1948 American League tie-breaker game

Last updated

1948 American League
tie-breaker game
Fenway Park postcard.jpg
Fenway Park in Boston, game venue
123456789 R H E
Cleveland Indians 1004100118131
Boston Red Sox 100002000351
DateOctober 4, 1948
Venue Fenway Park
City Boston, Massachusetts
Umpires
Attendance33,957
Television WBZ-TV (BOS) [1]
Radio
Radio announcersMutual: Mel Allen and Jim Britt [2] [3]

The 1948 American League tie-breaker game was a one-game extension to Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1948 regular season, played between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox to determine the winner of the American League (AL) pennant. The game was played on October 4, 1948, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. It was necessary after both teams finished the season with identical win–loss records of 96–58. This was the first-ever one-game playoff in the AL, and the only one before 1969, when the leagues were split into divisions.

Contents

The Indians defeated the Red Sox, 8–3, as the Indians scored four runs in the fourth inning and limited the Red Sox to five hits. The Indians advanced to the 1948 World Series, where they defeated the Boston Braves, four games to two, giving them their second and most recent World Series championship. In baseball statistics, the tie-breaker counted as the 155th regular season game by both teams, with all events in the game added to regular season statistics.

Background

The 1948 Major League Baseball season was predicted to be a close race between the Yankees and Red Sox. In a United Press poll conducted just before the season started, the majority of sportswriters chose the Yankees, who had won last year's World Series, to face the Braves or St. Louis Cardinals that year, while others chose the Red Sox; only one sportswriter chose the Indians to reach the World Series. [4] Most of the American League managers had the Yankees finishing first, followed by the Red Sox, Indians, and Detroit Tigers. [5] Tension and confidence was evident between the teams, as two months into the season, after defeating the Red Sox 7–0, Yankees manager Bucky Harris declared that the Yankees would win the pennant, though they were currently at second place at the time. [6]

The pennant race continued between the three teams throughout the entire season. On September 25, after playing 147 games, with seven games left to play, all three teams had a record of 91–56. [7] After each team played four more games, the Indians were up two games, meaning the Yankees and Red Sox had to win their games on September 30 to stay in the pennant race. They did, and the month of October opened up with both teams 1.5 games behind the Indians. [8] The Indians' last series was a three-game stand against the Tigers, while the Red Sox and Yankees had a two-game series against each other.

Gene Bearden.jpg
Denny Galehouse Browns.jpg
Starting pitchers Gene Bearden of Cleveland (left) and Denny Galehouse of Boston (right)

The Indians lost their first game 5–3 against the Tigers on October 1, giving them a one-game lead with two games left to play. As a result, speculation arose about the possibility of a three-way tie. [9] On October 2, Cleveland beat Detroit to clinch at least a tie, and Boston beat New York 5–1, ending the Yankees' pennant run and bringing the race down to two teams. [10] On the last day of the season, October 3, Boston won their game and Cleveland lost, giving them identical 96–58 records and forcing a tiebreaker the following day at Boston. [11] The home field for the game was decided by a coin toss, held the previous week in Chicago. [12] The Indians chose rookie Gene Bearden to start against Boston in the tie-breaker, despite only having one day of rest, as he had beaten the Red Sox twice that season, and the Red Sox chose Denny Galehouse, passing on Mel Parnell, who had beaten the Indians on three separate occasions that season. [13]

Game summary

Monday, October 4, 1948 1:15 pm (ET) at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts
Team123456789 R H E
Cleveland Indians1004100118131
Boston Red Sox100002000351
WP: Gene Bearden (20–7)   LP: Denny Galehouse (8–8)
Home runs:
CLE: Lou Boudreau 2 (18), Ken Keltner (31)
BOS: Bobby Doerr (27)
Attendance: 33,957
Notes: Game duration 2 hours and 24 minutes
Boxscore

Galehouse started off the game by quickly getting outs from Dale Mitchell and Allie Clark. American League MVP Lou Boudreau then hit a home run off Galehouse to make the score 1–0. [14] After another out, Bearden came on the mound in the bottom of the first. Johnny Pesky doubled, then scored on a hit by Vern Stephens to make the score 1–1 at the end of the first inning. [14] Both pitchers allowed one baserunner the following inning; Ken Keltner reached base for Cleveland and Birdie Tebbetts reached base for the Red Sox. Both pitchers then got three quick outs in the third inning. [14]

