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HARRY WALKER SCORES ON HIS
INSIDE THE PARK HOME RUN |
BOSTON BRAVES
...
SPAHN & SAIN and PRAY FOR RAIN ...
The Phillies
come back and win
April 29, 1948 ... A
home run by Harry Walker with two men on and two outs in the eighth
inning, wrecked the afternoon for Johnny Beazley, in his latest ever
to get back into the victory column at Braves Field. The hit by
Walker was a legitimate single, but Jim Russell played into a three
run tour of the bases. He went down on one knee to pick up the ball
in short center and it went right through him to the centerfield
fence as Ralph Caballero and Richie Ashburn led Walker over the plate
and give the Phillies a come-from-behind 4 to 2 win over the Tribe.
The official scorer ruled that the ball had taken a bad hop as it got
by Russell, but there is little question that Russell should've been
charged with an error. Beazley pitched great ball for seven innings
and for five innings he threw a no-hitter. The first hit was an infield scratch
by pitcher, Schoolboy Rowe that opened the sixth inning. The second was a rare
home run that Dick Sisler hit in the seventh. Sisler hit one that kept curving
toward foul territory in right field, and it hit the foul pole. The ball caromed
back onto the playing field, but it was a home run, Sisler's third of the
spring, tying the game at 1 to 1. Beazley was working smoothly in the eighth,
retiring the first two batters when Caballero and Ashburn both singled in
succession. Walker lined the ball to center and was the one that Russell let get
away to give the Phillies three runs in the ballgame.
Both of Boston's runs were gifts. The first was scored in the fifth inning
when Al Dark led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Beazley, took
third as Eddie Stanky grounded out, and scored on a balk by Rowe. The Braves
final run came in the eighth-inning. Danny Litwhiler batted for Beazley and got
a scratch infield single. Sibbi Sisti came in to run for him and took second
when Eddie Stanky grounded out to first. He scored when Caballero threw wild to
first on Earl Torgeson's ground ball. Another infield hit by Bob Elliott and the
Braves hopes stayed alive when Jeff Heath came to bat. On a three and one pitch
he nailed the ball at Caballero, who this time, made a great backhanded stab to
get the inning ending force play at second.
In the ninth-inning the Braves had another opportunity. Tommy Holmes and Bill
Salkeld opened with singles. The Phillies were thinking correctly that Al Dark
would attempt a sacrifice. Dark laid one down the third base line and Rowe
picked up the bunt and fired it to Bert Haas at third-base to get Holmes. Then
Frank McCormick and Stanky flied out to preserve Rowe's first win of the season.
The Braves wound up their initial homestand with a poor 3-5 record. They drew
88,283 fans in seven days, which was not bad considering the weather conditions.
The team caught the 5:10 train to New York from Back Bay Station to play the
Giants. |
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