Drama at Ebbets
April 20, 1949 Part 4
April 20, 1949 Part 4
Giants – Dodgers games are always tense and exciting.
This one was really something. The Giants came out of the box with a leadoff home run by Sid Gordon. That was all the scoring as we went through the early innings.
There was excitement, though. Giants starter Sheldon Jones was pitching brilliantly:
I saved this bit of text because of the nice play by Buddy Kerr at shortstop. You know the old story – every no hitter has some sort of great defensive gem. I thought this might be it.
As usual, though, my excitement was a tad premature.
That was the end of the no-hitter, the end of the shutout, and the end of the Giant lead – all in one at bat. Jones pitched very well for those 4 innings, but a walk to Peewee Reese in the bottom of the 5th really came back to sting.
Then, in the 6th, the Dodgers took the lead. Gene Hermanski, starting instead of Cal Abrams (see my reasoning here), reached on an error with two outs, and proceeded to steal second. And then Roy Campanella broke through:
Now, if you know anything about these old fashioned Giants – Dodgers games, you know that this one was far from over.
New York threatened again in the top of the 7th. Johnny Mize doubled, and an error by Preacher Roe put runners on first and third with only one out. The computer decided to put Mickey Livingston in to pinch hit for Buddy Kerr. Livingston lifted a fly ball far enough to score Mize, and we were tied at 2 – a brand new ballgame.
And so it went, on to the 9th.
Whitey Lockman led off the 9th with a single for the Giants. Mize came up again – but Roe managed to strike him out on three pitches. This marked Roe’s 7th strikeout of the game, coming from an era in which 7 strikeouts in a single game was actually pretty impressive. These days, of course, you usually see 7 strikeouts before the National Anthem is over.
Jack Lohrke then struck out – Roe’s 8th – leaving the Giants in danger of wasting that Mize single.
That brought up Bill Rigney, who saw three straight balls before watching two of Roe’s strikes go by. Rigney then just about knocked me to the floor:
Rigney did see success in the end, however, stroking a base hit and keeping the inning alive.
This brought up Walker Cooper:
The score was now 3-2 New York. Sheldon Jones, who started the day off flirting with immortality, now came up in a big clutch situation. And the computer manager decided to leave him in.
There’s always a lot of buzz in the Diamond Mind Baseball world about whether the computer manager makes the right call at the right time. I would have taken Jones out in this situation without really thinking about it. It really takes a lot of guts to leave the pitcher in – especially in such a tight ballgame. But Jones stayed in – and it turned out to be the right call.
That was all the Giants got in the 9th. Jones stayed on the mound, and up came the most dramatic part of the game.
With one out, Campanella worked a walk to make things interesting. Duke Snider came up next – but could only manage a weak ground ball and a fielder’s choice, forcing Campanella at second.
And that brought up Carl Furillo:
Furillo just missed a game tying home run on the first pitch, and that’s all she wrote.
That’s the second straight loss to start the season for Brooklyn. The Dodgers, who have the best offense on paper in either league, can’t seem to buy a hit to save their lives. They managed only 2 hits against a relatively mediocre Giants starter, and couldn’t take advantage of his 4 walks.
Roe’s great start – 3 earned runs 8 strikeouts, and 0 walks – wound up being completely wasted. Without offensive support, it doesn’t really matter how well you pitch, does it?
Forum Report
Two more quick 1959 games from Mark Ruckhaus.
A quiet day in 1934 for Mike Mathias. The Cardinals are now up 3 1/2.