Carlton Fisk’s Home Run Wave Changed TV Sports, But It Almost Didn’t Get Filmed At All (Cool Weird Awesome 639)

Today in 1975 began what’s sometimes called the greatest baseball game of all time, game 6 of the World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox.

The game ended when Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit a home run off the left field foul pole in the bottom of the 12th inning.

The video clip is unforgettable.

After swinging, Fisk sees the ball is close to going into foul ground.

He waves his hands to the right three times, trying to will the ball fair, and then he puts his arms straight up in the air as the crowd at Fenway Park roars and fans out onto the field to celebrate.

That iconic clip was actually only shown on replay, and as the Boston Globe reported, it was only captured at all by accident.

The man behind the camera that night was Louis Gerard.

He said in 2012 that the director wanted him to follow the ball if Fisk hit it.

But there were two problems: one was a big piece of metal blocking his camera’s range.

The other? A rat that he said was crawling up his leg and “staring me in the face.”

The director said, okay, point the camera at Fisk instead.

That dramatic moment has not only been replayed countless times over the years, it essentially created the reaction shot, leading to many other dramatic moments in big plays throughout the world of sports.

And hopefully without more rats on camera operators.