It never occurred to me to wonder why Brohamer was in the lineup on that fateful day, so I just now felt obliged to do some research. It appears that he started at 3rd base because Hobson’s defense had degenerated to the point where he couldn’t be on the field. I’ve seen several references to bone chips in his elbow being so bad that Hobson would literally move them around before hitting. In any event, Zimmer had started playing our man Brohamer at third the last week of the season, and the Red Sox took eight in a row to keep pace with the Yankees, who (and I had forgotten this) won seven in a row but dropped game 162 to Brohamer’s old team, the Indians. This caused a tie in the standings that forced the legendary playoff game.

So, I guess it was a no-brainer for Zimmer to keep Brohamer in the line up (of course, there are those less kind who would say that everything for Zimmer was a no-brainer). For me, the question is why did Zimmer bench Dwight Evans ? Granted he needed to keep Rice and Lynn in the lineup, and he probably had no choice but to keep Yaz in, but why move Yaz to left ? Why not put him at first and bench Scott, or at DH and sit Hobson ? I guess this has all been hashed and rehashed for 30 years in New England, but I’m not from those parts so I’m relatively immune to the finer points of Red Sox historical analysis. But, just to have an excuse to spend more time over at retrosheet, I’ll point out the Dewey had a lifetime .333 batting average (and .667 slugging % !) against Guidry.

Lastly, not to revoke your artistic license or anything, but I feel obliged to point out that a card from the 1979 Topps set would necessarily be composed of photos taken before the end of the 1978 season, so whatever has got Jack spooked is not the memory of Ron Guidry. It probably is Zimmer’s tan.