How it unfolded
The Big Red Machine led 3–2 after three days of rain delays. Fred Lynn's three-run homer put Boston ahead in the first; Cincinnati went up 6–3. In the eighth, pinch-hitter Bernie Carbo — who had already hit a pinch homer in Game 3 — tied it with a three-run shot off Rawly Eastwick. Boston loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth, but George Foster threw out the lead runner at home. In the eleventh Dwight Evans robbed Joe Morgan near the right-field wall and doubled him off first. Past midnight in the twelfth, Carlton Fisk lofted Pat Darcy's second pitch toward the left-field foul pole and waved it fair with both arms as it struck the pole. Cincinnati won Game 7 the next night, 4–3.
Why it still matters
An NBC cameraman stayed on Fisk's body language instead of the ball and changed sports-television grammar — networks began filming reaction as much as flight. The 1975 Series revived baseball's ratings amid labour unrest and is still the most-cited candidate for greatest World Series game.