September 7, 1978. Fenway Park, Boston. The Red Sox held a four-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East with the season running out, and the afternoon crowd gathered in a state of reasonable confidence. Boston was 86-52 heading into the series -- or close enough that it hardly seemed worth counting. As recently as July 19, the Yankees had been 14 games behind, sitting in fourth place, a team that appeared to be collapsing inward on the weight of its own chaos. Billy Martin was gone by the end of that month. Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner had been feuding since spring. The Bronx Zoo was more than a nickname; it was an accurate description of the organizational conditions. (Players were feuding in the papers. The manager was feuding with the owner. The owner was feuding with everyone.)
None of that mattered anymore. Bob Lemon had taken over July 25, quieted the noise, and the Yankees had torn through the schedule ever since. They arrived at Fenway needing a sweep. What happened over the next four days would become one of the most one-sided series in American League history.
September 7: The Demolition Begins
Catfish Hunter started Game 1 and left with a groin injury after roughly three innings -- the kind of development that might have rattled a team still finding itself. Instead, rookie Ken Clay stepped in and pitched six innings of dominant relief. The Yankees collected 21 hits and none of them were home runs: they singled and doubled the Red Sox pitching staff to pieces, a sustained contact attack that left Mike Torrez no place to hide. Willie Randolph had three hits -- two singles and a double -- and drove in 5 runs. Thurman Munson and Roy White each added 3 hits.
Final: Yankees 15, Red Sox 3.
The crowd at Fenway absorbed 11 runs through the first four innings. The stadium didn't go quiet -- it went stunned.
September 8: The Rookie Delivers
Jim Beattie was 23 years old, in the middle of his first full season, starting opposite Jim Wright in what became the quietest dismantling of the four. Beattie shut Boston out on three hits through 8.2 innings -- came within one out of a complete-game shutout before Ron Davis recorded the final out. The game was already 8-0 after two innings. Reggie Jackson, battling a virus, hit a three-run home run in the second. Lou Piniella fell one single shy of the cycle.
Final: Yankees 13, Red Sox 2.
Two games, two blowouts, 17 combined runs. Beattie -- who shouldn't have been the story -- was the story.
September 9: Guidry Turns the Lights Off
Ron Guidry arrived at Fenway on September 9 with a 20-2 record and a 1.84 ERA and proceeded to do what he'd been doing to American League lineups all season. Dennis Eckersley, 16-6 entering the game, started for Boston. Rick Burleson opened with a single. Jim Rice beat out a slow grounder. Those were the only two hits Guidry allowed -- he no-hit the Red Sox for the remaining 8.2 innings and finished with a complete-game two-hitter.
The seven runs came in the seventh inning. Two outs, nobody on, Guidry cruising. Then: Chris Chambliss doubled, Graig Nettles drew an intentional walk, Lou Piniella doubled them both home, Roy White drew another intentional walk, Bucky Dent singled to plate two, Mickey Rivers singled in a run, Willie Randolph walked and scored on a passed ball, and Thurman Munson added an RBI single. Seven runs, two outs, nobody on, one inning. (Eckersley had been one of the best pitchers in the American League that year. It didn't help.)
Guidry's record improved to 21-2. The Yankees moved to within one game of first.
Final: Yankees 7, Red Sox 0.
September 10: The Managerial Decision That Finished Boston
Game 4 had two stories, and only one of them involved the Yankees.
Before the Sunday afternoon game, Carl Yastrzemski walked into Don Zimmer's office and begged the manager to start Bill Lee over Bobby Sprowl. Zimmer's response was to reach into his desk and produce newspaper clippings in which Lee had called him "the Designated Gerbil." (He'd kept them. For this exact moment.) Zimmer sent Sprowl -- 22 years old, in just his second career start -- to the mound against a Yankees lineup that had scored 35 runs in three games.
Sprowl didn't finish the first inning.
Ed Figueroa went six innings for New York. Rich Gossage closed it out for his 23rd save. The Yankees collected 18 hits -- all singles, no extra-base hits -- and drew 8 walks. Fred Lynn hit a home run for Boston that provided a moment of dignity in an otherwise undignified afternoon.
Final: Yankees 7, Red Sox 4.
After four games: Yankees 42 runs, 67 hits. Red Sox 9 runs, 21 hits. Both teams sat at 86-56, exactly tied for first place.
Carlton Fisk, afterward: "How can a team get 30-something games over .500 in July and then in September see its pitching, hitting, and fielding all fall apart at the same time?"
Nobody had one.
What Came Next
The Red Sox briefly retook first place in the days after the sweep, the Yankees kept pace, and both teams finished the 1978 season at 99-63 -- tied, requiring a one-game tiebreaker at Fenway Park on October 2. What happened that afternoon -- Bucky Dent, the Green Monster, Mike Torrez, the left field screen -- belongs to a separate story. You can read it here: The Home Run That Wasn't Supposed to Happen.
The Yankees then beat Kansas City in the ALCS and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 2 in the World Series. Bucky Dent hit .417 and took home Series MVP. Guidry finished the year 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA, 248 strikeouts, and a unanimous AL Cy Young Award.
The name "Boston Massacre" -- borrowed from the 1770 pre-Revolutionary event on King Street when British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists -- attached itself to this series almost immediately. By the time writers were filing game stories after the sweep, the term was already in wide enough circulation that no single reporter could claim it. The comparison is sharp in one direction: the Yankees came to Boston and did the firing.
