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Jay Bruce (Joseph Fuqua II/The Enquirer)
On July 1, 1973, Reds catcher Hal King hit a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning against the arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers. It erased a 3-1 scoreboard deficit and prevented the Reds from sliding twelve games behind LA in the National League Western Division. The HKM is widely credited in Cincinnati lore as the turning point for the Reds’ 1973 season, which ended in a trip to the playoffs by an early model of the Big Red Machine. In subsequent seasons, Reds fans have searched for a HKM like a holy grail.
Many of us speculated that Brandon Phillips’ walk-off home run against the St. Louis Cardinals on July 15 was the 2011 HKM. Turned out it wasn’t.
Yes, both Stubbs and Phillips hit dramatic, crucial home runs. But each lacks the one quality that to me defines the HKM — it started a winning streak. In 1973, the Reds followed the HKM with another win that day and the next against the first-place Dodgers. They won four in a row and 10 of the next 11. They beat Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Fergie Jenkins and Phil Niekro along the way. They finished with a 60-26 streak, caught the Dodgers on September 3rd and never really looked back. (Somehow they managed to do all this without once batting the CF first or the SS second).
After Phillips’ blast last week, the Reds lost the next night to the Cardinals and four of their next six games. No winning streak, no HKM.
And Drew Stubbs’ home run last night didn’t — couldn’t — start a winning streak because the Reds had won the day before.
If the 2011 Reds do maintain their momentum of the last two games and overcome their three opponents in the NL Central (as well as overcoming their inconsistent hitting and the deep abyss of Dusty Baker’s in-game managing) their HKM will be Jay Bruce’s lead-off double in the bottom of the sixth inning against Atlanta on Saturday. That surprising hit started a scoring avalanche, turning a 2-1 deficit into an 11-3 victory.
Both Hal King and Jay Bruce were left-handed pinch-hitters, King for catcher Bill Plummer and Bruce for pitcher Homer Bailey. Plummer was the starting catcher because it was the first game of a Sunday double-header. Johnny Bench had actually pinch hit earlier in the inning for Davey Concepcion and was walked by Dodger pitcher Don Sutton. Bench and Tony Perez, who had doubled, scored on the King home run.
Both Hal King and Jay Bruce were unlikely heroes, although for different reasons. King was a third-string, light-hitting catcher. He finished the year with a .186/.286/.465 line and only 20 total bases. Bruce, a considerably better hitter, was an improbable star Saturday because he was so sick that he had to be replaced immediately by Mike Leake because he couldn’t keep running the bases.
Both hits screamed down the right field line. I was actually at Riverfront Stadium that July day, 38 years ago, with my Dad, sitting in the front row down the first base line. King’s home run screamed about 20 feet off the ground, over Dodger first baseman Bill Buckner’s head (yes, that Bill Buckner) and of course, I swear, just past me. Jay Bruce’s line-drive double bounced off the right field fence.
Then again, the Reds might lose 3-out-of-4 to the Mets and we’ll have to keep waiting and hoping for a 2011 Hal King Moment.
Thanks, Steve. That was a fun read. Here’s another take, something I wrote just after PB’s home run on the 15th:
http://www.machine2point0.com/?p=71
Good writing, Steve. I tell ya, we’ve got a remarkable opportunity to turn this thing in our favor. The schedule is very favorable from now til the end of the season, no more so than the next 5 weeks. In that span, we have series vs. the Giants this weekend and the Phillies at the end of next month. The rest of the teams are at or well below .500—Cubs, Astros, Marlins, Nats, Padres, etc.
The time for excuses is out the window.
One of my greatest memories…I was at the doubleheader when King hit the jack. Reds won the second game in the 10th on a hit by the Bad Dog, if I remember correctly.
@jholcomb: I was there, too. It was Banner Day.
Banner Day. I had completely forgotten about Banner Day.
There were 46,000+ in attendance that day. Who knew we’d have such a reunion here, 38 years later!
Today’s linuep is the most interesting of the year. Joey Votto gets his day of rest. Paul Janish returns to the Reds lineup. Todd Frazier plays at first base. Jay Bruce bats third against the knuckleball pitcher. Ramon gets his turn with Mike Leake. Apparently someone beside the shortstop can bat second!
1. Drew Stubbs (R) CF
2. Miguel Cairo (R) 3B
3. Jay Bruce (L) RF
4. Brandon Phillips (R) 2B
5. Fred Lewis (L) LF
6. Ramon Hernandez (R) C
7. Todd Frazier (R) 1B
8. Paul Janish (R) SS
9. Mike Leake (R) P
@Y-City Jim: It WAS Banner Day! I forgot about that. I remember thinking the Reds were DEAD in the water before King hit that home run. The next few weeks were magic.
@Steve Mancuso: Cairo in the two spot actually seems to make some sense. Is Bizarro Dusty managing today?
@Y-City Jim: Agreed. Either the Cairo/Frasier platoon or the Heisey/Lewis platoon should be the #2 batter until Cozart returns. Stubbs leading off instead of Lewis is still the tipoff that regular Baker is still filling out the lineup.
I wasn’t at the game but I was listening to the radio.
Joe (the Ol’ Lefthander) was still somewhat rough around the edges back then and sometimes hard to understand even when he wasn’t excited.
I didn’t understand all of Joe’s words that day but as always his excitement and suuport of the Reds came through; and, it was obvious he thought the King home run just might be the start of something big whether anyone else thought so (or would say it). As was so often the case, Joe’s baseball instincts turned out to be right on.
Not a terrible lineup, but there’s something about Fred Lewis batting 5th that makes my skin crawl.
Love the “deep abyss of Dusty Baker’s in-game managing” comment. I am a life-long Reds fan, grew up across the river in Northern KY., and have watched a lot of baseball in my 53 years. I watch all the Reds games I can, and listen on XM radio when they aren’t on tv. Dusty has cost us numerous games, and has no idea when to pull a pitcher. He should have pinch hit for D. Willis last night when we had the go ahead run standing on third base. This team, with the right manager, could go all the way.
@OhioJim: Jim, was Joe’s first year in the radio booth in 1970 with Jim McIntyre? Also what happened to Mcintyre after that season?
Does anyone remember the anti-Hal King Moment? Almost exactly a year to the day later, 7/2/74, Sparky had Hal pinch hit in a game against the Dodgers. The Reds were again trailing the Dodgers in the game and the standings. Hal couldn’t deliver this time and the Reds ended up losing the division to the Dodgers by 4 games.