3 Home Runs in a Game

Table of Content

• A Freese in October: David Freese’s Game 6 Jersey Among Artifacts on Hall of Fame Tour
• Reggie Jackson – 3 home runs in Game 6 of the World Series 1977
• The Bruin linebacker and the Clipper guard are trying to make a difference for those enduring challenging times
• ALSO ON THIS DAY
YOU KIDS DON'T KNOW
• Oct. 18, 1977: Reggie Jackson hits three homers in World Series clincher to become 'Mr. October'
• Reggie Jackson's ASG Home Run

The National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers were managed by Tommy Lasorda, who was in his first full season as manager. The 1977 Dodgers became the first team to have four players hit 30 or more home runs in one season, as Steve Garvey hit 33, Reggie Smith hit 32, Ron Cey hit 30, and Dusty Baker hit 30. The pitching staff, which led the National League in ERA, 3.22, were led by 20-game winner Tommy John and closer Charlie Hough with 22 saves.

Torrez caught the final out of the contest, a popup of an attempted bunt by pinch-hitter Lee Lacy. Yankee fans stormed the field, overwhelming police officers. Jackson shoved his glasses in his pocket, took off his helmet and tucked it under his arm like a football, and started weaving through the crowd like the fullback he had been at Arizona State University. Without glasses, he had poor depth perception, and knocked over a fan in his drive to the dugout. In the second, New York’s Chris Chambliss smacked a home run to score Jackson (who had reached on a four-pitch walk) tying up the ball game at 2-2.

A Freese in October: David Freese’s Game 6 Jersey Among Artifacts on Hall of Fame Tour

The slugger faced off against the Pittsburgh Pirates' Dock Ellis, who was on the mound for the National League. Also, Ellis famously may or may not have thrown a no-hitter on LSD, but that's a story for another day. As in a work of fiction, Torrez pitched the final game after Ed Figueroa was withdrawn and said he wanted to be traded. The Dodgers took a two-run lead in the first inning and Chambliss tied the score with a two-run homer in the second. Reggie Smith hit a home run to put the Dodgers ahead in the third.

Jackson walked the first time he faced Burt Hooten with the Yankees trailing, 2-0. Who’s ever going to hit three home runs in a deciding World Series game? Series not held in 1904 because the NL champions refused to participate, and in 1994 due to a players' strike.

Reggie Jackson – 3 home runs in Game 6 of the World Series 1977

In the top of the sixth inning, Steve Garvey beat out a bunt and, with two out, attempted to score from first on a hit-and-run single to center field by Glenn Burke. Mickey Rivers, who did not possess a strong throwing arm, threw home. Replays showed Garvey clearly beat the tag but he was called out at the plate. The Yankees tied it in their half of the sixth inning when Willie Randolph hit a home run off Don Sutton.

Yankees' Reggie Jackson follows through on a swing as he knocks second homer in fifth inning of World Series game in New York, Oct. 18, 1977. On this day in 1977, New York Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson earned his nickname "Mr. October" by clubbing three home runs in a World Series game. New York won the game and the series and Jackson was awarded his second World Series MVP, the first player ever to win the award with two different teams. And STILL, you kids just don't know how great Reggie Jackson really was. The Yankees led the Dodgers three games to two, so they could put the Series on ice with a victory this night. To the mound the Yankees sent Mike Torrez, the winner in Game Three.

The Bruin linebacker and the Clipper guard are trying to make a difference for those enduring challenging times

Jackson and the Yankees went on to win the World Series again in 1978, giving Jackson five World Series championships during his time in Oakland and New York. Jackson became the first player to hit five home runs in a single World Series. Reggie Jackson celebrates with his Yankees teammates after hitting a home run during the 1977 season. Then, Dodgers pitcher Charlie Hough went into his windup and delivered. “Reggie Jackson has seen two pitches in the strike zone tonight. And he’s hit them both in the seats,” Jackson said on the night of Oct. 18, 1977.

