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1960 BOSTON RED SOX
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The Red Sox made a few changes before the 1960 season. In the off-season they acquired Al Worthington from the Giants; got pitcher Tom Sturdivant from the Athletics for Pete Daley; firstbaseman Ron Jackson from the White Sox for pitcher Frank Baumann; traded Dick Gernert to the Cubs for pitchers Dave Hillman and Jim Marshall; Ray Webster to the Indians for pitcher Leo Kiely; and Al Schroll went to the Cubs for the legendary Bobby Thomson. Early in spring training Ron Jackson got injured, though it was kept quiet. Manager Billy Jurges said he was going to use Bobby Thomson at first base, declaring, Jackson had been a big disappointment, looking confused up at the plate. Jurges actually settled rather quickly on Vic Wertz instead. Dave Hillman's Red Sox career almost ended before it began. Early in the morning of March 10th, the car Marty Keough was driving reportedly hit a soft shoulder and rolled over five times before coming to a stop. They were traveling 70 mph in a 45-mph zone, and the car was demolished after skidding over 600 feet and landing on its roof. Keough was shaken up, but Hillman required seven stitches in his head and badly bruised his right shoulder. Hillman showed up later that day, his arm in a sling and returned to action in mid April. On March 16th the Red Sox announced that Sammy White had been traded to the Cleveland Indians for catcher Russ Nixon. White promptly announced his retirement from baseball, nullifying the trade, to focus on his bowling enterprise, "Sammy White’s Brighton Bowl".
Ted Williams could still hit, posting averages of .345, .356, .345, .388 and .328 for five straight years prior to the 1959 season. When he returned to Boston for the Sportsman's dinner in January, he stopped at Fenway. He wanted to redeem himself for his poor performance the season before and volunteered to take a pay cut. He signed his 1960 contract for $90K, with $60 in deferred payments. His desire was to play and reach 500 homers (he had 492). Ted reported to spring training in Scottsdale on March 1st. His neck was still bothersome and he started to fear that he may not be able to make it through the whole year. Always the fisherman, he liked to tie flies in the Red Sox clubhouse. Fans knew this and would send him feathers from all over the country. The clubhouse smelled like a chicken coop according to his teammates. Jurges was also pleased by the showings of two young infielders, Marlan Coughtry and Carl Yastrzemski. Coughtry had the added advantage of being one who played equally well at second and third bases. The problem in Coughtry advancing were the positions he played. The Sox had Frank Malzone at third base and batting champion Pete Runnels at second. After some discussion with Billy Jurges, Ted agreed to tutor the young hitters as a batting instructor also. Yaz found him difficult to follow because he was talking physics and bat speed. Yaz didn't get it, but he kept his mouth shut. Marlan Coughtry and Yaz ended up together at Minneapolis to start the season, but Coughtry struggled, hit just .163 in 15 games and was sent down to Allentown. Whatever magic Billy Jurges had when he took over for Mike Higgins, as the Red Sox manager the year before, quickly disappeared. Frank Sullivan and Tom Brewer, the anchors of the staff, were on their way out and Bill Monbouquette was the rising pitching star, while Mike Fornieles was the mainstay of the bullpen. With Sammy White holding out, Haywood Sullivan began the season sharing the catching with rookie Ed Sadowski. Sadowski was assigned the number "8", making him the last Red Sox player to wear that number before Yaz took it. The right-handed-hitting Sadowski started primarily against left-handed pitchers. Catcher Jim Pagliaroni remained the youngest player on the Red Sox’ 40-man roster. The 22-year-old reported to spring training and immediately opened a lot of eyes by slugging his long bombs.
