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1957 BOSTON RED SOX
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Ted Williams figured that 1957 would be his final season. He had experimented with a heavier bat in spring training and found that it slowed his swing just enough for him to be able to hit to left and beat the "shift". Teams figured that he couldn't get around as quickly anymore and started playing him straight-away. When the weather got warmer, Ted went back to his lighter bat, but this time, he had plenty of room on the right side to knock the ball through the right side again. Frank Malzone debuted as the Red Sox regular thirdbaseman. Billy Klaus moved over from third to shortsop, and shared playing time there with Billy Consolo, when Don Buddin was called to serve in the military.
The Sox were in Baltimore for opening day on April 16th. A four-run outburst in the fourth inning gave Tom Brewer a 4 to 2 triumph. Traditionally slow at the start, Ted Williams burst out of the gate. On opening day at Fenway, on April 18th, Ted knocked out two hits to left field, but the Sox lost to the Yankees. After losing two to the Yanks, Sammy White's wind-blown pop fly with two outs in the eighth, scored Gene Mauch from second base and highlighted a four-run inning on April 21st, and a 5 to 4 win. Frank Sullivan provided four-hit pitching and Ted came through with a home run, driving in two of the Sox three runs in a 3-1 win on April 23rd against the Orioles. On April 24th, Ted hit a homer to tie the game in Washington. It was his third homer in the first seven games and the Sox won 4 to 3 in 10 innings on Billy Klaus' double and Jackie Jensen's single. The next day, in a 12-7 rampage against the Senators, Ted rapped out three hits for a hitting streak of eight straight games. The Sox had 15 hits and Dick Gernert also had three of them. Dave Sisler beat the Yankees on April 26th, 6-2. It brought his career record against New York to 4-0. Jimmy Piersall slugged a three run homer to help him. The Sox won their fifth straight game in New York, 2-1, on April 27th. Tom Brewer got the win with a save by Ike Delock. However, the Sox knew they had a thin pitching staff and obtained Bob Chakales and Dean Stone in a trade with the Senators for Milt Bolling, Russ Kemmerer and Faye Throneberry. A 3 to 1 win in Kansas City finished an 8-4 month of April in 2nd place, a game out of first. Willard Nixon allowed the A's just three hits. Jackie Jensen broke up a 1-1 tie with a seventh inning homer and Ted hit another in the eighth.
May started with for straight losses, followed by four straight wins. After sweeping a doubleheader in Cleveland, on May 5th, both Frank Malzone and Jackie Jensen had eight game hitting streaks. Three of Jensen's hits were home runs. On May 7th in Chicago, while Tom Brewer thru a three-hitter at the White Sox, Ted Williams drove in three runs. He had a single and then banged out a ninth inning two-run homer that gave the Sox a 4 to 3 win. Three more homers came for Ted the next day, May 8th, in Chicago. With Frank Sullivan pitching a four-hitter in a 4-1 win, Ted homered in the first, third and eighth innings. The first two were solo shots and the third came with Billy Klaus on base. The Sox compiled a 9-6 record on the road trip and returned to Fenway Park, one game out of first place and Ted was batting .474 with nine homers, to lead the league in both categories. The Sox beat the Senators in the first game of a doubleheader, 10-0, on May 12th. Behind the two-hit shutout hurled by Tom Brewer, the Sox had an outstanding defensive play by Jackie Jensen, who had to leap over the fence and grab a ball hit by Pete Runnels, out of the Sox bullpen and brought it back without dropping it. Jackie also had a 3-for-4 game at the plate.
