1956 BOSTON RED SOX ...
(THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 5) ...
"THE BEGINNING OF GOING NOWHERE" ...

The 1956 Red Sox were a pretty good, middle-of-the-pack team, but were not good enough to ever be a part of the pennant race. They were a team with considerable potential, but with something lacking.

Mickey Vernon was acquired in November from the Washington Senators, along with Bob Porterfield, Johnny Schmitz and Tom Umphlett for five Sox utility players. Don Buddin, who would become the symbol of mediocrity that would haunt the Sox for years to come, was their new shortstop.

Ellis Kinder was released and Dave Sisler became the bullpen mainstay. Frank Sullivan was solid on the mound and Tom Brewer (19-9) had his best major league season.

Ted Williams reported to spring training upbeat and frisky. But the year would not go well for him. A freak injury in the shower had him injure his foot and he missed considerable playing time to start the year. When he returned, his combustible personality would trigger humiliating meltdowns that generated far more attention than what he did on the field.

The Sox opened the season at Fenway on April 17th. Sullivan breezed to an 8-1 victory over the Orioles and Buddin knocked out two hits in his first two times at bat. The Sox swept Baltimore with Tom Brewer tossing a two-hitter at them in the finale.

They then traveled to New York and gave the series to the Yankees, losing three straight. They gave the Yanks 12 unearned runs in three games, with eight errors in the final two games, and had ten errors overall in their six games. Billy Goodman, Buddin and Billy Klaus booted multiple easy groundballs and were severely criticized in the press.

Back at Fenway on May 3rd, Frank Sullivan limited Detroit to six hits in a 5-2 win, while both Frank Malzone and Dick Gernert each belted out two-run homers. On May 8th, Gernert's  line drive single in the 13th inning, scored Billy Consolo with the walk-off game-winning run, to give the Red Sox a 4-3 decision.

In the next game, Goodman rapped out three doubles and a single in the 7-5 win over the White Sox. He raised his batting average to .368, but he was a liability in the field. He had four balls hit two him. Two hit him flush in the chest, and the other two skipped off his glove and rolled up his arm.

The Sox finished their homestand winning seven games and losing five. Manager Mike Higgins shuttled players in and out of the lineup, trying to find something that clicked.

As the Sox headed out on the road, General Manager, Joe Cronin, sold Grady Hatton to the St. Louis Cardinals. Over the past two seasons, Hatton had been a clutch hitter, coming through for the Sox on many occasions. This year, with Malzone playing third base, he was limited to pinch-hitting duties.

DICK GERNERT

Dick Gernert was the hottest batter in the early going. In Washington, on May 12th, the Sox lost 12-9. Gernert (.393 BA) kept them in the game with two home runs, two singles and six runs batted in. Since taking over for Ted Williams in left field, Gernert slammed eight homers and drove in 20 runs in 19 games.

In Chicago, on May 20th, Jackie Jensen emerged from a long slump, leading the Sox to a doubleheader sweep. After hitting a long home run in the first game, that the Red Sox won, 12-5, he slugged a ninth inning homer in the second game, that gave the Sox a 2 to 1 win.

Tom Brewer won his fifth game in Cleveland on May 22nd, beating the Indians 5-3. For seven innings he shut them out on four hits, but gave up a run in the eighth. Dave Sisler relieved him in the ninth for the save.

The Sox (17-13) finished the road trip winning seven of the 12 games played and returned home in third place, four games behind.

The Sox lost the first home game to Washington on May 25th, but Jimmy Piersall cracked a pair of homers and a single, driving across four runs in the 10 to 5 loss. Ted Williams' first game back from the injured ankle, was highlighted by a double to right. The Sox lost the next day, 4-1, and Ted pinch hit a torrid single down the right field line to produce their only run.

In New York, Frank Sullivan lost the first game of the series to Whitey Ford on May 28th, 2 to 0. Both of the Yankees runs were unearned. Sullivan wild pitched one home and the other came on an error by Buddin, who made three in the game.