The Sox opened the season in Washington on April 18th. With both Richard Nixon and President Eisenhower in attendance, Ted worked the count to 3-2 of Camilo Pascual in his first at bat. He crushed the next pitch into right center field, rising over the 32 ft high fence and landing 450 ft away. It tied him for fourth on the all-time home run list with Lou Gehrig. Only two other Sox batters could manage scratch singles off Pascual, who broke the Washington team strikeout record, fanning 15 batters. The Sox lost 10-1. The next day, on April 19th, in the Fenway home opener against the Yankees. Ted belted another homer into the right field grandstand, but pulled a hamstring rounding the bases and went on the DL for a month. The game was lost when Roger Maris slugged two homers, a double and a single to beat the Sox, 8 to 4. Haywood Sullivan suffered a split nail on a finger, and Don Gile was recalled from Minneapolis on April 21th. Sullivan came back quickly, but eight days later, the Sox learned that Sadowski had a fractured finger and would be out five weeks. Back in Washington on April 22nd, Frank Malzone hit a home run and Vic Wertz drilled an 11th inning homer to carry the Sox to a 5-4 win. Lou Clinton’s big-league debut was a good one to remember. He was 3-for-5. He singled and scored the tying run in the ninth. The next day, on April 23rd, Malzone hit another home run and the Sox won again, 8 to 3. While Ted rode the bench there was a lot of front office intrigue. With the Sox floundering once again, a newspaper story emerged about dissension in the clubhouse, so Billy Jurges called a team meeting in New York on April 26th. Ted loudly backed his manger but the dark cloud remained. Vic Wertz and Bobby Thomson produced back-to-back singles in the eighth inning, giving the Sox a come-from-behind, 2 to 1 victory over the Senators on April 30th.
Don Buddin's tenth inning lead-off double was followed by a throwing error by Kansas City's firstbaseman, Norm Siebern on a sac bunt by Pete Runnels. Buddin came all the way around to score and the Sox won the game at Fenway, 4 to 3 on May 3rd. The Sox were stymied by Jim Bunning for eight innings on May 6th. Then in the bottom of the ninth, down 2-0, Bobby Thomson, Gene Stephens and Lou Clinton all singled. Pete Runnels reached on a ball that bounced off the shortstop's glove and Frank Malzone blooped a ball to center to score the third run of the inning for a walk-off 3-2 win over the Tigers. On May 7th, Bill Monbouquette pitched his best game in the majors thus far, a one-hitter, against the Tigers, 5 to 0. The Sox next traded Nelson Chittum to the Dodgers for outfielder Rip Repulski. Repulski's eighth inning grandslam homer against the White Sox, on May 10th, gave the Sox a 9 to 7 victory. Vic Wertz also hit a grandslam earlier in the game. Two days later on May 12th, Pete Runnels (.426 BA) lofted a wall-ball double in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded. It gave Tom Brewer, who had allowed just two-scattered hits, a 1 to 0 victory. It was Runnels' 14th hit in his last 25 at bats. The Milwaukee Braves traded veteran Ray Boone to the Red Sox for firstbaseman Ron Jackson on May 17th. After winning 5 of the 6 games played to start the month of May and finding themselves only 1/2 game out of first place, the Red Sox proceeded to lose ten straight games. One of the main reasons the Sox were losing was their lack of hitting. During the losing streak, hitters average only six hits per game and only 2 1/2 runs. They spiraled to 6 1/2 games behind the league leaders.
On May 22nd, Ted Williams saw his first action in a month. He got two hits to boost his batting average from .154 to .250. The league batting leader, Pete Runnels, went 1 for 3 and ended the game with a .356 batting average. The Sox stopped off in Minneapolis to play an exhibition game with their AAA farm club, the Millers on May 23rd. The Sox lost 1-0, managing only two hits, both by Bobby Thomson. Yaz (.320 BA, 4 HRs), the Millers top player, had one hit in four trips. Their other top prospect, Chuck Schilling (.360 BA) went 1-for-3. The sniping kept going in the papers and finally on May 26th, Jurges called another meeting and called in the reporters. Ted was still protective of his manager and glared at the members of the press. Jurges demanded to know who was bad-mouthing him and demanded that the reporters tell him who it was. He then got lectured by a reporter, reminding him that they were not a part of the Boston Red Sox organization and owed him nothing. Through May 27th, reliever Tom Borland had appeared in seven games for a total of 13 1/3 innings with an ERA of 2.03. Pitcher Ted Bowsfield won his only game for the Sox, making his first start, 12-3, in the second game of the Memorial Day doubleheader in Baltimore on May 30th. Pete Runnels (.354 BA) collected three hits and Frank Malzone had four. Tom Brewer held the Washington Senators to four hits and one walk, coasting to a 5 to 1 triumph in Washington to finish the month. The Sox won 8 and lost 15, finding themselves in seventh place, 8 1/2 games out. At the end of the month, when catcher Ed Sadowski returned, Don Gile was optioned back to Minneapolis. The Sox next traded firstbaseman Ron Jackson to the Milwaukee Braves for Ray Boone. Then they traded Gene Stephens to Baltimore for a young black ballplayer named Willie Tasby.
