Pulling One Out Of The Fire
Red Sox at Indians, May 7, 1949
Pulling One Out Of The Fire
The Red Sox lost this one in real life — an extra inning heartbreaker. As usual, superstar Ted Williams received the official blame:
There wasn’t a cartoon this time around (that was reserved for the Braves, who were at home). However, there was a photo that was a bit of fun:
But would Cleveland be able to pull this one out in Diamond Mind?
Pulling Even
Cleveland led most of this game, 3-1. I thought starter Bob Lemon would cruise to the end, and didn’t think much of him giving up a baserunner in the top of the 8th. But then came Vern Stephens:
It’s kind of hard to adequately explain just how shocking this home run was. The Red Sox had done absolutely nothing offensively in this game. This one woke me up in a hurry, and made me realize that we were potentially in for something special.
And now we were tied, 3-3.
9th Inning
The real fun came in the top of the 9th.
Tommy O’Brien led off for the Red Sox in an unusal manner:
That wound up being charged to Lou Boudreau as an error, which was a bit harsh.
O’Brien advanced to second after Bobby Doerr ground out, setting him up for Billy Hitchcock:
And just like that, against all the odds, the bottom part of the Red Sox lineup came up with the go-ahead run. Boston now led for the first time in the game, with a 4-3 margin.
After a successful bunt by relief pitcher Windy McCall, Dom DiMaggio came up next, looking to extend the lead:
Now it was Cleveland’s turn. McCall was still out there pitching, of course. We put Dale Mitchell up there first:
Williams wasn’t always known for his fielding skills, but he sure showed them here.
Up next came Bob Kennedy:
Now, if you look up McCall’s statistics for the Red Sox, you’ll see that he really wasn’t much of a pitcher in 1949. I’m not sure why, but he was really on his A-game in this one.
Up next came Joe Gordon, Cleveland’s last chance:
With two outs, there wasn’t much we could do with Gordon. Ray Boone came up as a pinch hitter for catcher Jim Hegan:
That brought up Lemon’s spot. We went to the bench for another pinch hitter, Bobby Avila:
When I saw that it was in the gap, I thought immediately that Avila had tied the game. Sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be.
Dom DiMaggio is simply incredible. He went 3 for 5 today, raising his average up to .475. How long will it last?