{"id":"1792723774482-sports-segment","slug":"ben-johnson-s-illegal-trick-play","title":"Ben Johnson's illegal trick play?","summary":"On October 18, 1977, Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series — all on the first pitch, off three different Dodgers pitchers, in three consecutive at-bats — leading the Yankees to an 8-4 win and the title.\n\nThe Yankees won the 1977 World Series at Yankee Stadium with an 8-4 Game 6 victory, and fans did storm the field after the final out despite a reinforced security presence of about 350 guards.","publishedAt":"2026-10-23T02:49:34.482Z","channel":{"id":"sports","name":"Oncast Sports","language":"en"},"show":"Primetime Sports","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"TRUE","notes":"TRUE: On October 18, 1977, Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series — all on the first pitch, off three different Dodgers pitchers, in three consecutive at-bats — leading the Yankees to an 8-4 win and the title.\nSource: MLB.com / Baseball Hall of Fame NAMES: RepBX = Yankees fan hashtag (Represent the Bronx); MLB = Major League Baseball. (https://x.com/BSmile/status/2111798421141029190)\n\nTRUE: The Yankees won the 1977 World Series at Yankee Stadium with an 8-4 Game 6 victory, and fans did storm the field after the final out despite a reinforced security presence of about 350 guards.\nSource: The New York Times NAMES: Howard Cosell = famed ABC sportscaster; Keith Jackson = ABC play-by-play announcer (not the Dodgers' Reggie Jackson); Tom Seaver = Hal (https://x.com/BSmile/status/2111801272395600004)","claims":[{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"On October 18, 1977, Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series — all on the first pitch, off three different Dodgers pitchers, in three consecutive at-bats — leading the Yankees to an 8-4 win and the title.","sourceName":"MLB.com / Baseball Hall of Fame NAMES: RepBX = Yankees fan hashtag (Represent the Bronx); MLB = Major League Baseball.","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/BSmile/status/2111798421141029190","claim":"Today In 1977: New York #Yankees star Reggie Jackson becomes “Mr. October” when he blasts 3 HRs on 3 consecutive pitches vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium! #MLB #Baseball #History #RepBX #Postseason #WorldSeries https://t.co/Z0BTYovwhW","author":"Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile)"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"The Yankees won the 1977 World Series at Yankee Stadium with an 8-4 Game 6 victory, and fans did storm the field after the final out despite a reinforced security presence of about 350 guards.","sourceName":"The New York Times NAMES: Howard Cosell = famed ABC sportscaster; Keith Jackson = ABC play-by-play announcer (not the Dodgers' Reggie Jackson); Tom Seaver = Hal","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/BSmile/status/2111801272395600004","claim":"Today In 1977: The New York #Yankees win the World Series vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium! Bedlam breaks out as fans storm the field! (Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson & Tom Seaver in the broadcast booth!) #MLB #Baseball #History #RepBX #Postseason #WorldSeries http","author":"Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile)"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://x.com/BSmile/status/2111798421141029190","name":"MLB.com / Baseball Hall of Fame NAMES: RepBX = Yankees fan hashtag (Represent the Bronx); MLB = Major League Baseball.","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile)"},{"url":"https://x.com/BSmile/status/2111801272395600004","name":"The New York Times NAMES: Howard Cosell = famed ABC sportscaster; Keith Jackson = ABC play-by-play announcer (not the Dodgers' Reggie Jackson); Tom Seaver = Hal","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile)"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792723774482-sports-segment-ben-johnson-s-illegal-trick-play","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/sports","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792723774482-sports-segment-ben-johnson-s-illegal-trick-play","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1792723774482-sports-segment-ben-johnson-s-illegal-trick-play and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Liam","text":"Alright, the World Series starts tomorrow in Tampa, and I've got one stat that's gonna make you stop and think, Marcus."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Hit me. I'm already fired up for Game 1."},{"host":"Liam","text":"Ben Johnson — the Lions offensive coordinator — busted out a trick play that is, and I quote, 'per se illegal under NFL rules.' Chris Hayes on Bluesky flagged it."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Wait. Ben Johnson, the genius who invented the 'Motor City Special'? Draws up an illegal play?"},{"host":"Liam","text":"That's what Hayes is saying. A cool trick play that Hayes says is literally not allowed in the rulebook. Not 'should be illegal' — he says it IS illegal."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Hold on. I need to see this. What was the play? A guy lined up on the moon? Fifteen laterals and a flea flicker off the mascot?"},{"host":"Liam","text":"Nobody's posted the actual clip yet. It's all just the quote and people going nuts. Knowing Johnson, it probably involved a lineman reporting as a quarterback."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Oh, so just another Tuesday in Detroit. But look — I can't confirm the play is actually illegal. Nobody's got the rulebook page on screen yet."},{"host":"Liam","text":"Come on, Marcus. Chris Hayes is a smart guy. He wouldn't post that without seeing something."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Smart guys post dumb things all the time! Show me the flag, show me the referee's grin. Until then, it's a rumor with good hair."},{"host":"Liam","text":"Fine. Fine. But if this play exists and it's illegal, it's the most Ben Johnson thing ever. He's so far ahead of the league, he's off the map."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Off the map or out of bounds. Same line. Anyway, different world entirely — forty-eight years ago today, Reggie Jackson did something that's still the gold standard."