By Rogers Hornsby
EN ROUTE TO BOSTON – There can be no second-guessing on this game, except by those who thought the Red Sox were 1-5 to win the series. So far they haven’t looked like good even-money performers, especially against the type of pitching that Harry Brecheen and Howard Pollet have dished up.
It is rather interesting to observe that the Cardinals now regard Rudy York as more of a menace than Ted Williams. They’ve got Williams tied in knots.
BOSTON (AP) – Revising an earlier forecast, the Boston Weather Bureau said today that it “won’t be very good weather” for the third World Series game tomorrow between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox.
The forecaster said it would be “cloudy, rainy, windy and quite cool.” An earlier report said it might be an ideal day – “sunny and warm.”
The Pittsburgh Press (October 8, 1946)
‘The Cat’ allows 4 scattered Bingles
By Leo H. Petersen, United Press sports editor
EN ROUTE TO BOSTON (UP) – The Red Sox and the Cardinals, leaving Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis where they split the first two games, headed for Boston’s Fenway Park today for the third game of the World Series.
And there wasn’t anything but joy riding with them.
Manager Joe Cronin of the Red Sox, hoping for the best, figured that the vaunted power which his team showed as it swept to the American League pennant would assert itself again once his boys got back home.
A northeast storm with winds of 25 to 30 miles an hour and lashing rain probably will wash out tomorrow’s third game of the World Series in Boston between the Red Sox and Cardinals, the Weather Bureau predicted today, although the hurricane moving up from the South probably would not strike the Boston area.
Eddie Dyer, the boss of the Cardinals, was just as sure that his Red Birds, having proved that they belong in the same park with the Red Sox, would continue to do as well away from home as they did on their home grounds.
Dickson to oppose Ferris
Dyer nominated little Murry Dickson, a righthander with a lot of stuff, to go after that vital third game tomorrow while Cronin banked on Davie (Boo) Ferris, who won 25 games for him this season.
Dickson won the game which gave the Cards the National League pennant after a playoff with Brooklyn, beating the Dodgers with the aid of Harry (The Cat) Brecheen.
The brilliant Brecheen, southpaw, got his team back on even terms yesterday as he shut out the Cronin men on four hits, all singles, to win 3-0.
Dyer was expecting Dickson to take up where Brecheen left off.
Cards display class
The Cards may not win at Boston, but they proved to a lot of skeptics that they had a lot of class. It may not be enough to win the series, but no matter what happens from here on out they’ve let the Red Sox know that they are meeting a tough ball club.
Although he wasn’t at all unhappy, Cronin, who had cautioned from the start that the Cards were going to be rough to beat, was confident that Ferriss, one of the greatest pitchers to come up in years, would do all right before the home folks.
Under normal circumstances he would have pitched the youthful righthander yesterday, but decided he could afford to gamble since Big Tex Hughson won the opening game for him.
Proves bad gamble
The gamble turned out to be a bad one. For Mickey Harris, although he hurled good ball, lost to the curving masterpiece which Brecheen came up with.
There have been few World Series games mm which a pitcher dominated the play to the extent that Brecheen did yesterday. He used his arm to keep the Red Sox away from the plate and his bat to account for the only run he needed to win.
That came in the third inning when his single scored Del Rice who, in his first time at bat in a World Series game, had rifled a double down the left field line.
Key man in run-getting
Brecheen was a keyman in the other two runs the Cards scored in the fifth. His attempted sacrifice, after Rice again had hit – this time a single – became quite a blow.
The veteran Pinky Higgins came in fast to scoop up the bunt and fired it to second with plenty of time to catch Rice on a force. But the throw was wild and Rice wound up at third and Brecheen on second.
Terry Moore, with an infield hit, and Stan Musial on a grounder brought both men around.
Williams easy victim
Brecheen reached the heights each time he faced Ted Williams, with the Cards using a modified version of the “Boudreau Shift” against the slugging Red Sox star.
Brecheen fed him nothing but inside curve balls, most of which had Williams ducking away from the plate fearing the ball would hit him. But Harry had enough stuff on it so it would break over the plate.
Even in the ninth when Williams, trying to take advantage of the defensive position of the Cards and pull a ball to left field, laid his bat against a Brecheen curve it wound up as a foul which Shortstop Marty Marion caught in front of the third-base boxes.
George (Whitey) Kurowski, the Cardinal third baseman, had no chance to get the ball because he was playing on the right side of second base.
Figured to perfection
As it turned out, the Cards had Williams figured out to perfection. Once he lined a drive that would have been a hit in any man’s league, but there was Red Schoendienst, playing some 20 feet over to the right of his normal position, plucking it off his shoe tops for an out.
Another time Williams rifled one which Musial came up with back of first base.
By Chester L. Smith, sports editor
EN ROUTE, WORLD SERIES SPECIAL – While the World Series is being ferried overland to Boston it may be in order to ask the Secretary to kindly read the minutes of the last two meetings.
Omitting such trivia as the 3-0 Cardinal victory yesterday, which served to deadlock the struggle (a word not to be used lightly) at one game apiece, we can examine the performances of the various characters involved.
At the moment the leading man would be either Harry (The Cat) Brecheen, the trim little coupe model southpaw pitcher of the Cards, or Del Rice, who caught him.
Probably the nod should go to Brecheen. He now has one of the finest World Series performances of all time to his credit. But Rice got two redounding hits, one a double, and scored two of the three runs.
Without him The Cat might have had to sacrifice one or more of his nine lives to win.
Still, Brecheen was so magnificent that he cannot be overlooked. He gave up four hits, one a phony. He permitted only two Red Sox men o reach second. And he ruined the American Leaguers’ power line of Dom DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Rudy York and Bobby Doerr.
