Hey, this is Steve White, the host of this day in sports history.

A quick note before we get started today.

This podcast originates from western North Carolina, an area that was recently ravaged by Hurricane Helene.

The situation is dire for many who lost their homes, their cars, their businesses.

Consider a donation to a charity to provide assistance, such as the western North Carolina Red Cross or another organization providing assistance and outreach.

I've put some links in the show notes thanks it's October 2, and on this day in 1978, a man not known for his power hit an improbable home run Bucky Dent was not a long ball hitter.

Sure, he'd hit a few, but as the Yankees shortstop and the 9th man in the batting order, not much was expected of Dent at the plate.

He was in New York for his defense.

Any offense was simply desert.

He'd only hit four home runs during the 162 game season and only 22 to this point in his five year career.

This was a big game, though.

After 162 games, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees were tied at the top of the American League east.

The Yankees had gone on a tear, erasing a 14 game deficit over the course of two months to even get to this point.

So a one game playoff was needed to decide the AL east and who would face the Kansas City Royals in the AL Championship series.

The game was played at Boston's Fenway park.

The Yankees put their ace and 24 game winner Ron Guidry on the mound.

The Sox countered with Mike Torres.

Boston got on the board first when Carl Yostremski parked a guidry fastball in the right field seats for a solo shot.

In a second.

Jim Rice added another to the manual scoreboard with an RBI single in the 6th to make it a 20.

Sox lead heading into the 7th.

Chris Chambliss and Roy White both singled to give the Yankees a little bit of life.

When Bucky Dent came to the plate with two outs, the Yankees win expectation was less than 20%.

I'm not just making that up.

That's baseballreference.com quote s win probability tally for the Yankees in this spot dent, a 243 hitter on the season, and there was a thought about pinch hitting for Dent in this crucial situation.

But they had already pinch hit for second baseman Brian Doyle and they were low on infielders.

Maybe if there had been less than two outs, manager Billy Martin may have pulled the trigger on that one.

Dent was zero for two in this game when he stepped in after fouling a ball off his left ankle that required attention from the trainer.

The count was one in one.

He got a new bat and then stepped back into the box with his signature choked up grip.

Here's Ken Harrelson with his call that day for WSBK.

Deep to left.

Jastrebski will not get its own run.

A three run home run for Bucky Denton.

The Yankees now lead it by a score of three to two.

Bucky Dane has just hit his back home run of the air into the screen.

And look at that Yankee bench.

Happy Bucky Dent.

Yankees now late, three to two.

Boy, the last guy on the ball club you'd expect to hit a home run.

Jessica went into the screen.

Bucky Dent.

Torres fastball sailed up in the strike zone and Dent got just enough to clear Fenway's green monster.

The Yankees scored another one in the inning to make it a 42 game going to the 8th.

Reggie Jackson, a man known for his home runs had a solo shot in the 8th that actually proved to be the game winner.

The Red Sox scored two in the bottom half to make it a five four game.

And the Sox actually had two men on in the bottom of the 9th.

But Yankee closer Goose Gossage shut the door on the two biggest hitters in the Sox lineup, Rice and Yastremski, to preserve the five four win sending the Yankees to the ALCS against the Royals.

They beat the Royals in four games, faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series and they won that in six games.

And Dent was named MVP of the World Series even though he did not have a single home run.

But they wouldn't have even been in the World Series if it hadn't been for Bucky's clutch three run shot on this day in 1978.

On this day in 1968, Bob Gibson continued his incredible year long run into the post season and threw straight up smoke.

This was game one of the 68 World Series and the Cards ace got the start against the Detroit Tigers.

I talked a few days ago about the year that Gibson had in 68.

He was nearly unhittable and had a league low era of 1.12.

He started off the day striking out seven of the first nine Tigers.

He got some run support in the fourth inning and then continued to blow speedballs past Detroit hitters.

He entered the 9th inning needing one to tie and two to break Sandy Koufax's World Series record of 16 strikeouts.

He sat down heavy hitting alkaline to tie it, blew three by norm cash to break it and then struck out Willie Horton for his 17th victim of the day to set a new mark that is still the record for strikeouts in a World Series game.

The most recent to come anywhere close to Gibson's amazing number is New York Yankee Orlando Hernandez and his twelve strikeouts in 2000 against the Mets.

And on this day in 1995, the Chicago Bulls made a move that would help them win three more NBA championships.

Now to say this was the key ingredient to their second three peat would be a little bit of an overstatement.

But the addition of Dennis Rodman added rebounding that they needed, even if it caused a little heartburn with his teammates, his coaches, management, and occasionally fans and camera guys.

But on this day, the Bulls sent will perdue to the San Antonio spurs to acquire the worm.

While Rodman didn't bring the offense that Horace Grant had provided, Grant's departure for the Orlando Magic left a bit of a hole at power forward and on the glass.

Rodman had become a rebounding savant.

In his last two years in Detroit, he led the NBA with 18 boards a game.

He then went to the spurs, where he continued to lead the league in rebounding for the two years that he was there.

He also struck up a bit of an unusual friendship with Jack Haley in San Antonio.

Haley seemed to be the only guy in the league who understood Rodman on a cosmic level.

The bond was so important that the Bulls actually brought Haley in four days later to join the Bulls roster.

Rodman rarely talked to anybody else other than Haley on the team, and Haley got the moniker Rodman's babysitter.

He was not especially fond of the nickname, but he was willing to hang out with Dennis.

There's even the idea that the Bulls 96 NBA title run was aided in part by Halley's willingness to go to all sorts of bars with Rodman.

During his three year stint in Chicago.

He led the league in rebounding each year and the Bulls won the NBA title all three seasons.

Once the dynasty was dismantled, Rodman was shipped off to the LA Lakers.

And time now for todays nothing to do with sports.

Fun fact.

The book the Idol warriors, written by Carrie Thornley, follows a troupe of marines in Vietnam.

Its a true story and one of the marines depicted is Lee Harvey Oswald.

The book was released in 1962, a year before JFK was assassinated.

That's all I've got for you today.

I'll be back tomorrow with another edition of this day in sports history.