1951 BOSTON RED SOX ...

 

After the 1950 season, with the most powerful offense in baseball belonging to the Red Sox, the front office knew that their lack of dependable pitching needed to be addressed.

LOU BOUDREAU

The Sox grabbed player-manager Lou Boudreau, when he was released from the Cleveland Indians in November. Tom Yawkey's plan was to have Boudreau eventually replace Steve O'Neill as the Sox manager. O'Neill's plan was to have Boudreau play third at Fenway because he was right-handed. When Boudreau would play short, Vern Stephens would play third. That left Johnny Pesky in a utility role.

In December General Manager Joe Cronin traded pitchers Joe Dobson, Dick Littlefield and outfielder Al Zarilla  to the White Sox for Red Sox nemesis, pitcher Ray Scarborough and Bill Wight.

Birdie Tebbetts was unhappy about his situation with the Red Sox and was sold to the Cleveland Indians, so Buddy Rosar took over the catching duties to start the season.

Ted Williams and Steve O'Neill butted heads right from the start of spring training. Ted wanted to ease his arm into shape and play a limited number of Grapefruit League games. When O'Neill refused, Ted started loafing and going through the motions, losing respect from the fans who came to see him play.

The Sox and got off to a slow start, losing their first three games. In the home opener on April 20th, Lou Boudreau homered against the Athletics in his first game at Fenway as a member of the Sox, but they lost, 6 to 3.

But they next won three straight. On April 21st, Ted smacked a homer with Billy Goodman on base. Chuck Stobbs didn't allow an A's runner to reach second base until he tired in the ninth, winning 6 to 3.

The next day, on April 22nd, the Sox swept Philadelphia in a doubleheader. Ted homered again in the first game that the Sox won 6-5. The second game, shortened by the Sunday Blue Laws was 7-4 in favor of the Red Sox.

On April 26th the Yankees paid their first visit to Fenway Park and were beaten in a 13-7 slugfest. Billy Goodman had four hits to lead the Sox. The next day, April 27th, the Sox beat the Yankees again, 4 to 3, led by Mel Parnell. Lou Boudreau drove in, what proved to be, the winning run with two hits.

In Philadelphia, Boudreau had two more hits, including a homer, as the Sox beat the A's, 4-2 on April 28th.

On April 29th, the next day, the Sox scored four times in the 13th inning to send the A's to another defeat, this time by a score of 12-8. The Sox finished April, winning seven of their last eight games and were 1/2 game out of first.

At the start of the month, the Sox went on the road and played .500 ball.

Walt Dropo came of the bench in Detroit on May 3rd and drove in four runs while Chuck Stobbs allowed the Tigers six hits and won his second straight game, 6 to 1.

After the losing the next two games to the Tigers, in the blink of an eye, the Red Sox found themselves in fifth place, 4 1/2 games back.

On May 6th, Ted Williams (.229 BA) was the hero in the first game of a doubleheader in St. Louis. His 10th inning homer led the Sox to a 5-4 win, in spite of the Sox stranding 19 runners. Lou Boudreau enjoyed a 13 game consecutive hit streak.

Willard Nixon was the star in the next game, on May 7th, shutting out the Browns, 2-0, and hitting a homer that gave him the win.

The Sox ended their road trip by taking 2-of-3 in Washington and returned home having won 7 of the 13 games. On May 13th, Ted slammed his sixth home run of the season and the Sox beat the Nationals, 10-1. The next day, the Nats committed five errors and booted the game away, 8 to 7.

It being the team's 50th anniversary, the Red Sox honored the 1901 team on May 15th. Cy Young, Freddie Parent, Hugh Duffy and other members of the team watched, Ted Williams blast his 300th career home run but losing to the White Sox 9 to 7.

The Sox pitching had struggled and the bats were quiet. Ted Williams was batting .222, Boudreau was hitting .244 and Pesky was hitting .256. The catchers, Matt Batts was at .138 and Buddy Rosar was batting .222

By mid-May the Sox (12-12) were in 6th place, five games behind. But they won 14 of the next 16 games, to get back into the race.

On May 17th, the Sox paid  $100K and sent Matt Batts, Jim McDonald and Jim Suchecki to the Browns to get catcher Les Moss.

Mickey McDermott pitched his first complete game, handcuffing the Indians 2-1 on May 18th at Fenway. Vern Stephens' pinch-hit trwo run single in the eighth inning won the game for him.

Against the Indians, on May 19th, Dom DiMaggio had a big day against Bob Feller. Dom (.312 BA) slammed a homer and three singles to pace the Sox in a 9-4 victory.

