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He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1969 to 1993 for the Boston Red Sox (1969, 1971–1980) and Chicago White Sox (1981–1993). In 1972, he was the first player to be unanimously voted American League Rookie of the Year. Fisk is best known for his game-winning home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, during which he memorably waved his arms hoping for the batted ball to remain fair. Boston's Fred Lynn opened the scoring in the first with a two-out, three-run homer off Reds starter Gary Nolan.
The Sox almost broke the curse In 1967 against the Cardinals, when a thrilling 8-4 win in Game 6 of the World Series included four home runs, two from Rico Petrocelli, one by Carl Yastrzemski, and another from Reggie Smith. Unfortunately, Bob Gibson was waiting for them in Game 7, and his third complete game of the Series sent the Sox home unhappy. With those three games vying for their places on the all-time Game 6 podium, there have been other memorable ones, as well. The memory of it never gets old, and the impact on the Boston sports psyche never diminishes. When Christian Vázquez homered early in these playoffs to walk off Game 3 of the ALDS against the Rays, the first name on everyone’s lips was Carlton Fisk. Carlton Fisk jumped on home plate after hitting the home run that won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.
Must C: Fisk's iconic WS homer
But when Leggett visited Coyle at his New Jersey home the week after the World Series, Coyle said only that Gerard “was fighting off rats in there most of the night. He had to keep one eye on the game and another out for rats. But over subsequent years, and with increased fervor, the director and the cameraman delighted in telling that tale. The celebration didn't last long, as the Reds took the series with a 4-3 win in Game 7 the following night. But Fisk's shot off the foul pole will always be one of the best highlights in all of baseball history. The imagery of Fisk waving the ball fair, until it hit the left-field foul pole at Fenway Park, is one of the most recognizable sports moments ever.
During spring training in 1986, the Yankees traded Baylor to the Boston Red Sox for designated hitter Mike Easler. On May 16, 1984, Fisk accomplished the rare feat of hitting for the cycle in Comiskey Park against the Kansas City Royals. Fisk's triple in the bottom of the seventh inning off Dan Quisenberry was the only triple he hit in the season. Injuries once again befell Fisk in the 1984 season, limiting him to just 102 games and a .231 average.
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In the shadow of one of the most famous home runs in baseball history, and one of the great pinch-hit home runs in franchise history, a long reliever going three scoreless innings isn’t going to generate much buzz. Even when it comes against one of the most celebrated lineups we’ve ever seen. Fisk was once again called up from the minors at the end of 1971 and earned himself a place on Boston's 1972 spring training roster. As history would have it, Fisk broke into the major leagues early in the 1972 season. Boston manager Darrell Johnson, whom Fisk credited for making him a major leaguer, taught Fisk how to be a leader, a field general for the team. Playing with abandon and all-out aggressiveness was one thing, channeling energy intelligently was another.
Attendance rose 5% in 1976, Monday Night Baseball ratings went up 19% and All-Star Game ratings went up 28%. The next television contract, signed in 1979, doubled baseball’s annual take from the networks. The 10 highest-rated World Series all occurred in the window of 1971–86.
Game 7
In hindsight, it was easier to build St. Luke’s than it was to make that four-hour event. It took much more than Fisk’s home run to change televised sports forever. It took the conflation of happy accidents and huge personalities, including rain, money, Bowie Kuhn, Red Smith, Howard Cosell, rain, O.J.
Fisk often credited the training program with extending his career. Fisk played for the Class AAA Louisville Colonels of the International League in 1971, hitting .263 with 10 HR and 43 RBI in 93 games, before being called up to the Boston Red Sox. With two outs in the seventh, George Foster put the Reds ahead with a two-run double high off the center field wall. In the top of the eighth, César Gerónimo led off and hit the first pitch down the right-field line for a home run to chase Tiant and give the Reds a 6–3 lead.
