Red Sox V. Cardinals: 1946
By Joe Davis
A little history for you: It was the 1946 World Series. The spotlight was put on the two greatest hitters at the time: Ted Williams and Stan Musial. But as it turned out, neither hitter played a decisive role during this epic year.
The influential factor was St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Harry Brecheen. During the 7-game series he won 3 games. He started two and completed both. One game was a shutout. He pitched 20 inning, allowing 14 hits, one run, 5 walks and 11 strikeouts. His ERA was an outstanding 0.45.
Boston traded wins with the Cardinals throughout the series — and we all know the outcome — one we in Red Sox Nation hope not to repeat this year.
In Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero by Leigh Montville (Doubleday, 2004), Williams' journal of the series is excerpted:
Game one (Red Sox 3, Cardinals 2):
"You could have knocked the bat out of my hand with a straw when I saw the Cardinals break out their tricky shift the first time I came up. I never expected it. The Cards had said they weren’t going to try any funny defense on me. Boy, did they pull a fast one....I did get a kick out of one thing. I got a single to rightfield over the third baseman’s head. Brother, that’s one for the books.
Game two (Cardinals 3, Red Sox 0):
I’ve had a feeling Brecheen would be the toughest pitcher for us to beat. He proved it today. Brecheen isn’t the kind of a pitcher who’ll blow you out of the batter’s box. But, brother, he’s careful... he was threading needles all day. The guy looks nice to hit at, but when you try to hit, the ball just isn’t where you think it’s going to be.
Game three (Red Sox 4, Cardinals 0):
I don’t know what the reaction was among the Cardinals when I laid down that bunt today. With the wind blowing in and nobody covering third base, I thought it was the only thing I could do. If the Cardinals wish to play me that way the rest of the Series, it’s OK by me.
Game four (Cardinals 12, Red Sox 3):
Maybe this shellacking we received will spur us on. The Cardinal pitchers aren’t going to keep stopping most of us the way they have so far.
Game five (Red Sox 6, Cardinals 3):
I think we’ve got a tremendous edge on the Redbirds. They have to win two games. All we need is one...They tell me that [Enos] Slaughter’s elbow is bad. I understand he got hit just like I did when we played the All-Stars in Boston about 10 days ago. If it’s the same type of injury that mine was, I don’t think he’ll be able to play any more. Those things are sore and stiff.
Game six (Cardinals 4, Red Sox 1):
Brecheen is one of the smartest spot pitchers I’ve ever faced. What makes him so effective is you don’t know what spot he’s going to pitch to. He’s high when you think he’d be coming low. And he’s inside when you’re looking for him to be outside. He isn’t supposed to be fast, but today he threw a couple of fast ones that would shatter non-breakable glass.
Teddy Ballgame never had a Game seven journal entry. However, we know how he reacted before and after the game.
The Cardinals had scheduled a day off to sell tickets to Game 7 and Williams is described sulking on the off day: "On the off-night, a sportswriter walked past Williams’s room at the Hotel Chase. The door was partially open, and the sportswriter knocked. There was no answer. He looked into the darked room and saw Williams, sitting in silhouette by the window. He knocked again. There was no answer. He left.
‘It kind of scared me,’ the sportswriter said in this anecdote delivered in a 1952 Sport magazine article by Frank Graham. (Source: Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero bs Leigh Montville)
"I’d give anything in the world if we could win that game tomorrow," Ted Williams said to Grantland Rice, one sportswriter Ted Williams liked.
"And if you could get a couple of home runs?" Rice said.
"I wouldn’t care if I didn’t get a single, unless it could mean winning the game," Williams said. "Naturally I’d like to get four singles. Or four home runs. But if I struck out four times I’d be happy-if we could just win. Tom Yawkey (owner)... Joe Cronin (manager)... all the fellows on the ballclub...have waited so long for this. I hate like hell to think they might miss it."
The "Mad Dash" is the play that defined Game 7 and was ultimately the game-winning run for the Cardinals. In the top of the 8th inning, Dom DiMaggio tied the game 3-3 on a double. DiMaggio, the brother of Joe, pulled a muscle while getting to second. His replacement was Leon Culbetson.
If it wasn’t for DiMaggio’s injury, the Red Sox would have won. Here is the description of the Mad Dash, the play that defined the 1946 World Series:
Bob Klinger started the bottom of the 8th for the Red Sox. Klinger, who hadn’t pitched in 27 days because of a family illness, gave up a leadoff single to Enos Slaughter. Klinger got the next two batters out, Whitey Kurowski and Del Rice.
The next batter was Harry Walker. He lined a hit to left center to Leon Culberson, the man that replaced DiMaggio. Slaughter was running on the pitch, and he never stopped running. Culberson hesitated on the play as shortstop Johnny Pesky had to move from second base out to shallow center field after Slaughter was stealing the base. Culberson who did not have a strong arm relayed it into Pesky. Pesky had his back to the play, made another hesititation and threw home. Slaughter, ignoring the third base coach raced home and beat out the throw from Pesky.
The run had put the Cardinals ahead 4-3, and they went on to win the game.
"Williams was 0-for-4 in the game. He hit a fly ball to each Cardinal outfielder in his first three appearances, but the out that is remembered came in the top of the eigth. DiMaggio had doubled home two runs to tie the game at 3-3, pulling a muscle in the process. His replacement, Culberson, was on second. Brecheen, the lefthanded nemesis, was on the mound in relief. He induced Williams into one final pop-up to second baseman Red Schoendienst.
‘I had hoped my bat would do the talking for me in the Series, but it was tongue-tied by some great Cardinal pitching,’ columnist Williams said through his ghost. ‘I feel tongue-tied myself right now.’
‘Gangling Ted Williams, the batting hero of the Red Sox American League pennant campaign, was a pathetic figure,’ Hurwitz reported in his own story in the same paper. ‘Held hitless today, Williams took the defeat tragically. The boyish-looking Williams, almost on the verge of tears, sat for at least 30 minutes at high locker, looking at the floor....
‘Even as the Red Sox departed, Williams still sat there in deep meditation. Finally, he managed to kick off his shoes. Then he resumed his sitting. Every once in a while he would rub his forehead as if to sweep the depressing thoughts from his mind.’
Happy Chandler, the commissioner of baseball, offered him consolation.
‘God love you, Ted,’ Chandler said, putting a hand on Williams’s shoulder.
‘I never missed so many balls in my life,’ the slugger sadly replied."
Sadly, this is what defined Williams as a big game player. It would be his last World Series game. His over-rated team for the next 5 years was picked to win the pennant. Yet, failed miserably.
Pesky would be wrongfully blamed for the rest of his career as the man who held the ball "too long." He would be put down in the history books as one of the biggest goats in the World Series. However, at the time Williams received most of the blame from the papers, Pesky was let off easy, until Williams was gone.
Pesky was instructed by MLB earlier this season to not be allowed to sit in the dugout during the 2004 regular season and post-season. Apparently, Don Zimmer and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays filed a complaint against the 85-year-old veteran. MLB told Pesky that he could not be in the dugout during the game, however could attend batting practice and be in the clubhouse.
Johnny Pesky should not be blamed for the incident. Neither should Ted Williams. In fact, nobody should be blamed. DiMaggio injured himself while running out the game tying-double. His replacement just could not handle the ball cleanly and throw it in quick enough.
God bless Teddy Ballgame and Johnny Pesky this next week. They deserve to see the Red Sox win. Teddy-watching from heaven and Pesky-hopefully watching from Fenway.