The four were whittled down to two hits. Mr. Splendid Splinter Williams didn’t get any. He didn’t even knock a ball out of the infield.
Fans cheer downfall
The Splinter is well on his way to winning all laurels for futility in this series, and he is beginning to show the effects of the merciless ride the St. Louis fans gave him.
When he grounded to Stan Musial his first time up, he received the Missouri version of the Bronx cheer. But it was nothing to what happened when Brecheen struck him out on three pitches two innings later.
The customers gave out with everything but their tonsils to celebrate this feat. They poured it on again when Mr. Willams lined to Red Schoendienst and ended the afternoon with a dismal foul which was bagged by Marty Marion.
Marion had to run e long distance to make the catch, for the ball came down near third base. The custodian there, Whitey Kurowski, was over on the other side of second, his station in the crazy-quilt defense the Cards used on the Sox slugger.
Williams who wears his temper on his sleeve, is plainly discomfited at the way the series has soured in his lap. He is trying to be pleasant company, but it’s an effort. Unless the gentleman gets a few base hits soon he could as well as not revert to type and become the problem child of the present tour.
It’s a state of mind
Williams, however, is only mirroring the inexplicable attack of nerves that seems to have seized the team that won its pennant in a walk.
Maybe Joe Cronin was right. Maybe the Red Sox did undergo too long a cooling-off period. But anyone who watched the first two games couldn’t have come away with any other impression than that the Cardinals were by far the better poised team.
The Redbirds have been the sharper hitters. They have been faster and more alert on the bases. Defensively they are off by themselves.
The Cards’ first run yesterday was well earned – a two-bagger by Rice and Brecheen’s single – but the Sux helped them to the two in the fifth that were welcome insurance for Brecheen. For all practical purposes they ended the game.
Rice opened the inning with his second hit, a single to left. And when Brecheen laid down the expected bunt, Pinky Higgins fired the ball so high to Doerr at second that it caromed off his glove. Rice was on third and Brecheen on second when the ordeal was over and both eventually scored.
Later in the inning Terry Moore laced a hard drive at Doerr. Robert had his eye on the runner going into the plate instead of where it should have been. It was racked up as a base hit for Moore, but might as well have been an error.
Play inexplicable
For the Red Sox to be so inept is hard to understand. Perhaps they will be themselves again when they are safely back under the erudite scrutiny of the Cabots and Lodges. If not, they are in danger. No team can play that badly and win a World Series.
The Cardinals were pleased with themselves as they rode eastward today. “We are as good as they are,” Manager Eddie Dyer chuckled. “We proved it, and I think we’re more free and easy on the field.
“I think the series will finish in St. Louis. And if we get our share of the luck we will win it.”
Cronin took time during the off day to explain the mystery of Earl Johnson’s sudden laughing spell when he went to the mound in the ninth inning of the first game.
Johnson relieved Tex Hughson after the latter had gone out for a pinch-hitter. After he finished his warmup, Cronin walked out, patted him on the back and said something that brought a loud guffaw from the pitcher.
Everyone wondered about the incident.
‘This isn’t it’
“I wanted to be sure he wasn’t nervous,” Cronin explained, “So I said to him, ‘Say, Earl, what was that battle you were in where you got all those promotions – Battle of the Bulge or something, wasn’t it?’
“That’s right, Joe. Battle of the Bulge,” Johnson answered.
“Well, I told him, ‘This isn’t it, to take it easy.’”
The Wilmington Morning Star (October 9, 1946)
With series deadlocked Manager Joe Cronin picks 25-game winner to curb National League hitters; teams evenly matched
By Gayle Talbot
BOSTON, Oct. 8 (AP) – This was moving day in the World Series, and the somewhat harassed Red Sox were glad to put St. Louis behind them and return to the friendly confines of their own Fenway Park, where the American League champs virtually were unbeatable during the regular season.
“We won 61 at home and lost only 16,” Manager Joe Cronin recalled optimistically Tuesday. “Maybe we can make it 64 and 16 the next three days.”
What the Sox pilot had in mind looked like a very large order for his young men, even in Fenway Park.
The St. Louis Cardinals as of Monday were a hot and rolling ball club, and any team that licks them three straight in their present mood will have to be good.
As the big playoff moved into its second phase with the two teams deadlocked at a victory apiece, the highly touted Bostons had yet shown nothing to justify any long odds in their favor. They just managed to scrape through in the opener at St. Louis, thanks to a bad bounce on a ground ball in the ninth inning, and the four-hit shutout that Harry Brecheen plastered on them Monday was little short of humiliating.
Dickson vs. Ferriss
Wednesday the American League clouters, having failed to generate any real power against a pair of Cardinal southpaws, will get to look at a very sharp young righthander in Murry Dickson, the same who pitched such a whale of a game in last week’s playoff against Brooklyn. So far, the Sox have looked bad against curve balls, and Dickson has a million of them, more or less.
Cronin will bank on Dave (Boo) Ferriss, the big second-year tosser who delivered 25 victories this season, to cool off the Red Birds and get his own somewhat ponderous machine rolling in its accustomed manner.
Extremely few of those who witnessed the first two games could expect the series to wind up here. The teams looked too evenly matched in good pitching for the playoff to go less than six games, and many were predicting that St. Louis fans would sit in on a final stemwinder of a seventh contest sometime before snow flies in that section.
Both clubs got superb hurling at St. Louis, the Cards from Howie Pollet and Brecheen, and the Sox from Tex Hughson and Earl Johnson in the opener, and from Mickey Harris and Joe Dobson Monday. Both Pollet and Brecheen are certain to come back before the session ends.
