Happy Bucky Dent Day

October 2, 1978.

I was just about 2 months shy of my 16th birthday. While that was a long time ago, I can remember this game like it was yesterday.

I hustled to get my afternoon paper route done so that I would be home in time for the game. And, for 2 hours and 51 minutes, I sat there, on my parents couch, alone, curled up, watching the game - and not moving a single muscle for the entire game. It was nerve-racking. My intestines were in a knot.

Until Nettles squeezed that final out, it was if I was afraid to exhale.

Every 15-year old diehard baseball fan should have a moment like this with his favorite team. Was it Friedrich Nietzsche that once said that?

October 2, 2007 | Filed Under Yankees History

Comments

7 Responses to “Happy Bucky Dent Day”

Mr. Furious on October 2nd, 2007 9:37 am

Heh. I wasn’t 15, but when the Yankees won in 1996, I was at a karaoke bar, and the game was on. I knew the owner and the DJ, and they (of course) knew that I was a long-time Yankee fan. When the final out was recorded, the DJ called me up so I could sing “New York, New York” while the celebration played out on the field.

Besides, I was 15 in 1987. Not much to celebrate that year.
mehmattski on October 2nd, 2007 9:43 am

I was 15 in 1999, and while there was excitement, there wasn’t a whole lot of drama. Like Mr. Furious there, my moment also came in 1996, listening to Michael Kay’s call of Leyritz’s homer on a radio tucked under my pillow because my parents had sent me to bed.
Raf on October 2nd, 2007 10:36 am

10/2/78? I was 4 years old.

When I turned 15, I too didn’t have much to celebrate; the ‘89 Yanks were terrible! Not as bad as the squad that followed in 1990, but they were pretty bad. Winnie was out with a bad back, Pags & Rickey were traded, and Dallas Green was running the team. Bucky Dent took over late in the season.

To think that a year prior they had a decent lineup (on paper) of Henderson, Randolph, Mattingly, Clark, Winfield, Pags, Claudell Washington & Don Slaught.
Andrew on October 2nd, 2007 11:00 am

I was 16 in 2003. What a game.
B(rent) on October 2nd, 2007 12:23 pm

Let’s see…

“Every 15-year old diehard baseball fan should have a moment like this with his favorite team. Was it Friedrich Nietzsche that once said that?”

I’m 19, turning 20 now, it’s 2007 so… 15 turning 16 for me was… 2003.

The third day/night after my birthday (October 13) was spent dancing and celebrating in my underwear before going to sleep for school the next day. Wow.
rbj on October 2nd, 2007 2:24 pm

I was 11 days shy of 14. A nice, early, birthday present.
nettles on October 2nd, 2007 5:14 pm

Whoo Hoo! Bucky F***ing Dent! I was 13 and a freshman in high school. The principal canceled classes for the afternoon so we could watch the game (he was a Sox fan). There were three Yankee fans there; the history teacher, one other guy and me. It was so much fun, even then, sticking it to the Sox!

Incidentally, I recently downloaded this game from iTunes for my video iPod. Just as much fun to watch it 29 years later!