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On this day in history | 1978

Bucky Dent greets Chris Chambliss and Roy White after his three-run home run in the 7th inning on October 2, 1978.

“Deep to left! Yaztrzemski will not get it, it’s a home run! A three-run home run for Bucky Dent and the Yankees lead by a score of 3-2!”

On this day 35 years ago, New York Yankees announcer Bill White had one of the most famous calls in baseball history. In a one-game playoff between the Red Sox and Yankees, light-hitting Bucky Dent smacked a three-run home run over the Green Monster off Mike Torrez to give the Yankees a 3-2 advantage in the seventh inning.

Dent, who had 22 career home runs in five plus seasons coming into that at-bat, was the last person in the ballpark expected to go yard. After fouling the second pitch off his foot, there was a brief delay as the Yankees trainer came out to the field. While standing on the on-deck circle, outfielder Mickey Rivers advised Dent that there was a crack in his bat. Borrowing Rivers’ lumber, Dent stepped back into the box and swung at the next pitch. The rest is history.

New York would score one more run that inning, pushing their lead to 4-2. They added one more in the eighth, and Boston responded with two in the bottom half off closer Rich Gossage. Gossage returned for the ninth, and put the tying run on third with two out before getting “Yaz” to pop out to Graig Nettles to end the game.

The Yankees had completed an improbable comeback. At one point in the season, they were down 14 games in the standings before storming back to tie the Sox in the division. The Yankees completed a five-game sweep in Fenway in September, known as the “Boston Massacre,” and then won two out of three from Boston the following week to pad their division lead. Boston fought back and forced that one game playoff, which will live on forever in Yankees-Red Sox lore as Bucky “bleepin” Dent was forever emblazoned into the rivalry. The win propelled the Yankees into the playoffs where they eventually defeated the Dodgers in six games to win the World Series.