Tied in hits
The teams were tied in total hits for the two games, at 13 apiece, but actually the stickwork of the Cardinals have been much the more impressive up to this point. Included in their collection were four doubles and a triple, and they had pounded all their five runs across with good, solid clouts.
Ted Williams, most feared of the Sox sluggers, had punched only one single – which almost was caught – in nine tries, and he was having a very miserable time for himself. The special defense rigged up against him by Manager Eddie Dyer of the Cards appeared to be getting on the Great Man’s nerves. He looked as though he might explode like a cannon cracker at any moment.
Instead of taking advantage of the fact that the Cards were playing only one man on the left side of the infield, Shortstop Marty Marion, and trying to lay a few down toward the undefended territory around third base, Ted appeared to regard the layout as a challenge, and he was attempting to murder the ball.
Cronin expects Fenway Park’s short and inviting left field wall to act as a powerful tonic on his righthand hitters, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Pinky Higgins and York. Doerr, who always finds the short wall particularly exhibilaring, will be moved up to the fifth spot in the Sox batting order, ahead of York. Wally Moses, a left-hand batter, will succeed Tom McBride in rightfield for the games in Boston.
Against Ferris, a righthander, the Cards will go back to their first game lineup, with Joe Garagiola behind the plate and Harry Walker in left field. That gives the Birds five lefthand batters.
Ben McDonald’s 1:25 p.m. Star-News Round-the-Town Reporter radio broadcast will be heard at 12:55 p.m. today and every day the World Series games are played in Boston.
The 6:25 p.m. broadcast will continue at that time as usual.
The Evening Star (October 9, 1946)
By Jack Hand, Associated Press sports writer
BOSTON (AP) – Ted Williams’ failure to foil the “Dyer shift” with a third-base bunt has put the Red Sox slugger on the baseball hot seat today as Boston prepares for its first World Series game since 1918 against the Cardinals.
All even in their first two games at Sportsman’s Park, the American League’s runaway champs open at home this afternoon, weather permitting, with their chief long-distance power threat upset by the Cards’ infield alignment.
Big Ted, the slim beanpole who missed the batting and home run titles in his own league, continues to challenge the solid right field defense.
Dyer admits his fears
Manager Eddie Dyer of St. Louis has tacitly admitted his fear of Williams’ power by changing Third Baseman Whitey Kurowski into a second-sacker every time Ted comes to bat, moving Second Baseman Red Schoendienst to a normal first base position and placing Stan Musial on the right field foul line.
The outfield also pulls sharply to fight field, although unlike Lou Boudreau’s “Stop Williams” defense, Dyer plays his leftfielder fairly deep in a near-normal position. Third base is wide open and the left side of the infield is left entirely in the hands of Marty Marion, “Mr. Shortstop.”
Ted said he tried to dump one down toward third in Monday’s game and attempted to hit to left, but was unable to carry out his plan because of Harry Brecheen’s inside pitching.
Will have Ted pressing
The Cards figure that every time Williams does try to hit to left instead of doing what comes naturally, they will have him pressing so hard he won’t be of much use to the Sox.
Ticket quotations by scalpers ranged from $75 to $100 per pair and there was the usual early bleacher line, equipped with folding chairs and blankets, shivering through an all-night vigil for first chance on the few thousand “rush” seats.
Back home at Fenway, where they had won 61 and lost only 16 in breezing to the pennant by 12 games, the Sox were confident they would be able to uphold the proud Boston tradition of never losing a series. Of six flag winners, five wound up as world champions and the other didn’t have a chance since there was no series in 1904.
Ferriss set for debut
Dave (Boo) Ferriss, the terrific 25-game-winning sophomore sensation, was set to make his series debut opposing Murry Dickson of the Cards, a pair of righthanders in a series that had been dominated by southpaws in its early stages. It was surprising to many that Manager Joe Cronin had held out his top winner as long as the third game.
Dickson throws a little of everything in the pitching book. His fast one, backed by good control, is his ace.
Fenway’s beckoning left-field wall 315 feet away is expected to restore the home run to the Red Sox attack, particularly as a target for big Rudy York, whose 10th inning smash broke up the opener. However, it also should be a help to Kurowski of the Cards.
By Francis E. Stann, Star staff correspondent
BOSTON – Judging by the amount of newspaper space allotted, especially in Boston, New York and St. Louis, a World Series between the Red Sox and Cardinals is second in importance these days only to one other sports contest – Ted Williams vs. the speculating press.
Williams is going to be sold. He is going to be traded to New York for Joe DiMaggio. He doesn’t speak to any of the other Red Sox, and vice versa. Owner Tom Yawkey is sore at him because, among other things, Williams recently refused to dine with his boss and meet Yawkey’s friends. Yawkey definitely will not trade Williams for any two players in the American League. All this and more – in big black headlines.
I flew up from St. Louis yesterday in the company of a fellow who undoubtedly will have a great deal to do with Williams and his future from now on. His name is Freddie Corcoran, heretofore best known as boss man of the professional golfers. Freddie, a personable Irishman from Boston, now is Williams’ manager, a job, he admits, which is pretty close to being a full-time chore.
“Especially at this time,” sighed Mr. Corcoran. “That kid has a positive knack for getting into situations, shall we call them.”
Corcoran calls Ted modern day Ruth
“All I can say about this talk of trading or selling Williams is that I, personally, wouldn’t mind seeing him wind up with the Yankees,” continued Corcoran. “He’s told reporters that he prefers Detroit and that’s true – right now, that is.