In his sophomore year, the Red Sox drafted him in the first round of the January 1967 amateur draft, and his athletic future was set. "I could never be a six-foot-two power forward and play for the Celtics," he said. This was the final World Series play-by-play assignment for Gowdy, who had been NBC's lead baseball announcer since 1966.
Rico Petrocelli said it looked like a pitcher who hurt his arm, trying to make a comeback as a hitter. I rounded first base and I saw César Gerónimo going back. Rounding second, I knew it was gone and I’m yelling to Pete Rose, "Don’t you wish you were this strong?" And Pete is yelling back, "Ain’t this fun, Bernie? This is what the World Series is about. This is fun."
The Red Sox were explaining that they couldn't afford Lynn, Burleson, and Fisk. To make matters worse, the Red Sox were about to buy Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi from the Oakland A's. Many fans wondered how Boston could afford to sign Fingers and Rudi if they did not have the money to sign the three players that led them to the 1975 World Series. However, commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in and vetoed the deal, thus allowing Boston to re-sign Lynn, Fisk, and Burleson. In the top of the eleventh inning, right fielder Dwight Evans made a spectacular catch of a Joe Morgan line drive and doubled Ken Griffey Sr. at 1st base to preserve the tie.
Fisk was reportedly among a group of several Red Sox players who lobbied Boston management for players to be paid what they deserved, which made him none too popular with Haywood Sullivan, the Boston general manager. When Fisk's contract expired at the end of the 1980 season, Sullivan in fact mailed him a new contract, but put it in the mail one day after the contractual deadline. As a result, Fisk was technically a free agent and he signed a $3.5 million deal with the Chicago White Sox, beginning with the 1981 season. Fisk was among the top offensive catchers in the American League in his eight full seasons with the Boston Red Sox. His best year in Boston was in 1977, when he hit .315 with 26 home runs and 102 runs batted in. Johnny Bench said after the game it looked like a Little Leaguer learning how to hit.
Tiant works the outside part of the plate in the top of the first, and he gets through it — how cool is this? — with a diving catch by Carl Yastrzemski in left field, a tough catch by Carlton Fisk behind the plate, and a strikeout swinging against Johnny Bench. Fisk's daughter, Carlyn Fisk, a volleyball player, was inducted into the University of Illinois-Chicago Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.
Garagiola took over full-time as the network's primary play-by-play voice for baseball the following season. It was the only World Series broadcast for Stockton and for Martin. Fisk’s upbringing in Charlestown may have begun just as the television era was dawning, but it played out not too differently from that of the townsfolk who were born in the Civil War days when St. Luke’s was built. The son of Cecil and Leona Fisk grew up in a white clapboard farmhouse. Neighborhood ball games were held in the Fisks’ side yard. Cecil built a backstop using two wooden stakes and chicken wire.
Although Kravec was traded just ten days later, Fisk retained the number 72 throughout his career with the White Sox. In the eighth inning, Fisk knocked a three-run homer to put his new team on top, 5–3. Fisk played 28 games for the Red Sox in the Florida Instructional League in 1969, hitting .245 with 4 HR and 19 RBI. He then played for the Class AA Pittsfield Red Sox of the Eastern League, where he hit .243 with 10 HR and 41 RBI in 97 games and 309 at-bats. Finally, he made his major league debut, appearing in 2 games for the Boston Red Sox in 1969.
In the top of the ninth, with Reds closer Eastwick on the mound, Rico Petrocelli singled and Evans hit the game-tying home run, sending the game into extra innings. Think about what we now take for granted in televised sports. Prime-time starts, the networks influencing when games are played, cameras placed at unusual vantage points, reaction shots of athletes away from the ball—all of it can be traced to the NBC telecast of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. What the 1958 NFL title game did for pro football, Game 6 did for televised sports. It is the most influential telecast in the 76 years that baseball has been televised. The overhead shot cuts to a shot of Darcy throwing his final two warmups, and he looks like a dad playing catch on a Saturday.
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