Two days later on May 21st, Ted Williams broke out of his slump. Ted lined a double off the left field wall in a seven-run seventh inning, to go along with a single and a home run, as the Sox beat the Tigers, 9 to 7.

Less Moss powered a grandslam helping Mickey McDermott beat the Tigers the next day on May 22nd, 6 to 3.

On May 23rd, Mel Parnell shut out the Browns, giving up only four hits, 12 to 0. Parnell also had a big day with the bat, knocking out four hits himself. Vern Stephens had 10 assists to tie an A.L. fielding record. And Ted was one short of a record, being walked five times.

Against the Nationals, the Sox pounded out 19 hits on May 25th. Ted had two doubles and a home run into the Sox bullpen.

Dom DiMaggio's double and two singles led the Sox over Washington in the next game, on May 26th, as the Sox won, 11-1.

In a doubleheader on May 27th, the Nats were beaten twice, 9 to 3 and 7 to 1. Ted had two doubles, Bobby Doerr tripled and Vern Stephens homered in the opener. Ted then hit a grandslam and Doerr knocked out a three-run homer in the late game. Dom had four hits for the day.

On May 28th, playing the Yankees, Doerr's homer helped Parnell beat New York, 3-2.

In a Memorial Day doubleheader, on May 30th, the Sox swept the Yankees. In the first game Vern Stephens' walk-off homer in the 15th inning gave the Sox an 11-10 victory. In the second game, Stephens delivered the key blow, a two-run single in the seventh inning that put the Sox ahead, 6 to 4.

The doubleheader win gave the Red Sox ten straight victories, and they were three games out of first. In the last fifteen games of the month, Ted Williams was on a tear, going 27 for 60 (.450 BA), including five homers and 26 RBIs, raising his batting average from .224 to .321 in two weeks.

The Sox winning streak ended on June 1st was a loss to the Browns in St. Louis.

On June 2nd, Dom DiMaggio moved his streak 20 straight with a two-run double that broke open a tie game and a 6 to 4 win in the next game with the Browns.

The Sox moved on to Chicago and split a doubleheader on June 3rd. They won the first game when Lou Boudreau clicked a double off the left field fence for his third hit. He scored on Vern Stephens' base hit, his third hit in a 7 to 5 win. But the White Sox pounded Chuck Stobbs in the late game. As a matter of fact they won the next four games and pushed Boston to 5 1/2 games out.

DOM DiMAGGIO

Dom DiMaggio extended his streak to 27 games with a two-run single that gave the Red Sox a 5 to 3 in Detroit on June 7th. It broke the five game losing streak for the Red Sox. But Dom's streak ended in Cleveland the next day, when Bob Feller shut down the Sox. Dom got 46 hits in 124 times up for .343 BA during his run.

The road trip ended with a doubleheader win on June 10th, giving the Sox some respectability after losing seven of eight. Ted Williams won the opening game with a game-winning two run single in the seventh inning, 9 to 6.  Dom rebounded after the streak ended, with five hits in the first game.

Because Billy Goodman was running a fever, Walt Dropo came back into the lineup and had three hits in the second game. Ted's three run homer sealed the deal for Ray Scarborough, who pitched well in the clutch, winning 8 to 2.

Bill Wight clipped the Tigers back at Fenway Park on June 13th, by a score of 2-0. He limited Detroit to five singles, one being a bunt.

Vern Stephens continued his hot spring at Fenway on June 16th against the Browns. He slugged two home runs accounted for five runs in the 10-5 Sox win. Clyde Vollmer also added a three-run homer.

Ted Williams was the hitting star the next days as the Sox swept a doubleheader from St. Louis. His single sent across the deciding run in the opener, 5-4, and his 13th homer reached the left field net to settle the nitecap, 3-0. Mel Parnell pitched his second consecutive shutout in the second game.

Johnny Pesky hit his first Fenway homer of the season on June 18th. He was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, but the Sox lost to the Indians, 9-7. Both Pesky and Billy Goodman made outs in the bottom of the ninth with thye bases loaded.

In a 9 to 2 victory over the Indians on June 19th, Ted slammed another homer and added two singles, good for four runs to pace the Sox to a 9 to 2 win. Pesky had a double and a triple with three RBIs.

The Red Sox defeated the White Sox, 6 to 5 on June 22nd from Vern Stephen's 10th homer of the year. Ted also had two hits and made a game-saving catch, while Ellis Kinder did a wonderful job in relief, retiring the last four men of the game.

On June 23rd, Billy Goodman's hot bat and slick fielding tied up the game for the Red Sox against Chicago. Then Stephens lined a double off the wall in the 11th inning to score Ted with the walk-off run, 8 to 7. Bobby Doerr's fifth inning double was his 2000th career hit.

