THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ...
Ted's inside-the-park homer,
clinches the American League pennant

September 13, 1946 ... The Red Sox clinched their first American League pennant in 28 years today, but owner Tom Yawkey had to wait hours to celebrate the event with the players. Thirty minutes after Ted Williams' first inside-the-park home run and Tex Hughson's three hit pitching had given the Sox a 1 to 0 decision over Cleveland, the players had left the locker room and scattered throughout the city. It was nearly an hour later that the word of the Yankees victory over Detroit, made possible by Joe DiMaggio's homer, reached the new American League champions.

Hughson breezed to his 18th win of the season. It was his sixth shutout and fourth 1 to 0 decision of the campaign.

Red Embree pitched as brilliant game as Hughson. He walked Johnny Pesky and Rudy York in the fifth inning to give the Red Sox a second scoring chance, but he got Tom McBride on a roller to Lou Boudreau to end the threat. He was in another jam in the eighth-inning. With two outs, Dom DiMaggio walked and took third on Johnny's single to right field. Williams was walked, as Embree would not give him a good ball to hit. The threat ended as Bobby Doerr topped a dribbler back to the mound.

Ted claimed that he was watching Red Embree, the Indians pitcher, from the on deck circle waiting his turn at bat in the first inning. He noticed that he had a terrific breaking ball and knew the best place for him to hit the ball would be in left field. Williams said it was the first time since he started playing organized baseball, that he had ever hit an inside-the-park home run. It was his 38th of the season and 165th of his career.

There was no way of knowing that the drive would be the only run of the game at that stage of the contest. He added that he had no way of knowing the result when he hit it toward the bleachers in left. He just kept running.

Even though it cost him the game, Indians manager Lou Boudreau defended the shift, remarking that it's paid off more against Williams then not. Boudreau was one of several Indians players to invade the Sox dressing room after the game to congratulate the Sox players.

In less than 30 minutes after the Sox had won the game, they scattered. Some returned to the Hotel Statler and several went to a nearby tap room to read the tickertape carrying major league baseball scores. Their parched throats remain dry as they eagerly awaited the final out in Detroit. When Tiny Bonham went in to relieve Randy Gumpert in the ninth-inning, there was a simultaneous crossing of fingers. So Tiny held them and the pennant was one.

A flock of newspaper men had led a wild chase to the Sox hotel lobby after the final out in the Yankees game. Several players were lounging around waiting for the big word, but there was no wild outburst. Dave Ferriss aptly describe the situation noting that the newspaper men were more excited than the players.

After the game Yawkey was in his hotel suite with manager Joe Cronin, but their efforts to locate the players were futile. Tom Yawkey declined to break open several bottles of champagne that the Sox had been lugging around for a week. He didn't want to have a party unless everyone was present. Road secretary Tom Dowd was finally sent to round up the players, but it took more than four hours to get them into Yawkey's suite. By 9 o'clock the champagne corks were popping all over the place and the belated celebration was underway

All but two of the players were reached, Williams and Pesky. Johnny was out celebrating with some of his Navy friends. Ted Williams had snuck out to an Army hospital to sit at the bedside of a dying veteran who had requested that the Kid visit with him. Williams had ducked a nationwide radio broadcasts in order to perform the charitable gesture.

Some of the Red Sox left here by a sleeper train to Chicago, while the rest will fly in tomorrow.