Fisk, Carlton (1947—)

Despite the fact that he holds the all-time major league career records for games played and home runs by a catcher, Carlton Fisk will always be remembered for his dramatic, extra-innings, game-winning home run in game six of the 1975 World Series. With the score tied in the bottom of the twelfth inning and his Boston Red Sox trailing the Cincinnati Reds three games to two, he hit a long line drive down the left field line. As the ball started curving foul, Fisk hopped down the first base line and waved his arms towards fair territory willing the ball to stay in play. After the ball bounced off of the foul pole for the series-tying home run, he jumped in the air, arms outstretched in celebration. Although the Sox would lose the series the next day, Fisk's spontaneous and joyous reaction captured the public's imagination, as it seemed to exemplify the purity and innocence of baseball during a time of contentiousness and increasing labor strife in the game. Fisk was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1980 after eight years with the Red Sox and retired in 1993.

—Gregory Bond

Further Reading:

Gammons, Peter. Beyond the Sixth Game. Boston, Houghton-Mifflin, 1985.

McKelvey, G. Richard. Fisk's Homer, Willie's Catch and the Shot Heard Round the World: Classic Moments from Postseason Baseball, 1940-1996. Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland and Company, 1998.

Thorn, John, et al. Total Baseball. New York, Viking Penguin, 1997.