|
 |
|
DAVE FERRISS |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ...
The Sox blow a three run lead as Ferriss watches
September 28, 1946 ... Dave Ferriss appeared to win his 26 victory of the year at Fenway Park, and then sat helplessly in the dugout while his teammates threw it away. At the end of five innings, David pitched and batted
the Red Sox to a 3 to 0 lead over Washington. Then manager Joe Cronin decided to take them out and rest him for the World Series.
Mickey Harris, aided by an error by Johnny Pesky, ended up losing the game 4 to 3. When he left the game, Ferriss had an American League record in his grasp. The win would have given them 47 victories for his first two seasons in the league, which would have broken the record of 46 out by
Cleveland's Wes Ferrell and by Ferriss himself.
After the game, both Harris and Pesky seemed unhappier about the loss than did Ferriss. Dave helped himself with the bat, putting the Red Sox into the lead. With one down in the third inning, Hal Wagner came to bat against pitcher Early Wynn and knocked a single into center field. Ferriss
followed up by crashing a two bagger into the left-field corner, advancing Wagner to third. Wally Moses hit a single to right that drove in both Ferriss and Wagner and giving the Red Sox a 2 to 0 lead.
In the fifth inning, Moses hit a home run, his sixth of the year, into the right-field extension of the grandstand and put the Sox ahead 3 to 0. Ted Williams made a grant throw to the plate and preserved Dave's shutout. Ferriss held the Senators to two hits until the fifth inning. Then a
couple of singles placed men on first and second with two out. Wynn came to bat and hit a single to left. Al Evans, who was on second came racing to the plate, and a bullet throw from Ted erased him at home.
In the sixth inning, in came Mickey Harris and he walked Sherry Robertson. Robertson stole second and scored on Mickey Vernon's single to make it 3 to 1. In the eighth came more trouble. Buddy Lewis singled and took second when Joe Grace grounded out. Vernon got another single to score Lewis
and cut the Boston lead to just one run.
Cecil Travis hit a ground ball down to Johnny Pesky that should have resulted in a doubleplay, but Pesky tossed the ball to secondbaseman Don Gutteridge too low and he dropped the ball. The official scorer gave Pesky the error and it loaded the bases. Evans cracked a single to left, driving
in the two runs that would win the ballgame. Bill Zuber came in and relieved Harris and blanked the Senators for the rest of the game.
Mickey Vernon, with two hits against Pesky's none, took a one hitter lead in the league hit race. He goes into the final game of the season with 207 hits as compared to Johnny's 206.
The Red Sox announced that if St. Louis wins the National League pennant, they will leave tomorrow at 6 PM. If Brooklyn wins the pennant they will leave tomorrow afternoon. If a playoff game is necessary, the Red Sox will stay in town and play and intrasquad game at Fenway. |
