Friday Stuff
Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers Edition
Monday
Nine days after a pair of protesters tried to burn an American flag in the outfield in Dodger Stadium, the Illinois Legislature declared this date in 1976 to be Rick Monday Day across the entire state. They made this move after Monday thwarted the flag-burning attempt, running from his position in center field to snatch the flag away from them.
At the time, Chicago held a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning. Pitcher Ken Crosby, who had entered the game in relief of starter Steve Stone in the second inning, had just retired the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter, Ted Sizemore, when the incident occurred. Monday snagged the flag, and ran it over to the Dodgers’ dugout. The police arrested the two men while the Los Angeles crowd gave Monday a standing ovation despite the fact he played for the opposing team, and the message “Rick Monday... You Made A Great Play” was flashed across the scoreboard in left-center field.
When the game started back up, Crosby came unglued. He retired backup outfielder John Hale but on a hard line drive to right field, and then surrendered a single to Steve Garvey, a walk to Ron Cey, a three-run homer to Henry Cruz, another single to Steve Yeager, and yet another single to Bill Russell, which scored the Dodgers’ fourth run. He finally ended the inning by striking out pitcher Rick Rhoden, but he was done for the day and the Dodgers now had a 4-1 lead.
But that lead didn’t last long, and a big reason why was Rick Monday again. After Pete LaCock led off the top of the fifth with a solo homer to cut the lead to two, Monday followed with a line drive single to right field, and later scored the Cubs’ third run on an RBI single by Andre Thornton. Then, in the eighth inning with the score still 4-3, Monday tied the game with an RBI single off closer Mike Marshall
Luckily for the Dodgers, Monday never batted again and they were able to walk off the game with an RBI single by Cey in the bottom of the tenth inning. Still, they were impressed enough with Monday that day to do a couple of things for him. First, they brought him that flag the next time they traveled to Chicago, and he still has it to this day.* Then, just seven months after Rick Monday Day in Illinois, the Dodgers traded for him. He remained on the roster through the end of the 1984 season, made an All-Star team in 1978 and won a World Series ring with them in 1981.
(*Note: The flag is currently on loan to the Hall of Fame and will be there all summer.)
He’s now in his 31st season as one of their broadcasters, and 39th overall season with the organization, but his most famous Dodgers moment came while wearing the uniform of another team.
