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BUCK O'BRIEN |
FENWAY'S FIRST TEAM
The scrappy Browns are beaten
in the ninth inning
July 9, 1912
...
The Red Sox were
forced to fight right up to the very finish and beat the St. Louis Browns
at Fenway Park in the ninth-inning by a score of 3 to 2. Tris Speaker
drove the ball to centerfield and sent Buck O'Brien in from second with
the walkoff winning run. The Browns put up a great fight all around,
giving George Baumgardner great support as the score shows. The Red Sox had 12
base hits which meant that St. Louis must have taken some extra fielding to keep
the Speed Boys from circling the base paths, and keeping them down to just three
runs. Buck O'Brien was forced to pitch right up until the end, giving everything
he had and he turned in a great performance, as St. Louis had men on base in six
of the nine innings.
One of the more interesting situations in the game developed in the
eighth-inning when Baumgardner led off with a triple over Speaker's head and as
the score was even, the perspective run was very large. O'Brien buckled down and
forced two men to hit ground balls to Steve Yerkes at second, while holding the
runner at third. He finally forced George Stovall to send up a foul pop up that
Larry Gardner caught to end the threat.
The first man up in the game was Bert Shotton and he sent the ball into the
bleachers in right field for a home run. The second St. Louis run came in the
fourth inning as the result of a fumble by Steve Yerkes and singles by Frank
Laporte and George Aiton. That tied the score at the time 2 to 2., the Red Sox
having gotten two runs in the third inning on a double by Yerkes to the
left-field bank, who scored on Speaker's single. Larry Gardner forced Speaker at
second and then Jake Stahl hit for three bases, scoring Gardner.
Eddie Cicotte was given his release by the team today and it was deeply
regretted by his fellow players, for he is a friendly decent guy and always
giving his best. Every one of the players wished him the best of luck wherever
he would end up pitching. Cicotte is a good pitcher and wherever he goes he will
be an asset to his team. |
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