1957 BOSTON RED SOX ...
"WHEN I WALK DOWN THE STREET, I WANT PEOPLE TO SAY,
THERE GOES THE GREATEST HITTER WHO EVER LIVED" ... Ted Williams

The 1957 Red Sox finished in the middle of the pack, in third place. They had a formidable offense but it couldn't make up for their mediocre pitching staff and a porous infield defense. Even the heroics by the 38-year-old, Ted Williams, couldn't push this team any higher in the standings.

Williams had one of the greatest years any player could want. He made a serious run at hitting .400 again, and fell just five hits short of doing so. Had he been younger, he probably would have been able to run out some of the ground ball outs that got him. In the second half of the season, when he needed that strength in the "dog days" however, he batted .453

He had experimented with a heavier bat in spring training and found that it slowed his swing just enough for him to be able to hit to left and beat the "shift". Teams figured that he couldn't get around as quickly anymore and started playing him straight-away. When the weather got warmer, Ted went back to his lighter bat, but this time, he had plenty of room on the right side to knock the ball through the right side again.

Frank Malzone debuted as their regular thirdbaseman and finished second in the American League with 185 hits and tied Jackie Jensen for the club lead with 103 RBIs.

Traditionally slow at the start, Ted burst out of the gate. On opening day at Fenway, on April 18th, Ted knocked out two hits to left field, but the Sox lost to the Yankees.

On April 25th, he hit a homer to tie the game against the Senators. It was his third homer in the first seven games and the Sox won 4 to 3. The next day, he rapped out three hits for a hitting streak of eight straight games.

The Sox won their fifth straight game in New York, 2-1, on April 27th and found themselves tied for first place in the American League. However, the Sox knew they had a thin pitching staff and on April 29th, obtained Bob Chakales and Dean Stone in a trade with the Senators.

After sweeping a doubleheader in Cleveland, on May 5th, both Frank Malzone and Jackie Jensen had eight game hitting streaks. Three of Jensen's hits were home runs.

On May 7th in Chicago, while Tom Brewer thru a three-hitter at the White Sox, Ted Williams drove in three runs. He had a single and then banged out a ninth inning two-run homer that gave the Sox a 4 to 3 win.

Three more homers came for Ted on May 8th in Chicago. With Frank Sullivan pitching a four-hitter in a 4-1 win, Ted  homered in the first, third and eighth innings. The first two were solo shots and the third came with Billy Klaus on base. The Sox compiled a 9-6 record on the road trip and returned to Fenway Park, one game out of first place and Ted was batting .474 with nine homers, to lead the league in both categories.

Since the three homer game, Ted only had two singles in the next 19 times at bat. His average shrunk to .382 and he lost the AL batting lead.

The Sox beat the Senators in the first game of a doubleheader, 10-0, on May 12th. Behind the two-hit shutout hurled by Tom Brewer, the Sox had an outstanding defensive play by Jackie Jensen, who had to leap over the fence and grab a ball hit by Pete Runnels, out of the Sox bullpen and brought it back without dropping it. Jackie also had a 3-for-4 game at the plate.

JACKIE JENSEN ROBS A HOME RUN

Jimmy Piersall doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, on May 17th, to give the Red Sox a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Athletics. Nobody would have thought the Sox had a chance against the rookie Ryne Duren, who had pitched five strong innings and had a 3 to 0 lead going into the sixth. But Ted knocked out the second of his two hits and Jensen brought him home with a home run, to cut the A's lead down to one run, 3 to 2. Then a break in the eighth inning, allowed the Sox to get a gift run and tie the game.

The Sox lost the next three games, but Williams got five more hits. Then on May 22nd, Ted, Gene Mauch, Dick Gernert and Frank Malzone all homered in the 6th inning during an 11-0 blowout of the Indians, to tie the AL record of four HRs in one inning, set by the Sox in 1940. 

