It was said that less that 12 people actually saw Tom Brunansky save the Red Sox season in 1990. Brunansky miraculously caught a line drive off the bat of Chicago’s Ozzie Guillen and in an instant, the Red Sox were launched into the playoffs.
This season, the Red Sox organization inducted the Brunansky catch into the team’s Hall of Fame as a memorable moment. It was an incredible experience at Fenway Park on September 15th as the 2010 Red Sox Hall of Fame inductees John Valentin,Tommy Harper, Don Zimmer and Jimmy Piersall threw out a ceremonial pitch before a game against Toronto.
Brunansky’s catch was remembered and celebrated as it stirred up wonderful memories of old.
1990
Long before the days of the wild card, a team had to win their respective division to make the Major League Baseball post season. In 1990, there were merely four divisions. Two in the American League and two in the National League.
This meant that only four teams would make the playoffs. A stark difference than modern-day baseball where in addition to the six division champions, the non-division winner with the best record from each league also makes the playoffs. In 1990, you won your seven-team division or you stayed home.
That year, the Red Sox were in a heated battle with the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL East crown. The New York Yankees were an afterthought, buried in the basement, after squeaking out only 67 wins.
In October of 1990, the Red Sox found themselves headed into the last day of the season with a one-game lead over Toronto. Boston would face the Chicago White Sox and Toronto was playing the Baltimore Orioles. If the Red Sox lost to Chicago and the Blue Jays beat the Orioles, Boston and Toronto would square off in a one-game series to decide the AL East division winner and ultimately, who would make the 1990 post season.
Sox starter Mike Boddicker cruised through seven innings and with one out in the eighth, handed the ball to Red Sox closer, Jeff Reardon. The Red Sox lead at that time 3-1. Reardon quickly rattled off four straight outs, but with two down in the ninth, Reardon hit a wall.
Chicago’s Sammy Sosa singled. Then Reardon plunked White Sox second baseman Scott Fletcher and suddenly Chicago had the winning run at the plate in the form of shortstop, Ozzie Guillen.
Guillen was known as a defensive player. Light with the bat and not yet the crazy, boisterous manager he is today, Guillen represented another potential black smear in Red Sox history. With lumps in the their throats and pounding chests, fans were reminded hauntingly of previous failures. A lot was on the line for this Guillen at-bat.
Brunansky later admitted he had a very specific strategy as to how to play Guillen if he were to hit the ball to right field at Fenway Park.
Brunansky was quoted as saying, “I told myself that if Guillen hit the ball in front of me, I was going to let it bounce and play it. But if it was hit to my left, toward the wall, I was going to dive.”
Jeff Reardon dealt to the plate and Guillen immediately laced the ball into right field unknowingly about to be a footnote in Red Sox history.
Guillen’s ball sliced down the right field line bending away from Brunansky. Sosa and Fletcher raced the base paths hoping to score the tying runs. The ball headed towards pay dirt while Brunansky arrived to the spot at the same time as the ball. It was a half-dive, half-slide that had Brunansky heroically catching the ball.
He jumped to his feet and sprinted towards umpire Tim McClelland.
“Timmy, I’ve got the ball, I’ve got the ball!”
McClelland signaled out, Fenway Park erupted in celebration and the Boston Red Sox catapulted into the American League Championship Series. It was a moment of pure ecstasy as Boston had been seemingly-paralyzed by the heartbreaking World Series loss of 1986. For four straight seasons, turmoil controlled the Red Sox clubhouse and pain continued to be felt by their fans, autumn after autumn.
The Red Sox would go on in the playoffs to the face the powerful Oakland Athletics,led by Bob Welch, Mark McGwire, Dave Stewart, Dennis Eckersley, Rickey Henderson and Jose Canseco. The Red Sox went down with nothing more than a whimper, losing the ALCS four games to none.
Disappointment rang true throughout the city and it would until 2004.
But on October 3rd, 1990, Tom Brunansky saved baseball in Boston.