In the next game, Willard Nixon had a perfect game with two outs in the seventh until he walked Mickey Mantle. He had a no-hitter with two outs in the eighth inning until Billy Martin lined a triple over Jimmy Piersall's head. And he had a shutout with two outs in the ninth inning until Mantle homered. Nixon finally won the game 7 to 3.

Bad fielding again cost the Sox a doubleheader loss in Baltimore. They finished May by beating the Orioles, 4-1 and were in fourth place, 7 1/2 games out of first, with a 20-19 record.

TOM BREWER

The Sox opened a homestand on June 1st and beat the Kansas City A's, 5 to 0. Tom Brewer shut-out the A's on just five hits. Piersall made another of his great catches by literally climbing the wall in left-center field, extending to catch the ball, falling to the ground, and rolling over without losing his prize. That topped off a great all-around evening for him, as at the plate he tripled and belted out two singles with an RBI.

Later, on June 6th, Brewer upped his record to 8-1. The Sox pulled out a 5-4 squeaker against Detroit thanks to five double plays and 4 RBIs off the bat of Sammy White.

The next day, Ted Lepcio homered and then hit a game-winning double in the 10th inning, to give the Sox a 6 to 5 victory. However, in spite of his heroics, the Sox threw away numerous scoring opportunities, stranding 17 runners, 13 of then in the first five innings.

Then on June 8th, Billy Klaus broke a 3-3 deadlock in the seventh inning with a two-run double that gave the Sox a win against the White Sox for three straight wins.

Tom Brewer became the first American League pitcher to win his ninth game, by beating the Cleveland Indians, 5 to 1 in the second game of a doubleheader on June 11th. He allowed just three hits and had now won six times by allowing five or fewer hits. He was 20-4, going back to May of last season.

Ted Williams and Ted Lepcio supplied the ammunition and Tommy Hurd the pitching, in relief, as the Red Sox defeated the Cleveland Indians, 9 to 7, on June 12th. Shortly after Williams had doubled to left, bringing in Billy Klaus with the tying run to make the score 5-5 in the seventh inning, Lepcio lined a three-run homer over the fence in left center to score the winning run. After losing three straight in Cleveland, the Sox dropped to 10 games out.

On July 4th, the Red Sox split a doubleheader with the New York Yankees before the largest crowd of the season, 34,594 fans. Jimmy Piersall's single in the 11th inning gave the Sox a 7-6 walk-off win in the first game.

The American League All Star team was announced with Ted Williams and Mickey Vernon elected as starters. Tom Brewer and Frank Sullivan were picked to be members of the pitching staff. Jimmy Piersall and Sammy White were added to the bench.

The game was played in Washington and won by the National League, 7 to 3. Ted slammed a two-run homer in the sixth inning off Warren Spahn. The blast tied him for the most home runs in All Star competition. It was his fourth and tied him with Stan Musial. Vernon played first base for six innings and went hitless. Brewer pitched the sixth and seventh, giving up a homer to Musial, and two doubles to Ted Kluszewski. Piersall replaced Al Kaline in the eighth inning and grounded out in his only at bat.

The Sox started the second half, 10 1/2 games behind the Yankees and took three straight games from the Whites Sox at Fenway. During the first game of the series, on July 12th, a crew from Paramount Studios was at Fenway to film action by Jimmy Piersall, hoping to use some of it in his movie biography, "Fear Strikes Out".

Piersall was having one of his best years, batting .303 and had driven home the winning run in three of the last five Red Sox wins. In the fourth inning, Sherm Lollar drove a ball into left center. Piersall raced over and made a spectacular catch in front of Ted Williams. Then in the ninth inning, with the scored tied, Piersall homered into the net for a 3-1 walk-off win.

