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TED
WILLIAMS |
"THE GREATEST HITTER THAT
EVER LIVED"
STEPS UP TO THE PLATE ...
Ted smacks two gigantic homers as
the Sox
split a doubleheader with the Yanks
May 30, 1939
... While a holiday crowd of 35,000 fans ran
the gamut of emotions from hysterical delight to despair, the Red Sox
battled the New York Yankees to an even split of their Memorial Day
doubleheader. It provided some five hours of baseball of every kind
and description at Fenway Park. The frenzied crowds scaled the
heights of the emotion when the Red Sox, paced by Ted Williams, burst out in all
their home run glory to knock off Red Ruffing and register their first win of
the season over the New Yorkers, by an 8 to 4 score. But then the crowd were
disappointed when the bombers lay down a 17 hit barrage on five Sox pitchers and
took the second game by a count of 17 to 9.
The Red Sox fought the Champions tooth and nail, led by Williams' home run,
one of the longest ever witnessed at Fenway Park. He ignited an early inning
explosion that eventually led to the undoing of Ruffing in the glorious opening
game.
Jimmie Foxx and Joe Cronin followed Ted's example and provided the Red Sox
with a stunning 7 to 0 lead after only two innings had been played. Then in the
second game, after they spotted the Yankees a couple of runs and were starting
to fight their way back into contention, it was Williams again, who blasted out
another memorable for bagger, his fourth in as many days, and his eighth of the
young season to put his side back in the ballgame.
The first two innings of the afternoon of course, where the big offense of
noise from a local standpoint. After Bobby Doerr had popped out to open the
game, Doc Cramer lashed a clean single into centerfield and stole second base.
Joe Vosmik fanned for the second out and out strolled Foxx who plastered
Ruffing's first pitch for a single into left field, that scored Cramer.
Next came Ted, who took one ball, before leaning into Ruffing's high
fastball. Like a meteor zooming out of the heavens, the ball traveled a full 75
feet into the right-field stands just to the left of the alleyway that separates
the bleachers from the right-field grandstand, over the sign that says 402 feet
on the right-field wall.
Even Ruffing couldn't conceal his amazement as Ted loped around the bases in
his usual galloping style and the crowd was going entirely crazy. Ruffing was
still trying to get over the shock, when Cronin took two balls and then
plastered the next pitch up into the left-field screen, close to the foul line,
making the score 4 to 0.
Jimmie Foxx's turn came in the second inning after both Cramer and Vosmik had
walked with two men out. He wasted no time and swung on the first pitch,
deposited it into the screen to the right of the speakers for his seventh home
run of the season, tying him with Williams momentarily.
Ruffing got routed by successive doubles by Doerr and Cramer in the fourth
inning that wound up the Red Sox scoring.
An uphill rally was all there was to cheer about in the second game, because
the Red Sox were trailing 7 to 2. There were a pair of runs scored in the fourth
and two more in the fifth, coming from a walk and Ted's second home run, on a
three and two slow curve that landed among the first row of seats in
right-center field. |
