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TED WILLIAMS |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ....
The Red Sox make the Tigers look silly twice,
as Ted hits a record breaking home run
June 9, 1946 ... Ted Williams, who promised to really start hitting when the weather warms up, smacked two homers in one afternoon for the first time this season. The Kid's 11th and 12 homers, the second of which
attained near record proportions, highlighted the monstrous attack with which the Red Sox twice smashed the Tigers' hopes of defending their American League championship title. The scores were 7 to 1 and 11 to 6, to give the Sox their fifth doubleheader sweep of the season and running their latest winning streak to 10 games.
The capacity crowd seem sorry for the Tigers. The winning Sox attack consisted of 11 hits, good for 19 bases in the opener, followed by 14 hits, totaling 30 bases in the aftermath.
Mickey Harris had to do some clutch pitching to gain his ninth win in 10 tries, in the opener. Tigers starter Dizzy Trout matched Mickey inning for inning through the first four. In the second game unbeaten Dave Ferriss notched his 10th win to become the first pitcher in either league to
reach that plateau. He had more or less of a romp in the closer.
It was just after the savage attack that the Sox gave Dizzy Trout in the opener for a 5-0 lead that internal trouble broke out on the Detroit bench. Apparently Trout made some remark about Greenberg's $65,000 salary, in the aftermath of Hank letting Hal Wagner's single skid past him at first
base. That scored the fourth Boston run and set up the fifth in the last half the sixth inning. Trout and Greenberg met somewhere in the middle of the Detroit dugout after the Tigers had come in from the field. Heated remarks were overheard and then they swung and clinched. Manager Steve
O'Neill and umpire Cal Hubbard raced into the dugout to break them apart.
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DIZZY TROUT &
HANK GREENBURG |
A rare and brisk northwest breeze made Fenway Park a home run haven for left-handed hitters. Greenberg lined his 12th home run and Dom DiMaggio is third into the Detroit bullpen during the second game.
In the fifth inning of the first game, Mike Higgins single and Hal Wagner doubled into left centerfield to set up a smash by George Metkovich a few rows beyond the Boston bullpen to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. Dom's double that popped out of Doc Cramer's glove and Mike Higgins infield hit,
preceded Wagner's shot that got past Greenberg which started the confrontation in the dugout. Higgins scored the fifth run from third while Mickey Harris was hitting into a double play to give the Red Sox that 5-0 lead after six.
Ted Williams thumped one into the Tiger bullpen in the seventh. Rudy York's walk, Dom's force out and another Higgins single produced another run before the inning was over, making it 7-0. The Tigers averted the shutout in the eighth when they scored their one and only run making the final
score 7-1.
In the second game Ted Williams
hit one of the longest home runs
ever hit at Fenway Park. Mr.
Joseph Boucher, sitting in the
33rd row of the bleachers, 502 feet from home plate, let a ball, hit by Ted come out of the sun and hit him squarely in the middle of his straw hat. Mr. Boucher
was escorted to the first aid room, but was back in his seat and enjoy the rest of the game, although his straw hat may never be more than a souvenir. In 1918, Babe Ruth hit a walkoff smash into the same area that drove in the winning run from first base. By the rules in 1918, the Babe could
only be credited with a triple because the runner on first scored the winning run, ending the game.
The Sox followed Ted's homer with three more runs in the second inning. A DiMaggio triple past Cramer and a single by Glenn Russell gave the Sox their third run. Russell was bunted along and Metkovich walked. Johnny Pesky accounted for both runners with a long single to make it 5-0 after two
innings.
The Tigers picked up one in their part of the third inning, and Hank Greenberg's home run cut the lead down to 5 to 2. But back charged the Red Sox in the fourth inning. Dave Ferriss beat out an infield hit and Metkovich came close to another home run but ended up on second base. Johnny
Pesky came through again and scored both with a double to left-center. Rudy York lofted a ball out toward Doc Cramer again who looked bad and dropped it for a double that scored Pesky. After four innings the Red Sox held an 8 to 2 lead. The Tigers scored two more runs one on a Dick Wakefield
home run, to make it 8 to 4, but the Sox came right back with a walk to Ted Williams, Rudy York's triple, and Don DiMaggio's blast into the Tiger bullpen. Final score in game number two, after the dust settled, was 11 to 6. |
