|
 |
|
McCARTHY &
SOUTHWORTH |
THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 4
FALLING SHORT AT THE END AGAIN
...
The Sox beat the Braves in a charity game
July 11, 1949 ... Before
the largest crowd seen in either ballpark this year, 36,607, the Red
Sox scored six runs in the eighth-inning to beat the Braves 6 to 2,
in the Community Fund game at Fenway Park.
The Sox trailed 1 to 0 at the end of the seventh, as Johnny Antonelli and
Chuck Stobbs staged a brilliant pitcher's duel. Antonelli had allowed only one
hit, a double by Johnny Pesky in the first inning.
The Braves had scored in the fifth when Clint Conaster drove a home run while
over the left-field wall. For the first seven innings against Stobbs, the Braves
had made six hits including doubles by Eddie Stanky and Eddie Sauer, but Stobbs
had been tight in the clinches.
The eighth provided to be a nightmare for the Tribe. The Sox got only two
hits, both singles by Hitchcock, but cashed in on Antonelli's wildness and that
of his successor Glenn Elliott, as well as a poor throw in the field by Sibbi
Sisti.
Antonelli lost control completely after Billy Hitchcock's first base hit. He
walked to fill the bases and pinch-hitter, Lou Stringer's long fly ball drove in
the first Sox run. When Antonelli walked Dom DiMaggio to fill the bases, manager
Billy Southworth brought in Bob Elliott. But he couldn't get the range and
walked Pesky to force in another run. A bad throw to the plate by Sisti on Tommy
O'Brien's ground ball gave yet another run. A walk forced in one more and Bobby
Doerr's fly ball brought in the fifth run. Hitchcock lined a single his second
tim up, this time against Red Barrett, to score the sixth run of the inning.
Until that inning the Red Sox had only had one runner on base.
After putting the Braves out in order in the first inning, the Sox started
something when Pesky doubled to the left-field corner. But O'Brien grounded out
to Sisti and Stephens struck out. In the second inning Al Zarilla made a
shoestring catch on Bob Elliott's line drive.
The Braves went out in order during the first three innings and Stanky then
got a hit off Stobbs to start the fourth. Conaster open the fifth with his home
run. The Tribe threatened again in the sixth when Stanky opened the inning with
a double against the wall, just beyond the scoreboard. The fact that he couldn't
score was due to a brilliant play by Pesky to Goodman on Sisti's shot down the
third-base line.
In the pregame home run contest, Bobby Doerr had three home runs to Del
Crandall's two homers. |
