The Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals will meet in the Fall Classic for the fourth time on Wednesday evening. They first met in 1946, then again in 1967, both times the Cardinals won the decisive 7th game to win the World Series. Not until 2004, when both teams met for a third time, did the Red Sox beat the Redbirds in a four game sweep to claim their six World Series title.
In 2004, the phenomenal pitching of Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez silenced the Cardinals most potent hitter, Albert Pujols, who went without a home run or even an RBI over four games. And with the gargantuan thunder of Manny Ramirez (the Series MVP) and David Ortiz (``Big Papi’’) the Cardinals found themselves outmuscled in practically every phase of the game. Terry Francona, moreover, became the third manager in four years to win a World Series in his first year as manager.
Most noteworthy about the Red Sox 2004 world championship was their success in finally, at long last, exorcising the ``Curse of the Bambino’’, the mother of all curses, which was supposed to have been inflicted on the team when Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1919. The Bambino was a pitcher for the Red Sox in 1918, the last time they won a World Series prior to 2004.
The Sox struck gold again in 2007, again in a four game sweep, this time over the Colorado Rockies.
So while memories of the Sox latest clash with the Cardinals are still fresh in most people’s minds, memories are a little foggy of the epic battles between the Cardinals and Red Sox in 1946 and 1967.
So to refresh your memories, I put together individual game summaries of all seven games between the Cards and Sox from the 1946 and 1967 World Series’. My summaries are based on game stories and columns from the Boston Globe and The New York Times in those years. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to gain access to the St. Louis Dispatch archives.
Starting lineups for the St Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox on Game One of the 1946 World Series
Lineup for the Cardinals
Red Schoendienst-2b
Terry Moore, cf
Stan Musial, 1b
Enos Slaughter, rf
Whitey Kurowski, 3b
Joe Garagiola, c
Harry Walker, lf
Marty Marion, ss
Lineup for Red Sox
Tom McBride, rf
Johnny Pesky, ss
Dom Dimaggio, cf
Ted Williams, lf
Rudy York, 1b
Bobby Doerr, 2b
Pinky Higgins, 3b
Hal Wagner, c
Game One
October 6, 1946
Sportsman’s Park
Boston-3
St. Louis-2
Weatherman predicted it would rain all day, but it turned out to be a warm sunny day at Sportsman Park in St. Louis with 36,218 euphoric fans in attendance.
It took 28 years, but the Red Sox finally made to another World Series. In Game 1, Boston was held to four scattered hits in the first eight innings. In the 9th, they strung together three hits, including Tommy McBride's hit that tied the game. In the 10th, Rudy York deposited one in the last row of the bleachers to put the Sox up, 3-2.
In the bottom of the 10th, Earl Johnson, the 27-year-old war veteran, twice-decorated on the battlefield of Europe and cited for his valor in World War II, took to the mound to preserve the Red Sox lead. Boston skipper Joe Cronin reportedly strolled to the mound to speak with his relief pitcher. He asked him, ``What was that battle you were in on the other side?” ``The Battle of the Bulge’’ answered Johnson. ``This isn’t that tough’’ Cronin assured his reliever as walked back to the dugout.
Thanks to a defensive blunder by shortstop Johnny Pesky on Red Schoendienst’s grounder; and a sacrifice by Moore, the Cards had a runner on second with only one out. But Johnson induced Stan Musial into a grounder to his second baseman, Bobby Doerr; and then Enos Slaughter lifted a fly ball to right center before Wally Moses pulled it down for the final out.
It was the first extra-inning World Series since 1924.
In the second inning, the Cardinals put in motion the celebrated ``Williams Shift’’, with third baseman Whitey Kurowski moving to normal second base position and second baseman Red Schoendienst shifting toward first. It worked like a charm. Ted Williams grounded to Red Schoendienst.
Game Two
October 7, 1946
Sportsman’s Park
St. Louis-3
Boston-0
The weather in Game 2 was an unseasonably warm 80 degrees with 35, 815 fans in attendance at St. Louis
The Cardinals took Game 2, 3-0, getting the best of Boston’s southpaw, Mickey Harris, to even the Series at a game apiece.
Ted Williams, ``Thumping Theodore’’ as the paper’s described him, went hitless in four trips to the plate. Boston manager Joe Cronin lost the services of his catcher Roy Partee with a bruised thumb.
Southpaw Harry Brecheen, from Broken Bow, Okla., a 15-game winner during the regular season was the hero of the day. In Game 2, he tossed a four hit shutout, throwing the Sox a steady diet of screwballs they couldn’t handle.