“Williams blows hot and cold on ball parks. At the present time he doesn’t like to hit in Yankee Stadium. He’s got it into his head that he can hit better in Detroit. But that mood won’t necessarily last. For a long time he was rooting for Brooklyn to win the National League pennant because he was convinced that he could bat better in the World Series in the Dodgers’ park. Then suddenly he changed his mind and began to pull for the Cardinals.
“If he’s traded to the Yankees I think he’ll warm up to the idea of hitting in the big stadium. And I think he’ll do well in New York. He isn’t appreciated in Boston, but the fans in New York would go wild about the kid. After all, he’s the nearest thing baseball’s had since Ruth.”
Corcoran, who handles Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, among other golfers, thinks Williams’ possibilities are almost unlimited. “I thought so from the beginning and still do,” he said.
“Ted is a very intelligent fellow,” added Corcoran. “If he has a major fault, it is talking sometimes without thinking. It’s made him unpopular with other players, perhaps, but you can’t overlook the fact that he’s terrific with that bat and the best drawing card in baseball. He’s writing a book and endorsing products and he’ll probably gross $40,000 over and above his salary this year.
Freddie may talk him into bunting
If Williams suddenly swallows his pride and bunts down the third base line against the Cardinals’ “Williams shift” you probably can trace the whole business to Corcoran. He was talking about such a possibility all the way from St. Louis to Boston. “It would make the Cards junk that screwy defense, wouldn’t it?” asked Corcoran. And wouldn’t it show the fans that Williams is a team player, too?”
The golf maestro didn’t want an answer, didn’t need one.
BOSTON (AP) – The World Series baseball classic, which down through the years has had its share of “ugly ducklings” who came out of the shadows of obscurity to steal the thunder from the more publicized stars, may produce another this year in Del Rice, third-string catcher of the Cardinals.
Scarcely noted amidst such satellites as Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Rudy York, Whitey Kurowski, Bobby Doerr and Marty Marion, the slender 23-year-old native of Portsmouth, Ohio, who only two weeks ago was in Manager Eddie Dyer’s doghouse, teamed up with Pitcher Harry (The Oat) Brecheen to make the second game of the series a two-man show.
Besides handling a perfect game for Brecheen and calling for pitches which set the mighty Williams down four times without a safety, once via the strikeout route, Rice batted 1,000, with a lusty double off the left-field wall, a single and a walk, scored two runs and set up the third in the Cards’ 3-0 victory.
Hadn’t caught since September 21
Rice hadn’t caught an inning since September 21, when he had the misfortune to let a third strike against Bill Nicholson of Chicago get away from him, then threw wild to first, which led to a Cub run in one of the numerous crucial games the Cards participated in. Luckily the Cards came back to win, 2-1, but Dyer, whether by coincidence or design, never used Rice again during the regular season.
It was only because Brecheen preferred Rice as his battery mate that the sincere, mild-mannered youngster, who had expected to watch the series from a nice, hard seat on the bench, got his chance at all. The fact that Mickey Harris, a southpaw, was pitching for the Red Sox also had something to do with the decision.
Rice had worked exclusively with the Cat during the regular campaign, and only when the opposition was pitching lefthanded. He got into 55 games, but most of them were in the early part of the season before the arrival of Garagiola and Kluttz. He batted .273.
“Although I had worked with Brecheen all year,” confided Rice, “I did not expect to see any action in the series. I was the most surprised guy in St. Louis when Dyer, on the morning of the game, told me I was to catch. I’m glad I vindicated myself.”
Pro basketball player
Rice, a professional basketball player of note during the winter, plans to forego cage activities this year and have an operation performed on his feet. Three winters as a forward on the Rochester cage team, champions of the National Basketball League last season, has developed three massive callouses on the sole of each foot and has retarded his speed on the diamond.
Who knows but what Rice, given another catching assignment during the series, may have his name linked with such “ugly ducklings” as George Rohe of the 1906 Chicago White Sox, Greasy Neale of the 1919 Cincinnati Reds, Johnny Rawlings of the 1921 New York Giants and Jake Powell of the 1937 New York Yankees as players who went into baseball’s greatest event as comparative unknowns only to emerge in heroes’ garb.
BOSTON (AP) – Approximately 1,500 hardy fans, including many fur-coated women, established a beachhead outside Fenway Park during the chilly night intent on being in the first wave to acquire “rush” bleacher seats for the third World Series game.
Grover Cleveland Gilmore, a Brookline butcher with all the time in the world on his hands, still held the coveted first spot. He acquired the position late Monday night and was still going strong.
He was fortified with a radio presented by a kindly woman, a couple of quarts of port wine from a solicitous dealer and other gifts to make his long vigil more comfortable. His wife was carrying his meals.
The Red Sox management expected that the line might reach a total of 8,500, the number of tickets available for “rush” bleacherites.
The blare of radio music echoed through Lansdowne Street, near the bleacher office, while stations were providing entertainment. It ranged from classical to jazz.
Hundreds, it seemed, had brought along their portable radios to supply programs for themselves and friends before the Red Sox and the Cardinals lined up for Boston’s first World Series game in 28 years.
Like Gilmore, many had brought along beach chairs, blankets, comforters and other equipment designed to assure a painless night.
Three youths set up a massive cardboard box in the street, improved a door, tucked themselves in blankets and went sound asleep. Others just wrapped themselves in covers and, with the Fenway fence as a backrest, took catnaps.
Temperatures hovered in the 40s and a chilly breeze blew throughout the night, but few, if any, showed any indications of giving up their places in the long and rapidly expanding line as dawn broke.
By Ted Williams
BOSTON – So far this has been a light-hitting World Series, but before it’s all over I expect somebody to bust loose. I’m not surprised that the pitchers have had the upper hand, because usually, in a series, it takes a game or two for the hitters to get used the pitchers.