Dom DiMaggio led the Red Sox over the White Sox in the second game of a doubleheader on June 24th. After losing the first game, Dom legged out an inside-the-park homer and threw a runner out at the plate, to give the Sox an 8-6 victory. With Lou Boudreau out, Johnny Pesky got some regular playing time and upped has average past .300

Walt Dropo had slumped all spring and on June 25th, he was optioned to the minors in San Diego.

Vern Stephens hit his 11th and 12th homers against the A's on June 26th. Bobby Doerr and Clyde Vollmer also knocked out homers in the 13 to 5 win. Ted Williams collected a triple and a pair of singles and four RBIs to bring his league-leading total to 68.

On June 27th, the Sox beat the A's and Ted collected two more hits. His batting average was up to .341, some 51 points above his average in the 15 games at the start of the homestand. The Sox headed to New York, just three games out of first, after being 6 1/2 games behind at the homestand's start.

On June 30th, Chuck Stobbs easily handled the Yankees in New York, 3 to 1. He gave up six hits and walked only one.

Leo Kiely made his major league debut on July 2nd, handling the Nationals, 5 to 2 in D.C.

Mickey McDermott turned in another well pitched game in the first game of a July 4th doubleheader, shutting-out the A's in Philadelphia, 9 to 0. The Sox went on to win the second game, 9 to 5. Dom DiMaggio had five hits in ten trips to the plate, brining home five runs and Bobby Doerr belted his 10th homer of the season.

The team was four games out, but the double wins were the beginning of an eight game winning streak that would see the Red Sox capture first place.

Riding a 10 hit attack, including home runs by Ted and Bobby Doerr, Walt Masterson's stellar relief job got an 8-3 win for the Red Sox on July 5th.

The Sox next returned to Fenway to square off against the Yankees for three games. They were only two games behind them, for first place. Clyde Vollmer then red hot. He smacked out 13 homers, and every one seemed to be a game winner. Vollmer led the Sox in clutch performance after clutch performance.

On July 6th, Vollmer and Dom DiMaggio helped Mel Parnell win his 10th game. DiMaggio's two-run homer and Vollmer's two-run triple sewed up a 6 to 2 win over the Yankees. In the second game, which the Sox won, 10 to 4, on July 7th, Vollmer climaxed a six-run first inning with a grandslam homer.

The Sox swept the Yankees with a 6-3 victory on July 8th. Down 3-0, Lou Boudreau homered with Ted on base. Then Vollmer put the Sox ahead to stay with another two-run homer. The Sox were only one game out of first place as the All Star Break came about.

Ted was batting .341 at the break. He was enegized, hustling and hitting to all fields. He and Dom were starters for the American League All Stars in Detroit and each got a hit. Parnell pitched an inning and gave up one run on three hits, including a homer to Ralph Kiner. The N.L. Stars won the game, 8 to 3 on four home runs.

The Sox climbed into first place right after the All Star Game, when they swept a doubleheader in Chicago on July 12th. The second game took 17 innings for the Red Sox to pull out, 5 to 4, on a sac fly by Clyde Vollmer. It gave the Sox the A.L. lead and Ellis Kinder 16 straight wins over the White Sox.

The Red Sox lost the next game but beat the White Sox in the finale on July 14th, 3 to 2. Again it was Vollmer who delivered the deciding blow in the ninth inning, a two run single that scored Billy Goodman and Bobby Doerr.

On July 15th, the Sox split a doubleheader with the Browns in St. Louis. Goodman led the assault with five straight hits. The Sox had won 10 of their last 12 games. But Chicago lost two to the Athletics, giving the Red Sox a two game advantage in the American League. It would be their high water mark for the season.

In Cleveland on July 18th, Vollmer again put the Sox on his back, putting them on the scoreboard. The home run proved to be the game winner in a 4-3 Sox win. The next day the Sox lost in spite of two homers by Vollmer, the second of which gave the Sox the lead in the 11th inning. Unfortunately that lead didn't hold up in the bottom half of the 11th. But it was 16 straight games that Vollmer had gotten a hit in. His streak was halted on July 20th, when the Sox lost in Detroit the next day.

But in the next game, on July 21st, Vollmer started a new hitting streak. He steered the Sox to a 6-3 win in Detroit, with three hits, knocking in their first four runs with a homer and a double.

On July 22nd, with the score tied in the tenth inning, Johnny Pesky doubled to left and drove in two runs to give the Red Sox a 10-9 decision on the last game of the road trip in Detroit. The Sox returned to Fenway tied for first place with both the Yankees and Indians.

