October 13, 1978. Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are down 0-2 in the World Series, the Dodgers have been running the joint for two nights at Chavez Ravine, and the clubhouse is still radiating the heat from the most publicly dysfunctional season in franchise memory -- a manager who resigned mid-year with a quote that'd get him canceled today, a superstar who couldn't go two weeks without a front-page incident, an owner who treated the team like a personal stress ball. Ron Guidry walks to the mound for Game 3.
What happened next was a straight-line story. Four wins. Twenty-two championships.
How They Even Got Here
The New York Yankees entered 1978 as defending World Series champions and immediately began trying to give it all back. Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin were still doing their thing -- a combustible loop of perceived slights, public meltdowns, and front-office meddling from George Steinbrenner that made the whole circus run. By July 17, the Yankees were 14 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. Not 14.5, not 13 -- 14, which is a lot of ground to make up in any sport, let alone the AL East with a dominant Boston club.
Then Martin blew it. On July 24, after suspending Jackson for five games over a botched hit-and-run, Martin told reporters: "One's a born liar, and the other's convicted." He was done by the next morning. Bob Lemon -- who'd just been fired by the White Sox on June 30, which tells you something about how fast things move in baseball -- took over July 25.
Lemon was the opposite of Martin in almost every way that mattered for a locker room that had been running on pure adrenaline and mutual grievance. Steady. Veteran. The kind of guy who didn't need to win every argument. The Yankees went 48-20 (.706) under him the rest of the way. (Steinbrenner, who couldn't help himself, announced on Old Timers Day that Billy Martin would return as manager in 1980 -- four days into Lemon's tenure. Let that one sink in for a second.)
The Red Sox collapsed. A four-game sweep at Fenway from September 7-10 -- the "Boston Massacre" -- saw the Yankees outscore them 42-9. The season ended in a tie. On October 2, in a winner-take-all tiebreaker at Fenway, light-hitting shortstop Bucky Dent came up in the 7th inning trailing 2-0, borrowed a bat from Mickey Rivers after fouling a pitch off his ankle, and lofted a 1-1 fastball from Mike Torrez over the Green Monster. Three-run homer. Yankees won 5-4 when Gossage got Yastrzemski to pop out to Nettles with the tying run on third.
Dent's nickname in New England became unprintable.
They swept Kansas City in the ALCS. Then came the Dodgers -- a rematch of 1977, and the 10th time these two franchises had met in the Fall Classic.
The Series Starts Badly
Game 1 at Dodger Stadium was a statement, just not the Yankees' statement. Davey Lopes hit two home runs and drove in five runs, Tommy John threw six shutout innings, and the Dodgers won 11-5. Ed Figueroa lasted two innings. The bullpen got hammered.
Nobody who watched Game 2 forgot it. Ron Cey drove in all four Dodgers runs -- an RBI single in the 4th, a three-run homer off Catfish Hunter in the 6th. Yankees trailed 4-2 going to the 9th. Bucky Dent and Paul Blair reached to put the tying and winning runs on with two outs. Tommy Lasorda brought in 21-year-old rookie Bob Welch to face Reggie Jackson.
What followed was nine pitches. Reggie fouled them off, worked the count, fought the kid. The ninth pitch was a high fastball. Jackson swung and missed. Series over, Dodgers up 2-0, Welch pumping his fist like he'd just won a title of his own. Jackson later said: "The kid beat me fair and square. I was angry."
Reggie Jackson doesn't say that about many people.
Games 3 and 4: The Comeback Begins
Back in the Bronx, the Yankees didn't panic. Guidry took the ball for Game 3 and threw a complete game -- eight hits, seven walks, one run, four strikeouts. It wasn't his most electric line (this is a guy who went 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA during the regular season, remember), but he was exactly what the moment needed: unhittable in the sequences that counted. Roy White homered in the 1st. Guidry protected it for nine innings.
The real story of Game 3 was Graig Nettles at third base. SABR's account of that game credits his defensive plays with saving at least four runs -- stops that had no business being made, the kind that made writers reach for Brooks Robinson 1970 comparisons. The Yankees won 5-1 and the series had a different energy.
