Kiner
Pirates at Dodgers, June 5, 1949
Kiner
Playing with Ralph Kiner in 1949 is like playing with Babe Ruth in 1920. You know he’s going to have an offensive explosion; you just don’t know when.
Brooklyn had a slim 1-0 lead going into the top of the 8th inning of this important Sunday game when Kiner struck:
That’s right — Kiner already has 22 home runs in this replay, and we’re just getting started.
That tied the game up at one, leading us to an absolutely crazy 9th inning.
The Crazy 9th
Pittsburgh threatened first. Monty Basgall, a weak hitter, came up with Ed Stevens on at first:
There were two men out at this point. I thought about it for a little while, and finally decided to leave Brooklyn starter Jack Banta in the ballgame. But then this happened:
Out came Banta, and in came Morrie Martin, who has pitched poorly in his few appearances for Brooklyn in this simulation.
Martin just needed to get one out, but the man standing in his way was pinch hitter Eddie Bockman, who has hit fairly well so far:
I’ll refrain from complaining about the fact that Martin went to a full count on this guy with the bases loaded. He got his out, and that’s all we needed.
In fact, I was excited when Jackie Robinson started off the bottom of the 9th like this:
My rule of thumb has been to run Robinson whenever possible. I figured he could steal a base and get himself into scoring position. I figured wrong:
Duke Snider was still up there, and he sure made me look like a fool:
And next came Gil Hodges:
Victory now seemed certain. Carl Furillo was up. Furillo had gone 3 for 3 by this point, with a home run, a triple, a single, and a walk. Predictably, Pittsburgh wanted nothing to do with him:
So now the bases were loaded in the bottom of the 9th. There was only one out, and Robinson’s baserunning blunder looked like old news by this point.
I knew we could bunt with Pee Wee Reese, but I figured he probably had a better chance at getting a base hit:
Unfortunately, my plan didn’t work. Up next was Spider Jorgensen:
And the Dodgers worked themselves out of a certain win yet again.
The End
Ralph Kiner led off the top of the 10th:
Kiner has this odd ability to get on base no matter what. He went 1 for 4 in this game, which actually brought his average down to .382. He really is the real deal.
Wally Westlake was up next:
And then it was Pete Castiglione:
Ed Stevens was up next. He’s no Ralph Kiner, but I still wanted no piece of him:
And that brought up Dixie Walker, with the bases loaded and the infield in:
Kiner (of course) scored the go-ahead run. And I guess this goes to show you that bringing the infield in does not guarantee that you’ll get the out at the plate.
Oh — and Clyde McCullough came up next and did this:
Well, so much for any Brooklyn comeback. The Dodgers simply fell apart in the bottom of the 10th and did nothing.
Brooklyn outhit the Pirates, but to no avail. Ralph Kiner is almost certainly going to be National League MVP. And the pitching in this game was frustrating, with no fewer than 14 walks between the two pitchers.
Gotta love 1949.