ON THIS DATE (August 16, 1940)
... Jimmie Foxx banged out his 31st home run
of the season in the 10th inning of the game with Washington at
Fenway Park, to defeat the Nationals by a score of 7 to 6. The drive
into the right-field grandstand went more than 400 feet and he did
something more than win the game, for it hoisted his life time mark
for home runs to 495, topping Lou Gehrig's lifetime mark of
494.Earlier in the game, Foxx had tied Gehrig's record with a home
run drive over the left-field wall, so that now only Babe Ruth is
ahead of him in the all time home run king race with 714.
The Sox captain hit his first home run in his first at bat. He was laying for
the pitch and sent it sailing into the right-field seats and then circled the
bases to the roaring applause of 5500 fans.
Bobby Doerr also hit his 14th home run of the season, with one on, in the
third inning and then came along with a double in the ninth that put over the
tying run and sent the game into extra innings.
Rene Monteagudo started for Washington and lasted only three innings. The Sox
scoring started quickly in the first inning with one out. Doc Cramer singled and
came home on Foxx's first home run that tied Gehrig, with his 30th home run of
the season.
Another Sox run was made in the second inning on singles by Lou Finney, Doerr
and Dom DiMaggio. In the third, Finney drew a base on balls after two were out
and came home when Doerr landed his home run. Then the Red Sox lost their
momentum letting the opposition take the lead in the ninth-inning.
Washington scored a run in the third inning and got another in the sixth and
two in the seventh. Then in the ninth-inning, down 6 to 4, after Buddy Lewis had
flied to DiMaggio, Gee Walker singled, took second on Emerson Dickman's wild
throw past first and after a fly ball out, Jimmy Bloodworth hit a home run to
make the count 6 to 5, in favor of the Nats.
The Red Sox tied up the score in the ninth-inning however. Jim Tabor drew a
free pass, was sacrificed to second by Finney and scored on Bobby Doerr's double
that sent the game into overtime.
Jack Wilson came into pitch for the Red Sox and disposed of Washington easily
in the top of the 10th inning. Foxx was the first batter up in the Sox half of
the 10th and the last batter of the game. With his walkoff home run, Foxx also
became the first hitter to hit 30 or more home runs in 12 consecutive years.
