The late Paul Blair was an unsung hero for the '77/78 teams. Only hit .200 but had a boatload of clutch hits, including the 9th inning table setter here and the WS G1 winner two days later.
Paul Blair was a pros pro. Ever since his rookie season he was always in big games with the orioles 6 ws the man was valuable like Roy white if Pinellas played every day he git 300 the man c a n flat out hit.
What a double play to end the game, Randolf was hands down the best at turning the DP of any Yankee Second baseman I've seen. Did not know Paul Blaire passed away. Losing my Heros. This 77/78 Yankee team was the best.
Little did anyone know with his slump in this series....that Reggie was getting ready to go off big time...including 3 pitch....3 home run performance against the Dodgers😮💪💪💪
@@cc92103 That's awesome. Those were the good ole days with the Yankees when they were loaded with talented players...and to go along with it a mental toughness! Those Yankee teams were respected and feared!
Because it's 'bad' for the sport? We live in an age of cynicism in all sports, we don't seem to appreciate the celebratory moments like we used to anymore.
wow what a game...i was too young to watch this....finally catching up!!! awesome.....who knew patek had such a good series up to this.....that jackson was benched...that brett and nettles go at it! with guidry right in the middle! and cookie rojas as DH??
I have seen the Ch11 broadcast that is out there but never the national broadcast. I can imagine boone resting Judge in a key playoff game and saying we were hoping he be fresh late in the series
@@gman5-035 The next year Reggie homered off Splittorff in the LCS, which shows that he didn't always "own" him and that Martin was just looking for an excuse to stick it to Reggie. Chambliss had been slumping just as badly and could have been replaced with Johnson at first in the lineup but he stayed in.
@@epaddon Winning to Martin was more important to him than oxygen. Not subscribing to a narrative that has Martin benching Reggie to screw him. Martin was stubborn at the beginning of the season with his insistence on batting Chambliss cleanup over Reggie . Only after Martin got over himself and penciled Reggie in as the everyday cleanup hitter did the Yankees go on the tear which netted them the ‘77 AL East crown . Imagine losing the game w Reggie on the bench . George would have fired him in the losing clubhous In this game it was about defense and RH batting versus Splittorff. . Chambliss was the superior defender over Johnson , as was Blair compared to Jackson . Putting chambliss on the bench instead of Reggie not only weakens their D but in a bygone era of hit & run / small ball removes a contact hitter- something Martin valued highly As soon as the situation presented- RH relief pitcher - Martin PH Reggie for Johnson, who proceeded to deliver a pivotal RBI single . Blair, who remained in RF for the entire game, started the winning rally Martin had his demons, and his favorites , but he was never going to cut off his nose to spite his face in a winner take all playoff game
@@epaddon His first regular season home run as a Yankee was off Splittorff. 4th game of the season, an ABC game in Kansas City. And in that 78 playoff game, in addition to the homer, he had a single and a sac fly caught at the 417 mark, He didn't hit him particularly well, but he wasn't owned by him either. I think the pitcher on that staff who gave him the most problems was Hassler. All that said, he had done zilch in the first 4 games. They were on the turf where the Royals ran like crazy. Singles became doubles, doubles became triples and Blair was the far superior defender. Moreso that year where Reggie was awful defensively. I don't put it past Martin to have wanted to stick it to Reggie, but I don't see it here. They lost that game with Reggie on the bench and what do you think George's reaction is. We know it would be bad under any circumstances, but this move puts Billy's head square on the chopping block if it doesn't work out.
And don't forget that in Game 4 the Yankees had a 4 zip lead and Reggie messed up 2 balls in right field, turning doubles into triples. That came into Martin's decision too.
I remember the greatest Yankees rally came in the top of the 9th inning when Paul Blair kept the Yankees rally with his clutch hit between Short Stop and Second Base. The Yankees scored 3-runs to win the deciding game.of the 1977-ALCS. Mickey Rivers made a huge catch near the warning track in Royal Stadium as the Royals were looking 👀 to add their three run lead in the early going. Sparky Lyle shut down the Royals hope in the bottom of the 9th inning. Yankees win game 5 by the score of 5-3.
It's really amazing how NBC blew off doing any locker room interviews and were anxious to get off the air as soon as the game was over. This at a time when they were boasting how much better they were than ABC in terms of coverage, yet ABC *always* made sure to do locker room interviews after a playoff clinching game in this era.
