The first Major League baseball game I saw live was on August 21, 1974, at Fenway Park, played between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. Roger Moret was the starting pitcher for Boston, and Wilbur Wood, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, started for the White Sox.

I sat in the grand stand seats along the third base-line. The game featured a near no-hitter as Boston's Roger Moret surrendered only one hit, an infield single by Chicago's Dick Allen.

It was a close game going into the bottom of the 8^th inning. Boston lead 2-0 on RBIs by Carl Yastrzemski (sacrifice fly) in the 4^th and Bob Montgomery (single) in the 5^th. The Red Sox had a rally going in the bottom of the 8^th looking to score some insurance runs.

The first two Boston hitters were retired in the home-half of the eighth. Then Dwight Evans drew a walk followed by a Yastrzemski single. With 2 on and 2 out, the White Sox elected to walk Rico Petrocelli and pitch to the on-deck hitter: a rookie recently called up from the minors.

The strategy backfired when the young man singled to drive in 2 runs, Petrocelli was out trying to reach third, ending the inning. Now ahead 4-0, Boston had the pad runs to ensure the victory. Moret got the side after giving up a leadoff walk, ending the game on a double play to secure the 1-hitter win.

As I was leaving Fenway with my friend who had accompanied me to the game, we were commenting on how close we came to seeing a no-hitter. The ball that Dick Allen had hit for an infield single could have been an out had its direction been a bit closer to the shortstop. Also we were talking about that rookie who drove in the insurance runs, "He might be a name to remember." Well we were right about that one. That rookie was Jim Rice and those were his first Major League RBIs.