The Sox then started the month winning just one game of the eleven played. That was an 8 to 2 swin in Yankee Stadium on June 4th. Pete Runnels had another three-hit game and raised his average to .365 On June 8th, Frank Malzone missed his first game since May 21, 1957 for a 475 consecutive game streak. Depressed and exhausted from the strain of the job, Billy Jurges finally left the team for a rest of undetermined length. On June 10th, the Red Sox made it official. In a statement, Sox team officials announced that Jurges was done and Mike Higgins was given his job back. Higgins' second go-round was different. This time he largely controlled the talent and seemed uninterested in making any changes and seemed to have a good relationship with all his players and the media. He also still was a close friendship with his drinking buddy, Tom Yawkey. His feelings abut having black ballplayers on the club changed also. Pumpsie Green was already an established utility player with the team and Higgins continued to use him in that role. The newly acquired, Willie Tasby became the team's starting centerfielder, and he brought back Earl Wilson from Minneapolis in July. Gene Stephens sat out several weeks early in the season because of a bone chip in his right wrist about the size of a pencil eraser, that occured when he dove for a fly ball and went undiagnosed. Stephens played through the pain, but just before the trading deadline, on June 9th, he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Willie Tasby. On the field, having lost 11 of 12 games in June and now 13 games out, the Sox finally stopped a seven-game losing streak. They beat the Chicago White Sox, 5 to 4, in the first game of a doubleheader on June 11th. Two homers by Ted Williams and Vic Wertz, along with a superb pitching performance by Bill Monbouquette, gave the Red Sox a 5 to 4 victory. Frank Sullivan pitched the Sox to a 4 to 1 victory on June 12th. Sullivan and Pumpsie Green set things up for Pete Runnels, who put the Sox out front with a fifth inning base hit. Next, pitcher Ted Bowsfield and outfielder Marty Keough were then traded to the Cleveland Indians for catcher Russ Nixon and outfielder Carroll Hardy on June 13th. As a result, catcher Jim Pagliaroni was sent to the Spokane Indians. Three consecutive multi-hit games starting on June 15th, helped Willie Tasby (7-for-13) get started with his new team.
On June 17th Ted belted his 500th homer in Cleveland. It was his a rare "inside-the-park" home run. With Tasby on first, he slammed the ball off Wynn Hawkins toward the six-foot screen at the 365 ft mark, in left-center field. Tito Francona ran back to the fence and got ready to leap, but the ball sailed five feet over his head and the Sox won, 3-1. In an interview later, Ted told reporters that he had had it and this would be his final year. Ted proceeded to go on a tear over the next few weeks, hitting for both average and power. His 501st homer came two days later and in Kansas City on June 21st, he went 3-for-4 and knocked out two homers. He hit 11 homers in the month of June, the most since he had hit 13 in June, 1950. Bill Monbouquette held the Indians to four scattered hit in Cleveland on June 19th in the first game of a doubleheader, winning 7 to 1. Tom Brewer then pitched the Sox to a 3 to 2 win in the second game. Frank Malzone, Gary Geiger and Ted all homered in the opener. Geiger had four hits in eight times up during the afternoon. On June 22nd, Lou Clinton was optioned to Minneapolis so the Red Sox could bring up pitcher Billy Muffett. The next day, on June 23rd in Kansas City, the Sox got 18 hits and crushed the A's, 13 to 4. Geiger and Russ Nixon each banged out a single, a double and a homer. Ted and Russ Nixon each homered on June 29th, to lead the Sox to a 4-2 decision on June 29th against the Tigers at Fenway. Monbouquette held the opposition to eight hits to snap a five game losing streak. The Sox overcame a five run deficit while Ted hit his 505th homer the next day, as the Sox out-lasted the Tigers, 11 to 7. It finished a month where the Red Sox won only 10 games and lost 21 games and sat in the cellar, 17 games behind.
