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1954 BOSTON RED SOX ...
Over the winter the Red Sox signed Boston University star and Marine, Harry Agganis. Agganis had turned down an offer of $100K to play pro football with the Cleveland Browns and signed with the Sox instead. The Sox were a team built on power, not speed, and Agganis gave them both. His main competition would be the powerful Dick Gernert. Also at spring training was $60K bonus baby, Billy Consolo along with Ted Lepcio. General manager, Joe Cronin, also cut a deal with the Washington Senators in December, that brought Jackie Jensen to Boston for Mickey McDermott and Tom Umphlett. Jensen played in center field because Jimmy Piersall was in right and considered the best defensive outfielder in baseball, so manager Lou Boudreau didn't want to switch them around. Before the season, Ted Williams announced that 1954 would be his final season. His old buddies, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio were gone and his interest in baseball was gone. Ted's $100K salary was more than the combined salaries of most of his teammates. Then on the first day of spring training, Ted slipped shagging fly balls and fell, breaking his collar bone. By the time he returned in May, the Red Sox were out of the race, already far behind the Cleveland Indians. On March 9th, Harry Agganis went 2-for-4 with a triple in an exhibition game with the Yankees. On March 22nd, Dick Gernert banged out two homers against the Braves. Boudreau's plan was to platoon them both.
Harry Agganis made his Sox debut on April 15th, in the Fenway home opener against Washington. Agganis sparked a fourth inning, going 2-for-3 and crushing a deep drive to right that went for a triple with George Kell on base to tie the game. Then Sammy White brought him home with a homer. The rally gave Bill Henry a 6 to 1 win. Both Agganis and Jackie Jensen were instrumental in a doubleheader split with the Athletics at Fenway on April 18th. After losing the opening game, each homered in the second game, giving the Sox a 4-3 win in 13 innings. Agganis homered in the third inning with Jensen and Jimmy Piersall aboard, to put the Sox up 3-1. The A's tied the game and sent it into extra innings. In the 13th inning, Jensen lined a home run over the left field net, giving the Sox a 4 to 3 walk-off victory. With Ted Williams out, Sox fortunes turned worse, when Mel Parnell broke his arm, after being hit by a pitch from Mickey McDermott on April 24th, against the Senators. The Sox finished April with a 4-8 record and were four games out of first.
After batting .386 in April, Jackie Jensen slumped over the next 15 games, going 6-for-62 (.097 BA) and seeing his average drop to .217 On May 12th, rookie Tom Brewer, in his second big league start, lost to the Chicago White Sox, 1-0. He had a no-hitter going until there was one out in the seventh inning. The first road baseball game ever televised back to Boston came from Memorial Stadium in Baltimore on May 13th. The Sox beat the Orioles, 9 to 1, as Bill Henry pitched a splendid five hitter. Charlie Maxwell and Billy Goodman each had three hits and scored two runs apiece. Ted came back in mid-May, having missed 18 games and no spring training, when the Sox were already 7 1/2 games behind. On May 16th, in a doubleheader at Detroit, he put on a show. After going 3-for-4 in the first game, Ted decided to play in the second game. He proceeded to go 5-for-5 with two homers. The Sox lost both games, but the story was Ted Williams. The next day, May 17th, with the Sox down, 3-1 in the eighth inning, Ted was intentionally passed to pitch to Javckjie Jensen. Jackie proceeded to blast a game winning three-run homer that beat the Tigers, 4 to 3.
Against the Yankees, in New York, on May 21st, Harry Agganis showed the power. His three-run homer gave the Sox a 6-3 win. George Kell went 3-for-5 two days later, on May 23rd, to give the Sox a 10-9 win and two of three wins over the Yankees. After the game, he was traded to the White Sox for Grady Hatton and $100K. On May 25th, Sammy White who had grounded into three doubleplays, hit a ninth inning homer that gave the Sox a 3-2 win over the Athletics in Philly. The Sox, however lost 10 of the 15 games on the mid-May road trip and found themselves 10 1/2 games behind the Indians. After going 5-10 on the road, back home, the Sox lost the first two games to the Yankees. But on May 29th, Ted Williams hit his first homer of the year at Fenway Park. It landed 20 rows over the Sox bullpen into the right field bleachers. The Sox won the third game of the Yankees series on May 30th, 3 to 1. Willard Nixon limited the Yanks to four hits, and over the three games Ted was walked seven times. He was walked in the seventh inning to put runners in scoring position. Then Jackie Jensen lined a single to score the winning run. On May 31st, the Sox unleashed their heaviest attack of the season that included two home runs by Milt Bolling (4-for-4). Jimmy Piersall (4-for4) also who had two triples and drove in five runs to overwhelm the Philadelphia Athletics 20-10 in the first game of a doubleheader. Bill Henry shut out the A's in the second game, 9 to 0. Piersall homered and Harry Agganis had a double and a homer that drove in four runs.
