Just short of 50 years ago, Dwight Evans made one of baseball’s greatest catches, robbing the Cincinnati Reds’ Joe Morgan of the Big Red Machine in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.
Funny thing, it may have been great, particularly the timing and all of the eyes on it, but it wasn’t his best.
“The only way I can explain it: That wasn’t the greatest catch I ever made,” the 73-year-old said, “it was the most important catch I ever made.”
To this day, that game, Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, is noted as one of the greatest in history of the Fall Classic against the Cincinnati Reds.
It was the dominant Big Red Machine facing a perky Red Sox team led by future Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, AL MVP/Rookie of the Year Fred Lynn and stellar righty named Luis Tiant, who died last fall.
Tied in the top of the 11th inning, at Fenway Park, with one out and Ken Griffey on first base, Hall of Famer Joe Morgan was at the plate and hit a deep fly ball to right. Evans turned in front of the short wall in the corner, made a slight leap before making “The Catch.”
Evan then turned toward first base. He doubled off Griffey to end the inning.
“In between pitches you’re always going over scenarios, maybe 10. I had Griffey at first base,” he explained.
“A ball hit to me, ‘I’ve got to throw him out at third base,”’ he said. “Or, ‘I’ve got to come up throwing so he can’t go to third.”’
Then the ball’s hit. The play is unfolding.
“When Morgan hit the ball, he hit it right at me. Usually when a lefthander or even a righthander hits the ball right at you, it curves towards the line,” he said, twisting in his seat as recalled the play, lifting his left hand like he has a glove on.
“So, I turned and I’m running back, the ball stays straight and I’m trying to turn this way a little bit. It just didn’t do the normal thing that it’s supposed to do. I didn’t know where I was.”
He recalls what he was thinking.
“It goes in my mind, ‘If it goes over my head, I’ve got to go in the stands. I was ready for it, but I wasn’t ready for what the ball did. So, I lost it. I was facing toward the line. I threw my glove back and it landed in my glove, and no one was happier than me at that time.”
The game started on October 21st and ended in the early morning of the next day when Carlton Fisk hit his homer down the left-field line, waving both arms as he slowly glided toward first base, hoping to coax the ball fair. It caromed off the left-field foul pole and the Red Sox won, 7-6, before losing Game 7 of the Series.
“I think it is still rated the greatest single game in World Series history,” Evans said. “They say it’s one of the greatest World Series ever. … We weren’t supposed to be in the same stadium as the Big Red Machine.”
Now an instructor with the Red Sox, Evans, who lives in Florida eight months a year, said his role “is to take those kids that are really on the bubble to make that last step into the major leagues. I mentor. They found that niche for me and I enjoy it.”
The Red Sox honored the ’75 team on Opening Day, a day he’ll never forget.
“That was a special day, getting together again with guys I adore,” said Evans. “I commend the Red Sox for putting it together. It was a day I’ll never forget.”