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TED WILLIAMS |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ...
The Sox comeback to win the nite cap
after getting drubbed in the opener
June 26, 1946 ... One of the few pep talks Ted Williams has ever delivered to his teammates, sparked the Red Sox into their biggest
inning of the season and a most satisfying split of a getaway doubleheader with the Tigers at Briggs Stadium this afternoon. The Sox came from behind in the nightcap to score a 9-3 win after taking a 16-2 beating in the opener.
It was on his way into left field for the last half of the seventh inning of the second game, that Williams paused to deliver the pep talk to Rudy York and Bobby Doerr, when the Sox were trailing 3 to 2 at that point. The Kid turned his words into action to start the eighth-inning. He
previously had matched Hank Greenberg in a brilliant home run duel, each one smacking one in each contest, to remain tied at 19 for the league lead.
Before the inning was over, Williams singled again to drive across two more runs and take over the RBI lead with 60 to Bobby Doerr's 59. The Sox scored seven runs and Dave Ferriss was in possession of his first win in four starts on this road trip. Following Williams' rally starting single,
Doerr punched a safety into left and Don DiMaggio strolled to load the bases. Reliever George Caster came in to bail out starter Virgil Trucks, but handed Mike Higgins a run-scoring walk to tie up the game at three each. The Tigers drew their infield in, and Rudy York slashed a two run
single into center. After the Tigers got the next two batters out, George Metkovich walked, Johnny Pesky singled, and Ted came up for the second time in inning, this time facing another relief pitcher, Al Benton. Ted greeted Benton's first pitch with a home run and was followed by a single
by Doerr off Eddie Lake's shins. The Sox posted seven runs and had a 9 to 3 victory.
The only interesting thing for the Sox in the first game was the fact that Ted stuck around long enough to belt his 18th homer into the right field upper deck off starter Al Newhowser. All the other Sox had retired after the first two innings, during which Hank Greenberg had powdered Bill
Butland for his 18th home run to match Ted. Eddie Pellagrini, with a double, a single, and a great pivot throw of a doubleplay looked the best of the second team in the opening game.
The Sox go back to Fenway Park still seven games ahead of the Yankees, but a drop of three games during this trip. |