According to newspaper reports, the game was finished inside of two hours.
Former Cardinals slugger Rogers Hornsby doing some analysis of the Series, reportedly said of Ted Williams: ``Williams is gonna be a great hitter, but he'll never be great until he learns to hit to every field.''
In the 3rd, Brecheen slapped a single to right, scoring Rice to the put the Cards up 1-0. St Louis added two more runs in the 5th, when Terry Moore shot a ball in the hole that deflected off the second baseman's glove and rolled into right-center field. The second run of the inning was added with runners on corners and the Boston infield unable to turn a double play, allowing Brecheen to cross the plate from third.
Game Three
October 9, 1946
Fenway Park
Boston-4
St. Louis-0
Rudy York of the Red Sox smashed a three run home run in the 1st off Murry Dickson, his second game winning dinger of the Series. York, the 33-year old veteran was traded by the Tigers last winter on the assumption his playing days were all but over. The Sox added another run in the 8th. David Ferriss was superb on the mound in keeping the Cards off the scoreboard and limiting them to six hits with one walk as the Sox cruised to a 4-0 win to take a 2-1 lead in the Series. Ferriss’ gem was the 50th shutout in World Series history. The last Boston pitcher to toss a shutout during a World Series was Babe Ruth, who blanked the Cubs in 1918. Boston was 61-16 at Fenway during the 46’ season. 34,500 fans were in attendance. In the third inning, Ted Williams unexpectedly laid down a bunt toward the vacant third base line once he saw, once again, the seismic shift to the right side of the infield. Williams smiled as he easily made it to 1st, knowing he had caught the Cardinals infield flat-footed. Despite an unproductive day for ``The Kid’’, radio reporters still mobbed the slugger in the clubhouse after the game. Williams would only say, ``it’s not my day, it’s Ferriss’ and York’s; give them all the praise.’’
Newspapers reported that Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey's sister, Emma Ouerbacker, had a $2,500 diamond and emerald platinum ring, a $150 pair of diamond and gold earrings and $40 in cash stolen from her hotel room. Bleacher seats, which numbered about 8,500, didn’t go on sale until 9:00 a.m. that morning and sold out in about two hours. In attendance were Massachusetts Governor Maurice J. Tobin and Boston Mayor James M. Curley
Game Four
October 10, 1946
Fenway Park
St Louis-12
Boston-3
35,645 in attendance. After three remarkable pitching performances by both teams, Game 4 turned into a dud. Cardinals turned out 20 hits, squaring the Series at two games apiece. The Boston Globe wrote the Sox played ``like married men at a church picnic.’’ Three Cardinals had four hits a piece: Slaughter, third baseman Whitey Kurowski, right-fielder Wally Moses, and Joe Garagiola, the 20-year-old rookie catcher. Garagiola knocked in three runs, as did Cardinal shortstop Marty Marion. Every Cardinal had at least one hit, matching a feat accomplished by the Cardinals in the 1934 World Series, the Reds in 1919 against the White Sox and the Yankees in 1936. George Munger, the big read-head, who just a few months ago was serving with occupation forces in Germany was on the hill for the Cards, limiting the Sox to 9 hits. In attendance were Leo Durocher, Joe DiMaggio, George Raft, Toots Shor, and Joe Louis. Enos Slaughter crushed a 400 foot home run in the second inning. Five Red Sox pitchers were summoned from the bullpen before the game was over.
The Boston Globe noted that Ted Williams failed to doff his cap to the fans at Fenway for the first time since 1941. The newspaper reported Williams agreed to tip his cap after having a private conversation with Bobo Newsom, the Washington Senators right-handed pitcher, an admirer of ``The Kid’’ as well as his favorite critic. Asked by the drubbing his team took, Ted Williams said, ``I’d rather lose that way than by 3-2 in 15 innings.
