The Red Sox win on a routine double play ball

May 1, 1982 ... The ground ball Dave Stapleton hit to shortstop with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th inning should have ended the torment of Rangers’ manager, Don Zimmer. Instead, with Texas using an infield of two third basemen (at short and second), a first baseman and a DH, the ball and the game finished on the Red Sox dugout floor.

So when Carney Lansford cross-body-blocked second baseman Billy Stein and Stein's throw bounced past Lamar Johnson into the Sox dugout, the Rangers' nightmare continued. The Red Sox, who have been remarkably inventive in winning during these past few weeks, had discovered a way to put one of their many double-play grounders to use and ended their long day's romance dance with history with two runners walking home for a 6-5 win. For the 32,763 whose day began with Ted Williams and the old timers of their past, the evening began with the 1982 team finding yet another way to win.

Poor Zimmy may be anemic by the time this season is over. Between his trips to the mound to chew out eventual loser Steve Comer, the Rangers had battled back from a 4-1 deficit to tie it with two outs in the ninth on a Johnson single. They'd held on until the 12th, when Stein's single off Mark Clear not only put them ahead, 5-4, but left them with the bases loaded and only one out. But adversity has a firm grip on the Rangers; they stranded those three runners for a game total of 15.

All most people will remember is the bottom of the 12th and the game-winning double-play ball. But what gave the Red Sox the opportunity to win it were a diving stop by Stapleton and the work of Clear. With one out in the top the inning, Billy Sample missed a homer by six inches off the Boston bullpen fence, ending up with a double. After Clear walked Leon Roberts, Pat Putnam pinch hit for Mario Mendoza and hit a rocket inside the first base bag. Stapleton dived and made a spectacular play. Problem was, Clear thought it was a sure double, and broke to back up home, leaving first uncovered and the bases loaded. Had the hit been what Clear thought, the inning would have been a blowout.

Stein then lined his single into left, but Roberts chose not to challenge Jim Rice's arm, and when Clear struck out rookie George Wright (the 15th strikeout of the day for Boston pitchers) and Lee Mazzilli for some reason bunted right to Stapleton, it was still a one-run game.

Not only that, but Zim had to put Putnam at third and Buddy Bell at short with Stein at second against a team whose fortunes now read 8-3 in one-run games. Dwight Evans led off the bottom of the 12th with a single, and after Rice chased a first pitch and flied out, Wade Boggs rammed a single into center and Zimmer went to ace Danny Darwin. The fireballing reliever got two quick strikes on both Lansford and Stapleton, but both fought off 0-2 pitches, then put the ball in play.

Lansford fought off a pitch for a ground ball to the right side that took a bad hop off Johnson's glove, loading the bases. Stapleton pulled a routine 6-4-3 ball, but with this infield, it was 5-5-DH. The former USC running back recruit threw himself at Stein his throw bounced toward Johnson. With the ball dying and Stapleton beating the throw, Johnson inexplicably decided to catch it instead of blocking it, which would have prevented the winning run from being waved in by home plate umpire Larry Barnett.

For a while, it appeared that this game would be easy for the Sox, who had a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning. It even appeared to follow the perfect Old-Timers Day story: Tony Perez, an old timer of sorts, smashed a home run into the bleachers above the Red Sox bullpen off lefthander Rick Honeycutt in the second inning and tripled off the speaker in center in the third.

The Red Sox got a second run in the second when Stapleton singled, went to third on Glenn Hoffman's double into the left- field corner and scored when he challenged Wright's arm after the rookie center fielder caught the ball on the run going toward right- center.

After Jim Sundberg took Bobby Ojeda into the screen in the top of the fourth, Texas shortstop Mark Wagner, who hadn't made an error all season, kicked Stapleton's grounder and threw it away to start the bottom of the inning. After a walk, Reid Nichols lined a single for one run and Jerry Remy's fly ball got the other run in to make it 4-1.

But Ojeda was struggling and never made it through the fifth. Wright (three hits) doubled with one out and Mazzilli singled him in, and after Bell lined to Evans in right, Johnson bounced a single just out of Ojeda's reach through the middle. Here Ralph Houk decided to stick with his pitcher, and Sundberg (3 for 6) bounced a single that ticked off Lansford's glove and past Hoffman into left, making it 4-3. That brought on Stanley, who rolled along with five ground balls and five strikeouts until there was one out in the ninth.

Stanley could well have won it, but with one out in the ninth, Stapleton was guarding the line when Wright hit what normally would have been an easy out to the first baseman's right and into right field. Bell got a two-out single, and with Clear ready, Johnson lined a single for the tying run. That brought Clear to the mound.

The Red Sox then had some chances to win it. One perfect ending to the day was killed when the wind shifted to the East and Carl Yastrzemski's pinch-hit shot was at the warning track in dead center. Later in the ninth, Evans doubled off the center-field fence with two outs, only to have Rice chase a pitch away and fly out, and Lansford was stranded at second in the 10th.

Then the Red Sox finally found a use for one of their many double-play grounders.