Till The Fat Lady Sings
Plus: Day in Review, May 12, 1949
Till the Fat Lady Sings
The Giants were getting creamed in this one.
Cincinnati scored 5 runs in the top of the 1st inning, added on 2 in the 6th, and then 1 in the 7th. The score was 8 to 1 going into the bottom of the 7th inning.
New York did manage to load the bases, one way or another, however. This brought up Sid Gordon for a memorable at bat:
That made the score 8-5. The gap was still a bit too large to be considered “close,” but it was something.
Cincinnati then added 2 more runs on in the top of the 8th to make this a 10-5 game. I mentally checked out at that point, figuring that it was best for me to just play this one out and move on to the next game.
Boy, was I wrong.
Bottom of the 9th
It started off so innocently that I didn’t even bother to take screenshots.
Jack Lohrke beat out an infield single to lead things off. Bert Haas grounded into a fielder’s choice, replacing Lohrke at first. With one out, Willard Marshall hit a single, advancing Haas to second.
Honestly, all of this seemed like an annoyance to me at the time. I just wanted to get this blowout over with.
Even when Gordon hit a double to drive two runs in, making it a 10-7 game, I had to stifle a yawn. I’ve seen these comebacks before, of course. I figured nothing would happen here.
Bill Rigney came up next, and promptly hit a single to the left side, scoring Gordon from second. And now it was 10-8.
The pitcher’s spot was due up next, and I put Pete Milne up there to pinch hit. He struck out for the second out of the inning.
That brought up Don Mueller, still with a runner on first base, still down by a 10-8 margin, but this time with two men out:
Now it was time to slow things down a bit.
Up next came Bobby Thomson:
Thomson’s triple drove in the 4th and 5th runs of the inning, tying the game at 10 each, and completely blowing my mind.
And it wasn’t over yet, of course.
Mickey Livingston came up next to send everybody home:
And that ended one of the most bizarre endings I’ve ever seen.
I don’t really know what to say. I wasn’t the one who decided to only have Buddy Lively pitch to a single batter. I also wasn’t the one who decided to leave Ken Burkhart in there to get blown to bits.
Those 6 hits and 7 runs given up by Burkhart all came in the bottom of the 9th. Don’t ask me why the computer manager didn’t think of pulling him. It boggles my mind.
Other Action
Red Sox 9, White Sox 8: At Chicago, the Red Sox win a real thriller. Watch the game here. Read the summary here.
Tigers 9, Senators 7: At Detroit, the Senators score 4 in the 1st, but are unable to prevent the Tigers from coming all the way back.
Browns 5, Athletics 4: At St. Louis, the Browns come back to take the lead late and hold on until the end. Watch the game here. Read the summary here.
Dodgers 8, Pirates 4: At Brooklyn, Ralph Branca hits a 3 run home run to put the Dodgers ahead:
Branca had 0 home runs in 1949, or in any prior season. He did manage to hit his only 2 career home runs in 1950. He already has 2 home runs in this 1949 replay, and we’re not even halfway through May. More on all this later.
Cardinals 7, Braves 0: At Boston, Al Brazle throws a 3 hit shutout.
Phillies 7, Cubs 4: At Philadelphia, the Phillies win on a walk off home run in the bottom of the 9th. Read the summary here.
Giants 12, Reds 10: At New York, see above.
Standings
From now on, I will hold the statistical leaders and other statistical reports until the end of the week, mostly for the sake of my own sanity.
The Pirates are falling apart, and the Dodgers are now looking unstoppable. Don’t forget about those Giants, however.