The legendary Bobby Thomson played just 40 games with the Red Sox before being released on July 1st. On July 3rd the Sox unloaded on the Athletics at Fenway Park by a 13-2 score. After getting a hit in the first inning, in the fifth inning, Ted homered into the right field grandstand. It was his 14th of the season and 506th of his career. Willie Tasby hit a grandslam homer. In both games of the July 4th doubleheader against Baltimore, the Sox found themselves behind 6 to 0. In the first game, the Sox ended up winning 10-7, scoring five runs in the eighth inning on hits by Don Buddin, Pete Runnels and Vic Wertz to put them ahead 8 to 7. Then Gary Geiger unloaded a two-run bomb to complete the comeback. But in the second game Frank Malzone committed a double error to lose the game, 8 to 6. Bunting against Hoyt Wilhelm in the first game, a knuckleball tore the fingernail off the index finger of Dave Hillman's right hand, landing him on the DL. On July 7th, the Sox broke out of a four game losing streak, beating the Senators, 4-2, in the second game of a doubleheader. In the first game, Ted went 3-for-4. His average was the highest of the season at .347, having knocked out 21 hits in his last 53 at bats. Of his 14 homers, 12 of them came in his last 80 at-bats. It was the best power streak of his career.
The Sox went on to win their next seven games. Monbouquette shut out the Yankees, 8 to 0 on July 8th. It was only the third time the Yankees had been shut out all season and it was the first time a right-handed pitcher had beaten them in over a month. The next day, July 9th, the Sox beat the Yankees again, 6 to 5. Pitcher Tom Borland's biggest moment came when the score was 6-4, Red Sox, after eight innings. In the top of the ninth, Yogi Berra homered. Two singles followed, and the Yankees had the tying run on second base. Borland was brought in, and Mantle was up. He threw the first ball in the dirt, deliberately and Mantle swung. Then Mantle hit the next pitch, a high popup and the Sox won. Vic Wertz was the batting star, knocking in four of the six runs on three hits, with a home run. After the game, he saluted Borland. “The winning runs on with Mantle up and Borland pitched him beautifully". Borland earned three saves on the season, and was 0-4. He never pitched in the major leagues again. In the series finale on July 10th, Willie Tasby went 5-for-5 with a homer, double and three singles, good for four RBIs, and Wertz hit a grandslam homer. The Sox swept New York three games straight, by winning 9 to 4 and moved out of the American League cellar.
Ted, Bill Monbouquette, Frank Malzone and Pete Runnels were chosen for the American League All Star team. The first game was played in Kansas City on July 11th, and Monbouquette was the starting pitcher for the American League. The NL Stars beat-up Monbo. In the first inning, Ernie Banks hit a two run homer as the NL picked up three runs on three hits and Del Crandall homered off him in the second inning. Ted, playing in his 17th All Star Game, pinch hit for Monbouquette in the second inning and grounded out. Neither Malzone (0 for 3) nor Runnels (0 for 1) got a hit. Two days later, another All Star Game was played at Yankee Stadium. The National Leaguers shut out the American Leaguers, 6 to 0, on home runs by Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Stan Musial and Ken Boyer. Neither Malzone nor Runnels got a hit and Ted had a pinch-hit single.