Mickey Vernon collected four RBIs, banged out three hits and scored three runs against the Tigers in an 11-8 win on May 15th. Jackie Jensen banged out two doubles. On May 16th, Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers, struck out Ted Williams three times. Since the three homer game, Ted only had four hits in the next 27 times at bat and his average shrunk to .369 losing the AL batting lead. Jimmy Piersall doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, on May 17th, to give the Red Sox a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Athletics. Nobody would have thought the Sox had a chance against the rookie Ryne Duren, who had pitched five strong innings and had a 3 to 0 lead going into the sixth. But Ted knocked out the second of his two hits and Jensen brought him home with a home run, to cut the A's lead down to one run, 3 to 2. Then a break in the eighth inning, allowed the Sox to get a gift run and tie the game. The Sox lost the next three games, but Ted got five more hits. Then on May 22nd, Ted, Gene Mauch, Dick Gernert and Frank Malzone all homered in the 6th inning during an 11-0 blowout of the Indians, to tie the AL record of four HRs in one inning, set by the Sox in 1940. Tom Brewer got the win and was 6-2 with a 2.18 ERA after eight starts. During the off-day, May 23rd, Ted went into an empty Fenway Park and took some target practice against the pigeons with a shotgun. He took out about 30-40 of the birds while sitting on a chair in front of the Red Sox bullpen in right field over the next few hours. One of the Boston sportswriters wrote an angry piece over the incident and the MSPCA was outraged. On May 24th, Ted went 3-for-4 against the Orioles and was hitting .417. He banged out 17 hits over the next 13 games and kept his batting average over the .400 barrier until June 5th, where he ended the day batting .401 Mickey Vernon's two run homer in the eighth inning was the difference in a 5-4 victory over the Orioles on May 26th in the second game of a doubleheader. The opening game was a 9-0 shutout by Dean Stone with a little help from Ike Delock and three hits off the bat of Jackie Jensen who got two more in the second game. On May 30th Jensen came up big for the Sox. They swept a doubleheader from the Orioles at Fenway, 7 to 6 and 16 to 5. The Sox came back from a five run deficit in the first game, tying it in the sixth inning, before Jensen slugged his fifth homer of the year to lead off the 10th inning. He then hit his sixth homer in the second game. Jackie Jensen was hot, batting .371 over his last nine games.
Ted Williams carried the Sox to a victory in Washington on June 2nd. The Sox came from behind and won the game 5 to 3 when Ted slugged a long home run, with two men on, to erase a one run deficit in the eighth inning and give the Sox the win. But the Sox then lost four straight and found themselves 10 games behind, in 5th place. Dick Gernert had the big bat on June 10th in Kansas City. He blasted a pair of home runs and doubled to drive in six runs, pacing a 13-hit Sox attack. The Sox beat the A's, 11-4. Jimmy Piersall was again becoming a problem and the Sox were getting fed up. He was frustrated at his team's performance. In Chicago, he dug several divots out of the infield grass in exasperation at the condition of the field and was doing a lot of blabbing on the trip as well. He got into an argument over a called first strike and got thrown out in a game in Cleveland. The Sox offered to trade Piersall, Billy Goodman and Ted Lepcio to the Indians for Al Smith and Don Mossi. The proposed deal was significant in that the Sox still had no negro ballplayers. Getting Smith would have given the team their first one, but Hank Greenburg, the Indians GM, turned it down. In Cleveland the Red Sox blew a 6 to 1 lead. Ted homered in the first inning with a three-run blast, but the pitchers couldn't hold the lead and the Sox lost 7-6 on June 11th. Then on June 13th, Ted slugged out three homers in a game against the Indians. The first homer came in the first inning against Early Wynn, with two men on base, breaking a 1-1 tie. His second was a solo shot in the fifth inning on a 1-0 pitch from Wynn. The third one and 17th of the season, came in the ninth and was a long wallop that traveled 435 feet over the right field fence. It was the first time anyone had accomplished the feat two times in the same season. Ted also had a three homer day in 1946 against the Indians. Johnny Mize hit three homers in a game six times. On June 14th, Frank Sullivan was struck on his pitching hand by a line drive. The Sox then picked up some pitching help by trading Billy Goodman to the Orioles for Mike Fornieles. Fornieles made his first start for the Sox on June 16th. He lost a tight pitcher's duel, in Detroit, to Jim Bunning in 10 innings, 2 to 1. Frank Malzone was playing superb defensive ball and hitting better than any other major-league third baseman. On June 6th, 13th, 14th and 18th he had three hit-games. After losing the first game to the Indians, they won seven straight. Frank Sullivan shut out the tribe at Fenway on June 19th, 6 to 0. Jimmy Piersall and Sammy White to help his effort. On June 20th, Billy Klaus collected three hits including a double and a triple and Jackie Jensen knocked out two doubles to give the Sox a 9 to 7 decision over the Indians. Mickey Vernon had swung a hot bat for almost a month. From May 25th thru June 21st, he batted .348 with three homers, seven doubles and 19 RBIs.