@@gman5-035 I think it's unfortunate NBC didn't think it relevant to try and get some interviews which had always been traditional. WPIX did grab some on their broadcast before signing off. NBC was getting a bit more lazy in their approach to doing baseball in this period, but by the 80s they had set a standard for doing baseball that unfortunately no network has ever come close to since.
Epaddon almost as bad as earlier in the year in 1977 involving the NBA Finals. CBS the then main NBA tv rights holder went immediately to a golf tournament after the Portland Trail Blazers in an upset beat the Philadelphia 76ers with Dr J Julius Erving. This was a freaking championship clincher of the NBA Finals as the Trophy 🏆 presentation was not even shown. While this was a bad job by NBC here they could have at least done an brief 10-15 minute AL Pennant trophy presentation and a brief interview with say Billy Martin, Reggie and Thurman before signing off. Unlike the 1977 NBA finals fiasco with a CBS, the only bright spot for NBC was that this was a “semifinal” post season series. And not the clincher of the Fall Classic.
Actually the player intros come from a lower source but when the game starts it comes from a copy only one generation removed from the original. I combined the two for a more complete version.
@@epaddon I'm a Royals fan who didn't like the game outcome much, but I very much appreciate you posting this. As for the part about tape generations, I don't think a lot of younger people used to viewing 1080 P realize just how poor VHS originals from 1977 probably were and how much an original then degrades over time. I had an uncle who had a VHS in 1980 and I thought he was an outright wizard for his being able to tape the 1980 World Series. By my guess, the number of people taping this game in 1977 nationally is probably surprisingly small. And each one of those people...probably fewer than 1 percent of them saved the tape/transferred it/digitized it.
What a brutal way to lose. Herzog was probably overthinking it in the 8th and 9th inning. The pitchers may have become a bundle of nerves there at the end. It seems like the count was always 2-0 on every batter.
Poor Royals were starting to get used to heartbreak after this series. 2nd of 3 consecutive ALCS' where they lost to the Yankees. Got their redemption in 1980 by beating the Yankees, only to lose in the World Series to the Phillies. George Brett and the Royals did get their championship in '85 at the close of the golden era of Royals baseball. The Royals have mostly been garbage since 1989, save from 2013 to 2015.
I was always amused that Garagiola and Kubek started the ninth inning with New York up by thanking everybody but the guy who swept up in the press box. Because to them, this game was over and KC was going to the World Series. Didn't turn out that way, and they spent more time after the game ended on Patek's disappointment than the Yankee victory. The following year, after the Dodgers won the first two games on the series, again to Garagiola, the series was over. Only it wasn't.
I think because the 1977 World Series was on ABC, the NBC network was not going to give their competitor free publicity (post-game interviews) to promote the upcoming Dodgers-Yankees series.
Brett was surrounded by Yankees. Brett tells a great story about how Munson jumped in and covered him, telling Brett that he wasn't going to let him get pummeled while he was so badly outnumbered.
Thanks for posting this! Any chance other NBC games from this series are available? I always wanted to hear Jim Simpson and Maury Wills calling the early games of this series.
20 minutes (all available) of Game 2 called by Enberg and Drysdale was previously posted. Simpson and Wills didn't do any of the games. ua-cam.com/video/6m4-yVaUSRQ/v-deo.html
Ah okay, thanks for the link! I saw on the Wikipedia article for the ‘77 ALCS that Simpson and Wills did game 1 but we know wiki isn’t the most verified source haha. Would still love to hear a single game with Wills as a color commentator, especially after his recent passing.
I remember watching this game and admired how tough the Yankees were. Nettles, Guidry and Munson turned Brett into a pretzel. The Yankees today...a bunch of soft-served overpaid chumps!
some real crappy camera work! no replay on cliff johnson double that hit top of fence (nothing showing ball)...nothing on close foul balls down the line
Joe G and Kubek would often talk during player introductions. What a waste to do that! They would have 3 hrs to talk about players & storylines once the game began. Absolutely no reason for them to talk during player intros.
John Mayberry's "toothache"...what a load of BS. Read Whitey Herzog's biography. He believes that Mayberry's irresponsibility cost Kansas City a World Series.
