Originally published April 4, 1980, by Mike Barnicle for The Boston Globe
The Red Sox, behind the 32hit pitching of Mike Torrez and the hot bat of Stan Papi, clinched the 1980 American League East title yesterday before a crowd of 612 fans at Fenway Park. The 1914 victory over the Detroit Tigers enabled the team to finish the strike shortened season with a record of 12 wins and 4 losses, resulting in Boston’s first division title since 1975.
“You can name a lot of guys responsible for this thing,” Tommy Harper, the Red Sox manager, said. “But in the end, it came down to one thing, one big thing: the season was too short for us to choke.”
Harper, the first Red Sox manager to weigh less than 150 lbs., is a strong contender for American League Manager of the Year award. He assumed the job during the Patriots Day All Star break when Don Zimmer was fired after the team lost two straight games.
“I don’t want to knock anyone who came before me,” Harper was saying yesterday. “But this club would have done a lot better through the years if there was no September.
“These kids were always under a lot of pressure in September. You could see it in their throats,” Harper said. “Now with this new schedule, you start on April 14 and finish on May 23. A club like this one has a great chance with something like that. We always get off to a fast start. Thank goodness for the Players’ Association: they’re responsible for this pennant.
“I am sorry for a guy like Yaz though. He might retire and if we had played a full season, he was going to get a boat in Minneapolis and a car in California when they had days for him there. Now he gets nothing and that’s not what this game is all about.
“We had a great season though,” the manager said. “Injuries weren’t a factor except for Eckersley’s constant nose cold. We got a couple breaks in the schedule. And we got hot at just the right time when we reeled off those three straight wins against Toronto.”
“I’m sorry to see the year come to an end,” Red Sox Captain Carl Yastrzemski said. “I’m going to miss all that meal money that management would have to have given us if we played the full season.
Torrez, the hardthrowing righthander, came through with his third victory of the season against the young Tiger team. Luck was on the side of the Sox however as the game was completed in less than 180 minutes. Torrez, under his contract, does not have to work more than a three hour day.
“Where’s my free beer?” the ace of the staff was yelling in the middle of the clubhouse celebration. “Next to your free shoes,” it was pointed out.
“What free shoes?” Jim Rice demanded. “Torrez gets free shoes and I don’t? What’s going on here anyways?”
The game was nearly lost in the bottom of the seventh inning. Burleson led off with a sharp single to left. After Jerry Remy flied out to deep left field, Fred Lynn doubled to right, scoring Burleson and tying the score at 10.
Rice then lashed a line drive single to right. Lynn stopped at third despite being waved home by third base coach Eddie Yost.
“Under my contract, I don’t have to run hard until after June 15th,” Lynn explained later. “If I do put out before then, the club has to reimburse me if I sweat or if I breathe hard.”
Lynn scored when the next batter, Carlton Fisk, hit a one handed fly to Tiger centerfielder Kirk Gibson. The rookie outfielder was busy at the time working out an agreement for a series of beer commercials and the ball skipped past him all the way to the edge of the cinder track.
“Those are the breaks,” Gibson’s lawyer said. “He’s upset about that but the commercials are a great opportunity for him.”
“Gibson’s going to be a great one,” Tiger manager Sparky Anderson said. “The kid can do everything: TV, radio, print ads, everything.”
“It’s been a long, long year,”said Steve Renko. “I’m sure that most of the players are sorry to see the season end though because it’s been a great one.
“It’ll give us a lot of things to look back on while we’re home striking this summer. A lot of pleasant memories.”
Renko, who hurled four complete innings over the course of the 1980 season, pointed out that the players did not really want to walk out. “It was forced on us,” the pitcher said.
He pointed out that the average salary for a major league ballplayer in 1979 was only $113,000. In addition to this, management now wants the right to be compensated for players who leave a team for more money elsewhere.
“The owners just want to make baseball like all the other pro sports,” Renko said. “Just because basketball and football and hockey all have compensation doesn’t mean we should have it. Baseball players are different.”
Outside the ballpark, 12 fans stood in the darkness, celebrating the title. Inside the clubhouse, the ballplayers were putting slugs in the pay phone as they tried to find a restaurant owner willing to pick up the tab for a victory celebration. They all wanted to go someplace where no tipping was allowed.
###