Ken Keltner Ken Keltner 1949 Bowman.jpg
Ken Keltner

In the fourth inning, the Indians opened up the game. Boudreau and Joe Gordon hit back-to-back singles, which brought Keltner to the plate. The Red Sox expected a bunt, but instead the third baseman hit his 31st home run of the season to put the Indians ahead, 4–1. [15] Galehouse was then replaced with Ellis Kinder, who was met with a double by Larry Doby. Kinder responded by getting the next three batters out, which brought the score to 5–1 as Doby also scored. [14] After Bearden got three Red Sox out, the Indians started the fifth inning with the top of their lineup. Mitchell and Eddie Robinson, who came in for Clark, were out. Boudreau then hit his second home run of the night to make the score 6–1. [14]

The rest of the fifth inning saw no more hits, and after a Keltner double, three Indians were out in the top of the sixth inning. The Red Sox began to fight back in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Ted Williams reached first base on an error by Gordon. Stephens struck out, but Bobby Doerr hit his 27th home run of the season to make the score 6–3. [15] No runs were scored in the seventh inning, though Bearden and Mitchell both reached base. The Indians were able to score another run in the eighth inning after Jim Hegan was intentionally walked. Bearden then hit a fly ball to Williams, who dropped it, allowing Hegan to score and making it 7–3 in the Indians' favor. [15] The Indians were able to score one more run in the ninth when Robinson scored after Keltner grounded into a bases-loaded double play. Bearden got the final three Red Sox out in the bottom of the ninth, finishing the game with an 8–3 Indians victory and giving Bearden a complete game. [14]

Aftermath

Dom DiMaggio Dom DiMaggio 1947.jpg
Dom DiMaggio

The Indians received their first playoff berth since the 1920 World Series. Indians' Manager Lou Boudreau dedicated the victory to pitcher Don Black, who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage the previous month. [16] The Indians went on to face the Boston Braves in the 1948 World Series, winning it four games to two. The Red Sox fans experienced disappointment when Boston mayor James Michael Curley ordered the fire department sirens sounded when Boston won the pennant. The sirens did sound, but it was instead for a fire in the Boston Navy Yard. [16]

The Red Sox's defeat disappointed Boston fans, who had been rooting the entire season for an All-Boston World Series. Before the October 4 game, the oddsmakers gave the Red Sox the advantage, meaning that an all-Boston World Series was likely. [17] The Red Sox did not make another playoff appearance until 1967, when the St. Louis Cardinals defeated them in the 1967 World Series.

The game counted as a regular season game in baseball statistics. As a result, Dom DiMaggio and Vern Stephens led the league with 155 games played, which could not have been equaled except by another Red Sox or Indians player. [18] DiMaggio's four at-bats in the game also gave him the league lead with 648, four ahead of Bob Dillinger of the St. Louis Browns. [18] Dale Mitchell's one single also gave him the league lead in that statistics, beating out Dillinger by one. [18] Gene Bearden's nine inning, one earned run performance brought his earned run average (ERA) down to 2.43, which led the American League. [19] Boudreau finished the season with a .355 batting average, 116 runs, 18 home runs, and 106 runs batted in, and won the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award at the end of the season. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curse of the Bambino</span> Superstition in American baseball

The Curse of the Bambino was a superstitious sports curse in Major League Baseball (MLB) derived from the 86-year championship drought of the Boston Red Sox between 1918 and 2004. The superstition was named after Babe Ruth, colloquially known as "The Bambino", who played for the Red Sox until he was sold to the New York Yankees in 1920. While some fans took the curse seriously, most used the expression in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2003 American League Championship Series</span> 34th edition of Major League Baseballs American League Championship Series

The 2003 American League Championship Series (ALCS) was played between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees from October 8 to 16, 2003. The Yankees won the series four games to three to advance to the World Series, where they lost in six games to the National League champion Florida Marlins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic Raschi</span> American baseball player

Victor John Angelo Raschi was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. Nicknamed "the Springfield Rifle", he was one of the top pitchers for the New York Yankees in the late 1940s and early 1950s, forming the "Big Three" of the Yankees' pitching staff. He also pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Athletics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Lemon</span> American baseball player and manager (1920-2000)