Typical Whitey BS. The guy who cost them that series was Herzog himself. He had an 18 game winner, Jim Colborn, ready to start Game 4. But Genius Herzog went with Gura instead, because he was a lefty. So Colborn didn't pitch one inning in the entire series. Typical of Overmanager Herzog. Always thought he was the smartest manager ever. Billy Martin completely out-managed him in this series.
The 1977 New York Yankees my all time favorite team ever in baseball
Great stuff. Never seen the NBC coverage. Thanks.
The late Paul Blair was an unsung hero for the '77/78 teams. Only hit .200 but had a boatload of clutch hits, including the 9th inning table setter here and the WS G1 winner two days later.
Billy knew what he had in Blair & wasn’t afraid to use him in a big spot
yes he was. i feel same way about mazzilli for 86 mets had couple big hits in world series
do you see his great range and throw on the brett triple?
It was a great move to add him to the roster before the season. Of course he was a tremendous outfielder too.
Paul Blair was a pros pro. Ever since his rookie season he was always in big games with the orioles 6 ws the man was valuable like Roy white if Pinellas played every day he git 300 the man c a n flat out hit.
What a double play to end the game, Randolf was hands down the best at turning the DP of any Yankee Second baseman I've seen. Did not know Paul Blaire passed away. Losing my Heros. This 77/78 Yankee team was the best.
Little did anyone know with his slump in this series....that Reggie was getting ready to go off big time...including 3 pitch....3 home run performance against the Dodgers😮💪💪💪
I was at that game. The sports thrill of my life! .. Next to that ‘76 Chambliss playoff walkoff HR, I was there too.
@@cc92103 That's awesome. Those were the good ole days with the Yankees when they were loaded with talented players...and to go along with it a mental toughness! Those Yankee teams were respected and feared!
Hit 4 HRS in his final four at bats in WS….homered in his final at bat in 10-4 Game 5 loss, walked in first ab in G6 and then POW it was on
@@brevardsportsnetwork7140 Shocking but true
Also homered in his first AB of 1978…lol@@brevardsportsnetwork7140
It's refreshing to see a team celebrate a pennant without donning instant championship caps and t-shirts.
Because it's 'bad' for the sport? We live in an age of cynicism in all sports, we don't seem to appreciate the celebratory moments like we used to anymore.
And thats the way it oughtta' be 👍
The good old days! 👍🏿
I was 12 for this game and being from the city, it was a soap opera
Great times in life and in sports in new york. Hockey baseball football
wow what a game...i was too young to watch this....finally catching up!!! awesome.....who knew patek had such a good series up to this.....that jackson was benched...that brett and nettles go at it! with guidry right in the middle! and cookie rojas as DH??
I have seen the Ch11 broadcast that is out there but never the national broadcast. I can imagine boone resting Judge in a key playoff game and saying we were hoping he be fresh late in the series
Not following your Boone comment ? This was game five of a five game series. Jackson was benched against Splittorff -a tough lefty who owned Reggie.
@@gman5-035 The next year Reggie homered off Splittorff in the LCS, which shows that he didn't always "own" him and that Martin was just looking for an excuse to stick it to Reggie. Chambliss had been slumping just as badly and could have been replaced with Johnson at first in the lineup but he stayed in.
@@epaddon
Winning to Martin was more important to him than oxygen. Not subscribing to a narrative that has Martin benching Reggie to screw him. Martin was stubborn at the beginning of the season with his insistence on batting Chambliss cleanup over Reggie . Only after Martin got over himself and penciled Reggie in as the everyday cleanup hitter did the Yankees go on the tear which netted them the ‘77 AL East crown . Imagine losing the game w Reggie on the bench . George would have fired him in the losing clubhous
In this game it was about defense and RH batting versus Splittorff. . Chambliss was the superior defender over Johnson , as was Blair compared to Jackson . Putting chambliss on the bench instead of Reggie not only weakens their D but in a bygone era of hit & run / small ball removes a contact hitter- something Martin valued highly
As soon as the situation presented- RH relief pitcher - Martin PH Reggie for Johnson, who proceeded to deliver a pivotal RBI single . Blair, who remained in RF for the entire game, started the winning rally
Martin had his demons, and his favorites , but he was never going to cut off his nose to spite his face in a winner take all playoff game
@@epaddon His first regular season home run as a Yankee was off Splittorff. 4th game of the season, an ABC game in Kansas City. And in that 78 playoff game, in addition to the homer, he had a single and a sac fly caught at the 417 mark,
He didn't hit him particularly well, but he wasn't owned by him either. I think the pitcher on that staff who gave him the most problems was Hassler.
