Big Value!

Tigers at Red Sox, May 22, 1949

Big Value!

If this were played in real life, it would have certainly been worth the price of admission.

Detroit and Boston went into the late innings tied at 5. Johnny Pesky managed to get on for Boston.

I decided to try a hit and run play, and this happened:

We could have bunted with Goodman instead, but I decided it would be better to have Pesky run with the pitch. Looks like I guessed right.

Goodman made an out, which brought up the pitcher’s spot. We went with Merrill Combs:

That error by catcher Bob Smith proved costly. Al Zarilla came up next:

Not a home run, perhaps, but deep enough to do the job.

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The Tigers Come Back

But was that one run enough?

In the Tiger’s half Pat Mullin came up to hit for Bob Smith with one out. I presume the computer manager did so to help Bob forget about that costly error:

Johnny Groth was up next — but Mullin wasn’t quite done:

That was another failed hit and run play. Mullin was just fast enough to prevent disaster.

Groth was still up there:

Now there were two men out, and it was all up to Johnny Lipon:

At first I was certain that Zarilla wouldn’t get to the ball in time. He did, though, and that’s what counts.

The Red Sox went through pitchers just as fast as teams do today. Hal Newhouser, meanwhile, took the hard luck loss for Detroit.