Forty-three years ago this week, the Red Sox and New York Yankees had a one-game, winner-take-all playoff game at Fenway Park. At stake: bragging rights between the two long-time rivals and a chance to move on in the playoffs.
On Tuesday, the two teams will do it again.
And all these years later, the specter of that game looms over this one.
A lot has happened since the last one-game playoff, including a resounding comeback by the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS, paving the way for the team's first World Series title in 86 years. Still, the '78 game lingers, a testament to a time when the Yankees dominated the rivalry and the Red Sox always seem destined to come up empty-handed.
Tuesday's game will stir memories -- good and bad -- for those who experienced the last one.
"I'm excited,'' an enthusiastic Bucky Dent told BostonSportsJournal.com. "It doesn't happen very often, where it comes to Boston-New York. '78 was a historic game and now 43 years later, they're going to do it again, in a big game. It should be exciting; it is exciting.''
Dent, of course, played a central role in that 5-4 New York win, belting a three-run homer off Mike Torrez in the seventh inning. The ball was hit into the screen that sat for decades atop Fenway's Green Monster. The screen is long gone, but for Red Sox fans of a certain age, the heartbreak remains.
"Overall, people have been really good,'' said Dent of his experience with Red Sox fans. "I've been back to Boston several times since 1978 and I've always had a great experience. Most of the people from Boston, I get a chuckle out of them because it's always, 'Hey, you ruined my life,' and 'Bucky F'in Dent.' I got my nickname, a badge of honor from them.''
For some, not even the historic comeback of 2004 could erase the bitterness of that playoff game in 1978.
"I think the oldtimers, the older Red Sox fans, still remember that game,'' said Dent. "It's been so long and it's kind of wore off. But some of the older ones, they still have that fire in their belly. I get a kick out of hearing those stories. 'You broke my heart -- I threw my TV out the window when I was in college.' Or, 'I almost ran off the road driving my car when you hit that home run.' ''
The Red Sox have met four times in the postseason since 1978 -- twice in the Division Series, twice in the ALCS - with each team winning two matchups. But because this is a one-game win-or-go-home playoff, the stakes feel different.
"When you're in a series, it's not the same (intensity),'' said Dent. "But when you're in a one-game playoff and everything depends on that one game, it's a different feeling. There's more pressure. '78 was the most high-pressure game that I've ever been in, in my whole career, because it was one game. It was Boston-New York. We had come from 14 (games) back. It was a holiday. It seemed like the whole world stopped to watch that game. You'll probably have the same feeling in this one.
"It's probably going to have the same impact (Tuesday) and the guys are going to feel the same kind of pressure.''
The backdrop was different in 1978, when just two teams made the postseason in each league (The famed "playoff'' game was actually an extension of the 162-game season, and not, technically, a postseason game). When the Yankees won that one, they had a five-game ALCS against Kansas City to win the pennant and went on to defeat the Dodgers in the World Series. This time, with five teams qualifying for the postseason, Tuesday's winner will have to win seven more games (three in the Division Series and four more in the ALCS) for the right to represent the American League in the World Series.
Doesn't matter, said Dent.
"I think it's great for the game,'' said Dent, "where Boston-New York have to play a one-game playoff to move on.''
Dent, though, concedes that The Rivalry isn't what it once was. In the 1970s, the Red Sox and Yankees had a genuine dislike for one another, built on years of on-field confrontations. In 2003-2004, that continued to simmer, advanced by the Jason Varitek-Alex Rodriguez dust-up and other flashpoints.
By contrast, there's likely to be just nine Red Sox players on the roster Tuesday who were part of the last postseason clash just three years ago.
"It's not as intense as it was back then,'' agreed Dent. "You had a history of guys playing against one another in the minor leagues and then coming up and playing a number of years each other. You didn't change teams (as often); free agency was just coming in (in the last 1970s). Now, there's so many guys jumping teams. But when you play against a team for a number of years, against the same players, you have that background and that history of (Carlton) Fisk and (Thurman) Munson, (Lou) Piniella and Bill Lee, (Graig) Nettles and the fire that kind of grows in you, playing against those guys.
"I think it's a lost a little bit. Guys are changing teams a lot now and it's not as intense as it was before. Guys don't stay on teams as long as they did before, so the animosity doesn't have time to build up.''
To get to Tuesday's head-to-head meeting, both teams took unusual routes.
"At the beginning of the year, nobody was talking about Boston,'' noted Dent. "Then all of a sudden, they started playing really, really well. The Yankees had a bunch of injuries and floundered, then they got healthy and started playing well, but they've been streaky. Both teams have had some of the same problems -- they've had injuries, they've had key guys miss part of the season. You can't get into a rhythm when that happens, when your lineup is constantly changing.
"But you've got to give them both credit. They battled through the injuries and did what they had to down the stretch to get where they are. I think it's going to be an interesting game.''
When Dent looks at the current Yankee roster, he sees one player who might emerge as this season's version of himself -- an unlikely hero who emerges as the star of the game.
"We were talking last night about this,'' Dent chuckled, "and asking, 'OK, who's got a name that begins with a B?' You know, Babe (Ruth), (Aaron) Boone, Bucky...And we picked Brett Gardner. I love the way he plays. He plays with that old-school fire and intensity and always seems to come through with the big hits when you're not expecting it. He's been around for a while and he has a way of coming up with big moments.''
Dent's agent is attempting to wrangle tickets for him to attend the game at Fenway. If that doesn't work, he'll be glued to his TV in Florida.
"One game playoff, Boston-New York,'' said Dent, speaking from experience. "It doesn't get any better than that.''