Game Five
October 11, 1946
Fenway Park
Boston-6
St. Louis-3
Behind the pitching of Joe Dobson (former relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians), the 195 pounder from Durant, Okla., tossed a four-hitter as the Red Sox rebounded from a 12-3 drubbing in Game 4, beating the Cardinals 6-3 in front of 35, 982 fans without a cloud in the beautiful blue sky to take a 3-2 Series lead and needing just one more win for a World Series championship. If not for two errors by Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky (2nd and 9th inning) Dobson was in line for a shutout. Pesky did contribute three hits. The Boston Globe noted only three teams in World Series history, staked to a 3-2 lead, failed to win the final two games of the Fall Classic on the road: The Detroit Tigers in Cincinnati in 1940, the Washington Senators in Pittsburgh in 1925, and the New York Giants in Washington in 1924. The Globe additionally noted World Series winners will receive less money this year than in any series since 1918. The Sox pounded Cardinals southpaw ace, Howie Pollet. A pair of doubles by Dom DiMaggio and Pinky Higgins inflicted the final blows to the Redbirds, as the Sox put three more on the board. Pollet, who had been so spectacular in his previous start, was knocked out in the 1st after facing only four batters. In the opening frame, Ted Williams aka ``Thumping Ted’’ stepped to the plate and drilled a liner to right, scoring Pesky, moving Dom DiMaggio to third and sending Pollet in for an early shower. Williams single was his fourth hit of the series and only his first RBI. The Cardinals had a scoring chance in the 4th when Enos Slaughter stole second. Dobson, however, struck out Kurowski and Garagiola to end the threat. Al Brazle replaced Pollet. Leon Culberson smashed a curve ball against the left field screen, just over the scoreboard in the 6th inning to put the Sox up, 3-1.
Arthur Daley of the New York Times notes Dobson’s four-hitter made him the hottest thing in town since the big Boston fire of 1872. Spotted in the stands in Game 5 were Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbell, Dizzy Dean, Mickey Cochrane, Jimmy Foxx, Bill Terry, Hank Greenberg, Rogers Hornsby, Frank Frisch, Al Simmons, Tris Speaker, and Harry Heilmann. Ted Williams moaned to reporters before the game, ``I got to get me some hits. This can’t go on forever.’’ The loss to the Red Sox must have seemed particularly painful for Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer who celebrated his 46th birthday. After the game, the Cardinals announced they were officially shutting down their southpaw ace, Howard Pollet, due to a strained shoulder and side muscles that’s continuing to bother him.
Game Six
October 13, 1946
Sportsman’s Park
St Louis-4
Boston-1
35, 768 fans were in attendance. The Cardinals’ wiry left-hander Harry Brecheen from Broken Bow, Okla., frustrated Red Sox hitters all afternoon in a 4-1 win over the Boston to send the Series to a decisive Game 7 Tuesday at Sportsman Park in St. Louis. Boston was held to seven hits. Rudy York’s triple in the 7th (and Doerr’s sac fly) accounted for the only Boston run. The Red Sox were highly favored to beat the Cardinals. Brecheen dazzled the home crowd in shutting out the Red Sox in Game 2 at Sportsman’s Park.
Boston Globe Headline: ``Williams an Enormous Flop in First Six Games-‘’ Harold Kaese of the Globe, writes: ``As matters stands, Williams is an enormous bust. In six games, he has made five singles and has batted in one run.’’ Kaese additionally questioned Boston manager Joe Cronin’s decision to have started Tex Hughson (20-11) in Game 1 instead of David Ferriss who posted a mighty impressive 25-6 record during the season. Kaese wrote, ``The Red Sox are in the curious position of having played six World Series games and having used their 25-game winner in only one contest-a shutout.’’
Grover Cleveland Alexander posed for photographers before the game. In his traditional post-game essay during the World Series for the Boston Globe, Ted Williams wrote: ``The Cat [aka Harry, the Cat, Brecheen] not only skinned us again, but this time he feasted on our flesh and scratched on our bones. Brecheen not only stuck the bats down our throats, but he broke them off inside us.’’
Arthur Daley in The New York Times notes, Ted Williams can't wait for this series to conclude so he can go hunting and fishing in South Dakota, ``far from the maddening crowd. `` Thus far in the series’’, Daley observes, ``the only fishing he's done has been fishing after third strikes and his hunting has consisted principally of hunting for base hits. Neither appeals to Temperamental Ted.’’ In Game 6, Williams slapped a single through the hole, his only hit of the game, bringing his Series batting average to a pedestrian .238.
Cardinal manager Eddie Dyer is one game away from winning the World Series in his freshman year as manager in the big leagues. A sac fly by Moore and some clutch hitting by Eddie Kurowski and Enos Slaughter enabled the Cards to put three runs on the board in the 3rd inning. Walker doubled in the 8th for the Cards fourth and final run of the game.
Game Seven
October 15, 1946
Sportsman’s Park
St. Lous-4
Boston-3
The Cardinals win their sixth world championship in nine trips to the World Series; only the New York Yankees with 10 had won more.