Mike Fornieles pitched the Sox to a 5 to 1 victory over the A's on June 22nd. He pitched a solid six-hitter and had a shutout for five innings. In a doubleheader twin killing against Kansas City, on June 23rd, Frank Malzone homered and knocked in five runs during a 12-game hitting streak. The Sox banged out 31 hits, winning 10-6 and 10-1. Ted Williams had two homers and Gene Stephens homered and tripled. In a doubleheader against the first place White Sox on June 27th, the Sox took both ends winning 8 to 3 and 9 to 2. Malzone had five RBIs including a two-run homer and three singles. Billy Klaus banged out four hits, driving in five runs and Mickey Vernon had a three hit day against the Tigers on June 28th, in a game the Sox won 9 to 2. On June 29th, the Sox beat Detroit 12 to 4 at Fenway. Malzone had another three-hit day including a grandslam homer and was batting .327. He had knocked in 34 runs in the 28 games during June. The Sox finished the month by routing the Tigers, 10-3. Jackie Jensen belted a grandslam and Ted Williams knocked out his 20th of the season. The Red Sox had won 11 of their last 13 games and finished the month in third place, seven games out.
Frank Sullivan beat the Senators, 2 to 1 on July 2nd. Sammy White drove in both runs on a broken bat single and a sacrifice fly. Sullivan won his fifth straight on July 6th, beating the Orioles 11 to 2. The Sox had 13 hits with Jackie Jensen and Jimmy Piersall getting three each. Ted had cooled down and went into the All Star break in a 1-16 slump. His batting average had dropped fifty points, but he still was hitting .343 with 20 homers. The press again saw this as the coming to the end of the trail, which Ted used this as motivational fodder to have a great second half. Frank Malzone was the first American Leaguer to reach 100 hits and named to the American League All Star team. On July 9th, the American League All Stars beat the National League, 6 to 5, in St. Louis. Ted was the starting left fielder and went hitless. Malzone came in to play third base, in relief of George Kell, and was 0-for-2. On July 11th, Mel Parnell retired, his pitching arm never coming around since the operation he had in January. In Detroit on July 12th, Ted bombed two homers off Jim Bunning, good for all three Red Sox runs in a 5-3 loss. The first one bounced off the top of the third deck in right field and the second was rocketed into the second deck. It gave him 440 career homers and 1000 career RBIs. Ted homered again the next night, on July 13th, to help Tom Brewer win his 10th game of the season. But even with Ted hitting two more homers during a doubleheader in Cleveland on July 14th, the Sox were swept. He homered once more in Kansas City on July 16th. It tied up the game at 2-2. Jackie Jensen's two-run homer gave the Sox a 4-3 win. Three singles in three times up, were what Ted would accomplish in the Kansas City finale, a game the Sox lost 3-1. The Sox then went to Chicago and beat the White Sox, 5-2, on July 19th. Ted Lepcio's three-run homer paced a 5-2 win. Ted Williams (.366 BA) slugged his 27th homer. In spite of the great road trip that Ted enjoyed, the Sox could only win five and lost six, sitting 12 1/2 games behind.
The hottest ticket of the year was for the "Jimmy Fund" game that was played on July 22nd at Fenway. It was the idea of Milwaukee Braves' owner, Lou Perini. In April, Perini, Tom Yawkey and Ted had attended a dinner to honor Yawkey as the recipient of the "Great Heart" award and the idea was hatched. Yawkey also had just become the chairman of the board of trustees of the Children's Cancer Research Foundation in July and Ted was the chairman on the Sox' "Jimmy Fund" campaign. The money from the sellout would go to the charity. So, after spending 77 years in Boston, the Milwaukee Braves came back and one would have thought that they were the home team, based on the reaction of the fans. The game was held on the day of the Hall-of-Fame induction in Cooperstown, so no other games were scheduled. With players like Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron and Joe Adcock, who had joined Warren Spahn, the Braves were in the thick of the National League pennant chase, a race they would eventually win. The Braves were injured but proceeded to put on one of the most devastating exhibitions of power seen all season at Fenway Park, banging out five home runs on 14 hits. Mathews went to bat fives times and hit two monster home runs into the right field bleachers. The first landed 20 rows up in the bleachers and the second was just short of the same spot. Del Crandall also homered two times. The Braves put up seven runs in the second inning and went on to beat the Sox 13-4. Spahn pitched one inning and Aaron grounded out in one plate appearance. The Sox next took three straight from the Kansas City A's. Frank Sullivan shutout the A's, 1-0, on July 23rd. Tom Brewer won his 12th game the next day, 6 to 5. And Bob Porterfield behind Frank Malzone, who knocked out three hits, won the finale on July 24th, 5 to 3. On July 26th, Ted scored his 1600th career run in a lopsided 10-1 triumph over the Indians at Fenway. Two nights later, Ted went 4-for-4 and hit his 29th homer against the tribe, in a 9-8 uphill win on July 28th. The Indians had a 6-1 lead going into the seventh inning. Then the Sox rallied for four runs in the seventh and again in the eighth inning. In the next game, Ted was walked with first base occupied and it backfired as Jackie Jensen singled home two runs in a 6 to 2 win. Ted had gone 8 for 12 in the Cleveland series and finished July with a 3-for-4 night against the Tigers. He was batting .550 since the All Star break, and his average stood at .384
