Remember the sizzling, scintillating summer of 1977 when Billy Martin’s Yankees stormed past the Red Sox and went on to capture their first World Championship in 15 years by beating the Dodgers in six games as Reggie Jackson blasted three home runs in the grand finale?
In this series, The Post takes you back 30 years to one of the greatest seasons in Yankee history.
AUGUST 25, 1977
YANKEES 11, TWINS 1
THEY are starting to thunder through the league like a runaway locomotive, sweeping teams away like so much dust, driving onward to some very important October dates.
The Yankees rolled over the Minnesota Twins last night 11-1 with four home runs, a Catfish Hunter four-hitter and the kind of play their pay would suggest.
“Everybody thought we’d play this way all year,” said Lou Piniella. “The talent is here. Now we are doing it.”
Impressive home runs by Chris Chambliss, Bucky Dent, Mickey Rivers and Roy White made it easy for Hunter.
“I did three things nobody expected,” said Hunter. “I won, I went nine innings and I didn’t give up a home run.”
While the Yankees hit baseballs over walls, it is their artful pitching which has fathered their return to first place. It is their pitching that will determine if they will be busy in October.
As the Yankees close in on September and open up on Boston (they now lead by 2 games and are 1-up in the loss column), the pitching has suddenly arrived all at once.