Ninth Inning

Rick Monday Saves the Flag | April 15, 1976 | Dodger Stadium

“…ready to take a pitch.  Sizemore fouled out in the first inning.  He is 0 for 1.  And the first one, outside.  Ball one.  And wait a minute.  There’s an animal loose.  (And his inflection makes it clear that the analogy is to an animal being loose at the circus).  Two of them.  All right.  I’m not sure what he’s doing out there.  It looks like he’s gonna burn a flag.  And Rick Monday runs (over), and so Monday takes it away from him.  I think the guy was going to set fire to the American flag.  Can you imagine that?  Well, they better lose him in a hurry.  And Monday, when he realized what he was going to do, raced over and took the flag away from him.  And now the crowd is doing what they ought to do, all of the time, boo one of these characters.  This guy was going to try and perform the indignity of setting fire to the American flag.  Well, I hope they have a boat waiting for him.  And they will lead him off and hopefully he will really disappear.  And for Rick Monday, a good spot.  It looked like a piece of cloth.  You really couldn’t tell from here what it was, but Monday from his angle took one look and realized it was a flag, and the fellow was evidently already to set fire to it, when Monday realized it.  And Rick will get an ovation, and properly so.  So, Rick Monday, his alertness, quick thinking, gets a round of applause in centerfield, and on the message board, it just says, ‘Rick Monday, you made a great play.”  And Monday, getting another ovation as well he should.  And now a lot of the folks are standing.  And now the whole ball park.  And he’s going to get a standing ovation.  And it’s not just for his play.  You don’t have to go into it.  He took the American flag away from a nut and the crowd appreciates it.  And he gets an ovation.  That a way to go Rick.”