Random Box Score: Aug. 27, 1977

During my last summer as an only child, which was only the third full summer I was alive, my parents and I, along with my two cousins, Jeanann and Jimmy, headed down to Florida in my parents’ AMC Hornet station wagon for vacation. It was late August of 1977, and we were going to Disney World.

I don’t remember much about the trip—only the songs that were played on the radio. And this wasn’t my first car trip down to Florida. I was a veteran of long car rides, so by the time this trip rolled around, it was old hat for me. My parents had nothing to worry about. Plus, I had my two cousins who were “just turned” 13 and “about to be” 11 with me.

And we did the usual things you do when you go to Florida: Disney, SeaWorld, and at that time Circus World, but instead of taking Interstate 4 East to Interstate 95 North back home to New York for the return trip, dad made a slight detour and took Interstate 85 all the way up into Atlanta. The reason? The New York Mets were playing the Atlanta Braves that weekend, and dad thought it would be fun to go to a ballgame.

Only I didn’t go.

I was young, as in just turned three years old the day before, and my mom didn’t think it was a great idea to take me to a nighttime baseball game, especially after a long afternoon in the car. So we stayed back in the hotel while my dad and two cousins went to the game.

My cousin Jimmy, the lone teenager in the car, grew up on Long Island and was a big Mets fan, so he was thrilled. To this day, he still talks about how cool it was that my parents took him on the trip and that they took him to see his favorite team play in Atlanta.

The game was on Aug. 27, 1977, and it was the middle game of a three-game set. Both teams were nearly 30 games back in their divisions. (Remember, back then Atlanta was in the West division. Viva geography!) The Mets were looking up at the Philadelphia Phillies, while the Braves were far behind the eventual National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

On that day, the No. 1 song on the Hot 100 was “Best of my Love” by The Emotions, the top movie was Kentucky Fried Movie, and 11 days before this game was played, the world mourned the death of Elvis Presley.

In baseball, on the same day of this random box score, Toby Harrah and Bump Wills became the first teammates in major league history to hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs, against the New York Yankees. But don’t feel bad about the Yankees, because four days earlier they had passed the Boston Red Sox and moved into first place, which is where they would remain until the end of the season, eventually winning the first of back-to-back championships against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

And here are some players who were born in August 1977: Eric Hinske, Mark Mulder, Roy Oswalt, Marlon Byrd, Juan Pierre and Aaron Rowand.

…

Mets lineup:

Lenny Randle 3B
Bud Harrelson SS
Bruce Boisclair RF
Steve Henderson LF
John Milner 1B
Lee Mazzilli CF
John Stearns C
Leo Foster 2B
Pat Zachry P

Braves lineup:

Rowland Office CF
Rod Gilbreath 2B
Jeff Burroughs RF
Willie Montanez 1B
Gary Matthews LF
Junior Moore 3B
Vic Correll C
Pat Rockett SS
Phil Niekro P

Managing for the Mets on this day was none other than Hall of Famer Joe Torre, who until June of that year was still an active player. After the Mets fired manager Joe Frazier in May, Torre was named player/manager. He only lasted in that position for 18 days because he decided to retire at the age of 37 to focus more on managing.

As for the other dugout? It was even more of a soap opera. Manager Dave Bristol was hired by the Braves in 1976, and the Braves were not good. Things were even worse during the early days of the ‘77 season when Atlanta was in the midst of a 17-game losing streak. Team owner Ted Turner decided to send Bristol away on what he called a 10-day “scouting trip” and took over as manager. This would only last one game, a 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh, because National League President Chub Feeney cited a rule that forbids owners from managing their ballclubs and made Turner name an interim manager instead. The streak would end with third base coach Vern Benson at the reins. Bristol soon returned to the team and rode out the rest of the season as Atlanta finished with a record of 61-101.

The umpires for the game were Paul Runge (son of Ed and father of Brian, both major league umpires) at home plate, Lee Weyer (he was at third base when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record) at first, John McSherry at second, and Art Williams (who was the first African-American umpire in the NL) at third.

