1975 WS vs Cincinnati Reds
The 1975 World Series: Reds outlast Red Sox in seven-game classic.
The 1975 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1975 season. The 72nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox and the National League (NL) champion Cincinnati Reds. The Reds narrowly defeated the Red Sox in seven games to win their first World Series title since an unspecified year.
Quick Facts
- Result
- Pirates defeat Reds, 4 games to 2
- World series mvp
- Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates
- Pirates championship no.
- 7th in franchise history
- Opponent
- Cincinnati Reds (the 'Big Red Machine')
- Pirates home venue
- Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA
- Reds home venue
- Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
- Era context
- First of the Reds' back-to-back World Series appearances (1975, 1976)
Lore & Background
The sixth game of the World Series was a 12-inning classic at Boston's Fenway Park, which culminated with a walk-off home run by Carlton Fisk to extend the series to seven games. The Reds rallied from a 3–0 deficit to win the seventh and deciding game of the series on a ninth-inning single by Joe Morgan after being seven outs away from elimination. This was the fourth time in five years that a seven-game World Series winner (following Pittsburgh in 1971, and Oakland in 1972 and 1973) was outscored. Reds third baseman Pete Rose was named World Series MVP. Rose batted .370 with 10 hits and two RBIs and scored 3 runs. None of the six umpires in this World Series worked a previous Fall Classic, and two, Art Frantz and George Maloney, would not umpire in another.
Reader's Guide
The Reds, at the height of their Big Red Machine dynasty, recorded a franchise-high 108 victories in 1975 and won the NL West division by 20 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the postseason, they swept their archrival in the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLCS to reach the World Series for the third time this decade. The Red Sox won the AL East division by an unspecified number of games over the Baltimore Orioles. In the postseason, they swept the three-time defending World Series champion Oakland Athletics in the ALCS to win their first pennant in eight years. For the Red Sox, the 1975 World Series was their first World Series appearance since losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in 1967.
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