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CASEY STENGEL |
THE 1914 "MIRACLE" BRAVES
The
Braves threaten twice but
lose to Brooklyn at the end
July 3, 1914 ... The
Braves started badly and committed three errors before the third man
was up in the game against Brooklyn. While they threatened to make
trouble for the visitors near the end, they were finally beaten by a
score of 6 to 5 at the South End Grounds.
Paul Strand started a game for the first time this season and the way things
broke for him, it threw him off his stride. He worked for only four innings and
then Dick Crutcher was in for three innings and Gene Cocreham finished the game.
Raleigh Atchison started and pitched well for Brooklyn, but when Larry Gilbert
knocked the ball over the right-field fence, with two men on in the seventh
inning, Pat Ragan was sent in. He gave up a couple of passes in the ninth, and
barely managed to pull through.
Each team scored two runs in the first inning. Down
2 to 0, the Braves tied up the score. After Larry Gilbert had struck out, Evers
drew a base on balls and stole second. Maranville singled to put Evers on third,
who scored on a wild pitch. The Rabbit scored on a single by Schmidt that ended
up against the right-field fence.
The tie was immediately broken however, as Casey
Stengel, the first man up in the second inning was given a pass. Red Smith's
sacrifice put Stengel on second he went to third on an out by Lew McCarty, on a
ground ball that Evers made a fine stop of in back of second base. Atchison
singled to center to score Stengel and give Brooklyn a 3 to 2 lead.
The Robins put up another pair of runs in the
fourth and one more in the seventh. Except for Johnny Evers' single in the
fourth inning, the Braves were retired in order from the third to the seventh.
Every one of the fans stood up at the top of the seventh to cheer for their team
to make a rally. The rally came, but it did not last long enough. Bert Whaling
drew a pass and Hank Gowdy, who batted for Crutcher, was also walked. Larry
Gilbert smashed the ball over the right-field fence to make the score 6 to 5.
Evers laid down a perfect bunt and beat it out. Dugey sacrificed him to second
and he went to third on Maranville's ground ball out. Butch Schmidt came up and
smashed one down to Red Smith, who barely got his glove in front of the ball as
it was heading out to left field. But he hung on to it to end the threat and get
the third out.
In the ninth-inning Bill James batted for Cocreham
and flied to right. Gilbert lined out, but Evers and Dugey drew passes. Wilson
Collins was put in to run for Evers and the Rabbit hit a ground ball by Smith,
but Ollie O'Mara quickly came across and got the ball behind third and forced
Collins at third. He would've never got Maranville at first, nor Dugey at second
on the hit, but he got Collins on a very close play.
Newly acquired players, Josh DeVore, Dick Cather
and Possum Whitted will join the team tomorrow. |