Monbouquette redeemed himself when the Sox resumed play in Kansas City on July 15th. Monbo held the A's to seven hits and struck out nine batters, winning 2 to 1. Frank Malzone's double off the left field screen in the first inning, drove in Ted with the deciding run. On July 16th, the Sox again won when Ike Delock shut-out the A's, 1-0 in the next game. Tasby's double off the screen scored Don Buddin with the only run in the eighth inning. The sweep of the A's finished the seven-game winning streak on July 17th. Tom Brewer, hampered by a sore shoulder all season, won his sixth game and blasted a homer in the third inning. Tasby's hot bat continued to produce, with a triple and a double. He scored two runs including the game winner for the Sox, 4-2. Then the Sox came back down to earth and lost three straight in Chicago. Good pitching had carried them during the streak, but it was their lack of consistent hitting that hampered them. In the last game of the series, they had 13 hits, got 15 men on base, and scored just one run. When Mike Higgins got his job back, Pete Runnels was batting .385 and leading the league. His average had now dipped to .318 in one month, going 1-for-15. Back home the Sox beat the Indians, 6-4, on July 22nd. Ted and Vic Wertz each knocked out home runs. In a loss the next day, the star again was Tasby, homered and robbed Jim Perry of a home run, with a leaping catch over the Sox bullpen wall.
On July 24th, Bill Monbouquette won his tenth game against the Indians in the first game of a doubleheader, 10-6. The Sox also won the second game 7 to 6. But on July 27th, Gary Geiger (.301 BA), who was enjoying the best stretch of his career, suffered a collapsed right lung while at breakfast. He had hit his third homer in as many games and had an 11-game hitting streak going. It allowed Lou Clinton to be called back from Minneapolis. Tom Brewer, aided by four doubleplays, beat the White Sox, 4 to 2, on July 28th. And then the next day, Monbo shutout the Tigers, 1-0, allowing only three runners to reach second base, striking out six and walking only one on July 29th. The Sox only run came when Ted's single in the third inning scored Don Buddin. The Sox ended July on the 31st, by splitting a doubleheader with the Tigers. Wertz crashed two homers and knocked in six runs and Ted clubbed his 18th home run. Wertz was the major run producer for the Sox this season. Of his last 72 hits, he had knocked in 60 runs.
Jim Pagliaroni came back to the Red Sox when catcher Ed Sadowski was sent down at the end of the month and the Sox recalled Earl Wilson. On August 4th, Wilson pitched a six-hitter for a 9-1 win in the second game of a doubleheader against Kansas City at Fenway. Pagliaroni lashed a two-run double – his first big-league hit – against former World Series hero Don Larsen. Monbouquette earned his 12th win in the opener, 5 to 3. Vic Wertz knocked in three runs in each game. His three-run homer won the game for Monbo. The Sox headed to Detroit and on August 5th on won 4-2. Mike Fornieles retired the last nine batters he faced, for 20 consecutive batters in his last three appearances. In the fifth inning on August 6th, Jim Pagliaroni connected for his first home run in Detroit, a two-run shot to deep left field that knotted the contest in an eventual 11-9 Red Sox win. Billy Muffett batted and pitched the Sox to a 1 to 0 victory in the second game of a doubleheader in Detroit on August 7th. He held the Tigers to four scattered hits and going into the eighth inning, with no score, he got his third straight hit in the game. A moment later, Pete Runnels hit a 400 ft double to right center and Muffett scored the only run in the game. In the August 9th game in Cleveland. Vic Power hit a long drive to right field. It was hit over his head but Lou Clinton was ranging back to try to catch it when the ball hit the top of fence pipe and bounced back toward him and as he was taking a step. Clinton kicked it and it went out of the ballpark for a home run. Ted Williams had homered the inning before to tie the game, but Clinton's boot cost the Sox the game, 6 to 3.
