Do you all remember the pitch that Joe Rudi hammered over the wall that led to the Oakland A's winning their third straight World Series in 1974? Here is my story. I have no proof that I was the one who did it. All I have is my word. If others have made the claim to being the person who did this, that is OK with me, too. My Dad was a season ticket holder with the A's, so I attended all of the World Series games in Oakland for three years straight.
The A's played the Dodgers in 1974.
Our seats were in the second level, third base line above and behind the A's dugout. There was a delay in the game caused by unruly fans along the first base line. These fans were later ejected after one of them threw a knife at Reggie Jackson.
Anyway, I was playing on a local little league team that year. Funny enough, I was on the Dodgers! One day, our coach told us that one thing that major league pitchers will do after a game delay is they will often throw a fastball to get back into the swing of things. The delay lasted about 20 minutes. After about 5 minutes, I stood up at the railing and started yelling to Joe, who was right below me, to look for a fastball. I saw that he heard what I said because he actually turned his head and looked to see if he could see who was yelling this to him. He never did find me. I must have yelled this about 20 times. Right before he walked to the plate, I yelled once more, "Remember, look for a fastball right down the middle!"
Well, that was what he got, and he rode it for all it was worth!
I feel that the biggest tribute that I have received was actually years later, when Kirk Gibson hit that towering homer for the Dodgers. Do you all remember one of the first comments that the announcers made on TV?
"Kirk Gibson has just paid back the Oakland A's for the home run hit by Joe Rudi in 1974!"
Like I said, I have no actual proof other than my word for the fact that I was the kid that did this. If another person has claimed being the one who did it that is OK with me. I have nothing to prove, because I know that I was the one.
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Posted February 28, 2005.
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