Late Inning Magic

Tigers at White Sox, May 30, 1949, Game 2

Late Inning Magic

It’s a shame that I simply don’t have the time to record all of the games I play. Some of them, like this one, are simply all-time classics.

We’ll jump to the end first. Chicago outlasted the Tigers, 6-5, in a wild 11 inning ballgame that had a little bit of everything.

The boxscore gives you a hint as to what this was like. The wind was swirling around like crazy. Detroit’s starting pitcher couldn’t get through 5, and the Tigers wound up having to use 5 pitchers in all.

Chicago, meanwhile, survived another lousy Surkont start, and almost blew it in the top of the 11th.

The White Sox almost won this one in the bottom of the 10th, after this Earl Rapp single:

Dave Philley really should have driven him home:

The mental image of Rapp lying down halfway between third base and home plate is simply precious.

Meanwhile, Detroit scored their go-ahead run in the top of the 10th on an absolutely bizarre play:

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a strikeout and a wild pitch result in a runner on first in Diamond Mind Baseball. However, have you ever seen that with the winning run on third in extra innings?

It wasn’t the winner, of course. Don Wheeler got things started for the White Sox in the bottom of the 11th:

Then came Billy Bowers, a pinch hitter:

That brought up Luke Appling:

Now there were two men out, and it was all up to Gordon Goldsberry:

With the game now tied, up came our old friend, Cass Michaels:

Well, I think this game had it all. There were tons of pitching changes, numerous men being thrown out at the plate, a go-ahead run scoring on a bizarre play, a tying run being cut down for the second out, and then the winning run finally coming after two miracle hits by struggling players.

It doesn’t get better than that!