On August 2nd, Ted banged out his 30th homer, 400 ft into the right field bleachers and it put the Sox ahead, 4-2 against the White Sox. But Chicago rallied with two runs in the ninth and sent the game into extra innings. Two singles and an intentional pass loaded the bases for Jackie Jensen in the 10th inning. His hard smash down the third base line won the game, 5-4. In the next game, the Sox broke a 3-3 tie with five runs in the eight inning against the White Sox. Jimmy Piersall, who beneath the radar that focused on Ted, had a 12 game hitting streak and delivered the tie-breaking RBI single. The Red Sox had concluded their homestand, winning nine of their thirteen games, but they were 13 games behind the Yankees. The only stop on a short road trip was in Baltimore. The Sox only won one game, but in the last one on August 8th, Ted continued his batting splurge with a par of singles, that boosted his average up to .390 and putting fan interest at a peak. Boston's newspapers were out on strike at the time so the switchboards were flooded with calls from fans who demanded to know what Ted was doing.
Ted was battling Mickey Mantle in the batting race and both were wielding hot bats and hovering around the coveted .400 bench mark. When the Yankees came to Fenway and on August 13th, Ted had a single in two at-bats, and Mantle went 3-for-3. With the 28th intentional walk issued to him by Tom Sturdivant, Ted broke the seasonal record in that category. In the second game of the series, while Mantle blasted his 31st homer of the season, Ted got another hit, in three trips. And in the series finale, Mickey went hitless while Ted banged out a single and a double in three trips. In his last 14 at bats, Ted knocked out seven hits, increasing his average to .393 to Mickey's .380. On August 22nd, Ted got two hits in four times up, as the Sox beat the Indians, 11-3. On August 26th, the Sox clubbed the Kansas City A's, 16-0 on four homers by Frank Malzone, Norm Zauchin, Ted Lepcio and Jimmy Piersall. Ted (.379 BA) picked up two hits in four times up. In Detroit on August 28th, Ted blasted his 450th career homer. On August 28th, the newspapers were back in print. On that day, Ted clubbed his 33rd homer of the year, breaking up a scoreless pitching duel between Frank Sullivan and Jim Bunning. It gave the Sox a 1-0 win over the Tigers. At the end of the month, in a tight race, 39 year-old, Ted Williams was batting .377 with 33 homers and 25 year-old, Mickey Mantle was batting .376 with 34 homers.
Both Sammy White and Jimmy Piersall hit game-tying and game-winning homers in the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader to give the Sox and 8-to-7 come-from-behind win on September 2nd. White belted his third homer of the year into the left-centerfield nets to lead off the eight inning, to tie the score at 7-7. After a pinch-hitter grounded out, Piersall stepped to the plate and slammed his 16th homer into the bleachers to give the Sox the win, 8-7. Pete Daley was a double-hero in Yankee Stadium as his two-run homer gave the Red Sox an eleven inning, 7 to 5 victory. On September 4th, in the ninth inning he came in as a pinch hitter and singled home two runs, to put the Sox ahead with the game tied. On September 6th, Pete Daley came through in the clutch and led the Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Orioles. He doubled home Ken Aspromonte, with two outs in the ninth inning, to produce the win. Daley came through again the next day, September 7th, in another game as the Sox beat the Orioles, 4-3. He smashed a two-run homer to tie the game 2-2 in the seventh. Then Frank Malzone singled in Frank Sullivan and Piersall followed Daley with base hits. Mike Fornieles pitched a 2-0 masterpiece on September 8th. He allowed just three singles and one free pass to Baltimore. Dick Gernert supplied all the runs he needed with a two-run homer into the left field screen. Then Tom Brewer coasted into the ninth inning against the White Sox in the next game, but four straight hits produced three runs. The Red Sox held on to win the game 7 to 4 on September 10th. Then it all came to a sudden halt. After going 11-3, the Sox then couldn't win consistently, losing seven of the next nine games. Ted had caught a chest cold that turned into pneumonia and it sidelined him for two weeks. But at the same time Mantle was out with shin splints. The newspapers reported that Ted probably would be out for the rest of the year. His replacement, Gene Stephens was hitting .350 in eight games.
