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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... June 15, 1967 ... Tony Conigliaro has had many big moments in his young major league career could add this game to the list. Tony belted a last-ditch walk-off two run homer, that beat the White Sox 2 to 1, in a fantastic 11th inning finish before 16,775 fans. The dramatic line drive saved the Red Sox from defeat in another bitterly contested game between the two clubs. With two outs and Joe Foy on first base, Conigliaro came up to hit against relief pitcher John Buzhardt in the bottom of the 11th inning. The White Sox had finally gone ahead 1 to 0 in their top half of the inning. The count went to three and two, when Conigliaro slammed a drive into the left-field screen that triggered a wild celebration. His Red Sox teammates poured out of the dugout to mob him at the plate. The victory went to John Wyatt, but the big performance of the night was by starting pitcher Gary Waslewski, who held the first-place White Sox scoreless for 9 2/3 innings, before leaving the game. He gave up six singles and two walks in a magnificent effort. Wyatt replaced him in the 10th inning and pitched out of a big jam. Waslewski came out throwing hard against the league leaders and looked like the kind of pitcher that the Red Sox hoped he could be. In the 10th inning he was reached for back-to-back singles by Ron Hansen and Al Weis to start off the inning. Hansen's was a bounder that found its way through the middle and Weis lofted a lazy Texas Leaguer into left-field. John Wyatt then came in to replace him and on his way off the field, Waslewski was given a standing ovation. With no one out, Wyatt put out the fire. He faced Gerry McNertney, who tried unsuccessfully to bunt. When he couldn't sacrifice the runners along, Eddie Stanky brought out pinch-hitter Pete Ward. With the count two strikes, Wyatt threw a fastball past him to get the strikeout. Finally another pinch-hitter, Dick Kenworthy came out and with the one strike on him, pinch runner Ed Stroud, who had replaced Hansen, tried to steal third and was thrown out by Russ Gibson. That started the rhubarb that ended Stanky's night. Wyatt ran the count to three and two on Kenworthy before striking him out to end the threat. But in the top of the 11th the White Sox appeared to wrap it up when they scored the first run of the game, to go ahead 1 to 0. The White Sox run came when rookie Walt Williams doubled into the left-field corner to start things off. A grounder on which George Scott made a terrific stop at first, allowed Williams to move over to third. Wyatt struck out Tommy Agee for the second out, but then Ken Berry, on a 20 game hitting streak, singled to right to score Williams with the first run of the game. With the way White Sox pitchers had contained the Red Sox hitters, a one run lead looked insurmountable. Bruce Howard started for Chicago and went seven innings. Hoyt Wilhelm held the Red Sox off in the eighth and in the ninth. Howard pitched the first seven innings and the best the Red Sox could do off him, came in the third inning, when with two out, Joe Foy slammed a hard drive that would have scored Reggie Smith from second base. However, Ken Berry streaked to his right and caught the ball about knee high on the dead run. John Buzhardt came in in the 10th, with a tremendous lifetime record against the Red Sox, to protect the 1 to 0 lead. He started brilliantly, getting Carl Yastrzemski to pop up and Scott to hit a soft liner for two quick outs. Joe Foy became the last hope and grounded a single into left field. That brought up Conigliaro and the crowd started buzzing with wild anticipation. And then, with the count at three and two, Tony slammed his fifth home run into the net for a dramatic walkoff, 2 to 1 win. |
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