The reason I’m writing this is because of the pure beauty of the drag bunt. I would rather see a perfectly executed bunt than a home run. It’s a work of art when done right. My favorite drag bunt happened on October 7, 1977. The Dodgers were down 5-3 to the Phillies in the 9th inning with two outs. It was Game 3 of the NLCS, and I thought it was over, but Lasorda sent Vic Davalillo (GREAT baseball name!) up to bat with no one on base.
He laid a perfect… no, it was a beyond perfect drag bunt that is undefendable (Hello Modern Baseball). Davalillo had a long career starting in 1963 and was out of baseball from 1975 to 1977 when he joined the Dodgers as a 37-year-old pinch hitter. He was very fast, probably as fast as Davey Lopes. That bunt started a comeback that was stunning to a 10-year-old Max. I was just learning baseball, and I couldn’t believe he was bunting. The excitement continued, and it included a pinch-hit double from one of the greatest baseball pinch hitters ever, 39-year-old Manny Mota. He hits the ball high in the air in left field, and Greg Luzinski goes back and jumps, and he traps it against the wall and throws it in. The ball gets away from Ted Sizemore, and Mota goes to third while Davalillo scores.
Now Davey Lopes is up to bat and hits a bullet on that concrete they called turf at Veterans Stadium. It hits hard and goes up, bounces off Mike Schmidt, then bounces to Bowa, who fires it to first. It’s basically a tie at first (Bowas still complains to Lopes about that play to this day) because Lopes could fly down the line. He is safe, and Manny Mota scores. It’s now a tie game. Now Bill Russell is at bat, and the pitcher Gene Garber throws over to first to pick Lopes off, but it’s a wild throw, and Lopes goes to second. After that, Russell knocks a clean base hit, and the Dodgers win.
I have trouble remembering yesterday, and I probably couldn’t tell you what I had for breakfast 2 days ago. But if you ask me about a game 48 years ago, I can tell you exactly what happened and in what order. I learned that day that in baseball, there is no clock; if you still have outs that you haven’t spent, you still have a chance.
And it all started with a beautiful 2-out drag bunt with no one on…and that is the beauty of baseball.
Here is a highlight of that 9th inning.
Entire Game, but I copied the starting point at Vic Davilillo’s bat to show the inning.