The Miracle

White Sox at Yankees, May 20, 1949

The Miracle

The White Sox needed a miracle to beat the Yankees.

I know what you’re thinking. Anybody can beat anybody else on any given day in baseball. And that’s true to an extent.

But, in this particular game, there is no way Chicago could have done it without a miracle.

New York was ahead 8-2 in the top of the 9th inning. New York had been ahead all day long. New York started to look like the Yankees of old.

And then the miracle came.

Three straight singles loaded the bases. Another single scored a run. Yet another single scored another run.

That was it for Bob Porterfield. I had my hopes up for him. He was an unknown, and you know that I love players who nobody has ever heard of. Out he went, alas, and in came Joe Page, the deficit now standing at 8-4.

Don Wheeler grounded out to second, scoring a run in the process. It was now 8-5.

We then decided to intentionally walk Gus Zernial, looking for that double play. Yes, I realize that we had just walked the tying run.

Bud Souchock, the next hitter, lined one to third base. Bobby Brown snagged it, but was unable to complete the double play. There were two men out now, and the score was still 8-5.

That brought up Luke Appling.

The last thing you want to do in this situation is to walk the batter. The inning was already dragging on for long enough. Anything — short of a home run or a triple — would be better than walking Appling.

Page walked Appling, of course.

The score was now 8-6, and I was flabbergasted. You can see it in the video. I hadn’t been taking screenshots of any of this action, figuring that the game was already long over.

Cass Michaels, who led off the inning with the first single, came up again:

And that’s how this one ended.

This was one of those games that just leaves you speechless. I can’t explain it. Page didn’t just blow the save; Page was annihilated.