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HANK GREENBERG |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ...
Williams, Doerr and Johnson give the Sox a tie
June 24, 1946 ... Bobby Doerr's clutch hitting and Earl Johnson's great pitching carried the Red Sox to an upstream 5-5 tie at Briggs
Stadium in Detroit. From the time Pat Mullin lined a Joe Dobson fastball into the right field upper deck for his first career grand slam home run in the first inning, the Sox struggled with their backs to the wall.
Ted Williams belted his 17th home run off Dizzy trout in the top half of the first inning, but Hank Greenberg matched him off Charlie Wagner in the fifth inning. Ted's smash was a liner that cleared the 415 foot sign and disappeared into the lower deck to the right of dead center. The Tigers
held a 5 to 3 lead entering the ninth inning of what proved to be the last one to two the fastest settling darkness. George Metkovich walked to start the comeback in the ninth. With Ted Williams at the plate, Dizzy started holding conferences on the mound stall the Kid. Metkovich was allowed
to steal second, and finally Williams lined a single down the right-field line to score him. Trout didn't seem to be the slightest dismayed. He quickly got two strikes on Bobby Doerr, who had already made two singles and scored the third Red Sox run in the eighth-inning on a bunt that Trout
threw wild to first.
Doerr lined Dizzy's payoff pitch over Wakefield's head in left center for a 365 foot double and allowed Ted to score from first base with the tying run. DiMaggio ended the inning with a foul pop to Hank Greenberg at first. Earl Johnson came in in the ninth inning and Eddie Lake singled with
one out. Jimmy Outlaw tried the hit and run, but Bobby Doerr caught up to the ball and fired to Pesky, who fired to York. The umpires ruled both runners safe and Joe Cronin squawked to high heaven but to no avail. When Cronin finally returned to the bench the infield was drawn in. Johnson
then retired Wakefield on a called third strike. After lining to vicious fouls into the left-field stands, Greenberg then lined out to Williams to win the inning.
Umpires Berry, Summers and Jones held a meeting and decided that it was too dark to continue the game. The Red Sox are four for seven on the road trip and will make up this game is part of a doubleheader on Wednesday. |