With the score tied at 3 in the bottom of the 8th, Enos (Country) Slaughter of the Cardinals, slapped a single to center field. Cronin then brought in reliever Bob Klinger from the bullpen who retired the first two batters he faced. Harry Walker then stepped to the plate and laced a line drive double to left center, allowing Slaughter to peel around the bases and head for home. Johnny Pesky, after receiving the relay throw from the outfield, hesitated on his throw to the plate, which allowed Slaughter to slide home safely in a cloud of dust, to put the Cardinals up 4-3, a lead that was secured by a relief appearance by Harry Becheen in the top of the 9th. After their win, the Cardinals lifted rookie manager Eddie Dyer on top of the shoulders and the celebration was in full bloom.
36, 143 fans were on hand. Johnny Pesky stood in the clubhouse after the crushing defeat to tell reporters, ``I’m the goat. It’s my fault. I’m to blame.’’ Pesky said, he never expected Slaughter would dash for home. ``I couldn’t hear anybody hollering at me above the noise of the crowd’’ the woeful Boston shortstop said. ``I gave Slaughter at least six strides with that delay.’’
But to hear the Cardinals tell it as echoed through Martin Marion: ``We won the World Series by stopping Williams.’’ During the series, Ted Williams managed only five singles, driving in one run, ending with a .200 batting average. It was Boston’s first World Series loss in 43 years. Harry Becheen came in for relief in Game 7 to secure his third win of the Series, becoming the first pitcher to win three World Series games since Stanley Covleski of the Cleveland Indians in 1920.
The Cards entered the World Series as a 7-20 long shot to beat the highly favored Boston Red Sox. Dom DiMaggio, the`` Little Professor’’ drove in all three of Boston’s runs.
It was announced that the winning share of each member of the St Louis Cardinals would amount to $3,757.04, while each Red Sox player would receive $2,052.03. The Cards ended up outscoring the Sox 28-20, outhitting them, 60-56, while committing only four errors to the Red Sox 10 miscues. The Boston Globe reported that Williams, looking almost on the verge of tears, sat in front of his locker staring mournfully at the floor for at least 30 minutes. Commissioner Happy Chandler stepped into the Sox clubhouse and patted Williams on the back, saying ``God love you Ted. ‘’ Williams replied: ``I never missed so many balls in all my life.’’
Stan Musial told reporters , ``Experience may have had a lot to do with it…These Red Sox are good...But we’ve been in this before…I want to say this for Boston, though- it was a great Series and they played wonderful ball, clean, not any bickering, no dusters.’’
In the Cardinal clubhouse before the decisive Game 7, manager Eddie Dyer was chuckling over a letter he received from a woman from New York, who charged the Redbirds were ``gangsters for having stopped Williams.’’
Before Game 7, Boston manager Joe Cronin presented Williams with a parting gift for the offseason, a book titled: ``To Hell with Fishing.’’
1967 Starting Game One Lineups for the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox.
St Louis Starting Lineup
Lou Brock, LF
Curt Flood, CF
Roger Maris, RF
Orlando Cepeda, 1B
Tim McCarver, C
Mike Shannon, 3B
Julian Javier, 2B
Dal Maxvill, SS
Boston Starting Lineup
Jerry Adair, 2B
Dalton Jones, 3B
Carl Yastrzemski, LF
Ken Harrelson, RF
George Scott, 1B
Rico Petrocelli, SS
Reggie Smith, CF
Russ Gibson, C
1967 World Series
October 4, 1967
Game One
Fenway Park
St. Louis-2
Boston-1
``WE'LL WIN: ``I still say the Red Sox will win the World Series...we've been coming from behind most of the last few weeks and you'll see us come back again.''
-Carl Yastrzemski.
34,796 fans in attendance. Cardinal’s ace Bob Gibson struck out five of the first eight batters he faced, finishing with 10 strikeouts, surrendering six hits before the afternoon was over. The Sox never were able to manage more than one hit in an inning off Gibson; his only walk came in the 9th on a 3-2 pitch to George Scott. His only mistake pitch came in the third frame when he floated a slow hanging curve ball to pitcher Jose Santiago who proceeded to smack his second home run of the year. It marked the seventh home run hit by a pitcher in World Series history. Gibson threw 11 pitches to Rico Petrocelli, striking him out three times without Rico ever managing to put the bat on any of Gibby’s missles. Petrocelli was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 9th. After Santiago’s blast, only two Red Sox runners reached second base. Gibson complained of a sore ankle after the game, but said he should be fine. Gibson missed eight weeks during the regular season (returning in September) after breaking a bone from a liner on his right chin off the bat of the Pirates Roberto Clemente. Both of the Cardinal runs came from infield grounders off the bat of Roger Maris. Lou Brock slapped four singles in the game, while stealing bases in the third and seventh innings.
