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ON THIS DATE (September 28, 1960)
... Ted Williams ended his illustrious career with
one swing of his bat, by blasting his 521st final home run into the
Red Sox bullpen. It happened in the eighth inning. With the count
1-1, Jack Fisher fired a fastball that Ted launched high and deep. It
landed on the canopy that protects the Sox pitchers in the bullpen.
He crossed
the plate and ran directly into the dugout with his head down and
didn't acknowledge the fans.
For four minutes, they
screamed for him to come out and take a bow, but he didn't move.
When the inning ended,
Mike Higgins
made him go out and take his position in left field. As he got there,
Carroll Hardy was running right behind him, trotting out to take his
place. Ted turned around, saw Hardy, came back and crossed the
infield for the final time, kicking the first base bag as he went by
and then disappeared down the runway to the Sox clubhouse.
The Sox had taken an
early lead. In the bottom of the first inning, Steve Barber walked
both Willie Tasby and Ted. Then he hit Jim Pagliaroni with a pitch
and the bases were loaded. Barber's wildness continued as he uncorked
a wild pitch that let Tasby jog across the plate. After he walked
Frank Malzone, Fisher was brought in to pitch and Lou Clinton's
sacrifice fly brought in another run. The Sox enjoyed a 2-0 lead.
Fisher did a great job
and held down the Sox batters until Ted's home run in the eighth. The
Orioles hitters, meanwhile, got to Sox starter Billy Muffett and took
the lead. In the second inning, after Jim Gentile singled, Gus
Triandos homered to tie the game. In the fifth, the O's took the lead
on a sacrifice fly. And in the eighth with two men on, Gene
Woodling's ground ball out, with runners at the corners, brought home
the their fourth run.
With Baltimore leading,
4-2, Ted's home run got the Sox to within one run. Then in the ninth
inning, with one out, rookie Marlan Coughtry beat out an infield hit.
Vic Wertz came up to pinch hit and lined a double off the wall,
putting Coughtry on third base. Tom Brewer came in to run for Wertz
and Pumpsie Green was intentionally passed to fill the bases. That
brought up Tasby, who hit a made-to-order doubleplay grounder to
Brooks Robinson at third that would have ended the game. But Pumpsie
slid hard into second and Billy Klaus threw the ball away, letting Coughtry and Brewer score the tying and winning runs.
Overshadowed was Mike
Fornieles established an American League record, making his 70th
appearance of the season, blanking Baltimore for two innings and picking up his 10th win.
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