On August 10th, in Cleveland, Ted hit his 512th career homer and later in the same game, hit his 513th, surpassing Mel Ott for third place all-time. They were two of his three hits, giving the Sox a 6 to 1 win. The next day, on August 11th, Rip Repulski, playing instead of Ted, hit a towering homer to lead the Red Sox to a 5 to 2 win. Two times Pumpsie Green walked in Baltimore on August 14th. And twice he later scored on grounders by Ted. In the meantime, Jim Pagliaroni tripled high off the wall in left and scored on Lou Clinton's sac fly. The result was a 3-2 win for the Sox. The next day the Sox were down 3-0 in Washington. On August 15th they rallied for three runs in the third inning, four in the sixth, and won the game 11 to 3. Frank Sullivan shut down the Senators for the next five innings. On August 20th, Ted Williams collected his 2000th base on balls, later finishing with his career with 2021, thirty five less than that of Babe Ruth (2056 BB). Vic Wertz was one the batting shining stars for the Sox this season. On August 25th, when the Sox beat the Indians, 10 to 7, a grandslam pinch-hit homer by Wertz was the actual game-winner. It was his ninth slam lifetime and third of the season, leaving him one shy of the seasonal record. He had knocked in 88 runs in 97 of his hits, knocking in a run every 3.81 AB. He was second in the American League RBI chase. August 28th was a great day for Mike Fornieles (2.52 ERA). In the second game of a doubleheader with Kansas City, at Fenway Park, he entered the game in the eighth inning with the score tied, 4-4. He shut the A's down for two innings and in the last of the eighth, singled home the winning run for a 5-4 victory. The Sox walked away with a doubleheader sweep of the Tigers on August 30th. Both games went to extra innings. In the first game, which the Sox won in 15 innings, Pete Runnels doubled home Frank Malzone with the walk-off game winner, 2-1. In the second game, the Sox scored the winning run in the 10th inning on a ground ball, that Tiger shortstop, Chico Fernandez, threw into the Sox dugout, letting the baserunner score from third, for a 5-4 win. Runnels had a fantastic day, also going 9-for-11 and tying Al Smith for the AL batting lead with a .324 BA. Don Buddin had his skull fractured by a Jim Bunning pitch and missed the next 17 games. After hitting .308 in Allentown, and drawing an impressive 105 walks in 434 plate appearances, Marlan Coughtry got the call up to replace Buddin.
Vic Wertz clubbed his 18th home run against Washington on September 3rd, giving him 93 RBIs on 105 hits. At Fenway Park, Wertz had 69 RBIs on only 66 hits. He trailed Roger Maris (96 RBIs) by three RBIs for the A.L. lead. On September 4th, Jim Pagliaroni accounted for four of the Sox five runs with a home run and two doubles as the Red Sox squeaked by the Senators 5-4 at Fenway. At Yankee Stadium on September 6th, Pumpsie Green led off the game by slashing what looked like a routine base hit to left, that scooted by Hector Lopez. It caromed around the short left field fence, rolling into left-center field, for an inside-the-park home run. Ted Williams also poked a homer, the 518th of his career and 26th for the season, into the short right field stands. On September 7th, in Detroit, Ted enjoyed another productive night with two hits. He doubled home two runs for the Sox, in a rally that gave them a 5-4 win. Then, in the next game, on September 8th, he doubled to right in his first at-bat, missing a homer by two feet and then homered deep into the second deck of Tiger Stadium, his next time up. He also walked and hit a line-drive single to right. His 3-for-4 gave the Sox a 6-1 win against Jim Bunning. On September 10th, Carroll Hardy produced two singles and a two-run homer helping the Sox win, 7-4, at Kansas City. Ray Boone was released by the Red Sox on September 14th after batting just .205 in 34 games. He didn’t think he could be of much value to any team with his knee pain, so he decided to retire. Against the Senators, on September 17th, Ted beat them with one swing of his bat. There was a man on base at Griffith Stadium, in the sixth inning, when Ted blasted his 520th homer over the right field wall, giving the Sox a 2-1 win. In the next game, Willie Tasby hit a homer to tie the score. Then a couple of innings later, Lou Clinton lined a single that scored two runners. It gave Bill Monbouquette his 14th win, a 3-1 decision over the Senators. Runnels went 2-for-4, lifting his league leading batting average, to .321 Carroll Hardy’s most memorable at-bat came on September 20th in Baltimore. In the top of the first inning, the Red Sox had a runner on first base and nobody out. Ted fouled a ball hard off his right ankle and had to leave the game. Hardy took his place in the batter’s box, thereby becoming the first (and only) person to ever pinch-hit for Ted Williams. The Sox returned to Fenway to face the league leaders, the New York Yankees. In the first game on September 23rd, Ted lined a pitch off the wall for a double that game the Sox a 1-0 lead, but the Sox lost 5 to 1. The second game, on September 24th, took extra innings and the Sox lost 6-5 on a home run by Mickey Mantle in the 10th. Ted went 2-for-3, with a pair of singles. The Yankees clinched the pennant after winning the final game of the series, 4 to 3 on September 25th. Ted knocked out two singles in his first two plate appearances.