All that said, he had done zilch in the first 4 games. They were on the turf where the Royals ran like crazy. Singles became doubles, doubles became triples and Blair was the far superior defender. Moreso that year where Reggie was awful defensively.
I don't put it past Martin to have wanted to stick it to Reggie, but I don't see it here. They lost that game with Reggie on the bench and what do you think George's reaction is. We know it would be bad under any circumstances, but this move puts Billy's head square on the chopping block if it doesn't work out.
And don't forget that in Game 4 the Yankees had a 4 zip lead and Reggie messed up 2 balls in right field, turning doubles into triples. That came into Martin's decision too.
I remember the greatest Yankees rally came in the top of the 9th inning when Paul Blair kept the Yankees rally with his clutch hit between Short Stop and Second Base. The Yankees scored 3-runs to win the deciding game.of the 1977-ALCS. Mickey Rivers made a huge catch near the warning track in Royal Stadium as the Royals were looking 👀 to add their three run lead in the early going. Sparky Lyle shut down the Royals hope in the bottom of the 9th inning. Yankees win game 5 by the score of 5-3.
It's really amazing how NBC blew off doing any locker room interviews and were anxious to get off the air as soon as the game was over. This at a time when they were boasting how much better they were than ABC in terms of coverage, yet ABC *always* made sure to do locker room interviews after a playoff clinching game in this era.
Go to 12:24 of the broadcast. And then look up guidry’s ‘77 stats. Holy smokes. Talk about sloppy. To your point- little care or concern
@@gman5-035 I think it's unfortunate NBC didn't think it relevant to try and get some interviews which had always been traditional. WPIX did grab some on their broadcast before signing off. NBC was getting a bit more lazy in their approach to doing baseball in this period, but by the 80s they had set a standard for doing baseball that unfortunately no network has ever come close to since.
@@gman5-035 Crazy they got it wrong.....
Epaddon almost as bad as earlier in the year in 1977 involving the NBA Finals. CBS the then main NBA tv rights holder went immediately to a golf tournament after the Portland Trail Blazers in an upset beat the Philadelphia 76ers with Dr J Julius Erving.
This was a freaking championship clincher of the NBA Finals as the Trophy 🏆 presentation was not even shown.
While this was a bad job by NBC here they could have at least done an brief 10-15 minute AL Pennant trophy presentation and a brief interview with say Billy Martin, Reggie and Thurman before signing off. Unlike the 1977 NBA finals fiasco with a CBS, the only bright spot for NBC was that this was a “semifinal” post season series. And not the clincher of the Fall Classic.
Great to see this but imagine how many tape generations this took to get to the collector?
Actually the player intros come from a lower source but when the game starts it comes from a copy only one generation removed from the original. I combined the two for a more complete version.
@@epaddon I'm a Royals fan who didn't like the game outcome much, but I very much appreciate you posting this. As for the part about tape generations, I don't think a lot of younger people used to viewing 1080 P realize just how poor VHS originals from 1977 probably were and how much an original then degrades over time. I had an uncle who had a VHS in 1980 and I thought he was an outright wizard for his being able to tape the 1980 World Series. By my guess, the number of people taping this game in 1977 nationally is probably surprisingly small. And each one of those people...probably fewer than 1 percent of them saved the tape/transferred it/digitized it.
@@bobreiter1863 F MLB for doing NOTHING to preserver baseball history...i will NEVER forgive MLB tax free trillions
Thank you ilove beasball in the70s and80s
this game haunted the royals till 1980....and then 1985 we won it all..
No playoff series haunted them more than the one in 1976
What a brutal way to lose. Herzog was probably overthinking it in the 8th and 9th inning. The pitchers may have become a bundle of nerves there at the end. It seems like the count was always 2-0 on every batter.