Later that season, McSherry was behind the plate at Yankee Stadium the night Reggie Jackson hit three home runs during Game Six of the World Series. Sadly, 19 years later, McSherry would succumb to a fatal heart attack on Opening Day of the 1996 season in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. He collapsed on the field, and the game between the Reds and Expos was postponed until the next day.

As I said above, these teams didn’t have much to play for that night. The Mets were 28 games out and in last place, while the Braves were 29-1/2 games out and also in last place. But they did play on that warm, rainy night in Atlanta, and this is what happened.

Randle stepped in against knuckle-baller and future Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, and he started things off for the Mets with a ground out to shortstop, which was followed by a Bud Harrelson walk. While right fielder Bruce Boisclair was at the plate, Harrelson attempted a steal of second but was called out. That didn’t bode well for the Mets because Boisclair worked a walk. So instead of having men on first and second with only one out, they had a man on first with two outs. But guess what happened? There was a passed ball that advanced Boisclair to second, and Niekro walked Steve Henderson to put another man on. Fortunately for Niekro, and unfortunately for the Mets, Milner grounded out to first base, which was covered by Niekro, and the Mets didn’t score.

Fun aside, RE: Harrelson. A few years earlier, my mom and dad were at Game Three of the National League Championship Series at Shea Stadium in Queens. That day Harrelson was a part of a famous brawl that began when Pete Rose, then of the Cincinnati Reds, slid hard into second for the first half of a double play to end the inning. Well, Harrelson didn’t like the play, barked at Rose, and then all hell broke loose.

As my dad always liked to tell it, he bent down to get his drink and looked up to see a pile of guys on the field. He missed what happened. But he did like telling people he was there that day.

Mets’ starter Pat Zachry’s half of the first inning was a bit cleaner than Niekro’s. He induced three groundball outs from Office, Gilbreath and Burroughs.

The top of the second started off the same way as the top of the first started–with a walk. This time, it was Mazzilli who got the free pass. Niekro got Stearns to ground to second, but the Braves didn’t get the double play. Mazzilli was forced out at second, and Stearns was safe at first. Foster was up next, and Niekro got him to fly out to left for the second out. The ninth batter, Zachry, grounded out to third, and the Braves got the force out at second to end the inning.

Montanez started off the bottom half of the second with a single to left field. Matthews, father of Gary Matthews Jr., of course, walked, and Montanez advanced to second. The Braves were set up with runners on first and second and no outs. Moore hit a fly ball to right for out No. 1, and the runners weren’t able to tag and advance. The Braves’ catcher, Correll, was up next, and he struck out. The Braves still had runners at first and second but with two outs. Rockett reached base on an error by Randle at third, which loaded the bases for Niekro. Niekro lifted a fly ball to right, but it was caught for the third out of the inning.

In the top of the third, Niekro got two quick outs before surrendering a double to Boisclair. And just like during the first inning when Henderson was up to bat and Boisclair was on base, there was another passed ball. This time, Boisclair advanced to third, but unlike the first inning, Henderson grounded the ball to Niekro, who threw it to Montanez for the third out.

Just like his counterpart did in the top half of the inning, Zachry got two quick outs via a fly ball to left and a strikeout before surrendering a walk to Burroughs. That walk would come back to haunt Zachry because Montanez followed up with a single, Matthews walked, and Moore hit a single to right field that scored both Burroughs and Montanez to make it 2-0, Braves. Matthews advanced to third on the single, but he wouldn’t score because Correll grounded out to short to end the inning.

Niekro came out to pitch the top of the fourth and had a “shutdown” inning. Well, it wasn’t perfect. While he struck out Milner to start the inning, Correll was charged with a passed ball–again–allowing Milber to advance to first base. Niekro then struck out Mazzilli and induce a double play by Stearns to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Zachry and the Mets ran into more trouble. Rockett hit a single to lead off the inning, and he ended up scoring on a single by Office, which put the Braves up 3-0. In between the two singles, Niekro grounded out to first. Rockett tried to stretch out his single into a double but was nailed at second base for the second out. Zachry avoided more trouble by striking out Gilbreath for the third out.