On the road trip, Ted Williams made just six hits, but in the first game at Fenway on July 24th, he snapped hit slump with four hits, one of which was a homer into the left field nets, raising his averahe at Fenway to .470 for the season. The Sox beat the White Sox, 8 to 3.

That night was "Johnny Pesky" Night at Fenway, hosted by Curt Gowdy. Johnny received a Cadillac from the club and Dom DiMaggio presented him with a plaque from his teammates.

On July 26th, the Red Sox beat the White Sox, 13 to 10. Clyde Vollmer hit three home runs (17 HRs) in four times at bat. Each time his home run broke an existing tie game. He had hit 12 home runs in just over three weeks. Dom DiMaggio had five hits in the game, himself.

Vollmer, who had batted in 50 runs with 50 hits, on July 28th, slammed a grandslam off Bob Feller. It was in the 16th inning and gave the Sox and 8 to 4 verdict over the Indians. Vollmer had just singled home Billy Goodman in the 15th inning to tie up the game at 3-3. This was the 13th game Vollmer had won for the Sox in the just the month of July. Vollmer had now hit 18 homers this season. This was his 13th homer of the month and the 12th that was a game winner.

August started with the Sox pinning a 5-1 win on the Browns at Fenway on the 1st of the month. Ted Williams and Vern Stephens homered back-to-back.

The next day, the Browns got boxed around in a doubleheader loss to the Sox, 12 to 1 and 11 to 6. on August 2nd The Sox piled on 28 hits, but only two were home runs, one by Johnny Pesky in the first game. Walt Dropo came back from his exile to the minors and put together three hits. Then Charlie Maxwell took a pitch from Satchel Paige, with the bases loaded, and deposited it into the center field bleachers in the second game.

Unfortunately, Vollmer and the Sox came back to earth, as their bats fell silent and they lost five straight. Bobby Doerr hurt his knee, Lou Boudreau broke his wrist and a week later Vern Stephens pulled a tendon in his leg. They were in first place on July 26th and fell back to 4 1/2 games out on August 7th.

Walt Dropo's three run homer in the second game of an August 9th doubleheader, gave the Sox a 5 to 3 win over the A's to break the losing streak. Charlie Maxwell's two run single brought the Red Sox from behind, for a 6-4 decision over the Nationals the next day, August 10th.

On August 12th the Sox swept a doubleheader from Washington by identical 6 to 2 scores. Vern Stephens homered and knocked out two singles in the opener. In the second game, Billy Goodman's line double off the wall in left-centerfield scored Johnny Pesky and Stephens to break-up a tie game.

On the road, two home runs by Ted Williams and a triple play initiated by Goodman on a line drive, helped the Sox beat the A's in Philly on August 14th, 7 to 4. Mel Parnell pitched and slugged to a 4-2 win at Shibe Park on August 15th. His second inning triple produced two runs and he allowed seven hits.

The team next traveled down to Washington and won three straight. On August 17th. they beat the Nats 7 to 4 in 12 innings. Clyde Vollmer's hit broke a 4-4 deadlock and rookie Fred Hatfield followed him in with a homer.

The score was 10-9 in the Sox favor, the game on August 18th. Ted Williams dropped a line drive in the first inning but atoned for by driving in three runs. He first hit a 400 ft triple, then he knocked in the final two runs with a double in the ninth. Ellis Kinder, as he did the night before, then came in an shut out the Nats for the win.

The third game belonged to the BoSox also, 8 to 3 on August 19th. Walt Dropo drove home two runs with a bases-loaded single and before the first inning was over, the score was 5-0.

Against the Browns, in St. Louis, they left eight men on base in the next game and the next night, August 22nd, 22 men were left on base. That was within two of the MLB record in that category. Johnny Pesky went 4 for 6 with three doubles in the game, and the Sox pulled out a 3-1 win in 13 innings. Browns pitcher Tommy Byrne walked for consecutive batters in the inning to lose the game.

Pesky had another fine game the next night on August 23rd, going 3 for 4 and bringing his average up to .307, and helping the Sox beat the Browns, 9 to 3, even though they left 14 men on base.

They next lost two in Chicago leaving 15 men on base, and split a doubleheader in Cleveland on August 26th. They won the opener 5-0 as Bill Wight pitched superbly, tossing a five-hitter.

Ted Williams blasted his 27th homer and made three web-gem catches to lead the Sox to a 7 to 5 decision in Detroit on August 29th. They left nine men on base.

