Devastating Injury

How did Casey Stengel do it? / Yankees at Tigers, June 9, 1949

Devastating Injury

I’ll be blunt. I’ve got no idea how Casey Stengel did it.

The Yankees came into this game tied with the Red Sox for second place, a half game behind the Indians. However, the injury bug is catching up with them — just as it did in real life.

Here’s how The New York Times reported on it:

That’s exactly the scenario we’re facing.

Casey Stengel must have been a miracle worker. It was certainly hard for him:

How much tougher could things get? Well, apparently it wasn’t so tough for Casey, since he was still in first place:

The replay, unfortunately, is not like real life.

Like the other Yankee pitchers, Tommy Byrne suffers from control problems. And, well, they really got to him today.

He held onto a tight 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the 8th inning. However, Tommy got into trouble:

Byrne got out of the 8th somehow, but was taken out for a pinch hitter in the top of the 9th. It was now up to Fred Sanford, one of the few pitchers in the dilapidated New York bullpen.

Sanford got two men out, but then faced Pat Mullin, a pinch hitter, with one man on:

How much tougher can things get? Well, I’ve got a feeling that they’re plenty tough.