I had the feeling that this not only would tight series that most of the games would be low-scoring affairs.
Going into a series you hear a lot about the various pitchers on the opposition side and how they work on hitters. We’ve been told that certain pitchers would never make a certain pitch to a certain hitter. The next thing you know the certain hitter is getting the certain pitch he isn’t supposed to and has two strikes on him.
Well, right now the pitchers have the advantage over the batters. And in a short series like this, the batters may have a tough time trying to catch up with the pitchers – but I believe they will soon.
They say that big crowds in the bleachers affects the hitters’ vision, but as far as my own experiences are concerned, it hasn’t had a thing to do with my failure to get more than one hit.
By Henry McLemore
It was nearly a week ago that Brooklyn was beaten by the St. Louis Cardinals and deprived of the right to play in the World Series against Boston.
If there’s such a thing as timeliness, I shouldn’t be writing about Brooklyn, but I must.
Brooklyn is Brooklyn. Fifteen thousand jokes have been told about Brooklyn baseball fans. The Brooklyn baseball fan is a subject tor laughter all over the world. One would think that the Brooklyn baseball fan was completely exaggerated, and that there was no such thing as a man or a woman who would shoot you for a base hit, cut your throat for a double, and draw and quarter you for a triple inside the park.
For 15 years – the 15 years I was a sports writer – I was convinced that the Brooklyn fan, with his complete madness, lived only in the imagination of such baseball writers as Gary Schumacker, Tom Meany, Tommy Holmes, Harold Burr and a half dozen others. I was wrong. I want to tell you, with no embellishments whatsoever, of a Brooklyn fan whom I met after the Cardinals had beaten the Bums in the second play-off game.
Cabbie can’t take it
He was a cab driver. I flagged him down to take me from Ebbets Field to Manhattan. When I got in the cab, I told him where I wanted to go.
“I won’t take you there,” he said.
“Why?” I asked. “I am 52 years old,” he said, “and I can’t stand to drive in New York traffic, even when I feel good. And I feel awful right now.”
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
“The Bums blew it,” he said. “It’s all right for young kids, and guys out of the Army to drive hacks in New York, but I can’t stand it anymore. Lissen. I’m supposed to go home at 6 o’clock, but I ain’t goin’. Know why? My kids and the neighbors’ kids will all be sitting on the front porch crying. Lissen, my 9-year-old son came up to me this morning and said, ‘Poppa, I ain’t goin’ to play hooky from school today.’
“You know why he didn’t mind going to school? Every grammar school in Brooklyn dismissed classes when the game started and had radios in the halls and the rooms so the kids could listen to the Hums play the Cards. Lissen. I had 50 bucks on the Bums today. I knew St. Louis was the better ball club, but what’s your head got to do with your heart? I could have bet on the Cards, and I thought they were going to win, but I ain’t going back to my house as no traitor. If my kid ever found out that I bet against the Bums, and on St. Louis, he’d leave home. You know, it’s good for a kid to feel that way. Keeps him out of trouble. He’d rather sit by the radio and listen to the Bums than raise hell.”
Scorns New York
The taxi driver took me to the Brooklyn Bridge and let me out. “I want no part of that New York,” he said.
Yes, the Brooklyn fan exists. And if you’ll allow me one slightly serious moment, I would like to brag about my country.
In the stands at Ebbets Field, when the Cards beat the Bums and broke the hearts of all Brooklyn, were thirty-five thousand or so Americans. My seat was next to a Greek, and all around me were people who had come from all over the world to become Americans. Their team was beaten. They lost their money, and yet you know who got the biggest hand of applause all day? Murry Dickson, the St. Louis pitcher who broke the Brooklyn heart, and cost the Brooklyn dough.
When I walked down the ramp, leaving Ebbets Field, I was in close company with native-born Americans, Slavs, Negroes, Jews. Italians, and all the other races of the world, and we were all laughing, and we were all happy. We had seen a good show, with the better guy winning. No gripes, no pop bottles thrown, no boos and no hisses.
I said to myself that this is a mighty nice country, and it’s mighty nice to be a part of it.
BOSTON (AP) – Harry Brecheen, who riveted down his own claim to left-handed pitching fame when he brought the Cardinals back into World Series contention, today doffed his hat to Hal Newhouser of Detroit as the “outstanding” southpaw in baseball.
Looking over the modem left-handed field, “The Cat” modestly had this to say: “You can’t take those victories away from Newhouser. He’s outstanding today. He even looked great back in the days when he was coming up at Beaumont, Texas.”
Brecheen is of the opinion that shifting lineups around, depending on whether the pitcher is right- or left-handed, is outmoded. Most baseball men feel that a left-handed hitter is not so effective against a left-handed pitcher, and a right-handed batter against a righthander.
“It never seems to make much difference to me,” said Brecheen, but he tamed left-handed hitter Ted Williams so effectively that there might seem to be more to the theory than he would admit.
BOSTON (AP) – There’s a World Series ticket awaiting a young man with a broken nose.
Gov. Horace A. Hildreth of Maine, on hearing of the plight of Clarence E. Forest, 20, of West Paris, Maine, who lost two series tickets and $185 to three thugs, offered a gubernatorial ducat to the youth.
Forest, the governor said, is to call at Boston’s Somerset Hotel and identify himself. “The broken nose might help in the identity,” said the governor.