Robert Granville Lemon was an American right-handed pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Lemon was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve O'Neill</span> American baseball player and manager

Stephen Francis O'Neill was an American professional baseball catcher and manager. He played his first 13 seasons with the Cleveland Indians. As a manager, he led the 1945 Detroit Tigers to a World Series championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 American League Championship Series</span> 35th edition of Major League Baseballs American League Championship Series

The 2004 American League Championship Series was the Major League Baseball playoff series deciding the 2004 season American League champion earning the privilege to play in the 2004 World Series. A rematch of the 2003 American League Championship Series, it was played between the Boston Red Sox, who had won the AL wild card and defeated the Anaheim Angels in the American League Division Series, and the New York Yankees, who had won the AL East with the best record in the AL and defeated the Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox became the first team in MLB history to come back from a 3–0 series deficit to win a best-of-seven series. Prior to the 2004 ALCS, no MLB team had so much as forced a Game 7 under those circumstances – and only one team since 2004 has been able to do so.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yankees–Red Sox rivalry</span> Major League Baseball rivalry

The Yankees–Red Sox rivalry is a Major League Baseball (MLB) rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Both teams have competed in MLB's American League (AL) for over 120 seasons and have since developed what is arguably the fiercest rivalry in all of American sports. In 1919, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold star player Babe Ruth to the Yankees, which was followed by an 86-year period in which the Red Sox did not win a World Series. This led to the popularization of a superstition known as the "Curse of the Bambino," which was one of the most well-known aspects of the rivalry.

The 1948 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1948 season. The 45th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians and the National League (NL) champion Boston Braves. The Braves had won the National League pennant for the first time since the "Miracle Braves" team of 1914, while the Indians had spoiled a chance for the only all-Boston World Series by winning a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox for the American League flag. Though superstar pitcher Bob Feller failed to win either of his two starts, the Indians won the Series in six games to capture their second championship and their first since 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Keltner</span> American baseball player

Kenneth Frederick Keltner was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1937 to 1950, most prominently as a member of the Cleveland Indians where he was a seven-time All-Star player and was a member of the 1948 World Series winning team. He played his final season for the Boston Red Sox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Paschal</span> American baseball player (1895-1974)

Benjamin Edwin Paschal was an American baseball outfielder who played eight seasons in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1929, mostly for the New York Yankees. After two "cup of coffee" stints with the Cleveland Indians in 1915 and the Boston Red Sox in 1920, Paschal spent most of his career as the fourth outfielder and right-handed pinch hitter of the Yankees' Murderers' Row championship teams of the late 1920s. Paschal is best known for hitting .360 in the 1925 season while standing in for Babe Ruth, who missed the first 40 games with a stomach ailment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Hegan</span> American baseball player

James Edward Hegan was an American professional baseball player, coach, and scout. He played for 17 seasons as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1941 to 1942 and 1946 to 1960, most notably for the Cleveland Indians with whom he won a World Series in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Muncrief</span> American baseball player (1916-1996)

Robert Cleveland Muncrief was an American professional baseball pitcher who appeared in 288 games in Major League Baseball over 12 seasons between 1937 and 1951 with the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. Born in Madill, Oklahoma, he batted and threw right-handed and was listed as 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and 190 pounds (86 kg). He is perhaps best known as a key starting pitcher for the 1944 Browns, the only American League team from St. Louis to win a pennant. The following season, in 1945, Muncrief led all Junior Circuit hurlers in winning percentage, posting a .765 mark based on his 13–4 record.

The 1949 New York Yankees season was the team's 47th season. The team finished with a record of 97–57, winning their 16th pennant, finishing 1 game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. New York was managed by Casey Stengel in his first year. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in 5 games.

The 1948 Boston Red Sox season was the 48th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. After 154 regular-season games, the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians finished atop the American League with identical records of 96 wins and 58 losses. The teams then played a tie-breaker game, which was won by Cleveland, 8–3. Thus, the Red Sox finished their season with a record of 96 wins and 59 losses, one game behind Cleveland.

The 1949 Boston Red Sox season was the 49th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished second in the American League (AL) with a record of 96 wins and 58 losses, one game behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the 1949 World Series.

