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"THERE GOES THE GREATEST HITTER
WHO EVER LIVED" ... Ted Williams
Ted makes a dramatic
comeback
with a game-tying pinch-hit homer
September 17, 1957
... The Red Sox were one run behind as they
came up to bat in the last of the eighth inning. Tom Morgan came
trudging in from the Athletics' bullpen in right field and Ted
Williams, idle since September 1st, sprang from the dugout, like a
jack-in-the-box, to pinch hit.
Ted watched three pitches sail by. Two were wide and the third was a
called strike. On the fourth pitch he swung and the ball arched high
into the night toward right field. It landed in the runway that
separates the grandstand from the bleachers, then bounced up in the
bleachers by a dozen rows. It was his 34th homer of the season, the
452nd of his career and it lifted his batting average to .377 (11
points higher than that of Mickey Mantle). And it also tied the score
at 8-8.
And before Arnie Portocarreo could come in to relieve Morgan, Jimmy
Piersall bunted for a hit, went to second on a wild pitch and scored
the go-ahead run on a liner to right by Billy Klaus. Then Bob
Chakales came in to pitch the ninth for the Sox and nailed down the
game for his third save, 9 to 8.
Kansas City scored two runs to start of the game against Mike
Fornieles, but the Sox came back in the bottom of the first, scoring
four off Ralph Terry. The Sox added single runs in the fourth on a
double, a single and a ground out; in the fifth on a double by Frank
Malzone and a single by Jackie Jensen; then one in the sixth on a
walk and two singles, to grab a 7-5 lead.
But the A's got three in the sixth and then one in the seventh off
George Susce and two in the eighth off Ike Delock to go back out
front, 8-7. Mike Higgins brought in Murray Wall to stop the eight
inning rally and the rookie struck out Joe DeMaestri and got Gus
Zernial to pop up.
With the Sox down a run, Higgins brought in Ted to pinch-hit for
Wall, starting the bottom of the eighth. |