Baseball people still argue about Game 4. The Yankees trailed 3-0 after Reggie Smith's three-run homer off Figueroa in the 5th. Jackson singled home a run to make it 3-1. Then Lou Piniella hit a low liner to shortstop Bill Russell, who fumbled it, stepped on second to force Jackson, and threw to first -- where the ball caromed off Jackson's right hip into foul territory. Thurman Munson scored. Game: 3-2.
Umpire Frank Pulli ruled no intentional interference. Lasorda argued himself purple. Replays showed Jackson's hip did shift. (Jackson denied it for the rest of his career, and I've watched the replay enough times to say: the man had quick hips.) Instead of an inning-ending double play with the Dodgers still up 3-1, the Yankees were suddenly in a game -- and they tied it, then took it to extra innings.
In the 10th, Roy White walked, Jackson singled him to second, and Piniella lined a single to center to score White. Gossage, who'd come on to pitch the 9th and 10th, got the win. Series tied at 2-2. The comeback was officially on.
Games 5 and 6: The Clinic
Game 5 wasn't subtle. The Yankees scored 12 runs on 18 hits -- a World Series record 16 singles in a single game. Jim Beattie, a rookie, threw a complete game and held the Dodgers to two runs. Thurman Munson drove in five. Brian Doyle, filling in for injured Willie Randolph at second base, went 3-for-4. (Doyle was a career backup who hit .229 in the regular season. He batted .438 for the entire Series. Baseball is a strange and beautiful sport.) Yankees 12, Dodgers 2.
Game 6 closed it in Los Angeles. Hunter started, Doyle and Dent both went 3-for-4 and built a 3-0 lead by the 2nd inning. Then in the 7th, Reggie Jackson got his revenge. Welch came on and Jackson hit a two-run homer off him -- same pitcher, same Series, very different ending. Yankees 7, Dodgers 2. Gossage closed it with two scoreless innings. Second consecutive championship.
What It Meant
The 1978 Yankees became just the fifth team in history to win a World Series after dropping the first two games -- joining the 1921 Giants, 1955 Dodgers, 1956 Yankees, and 1958 Yankees. They didn't do it for the first time; they did it after the most chaotic season in franchise memory, behind a shortstop who wasn't supposed to be anyone's hero, a manager who'd been fired three weeks earlier, and a starting pitcher having one of the 10 best seasons any American League arm has ever had.
Bucky Dent hit .417 for the Series -- 10-for-24, seven RBI -- and took home MVP. He deserved every vote. Reggie Jackson hit .391 with two home runs and eight RBI and somehow wasn't the most talked-about player on his own team. Gossage threw six innings across the Series and allowed zero runs. The Yankees won four games in a row against a good Dodgers team that ran out of answers.
Bob Lemon got a ring. Billy Martin got a press release about 1980.
The championship was theirs, the 22nd in franchise history. And somewhere in New England, Mike Torrez was having a very bad autumn.
14 Games Back
After a loss on July 17, the Yankees trail the Red Sox by 14 games in the AL East -- the low point of the season.
Billy Martin Resigns
Martin tells reporters, "One's a born liar, and the other's convicted," referring to Jackson and Steinbrenner. He's out by the next morning.
Bob Lemon Takes Over
Lemon, fired by the White Sox just weeks earlier, is named Yankees manager. The club goes 48-20 (.706) under his watch the rest of the way.
Boston Massacre Begins
The Yankees open a four-game sweep of the Red Sox at Fenway, September 7-10. Final outscoring: 42-9. The division race is suddenly real.
Bucky Dent's Home Run
In the AL East tiebreaker at Fenway, Dent hits a 1-1 fastball from Mike Torrez over the Green Monster in the 7th inning -- three-run shot. Yankees win 5-4 and claim the division.
Game 1: Dodgers 11, Yankees 5
Lopes hits two home runs and drives in five. Tommy John tosses six shutout innings. Figueroa lasts two.
