Brazle's Adventure
Cardinals at Braves, June 4, 1949
Brazle’s Adventure
This was a pretty big game in real life. Boston had a slim lead at the top of the National League, and the visiting Cardinals were only 3 games out (but down in 4th). As you can imagine, a huge crowd turned up at Braves Field:
This one probably wouldn’t have had such a large crowd, since both the Braves and Cardinals are miles away from the Giants at this point. It was great for those who turned up, though.
9th Inning
The Braves and Cardinals came into the 9th inning of this one tied at 1. It was a low scoring affair, a great game for pitching fans but a lousy one for fans of offense.
St. Louis starting pitcher Al Brazle came up with two men on and two out in the top of the 9th inning. I thought he would be no threat at all. Boy, I thought wrong:
That gave St. Louis a surprise 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the 9th, however, Brazle gave it up himself.
Eddie Stanky came up with one on and one out:
That brought up Bob Elliott:
We were tied at 2, and the Braves weren’t done quite yet. Up came Tommy Holmes:
Stanky was close to getting it done, but unfortunately didn’t quite have enough.
Catcher Bill Salkeld struck out for the third time in the game, and this one went to extra innings.
Extra Innings
I thought for certain that St. Louis would go ahead in the top of the 10th. Red Schoendienst was up with two men on and only one out:
It wasn’t until the bottom of the 13th that this one was decided.
With Connie Ryan on at first base and two men out, Elbie Fletcher came up:
And that brought up Jim Russell:
Brazle pitched 10 strong innings, striking out 10 and walking only 2, and yet did not get the victory. This was certainly one to remember!