Bucky Dent: Yanks Will Win World Series

Bucky Dent is one in a long line of October heroes in Yankee lore, best known for his game-winning homer at Fenway Park in the 1978 one-game playoff against the Red Sox.

Even though he's known best for one of the most gripping, back-breaking moments in the New York-Boston blood feud, Dent played parts of six seasons with the Yankees, won two World Series rings and was MVP of the 1978 Fall Classic, a series in which he hit .417.

FanHouse was lucky enough to catch up with Dent last Friday to talk about this year's Yankee team, his experience in the postseason and an auction of memorabilia from old Yankee Stadium that he's promoting with Steiner Sports.

FanHouse: Let's start with the obvious question, do you think this is the year the Yankees end their long championship drought?
Dent: Yeah, I think so. I think they've got a real good team, they got a good balance, good chemistry and they play very very well. I think this is the year they're gonna do it.

FH: What do you think separates this team from the other ones this decade?
Dent: I think they've got what you need. They've got good pitching. They play good defense. The offense is excellent. They've got good chemistry and good character guys like they had in the past. They have guys that know their roles and fit in and I think Cashman and Girardi have done a great job of putting this club together.

FH: The Yankees opened the ALCS at new Yankee Stadium, but you're promoting a bunch of stuff from old Yankee Stadium for Steiner Sports, so I was wondering if you could tell us about that?
Dent: I'm here at ESPN right now, they're doing like an ALCS pep rally/kickoff here at the ESPNZone to help promote it. I've really enjoyed it, to come out and promote the old memorabilia from the Stadium I played in and all the memories I have, so it's been a good time.

FH: Is there anything you guys are selling or anything that you have from the Stadium? I know the media made a big deal out of it in New York about what Jeter took from the old Stadium.
Dent: Well, I've got some seats from the old Stadium and now from this Stadium, so those are a couple of things that I wanted to have some memories of from when I played there in the old Stadium. That's where all my memories are. Now it's gonna be kind of different because they've gone across the street and you know they can create that feeling in the new Stadium.

FH: You are sort of known for the one home run you hit in the one-game playoff (in 1978), but I don't think people know -- or at least I didn't realize -- that you were also the MVP of the '78 World Series and a great postseason performer. What is it like to be known for one play?
Dent: A lot of people forget that I was the '78 World Series MVP because that game was a one-game playoff between two teams that didn't like each other, two cities with a history, so they remember that because that was a big, big moment, so they forget that I was the '78 Series MVP, but it doesn't bother me that much.

FH: Would you like to see a Yankees-Dodgers World Series?
Dent: I think for the fans, Yankees-Dodgers, you know East Coast-West Coast, because of the history of the two teams going all the way back and now because of Joe Torre being the manager of the Dodgers, so I think that would create a big buzz. I don't think the Yankees care who they play in the World Series as long as they get there.

FH: Is there anything else you wanted to mention about Steiner Sports or anything else you're doing now?
Dent: With Steiner, they got some great stuff as far as memorabilia and stuff like that. People should check it out -- the history of the old Stadium, you know just having a piece of that is really neat.