As the season drew to a close, everybody was speculating on what Ted's numbers would have been had he not taken five years off for military service. The Sporting News crowned him as baseball's "Player of the Decade", an obvious lifetime achievement award, because players like Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Stan Musial also were playing. But the story of the 1960 Boston Red Sox came down to the final at bat of Ted Williams. After a stirring pre-game ceremony on September 28th, in his final at bat in the eighth inning, Ted caught hold of a Jack Fisher fastball and sent it into the Sox bullpen. He crossed the plate and ran directly into the dugout with his head down and didn't acknowledge the fans. They screamed for him to come out and take a bow, but he didn't move. Then when the inning ended, Mike Higgins made him go out and take his position in left field. As he got there, Carroll Hardy was running right behind him, trotting out to take his place. Ted turned around, saw Hardy, came back and crossed the infield for the final time, and then disappeared down the runway to the Sox clubhouse. He finished the year with a .316 BA, 29 HRs and 72 RBIs.
The Sox, without Ted, went to New York and lost the final three games of the season. But there was something to be gained - the American League Batting title. In the first game of the series, Pete Runnels had two hits in three trips to have a four-point advantage over Cleveland's Al Smith. In the second game, he had one hit in two official times up and sat out the last game, knowing he would have to go 0 for 7 (an unlikely possibility) to lose the batting championship. Runnels won the batting title (.320 BA) by five points. His batting title came with an added challenge. During the season, he was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer. But in his usual stalwart style, he played through the pain. The Red Sox (65-89) had the most defeats since their 1932 team. They lost seven of their last eight games and finished 32 games behind the Yankees. Their longest winning streak was just five games. The longest losing streak was ten games. Sox pitching (4.62 ERA), non-supported by various infielders, was their major disappointment. On the plus side was Vic Wertz. He had a great season with ten game-winning hits, 19 HRs and 103 RBIs, the fifth time he knocked in 100 RBIs in his career. He started 110 games and went 10-for-18 as a pinch hitter, with three grandslams. Willie Tasby became a regular for the Red Sox and got into 105 games, usually playing in center field alongside Ted in left and Lou Clinton played in right field. Over that stretch, Tasby hit .281 (.371 OBP), scoring 68 runs and driving in 37. He had only hit seven homers, but that still ranked him fifth on the Red Sox. Jackie Jensen’s fear of flying caused him to retire and Gary Geiger’s playing time increased, as he became the primary right fielder. This was his best season. By late July, he had played in 77 games and was hitting .302 with nine home runs and started exploiting his speed on offense, beating out 13 or 14 bunts. At the beginning Jim Pagliaroni was primarily used against left-handed pitchers, but Mike Higgins soon turned him on a regular basis. Pagliaroni finished with 19 hits in 62 at-bats (.306 BA) with nearly half the hits for extra bases.
Bill Monbouquette led the Sox pitchers with 14 wins and a 3.64 ERA. Tom Brewer and Frank Sullivan were not good enough. Brewer posted a 10-15 record with a 4.82 ERA, his worst in his major league career, while Sullivan was a dismal 6-16. Mike Fornieles had 14 saves and an American League record 70 appearances. Mike’s success in 1960 was recognized when The Sporting News made him the inaugural winner of its "Fireman of the Year" Award for the American League. An injury to Ike Delock’s elbow, which had surfaced during the 1959 season, continued into 1960 and he was sent to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for an examination, which showed muscular soreness. The diagnosis was that rest and time were the best remedies. Despite the late start to his season, in June, Delock managed to start 23 games, completing two of them, for a 9-10 record. After six relief appearances after being brought up, Billy Muffett had an ERA of 7.71 with a record of 0-1. In all, he started 14 games and relieved in nine others and was 6-4 with a 3.24 ERA. Earl Wilson appeared in 13 games and had a 3–2 record. He lowered his ERA to 4.71 and lowered his walk to strikeout ratio as well. His control at this early stage of his career was always a concern. Carl Yastrzemski ended his Minneapolis Miller's season with a .340 BA.
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