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OSCAR DUGEY |
THE 1914 "MIRACLE" BRAVES
Oscar Dugey's HR wins one for the Braves
July 13, 1914
... The Braves made 17 hits and the Cardinals had
12. Boston fielded better and pitched better than St. Louis, yet they
had to go 12 innings to win a game that should've been finished in
regulation. All this was because of Bill James' one bad inning in the
seventh, and because, with two outs in the ninth-inning and the score
6 to 5 in favor of the Braves, Cozy Dolan hit a fly ball to
centerfield that Ted Cather misjudged and let go for a home run to
tie up the game. That sent the game into
extra innings. However, Dolan was good enough to hand it back when he let Oscar
Dugey's line drive go-between his feet for a home run in the 12th inning. Dick
Rudolph was on base at the time and that made the score 8 to 6. A triple by
Chief Wilson and an out made the score 8 to 7 in the bottom half of the 12th and
there it remained.
The Braves hit starter Pol Perritt hard and luckily
everything they hit went safe. James pitched steady as o'clock until the seventh
and was taken out after Ivy Wingo tripled and Art Butler knocked him in. Dick
Rudolph followed James when he was three balls and no strikes in the hole to
Walton Cruise, who was the pinch-hitter for Perritt. Rudolph let Cruise get away
with a base on balls and Chuck Miller beat out a bunt before Dolan hit in the
two runs with a double. That made the score 6 to 5. Then came Dolan's game-tying
fly ball in the ninth that sent it into extra innings.
Butler had a very bad day at shortstop and he felt
the weight of the bleacherites who started riding him because he couldn't cover
the ground he was supposed to. On the other hand, Braves shortstop Rabbit
Maranville at a wonderful afternoon. He made some miraculous stops, great
catches and good throws, getting two doubles and a single, scoring three runs
and cut off his many runs for the Cardinals as the Braves team made. He made a
catch off Chuck Miller in the ninth that was a wonder. The ball was hit on a
line to his left and it did not seem that he had the ghost of a chance to get to
it. He did reach it however, with a great dive, and though he rolled over three
times, held on to the ball. Then came Dolan's home run, which if Miller had
reached, would have won the game for the Cardinals. |