Jackie Jensen and Agganis were chiefly responsible for a 5 to 2 victory over the White Sox at Fenway on June 2nd. Jensen knocked in two with a first inning triple. Agganis scored twiced and drive in a run. Jensen and Ted Lepcio each banged out two-run homers in a 5 to 4 win over the Tigers in the first game of a June 5th doubleheader at Fenway. On June 6th, Milt Bolling homered in the fourth, to tie up a game against the Tigers. Harry Agganis followed with a two-run blast in the fifth and Jackie Jensen followed with another home run in the seventh inning, that gave in the Sox a 7 to 4 victory. Tom Brewer fanned 11 batters over 12 innings, beating the Tigers, 5 to 4, in the second game of a June 7th doubleheader. The 11 Ks were a Red Sox record at the time. Milt Bolling's single to left scored Harry Agganis from second base for a walk-off decision. The Sox took four of the five games in the series.
Then on June 9th, Sammy White, slashed out a ninth inning triple to give the Red Sox a 7-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. White's smash, his third hit of the game, scored Jackie Jensen with the winning run. He drove in three runs while he and Jensen scored six of the Sox seven runs. But the Sox lost the last seven games on the homestand and sunk into last place, 17 1/2 games behind. Heading out on the road, the Sox beat the Indians, in Cleveland, 6-3 on June 19th. It was their first win against the rampaging Tribe in ten games. Jackie Jensen led the Sox with three hits (9 of his last 14), including a ninth inning homer and two doubles. Sammy White was the star in a battle of the basement dwellers on June 22nd. In Baltimore he tied the game in the eighth inning with a triple. Then he doubled in the 12th to score Harry Agganis for a 3 to 1 win. Milt Bolling started started a triple play on June 23rd against the Orioles. (6-4-3-2). Ted Williams banged in one run and scored another while Frank Sullivan limited the Chicago White Sox to four hit in a 3 to 1 win on June 26th at Comiskey Park. Tom Brewer pitched the Red Sox to a seven hit win in the opening game of a doubleheader the next day, 2 to 1. They won the game in the eighth inning on Billy Goodman's double. On June 28th, before an exhibition game at the Polo Grounds with the Giants, there was a home run hitting contest. Ted and three teammates were pitted against Willie Mays and three Giants players. Each player got five swings. Mays hit three homers and his teammates hit two. The first two Sox players each hit one homer and the third hit two. Then Ted came up and hit five straight homers. After a 5-8 road trip the Sox returned to Fenway 21 1/2 games behind. But on the final day of the month. Willard Nixon beat the Yankees for the third time of the season, 6 to 1, holding New York to six scattered hits.
Grady Hatton's bases loaded triple helped Tom Brewer win his fourth game, 8 to 4 over Philadelphia on July 2nd. Leo Kiely threw his only career shutout on July 4th, when he blanked the A's, 4 to 0. Ted Lepcio's grandslam and the pitching of Bill Henry gave the Sox a 14-0 win in Washington on July 5th. Lepcio and Jackie Jensen each drove in five runs and Willard Nixon allowed the Nats just six hits. After losing four games the Red Sox beat the A's in Philly three straight games. A bases loaded walk to Harry Agganis, resulted in a 5-to-3 win in 11 innings on July 10th. On July 11th, the Sox enjoyed one of their best days, beating the A's, 18-0 and 11-1. Sammy White had six hits in twelve times at bat. Ted Williams (.367 BA) knocked out four hits with four walks, including a majestic three-run homer. Jimmy Piersall had five hits with his second homer of the year, and Jackie Jensen drove in six runs. Grady Hatton had a three-run homer in the first game and five RBIs for the day. The Sox entered the All Star break, 23 games behind the Indians. Casey Stengel added Ted and Jimmy Piersall to the bench of the American League All Star team. The A.L. stars beat their N.L. counterparts, 11 to 9, in Cleveland. Ted pinch hit in the fourth inning and stayed in the game, batting ninth. Piersall came in during the ninth inning to play right field.
