Relive Dent earning nickname in Game 163

Bucky Dent connected for one of the most memorable home runs in Yankees history on Oct. 2, 1978, a three-run blast in the seventh inning of a tiebreaker game at Fenway Park that forever earned the infielder a new middle name throughout New England.

The legend of that moment has grown in the decades that have followed, and Dent has never tired of recounting his big swing against Red Sox hurler Mike Torrez.

“The home run that I hit was the biggest moment of my career,” Dent said. “Just playing in that game, the one-game [tiebreaker], what it meant for the two organizations and two towns -- the people who were watching. A lot of people remember where they were. They remember the day, they remember the time.”

The Red Sox and Yankees met at Fenway for a 163rd regular-season game after both clubs finished with identical 99-63 records, with New York having erased what had been a 14 1/2-game deficit in July.

Boston struck first, as Carl Yastrzemski connected for a second-inning solo homer off Yanks starter Ron Guidry. Jim Rice added a run-scoring single off Guidry in the sixth, but the Red Sox's advantage would be erased in the top of the seventh by the 26-year-old Dent, a light-hitting shortstop who had slugged 22 homers in 789 big league games to that point in his career.

“I’m batting ninth,” Dent said. “My job at the bottom of the lineup was to get on base and do little things. Back then, shortstops weren’t big power hitters like they are today.”

Chris Chambliss and Roy White laced one-out singles against Torrez before pinch-hitter Jim Spencer flied out, bringing up Dent. Wielding a bat borrowed from teammate Mickey Rivers and hobbled after fouling a ball off his ankle, Dent barreled a hanging breaking ball and sent a drive toward the Green Monster in left field.

Yastrzemski’s shoulders slumped as the ball sailed onto Lansdowne Street for a three-run homer. Thurman Munson added a run-scoring double later in the frame and Reggie Jackson belted a solo homer in the eighth, allowing the Yanks to withstand a pair of run-scoring hits in the Boston eighth.

Goose Gossage induced Yastrzemski to lift a foul popup for the final out, with third baseman Graig Nettles snatching the ball near his left ear. Manager Bob Lemon’s Yankees went on to defeat the Royals in the AL Championship Series before besting the Dodgers in a rematch of the previous year’s Fall Classic, securing the 22nd World Series title in franchise history.

“It was just a great game,” Dent said. “It’s something that doesn’t happen very often, and to be a part of that, to be a part of it in New York and be on the winning side is just tremendous.”