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VERN STEPHENS |
THE BEST OFFENSIVE SEASON IN SOX HISTORY
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Vern Stephens'
walk-off grandslam beats St. Louis
August 24, 1950 ... The
Red Sox completed a sweep of the St. Louis Browns on Vern
Stephens' ninth inning walkoff grand slam home run which brought them
a 6 to 2 victory. A two-out error by the Browns' Tom Upton
contributed to loading the bases. With one out, Buddy Rosar broke
his bat, blooping a single to left. Tom Wright batted for pitcher Walt Masterson
and followed with a double down the left-field line, that moved pinch runner Lew
Stringer over to third. Dom DiMaggio followed when Browns' pitcher Ned Garver,
issued him a base on balls that loaded the bases.
Then Billy Goodman sent a roller a bit to the right of shortstop Upton. He
got in front of the ball but was an able to pick it up cleanly, allowing
Stringer to score and tie the game, leaving the bases still full.
That brought up Vern Stephens, who had struck out with three men on in the
first inning. He was zero for four on the day, but came through by slugging the
ball over the left-field wall for his grand slam.
Masterson picked up his sixth victory by holding the Browns to eight hits.
Two of those came in succession, giving the St. Louis a 2 to 1 lead in the sixth
inning, on Ray Coleman's double and Roy Sievers' home run.
Garver, gave up a run in the fourth on Billy Goodman's double and Walt
Dropo's single. He dug himself out of a seventh-inning jam when the Red Sox
loaded the bases with two outs. Then he pitched a perfect eighth-inning and
continued into the ninth when he retired Al Zarilla, only two outs away from his
10th victory of the year, but then the walls came crashing down around him.
Billy Goodman raised his average to .364, 13 points better over Larry Doby of
the Indians. Vern Stephens upped his RBI total to 124, seven better than
teammate Walt Dropo. |