After the break the Tigers and Sox split a doubleheader on July 15th. Ted homered and Willard Nixon won his eighth game in the opener, 3 to 1. Nixonn gave up four hits in the seven innings he pitched. Frank Sullivan pitched a 3-0, three-hit shutout against the Tigers the next game, on July 16th. Jimmy Piersall stole home and won the game for the Red Sox on July 17th, 7 to 6. At Fenway, on July 18th, pitcher, rookie Russ Kemmerer took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Orioles in his first major league start. Ex-Soxer, Sam Mele, broke it up with a single off the wall, but the Kemmerer won his one-hitter, 4 to 0. The next day, July 19th, the Sox swept a doubleheader from Baltimore, 9 to 7 and 8 to 5. Mickey Owen's ninth inning grandslam capped a six-run ninth inning comeback in the first game. Jimmy Piersall's three-run homer wiped out another deficit in the second game. On July 24th, Fenway belonged to Jackie Jensen, He slugged a three-run homer to wipe out a two run deficit and made two sparkling catches to beat the White Sox, 5 to 2. Then in Cleveland, on July 29th, Jensen exploded against the Indians by knocking out two home runs and driving home six runs.
Sam Mele was picked off the waiver wire when he was put there by the Orioles at the end of July. He played for the Sox on August 1st for the first time since 1949. While Mel Parnell returned to make his first start since April, Ted Williams belted a homer, a double and a single in his first three at bats and drove in four runs as the Sox beat the Tigers in Detroit, 10-8. Then on August 6th, Ted came to bat in the 10th inning in Baltimore. The game was tied at 1 to 1 and Jimmy Piersall was on first base. The Orioles dugout was heckling Ted, who was hitless in five at bats. On a 1-1 pitch, Ted swung and lined a game-winning homer. He grinned at the silent Orioles dugout as he crossed home. The Sox won 3 to 1. On August 8th, rookie pitcher Frank Sullivan helped himseld with a fifth inning double in the second game of a doubleheader, to beat the O's 4 to 1. The first game, which the Sox won, 4 to 2 in 11 innings, was led by the bat of Billy Consolo with three hits. Back home, Mel Parnell won his first game of the year when he shutout the Nats, 4 to 0 on August 10th. Ted slugged two homers in the first game of a doubleheader, a 10-1 walloping against Washington on August 11th. Jimmy Piersall had three hits including a double and a homer. Piersall homered again the the second game, which the Sox lost. The next day, August 12th, Frank Sullivan pitched his third shutout, beating Washington, 5 to 0. Jackie Jensen knocked in two runs and scored a third. The Giants came to Fenway Park for another exhibition game with the Sox on August 16th. Before the game Willie Mays and Jimmy Piersall had an accuracy throwing contest from right field to home. Piersall hurt his arm and missed several games. Four players from each team also engaged in a home run hitting contest. Del Wilber was the winner, hitting three over the left field wall. On August 17th, Frank Sullivan became the Sox first 10-game winner in Washington, winning 4-3. The next day, August 18th, Karl Olson drove home Harry Agganis with the winning run in the 11th inning, giving the Sox a 9-8 win. The Sox returned to Fenway, 34 games out of first place to face the Yankees. On August 20th, Willard Nixon doubled home the winning run to back his four-hit pitching, beating New York 4 to 3.
The next game, on August 21st, Don Lenhardt, who the Sox had bought from the Orioles in May, slashed a two-run 12th inning single up the middle, with two outs off Whitey Ford, to give the Red Sox a 10-9 victory over the Yanks. The Sox came from behind four times in this see-saw game. The Sox made it three straight over the Yanks and ran their winning streak to six games by beating New York, 8-2 in the finale, on August 22nd, yet the mathematically were eliminated form winning the pennant, being 34 games out with 34 left to play. Ted Williams was 3-for-4, slammed his 23rd homer 20 rows past the Sox bullpen, and knocked in four runs. Harry Agganis batted .361 in the series. Willard Nixon made it four straight wins over the Yanks, yet was 0-3 against both Cleveland and Chicago. Frank Sullivan won his fifth straight game on August 25th, 5 to 3 against the Tigers. Over 35 innings he gave up just four earned runs for a 1.01 ERA. Sam Mele beat the Baltimore Orioles with an 11th inning single, after he opened the game with a home run, as the Red Sox beat the Orioles, 3 to 2, on August 28th. The Sox ended the month by losing three straight to the league leaders, the Cleveland Indians. They were 37 games behind.