All this news gave Ted enough motivation to get out of bed. On September 17th, Ted told manager, Mike Higgins that he was available to pinch hit in the game against the Athletics. In the eighth inning, with two men on base, out of the dugout came Ted to the roar of the crowd. With the Sox down 8 to 5, it was his first plate appearance in seventeen days. He promptly crushed the ball up into the right field bleachers to tie the game up, and the Sox went on to win 9 to 8. Then the Sox were off to Yankee Stadium. In another pinch-hitting appearance, on September 20th, Ted (.379 BA) homered in the ninth inning off Whitey Ford in the first game of the series, bt the Sox lost the game 7-4. Ted then he started the second game. He walked three times and blasted a grand slam off Bob Turley the 15th of his career, giving the Sox a 8 to 3 victory, on September 21st. In the series finale, on September 22nd, in a game the Red Sox lost 5 to 1, Ted (.383 BA) walked, homered, singled and walked again. When he homered in the fourth inning, he entered the record books, tying the record for hitting four consecutive home runs in four official times at bat. (Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Ralph Kiner, Bill Nicholson and Bobby Lowe). It was a Red Sox record of his alone. Next, on September 23rd in Washington, Ted singled, walked three times and was hit by a pitch. He had hit four home runs, two singles, nine walks and was hit by a pitch, in four official times at bat and had safely reached base sixteen times and was batting .385 When he grounded out the next game, on September 24th, it was the first time he had made an out in a week. Then Ted slammed his 38th homer his next time up, giving him five homers in eight official at bats. In the final game in Washington on September 25th, Ted had two singles and two walks in five trips to the plate and was hitting .386 On September 28th the Sox beat the Yankees 2-0 behind Dave Sisler. Ted banged out a double in three times up and Gene Mauch pinch hit a base hit, in his final plate appearance in the majors. They beat the Yankees again 3-2 in the final game of the season on September 29th. Ted had another double and a single that put his final batting average at .388, falling just five hits short of batting .400 again. Had he been younger, he probably would have been able to run out some of the ground ball outs that got him out at first base. He had batted .648 since coming back, with 38 home runs, slugging .731 (in 1941, he had hit .406 and slugged .735) Ted had one of the greatest years any player could want. But even his couldn't push this team any higher in the standings. The Red Sox (82-72) finished in the middle of the pack, in third place, 16 games out. They had a formidable offense but it couldn't make up for their mediocre pitching staff and a porous infield defense. The AL champion Yankees scored only two more runs than the Sox (723 to 721), but finished ahead of Boston, because the Sox couldn't win the close games. The Sox pitchers allowed 666 runs compared to 534 by the Yanks. Mickey Mantle batted .365 with 34 homers and was voted the American League's Most Valuable Player, because he helped the Yankees win the pennant. Frank Sullivan (14-11) was fifth in the AL with a 2.73 ERA. His 14 complete games was fourth in the league. Willard Nixon, in spit of a nagging arm and leg injury completed 11 of his 29 starts and a career-best 3.68 ERA. He also led American League pitchers with a .293 BA. After being traded to the Red Sox, Mike Fornieles made 18 starts and seven relief appearances with a solid 3.52 ERA. Jackie Jensen, Jimmy Piersall and Billy Klaus did better in banging out homers than they did the year before, but just about everyone slipped in getting base hits and RBIs. Piersall batted just .261, but he hit 19 homers and scored 103 runs, both career highs. Jensen had an excellent season with a .281 average, clubbing 23 home runs. Gene Mauch in his final season had his best year in the majors. He had 222 at bats in 65 games and hit .270 with ten doubles and three triples. He had 68 RBIs in his career and 28 of them were driven in this season. Frank Malzone finished second in the American League with 185 hits and tenth with his .292 batting average and won a "Gold Glove" at third base, leading the AL in chances, assists and double plays. He tied Jackie Jensen with 103 RBIs which was third best in the American League. The Red Sox drew 1,181,087 fans at home and most felt that Ted was responsible for drawing a million and the Sox could take credit for the rest.
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