Wednesday, October 9, 1946, 1:30 p.m. ET
Fenway Park, Boston
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Red Sox (2-1) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| St. Louis Cardinals (1-2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| BOSTON RED SOX (AL): | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hitters | AB | R | H | PO | A | E | AVG |
| Moses, RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Pesky, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .154 |
| DiMaggio, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .308 |
| Williams, LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .200 |
| York, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | .300 |
| Doerr, 2B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .333 |
| Higgins, 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .222 |
| Wagner, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Ferriss, P | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 32 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 15 | 0 | .250 |
| Batting | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2B | D. DiMaggio (1, off Dickson); B. Doerr (1, off Wilks) | |
| HR | R. York (2, off Dickson, 1st inn, 2 on, 2 outs to Deep LF) | |
| SH | H. Wagner (1, off Dickson) | |
| IBB | T. Williams (1, by Dickson) | |
| TB | R. York 5; B. Doerr 3; J. Pesky 2; D. DiMaggio 2; T. Williams | |
| RBI | R. York 3 (4) | |
| 2-Out RBI | R. York 3 | |
| With RISP | 1 for 210 | |
| Team LOB | 8 | |
| Fielding | ||
| DP | 2. D. DiMaggio-J. Pesky; J. Pesky-B-Doerr-R. York | |
| Outfield Assists | D. DiMaggio (Dickson at 2nd base) |
| ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (NL): | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hitters | AB | R | H | PO | A | E | AVG | |
| Schoendienst, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .167 | |
| Moore, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .091 | |
| Musial, 1B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | .167 | |
| Slaughter, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .167 | |
| Kurowski, 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .200 | |
| Garagiola, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .286 | |
| Walker, LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .400 | |
| Marion, SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .100 | |
| Dickson, P | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .500 | |
| Sisler, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| Wilks, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 30 | 0 | 6 | 24 | 10 | 1 | .200 |
| Batting | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2B | M. Dickson (1, off Ferriss) | |
| 3B | S. Musial (1, off Ferriss) | |
| TB | S. Musial 3; M. Dickson 2; H. Walker; J. Garagiola; M. Marion; E. Slaughter | |
| GIDP | W. Kurowski (1) | |
| With RISP | 0 for 2 | |
| Team LOB | 4 | |
| Fielding | ||
| PB | J. Garagiola (1) | |
| E | R. Schoendienst (1) | |
| Baserunning | ||
| SB | S. Musial (1, 2nd base off Ferriss/Wagner) | |
| Pickoffs | S. Musial (2nd base by Dave Ferriss) |
Boston Red Sox
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferriss, W (1-0) | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dobson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
St. Louis Cardinals
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dickson, L (0-1) | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3.86 |
| Team Totals | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3.38 |
Balks: None
WP: None
HBP: None
IBB: M. Dickson (1; T. Williams)
Pickoffs: D. Ferriss (1; S. Musial, 2nd base)
Umpires: HP - Barlick, 1B - Berry, 2B - Ballanfant, 3B - Hubbard
Time: 1:54
Attendance: 34,500
The Pittsburgh Press (October 9, 1946)
Ferriss muzzles St. Louis batters
BOSTON (UP) – First Baseman Rudy York’s home run which drove in three scores in the first inning was the big blow today as the Boston Red Sox won a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the third game of the World Series here.
The Sox scored again in the eighth when York romped home from third after Schoendienst fumbled Wagner’s grounder.
Dave “Boo” Ferriss was the winning pitcher, Murry Dickson the losing hurler.
The victory today gave the Red Sox a two-to-one edge in games for the series. The fourth game is scheduled here tomorrow, weather permitting.
York’s four-tripper, scoring Pesky and Williams ahead of him, decided today’s game just as Rudy’s 10th inning homer last Sunday in St. Louis won the series opener for Boston, 3-2.
The play by play:
FIRST INNING
CARDS: Schoendienst grounded out. Ferris to York. Moore was out. Doerr to York. Musial walked. Musial stole second. Musial was trapped off second, Ferris to Higgins.
RED SOX: Moses flied to Walker. Pesky singled to left. DiMaggio grounded out. Musial unassisted. Pesky going to second. Williams was walked intentionally. With the count 3 and 2, York hit a home run into the screen on top of the left field wall scoring behind Pesky and Williams. Doerr struck out. Three runs, two hits, no errors, none left.
SECOND INNING
CARDS: Slaughter grounded out. Pesky to York. Kurowski was out. Doerr to York. Garagiola bounded out to York, unassisted.
RED SOX: Higgins walked. He went to ground on a passed ball. H. Wagner sacrificed Musial to Schoendienst who covered first. Higgins going to third. Ferriss struck out. Moses grounded out. Schoendienst to Musial. No runs, no hits, no errors, one left.
THIRD INNING
CARDS: Walker flied to Moses. Marion beat out a hit to deep short. Dickson flied to DiMaggio. Schoendienst flied to Moses. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.
RED SOX: Pesky lined to Slaughter. DiMaggio grounded out. Marion to Musial. With Williams at bat, the Cardinal infield shifted to the right. Williams upset the strategy by bunting safely down the third base line. York forced Williams. Marion to Schoendienst. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.
FOURTH INNING
CARDS: Moore was out. Doerr to York. Musial also grounded to Doerr. Slaughter flied to H. Wagner.
RED SOX: Doerr singled to right. Dickson tossed out Higgins. Doerr going to second. H. Wagner popped to Schoendienst. Ferriss flied to Slaughter. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.
FIFTH INNING
CARDS: Kurowski flied to Williams. Garagiola singled to right. Walker flied to Williams. Doerr threw out Marion. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.
RED SOX: Moses fanned but had to be thrown out by Garagiola. Pesky was thrown out by Dickson, DiMaggio doubled down the third base line. When Williams came to the plate this time, the Card infield did not shift to the right. Williams was called out on strikes. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.
