Fisk Waved It Goodbye, but Curse Would Resurface

When it was over, at 12:34 a.m., most of the fans were drained.

They’d just seen what many have called the greatest World Series game ever.

It was Game 6, Cincinnati vs. Boston, at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox won it 7-6 on Carlton Fisk’s 12th-inning home run that hit the yellow foul pole, a blow treasured in the hearts of Red Sox fans just as is Bill Mazeroski’s 1960 home run that won the Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fisk’s shot was so dramatic--it came on the first pitch--that many look back on it today and think it won the Series for the Red Sox.

It tied the Series, won by Cincinnati.

But Game 6 gave the entire country images to cherish--Fisk side-stepping down the line, arms waving to urge the ball fair, and then there was Boston’s Bernie Carbo.

In the eighth, Carbo--one-time rookie of the year when he played for the Reds--hit a three-run pinch-homer to center field. That tied the score, 6-6. It was Carbo’s second-pinch homer of the Series, a feat accomplished previously only by Chuck Essegian of the 1959 Dodgers.

Two brilliant defensive plays in the 11th set the stage.

Pete Rose, leading off, was hit by a pitch. But when Ken Griffey Sr. tried to sacrifice, Fisk fielded the ball quickly and threw out Rose at second.

Then Joe Morgan hit a ball that appeared headed for the right-field seats. But Dwight Evans made a leaping catch, whirled and threw to double up Griffey.

Then Fisk sent everyone home. The organist was so inspired, he began playing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah.”

Also on this date: In 1964, the Milwaukee Braves’ board of directors voted to seek permission to move the team to Atlanta. . . . In 1995, former Cincinnati outfielder Vada Pinson, 57, died of a stroke in Oakland. . . . In 1980, the Philadelphia Phillies beat Kansas City, four games to two, to win their first World Series. . . . In 1973, the Los Angeles Rams’ Fred Dryer became the first NFL player to get two safeties in one game.