As reported by the Boston Globe, equal to the calamity of the Sox dropping Game 1 of the Series was that the stadium ran out of box lunches for members of the press; in addition, the hitting schedule of the teams got confused, preventing the Sox regulars from getting enough batting practice. The Boston Globe columnist Harold Kaese was all over the team for playing Ken Harrelson in right who let a Roger Maris fly ball plop right in front of him. ``Who thought Harrelson would get to the ball?, Kaese wondered? ``Why should he, he can’t play the outfield. Because Dick Williams is gambling that he will hit a long shot of importance, sooner or later, and that meanwhile, no tough flies will be hit in his direction. ``The Red Sox are gambling’’ Kaese went on to write. ``They’ve been gambling all season. Why should they stop now.’’
Spotted at Game 1 at Fenway, was former Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, ailing patriarch of the Kennedy clan, who was wheeled into the game by sons Teddy and Bobby Kennedy. Former Cleveland Indians ace Bob Feller who pitched (and lost) a World Series game in Boston 19 years ago, was also spotted hopping all over the box seats, chatting it up with old friends. Awed by facing the stellar Gibson, Yastrzemski hitless in four trips to the plate, said that `the St. Louis ace was the best pitcher they faced all year.’’ Gibson, who is no stranger to the World Series, won two games in 1964 and set a Series record of 31 strikeouts.
Las Vegas odds makers listed the Cardinals as 3-1 favorites to win the World Series after winning the curtain-raiser. Oddsmaker Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder, meanwhile, listed the second game as even money. ``You pick em.’’
After the game, Ken Harrelson, a late pick up during the season, joked with reporters that he was the only man in baseball to have a better year than Yastrzemski. ``I went from Charlie Finely in Kansas City to the Red Sox and the World Series.’’
Seats, at least some seats, at Game 1 in Fenway reportedly were selling for $8 and $12.
The lead paragraph of Bud Collins Boston Globe column went as follows: ``Wednesday afternoon’s matinee at Fenway was over-priced and under-active, but at least it was the most forgettable game of the season.’’
Game Two
October 5, 1967
Fenway Park
Boston-5
St. Louis-0
With 35,188 fans in attendance on a dark cloudy drizzly Boston afternoon, Red Sox pitcher and Stanford graduate Jim Lonborg; the six-foot five inch right-hander pitched a one-hitter in a 5-0 win, throwing only 93 pitches and didn’t surrender a hit for seven and two-thirds. It was only the fourth one-hitter in World Series history. His no-hit bid was ruined in the 8th when Julian Javier slashed a double to right with two men out. Lonborg had retired 19 consecutive St Louis hitters, until surrendering a walk, his only walk of the game, to Curt Flood in the seventh inning.
Curt Flood upset that Red Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg delivered some chin music to two off his teammates: Lou Brock and Dal Maxvill, threatened his team would retaliate against Carl Yastrzemski, their power hitter. When questioned about Flood’s comments, Longborg, said, ``What do they think I’m going to do, give them home plate?” Brock, on the other hand, wasn’t as nearly as incensed as Flood was about the brush back pitches. ``It’s legal and has been around a lot longer than the players participating in this World Series.’’
Triple-crown winner Carl Yastrzemski crushed a home run to right in the 4th to give the Sox a one-run lead, and smashed another one over the Red Sox bullpen with two runners on in the 7th to extend the Sox lead to 5-0. Yaz became only the 16th player in World Series history to smack multiple home runs in a single World Series game, and the first since Mickey Mantle slugged two in Pittsburgh in 1960. Upset at being hitless in Game One, Yaz took some extra batting practice after Boston’s 2-1 loss, almost unheard of. During the season, Yastrzemski was reportedly paid an annual salary of $60,000, just enough to plunk down money on some post-season expenses, namely, the $2,000 he spent on World Series tickets for family and friends, his wife’s wardrobe for the trip to St. Louis cost him another $1,000 with taxes taking another $3,000 from his pocket. `` Joking with reporters, Yaz said he would only break even with a loser’s share of the World Series, ``so I’ve got to get a winning share.’’
