There are those who think that Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is the most compelling contest in baseball history.

Without a doubt, it is one of the most iconic, thanks in large part to the indelible image of Carlton Fisk waving his game-ending homer fair right up to the point it smacked against the foul pole.

The epic game, in which the Red Sox won, 7-6, to force Game 7 against the Big Red Machine, was about so much more than Fisk.

First of all, there was the built-in drama of a four-day layoff (scheduled travel day and three straight rainouts) between Games 5 and 6.

That left a lot of pent-up energy for the great players on both sides once Game 6 started.

“It was just tough waiting around. In those days, we didn’t hit [indoors], there was no place to hit,” Red Sox center fielder Fred Lynn said. “So we were just doing nothing. It was worse for me because I was just in this little apartment off the Southeast Expressway and there’s nothing to do out there. The Reds, they’re in town, they could go out to dinner and there’s something. It was tedious. We’re down 3-2 and we want to play, and we’re just stuck there.”

It was Lynn -- the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP Award winner that season -- who got the Red Sox off to a flying start with a three-run homer in bottom of the first.

But the Reds, who went on to win that Fall Classic in Game 7, showed how great they were by rallying back against Luis Tiant and taking a 6-3 lead.

Enter former Reds player Bernie Carbo, who smoked a game-tying, three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the eighth against Rawly Eastwick.

“We were pretty down. We needed that. We needed a miracle,” Red Sox right fielder Dwight Evans said.

Ah, yes, Evans. He stole the stage in the top of the 11th when he raced back to the short wall in right and made a twisting, turning catch to rob Joe Morgan of a home run.

“My natural instinct was to turn to my left and run towards the fence. The ball’s going to curve,” Evans said. “Same thing with a right-hander. This ball never curved. It kept going straight. So now I’m trying to recover and get back at the right angle because I’m too far to one side. I lost the ball, and caught the ball. It wasn’t the greatest catch I ever made, but it was the most important catch I ever made.”

Thanks to Carbo and Evans, Fisk had the chance to be the hero in the 12th, and he capitalized with his walk-off shot against Pat Darcy.

“It was down and in, right in his wheelhouse where he liked it. If it was a normal guy, that’s a good pitch, but not to Fisk, because that’s where he likes it,” Lynn said. “He just dropped the head on it. As soon as he hit it, I knew it had enough to get out. And he hit it so hard, it didn’t have time to hook foul. It took all of a second to get out. Then it was just bedlam.”