On May 24th, Ted went 3-for-4 against the Orioles and was hitting .417. He banged out 17 hits over the next 13 games and kept his batting average over the .400 barrier until June 5th, where he ended the day batting .401

On May 30th Jackie Jensen came up big for the Sox. They swept a doubleheader from the Orioles at Fenway, 7 to 6 and 16 to 5. The Sox came back from a five run deficit in the first game, tying it in the sixth inning, before Jensen slugged his fifth homer of the year to lead off the 10th inning. He then hit his sixth homer in the second game.

Ted Williams carried the Sox to a victory in Washington on June 2nd. The Sox came from behind and won the game 5 to 3 when Ted slugged a long home run, with two men on, to erase a one run deficit in the eighth inning and give the Sox the win. The Sox then lost three straight in Chicago and found themselves 10 games behind, in 5th place.

Dick Gernert had the big bat on June 10th in Kansas City. He blasted a pair of home runs and doubled to drive in six runs, pacing a 13-hit Sox attack. The Sox beat the A's, 11-4.

Jimmy Piersall was again becoming a problem and the Sox were getting fed up. He was frustrated at his team's performance. In Chicago, he dug several divots out of the infield grass in exasperation at the condition of the field and was doing a lot of blabbing on the trip as well. He got into an argument over a called first strike and got thrown out in a game in Cleveland.

The Sox offered to trade Piersall, Billy Goodman and Ted Lepcio to the Indians for Al Smith and Don Mossi. The proposed deal was significant in that the Sox still had no negro ballplayers. Getting Smith would have given the team their first one, but Hank Greenburg, the Indians GM, turned it down.

In Cleveland the Red Sox blew a 6 to 1 lead. Williams homered in the first inning with a three-run blast, but the pitchers couldn't hold the lead and the Sox lost 7-6 on June 11th.

Then on June 13th, Ted slugged out three homers in a game against the Indians. The first homer came in the first inning against Early Wynn, with two men on base, breaking a 1-1 tie. His second was a solo shot in the fifth inning on a 1-0 pitch from Wynn. The third one and 17th of the season, came in the ninth and was a long wallop that traveled 435 feet over the right field fence. It was the first time anyone had accomplished the feat two times in the same season.  Ted also had a three homer day in 1946 against the Indians. Johnny Mize hit three homers in a game six times.

On June 14th, Frank Sullivan was struck on his pitching hand by a line drive. The Sox then picked up some pitching help by trading Billy Goodman to the Orioles for Mike Fornieles. Fornieles made his first start for the Sox on June 16th. He lost a tight pitcher's duel, in Detroit, to Jim Bunning in 10 innings, 2 to 1.

After a 6-10 road trip the Sox (27-30) returned to Fenway. After losing the first game to the Indians, they won seven straight. Fornieles pitched the Sox to a 5 to 1 victory over the A's on June 22nd. He pitched a solid six-hitter and had a shutout for five innings.

Frank Malzone was playing superb defensive ball and hitting better than any other major-league third baseman. On June 6th, 13th, 14th and 18th he had three hit-games. In a doubleheader against Kansas City, on June 23rd, he homered and knocked in five runs during a 12-game hitting streak.

In a doubleheader against the first place White Sox on June 27th, Malzone had five RBIs including a two-run homer and three singles. On June 29th, he had another three-hit day and was batting .327. On July 4th, he was the first American Leaguer to reach 100 hits and named to the A.L. All Star team.

After the second three-homer game Ted Williams cooled down and went into the All Star break in a 1-16 slump. His batting average had dropped fifty points, but he still was hitting .343 with 20 homers. The press again saw this as the coming to the end of the trail, which Ted used this as motivational fodder to have a great second half.

On July 9th, the American League All Stars beat the National League, 6 to 5, in St. Louis. Williams was the starting left fielder and went hitless. Malzone came in to play third base, in relief of George Kell, and was 0-for-2.

On July 11th, Mel Parnell retired, his pitching arm never coming around since the operation he had in January.

In Detroit on July 12th, Williams bombed two homers, good for all three Red Sox runs in a 5-3 loss. The first one bounced off the top of the third deck in right field and the second was rocketed into the second deck. It gave him 440 career homers and 1000 career RBIs. Ted homered again two nights later to help Tom Brewer in his 10th win of the season.