Asked about Lonborg’s one-hitter, Cardinal catcher Tim McCarver, said, ``He threw a lot of breaking stuff and kept the ball down. When you can pitch like that consistently, you should come out ahead.’’
Former Yankees pitcher Don Larsen, the only pitcher to have tossed a no-hitter in the World Series (1956 against the Dodgers) watched Lonborg’s gem from his San Diego home and observed: ``I’d liked to have seen him get it…He did a fine job and I imagine he’s quite happy.’’
The New York Times report Game 3 at Busch Stadium in S. Louis will be well stocked at the concession stands, including its plans to have six tons of hot dogs, 500 half-barrels of beer, 6,000 cases of bottled bear, 5,000 pounds of popcorn, and 5,000 pounds of hamburger patties.
Game Three
October 7, 1967
Busch Memorial Stadium
Boston-2
St. Louis-5
As promised after Game 2 by Curt Flood, the St. Louis Cardinals took retaliation against the Red Sox, this time Cardinal pitcher Nelson Briles drilled slugger Carl Yastrzemski in the 1st inning, and the Cardinals right-hander quickly became public enemy No. 1 in the Boston clubhouse. ``All I can say is now is that if those bush league_ _ _want to play baseball that way, that’s alright with me’’, Red Sox pitcher Jose Santiago told reporters after the game. Briles argued he was gripping the ball too hard-and it just got away from him. Yaz took the plunking in stride, saying he would have been more upset and would have expected his team to retaliate if the ball was aimed at his head. Instead, the ball hit him squarely on the back of his left leg in the middle of the calf.
Even before Briles took to the mound, he attracted the wrath of the Red Sox when he told reporters a day before the game that the Red Sox are a ``weaker hitting team’’ than any team they face in the National League-including the Dodgers.
Lou Brock opened the game with a triple to left center and later scored on Curt Flood’s hard single to center. The Cardinals added two more in the next frame when Tim McCarver singled and scored on Mike Shannon’s majestic two-run shot into the left field seats. The Red Sox weren’t able to get on the board until the 6th inning, when Dalton Jones slapped a single to right, scoring Mike Andrews. Lou Brock’s speed again (who reached by way of a drag bunt) helped the Cards score their fourth run in the bottom of the 6th, when Boston pitcher Lee Stange rifled a ball to first in attempt to pick off Brock; only the ball hit the speedster on the back with the ball rolling down the right field line, allowing Brock to scamper to third. He later scored on Roger Maris’s single to right, his third RBI of the Series. In the 7th, Reggie Smith brought the Sox to within striking distance (4-2) with a solo shot in the right field stands, but Boston wouldn’t score again. The Cards added another run in the 8th to extend their lead to 5-2. Yastrzemski turned in an uneventful day. After being drilled with a pitch in the first, Briles induced the slugger into hitting three routine grounders to Julian Javier at second.
By the time it was over, 54,575 at Busch Stadium saw Briles limit the Sox to seven hits in a complete game performance to put the Cards up in the Series, 2-1.
Sox pitcher Gary Bell was touched up for three runs in the first two frames. He was replaced after two innings.
Despite the loss, Boston manager Dick Williams was so impressed with Gary Waslewski’s three perfect innings of relief (3rd-5th)-that he penciled him in to start Game 6 of the Series.
Commenting on the Yastrzemski plunking in the 1st inning, Boston Globe writer Harold Kaese, opened up his column with the following words: ``The World Series has gone to war. The ABC of the third game was Antagonism, Belligerency, and Combativeness.’’
In addition to winning Game Three, the Cards were further encouraged seeing two of their key hitters, Orlando Cepeda and Tim McCarver break out of their hitless slumps in this Series.
Game 4
October 8, 1967
Busch Memorial Stadium
St Louis-6
Boston-0
54,575 fans in attendance. The game was over before it really even started as the Cardinals jumped on Sox pitcher Jose Santiago for four runs, when his usually effective curve ball was nowhere to be found. Roger Maris continued his hitting barrage, knocking in two of the Cards four runs in the 1st frame, after drilling a double to the left-field corner. It was Maris’s 5th RBI of the Series. They added two more in the third with a sac fly by Tim McCarver; Julian Javier doubled in the Cards final run.