In Philadelphia, on September 3rd, Ted Williams smashed a tremendous drive over the right field wall that landed on one end of the chimneys of the apartment house on the other side of the street. It was his 25th homer of the season, the 362nd of his career and it put him ahead of Joe DiMaggio on the lifetime homer list. Two days later on September 5th, Ted hit his 26th home run. Jackie Jensen banged out two homers and Milt Bolling notched five hits in a doubleheader sweep of the A's. Jimmy Piersall belted a two-run homer in the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on September 6th, to beat the Yanks 8 to 7. Frank Sullivan won his 13th game in Detroit, beating the Tigers 5-2 on September 8th. The next day, Willard Nixon shut out the Tigers, 8-0. Piersall had two hits including a home run. The Sox had taken six of the first eight games they played on the road trip but then lost eight straight. They returned to Fenway for the final homestand and took three straight from the A's. On September 20th, Ted belted his 28th homer to help Tom Brewer win his 10th game, 5 to 2. In the final two games, a doubleheader on September 21st, Jensen batted the Sox to two wins. He drove in six of the Sox eight runs. The highlight of the season came on September 26th, against the Washington Senators, in what most thought would be Ted Williams' last game. In the seventh inning, in what appeared to be his last at bat, Ted homered into the right field stands, But the Sox rallied and gave him another at bat in the eight inning. He then popped up and reiterated his plan to retire, after the game. The Sox finished in fourth place with a disappointing 60-85 record, their worst of the Yawkey era, and a staggering 42 games behind Cleveland. It marked the fifth season that saw a decline in attendance, down to 930,000 fans. The offense improved over the previous year because of Ted Williams. The younger players, Harry Agganis, Ted Lepcio, Milt Bolling, Sammy White and Karl Olson all played on a regular basis but did not supply much punch to the offense. Ted had a terrific year, considering the fractured collarbone and was out with a bout of pneumonia. He batted .345 in 117 games and 386 official times at bat, with 29 homers. But he lost the American League batting title to the Indians' Bobby Avila, because he was 40 at-bats shy of the required 400 at-bats need to qualify.
Billy Goodman, playing in a utility role, was second in the team in batting to Ted with a .303 BA over 127 games. Jimmy Piersall raised his average to .285 with eight homers. Sammy White caught in 137 games and batted a respectable .282, and his 14 home runs and 75 RBIs were career highs. After three seasons, White was considered one of the top catchers in all of baseball. Jackie Jensen (.276 BA) led the league in stolen bases (32) and was third in the league with 117 RBIs. He belted out 25 homers, but also led the league in grounding into 32 doubleplays. Nonetheless he was named the Red Sox MVP by the Boston sportswriters. Harry Agganis who replaced Dick Gernert after he contracted hepatitis, batted .251 with 11 homers (seven at Fenway), 54 runs and 57 RBIs in 132 games. Milt Bolling had a middle of the pack season, batting .249 with 20 doubles. But his fielding percentage dropped to .946, the lowest of the starting shortsops in the American League. Mel Parnell broke his wrist in April and was only able to win three games, an injury that hastened the end of his career. As a result, Frank Sullivan got his opportunity to move out of the bullpen and into the starting rotation. He put together a season that saw him win 15 games, tops among the Sox pitchers. He also led with a 3.14 ERA over 206 1/3 innings pitched and 124 strikeouts. Willard Nixon had an 11-12 record, and nine of his victories came against just two clubs, the Tigers and the Yankees. He pitched 199 2/3 innings and was considered a dependable starter. Leo Kiely ended with a 5-8 record but his value was as a reliever. Of the 28 games he appeared in, nine were in relief, where he posted a 0.97 ERA. Tom Brewer won the Red Sox "Rookie of the Year" award, with a record of 10-9, and a 4.65 ERA in 23 starts.
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