Wow. Now that's a baseball game.
i was only 2 when this game was played i had no clue how close yanks were to losing this series
One of my favorite parts to watch: 1:09:56 - 1:14:52
As great as this game was the best is yet to be
Sparky Lyle wrote a book called "The Bronx Zoo" about this team.
priceless ✨
I LOVE THE 1977 NEW YORK YANKEES AND WE BEAT THE DODGERS IN THE WORLD SERIES LOVE IT AND IN YEAR 2024 I STILL LOVE IT KENNETH O
Pete LaCock-his father is Peter Marshall of Hollywood Squares fame.
Poor Royals were starting to get used to heartbreak after this series. 2nd of 3 consecutive ALCS' where they lost to the Yankees. Got their redemption in 1980 by beating the Yankees, only to lose in the World Series to the Phillies. George Brett and the Royals did get their championship in '85 at the close of the golden era of Royals baseball. The Royals have mostly been garbage since 1989, save from 2013 to 2015.
Joe Garagiola (PBP) & Tony Kubek (C) 1-4/7-9
Kubek (PBP) & Garagiola (C) 5-6
How ridiculous was Billy Martin not to play a player like Reggae Jackson
Billy and Reggie hated each other
I was always amused that Garagiola and Kubek started the ninth inning with New York up by thanking everybody but the guy who swept up in the press box. Because to them, this game was over and KC was going to the World Series. Didn't turn out that way, and they spent more time after the game ended on Patek's disappointment than the Yankee victory. The following year, after the Dodgers won the first two games on the series, again to Garagiola, the series was over. Only it wasn't.
It was really lame to over-focus on Patek's reaction. And to not have any postgame locker interviews was a real joke.
I think because the 1977 World Series was on ABC, the NBC network was not going to give their competitor free publicity (post-game interviews) to promote the upcoming Dodgers-Yankees series.
Do you have the wpix broadcast?
18:59 George Brett vs. Graig Nettles
i don't understand what happened prior to this....i mean brett comes up with forearm into nettles......nettles didn't do anything
@@zxccxz164 Nettles gently kicked him beforehand.
Brett was surrounded by Yankees. Brett tells a great story about how Munson jumped in and covered him, telling Brett that he wasn't going to let him get pummeled while he was so badly outnumbered.
@@josc4273 Thats crap. Nobody wanted to hit Brett (aside of Nettles). Everybody wants to stop the brawl.
The best part was, no ejections. A full on brawl. Things calmed. Return to your positions, play ball.
Thanks for posting this! Any chance other NBC games from this series are available? I always wanted to hear Jim Simpson and Maury Wills calling the early games of this series.
20 minutes (all available) of Game 2 called by Enberg and Drysdale was previously posted. Simpson and Wills didn't do any of the games. ua-cam.com/video/6m4-yVaUSRQ/v-deo.html
Ah okay, thanks for the link! I saw on the Wikipedia article for the ‘77 ALCS that Simpson and Wills did game 1 but we know wiki isn’t the most verified source haha.
Would still love to hear a single game with Wills as a color commentator, especially after his recent passing.
@@lemmiwinks09maybe they did the radio.?
Whooa Reggie benched for the righty in the decider !
Sparky was the best! ❤
mickey rivers only has 22 SB and was caught 17 times in 77?? that is horrible!
2:28:58 Double play and the Yankees have won the pennant!
I remember watching this game and admired how tough the Yankees were. Nettles, Guidry and Munson turned Brett into a pretzel. The Yankees today...a bunch of soft-served overpaid chumps!
Brett should have been tossed in the 1st inning for starting that fight and throwing a punch.
some real crappy camera work! no replay on cliff johnson double that hit top of fence (nothing showing ball)...nothing on close foul balls down the line
Joe G and Kubek would often talk during player introductions. What a waste to do that! They would have 3 hrs to talk about players & storylines once the game began. Absolutely no reason for them to talk during player intros.
John Mayberry's "toothache"...what a load of BS. Read Whitey Herzog's biography. He believes that Mayberry's irresponsibility cost Kansas City a World Series.
i never even heard of mayberry issue!! forcing cookie rojas as your dh???
Typical Whitey BS. The guy who cost them that series was Herzog himself. He had an 18 game winner, Jim Colborn, ready to start Game 4. But Genius Herzog went with Gura instead, because he was a lefty. So Colborn didn't pitch one inning in the entire series. Typical of Overmanager Herzog. Always thought he was the smartest manager ever. Billy Martin completely out-managed him in this series.
1:28:37 close play at first and lots of arguing.