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JOE DOBSON |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ...
Joe Dobson blanks the Tigers
April 30, 1946 ... The Red Sox forgot that Al Newhouser was supposed to be the best pitcher in baseball. Joe Dobson couldn't see the words World Champions written across his chest. It all added up to a brilliant 4-0
victory for the Red Sox over the Tigers at Fenway Park. With Dobson turning in the best pitching performance by a Red Sox hurler this spring, the Sox clipped Newhouser for nine hits and secured themselves in first place.
Only three hits were the Tigers able to fashion against the sharp curves and hopping fastball of Dobson. Twenty-five months of Army service apparently has made a new pitcher of him, as he notched his third straight win of the year.
Dom DiMaggio, returning to center field patrol, after a brief holiday, led the Sox assault on Newhouser with three hits. Rudy York lashed a terrific two run double against his ex-teammates, while Bobby Doerr belted his second homer of the year to conclude the Boston attack.
But it was Dodson's servings, which really had the fans talking pennant. Before he left the Sox to put on Army clothes, he didn't look as if he had much. He had won seven while losing eleven.
Today he had the Tigers eating out of the palm of his hand like kittens.
Eddie Lake opened the game for the Tigers by clipping a 3-2 pitch into right field for a single, and for the next eight and two thirds innings, not a single Tiger hit safely. Dobson was breaking off curveballs like he was working a puppet show. He struck out nine, whiffing Hank Greenberg,
Dick Wakefield and Pat Mullen in the seventh inning. There were two out in the ninth inning, when the Tigers made their chief threat to prevent a shutout. Hank Greenberg lined a fastball off the top of the left field fence and it bounced right for a change, the ball coming back to the
playing field where Ted Williams caught it, as Greenberg was held to a double.
Between Lake's single and Greenberg's double, only three Tigers reached base. All of them were walked, but only Paul Richards was able to advance as far as second base.
A pass to Rudy York in the second and a double by Dom DiMaggio to center, gave the Sox their first scoring chance. After Wagner was purposely passed, Newhouser uncorked a wild pitch, allowing York to score. Boston's final run was Bobby Doerr's eighth inning homer, a hard smash into the
screen in left field. |