Piersall did it again in the next game. He knocked in the winning run for the third straight game when the Red Sox again beat Chicago. It happened in the eighth inning, with Mickey Vernon on second base and the game tied. Piersall blooped a single to short right and the Sox won, 5 to 4.

MEL PARNELL

In one of the Red Sox most dramatic moments, in many years, Mel Parnell became the first Red Sox pitcher since 1923 to pitch a no-hit, no run game, when he stopped the White Sox 4 to 0 on July 14th. It was the first no-hitter pitched by the Sox at Fenway Park since 1918. .

In the last inning, Mel walked leadoff batter Sammy Esposito on a 3-2 pitch, as he appeared to be working more cautiously. Luis Aparicio didn't delay the tingling finish. He went after Parnell's first serve and wrapped a medium hard grounder back at the mound which Parnell just missed. Fortunately for him, Billy Goodman was playing close to second base trying for a doubleplay. Goodman took the ball a couple of feet from second base and slipped, but flipped over to Don Buddin for the force play on Esposito.

A right-handed pinch-hitter, Bubba Phillips, batted for pitcher Paul LaPalme. He knocked Parnell's second pitch down to Billy Klaus and the throw over to Goodman forced Aparicio at second base, but Phillips was too fast to be doubled up. There would be one more batter left for Parnell to conquer.

Out of the dugout came Walt Dropo, the big right-handed firstbaseman and a former teammate. Dropo swung on Parnell's first pitch, like a guy trying to catch a train. The ball went right back to Parnell who scooped it up cleanly, took one look toward home and then sprinted over first base to make the final out in the dramatic game.

Ted Williams hit his 400th homer on July 17th. The homer came against Kansas City's Tom Gorman on his first pitch in the sixth inning of the second game in a doubleheader. Williams hit the ball into the hands of a man in the 14th row of the rightfield bleachers. Ted was the fifth player to reach that plateau (Ruth, Foxx, Ott and Gehrig).

Ted was hitting, but erratically and inconsistent. He began to hear a smattering of boos, for which he always blamed the press. The press had not been kind to Ted. Because he started slowly, there were many who thought he should retire. Aching for a fight, after hitting his 400th home run, he crossed home plate. Mickey Vernon was there to shake his hand. But Ted raised his head at the press box and instead spit in their direction.

Three nights later, it was "Joe Cronin Night". In the seventh inning Ted misjudged a line drive hit right at him, had to back-pedal and made a nice leaping catch. Running in toward the dugout, he flung the ball high in the air toward second base, then as he came into the infield, he tossed his glove at the Sox batboy. With the boo-birds now in full force, as Ted grabbed his bat to lead-off the inning, he turned and spat again toward the right field stands. In the club house after the game, he again voiced his disgust for the Boston sportswriters.

But against the Tigers on July 21st, Ted hit another homer, doubled and singled, driving across four runs and bringing his batting average up to .373. On the last game of the homestand, Mickey Vernon, the oldest player on the team, brought home five runs with a single and homer run, to lead the Sox with 53 RBIs.

In Cooperstown, on July 23rd, Joe Cronin was inducted into the Hall-of-Fame. The Sox finished the month of July losing four straight games and fell to 13 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

Tom Brewer won his 15th game on August 1st, 5-4, thanks to Williams' three-run homer and Jackie Jensen's two-run homer. Then Jensen enjoyed his best day of his major league career the next day. He knocked in nine runs as the Sox smothered the Tigers, 18 to 3. The record was 12, held by Jim Bottomley of the Reds in 1924. Jensen hit a three-run homer in the first inning, then drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, tripled in three more runs in the sixth, and singled across two more in the seventh.

Mel Parnell continued his comeback by weaving a neat four-hitter in Cleveland the next day, to give the Sox a 7-1 victory. Jensen doubled to break a 1-1 tie, good for two more RBIs. Two days later Jensen and Williams homered again. The Sox beat the Indians, 2-1, for their fifth straight win, putting them only 8 1/2 games out. Still in the race, they returned home to face the Yankees.

