Red Sox simply forced a game seven - against a far superior Reds team. It was a walkoff, and it was hit by one of Boston's most beloved players of all time, a New England native. On top of that, the gesturing made it a classic moment.
More importantly, it was one of Boston's few GOOD postseason memories that happened between 1918 and 2004.
However, Gibson's home run was much, much better.
3 months ago
I had a lot of love for Gibby from his Tigers and Michigan State days, and I've always hated the A's, so yeah I loved that shot too. The old beaten down man humbling the "Bash Bozo's." Does it get any better?
3 months ago
It's alright...the baseball gods have used the schedule to try to force an annual "rivalry" between Seattle and San Diego. Go figure. Also, while I was watching the same Reds/Red Sox game you were, I was commenting to those around me how absurd this "rivalry" is, since absolutely zero of the actual players were involved in the 1975 game are still playing...heck, the Reds even have a new stadium now, so only half the stadiums involved in that series are still around...
from 3 months ago
Great point, Stuart.
3 months ago
I don't know if you noticed, but with interleague scheduling, you play your so called "regional rival" and then you match up with an opposing division. The Reds and Red Sox were due to play because of scheduling methods, as they will play the NL Central this year.
from 3 months ago
Thanks Braden. We understand what you're saying...it doesn't make MLB not lame.
3 months ago
Amen, Preacher Adams!
I was at Progressive Field (god, I hate that name) last Saturday evening, watching the Indians lose in the tenth inning to the San Diego Padres, and it occurred to me that there couldn't possibly be another team in the league I could care less about.
Hooray for inter-league play!
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