Shock Finish

Cardinals at Braves, June 5, 1949

Shock Finish

The hardest thing about shock finishes is that they hit you by surprise.

This one was as big a surprise as I’ve ever had. St. Louis was in control of this game from the start. Despite an awful performance from St. Louis starter Jim Hearn, who gave up 11 walks in 6 1/3 innings, the Braves found themselves down 7-3 going into the bottom of the 9th.

And that’s when strange things happened.

The Braves patched together a run with 2 men out. I wasn’t paying too much attention, though, knowing that they likely wouldn’t score 3 more before the Cardinals got the final out.

There were two men on for Connie Ryan when this happened:

Playing games like this by yourself is kind of embarrassing. I let out a cry of surprise and excitement when I saw that play by play text. Boston had won it, coming on top in a miracle that they never deserved to enjoy.

Jim Hearn hasn’t pitched well, but this outing was kind of ridiculous. Warren Spahn, meanwhile, continues to struggle in the young 1949 season.

I still can’t believe the Braves won this thing.