Ellis Kinder (13 saves) came in to save his starting pitcher for the fourth straight game. He hurled one-hit ball over the final 3 2/3 innings to save a 10-4 win on August 30th. Bobby Doerr doubled and homered while Dom DiMaggio and Billy Goodman each put together three-hit games. But it would have been a greater score had the Sox not left 11 men on base.

Overall, the Sox batters were leaving way too many men on base. Vern Stephens also came back and then pulled a thigh muscle that kept him out for another three weeks.

On September 3rd, a Labor Day doubleheader was swept from Washinton at Fenway, 3-2 and 8-4. Kinder entered the ninth inning of both games to shut down the Nats. Walt Dropo supplied the winning margin in the first game with a two-run homer. A bases loaded double by Dom DiMaggio was the difference in the second game.

In New York on September 5th, the Sox knocked off the Yankees, 4 to 2. Ted walloped a a three run homer in support of a great pitching effort by Leo Kiely.

ELLIS KINDER

The next day, on September 6th, the Sox were in Philly and split a doubleheader with the A's. Kinder rescued Bill Wight in the first game which the Sox won 8 to 5, and had to pitch five innings in the second game, which was lost to the Athletics, 11-4.

With all the injuries, the Sox couldn't gain any ground. They started September, 4 1/2 games behind the Yankees, who had just picked up Johnny Sain from the Braves. After winning six of seven games, they were just treading water.

On September 8th, Mel Parnell won his 17th game, holding the A's to four hits, 6 to 1. Johnny Pesky led the attack with three hits.

Three walks and a single by Ted Williams allowed the Sox to beat the Tigers, 4 to 3 on September 11th. The next day, September 12th, Johnny Pesky tripled in the tenth inning and scored a 2-1 victory over Detroit, on Clyde Vollmer's sacrifice fly.

Pesky was the story again on September 13th. His infield singled in the tenth inning drove in Dom DiMaggio with the walk-off run, 5 to 4 against the Browns.

Buddy Rosar hit his first home run of the year, along with a double and a single to lead the Sox to a 5-4 win over the White Sox on September 16th.

Ray Scarborough blanked Chicago for eight innings, giving up just one hit over the first five and beat the White Sox 12 to 5 on September 17th. Ted Williams enjoyed a 5-for-5 day, one of which was his 30th homer. Clyde Vollmer also hit a home run as a part of his three hits and 5 RBIs.

The Sox had won six-of-seven to cut their deficit to 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees and 1 1/2 games behind the Indians. But they totally collapsed and could only win one of their last thirteen games of the season.

On September 28th, Allie Reynolds threw his second no-hitter of the season, the Yankees beating the Sox 8-0 in New York.

The Sox ended up in third place, finishing 11 games behind New York with a record of 87 wins and 67 losses. Manager Steve O'Neill took a lot of heat, but unforeseen injuries to Bobby Doerr and Vern Stephens hurt the Sox. Stephens played in only 109 games but had a decent .300 batting average when healthy.

BOBBY DOERR

In early August, Bobby Doerr made a play on a ground ball and felt a pain shoot up his back and knew it was serious. He went to the Leahy Clinic fearing it was a ruptured disc, which it was not. He got treatment, rested and came back tp play against the Tigers on August 29th. He played thru pain for about a week, getting eight hits in his last 23 at bats. Not wanting to risk more serious injury and not wanting surgery, on September 22nd, Doerr (.289 BA) announced his retirement from baseball at age 33. He finished with a lifetime average of .288 and was an All Star nine times in his fourteen year career.

Ted Williams, available for the whole season, batted a career low of .318 with 30 home runs and 126 RBIs.

Dom DiMaggio still was an elite player. He batted .296 with 72 RBIs and scored a league leading 113 runs.

Johnny Pesky played in 131 games and batted .313, second only to Ted on the team, while Lou Boudreau played in only 82 games and hit .267

Walt Dropo slumped, was benched early in the season and then sent to the minors to get his timing back. He ended up batting .239 with only 11 homers in 99 games.

Billy Goodman’s bat cooled off and he batted only .297 in 141 games, a far cry from his league leading .354 BA in 1950.

Mel Parnell (18-11, 3.26 ERA) had another good year and Ellis Kinder (2.55 ERA, 16 Saves) transformed himself into an All Star relief pitcher after being a so-so starter. He had a streak of 23 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings pitched in 15 games

The Red Sox glory days were over. An aging starting lineup and a host of inexperienced young pitchers would end up being the Sox story. Ted Williams became the only reason to go to the ball parkin the upcoming years. It would take until the 1967 "Impossible Dream" for the Sox to compete again for the American League pennant.