Kirk Gibson's Daring Made Rusty Kuntz a World Series Mini-Hero

Maybe when Rusty Kuntz tells the story nowadays to those who don’t know any better, the sacrifice fly has become a long drive to the warning track. And Kirk Gibson trotted home from third base effortlessly.

I wouldn’t blame Kuntz if that’s how it’s being put forth. Nothing wrong with a good fish story now and again.

But I was there, and there are tons of folks still around who remember it from watching it on TV. We know Kuntz’s sac fly that drove Gibson home with the go-ahead run in the clinching Game Five of the 1984 World Series was hardly a boomer.

I wonder if Kuntz ever took Gibson out to dinner, or something, for making him moderately famous because of that play.

The scene: fifth inning, Game Five. The Tigers are trying to clinch the Series at home, but the San Diego Padres have come back from an early 3-0 deficit and the game is tied, 3-3.

The bases are jammed with one out. Gibson is the runner on third base. Lefty Craig Lefferts has been brought in, so Sparky Anderson pinch-hits Kuntz for Johnny Grubb.

Kuntz, not a power hitter, swings mightily but manages only a soft, harmless pop-up between the infield and the outfield, behind second base.

I’m in the center field bleachers, and I can see that Gibson is entertaining thoughts of trying to score, even though the ball is about to be caught by an infielder. But it’s really not a bad decision, because second baseman Alan Wiggins’ back is partially facing the infield when he makes the catch.

Gibson takes off, building up his trademark head of steam. The crowd roars, which tips Wiggins off. But by the time he reacts and throws the ball homeward, Gibson is sliding in safely.

It wasn’t even really close.

Tigers lead, 4-3. It's a lead they would build on and never relinquish. And a sacrifice fly for Kuntz, who hit the ball maybe 200 feet.

But like I said, maybe that 200 feet is now 360, up to the track in left center at Tiger Stadium.

Or maybe Kuntz has played it true, and told the story as it actually happened. Which, frankly, is a better story anyway. Who scores from third on a pop-up to the second baseman, anyway? In the World Series, no less!

Kirk Gibson, that’s who. He’s one of the few who had the daring and the sense of drama to try such a cockamamie thing. But he did it, and gave Kuntz the game-winning RBI in the process. The game-winning RBI in the game that made the Tigers champions of ‘84.

Leave it to Gibson, though, to trump himself—twice. First he hits the legendary homer off Goose Gossage later in that game, to REALLY seal the deal, then he bests Dennis Eckersley four years later, as a Dodger, with that even MORE legendary homer.

But Gibson kicked things off, as a Fall Classic hero, with his feat of daring on Kuntz’s pop-up. Kuntz owes him one, if he hasn’t paid up by now.