Chilling the Yankees

The Cincinnati Reds came to the World Series seeking their legend. The Big Red Machine was the reigning world champion, victor over the Boston Red Sox in one of baseball's most thrilling World Series ever. They had just demolished the Philadelphia Phillies in three straight games for the National League pennant. By the time they took the field against the American League's Designated Luddites, the New York Yankees, they were playing for their place in the pantheon of the game's great teams. When the four-game sweep of the hapless Yanks was over, they had it.

The Machine hammered home its superiority with each game. Manager Sparky Anderson apologized for the rather humdrum manner in which the Reds won the opening game. Said Anderson of the 5-1 victory: "I don't think we played very exciting baseball. We ought to be more aggressive." For the Reds, lack of aggression meant stealing only one base. A seamless defense purloined potential Yankee hits, and strong Red arms kept New York base runners back on their heels. Outfielders George Foster, Cesar Geronimo and Ken Griffey fired balls back to the infield so quickly and so accurately that no Yankee was able to stretch a base hit. The pattern of the Series had emerged: the Yankees stopped at third.

In the second game, the Reds' relentless ability to pressure mistakes told the tale. In the bottom of the ninth, the game was tied 3-3 when Griffey streaked toward first on a slow grounder. The hurried Yankee shortstop threw wide and Griffey cruised into second. From there he scored on Tony Perez's single. Perez has driven in at least 90 runs in each of the past ten seasons, yet he is the perennial subject of trade talk. This year Dan Driessen, 25, who was the Reds' designated hitter in the Series, is believed ready to replace him at first. Driessen and Perez, 34, worked to make decisions difficult, both hitting better than .300 during the Series.

Radio Free Yankees. If the second-game loss on an error broke Yankee hearts, the third game crushed them. After a first-inning pickoff, no Yankee base runner so much as leaned toward second base. Pinning the New Yorkers back with superb defense--aided by sloppy Yankee fielding--the Reds ran up a 6-2 win. Another Perez play typified the Reds' call on greatness. With runners on first and second and no outs, Perez made a leaping catch of a rifled line drive. He ignored the easy tag on the runner at first and fired to second to double up Speedster Mickey Rivers. The runner in scoring position was wiped out, and, with him, the Yankees' last hope for a rally.

The Reds were at their best when threatened most seriously. In the fourth and final game, the Yankees came briefly to life, putting runners in scoring position regularly for the first time. But the Reds' defense choked off Yankee opportunities when it mattered, and the Series' Most Valuable Player, Johnny Bench, homered twice, first to give the Reds the lead, then, with two men on, to put the game away in the ninth inning. The Cincinnati Reds were champions again, 7-2, four games to none.

So commanding were the Reds that the principal excitement of the Series came off the field. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's contributions to the game may be debatable, but he has certainly boosted flu vaccinations this year. Offered an additional $750,000 by NBC if he would schedule Sunday's game for evening prime time, Kuhn accepted on behalf of baseball's coffers. Fans shivered in 40DEG weather while players carried their bats into the clubhouse between innings to keep them warm enough to grip. Only the Reds' Pete Rose was unconcerned. Said he: "I don't care if it snows. Playing in the World Series is the reason why I went to spring training."

The one challenge the Yankees mounted was to the not too terrible ire of Commissioner Kuhn. Yankees' Manager Billy Martin had requested permission to place a spotter with a walkie-talkie in the stands to help position his fielders. The scheme was approved for one man, but the Reds detected three operatives wired for sound and complained. Kuhn put Radio Free Yankees off the air for the first game, but, in a compromise generous enough to be wished in the Middle East, authorized two scouts for remaining games.

During the fracas, CB Fan Johnny Bench used radio jargon to downplay the importance of short wave in baseball. Said Bench: "It still comes down to the fact that someone has to throw the ball, someone has to hit it, and someone has to catch it. Do you copy, good buddy?" In the 1976 World Series, the Cincinnati Reds proved that they throw and hit and catch well enough to be copied into baseball lore.

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