On August 7th, Willard Nixon was in a pitchers duel with Don Larsen of the Yankees, and pitching a shutout in the 11th inning, in front of the largest crowd of the year. Mickey Mantle hit an easy fly ball to left that Ted dropped, for a two-base error in the top of the inning. The fans booed Ted and then cheered him as he snared a line drive hit by Yogi Berra, a batter later. As he came off the field, Williams seethed and spat at the fickled fans behind the dugout. He then turned and spat toward the press box. When he got in the dugout, he let one go toward the Yankee dugout.

Then in the bottom of the 11th, Ted came to the plate, with the crowd in a full frenzy of boos and cheers. He drew a walk with the bases loaded. It gave the Sox a 1-0 win, but it was such an anti-climax for Ted, that as he walked to first, he threw his bat some 40 feet in the air, not caring that the Sox had just won an important game. He smashed a water cooler on the way to the clubhouse and had to be calmed down by Mike Higgins. Tom Yawkey, who was in New York, heard it on the radio and immediately called Joe Cronin, who was ordered to fine him $5000.

If the press had held back before, they weren't holding back after this. Many called him an emotional time bomb and thought it was time for him to retire. The next day, Ted felt remorse, but because he thought that expressing it would show a sign of weakness, he wouldn't allow himself to undergo the further humiliation of apologizing.

So, the next night the Sox were playing the Orioles and it was "Family Night". Ted came to the park in a good mood. When he went out to the field he didn't look at the fans in left field stands, but the fans cheered him when he came to the plate in the first inning and grounded out.

In the sixth inning, Ted homered to break a 2-2 tie. and as he approached the dugout, with the skill of the showman that he was, Ted put his hand over his mouth to shut himself up. The fans laughed at the gesture and then cheered him. After that, he again became a fan favorite, perhaps because everyone realized he was all they had to cheer about. As for the $5000 fine, Tom Yawkey never collected it.

Mel Parnell won his fourth straight on August 8th. He was supported by homers by Williams and Mickey Vernon. The Sox won 9 of the 10 games they played at the start of August, but then lost 9 of the 10 next games.  On August 23rd, Parnell beat the Indians, 2 to 1, on a neat three-hitter.

As August turned into September, the Sox concluded a 6-11 homestand, 12 1/2 games out of first. In Washington on September 3rd the Sox swept a doubleheader. Brewer won his 18th game and Piersall had one of his best days of the season. He knocked out six hits, good for 8 RBIs and robbed Jim Lemon of a homer by leaping over the center field fence to grab the ball and bring it back.

On September 8th, the Sox purchased Gene Mauch from the Pacific Coast League's Los Angeles Angels. In Baltimore, Tom Brewer pitched a four-hitter to beat the Orioles and win his 19th game.

In the second game of a doubleheader on September 14th, the Sox came-from-behind to beat the Indians, 4-3. After blowing a 3-1 in the eight inning, the Sox rallied back in the ninth. With two men on, Ted Williams tied up the game with a double. A moment later Williams scored the winning run, when Sammy White drove him in.

The next day the Sox were down 3-0, when Williams homered off Bob Feller to tie up the game in the sixth inning. Then White came through again in the ninth inning. With the bases loaded in the ninth, he hit a two-run single to give the Sox a 5-3 triumph.

At Fenway against the Yankees on September 21st, Mickey Mantle hit a 480 ft homer off the wall behind the centerfield bleachers. The Sox beat them, 13-7.

In the last two games at Fenway, Ted homered, tripled and doubled as he battled Mantle for the batting title. The final three games were in Yankee Stadium. On September 29th, Ted went 1-for-6 and Mantle only pinch-hit and drew a walk. In the final six games Ted had only gone 3-for-20. He ended up batting .345 and finished second to Mantle, who batted .353 and won the "Triple Crown".