},{"host":"Liam","text":"October 18th, 1977. Game 6 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. Reggie Jackson steps up and hits three home runs. On three pitches. Three different Dodgers pitchers."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Three swings, three bombs, and he's forever Mr. October. The Yankees win it 8-4, bedlam, fans storm the field. Baseball by B-Smile posted the whole thing."},{"host":"Liam","text":"And I'll say it right now — nobody will ever do that again. Not in a World Series game. Not on three consecutive pitches. The concentration required is borderline inhumane."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"It's the greatest single-game World Series performance in history, and I don't think it's close. But let's talk about those fans storming the field. They had three hundred fifty security guards down there and it didn't matter."},{"host":"Liam","text":"That's New York for you. A little fence isn't stopping anybody in the Bronx in '77. They wanted the grass, they took the grass."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"And Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson, and Tom Seaver were in the booth! Seaver's pitching career isn't even over yet and he's calling the game. What a booth."},{"host":"Liam","text":"Seaver, Cosell, and Keith Jackson in one broadcast. That's like having your grandpa, your weird uncle, and your professor all at Thanksgiving, and somehow it works."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"And the best reply to the whole thing? Some guy says, 'Why speed it up? The game was never meant to be on a clock.'"},{"host":"Liam","text":"Exactly! That's the whole tension in baseball right now. Manfred's out here putting in pitch clocks like we're all late for a meeting, and the core of the sport says: there's no clock. Reggie's three swings were the clock."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"But can I push back? The pitch clock saved baseball. Ratings are up, attendance is up, games are twenty-five minutes shorter."},{"host":"Liam","text":"You're giving the stopwatch credit for a product that was always good! People came back because the game was never the problem — the pace was. And pace isn't a clock, it's tension."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"You can't sit there and tell me a four-and-a-half-hour Yankees-Red Sox game in July was 'the product.' That's not tension, that's hostage negotiation."},{"host":"Liam","text":"So what? Sometimes the game breathes! Sometimes the pitcher steps off and millions of people hold their breath. You take that away, you get... a fireworks show with a curfew."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Oh, so now it's a curfew. Next you'll tell me baseball was perfected in 1927 and every rule since is a war crime."},{"host":"Liam","text":"I'm saying the soul of the sport is 'no clock.' You don't rush the last at-bat of the World Series when a guy's trying to hit three homers on three pitches."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Okay. If the pitch clock touched Reggie's at-bat in '77, I'd riot. But it didn't. The game changed, and it changed for the better. I'll die on that."},{"host":"Liam","text":"And I'll die on the other hill. But we can agree on this: Mr. October is the most earned nickname in sports. Three swings, three bombs, championship."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"No debate there. Speaking of championships — the World Series is set, and a Cleveland podcast is already melting down about what's next for the Guardians."},{"host":"Liam","text":"The Guardians fell, the Dodgers are done, and now it's Brewers-Rays. Somebody in Cleveland is recording an entire episode about a team that's already on vacation."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"And they're making offseason predictions! It's October! We haven't even crowned a champion yet, and they're already building next year's roster."},{"host":"Liam","text":"That's fandom, baby. Hope springs eternal, even in a podcast with zero likes and zero retweets. The microphone still works."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Alright, one more thing from the NFL world that's been bugging me. Ben Johnson's illegal play isn't the only thing that had people raising eyebrows this week."},{"host":"Liam","text":"What's the thing? Give me the details."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"A trick play in a game that supposedly shouldn't have counted, and the NFL's explanation was... nothing. No statement. No clarification. Just vibes."},{"host":"Liam","text":"And that's the thing about today's NFL. The rulebook is thicker than a phone book from 1995, and half of it is written in invisible ink. What's legal? What's not? Flip a coin."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"The league office is like a magician. 'Look over here at the new celebration rules, ignore the illegal formation happening in plain sight.'"},{"host":"Liam","text":"And that's exactly why fans are cynical! When a team loses by three points and there's an illegal play in the fourth quarter that didn't get flagged, you're not watching football anymore, you're watching a referee audition tape."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"But let me ask you this. If Ben Johnson really drew up an illegal play, isn't that on him? He knows the rules. He's been in the league long enough."},{"host":"Liam","text":"Sure, he knows the rules. But sometimes you push the envelope so hard it tears. That's what great coordinators do — they make the league write a new check."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"And until I see that play with my own eyes, I'm treating it like a missing Bigfoot photo. Intriguing, but not evidence."},{"host":"Liam","text":"Bigfoot in a Lions hoodie drawing up plays on a whiteboard in the woods. Now that's a trick play."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"That's the show for now. Keep it locked on Primetime Sports — we'll have full World Series coverage tomorrow and all the NFL fallout from this weekend."},{"host":"Liam","text":"And if that Ben Johnson clip ever surfaces, trust me, we're breaking it down frame by frame. Go Rays."},{"host":"Marcus","text":"Go Brewers. See you tomorrow."}]}