Bob Gibson, brilliant in Game One, painted the corners again in yet another masterpiece in Game 4, shutting out the Sox 6-0 on five hits to put the Cards up 3-1 and pushing Boston to the edge of the cliff. It was a complete game for Gibson, just like Game one. He beat the Yankees twice during the 1964 World Series. The Cardinal ace pitching on only three days’ rest, admitted to reporters he was tired and had to rely more on breaking pitches than his signature fastball.
Only two teams in World Series history have fallen behind, 3-to-1, and have gone on to win the Series: The Pittsburgh Pirates against the Washington Senators in 1925 and the New York Yankees in 1958 against the Milwaukee Braves.
Refusing to be discouraged over the Sox being shutout, Ken Harrelson told reporters after the game, ``I’ll knock one out of here tomorrow, just wait and see.’’
Asked if the playing for the Cardinals in the World Series is as thrilling as when he was with the Yankees, Roger Maris responded, ``They’re all a thrill. I just don’t think about the Yankees. That’s the past and this is now.’’
Game 5
October 9, 1967
Busch Memorial Stadium
Boston-3
St. Louis-1
On the brink of elimination, pre-med major Jim Lonborg was back on the mound again for the Sox. And the team is happy to report, the operation was successful. Lonborg, the 24 year-old Californian, came with his golden arm again by allowing only three hits, and his shutout was intact until the 9th when Roger Maris deposited one of his pitches into the right field seats. The blast came with two out. The Cardinals countered with a slender southpaw: Steve Carlton. Ken Harrelson put the Sox on the board first in the 3rd, shooting a sharp single through the hole between short and third, scoring Joe Foy. Harrelson, whose defense has been called into question by Boston writers, flashed some leather in the 1st by snagging Lou Brock’s hard hit line drive in right center.
Despite flirting with a no-hitter in his previous Series start, Lonborg told reporters he had better stuff today. Cards cleanup hitter Orlando Cepeda was 0-4 at the plate, and is now 2-19 in the Series with only one run batted in for the entire Series. He batted a hefty .325 during the season.
With the bases loaded in the 9th, Elston Howard drove in two runs, looping a fly ball behind first base down the right field line and thanks to an errant throw to the plate by Roger Maris, the Sox were up 3-0.
Cardinals’ catcher Tim McCarver groaned to reporters that when in Boston, he didn’t like some of things he heard, read, and saw on television and on radio. ``Our ball club has respect for them’’. McCarver said, ``but they don’t respect us.’’ More from McCarver: ``We played in a Series against the Yankees in 1964 and there was mutual respect. That’s the way big league players should be.’’
Game 6
Fenway Park
October 11, 1967
Boston-8
St. Louis-4
Rookie manager Dick William’s instincts worked like a charm in starting Gary Waslewski who entered the Series as a ``Who’s Who in Baseball’’, having been kicked around the minors for eight years. Except for getting roughed up in the 2nd and 7th frames, the 26 year-old’s money pitch, his sinker, worked well, at least well enough to keep the Sox hopes alive to chase their Impossible Dream in a 8-4 win over the Redbirds. Equal to Waslewski’s solid performance, was the Sox putting together an impressive power surge in the 7th with three home runs (a World Series record) off Dick Hughes. The long balls were deposited by Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Smith, and Rico Petrocelli. Petrocelli also homered in the 2nd. ``I never hit fastballs out’’ Rico told reporters, ``and two in one day.’’
Yastrzemski joined Babe Ruth (1923) and Ted Kluszewski (1959) in blasting three home runs over six games. In addition to his three hits, Yaz chased down Tim McCarver’s laser that he snagged right up against the left-field wall.
Lou Brock provided most of the offense for the Cardinals. He knocked in a run in the 3rd and smacked a two-run homer in the 7th
So this sets the stage for another start for Bob Gibson, the 31-year old pitcher from Omaha, in the deciding Game 7 at Fenway against the ``Team of Destiny.’’ Asked about the challenge, Gibby said, ``I’m looking forward to it. I know when I tried to pitch in a World Series against the Yankees with only two days rest, I got awful tired, and wore out after the third inning.’’
Lonborg will be pitching on only two days rest; Gibson will have had three days to prepare for the deciding game. Gibson won the first and fourth games of the Series; while Lonborg took the second and fifth game, limiting the Cards to four hits and one run over 18 innings.
During the year, Longborg pitched twice with only two days rest, winning one of those in a shutout against Kansas City, and getting knocked out in the 3rd in the last week of the season against the Cleveland Indians.
The Boston Globe noted the Red Sox were 100-1 underdogs to win the pennant when the season began. Boston came in 9th out of 10 American League teams the year before; and nearly half the baseball experts predicted the Sox would finish dead last in 1967.