The Dodgers were leading by run when Jackson hit the first of his home runs in the fourth inning, following a Munson single, to give the Yankees a lead they never relinquished. In his remarkable performance on Oct. 18, 1977, Jackson cracked a drive off three Dodgers hurlers on three consecutive pitches in the deciding game of the Fall Classic. The Dodgers almost tied the game in the fourth when Ron Cey sent a drive to deep left that Lou Piniella leaped up and caught. Jackson ended the scoring with an opposite-field home run off Rhoden in the sixth inning. The Dodgers tied it at 3–3 in the ninth inning Dusty Baker led off with a single and was almost picked off first when pinch-hitter Manny Mota failed on a bunt attempt. Mota flied out, but Steve Yeager walked and pinch-hitter Lee Lacy drove Baker home with a single.

ALSO ON THIS DAY

We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions. “I think more people than you think are looking for ways to help out,” Nelson said. “There’s kind of waiting for that push, a gentle push in the right direction.

The Yankees won seven of them, but in 1955 and 1957, an injured Mantle missed a major portion of each Series. Brooklyn beat the Yankees in 1955 and the Milwaukee Braves won in 1957. About an hour before the first pitch, a fire had started in Public School 3, an abandoned elementary school a few blocks east of Yankee Stadium. During the game, ABC cut to a helicopter camera for an overhead view of Yankee Stadium and the surrounding neighborhood, catching the fire. The Yankees took the lead in the eighth inning when Munson doubled home Randolph. Later in the inning, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out, but Dodger reliever Elías Sosa struck out Lou Piniella and retired Bucky Dent on a forceout to end the threat.

It’s the not-so-flashy, everyday stuff – a meal, a video game – that’s really impressive, really impactful, really real. Jackson would have more important hits in his career, but for sheer impact, few can match this one home run. Oh by the way, Jackson went on to clear the Tiger Stadium roof in 1984 with the now-Los Angeles Angels , but that's a story for another day.

Munson feels the turning point was the midnight meeting between himself, Lou Piniella, Steinbrenner, and later Martin that July night in Milwaukee. Munson and Piniella urged the owner to take the restrictions off the manager — or get another manager without restrictions. And they suggested changes in the batting order that eventually put Jackson in the cleanup slot. On Oct. 18, 1977, Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson smashed three home runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the World Series, helping the Yankees win 8-4 and clinch the series 4-2, all while earning himself the moniker "Mr. October."

1977 AL Cy Young award winner Sparky Lyle took the win in Game 1 and, coupled with his wins in Games 4 and 5 of the 1977 ALCS, as of 2019 is the only pitcher to win three consecutive decisions in a single postseason. In extra innings, the Yankees got their leadoff hitters on in both the tenth and eleventh innings but did not score due to failure to lay down sacrifice bunts. Finally, in the 12th, Randolph led off and doubled and Munson was walked intentionally. Yankee manager Billy Martin at first wanted Paul Blair, the next hitter, to try to sacrifice again, but after two failed attempts, Martin had Blair hit away and Blair singled home Randolph with the game-winner. In the bottom of the third inning, Jackson entered the game to take an at-bat for pitcher Vida Blue.

For the eternal record books, the Yankees beat the Dodgers, 8-4, last night to win the World Series, four games to two. “The last line in the history books will say, ‘Semi-colon, the Dodgers and the Yankees also played,’ said Steve Garvey of the Dodgers, who had seen enough in one week in October to understand the Yankee season that began in March. At least to understand a little bit of it; nobody understood all of it even at the end. Yankees' Reggie Jackson watches the path of the ball on a swing as he knocks second homer in fifth inning of World Series game in New York, Oct. 18, 1977. It was Reggie’s second consecutive home run in two official at-bats, going back to the one he’d hit in the previous game at Dodger Stadium. On top of being one of the most clutch hitters in baseball postseason history, Reggie Jackson totaled 563 home runs and 1,702 RBI over his career.