SIXTH INNING
CARDS: Dickson doubled to left. Schoendienst flied to DiMaggio and Dickson was doubled off second. DiMaggio to Pesky. Moore struck out. No runs, one hit, no errors, none left.
RED SOX: York grounded out. Marion to Musial. Doerr popped to Marion. Higgins popped to Kurowski.
SEVENTH INNING
CARDS: Doerr threw out Musial. Slaughter singled to right. Kurowski hit into a double play. Pesky to Doerr to York. No runs, one hit, no errors, none left.
RED SOX: H. Wagner flied to Moore. Ferris flied to Walker. Moses walked. On the hit and run, Pesky singled to right, Moses going to third. DiMaggio flied to Slaughter. No runs, one hit, no errors, two left.
EIGHTH INNING
CARDS: Ferris tossed out Garagiola. Walker singled to right. Marion flied to DiMaggio. Dick Sisler, batting for Dickson, forced Walker. Pesky to Doerr. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.
RED SOX: Wilks went to the mound for St. Louis. With Williams up, the Card infield shifted to the right. Williams flied to Slaughter. York singled to left. Doerr doubled to left-center, sending York to third. Wilks threw out Higgins, the runners holding their bases. H. Wagner was safe at first when Schoendienst fumbled his grounder, York scoring and Doerr taking third. Ferriss forced Wagner. Schoendienst to Marion. One run, two hits, one error.
NINTH INNING
CARDS: Doerr threw out Schoendienst. Moore flied to DiMaggio. Musial tripled to right-center. Slaughter struck out. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.
Sox hope to regain their batting eyes against righthander
By Leo H. Petersen, United Press sports editor
BOSTON (UP) – The Boston Red Sox, coming back to their home park, sent Dave (Boo) Ferriss against Murry Dickson and the St. Louis Cardinals in the third game of the World Series today. The clubs started today’s game tied at one victory apiece.
Ferriss, a 25-game winner in his second season in the majors – he won 20 in his first – was out to give the Red Sox the vital third game in this best-four-out-of-seven series.
Red Sox hopeful
Here where they displayed most of their power this year, the Red Sox were hoping to regain the batting form which deserted them in St. Louis, even though they won one of the two games played there. They believed it would be different today, because for the first time in the series they were facing righthanded pitching, which all season has been to their liking.
Dickson, a 15-game winner, including the second playoff game against the Dodgers which gave the Cards the National League Pennant, hasn’t as much stuff as Howie Pollet or Harry (The Cat) Brecheen, the southpaw aces who pitched the first two games for the Red Birds. But he has excellent control and usually is able to put the ball where he wants it.
Too cold for baseball
Manager Eddie Dyer of St. Louis was sure that accuracy would pay off today.
It was too cold for baseball, with the temperature at 50 and the sky partly cloudy, when the Red Sox, dressed in clean white uniforms with red and white stockings, began their pre-game batting drill.
The bleachers were nearly filled an hour before game time, but the customers who were lucky enough to have reserved seats waited until the last minute to get to the park.
Scalpers reap harvest
Scalpers were getting as high as $60 for reserved seats and the general admission bleacher seats, which had gone on sale at 9 a.m., at $1.20 on a first-come, first-served basis, were being resold at $10 each.
In contrast to St. Louis, where the throng that jammed Sportsman’s Park to capacity sat in shirt sleeves, the fans today were huddled in topcoats.
As the Red Sox went through their hitting drill, the Cardinals began limbering up in front of their dugout on the third base side of Fenway Park, which, like Sportsman’s Park, holds only 36,000, including standees.
Dean shows ‘em
Dizzy Dean, a Cardinal pitching ace of bygone days, wearing a ten-gallon hat, joined the Cards in their warm-up, and let go with some imitations of the high, hard ones that made major league history.
The Red Sox looked sharp in their hitting workout and Ted Williams drove two balls into the right field bleachers.
Williams said his elbow, which he injured in the “watching, waiting series” between the Red Sox and an American League All-Star team while the Cards and Dodgers were playing off for the National League pennant, was feeling a “lot better” than it did at St. Louis. He was able to get only one hit – an unimportant single – in the first two games.
Hughson next
Red Sox Manager Joe Cronin said he would call on Tex Hughson, who with the aid of Earl Johnson set back the Cards in the opener, for the fourth game tomorrow.
Dyer said he “probably would go with George Munger, but his selection was subject to change. The chances were that he would come back with Pollet should Dickson lose today.
Cronin, leaning against a pole in the dugout as the Bosox warmed up, seemed a bit tense.
Friends crowded around the dugout to talk to the husky Bosox manager and he told them that his young son jumped on his bed this morning and said: “Wake up, daddy; today’s the day of the World Serious.”
Dyer at ease
“He’s telling it to me serious,” Joe said.
Dyer, when he came out on the flag-bedecked field, was smiling and appeared completely at ease.
“Everybody’s in fine shape,” he said. “I think we’ll give a good account of ourselves.
Cards drive them out
The Cards also looked sharp in their batting drill, with Stan Musial, Country Slaughter and George Kurowski, the big guns in the St. Louis attack, hitting sharp line drives.
With Dickson, the first righthander the Sox have faced in this series, pitching, Cronin called on Wally Moses, a lefthander, to replace Tom McBride, who swings from the right side of the plate. Moses, playing right field, will lead off the Boston batting order.
Dyer said his lineup would be the same that he used against Hughson Sunday, with Harry Walker playing left field and Joe Garagiola catching. That gave him all of the left-handed hitting power he could muster and he was sure that it would be enough.