The Cardinals are preparing for their sixth World Series Game 7 in franchise history. They have never lost a Game 7.
Cardinal Cushing, the Archbishop of Boston, watched the game from a box seat at Fenway and was reported to have given the Sox a pre-game blessing.
The New York Times reported that Gil Hodges, who just accepted a position to manage the New York Mets, was milling around the batting cages just prior to Game 6.
Game 7
October 12, 1967
Fenway Park
St. Louis-7
Boston-2
The Red Sox Cinderella season came to a screeching halt before 35,188 frustrated fans, as Bob Gibson and the St Louis Cardinals soundly defeated the Sox in their home park, 7-2. Gibson won the third game of the Series, surrendering only three hits and striking out 10. In three starts, the Cardinal right handed fireballer fanned a total of 26 over three games. Gibson joined six other pitchers who were 3-0 in World Series competition. Jim Longborg, working only on two days rest, was knocked out after six innings, have given up 10 singles, including a solo shot by Gibson and another three run blast by Julian Javier. When he walked off the mound for the final time at Fenway, tears were seen streaming down Longborg’s face. The only real cheer for the local crowd came in the 9th inning, a standing ovation, when Carl Yastrzemski stepped to the plate for his final at-bat in the 9th. He blistered a sharp single off of Gibson, much to the delight of the Boston fans.
Boston’s first hit didn’t come until the 5th inning, when George Scott slammed a triple off the center field wall, and scored on a wild pitch to third. They tacked on another harmless run in the 8th, but by then all the damage had been done.
Lou Brock went into the record books, stealing three bases, giving him seven swipes for the Series, a World Series record. Cardinal manager Red Schoendienst called the speedster the ``most exciting player in the whole show.’’
While a cavalcade of sad, disheartened souls departed Fenway, in St. Louis it seemed like Mardi Gras. The Boston Globe reported that in downtown St. Louis ` avalanches of paper streamed out of office windows. Clerks and salesgirls ran through the streets littered with paper.’’ And when Bob Gibson fanned George Scott for the final out in the Cardinals 7-2 victory, crowded bars in St. Louis erupted into thunderous cheers; others banged pots and pans, while the streets were tied up in bumper to bumper traffic with horns wailing throughout the city.
In the Red Sox clubhouse, Carl Yastrzemski’s six year-old son, Mike, was reportedly holding back tears, while his father, Carl told reporters, ``Someone has to win, someone has to lose. It’s all part of the great game.’’ When everyone reminded Carl’s son what a great Series it was, he strongly disagreed. ``No, it wasn’t’’, little Yaz said, ``because the Sox lost.’’
Headline of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner: ``Color the Red Sox Blue’’
Mayor John Collins of Boston received the following telegram from the mayor of St. Louis, Alfonso J. Cervantes: ``Sorry about that chief.’’
After Game 7 had concluded, the following message came over the Boston Police Teletype: ``To all Districts and Units-There is no joy in Mudville tonight.’’
While leaving Fenway, Mrs. Barbara Carens Clapp of Wellesley, told a reporter from the Boston Globe that the Sox losing reminded her of a quote from the late Adlai Stevenson after failing in his bid to win the presidency in 1956: ``It hurts too much to laugh, and I’m too old to cry.’’
Lead paragraph of Bud Collins’s Boston Globe column: ``God isn’t dead, as some theologians have suggested. It’s just that He’s moved to St. Louis.’’
Tim McCarver, questioned about the lack of production from the Cardinals cleanup hitter, said: ``I don’t want to hear any criticism of Orlando Cepeda. He got us here.’’
After Game 7, Cardinal great Stan Musial walked into the clubhouse, wrapped his arms around Cardinal manager Red Schoendienst and said, ``Let’s have a drink. We’ve had a few, haven’t we?’’ Musial and Schoendienst were roommates for more than a decade as Cardinal teammates.
The Red Sox prepared for a long cold winter knowing they hadn’t tasted a world championship since 1918, when Babe Ruth was on their club as a pitcher.
-Bill Lucey
October 22, 2013
Neat stuff, Bill. Game 7, '46 series, I was 9 years old and listening to the radio broadcast in Elyria Memorial Hospital. Appendectomy. They kept you for a week in those days. All these years, I thought Slaughter had scored from first on a single.
Posted by: Bob Daniels | 10/23/2013 at 08:51 AM