Dent says he still has fun with 1978 home run; rivalry in 1970s caused by players who did not like each other

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. ? Around the Boston area, he will always be known as Bucky (Bleepin’) Dent.The former All-Star and two-time World Series champ (1977-78), who played in the Major Leagues from 1973 to 1984, had a solid career but will always be remembered for hitting a 3-run home run Oct. 2, 1978 in an American League East 1-game playoff at Fenway Park.Dent’s homer gave the Yanks the lead for good, and they went on to win the World Series that year.When asked about the home run, Dent said, “Oh yeah. Oh yeah, it is something we have fun with. I know I still have a middle initial the Boston fans use that was given to me by (then-Boston manager Don) Zimmer. I still tease the people in Boston about the home run, but we have fun with it. It is definitely a love-hate relationship.”The home run is always something that we talk about at our baseball school,” Dent said while addressing the media Tuesday morning. “A lot of the kids think I am dead, so when I am introduced, it is brought up. We do have a lot of fun with it.”That fateful day in 1978, there are two clips of the home run played over and over. The Boston broadcast says “?there is a fly ball to left?” while the New York call was “?deep to left?””I remember Bill White’s deep to left call,” Dent said with a smile. “One of the reasons that game is still remembered today is because it was played in the afternoon and everyone could watch it. Today, the games are on too late for even me to watch, let alone kids.”Dent, who was at the Little League World Series on behalf of Subway’s Baseball Design Across America tour, agreed with remarks Jim Rice made Friday that Major League Baseball has changed since his playing days, but was not critical of individual players like Rice was.Click here for a photo gallery.”When we played the game, we played it hard,” Dent said. “You played hard, you slid hard. You played the game right. We did not do all the jumping around that players do today, because if you did, you knew you were going to get knocked down. You just went on the field to win without all the antics you see today.”While Rice was critical of Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter when he talked to the 16 teams at the World Series, Dent said Jeter plays the game the right way.”For some reason, Jeter gets beat up a lot, but all he has done is won four World Series titles,” Dent said. “He can play for me anytime. My son is a shortstop and I tell him to watch Jeter. He plays the game right. He plays it hard and runs hard.”Dent said the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry was in full swing when he was traded to the Yanks in 1977, but says the main reason the rivalry was so heated is because the players just did not like each other.”My first experience with the rivalry was in 1977, when I was traded from the White Sox, and the first time I played in one of those games you could feel it and sense it,” Dent said. “Free agency has changed that a bit today (as far as the players are concerned). Back then, players would be willing to take less money to stay with the team they were with, and that created a lot of the rivalries. Today, you see a guy like Johnny Damon play for the Red Sox and then go to New York as a free agent.”In talking about the Yankees of 1977 and 1978, Dent said winning was the common denominator that kept them together.”Whatever happened off the field between Reggie (Jackson), Thurman (Munson) and Billy (Martin), when they went out between the lines they went out to beat you,” Dent said. “They wanted to beat you. That is what stood out back then.”Dent said one of the pressures facing today’s players is media scrutiny and the fact everyone has a cell-phone camera.”Guys today can’t go out and have fun like we did,” Dent said. “When I played, I played with characters that had character. Guys like Rich Gossage and Lou Piniella were definitely characters that loved to play the game.”Baseball Design Across America is auctioning off baseballs on eBay with all proceeds going to Li