But even with Ted hitting two more homers during a doubleheader in Cleveland on July 14th, the Sox were swept. He homered once more in Kansas City on July 16th. It tied up the game at 2-2. Jackie Jensen's two-run homer gave the Sox a 4-3 win. Three singles in three times up, were what Ted would accomplish in the Kansas City finale, a game the Sox lost 2-1.

The Sox then went to Chicago and beat the White Sox, 5-2. Ted Lepcio's three-run homer paced a 5-2 win. Ted Williams (.366 BA) slugged his 27th homer. In spite of the great road trip that Ted enjoyed, the Sox could only win five and lost six, sitting 12 1/2 games behind.

The hottest ticket of the year was for the "Jimmy Fund" game that was played on July 22nd at Fenway. It was the idea of Milwaukee Braves' owner, Lou Perini. In April, Perini, Tom Yawkey and Williams had attended a dinner to honor Yawkey as the recipient of the "Great Heart" award and the idea was hatched. Yawkey also had just become the chairman of the board of trustees of the Children's Cancer Research Foundation in July and Ted was the chairman on the Sox' "Jimmy Fund" campaign. The money from the sellout would go to the charity.

So, after spending 77 years in Boston, the Milwaukee Braves came back and one would have thought that they were the home team, based on the reaction of the fans. The game was held on the day of the Hall-of-Fame induction in Cooperstown, so no other games were scheduled. With players like Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron and Joe Adcock, who had joined Warren Spahn, the Braves were in the thick of the National League pennant chase, a race they would eventually win.

The Braves were injured but proceeded to put on one of the most devastating exhibitions of power seen all season at Fenway Park, banging out five home runs on 14 hits. Mathews went to bat fives times and hit two monster home runs into the right field bleachers. The first landed 20 rows up in the bleachers and the second was just short of the same spot. Del Crandall also homered two times. The Braves put up seven runs in the second inning and went on to beat the Sox 13-4. Spahn pitched one inning and Aaron grounded out in one plate appearance.

The Sox took three straight from the Kansas City A's and then took three of the four games with the Indians. On July 27th, Williams scored his 1600th career run. On the July 28th, he went 4-for-4 and hit his 29th homer. He finished July with a 3-for-4 night against the Tigers. He was batting .500 since the All Star break, and his average stood at .384

On August 2nd, Ted banged out his 30th homer, 400 ft into the right field bleachers and it put the Sox ahead, 4-2 against the White Sox. But Chicago rallied with two runs in the ninth and sent the game into extra innings. Two singles and an intentional pass loaded the bases for Jackie Jensen in the 10th inning. His hard smash down the third base line won the game, 5-4.

In the next game, the Sox broke a 3-3 tie with five runs in the eight inning against the White Sox. Jimmy Piersall, who beneath the radar that focused on Williams, had a 12 game hitting streak and delivered the tie-breaking RBI single. The Red Sox had concluded their homestand, winning nine of their thirteen games, but they were 13 games behind the Yankees.

The only stop on a short road trip was in Baltimore. The Sox only won one game, but in the last one on August 8th, Ted continued his batting splurge with a par of singles, that boosted his average up to .390 and putting fan interest at a peak. Boston's newspapers were out on strike at the time. so the switchboards were flooded with calls from fans who demanded to know what Williams was doing.

Ted was battling Mickey Mantle in the batting race and both were wielding hot bats and hovering around the coveted .400 bench mark. When the Yankees came to Fenway and on August 13th, Ted had a single in two at-bats, and Mantle went 3-for-3. With the 28th intentional walk issued to him by Tom Sturdivant, Ted broke the seasonal record in that category.

In the second game of the series, while Mantle blasted his 31st homer of the season, Ted got another hit, in three trips. And in the series finale, Mickey went hitless while Ted banged out a single and a double in three trips. In his last 14 at bats, Ted knocked out seven hits, increasing his average to .393 to Mickey's .380.

