|
BOSTON RED
SOX ...
THE
CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A
SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
The Red Sox lose two in the Fenway Opener
April 19, 1948 ... The
courage of a war hero, who became an ace pitcher, sent sober thrills
to the fans at Fenway Park this afternoon. Lou Brissie's war story is
common knowledge to thousands of Americans. Struck by a German shell,
his left leg was shattered. Given up for dead, he fought his way back
with 23 operations and 40 blood transfusions to save both his life
and the remnants of his limb. Today in the sixth inning of the second
game, a bullet line drive struck by Ted Williams, hit him in the left
knee above his protective aluminum brace. Brissie went down in a
heap, but withstood the agony and stayed in the game, to hand the Red
Sox their second defeat of the day 4 to 2. It was his display of
courage that is seldom seen in the arena of sports. After the game
thousands of Boston fans milled around the dugout for a close-up glimpse of the
young pitcher would had just throttled their favorite team. Brissie, a rookie
with the Philadelphia Athletics, was hit by 21 shell fragments as an infantry
man in the Appenines Mountains operation which saw 11 of his mates killed in
action. Refusing to allow an operation which might have cost him a leg, he moves
about with a brace similar to a catcher's shin guard, from his knee the down to
his ankle. Williams' vicious line drive hit him just above the guard knocking
him to the ground. The entire park to a man gasped audibly and Williams kicked
at the first-base bag with disgust as Brissie lay on the ground, writhing in
pain. However after a five-minute timeout, the brave young pitcher took up his
pitching duties and went the distance. After the game he was taken to the
hospital for x-rays which came back negative and he will be fine.
Phil Marchildon outlasted Joe Dobson and Earl Johnson in the morning game,
which the A's won 5 to 4 in 11 innings. The A's 19 game winner in 1947 was
stunned, as the Red Sox' Stan Spence, Vern Stephens and Bobby Doerr swatted
successive homers in the second inning, for what appeared to be a sufficient 3
to 1 lead behind Dobson. However, Marchildon calmly pocketed his fastball, and
using a good curve, stayed the top man before 22,409 early risers. He gave up
seven hits, four after the third inning, and walked five. He didn't strike out a
man but left nine men on the bases.
The Athletics put a Sam Chapman single and a Pete Suder double together in
the fifth inning for a run, and knocked out three doubles in the eighth to tie
up the game and send the contest into extra innings. In the 11th inning, Buddy
Rosar doubled off the left-field wall and Suder singled him to third base. Eddie
Joost, who had fanned on four of his first five at bats, then spanked a harsh
ground ball between short and third to score the winning run. The Sox made a
game of it, in a dying jester in their half of the inning. Vern Stephens
singled, and after Bobby Doerr and Sam Mele each flied out, Jake Jones reached
an outside curve and sent a drive to left field, which Barney McCoskey misjudged
and then dropped for an error, allowing Stephens to get to third. Wally Moses
came in to bat and he grounded down to Suder, but his throw was in the dirt to
Ferris Fain at first and the runner was called safe, with Stephen scoring and
Hitchcock heading to the plate at full speed. Fain whirled and sent a bullet
throw to Rosar, who although hit hard by Hitchcock held the ball for the tag,
the out and the win.
In the afternoon game, Brissie was the story. He walked but one man, Dom
DiMaggio in the eighth-inning, giving up four hits and striking out seven. The
teams were knotted at one run apiece and going into the fourth inning. With one
out, Stephens error on Chapman's grounder gave the A's a second life. Rosar took
a low pitch and lined it off the left-field wall, as Chapman held third. With
first base open, Suder was walked to load them up. Brissie then smacked Denny
Galehouse's first pitch to right-field for two runs and Suder, who reach third
base on the play scampered home on Eddie Joost's fly ball. The Red Sox scored
their final run in the sixth inning when DiMaggio doubled with one out and
scored on Williams drive off Brissie's knee. |
.jpg)