Bob Lemon, after the series: "You've got to enjoy it while you can. We'll probably have to scratch for runs in the next game."
He wasn't wrong. They scratched. They got enough.
14 Games Back -- the Low Point
The Yankees sit at 48-42, 14 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. It's the largest mid-season deficit any AL team would overcome for a division title to that point. Billy Martin is still managing.
Bob Lemon Takes the Helm
Five days after Martin's departure -- and his "born liar, convicted" quote at a Kansas City airport -- Bob Lemon becomes Yankees manager. He tells the team to relax. They go approximately 47-20 the rest of the way.
Game 1 -- Yankees 15, Red Sox 3
With the Yankees four games back, the series opens at Fenway. The Yankees collect 21 hits -- no home runs -- and score 11 runs through the first four innings. Willie Randolph drives in 5. Catfish Hunter exits with a groin injury; rookie Ken Clay pitches six shutout relief innings and earns the win.
Game 2 -- Yankees 13, Red Sox 2
Rookie Jim Beattie comes within one out of a complete-game shutout (8.2 innings), with Ron Davis getting the final out. Reggie Jackson hits a three-run home run while battling a virus, staking New York to an 8-0 lead before the third inning. Lou Piniella falls one hit shy of the cycle.
Game 3 -- Yankees 7, Red Sox 0
Ron Guidry completes a two-hitter, allowing only a Burleson single and a Rice grounder. The Yankees score 7 runs in the seventh inning with two outs and nobody on. Guidry improves to 21-2; the Yankees move within one game of first place.
Game 4 -- Yankees 7, Red Sox 4
Don Zimmer starts rookie Bobby Sprowl over Bill Lee despite Yastrzemski's direct appeal. Sprowl doesn't finish the first inning. Figueroa and Gossage (23rd save) complete the sweep. Both teams finish the day at 86-56, tied for first.
The Tiebreaker at Fenway
Both teams finish 99-63, forcing a one-game playoff at Fenway Park. Bucky Dent's three-run home run in the seventh inning off Mike Torrez proves decisive. Yankees win 5-4 and take the AL East.
| Series combined runs | Yankees 42, Red Sox 9 |
| Series combined hits | Yankees 67, Red Sox 21 |
| Yankees deficit entering series | 4 games (down from 14 on July 19) |
| Standings after sweep | Yankees 86-56, Red Sox 86-56 (tied) |
| Guidry -- Game 3 | CG two-hitter, 7 R, 21-2 record after game |
| Randolph -- Game 1 | 3 hits (2 singles, 1 double), 5 RBI |
| Gossage -- Game 4 | 3 innings, 23rd save of the season |
| Guidry -- full 1978 season | 25-3, 1.74 ERA, 248 K, unanimous AL Cy Young |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called the Boston Massacre?
The name borrows from the historical Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, when British soldiers fired on a crowd of colonists on King Street, killing five. The sports press applied it to the Yankees' four-game sweep at Fenway, September 7-10, 1978 -- a one-sided slaughter in Boston's own home, with the Yankees serving as the aggressors. The term caught on so fast after the series that no single reporter can be credited with coining it.
What were the scores of the Boston Massacre?
Game 1: Yankees 15, Red Sox 3. Game 2: Yankees 13, Red Sox 2. Game 3: Yankees 7, Red Sox 0. Game 4: Yankees 7, Red Sox 4. Combined: New York outscored Boston 42-9 and outhit them 67-21 over the four games.
How many games back were the Yankees before the Boston Massacre?
Four games entering September 7. The Yankees had been 14 games behind on July 19 -- the largest mid-season deficit ever overcome for an AL division title to that point -- and had steadily closed the gap under Bob Lemon. The sweep erased the remaining four-game deficit entirely, leaving both teams tied at 86-56.
Who started for each team in the Boston Massacre?
Yankees: Game 1, Catfish Hunter (exited early with groin injury; Ken Clay relieved). Game 2, Jim Beattie (8.2 innings; Ron Davis got the final out). Game 3, Ron Guidry (complete game two-hitter). Game 4, Ed Figueroa (six innings; Rich Gossage saved). Red Sox: Game 1, Mike Torrez. Game 2, Jim Wright. Game 3, Dennis Eckersley. Game 4, Bobby Sprowl (didn't finish the first inning).
Did the Yankees win the 1978 World Series?
Yes. After the Massacre tied the standings at 86-56, both teams finished the regular season at 99-63, requiring a one-game tiebreaker at Fenway on October 2 -- the Bucky Dent game. The Yankees won 5-4, beat Kansas City in the ALCS, and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 in the World Series. Bucky Dent hit .417 and was named Series MVP. It was the franchise's last back-to-back championship.
The Yankees left Boston tied for first place and heading toward one of the stranger Octobers in team history. The Red Sox stayed in the race -- they'd still be standing at 99-63 when the schedule ran out, still close enough that it required one more game to settle. But something had broken in those four September afternoons at Fenway. Fisk said it himself, and he couldn't explain it. Carlton Fisk watched the whole thing from behind the plate, one of the best catchers in the game on one of the best Red Sox teams in a generation, and he didn't have an answer.
The ball just kept finding Yankees gloves.