On August 22nd, Ted got two hits in four times up, as the Sox beat the Indians, 11-3. On August 26th, the Sox clubbed the Kansas City A's, 16-0 on four homers by Frank Malzone, Norm Zauchin, Ted Lepcio and Jimmy Piersall. Williams (.379 BA) picked up two hits in four times up. In Detroit on August 28th, Ted blasted his 450th career homer.

On August 28th, the newspapers were back in print. On that day, Ted clubbed his 33rd homer of the year, breaking up a scoreless pitching duel between Frank Sullivan and Jim Bunning. It gave the Sox a 1-0 win over the Tigers.

At the end of the month, in a tight race, 39 year-old, Williams was batting .377 with 33 homers and 25 year-old, Mantle was batting .376. with 34 homers.

Both Sammy White and Jimmy Piersall hit game-tying and game-winning homers in the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader to give the Sox and 8-to-7 come-from-behind win on September 2nd. White belted his third homer of the year into the left-centerfield nets to lead off the eight inning, to tie the score at 7-7. After a pinch-hitter grounded out, Piersall stepped to the plate and slammed his 16th homer into the bleachers to give the Sox the win, 8-7.

On September 6th, Pete Daley came through in the clutch and led the Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Orioles. He doubled home Ken Aspromonte, with two outs in the ninth inning, to produce the win. Daley came through again the next day in another game as the Sox beat the Orioles, 4-3. He smashed a two-run homer to tie the game 2-2 in the seventh. Then Frank Malzone singled in Frank Sullivan and Piersall followed Daley with base hits.

Then it all came to a sudden halt. Ted caught a chest cold that turned into pneumonia and it sidelined him for two weeks. But at the same time Mantle was out with shin splints. The newspapers reported that Ted probably would be out for the rest of the year. His replacement, Gene Stephens was hitting .350 in eight games.

All this news gave Williams enough motivation to get out of bed. On September 17th, Ted told manager, Mike Higgins that he was available to pinch hit in the game against the Athletics. In the eighth inning, with two men on base, out of the dugout came Ted to the roar of the crowd. With the Sox down 8 to 5, it was his first plate appearance in seventeen days. He promptly crushed the ball up into the right field bleachers to tie the game up, and the Sox went on to win 9 to 8.

Then the Sox were off to Yankee Stadium. In another pinch-hitting appearance, Ted homered in the ninth inning off Whitey Ford in the first game of the series, then he started the second game. He walked three times and blasted a grand slam off Bob Turley, the 15th of his career on September 21st. In the series finale, Williams walked, homered, singled and walked again.

When he homered in the fourth inning on September 22nd, Ted Williams entered the record books, tying the record for hitting four consecutive home runs in four official times at bat. (Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Ralph Kiner, Bill Nicholson and Bobby Lowe). It was a Red Sox record of his alone.

Next, on September 23rd in Washington, Ted singled, walked three times and was hit by a pitch. He had hit four home runs, two singles, nine walks and was hit by a pitch, in four official times at bat and had safely reached base sixteen times.

When he grounded out the next game, it was the first time he had made an out in a week. Then Ted slammed his 38th homer his next time up, giving him five homers in eight official at bats.

In the final game in Washington on September 25th, Ted had two singles and two walks in five trips to the plate, was batting .386 and hitting .648 since coming back on the 17th. He had batted .454 since the All Star break.

He finished the season batting .388 with 38 home runs. Mickey Mantle batted .365 with 34 homers and was voted the American League's Most Valuable Player, because he helped the Yankees win the pennant.

The AL champion Yankees scored only two more runs than the Sox (723 to 721), but finished 16 games ahead of Boston, because the Sox couldn't win the close games. And the Sox pitchers allowed 666 runs compared to 534 by the Yanks. While Jackie Jensen, Jimmy Piersall and Billy Klaus did better in banging out homers than they did in 1956, just about everyone slipped in getting base hits and RBIs.

The Red Sox drew 1,181,087 fans at home and most felt that Ted Williams was responsible for drawing a million and the Sox could take credit for the rest. Ted hit .388 and slugged .731 in 1957. In 1941, he had hit .406 and slugged .735.