The 1948 Cleveland Indians season was the 48th in franchise history. When the regular season resulted in a first place tie, the Indians won a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox to advance to the World Series. Cleveland won the championship by defeating the Boston Braves 4 games to 2 for their first World Series win in 28 years. The Sporting News ranked the 1948 Indians the ninth-best team ever.

The 1949 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 18 through October 15, 1949. Both the American League (AL) and National League (NL) had eight teams, with each team playing a 154-game schedule. The New York Yankees won the World Series over the Brooklyn Dodgers in five games. Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox and Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers won the Most Valuable Player Award in the AL and NL, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 New York Yankees season</span> Major League Baseball team season

The 2009 New York Yankees season was the 107th season for the New York Yankees franchise. The Yankees opened their new Yankee Stadium on April 3, 2009, when they hosted an exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs. The new stadium hosted its first regular season game on April 16, when the team played against the Cleveland Indians and their first playoff game against the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS on October 7, 2009. The Yankees swept the Twins in three games to win the divisional series. They won their 40th American League pennant on October 25, defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 6 games to advance to the World Series, where they defeated the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies in six games to win their 27th World Series title on November 4. The Yankees finished the regular season with 103 wins and 59 losses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 American League East tie-breaker game</span> 1978 Major League Baseball tie-breaker game

The 1978 American League East tie-breaker game was a one-game extension to Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1978 regular season. The game was played at Fenway Park in Boston on the afternoon of Monday, October 2 between the rival New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox to determine the winner of the American League's (AL) East Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Bearden</span> American baseball player (1920-2004)

Henry Eugene Bearden was an American professional baseball pitcher, a left-hander who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1947 to 1953 for the Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox. In 193 career games, Bearden pitched 7881⁄3 innings and posted a win–loss record of 45–38, with 29 complete games, seven shutouts, 259 strikeouts, and a 3.96 earned run average (ERA).

References

  1. ↑ "Television". The Boston Globe . October 4, 1948. p. 7. Retrieved October 4, 2020– via newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "2 Networks Will Broadcast Game". The Boston Globe . October 4, 1948. p. 7. Retrieved October 4, 2020– via newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Radio Time Table". Akron Beacon Journal . October 4, 1948. p. 4. Retrieved October 4, 2020– via newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Cards, Yanks Tabbed By Sports Writers". Eugene Register-Guard . April 19, 1948. p. 10.
  5. ↑ "Predictions Are In Favor Of Yanks And Cards". The Owosso Argus-Press . April 19, 1948. p. 9.
  6. ↑ Reichler, Joe (May 30, 1948). "Yankees Crush Red Sox 7–0, Prompts Manager Harris to Claim Pennant". Ludington Daily News . p. 6.
  7. ↑ Roden, Ralph (September 25, 1948). "Red Sox, Indians, Yanks Deadlocked in American". Evening Independent . p. 7.
  8. ↑ "Yanks, Red Sox Pursue Indians in Title Chase". The Deseret News . October 1, 1948. p. B3.
  9. ↑ "American League Race May End in Triple Tie". Evening Independent. October 2, 1948. p. 7.
  10. ↑ Drebinger, John (October 3, 1948). "BOMBERS BOW, 5–1; Red Sox End Yanks' Flag Chances When Kramer Pitches a 5-Hitter". The New York Times . p. S1.
  11. ↑ "Redsox, Tribe Finish Tied for Lead". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . October 4, 1948. p. 18.
  12. ↑ "Coin Flip Held". The San Bernardino Sun . AP. September 25, 1948. p. 15. Retrieved October 4, 2020– via newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Galehouse and Bearden Named Playoff Pitchers". The Pittsburgh Press . October 4, 1948. p. 21.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Game of Monday, 10/4/1948 – Cleveland at Boston (D)". Retrosheet. Archived from the original on February 15, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  15. 1 2 3 "Bearden, Boudreau, Keltner Share Honors as Indians Win". The Milwaukee Journal. October 5, 1948. p. 8. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
  16. 1 2 "Manager Boudreau Proposes A Toast: 'To Don Black'". The Milwaukee Journal. October 5, 1948. p. 8. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
  17. ↑ Hand, Jack (October 4, 1948). "Sox Favorites To Make It All-Boston Series". Evening Independent. p. 12.
  18. 1 2 3 "1948 American League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  19. ↑ "1948 American League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  20. ↑ "Lou Boudreau Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 13, 2010.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.