Niekro’s fifth started with a walk to Foster, was followed by a force out at a second by Zachry, and then a groundball double play by Randle to end the inning.

The Braves were still up 3-0. Well, at least for a few minutes while the teams switch places on the field. Burroughs hit a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and the Braves went up 4-0. Montanez hit a fly ball to center for the first out. Matthews hit a single to third, which I’m assuming means it was an infield single. Zachry then got Moore to ground into a double play to end the inning.

The sixth inning was scoreless, with Neikro setting down the Mets 1-2-3 and Zachry working around a single by Niekro to get two fly balls and a ground out.

In the top of the seventh, the Mets bats woke up a bit. Milner led off the inning with a home run to make it 4-1 in favor of the Braves. Then Mazzilli, Stearns and Foster hit three straight singles to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. Torre pinch hit Joel Youngblood for Zachry, and Youngblood struck out. Randle followed with a fly ball to short, and Harrelson ended the inning by grounding out to second.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I was raised watching American League baseball, so when I see all of the substitutions National League teams make during games, I giggle. This box score was no exception.

When we arrive at the bottom of the seventh, we are told Harrelson, who was batting second and playing shortstop, has been replaced in the No. 2 hole by pitcher Bob Apodaca. Youngblood, who pinch hit for Zachry, moves to second base, and Foster moves from second base to shortstop. Got that? Good.

Apodaca starts off the bottom of the seventh by surrendering a single to Gilbreath. He quickly recovers and gets Burroughs to ground into a double play and ends the inning by getting Montanez to ground out to short.

In the top of the eighth, Niekro gets Boisclair to fly out for the first out but gives up a single to Henderson. After yet another passed ball, this time during Milner’s at-bat, Henderson advances to second. Milner followed up the passed ball with a two-run home run to tie the game at four apiece. Niekro then got Mazzilli and Stearns for the second and third outs.

It was a whole new ballgame, which probably excited my cousin Jimmy greatly and frustrated my dad because, honestly, who would want to sit through extra innings after being in a car all afternoon? Well, unfortunately for dad, neither team scored in the ninth inning, and the game did indeed go into extra innings.

In the top of the tenth, Niekro struck out Ron Hodges, who had pinch hit for Paul Siebert, who had replaced Apodaca in the ninth inning to pitch to one batter, Montanez. Siebert got him to ground out to send the game into the 10th. After the Hodges strikeout, Niekro struck out Boisclair, walked Henderson and struck out Milner to end the inning.

Between 1977 and 1979, Niekro led the league in complete games, innings pitched and batters faced. He threw 20 complete games in 1977, pitched 330-⅓ innings and faced 1,428 batters.

In the bottom of the tenth, Torre called upon reliever Skip Lockwood to replace Hodges. Lockwood gave up back-to-back singles to Matthews and Moore before getting Correll to strike out for out No. 1. Then Rockett, who has my favorite name in this particular box score, stepped in against Lockwood and delivered for the Braves, hitting a single to center that scored Matthews, and the Braves won, 5-4.

…

The Mets would go on to finish the 1977 season 64-98. They improved two games in 1978 and ended the ’70s with a 63-99 record. Torre would manage the team until 1981, when he would go on to manage the Braves, of all teams.

Turner fired Bristol and would hire Bobby Cox to manage the team in 1978, and Cox would manage the club for five years before going to Toronto in 1982. After his four-year stay in Canada, Cox returned to the Braves as general manager in 1986. He appointed himself manager in June 1990 and remained with the Braves until he retired after the 2010 season. During that time, the Braves won one World Series championship and finished at the top of their division 14 out of Cox’s 15 years at the helm during his second go-round.

References and Resources

• Baseball-Reference, Box Score for Aug. 27, 1977
• Doug Williams, ESPN.com, “The night Ted Turner managed the Braves”
• The Washington Times, “Ted Turner managed to shake up baseball in ‘77”
• Jayson Stark, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Umpire Mcsherry Dies In Game The Veteran Had A Heart Attack In The First Inning Of Cincinnati’s Opener. Shaken, Players And His Crew Called Off The Game.