By Chester L. Smith, sports editor
BOSTON – Notes copied from a World Series reporter’s cuff:
The hurricane that is blowing north in this direction could become a foul wind for the Red Sox. All it has to do is send enough rain to Fenway Park to postpone one of the next three games scheduled there.
In that event, Howie Pollett, who pitched well enough to win the first game for the Cardinals, but lost it, and Harry Brecheen, who shut out the Sox on four hits the second day, would have an additional 24 hours rest and be ready to come back with a rush.
Southpaw pitching has been poison to the American Leaguers so far. If Pollett and Brecheen can come anywhere near producing carbon copies of their first performances, the Sox, brother, are in trouble.
The intermission necessary to transfer the series from St. Louis was all in the Cards’ favor. If Eddie Dyer is willing, and his aching back permits, Pollett can take over the mound again tomorrow. He will have had three days to relax.
Brecheen could then come in on Friday. But it scarcely needs to be pointed out how the Red Birds would appreciate a rainstorm and an extra 24-hour spell of idleness.
The Red Sox, deeper in pitching talent, would like to think Pollett and Brecheen will be forced to hurry back to rescue the Cardinals before their normal turns come around but they may be disappointed.
Cardinals’ luck
The Cardinals’ luck against Ted Williams has been phenomenal up to this point.
The Socking Splinter appeared at bat nine times in the first two games. He has a single and two walks on the credit side. But on no less than three occasions the Birds’ blanket defense to the right side was responsible for stealing base hits away from Master Ted.
Twice he drove the ball to Red Schoendienst. who stands about 20 feet from first, and deep. A third smash bounded briskly to Stan Musial, stationed almost directly on the bag.
Fortunately for the Cards, Williams has yet to come to the plate with a runner on second. What Dyer’s strategy will be then remains to be seen. It is obvious he won’t be able to allow third base to remain unprotected. The best thought on the subject suggests that Whitey Kurowski will stay at third, shifting as far to his left as possible, with Marion moving over to the right of second.
Buc setup discussed
The Pirates and their new setup are a popular topic wherever the baseball clan gathers to while away the hours between games.
President Frank McKinney, who picked up the series here, must be pleased if he has heard the talk concerning his selection of Billy Herman as Frank Frisch’s successor. It is overwhelmingly complimentary. No man could have been picked out of the ranks who has more potential managerial ability if the word passed across the press room tables is to be taken at its face value.
President McKinney is expected to expose a deal with the Dodgers shortly. Early reports that it would involve Elbie Fletcher for Augie Galan and Pitcher Joe Hatten is discounted in most circles. Brooklyn doesn’t want to give up Hatten, who was their best pitcher in the stretch – not even to get Fletcher, whom they need.
A Flatbush source hints the Corsairs might talk Leo Durocher out of Vic Lombardi, the tiny southpaw. But not Hatten. At least that’s the sentiment as of now.
There is also a complete renovation of the Pittsburgh farm chain and scouting system in the offing. Field Director Ray L. Kennedy is on his way to the coast to work out a new deal there. Within the next month or six weeks the revamped chain and the corps of bush-beaters will be ready for publication.
Story on Herman
There is a man at the series who recalls seeing Billy Herman make five errors one day and all but booed from the ball park.
It was at Dayton, in a game against Fort Wayne, in 1929. Herman, just breaking in, collected an assortment of fumbles and wild throws that had the fans screaming for his scalp. But he stuck it out to the finish.
The late Cap Neal of Louisville, Kentucky, regarded as being one of the ablest judges of ball players, was a spectator. “Don’t give up on the boy because he blew a few today.” Neal cautioned the Dayton owners. “He’s a natural, some day you’ll be reading about him in the big leagues.”
View first series in 28 years
BOSTON (UP) – Patient Boston baseball fans, who have waited 28 years to see a world series game, today were ready to enjoy their day.
Waiting for the series has come naturally for the Boston fans who have gone longer without seeing a series game than the fans in any other major league city.
But now it had come and the feeling was rather general that “Joe Cronin and his boys will take ‘em.”
Maybe it was because Dave (Boo) Ferriss, who scares batters with more than his nickname, was nominated as today’s starting pitcher.
Rely on Ferriss
Ferriss, Boston’s slingin’ sophomore, won 25 games and lost six during the regular season. And what Boston fans can’t forget is the fact that he won 13 games at home this year without a single defeat.
Downtown Boston oddsmakers viewed the situation this way:
Bettors who like the Red Sox – as who doesn’t – can stake $2 and win $3 if the Red Sox win the next three games. The odds against the Cardinals taking the next three games are 1 to 5. Which means that a bettor, who likes the Cards, can risk a dollar and win $5 if the Cards come through for him in the next three games.
Bosox favored today
Odds on today’s game were 7 to 5 in favor of Boston, a surprisingly short price in view of the fact that the Red Sox rarely lost a game in Fenway Park this season.
All of the hotels are bedecked with the bunting which is reserved for big time conventions. The proprietors insisted that they really meant it when they inserted the world “Welcome” in the red, white and blue streamers.
Visiting fans luckless
But the out-of-town fan without a reservation couldn’t be convinced. Last night hundreds were turned away by the hour because of the accommodations jam. The New Haven Railroad reported that its trains back to New York were filled with persons who had tried to land rooms in hotels and couldn’t make it.
Some of them even had tickets to today’s game. They said they would be back on the first train out from New York this morning.
BOSTON (UP) - Although a threatened rain failed to materialize today, the Weather Bureau said tomorrow’s World Series game may have to be postponed because of wet grounds.
The bureau forecast rain starting at midnight and continuing about 12 hours. In such a case, the field would be too wet for play.