Game 2: Dodgers 4, Yankees 3 (Welch Strikeout)
Cey drives in all four Dodgers runs. Bob Welch retires Jackson on a high fastball in the 9th to save the game in the most-talked-about confrontation of the Series.
Game 3: Yankees 5, Dodgers 1 (Guidry + Nettles)
Guidry goes the distance. Nettles saves at least four runs with spectacular third-base plays. The comeback starts.
Game 4: Yankees 4, Dodgers 3 (10 innings)
Jackson's hip redirects Russell's throw; Munson scores to cut the deficit to one. Piniella's walk-off single in the 10th ties the Series at 2-2.
Game 5: Yankees 12, Dodgers 2
Beattie throws a complete game. Munson drives in five. 18 hits, including a World Series record 16 singles. The rout is on.
Game 6: Yankees 7, Dodgers 2 -- World Champions
Dent and Doyle each go 3-for-4. Jackson homers off Welch in the 7th for payback. Gossage closes it. The Yankees claim their 22nd title.
| Series MVP | Bucky Dent -- .417, 10-for-24, 7 RBI |
| Reggie Jackson | .391, 2 HR, 8 RBI |
| Brian Doyle (sub for Randolph) | .438 for the Series (7-for-16) |
| Ron Guidry -- Game 3 | Complete game, 5-1, 8 H, 7 BB, 1 ER, 4 K |
| Rich Gossage | 6 IP total across the Series, 0 runs allowed |
| Yankees Championship Number | 22nd World Series title (2nd consecutive) |
| 0-2 Comeback | 5th team ever to win after dropping the first two games |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the Yankees fire Billy Martin in 1978?
Martin resigned -- though the distinction between resignation and being pushed out the door is thin -- after telling reporters on July 24 that Jackson was "a born liar" and Steinbrenner was "convicted," a reference to Steinbrenner's 1974 conviction for making illegal campaign contributions. The immediate trigger was a five-game suspension Martin had issued to Jackson over a botched hit-and-run play, which Steinbrenner overruled. Martin's relationship with both Steinbrenner and Jackson had been unworkable for months. The quote just put a date on the inevitable.
What was the Reggie Jackson interference play in Game 4?
With the Yankees trailing 3-1 in the 6th inning, Lou Piniella hit a low liner to shortstop Bill Russell, who fumbled it, stepped on second to force Jackson, then threw to first. The ball struck Jackson in the right hip and caromed into foul territory, allowing Thurman Munson to score. First-base umpire Frank Pulli ruled there was no intentional interference -- "I couldn't tell whether Reggie went out of the way to interfere with the ball." Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda argued furiously. Replays showed Jackson's hip did shift to redirect the throw. The run stood, the Yankees clawed back to tie, and eventually won in the 10th. It remains one of the most debated non-calls in Series history.
Who was Brian Doyle and why did he play in the 1978 World Series?
Doyle was a career utility infielder who hit .229 in limited regular-season action that year. He stepped in at second base because Willie Randolph was injured. He then proceeded to hit .438 for the entire Series -- seven hits in 16 at-bats -- going 3-for-4 in both Games 5 and 6. It's one of those deeply weird baseball facts that doesn't get easier to explain the more you look at it. He never hit like that again in his career. The 1978 World Series was his moment, and he didn't waste it.
Was the 1978 World Series the first time a team came back from 0-2?
No. The Yankees were the fifth team to pull it off, joining the 1921 Giants, 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1956 Yankees, and 1958 Yankees. The 1956 and 1958 teams were also the Yankees. They'd done versions of this before. The 1978 club just did it under considerably more theatrical circumstances.
What happened to Bucky Dent after his famous home run?
Dent rode the wave all the way through October. He hit .417 in the World Series and took home MVP -- a remarkable coda to a season that had already given him the most famous home run of his career. He remained the Yankees' starting shortstop through 1982, later managed the team briefly in 1989-1990, and eventually opened a baseball school in Florida. The home run off Torrez at Fenway defined him publicly -- his nickname in New England remained unprintable for decades -- but his World Series performance showed it wasn't a fluke.